The Walking Deck
The Walking Deck Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 36 Event cards: 18 Rural Events and 18 Urban Events. Three types of Event can be recognised by their header: Zombie (example header: WILD ZERO), Character (example header: DOMITILLE), and Object / Location / Animal (example header: CAVE).
- 2 double-sided Protagonist cards. The four Protagonists are Aénor, Boris, Adrien and Éléonore.
- 3 small double-sided Reserve tokens: Food Reserve (weakness to malnutrition icon), Medical Reserve (weakness to injuries icon), and Restorative Reserve (weakness to stress icon). Each has an available side and a consumed side.
- 14 large Calamity tokens, including 2 white Respite Calamity tokens (Calamités Répit). The other 12 Calamity tokens show combinations of weakness icons, 2 of each of six combinations.
Setup
- Prepare the Events:
- Shuffle the Rural Events to form the first draw pile.
- Shuffle the Urban Events to form the second draw pile.
- Choose a Protagonist and place them in front of you. The difficulty is given by the number of stars on the Protagonist. The Protagonist's rules replace the usual rules.
- Take the three Reserve tokens and place them in front of you on their available side.
- Gather the Calamity tokens into the bag, except the Respite Calamities (the white tokens). Place the bag and the Respite Calamities within reach.
- Prepare a space for the Memory to your left, a space for the Avoided to your right, and a space for the Buried next to your Protagonist. You will play your Events there during the game.
How to Play
All Events have banners framing their effects. For clarity, a banner is referred to by its background colour: the black banner, the white banner and the grey banner.
A game of The Walking Deck is played in 2 successive phases.
1. Journey
All along your route to Redemptia, you will have to make choices about the events you encounter. Whether you go through the town or the countryside, face up to them or take a detour, there will be no good choice.
- Explore your near future by completing your hand to 3 Events. You may look at each Event before drawing the next one. You may draw each Event from the draw pile of your choice.
- Play your Events until you keep 0 or 1 in hand. You may choose one of the following:
- Memorise the Event: place it face up on the Memory and apply the white banner effect if there is one. Warning: You cannot memorise Events that show only a black banner. You cannot look at the Memory.
- Avoid the Event: place it face up on the Avoided and suffer the consequences by applying the black banner effect. Warning: You can only avoid Events that show a black banner and whose effect you can apply. You may consult the Avoided.
Note: The grey banner effect is applied during the Interrogation phase.
Repeat these two steps until both draw piles and your hand are empty.
2. Interrogation
Arriving at Redemptia, will you be able to recount your journey without faltering? Will you be able to take your decisions without losing your reason? Coming back to your traumas without sinking into darkness is not given to everyone, and the unbalanced have no place in Redemptia.
- Take the Memory and turn it face down without changing the order of the Events.
- Unstack the Memory entirely: draw the Events one by one and apply the grey banner effect if there is one.
- If the Event is a Character, place it face up in front of you.
- The other Events are removed from the game.
Note: If you cannot apply an Event's effect, or if the Event has no grey banner, bury that Event.
Clarifications on Banner Effects
- Bury an Event: place the Event face down next to your Protagonist. Buried Events represent your traumas; too many of them will cause a defeat.
- Reserve effects:
- Icons of the three Reserves (Food, Medical, Restorative) without a cross: turn the corresponding Reserve to its available side. If it is already available, nothing happens.
- Icons of the three Reserves crossed out: turn the corresponding Reserve to its consumed side. If it is already consumed, nothing happens.
Note: When you memorise, avoid or bury an Event through a banner effect, do not apply that Event's effects.
Clarifications on Damage and Healing
Characters can suffer damage and be healed. Each Character has one or more weaknesses, shown at the top right of its name: weakness to malnutrition (person icon), weakness to injuries (foot icon), and weakness to stress (heart icon).
The orientation of a Character shows the number of damage it can still take.
When a Character is upside down and takes damage, bury that Character.
Reminder: A buried Character is placed face down next to the Protagonist.
Each point of damage turns the Character one step (1 damage), and each point of healing turns it back one step (1 heal). A Character with its head up cannot be healed.
Clarifications on Grey Banner Effects
- Inflict X damage: distribute X damage as you wish among the Characters in front of you. A Character may take several damage. If you run out of Characters before finishing the distribution, ignore the excess. If you have no Character, bury this Event.
- Draw a Calamity from the bag: draw a Calamity from the bag and inflict 1 damage on each Character showing one or more of the weaknesses shown on the drawn Calamity. Each Character can take only one damage. If you have no Character, bury this Event. Return the Calamity to the bag.
- Add weakness: add the weakness or weaknesses to the drawn Calamity.
- Ignore weakness: remove the weakness or weaknesses from the drawn Calamity.
- You may ignore a weakness of the drawn Calamity (including modifiers) by consuming the corresponding Reserve.
- Heal up to X Characters: choose up to X Characters and cancel one damage taken by each of them. If a weakness is indicated, you can only heal Characters that show that weakness. If you have no Character, nothing happens.
End of the Game
The game ends instantly as soon as either of the following occurs:
- The total number of buried Events indicated on the Protagonist is reached: you have lost!
- The Memory is entirely unstacked and its effects applied: you have won!
Rules Video
Watch the rules video on the game's page at http://studiokabo.nectaprod.com.
Before Your First Game
This section contains some tips to make your entry into the game easier. Your first game will let you absorb the concepts of play and, above all, the flow over two phases. Do not be too hard on yourself, and do not get discouraged: The Walking Deck can be merciless and takes time to understand. If you want to have this experience on your own, feel free to skip this section.
- The second phase of play, the interrogation, can be hard to anticipate. Note that the Memory is unstacked in the reverse direction from the one you see in the first phase: the first Event placed in the Memory is the first Event unstacked.
- Characters are essential to your success but will probably also be the cause of your defeat: keep in mind that drawing a Calamity generally causes damage to your Characters.
- The powers of the Protagonists and the Reserve tokens give you control over the randomness of Calamity draws. Do not forget them!
- When you draw to complete your hand, you may consult the Event before drawing the next one.
F.A.Q.
What happens if I have to complete my hand but the piles are empty? Complete your hand as far as possible.
What happens if I cannot apply an effect?
- Positive effects: nothing happens (for example: consuming or recovering a Reserve, applying a heal without a Character, activating an effect on an empty draw pile).
- Negative effects: bury the Event (for example: drawing a Calamity without a Character, or unstacking an Event without a grey banner during the Interrogation).
- When in doubt, bury the Event.
What happens if I can only apply an effect partially? Apply the effect to the maximum extent possible.
What happens for the grey banner effect of "Cabot" when there is no buried Event? Remove "Cabot" from the game without applying its grey banner effect.
Where do I draw from after memorising a "Horde" or a "Brigade"? You may choose which pile to draw the replacement Event from. If all piles are empty, nothing happens.
What happens if I reveal a "Horde" or a "Brigade" on an Urban or Rural pile? The immediate effect does not apply as long as the Event is not in your hand.
To which Event does the expression "this Event" refer? "This Event" refers to the Event on which the effect is written.
Can I use a consumed Reserve to activate an effect of "Adrien"? Yes.
At which phases can I activate the effects of "Éléonore"? The effects of "Éléonore" can be activated at any time during both phases of play.
Rules Summary
Game Flow
1. Journey
- Complete your hand to 3 Events, one at a time.
- Play your Events until you keep 0 or 1 in hand:
- into the Memory, if the Event has a white or grey banner: apply the white banner effect (Memory effect) if there is one;
- into the Avoided, if the Event has a black banner you can apply: apply the black banner effect (Avoided effect).
2. Interrogation
- Take the Memory and turn it face down without changing the order of the Events.
- Unstack the Events one by one, applying the grey banner effect (Phase 2 effect).
- Keep the Characters in front of you; the other Events are removed from the game.
- No grey banner, or the effect is not applicable: bury the Event.
- Damage and healing management: see page 8.
Icon Table
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Heart, person and foot icons | Weaknesses of Characters (stress, malnutrition, injuries) |
| Three Reserve icons, without a cross | Turn the Reserve to its available side |
| Three Reserve icons, crossed out | Turn the Reserve to its consumed side |
| X with damage symbol | Inflict X damage |
| Medicine bottle | Heal |
| Calamity bag | Draw a Calamity from the bag |