Unsettled: Taawa Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Quick Setup
• Introduction
  • Overview: Running in Cycles
• Planet Primer
  • Split Personality Environment
  • Day / Night Cycle
  • Advancing the Day / Night Cycle
  • Day / Night Opportunities
• Planet Primer (Continued)
  • New Resource: Hailstones
  • Harvest Hailstones (Water Rations Card)
  • Water Rations Slots
  • Chaotic Atmospheric Conditions
    • Atmospheric Condition Card
  • Rest and Distress
    • Dehydrated Card
  • Further Resources

Quick Setup

1. Tuck the top portion of the Water Rations card under the planet-specific section of the resource board. Shuffle all the atmospheric condition cards with this side up, and then place them beneath the water rations card. Together, the water rations and atmospheric condition cards make what looks like one double-tall card. This is cool, and you're proud of us. Place 1 hailstone (black marker) in the bottom-most water rations space.
2. Place the Day/Night Cycle reference card wherever it can be conveniently referenced.
3. Separate the DAY and NIGHT opportunity cards into two piles and shuffle both. Place the NIGHT opportunities below the pink moment marker and the DAY opportunities below the blue moment marker.
4. Each player tucks an altered rest card under their explorer dashboard at the REST action, leaving the bottom half of the card exposed.
5. Place an atmospheric condition (red-triangle) trigger on the 3rd and 6th spaces of the timeline.
6. Set aside the investigated tokens, they are not used on Taawa unless otherwise noted.
7. Set aside all mystery cards and place the harvester, amplification crystal, and skyray tokens into the area designated for planet-specific tokens.

Introduction

Overview: Running in Cycles

Taawa's environment will transition between DAY and NIGHT, revealing different actions, effects, and node-edge symbols.

Your survival depends on learning to use the cycle to your advantage, as some actions and tasks can only be completed during the DAY or at NIGHT. Additionally, you will need to steadily collect hailstones to stave off the threat of dehydration. Doing so can trigger some bizarre (and maybe useful?) energy effects.

Planet Primer

Split Personality Environment

Each of Taawa's environment cards are double-sided, as each location is very different depending on whether it is DAY or NIGHT.

Example environment card, Skyray Migration Route: the DAY side shows the action SCAN LOCAL FAUNA (ADVANCE DAY): "Local and adjacent hailstones are not discarded if their node flips due to this effect." The NIGHT side shows the action SLEEP PEACEFULLY.

Day / Night Cycle

Taawa's environment is split into separate day and night sections, each containing 6 nodes flipped to their DAY or NIGHT side. The day/night cycle moves across the environment, towards the Scarab, by flipping over 6 nodes at a time.

Advancing the Day / Night Cycle

When instructed to ADVANCE DAY, flip cards such that the DAY section moves one column of cards to the right (toward the Scarab). Note: the cards are never moving position, they're flipping. Resources on flipped cards return to the supply.

• A: Here you can see that the DAY section (white borders) is all the way to the left.
• B: To ADVANCE DAY, flip cards so the 2-column DAY section moves toward the Scarab, as shown. Note that the NIGHT section wraps around back to the leftmost side.
• C: To ADVANCE DAY again, flip cards such that the 2-column DAY section continues to the right, as shown. On the next ADVANCE DAY, DAY would wrap around like NIGHT did in example B.

Remember: If an environment card flips over, all materials, data, and hailstones on the card are returned to the supply.

Day / Night Opportunities

Opportunities on Taawa work differently. There are two types of opportunities, labeled DAY and NIGHT, each with a different card-back.

• You may only reveal an opportunity that matches your current node, e.g. reveal a NIGHT opportunity if your node is on the NIGHT side.
• Once revealed, opportunities will indicate they can only be completed in the opposite portion of the day/night cycle, e.g. a NIGHT opportunity will reveal actions that can only be completed when the node flips back to its DAY side.
• After revealing an opportunity, do not place an investigated token; on Taawa nodes can be investigated multiple times. Only one DAY and one NIGHT opportunity can be revealed at a time.

Planet Primer (Continued)

New Resource: Hailstones

Taawa introduces hailstones as a 4th resource, represented by black cubes.

• A: Hailstones can be collected using the HARVEST HAILSTONES action on the water rations card.
• B: When you take the action, it triggers a different effect depending on whether you are on a DAY or NIGHT node. These effects will change over time (see atmospheric condition).
• C: Once collected, hailstones are stored in water rations slots until they are spent.

Harvest Hailstones (Water Rations Card)

The water rations card, under the planet-specific heading "Icy Water You Did There...", shows the HARVEST HAILSTONES action.

Place any number of local hailstones into water rations, bottom to top, pipping down once for each. Extra hail harvested is placed in available extended water rations (on distress).

Then, IF YOU ARE ON A NODE WITH AT LEAST ONE HAILSTONE, YOU MAY: resolve the effect of your water rations fill level (lose trust, no effect, or gain trust). Then, return all those hailstones to the supply.

If water rations is empty: refill water rations bottom to top from any filled extended water rations (distress) if able.

The effect of harvesting depends on whether you are on a DAY or NIGHT node:

• IF YOU ARE ON A DAY NODE: After harvesting, collect a hailstone from LUNA's node at no cost. This does not trigger additional effects.
• IF YOU ARE ON A NIGHT NODE: When harvesting, gain a focus for each hailstone acquired instead of losing it.

Water Rations Slots

Water rations slots are found on the water rations card and on distress. The slots on distress are considered an extension of the slots on the card. Think of it as one large water rations pool, shared by all.

• When you HARVEST HAILSTONES, first fill the water rations card. Any excess can go onto the additional slots provided by any explorer's distress (regardless of their location).
• Hailstones in water rations can be spent when an action or effect calls for them.
• You may freely move hailstones between slots on the water rations card and on distress.

Chaotic Atmospheric Conditions

When the time marker reaches the atmospheric condition (red) trigger: flip atmospheric condition card and resolve all the effects on the back.

(Image caption beside the red trigger icon: "Flip this card.")

As part of that resolution you will experience an effect depending on how much hail you have stored up in water rations. If you've stored no hail, you distribute 2 distress and trust goes down. If you've stored 1, trust goes down. Stored 2, no effect. Stored 3, trust goes up! Note: you only experience one of these effects, depending on whether you have 0/1/2/3+ hail.

Then, all hailstones on the card are returned to the supply. Any hail you have on extended water rations (distress) are not lost, and are used to refill the slots on the card.

Atmospheric Condition Card

The back of the atmospheric condition card is resolved in this order:

1. Resolve the effect of your water rations fill level (lose trust, no effect, or gain trust). Then, return all those hailstones to the supply. If water rations is empty: [two distress icons and a trust-down icon]
2. Refill water rations bottom to top from any filled extended water rations (distress) if able.
3. ADVANCE DAY
4. Place 2 hailstones on each of these indicated nodes below. Fill nodes from left to right. [grid of nodes, indicated spaces highlighted]
5. Discard this card, revealing what strange new ways the starglow energy is behaving and the set of DAY / NIGHT effects this creates for the HARVEST HAILSTONES action.

The front of the card reads "Atmospheric Condition Readout" with flavour text (radiation interference detected, hailstorm designation, temperature readings). The flavour readout is not transcribed.

Rest and Distress

Any time an explorer uses the REST action on a DAY node, they have a choice: either spend a hailstone from water rations or gain a distress. A reminder of this choice is shown on each explorer's altered rest card.

Dehydrated Card

• When gained: [red icon]
• Extended Water Rations: [empty slot] Discard this hailstone if distress is lost.
• Anytime: move this distress to another action space.

Further Resources

Every module and planet in Unsettled has a database of how-to-play videos, a living FAQ, and an errata document: orangenebula.com/unsettledDB