Thorgal: The Board Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Key Concepts
  • It Is Not a Choose Your Own Adventure Game
  • Cooperation
  • Winning and Losing
  • Reading the Story
• Atlas of Adventure
  • Location
• Adventure Sheet
• Character Board
  • Skill Cards
  • Wounds
  • Healing Wounds
  • Experience
  • Unfulfilled Effects
• Gameflow: Action Phase
  • Action Phase
  • Actions
  • Action Cards
  • Number
  • Replacing an Action Card
• Action: Move
• Action: Journey
  • Revealing New Terrain Cards
• Covering Effects
• Goods
• Action: Collect
• Action: Assign
• Action: Combat
  • Combat Dice
  • Combat Effects
  • Defeating All Enemies in a Location
  • Mystical Enemies
  • Merged Enemies
• Action: Sacrifice
  • Sacrifice Cover Tokens
• Action: Craft
  • Items
• Event Phase
  • Event Card
• End of the Game
• Rules in Detail
  • Entries
  • Threats
  • Special Action Cards
  • Covering Spaces/Icons
  • Ambiguity
  • Exhausted Terrain Deck
  • Upgrading and Degrading Enemies
  • ...As a Group
  • Updating the Action Row
• Solo Game
• Icon Glossary
• Rules Summary
  • 1. Action Phase
  • 2. Event Phase
• Credits

Components

• 1 Atlas of Adventure
• 1 Book of Tales
• 1 Rulebook
• 4 double-sided Adventure sheets (1 side for each Adventure)
• 43 Action cards
• 15 Terrain cards (10 standard, 5 Barren)
• 30 Enemy cards (10 Minor, 10 Moderate, 8 Major, 2 Massive)
• 60 Event cards (10 Mountain, 10 Village, 10 Survival, 10 Warrior, 10 Sea, 10 Magic)
• 30 Item cards
• 10 Discovery cards
• 12 Adventure-related cards (1 Plot, 6 Abductee, 3 Fleet, 1 Auslok, 1 The Caliph's Palace)
• 12 dice (3 of each color)
• 111 Polyomino tiles (Wound and Journey tiles): 9 of size 1, 9 of size 1, 9 of size 1, 9 of size 1, 9 of size 2, 12 of size 2, 12 of size 3, 21 of size 4, 21 of size 5
• 108 Good markers: 18 Material, 18 Ore, 18 Gossip, 18 Magic, 18 Power, 18 Fate
• 51 Enemy tokens: 12 Minor, 12 Moderate, 12 Major, 6 Massive, 9 Mystical
• 4 Action chips (active side, inactive side)
• 105 other tokens: 15 Blockade, 18 Entry, 15 Collection, 6 Additional Cost, 9 Sacrifice, 21 Threat, 12 Source (3 of each type), 9 Objective
• 1 Round marker
• 1 Adventure Track marker
• 1 Ship marker
• 1 First Player marker
• 4 Character sets, each containing:
  • 1 Character board consisting of a top and bottom board
  • 1 Character Skill card (active and inactive side)
  • 1 Character Item card
  • 1 Journey tracker
  • 1 Character miniature

IMPORTANT: Polyomino tiles have 2 uses—as Wound tiles, and as Journey tiles. When a rule refers to a Wound tile or wound, it refers to a Polyomino tile that is placed or received as a Wound, either in a Character's Wound area or on an Enemy card. When a rule refers to a Journey tile, it refers to a Polyomino tile placed on Terrain cards in the Journey Path.

Note: Components are considered unlimited, if you ever run out, you may use a substitute of your choice. If a deck runs out of cards, reshuffle the corresponding discard pile and create a new deck.

Note 2: Components marked with * are used only in specific Adventures. If they are not depicted in the Adventure description, you may leave them in the box. Rules referring to these components are explained in the introduction of the adventures.

Setup

1. Choose the Adventure you want to play and open the Book of Tales to the Adventure Description and read it aloud.

   Note: For your first game, we suggest playing "Torkan's Temple."

2. Open the Atlas of Adventure to the Map corresponding to the Adventure Description and place it in the center of the play area.

3. Place all tiles, tokens, dice, and markers to the left of the play area to create the general supply.

4. Place the corresponding Adventure sheet to the right of the Map. Place the Round marker on the space marked "1" on the Round track.

5. Find the Event decks depicted in the Adventure Description, shuffle each of them separately, and place them above the Adventure sheet.

6. Shuffle the Terrain cards and place the deck below the Map as shown (these will be used to create the Journey Path). Reveal the top card and place it to the right of the deck.

7. Shuffle the Discovery cards and place the deck face down to the left of the Terrain deck.

8. Place the Action cards depicted in the Adventure Description below the Terrain cards to create the Action Row. Place the cards in numerical order from lowest to highest. Place the 4 Action chips (with their active side face up) next to the Action Row.

9. Place the remaining Action cards in a stack near the Map.

   Note: Even in games with fewer than 4 players, you always use 4 Action chips.

10. Separate and shuffle the Enemy cards into the Minor, Moderate, Major, and Massive Enemy decks. Place the decks face down above the Map.

11. Each player takes a bottom Character board.

12. Each player chooses a Character (or is assigned one randomly) and takes the matching top Character board. They gain the Goods according to the reverse side of their top Character board.

13. Each player attaches the top Character board to the bottom Character board. Then they gain the following corresponding components for their Character:

    • The Character miniature.
    • The Character's Skill card.
    • The Character's Item card (marked by the illustration in its upper right-hand corner).
    • Journey tracker.

    Return any unused Character components to the box. They won't be used during the game.

14. Each player places their Character board face up in front of them, sets the Combat dial and Journey tracker to the 1 spaces.

15. Shuffle the Item cards and reveal the top 5 cards to create a Display near the top edge of the Map.

16. Choose a player to become the First player and give them the First Player marker.

17. Resolve any additional Setup steps indicated by the Adventure Description in the Book of Tales (including placing Character miniatures, markers, tokens, etc.).

Key Concepts

It Is Not a Choose Your Own Adventure Game

Thorgal: the Board Game has a rich and compelling story, but don't be fooled—it's as much about experiencing the story as it is about picking the right actions within a limited number of rounds. Each Adventure has various Goals that must be fulfilled by resolving different actions. Each type of action grants you a different outcome and many of them allow you to read part of the story, which may affect various Locations on the Map in the Atlas of Adventure.

Cooperation

In Thorgal: the Board Game there are various ways to cooperate:

• You may place Action chips on the Action Row to boost the next player's actions.
• You may spend Goods from other players' supplies, as long as they agree.
• You may discuss revealing new Terrain cards so other players may gain Goods from them.
• The most crucial thing is communicating with other players, so you can plan your strategy together without disturbing others' plans.

Winning and Losing

Once you have accomplished the Adventure's Goals, the game ends and you win! There are many ways to fulfill Goals, but your choices may narrow your possibilities. So even though accomplishing the Goals always results in a win, sometimes there are fewer or more positive outcomes.

Players lose once any Character is defeated. This happens by receiving more Wounds than they can fit on their Character board or if you run out of time. Some Adventures may also have additional conditions for winning and losing.

Reading the Story

The story is interwoven through various elements of the game: the Map, the Adventure sheet, and, most importantly, the Book of Tales, which contains the Adventure Descriptions and story Entries. When an effect instructs you to read an Entry, you must find the appropriate Entry in the Book of Tales and read it aloud. Each Entry ends with a choice of following one of the two available Side Plots. Remember, you may not read an Entry unless instructed (see Entries below).

Atlas of Adventure

Each Map in the Atlas of Adventure is composed of several Areas, which are divided by colored Borders (see Borders in Action: Move below).

Each Area contains the following:

1. A number depicted within a gold circle. Areas are unavailable to players if their numbers are greater than the current round number.
2. Source icons (if any) depicted below the number. Source icons indicate which Goods are available to gain in the Area by resolving the Area-specific icon.
3. One or more Locations in which you may perform actions. Character miniatures are placed in Areas, not Locations, so once your Character is in an Area, you may interact with all its Locations.
4. If there are 1 or more Enemies (Minor/Moderate/Major/Massive/Mystical) on a Location, you must first remove them before resolving any other actions there.

IMPORTANT: The Any Enemy icon represents any Enemy.

Note: If a Location is depicted on a Border between 2 different Areas, you may interact with it from either side of the Border.

Location

Each Location is composed of several elements:

• Name of the Location
• Description: Describes what you can accomplish at this Location.
• Runes: Indicates Locations that are affected when specific game effects are resolved.
• Action: Indicates which action players may resolve in the Location, as well as the requirements in order to resolve it.
• Effect: The result of the action, which is resolved once the requirements are met.

Example: players may resolve the Assign action in this Location. Once they assign 2 Ore to it, they immediately read Entry 19 and gain card 38. Additionally, this Location is marked with the Rune, which means it may be affected by various game effects.

Adventure Sheet

Each Adventure has an Adventure sheet to track your progress. It also acts as a player aid, explaining the summary of Goals and the most crucial rules changes.

Each Adventure sheet consists of the following sections:

• Event Card Requirements: Explains which Event cards to draw throughout the game.
• Goal Summary: Explains special circumstances concerning how to win or lose the Adventure.
• Event Icons: Indicates the 3 effects triggered by Event cards.
• Special rules: Explains special rules for the Adventure (all rules are explained further in the Adventure Description in the Book of Tales).
• Round track: Keeps track and indicates the rounds of the Adventure. Some rounds are marked with special effects that you must resolve during the indicated round (the special effects are described in the Adventure Descriptions in the Book of Tales).

Character Board

The Character board tracks your vital statistics, including the amount of Wounds you can gain before you die, your Combat Experience, and your Journey Experience. The front of the board shows:

• Journey track
• Wound area
• Combat dial
• Components the Character starts with
• Background story

Skill Cards

Each player begins the game with a Skill card. The card begins with its active side face up and may be used once per round. Once used, it is flipped to its inactive side. You may flip the Skill card back to its active side at any time by spending the Goods indicated on its back.

Wounds

You gain Wounds in various ways. Each time you gain a Wound you must place the indicated Wound tile within your Wound area. The first Wound tile may be placed anywhere within the area, but each subsequent Wound must be adjacent to another. Wounds may be:

1. Indicated by their exact shape.
2. Indicated by their size (shown in parentheses).
3. Indicated by other game conditions.

If you ever cannot place the specified Wound fully within your Wound area according to the above rules, your Character dies and the team immediately loses the Adventure.

Example A: When instructed to gain 1 Wound (shown by shape), it means that you must place 1 of that shaped Wound tile within your Wound area.

Example B: When instructed to gain 1 Wound (3), it means that you must place either 1 Wound tile of size 3 within your Wound Area.

Example C: If instructed to gain 1 Wound (Threat) and you have 2 Threats, it means that you must place 1 Wound of size 2 within your Wound area (see Threats on page 27).

Healing Wounds

Healing Wounds is possible throughout the game by using various Items, Location effects, or abilities.

Unspecified Healing effects allow you to discard any 1 Wound tile.

When you encounter Healing effects within parentheses, it indicates which size of Wound tile to discard.

Example: When instructed to Heal (3) you may discard any 1 Wound tile of size 3 or 1 Wound tile of a smaller size, whereas Heal (1) allows you to discard up to 3 Wound tiles of size 1.

You may always discard smaller Wounds if you wish, but you cannot split the values.

In some situations, Healing may cause you to have Wound tiles within the Wound area that are not adjacent to each other. Such a situation is possible and when you gain a new Wound, you must place it adjacent to one of the Wounds within the Wound area as normal.

Experience

Each Character has two types of Experience to gain: Combat and Journey. Every time a Character gains 1 Experience, they must choose which Experience to increase. For Combat, they rotate the arrow 1 space clockwise. For Journey, they move the Journey tracker by 1 space upward. If a player gains multiple Experience at the same time, they may divide them however they wish. If a player cannot gain any more Experience in either Combat or Journey because the dial or track is at the 7th level, they instead gain the bonus shown on the dial/track (indicated by the arrow icon).

Unfulfilled Effects

If you are unable to fully resolve a negative effect, you must resolve it as much as possible. Then, after resolving the effect as much as possible, each Character affected by the game effect gains 1 Wound. If the game effect refers to a single Character, they are the only Character that gains the Wound. If the effect is neutral or positive, simply resolve it as much as possible.

Gameflow: Action Phase

The game consists of several rounds, each of which has 2 phases. During the Action phase, players alternately resolve actions. During the Event phase, players draw an Event card to see what challenge awaits them in the following round.

Action Phase

The Action phase consists of 4 player turns. Players resolve turns in clockwise order, starting with the First player. In games with fewer than 4 players, some players take multiple turns during the Action phase.

During their turn, a player takes an active Action chip, flips it to its inactive side, places it below an Action card, and then resolves the chosen card's effect. After the first round, the Action chips will be located below the Action cards from the previous round and must be moved to different Action cards during future rounds.

Once all the Action chips are on their inactive side, proceed to the Event phase.

Tip: Remember to discuss your actions with the other players so you can plan what to do together and optimize your actions.

Actions

All actions are generally available in every Area, unless an effect blocks or limits them. Actions are performed for free, unless stated otherwise.

There are 7 basic actions available in the game: Move, Combat, Journey, Sacrifice, Collect, Craft, Assign.

Action Cards

Action cards are placed in a horizontal row below the Atlas. This is known as the Action Row. During the Action phase, you place Action chips below Action cards to activate them.

Main Action: The Main action is indicated by the color, icon, and Action value in the upper left-hand corner of the card.

There are also Action cards that have 2 Main actions in the upper area. When you resolve this kind of card, you must always pick one of the available options.

Additional Effects: Some Action cards have additional effects, which may change or influence the actions in various ways.

Bonus Section: Most Action cards feature a Bonus section. Action card Bonuses are affected by the position of Action chips on the Action Row, and generally alter the effect of the Main action itself.

• A Bonus icon showing "1" is only applied if there is exactly 1 Action chip below this card.
• A Bonus icon with a left-pointing arrow is applied for each Action chip below every Action card to the left of this card (not including this card itself).
• A Bonus icon showing a spiral is applied for each Action chip below this Action card (including the one just placed).

Most Bonuses affect the Main action, indicated by a "+". If it has an Action icon without a "+", it is resolved as an Extra action.

Other Bonuses without an Action icon are resolved separately because they are not related to the Main action (i.e., ones that allow you to Heal your Characters).

Note: Cards with an Extra action for a Bonus are still only considered to have a type of main action and cannot be replaced using the swap effects with other cards of the side's action.

IMPORTANT: Unless otherwise stated, if a Bonus section does not affect the Main action, it must be resolved after the Main action.

Number

Action cards are placed on the Action Row from left to right in ascending order, indicated by their number. If 2 cards have the same number, you may place them in any order.

Replacing an Action Card

Throughout the game you gain new Action cards. When you gain a new Action card, find the indicated card among the unused Action cards and show it to other players. Decide together if you want to swap your current Action card with the newly drawn Action card of its matching type. If you choose to swap the card, discard the old Action card and place the new Action card in the Action Row according to the number at the bottom, in ascending order from left to right. When gaining and placing a new Action card in the Action Row, do not move or change the position of any of the Action chips that are currently under Action cards.

Some Adventure or Event effects may make you place different components on Action cards. When swapping such a card, discard all the components from it.

Action: Move

This action allows you to move between Areas on the Map.

To resolve the Move action:

Move your Character miniature through a number of Borders equal to or lower than your Move Action value (min. 1). In the first Round of the game, you may only enter Areas marked with a "1". From the second round onward, you may also enter Areas with a "2", and so on into subsequent rounds.

There are 5 types of Borders separating Areas:

• Regular Border: You can move through Regular Borders without any special effects.
• Multiple Borders: Moving through multiple Borders requires more powerful actions. For example, moving through a double Regular Border requires a Move value of 2.
• Special Border: These Borders have special rules, depending on the Adventure, and they are described in the Adventure Description in the Book of Tales.
• Impassable Border: You may never, under any circumstance, move through an Impassable Border.

If there is a Blockade token on a Border, you may not move through it, no matter its type.

If there is a Location on a Border, it is available from any of the adjacent Areas on any side of the Border.

Action: Journey

This action allows you to progress along the Journey Path and is available in every Area.

To resolve the Journey action complete the following steps:

1. You may choose any number of your Items that affect the Journey action and resolve their abilities (see Items below).
2. Take any one of the Journey tiles indicated on or below the Journey tracker on your Journey Experience track.
3. Place the Journey tile so at least 1 of its edges is adjacent to the previously rightmost placed Journey tile. The Journey tile must be placed adjacent to the rightmost placed tile so that it is on the current rightmost column and/or farther toward the right. This creates a path of tiles proceeding toward the right—upward or downward—but never toward the left. Tiles may not overlap any component or extend outside of the grid created by the Terrain cards.
4. Resolve the effects of each space you cover with the Journey tile. All effects are described in the Covering Effects section below.
5. If an effect allows you to place more Journey tiles during a single action, repeat steps 2-4 with each newly placed tile.

You may rotate or flip the tile freely.

Example: Gregory resolves the Journey action. His Journey Experience track depicts 2 available Journey tiles. He chooses to place one of them. He places the Journey tile and covers a Discovery space, so he draws a Discovery card. Since he covered a colored space, he must also resolve the covering effect once and gains 1 Good (if he would have covered 2 colored spaces he would have resolved it twice and gained 2 Goods). Gregory's tile is in the column with the reveal-new-Terrain-card icon, so he must also reveal and add a new card to the Journey Path. Finally he gains the bonus on the new Terrain card.

Revealing New Terrain Cards

If the Journey tile you just placed is the first tile placed in the column marked by the reveal icon on the rightmost Terrain card, reveal a new Terrain card and place it as the new rightmost Terrain card. You may not rotate Terrain cards.

Then gain the bonus indicated in the upper right corner of the newly placed card. If you reveal new Terrain cards because of any other effects, ignore the bonus.

Note: In an extremely rare case when there are no more Terrain cards, you do not reveal any more cards.

You may not place a Journey tile so that part of it is left of a previously placed tile (placing it one space farther right would be acceptable since it only moves upward from previously placed tiles). You may not place a Journey tile so that it is not adjacent to the previously placed tiles.

Covering Effects

When you cover icons using Polyomino tiles (Journey or Wound), resolve them as follows:

• Area Specific: gain 1 Good provided by any Source in the Area with your miniature.

  • Ore Source: Provides Ore.
  • Gossip Source: Provides Gossip.
  • Magic Source: Provides Magic.
  • Material Source: Provides Material.
  • Fate Source: Provides Fate.
  • Power Source: Provides Power.

  If there are multiple different Sources in your Area and you gain more than 1 Good at once, they must all be of the same type.

• Good icon (Ore/Material/Magic/Gossip): Gain 1 of the indicated Good.

• Heal icon: Discard 1 Wound tile of any size from your Wound area (see Healing above).

• Enemy space icon: Covering this space is how you defeat enemies during Combat (see Combat below).

• Experience icon (Combat/Journey): Gain 1 Experience by rotating your Combat dial or advancing your Journey tracker on the Journey track by 1 space.

• Discovery icon: Draw and resolve 1 Discovery card.

  Discovery cards represent unusual events, meetings, and surprises during your voyages. You may gain them by covering Discovery spaces on Terrain cards. First, draw and resolve the card and then place it in its discard pile.

Each time you cover a yellow or red space, you must resolve the Penalty effect indicated on the card you placed the tile on.

Penalty effects:

• For each Threat icon: Gain 1 Threat (see Threats below).
• Wound tile icon (of any size): place the indicated Wound tile in your Wound area (see Wounds above).
• Goods icons: discard 1 of the indicated Goods.
• Die icon: roll the indicated die and gain the depicted Wound.

If there are multiple Penalty icon effects, resolve it once for each such icon.

Example: Danielle covers a yellow space, therefore she gains 2 Wounds.

Goods

There are 6 types of Goods in Thorgal: the Board Game, which represent the resources that you use for various purposes.

• Material corresponds to what things are made of and can be used to build: boards, bricks, clay, straw, etc. It is generally spent to activate Locations.
• Ore corresponds to objects that can be mined and used to forge, such as nuggets of silver and other metals, stone, flint, etc. It is generally spent to activate Locations.
• Gossip corresponds to the common knowledge people may share with you. It is generally spent to activate Locations and resolve Side Plots.
• Magic corresponds to secret or forgotten knowledge about mysticism, ancient times, Gods, and the People of the Stars. It is generally spent to refresh Skill cards and activate various game effects.
• Fate and Power Goods are used for various purposes in each Adventure and have different mechanics and purposes. Before starting each game, make sure you know how they are used in the particular Adventure you are playing.

Fate and Power are generally not Collected nor gained during the Journey action; however, they may have corresponding Sources in some Adventures (Fate Source and Power Source).

Action: Collect

This action allows you to gain Goods and it is available in every Area as long as you have the indicated Good or Source icon on any of the Terrain cards on the Journey Path.

To resolve the Collect action complete the following steps:

1. Place 1 Collect token on any space of a Terrain card in the Journey Path with a Good icon or Source icon and gain the corresponding Goods equal to the Collect Action value.
2. If you covered a yellow or red space, resolve the Penalty effect once.

IMPORTANT:

• The Collect action allows you to gain multiple Goods by covering a single icon.
• You may place the Collect token on any space with a Good icon or Source icon on the Journey Path—it is not connected to the Journey Path in any way.

Example: Gregory resolves a Collect 3 action. He may place 1 Collect token on any chosen space of any of the Terrain cards. He chooses the space because Gregory gains 3 Ore because it corresponds to one of the Sources in his current Area. Then he gains 1 Wound tile for covering a yellow space that he must place within his Wound area.

Note: You may not resolve any effect other than those providing Goods when using a Collect action (example: you cannot draw a Discovery card).

Note 2: If there are no Sources available in your Area, then placing a Collect token on a Source has no effect.

Tip: You may place a Collect token on any Terrain card, which allows you to collect previously unclaimed Goods. However, if you place a Collect token to the right of the Journey tiles, it may be harder to place them during future Journey actions.

Action: Assign

The Assign action instructs you to place Goods from your supply on Locations to resolve their effects. You may not assign Goods to Locations with Enemy tokens, Blockade tokens, or Completed Entry tokens.

To resolve the Assign action complete the following steps:

1. Choose an Area where you are present and place the number of Goods indicated by the Assign Action value into a Location of that Area. You may assign many different types of Goods during a single action; however, you may not assign Goods to different Locations during a single action.

   Remember: Each time you spend Goods (i.e.: during an Assign action), they may come from any Character's supply that is present in your Area, as long as they agree to share them with you.

2. If there are enough Goods of the stated type(s) on the Location, resolve the indicated effect.

3. After resolving the effect, discard all the Goods that were required for the resolved effect from the Location, unless otherwise stated. Goods that were not used for the resolved effect remain on the Location.

Some game effects instruct you to place an Increased Cost token next to Locations with the Assign action. These increase the number of Goods you must assign there to resolve the effect by 1 Good. If the Location requires more than 1 type of Good, you may decide which cost is increased.

Example: Danielle resolves an Assign 3 action. She places 2 Gossip from her supply and 1 Gossip from Gregory's supply (because his Character is also present in the Area and he agreed) on the Location. Since there are 3 Gossip on the Location, Danielle resolves the indicated effect: she reads Entry 10.

Action: Combat

This action allows you to fight Enemies in your Area.

To resolve a Combat action complete the following steps:

1. Choose an Enemy token on any Location in your Area.

2. Draw the top Enemy card, from the deck corresponding to the Enemy token you chose, and place it in front of you.

   For this token:	Minor	Moderate	Major	Massive	Mystical
   Draw this card:	Minor Enemy card	Moderate Enemy card	Major Enemy card	Massive Enemy card	Resolve Adventure specific effects

3. Make the Combat roll by rolling the dice shown on your Combat dial and take the Wound tiles indicated by the rolled results. Then place the tiles on the Enemy card so that each tile has at least 1 edge adjacent to the other. Tiles may not overlap each other or extend outside of the grid on the Enemy card.

4. Resolve the effects of each space you cover with the Wound tile. All effects are described in the Covering Effects section above.

5. Determine whether you win or lose the Combat according to the table below:

   Win	Lose
   If you covered all the Enemy spaces, discard the Enemy token from your Area.	Gain 1 Threat for each Enemy space you did not cover (see Threats below). Do not discard the Enemy token.

6. Discard the Enemy card (to its corresponding discard pile) and return the Wound tiles from it back to the supply (regardless of if you win or lose the Combat).

Combat Dice

Each Combat die has multiple results. The two sides of each die containing the smallest shapes also have black squares, these are the Critical Results and they only resolve when you activate a Critical effect (see Critical below). If you do not activate a Critical effect, you only resolve the white squares on the die.

Combat Effects

Many effects are resolved during Combat and may be resolved before or after the Combat roll.

Additional Dice: If an effect provides you with additional dice, you must decide if you want to use them before you roll the dice. Once you roll the dice, you cannot decide to roll more dice.

Reroll: When an effect allows you to reroll dice, reroll 1 die at a time up to the number of times indicated by the effect. You may reroll the same die multiple times (unless stated otherwise).

Upgrading Dice: You must decide whether you want to upgrade any of your dice before the Combat roll. When upgrading dice, discard any die and replace it with a stronger die according to the following order: green → yellow → orange → red.

Critical: When you are instructed to activate a Critical effect, you must place the larger Wound tiles, which include the black spaces on the Combat dice. You may resolve the Critical effect after rolling the dice. If you do not activate a Critical effect, you only resolve the white squares on the die.

Defeating All Enemies in a Location

Once you defeat all Enemies in a Location marked with the Merged Enemies icon, you must immediately resolve the effect of the Location.

Mystical Enemies

Many Adventures have additional rules for Enemies, including Mystical Enemy tokens.

Merged Enemies

This effect indicates that you must place all the Enemy cards next to each other in an order of your choice as a single Enemy group. They are composed of the number and type of cards corresponding to either all the Enemy tokens on the Location or all Enemies stated in an Entry. To defeat them you must place the Wound tiles adjacent to each other across all the Enemy cards.

Example: Danielle resolves the Combat action in a Location with a Merged Enemies token. She draws an Enemy card from the corresponding deck, as shown below. She takes the dice indicated on the Combat dial (orange and red) and decides to use an Item to roll an additional yellow die. Unfortunately, she is unable to activate the Critical effect on the yellow die. She places the corresponding Wound tiles on the Enemy card. She covers 2 Enemy spaces, so she gains 2 Experience. She also covers a yellow space, so she gains 1 Wound. She didn't manage to cover all the Enemy spaces, so loses the Combat and gains 1 Threat for each uncovered Enemy space (1 Threat total). Finally, she discards the Enemy card and all the Wound tiles placed on it, but the Enemy token remains on the Map.

Action: Sacrifice

The Sacrifice action forces you to gain Wounds depicted on Locations to resolve their effects. You may not Sacrifice in Locations with Enemy tokens, Blockade tokens, or Completed Entry tokens.

To resolve the Sacrifice action complete the following steps:

1. Choose a Location with the Sacrifice action in your Area. Gain a number of indicated Wounds equal to the Sacrifice Action value.
2. Resolve the indicated effect.

Note: This action cannot be partially performed—you must gain all the indicated Wounds.

Example: Gregory decides to resolve the Sacrifice action. He has 1 Threat in his supply so the Action value is 3, therefore he gains 3 Wounds, and then resolves the indicated effect: he gains 1 Power.

Sacrifice Cover Tokens

Some game effects instruct you to place these tokens so they cover actions printed on the board. When such a token is present on a Location, the depicted Sacrifice action must be resolved instead of the covered action (see Covering Spaces/Icons below).

Action: Craft

The Craft action allows you to gain new Items and is available in every Area.

To resolve the Craft action complete the following steps:

1. Choose a number of Item cards from the Display equal to the Craft Action value and place them below your Character board. If you want, you may choose fewer cards than the Craft Action value.
2. You may discard 1 Item card from the Display.
3. Refill the Display with new Item cards. If you run out of cards, reshuffle the corresponding discard pile to create a new deck and then refill the Display.

Example: Danielle is resolving a Combat action. Before rolling the dice she decides to use the Stone of the Vanir Item card. She rolls 1 additional red die, gains 1 Threat, and then discards the Item.

Items

Items allow you to improve actions or perform additional effects during your turn. They are all single-use, and discarded after they are resolved. Each Character begins the game with a single Item. Players gain more Items throughout the game thanks to the Craft action and other effects. Players may not share or exchange their Item cards with each other.

• Name
• Action: The left side of an Item card indicates during which action the Item may be used. If the Item has a multicolored icon, it might be used during any action. All Item cards are free to play.
• Item effect
• Character: Indicates which Character begins the game with the Item.

When an effect instructs you to draw a number of Item cards, draw cards randomly from the top of the Item deck. If resolving an effect instructs you to gain Item cards, pick them as you wish from the Display and then refill it.

Event Phase

Once all Action chips are on their inactive sides, and the actions are completely resolved, proceed to the Event phase by completing the following steps:

1. Advance the Round marker by 1 space.

   If the Round marker is on the last space and cannot advance, you lose the game.

2. Flip all the Action chips to their active side.

3. Resolve the "Next Event phase" effect of the active Event card. This usually instructs you to resolve the Threat, Round marker, or Adventure Track marker effect explained on the Adventure sheet.

4. Draw and resolve a new Event card. First, starting with the Event card deck on the left, check the requirements of drawing an Event card. If the requirement has been met, draw and reveal the Event card, then resolve all of its immediate effects.

5. Pass the First Player marker to the next player in clockwise order.

Example: During the Event phase, Gregory must resolve the middle effect on the Adventure sheet. He checks the Adventure sheet and sees that he must upgrade 1 Enemy token on a Location.

Note: Each Adventure uses 2 decks of Event cards. They affect the gameplay in various ways, but the cards from each deck are similar, so once you understand how some cards from a deck function, you may be able to assume how other cards within the deck also work.

Event Card

• Title: Sets the scene for what Event is happening.
• Image: Illustrates what the Event looks like.
• Description: Flavor text about the Event.
• Effect: Mechanical effects that must be resolved in the indicated moment.
• Next Event phase effect.

End of the Game

Each Adventure has its own winning and losing conditions; however, the death of a Character and running out of time (having no rounds remaining) always ends in a loss. Adventures have multiple possible endings, so make sure to read the right Entry to check how well you did.

Rules in Detail

Example: Gregory resolved an Assign action and assigned 3 Gossip to the Location, which means he reads Entry 10. He reads the Story aloud and resolves all effects. He may spend 1 Gossip from his supply or any other Character in that Area, to resolve either of the Side Plots. He decides to resolve the bottommost effect to discard all Discovery tokens from 2 Terrain cards of their choice. Finally, he places the Completed Entry token on the Location where he resolved the action—no Character may resolve it again until the end of the game.

Merchant Colony (Entry 10): The merchants spit when you mention Thor's name. His Captains confiscated the merchants' equipment recently, leaving them with little merchandise. When they hear about the rebellion, one of them hands you a mysterious package with Thor's sigil embedded in it and warns you not to open it until you're in complete darkness.

Gain 1 Power. Move any 1 Enemy from a Location with multiple Enemy tokens to a Minor or Moderate token without a Completed Entry token.

Spend 1 Gossip to resolve either of the Side Plots:

• Ask them to provide supplies for the rebels — Any 2 Characters gain 1 Item each from the Display and refill it.
• Help the merchants for a day and learn about their gathering methods — Discard all Discovery tokens from 2 Terrain cards of your choice in the Journey Path.

Entries

Many actions and effects instruct you to read Entries from the Book of Tales, indicated by the Entry icon. Each Entry may only be read once during each Adventure, unless otherwise specified.

When instructed to read an Entry, read it, resolve all effects, and mark the corresponding Location with an Entry (Completed Entry) token.

Each Entry ends up with a choice of following one of the two available Side Plots. The active player may spend 1 Gossip to resolve either of them.

Many Entry icons are connected to another icon to indicate which aspect of the game it refers to. For example, the Entry-Power icon means this Entry corresponds to Power (it may mean gaining, placing, discarding, moving it, etc. depending on the Adventure) whereas the Entry-Heal icon refers to Heal.

Note: In some extremely rare cases, reading one Entry may allow you to read another Entry. Always completely resolve the first Entry before reading the next one.

Entries consist of the following:

• Entry number: Helps identify and locate the Entry.
• Name: Sets the scene for the Entry.
• Story: The story has no direct bearing on gameplay, however the information presented here may help you decide what to do next.
• Effects: You must resolve these effects. They are applied either to all Characters or a single Character, depending on the instruction, and must be applied in the given order.
• Side plots.

Threats

Threat tokens represent the dangers and pressure that build up as you progress through your Adventure. Many game effects depend on the number of Threat tokens you have. Most of the Adventures have additional effects described in the Entries and on Event cards connected to the Threat tokens.

Each Character may have up to 5 Threats. If, at any time, a Character receives a 6th Threat, they gain 1 Wound instead (as described in the Unfulfilled Effects section above).

Note: If you gain a "Wound (Threat)", it means that you must place any Wound tile with a size equal to the number of Threats in your supply into your Wound area.

Special Action Cards

Some Adventures have Special Actions cards, marked by letters at the bottom instead of numbers. When you gain such a card, place it below the corresponding Action card. If the Action card is swapped later during the game, move the Special Action card so it remains below the corresponding Action card.

Example (Special Action card B): In addition to the Main action, after a successful Combat against a Mystical Enemy, you may discard a Mystical Enemy instead of moving it to a different Area. This Special Action card affects the Combat action.

The Harbor Offices (example Entry): You bash through the locked doors and into the office. You expect it to be empty, but inside you find a terrified clerk hiding under a desk. He tells you about a man who came here just a moment ago and took the documents allowing him to command the Captains of the dhows moored in the port to take him wherever he needed to go. He was carrying a red crystal in his hand, and whenever someone looked at it, their eyes turned red and they set off into the city, screaming maddeningly. He only managed to remain thanks to the talisman he's wearing. You convince him to give you the charm—it will be useful in the fight against the charmed citizens.

Place Special Action card B below the Combat Action card. Place 1 Fate on any Action card.

Example: This Entry made you place Special Action card B below your Combat card. From now on, when you place an Action chip there, you resolve the Main action (Combat) and apply the effects depicted on the Special Action card.

Covering Spaces/Icons

If you cover anything using a Blockade token, it is now considered unavailable and you may not interact with it (e.g.: you may not interact with a Location or any Goods, Enemies, etc. on it if it is covered with a Blockade token).

If you ever cover anything with another component, treat the component covering it as if it were printed there.

Example: Gregory covers a red Penalty icon with a Wound tile. From now on, each time anyone must resolve a red Penalty icon on this Terrain card, they gain 1 Wound.

These tokens are placed on Action spaces covering the printed requirement. They may cover Action spaces with Sacrifice icons, but also with different Actions.

Ambiguity

If an effect does not indicate the exact target or can be resolved in multiple different ways, players can choose any of these ways.

Exhausted Terrain Deck

If you run out of Terrain cards and you have placed tiles on a space in the last available column, you may no longer resolve the Journey action.

Upgrading and Degrading Enemies

There are 4 types of Enemies. When you are instructed to Upgrade an Enemy token, replace it with an Enemy token that has 1 more Strength (Minor → Moderate → Major → Massive). If you must Upgrade a Massive Enemy, all Characters resolve the Unfulfilled effect (gain 1 Wound) instead.

When you must Degrade an Enemy token, replace it with an Enemy token that has 1 fewer Strength. If an effect instructs you to Degrade a Minor Enemy, ignore it without consequence.

...As a Group

Each time you must do something as a group, resolve the effect considering all Characters.

Example: when you must discard 3 Gossip as a group, all Characters together must discard 3 Gossip total.

Updating the Action Row

When you decide to swap an Action card you must take it from the Action Row. All cards must still be in ascending order, so if the new card must be placed in another space of the Action Row, move the remaining Action cards to create this space without moving the Action chips below them.

Example: Your initial Action Row has 6 Action cards numbered 8, 12, 13, 16, 22, and 35, each with Action chips below various cards. You have resolved an Action in the Prison Cell Location that allows you to swap Collect Action card 22 with Collect Action card 8. You decided to do so, therefore your Action Row now looks the same except the card numbered 22 has been replaced with the card numbered 8, in its correct ascending position, without moving any of the Action chips that were below the other cards.

Solo Game

When playing Solo, you control 2 Characters and resolve turns for each of them separately as if playing with 2 players. There are no significant rule changes. However, when resolving an effect referring to the number of players, resolve it as if there were 2 players.

Icon Glossary

• Assign Action card
• Sacrifice Action card
• Combat Action card
• Journey Action card
• Collect Action card
• Move Action card
• Craft Action card
• Special Action card
• Green Border: regular movement
• Red Border: Adventure specific rules
• Blue Border: Adventure specific rules
• Impassable Border: impossible to cross
• Any Action chip
• Active Action chip
• Inactive Action chip
• The only chip below an Action card
• Each chip to the left of the active Action card
• Each chip below the active Action card
• Any die
• Die of the indicated color
• Any Good
• Gossip Good
• Ore Good
• Material Good
• Magic Good
• Fate Good (it has Adventure specific special rules)
• Power Good (it has Adventure specific special rules)
• Area Specific, refers to the Area you are in
• Gossip Source
• Ore Source
• Material Source
• Magic Source
• Fate Source
• Power Source
• Threat
• Discard
• Experience
• Combat Experience
• Journey Experience
• Active Skill card
• Penalty
• Red Penalty
• Yellow Penalty
• Entry
• Completed Entry token
• Blocked Location, Border, etc.
• Collect token
• Heal (discard 1 Wound)
• Enemy spaces you must cover to defeat them and win Combat
• Any Enemy
• Minor Enemy
• Moderate Enemy
• Major Enemy
• Massive Enemy
• Mystical Enemy
• Strength of an Enemy
• Runes (lettered A, B, C, K, M, Z)
• Size 1 Polyomino (Wound/Journey) tile
• Size 2 Polyomino (Wound/Journey) tile
• Size 3 Polyomino (Wound/Journey) tiles
• Size 4 Polyomino (Wound/Journey) tiles
• Size 5 Polyomino (Wound/Journey) tiles
• Round marker
• Reveal a new Terrain card
• Discovery card
• Objective token
• Increased cost token
• Sacrifice cover token
• Adventure Track marker (described in some of the Adventure Descriptions)
• Move the Adventure Track marker by 1 space in the indicated direction

Rules Summary

You must accomplish all the Goals within the number of rounds shown on the Adventure sheet. During each round, resolve the following:

1. Action Phase

Starting with the First player, each player completes these steps:

• Choose an active Action chip, and flip the Action chip to its inactive side.
• Place it below a different Action card.
• Resolve the action according to the text of the Action card under which they placed the Action chip.

During their turn, each Character may use their Skill and/or Item cards if applicable.

Move: Move through a number of Borders equal to the Move Action value.

Journey: Place any Journey tile shown on your space (or any space below) on the Journey Path. The Journey tile must be placed adjacent to the rightmost placed tile so that it is on the current rightmost column and/or farther toward the right.

Then resolve every covered space. If you covered a space in the column marked with the reveal-new-Terrain-card icon of the rightmost card, reveal and add a new Terrain card to the Journey Path. Gain the bonus depicted in its corner.

Resolve the corresponding Penalty effect once for each red or yellow space you cover.

Collect: Place 1 Collect token on any Terrain card. The token may be placed on any Good or Source icon. Then gain a number of matching Goods equal to the Collect Action value. If you covered any Penalty space, resolve its effect once.

Assign: Place up to a number of Goods equal to the Assign Action value on a Location in your Area requiring assigned Goods. You may take them from your supply or from other Character's also present in the Area, if they agree.

Sacrifice: Choose a Location that requires a Sacrifice in an Area where you are present. Gain the number of Wound tiles (shown on this Location) equal to the Sacrifice Action value and place them within your Wound area. Then resolve the Location effect.

Note: You cannot resolve the Assign/Sacrifice actions in Locations with an Enemy, Blockade token, or Completed Entry token.

Combat: Choose an Enemy token in a Location in an Area where you are present and draw the top Enemy card from the corresponding deck, and roll the dice shown on your Combat dial. Place the rolled Wound tiles adjacent to each other and resolve the covered spaces. If you covered all of the Enemy spaces, discard that Enemy token. If you didn't, gain 1 Threat for each uncovered Enemy space. Discard the Enemy card and all Wound tiles placed on it.

Craft: Gain up to a number of Items from the Display equal to the Craft Action value. You may discard 1 card from the Display. Then refill the Display.

After all the Action chips have been used and flipped to their inactive sides, resolve the Event phase.

2. Event Phase

1. Advance the Round marker by 1 space.
2. Flip all the Action chips back to their active side (without moving them).
3. Resolve the Event phase effect of the revealed Event card.
4. Check the requirements for drawing the next Event card, and then draw it (if it has any Immediate effects, resolve them).
5. Pass the First Player marker clockwise.

Credits

Game design: Joanna Kijanka & Jan Maurycy Adventure writer: Rafał Szyma Entry writer: Michał Żimnol Development: Ignacy Trzewiczek Illustrations: Grzegorz Rosiński, Frederick Vignaux, Hanna Kuik, Maciej Simiński Graphic design: Mateusz Kopacz Project manager: Jan Maurycy, Marek Dąbrowski Production manager: Damian Mazur English editor: Tyler Brown Playtesters: Gaba Palicka, Szymon Ratka, Karol Han, Sławomir Winszczyk, Kuba Jarosz, Kornel Żaba, Tomek Raniecki, Szymon and Alicja Święciccy, Ignacy and Asia, Wgnieceni w Planszę, Przemek and Tomek, Reila, Imo, Piotr, Paxu, Bartek Mroziński, Łukasz Hankus, Dawid Szczepaniak, Robert Deninis. Special thanks: Weronika Spyra

Miniatures by Titan Forge.

© G. ROSIŃSKI / J. VAN HAMME / ÉDITIONS DU LOMBARD (DARGAUD-LOMBARD S.A.) 2023.

Published by: Portal Games Sp. z o.o., ul. H. Sienkiewicza 13, 44-190 Knurów, Poland.