Totemic Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Game Setup
• Anatomy of a Card
  • Animal Spirit Card
  • Aspect Card
• Game Play Overview
  • Dominance
• Take an Action
  • Draw
  • Invoke
  • Challenge
• End of Your Turn
• End of the Game

Contents

• 24 specific aspect cards
• 16 basic aspect cards
• 12 animal spirit cards
• 4 power tracker cards
• 4 Solo Game challenge cards
• 2 totem level cards*
• 1 dominance token
• 1 rule book
• 1 totem

*The totem level cards included with Totemic are to provide a more portable card-only option for players who want to take Totemic on the go. When setting up the game simply choose the totem that you prefer to use.

Game Setup

1. Place the totem within reach of both players. Set the level to 5.
2. Both players select an animal spirit card and take the following:
   • The 2 specific aspect cards that depict their animal spirit
   • A set of 2 power tracker cards (1 top and 1 bottom)
3. Each player sets the starting power listed on their animal spirit on their power tracker cards.
4. Give the dominance token to the player whose animal starts with the most power.
5. Allow both players a moment to look at each other's specific animal aspect cards.
6. Shuffle the 16 basic aspect cards (those with the totem icon in the bottom right corner) and both players' specific aspect cards together facedown to form the deck.
7. Place the deck between the 2 players, off to one side of the player area.
8. Deal each player 3 cards from the deck.
9. Turn 3 cards faceup side by side next to the deck directly between the players to create the offering.

You are ready to play. The player without the dominance token takes the first turn of the game.

Anatomy of a Card

Animal Spirit Card

• Power: This is the starting amount of "life" your animal spirit has. A player may gain power in excess of their starting power throughout the game.
• Advantage: This is the unique ability of your animal spirit.

Aspect Card

• Ability: This is the effect of a card when taken from the offering as part of an invoke action.
• Strength: This is used for resolving challenges.
• Basic Aspect: This icon indicates that an aspect card is a basic aspect.

NOTE: The 16 basic aspect cards are used in every game, while specific aspect cards are determined by which animal spirits are being used. Specific aspect cards match the art and color of the animal spirit. A player may always use specific aspect cards corresponding to their opponent.

Game Play Overview

Players will alternate turns until the power of one (or both) of the players has been reduced to zero or less. The player with the most remaining power is the winner. In the event of a tie, the player with dominance wins. A player's turn is simple:

• Take an action
• End your turn

Dominance

The player who has the dominance token has dominance. The player with dominance wins all ties. Some animal advantages and aspect abilities cause players to gain or lose dominance. Anytime that a player loses dominance they lose 1 power.

Take an Action

On a player's turn, they must take 1 of 3 possible actions:

• Draw
• Invoke
• Challenge

Draw

A player takes the top card of the deck and adds it to their hand. The player does not resolve the card's ability. The player then discards down to 3 cards. They may discard the card just drawn.

NOTE: If at any time the deck has no cards, reshuffle all cards in the discard, place them facedown to form a new deck, and each player loses 1 power.

Invoke

The player selects a card in the offering, slides it halfway out of the offering in their direction, and resolves its ability.

After resolving the ability on the selected card, the player draws or discards cards until they have 3 cards in hand. The player next discards 1 card from their hand and adds the selected card to their hand.

NOTE: Some cards allow players to initiate a challenge. Resolve the challenge completely and then complete the invoke action.

Challenge

The player initiates a challenge against the opposing player. The opposing player must then choose 1 of the following 3 options:

• Accept: Both players select 2 cards from their hand and place them facedown. The selected cards are then revealed, after which the total strength values on those cards are compared. The player with the greatest total strength on their selected cards is the winner of the challenge. The losing player loses power equal to the level of the totem. In a tie, the player with dominance wins and must lose dominance.
• Threaten: After a player is challenged or threatened, they may choose to threaten the opposing player and increase the power at stake by raising the totem to its next level. If this raises the totem level to 30, the challenge is considered to have been accepted and is resolved normally. Otherwise, the decision to accept, threaten or submit moves back to the opposing player.
• Submit: The challenge ends immediately. The player that submits loses 5 power, regardless of the current level of the totem. The other player must then select 2 cards in their hand to discard.

NOTE: A player that submits is not considered to have lost the challenge, nor is the other player considered to have won. As such, no abilities or advantages related to winning or losing a challenge are resolved.

After the challenge is complete, both players discard all selected cards. The player that initiated the challenge then draws or discards cards until they have 3 cards in hand.

End of Your Turn

Check to see if one or more players have zero or less power. If so, proceed to the End of Game. Otherwise, follow these steps:

1. The opposing player draws or discards until they have 3 cards in hand.
2. Add cards from the deck until there are 3 cards in the offering.
3. Reset the totem level to 5.
4. The next player takes their turn.

End of the Game

The player with the most remaining power wins. If both players are tied, the player with dominance wins.

As games of Totemic can play very quickly, we recommend players play a match of 3 games.