Tower of Mages
Tower of Mages Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Before You Start
Roll 3 dice, fill in the lowest unfilled cells of the corresponding columns in the Elemental Market.
Roll 1 die. Starting at the top of the "Rooms" table, count down that many rows. Draw a small circle in the Records track beside it. (This is how you will keep track of which room you built last.)
Each Turn
Building Phase
Roll 3 dice. Choose one to use first. Cross out the circle on the Records track, and count down one row for each pip on the die. If you would count off the bottom of the list, return to the top and continue.
Draw a new circle in that row of the Records track, and add the connected Room to the Building Plan, making sure that:
- A: The dot on the bottom of the new piece connects to the dot on top of an existing one.
- B: The new piece doesn't overlap any existing pieces.
- C: The new piece doesn't connect to one of the same type.
Explosions are not rooms. Rather than adding to the tower, you will be crossing out an existing room's icon.
Rather than building the indicated room, you may build one of the "Special Rooms".
Repeat for the remaining two dice.
Time Phase
Cross out the next available Hourglass icon on the Time Track. If there is an eye below it that isn't crossed out, do a Market Phase, otherwise, begin a new turn.
Market Phase
Cross out the next available Eye on the Time Track. Roll 3 dice and fill in the lowest-numbered square in the corresponding columns of the Elemental Market.
End of Game
If you build in the top row of the Building Plan, cross off the final hourglass on the Time Track or are unable to build anything, the game is over.
Complete any available Market Phases, then total your score for your Element Rooms. 50 points is a good goal for your first time playing, after that, try to beat your high score.
For Two Players
Use 6 dice. Each player uses their own page. At the start of each Building round, one player rolls all the dice and splits them into two groups. The other player chooses one of the groups to take. Take turns rolling and splitting.
Sheet Components
Building Plan
A grid on which the Rooms are built, one piece at a time, following the Building Phase rules above.
Record
A track of circles. Per the Before You Start and Building Phase rules, it records which room was built last.
Rooms
Six element rooms, listed top to bottom: Light, Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Dark. Each row is counted down by the die pips during the Building Phase.
Elemental Market
Six columns, numbered 1 to 6 under the element symbols: 1 Light (sun), 2 Fire (flame), 3 Air (cloud), 4 Water (drop), 5 Earth (hexagon), 6 Dark (moon). Each column lists the values -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 1, 0, -1, -2 from top to bottom.
Time Track
A row of Hourglass icons, with Eye icons below some of them. See the Time Phase and Market Phase rules.
Special Buildings
Two special rooms are printed on the sheet, as alternatives to the indicated room during the Building Phase:
- Library: Requires one of each element room. Cross them out. Worth 10 points.
- Stairwell: No effect.
Special Rooms
Seven special rooms are printed on the sheet, listed in this order:
- Explosion: Cross out a room of your choice.
- Laboratory: Copy the attached room.
- Predictor: Before a Building Phase, cross out to do next available Market Phase.
- Distorter: At any time, cross out to reroll one die.
- Tower Cap: Score each elemental room between this and the ground.
- Observatory: Gain 1 point for every 3 rooms between this and the ground.
- Explosion: Cross out a room of your choice.
Note: the sheet prints "attatched" in the Laboratory entry; it is transcribed here as "attached". The sheet does not state how the Elemental Market values are scored; the Market is transcribed as printed.
Points
A scoring box at the top right of the sheet, to record your total score.