World Changers
World Changers Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
In World Changers, players draft cards with unique effects and Legacy Point values. The game ends when there are no cards left in The Void or when all players have passed in succession. The player whose crew has the highest sum of Legacy Points wins.
Components
- 32 Historical Figure Cards
- 4 Player Chips (double sided)
- Active side
- Passive side
- 4 Reminder Tokens
- Rulebook
- A History Booklet to learn more about the historical figures
Setup for 2-4 Players
(For solo rules, see the Solo Rules section below.)
A. Each player takes a Player Chip in the colour of their choice.
B. Randomly select 6 cards per player, so for 2 players use 12 cards, for 3 use 18, for 4 use 24.
C. Shuffle the selected cards to create a Draw Pile. Return the remaining cards to the box.
D. Each player takes 2 cards from the Draw Pile into their hand.
E. Draw 3 cards from the Draw Pile and place them face up next to the Draw Pile. This area is called the Void.
F. Place the Reminder Tokens where all players can reach them.
G. Randomly select a starting player.
(The setup diagram carries the caption "*3-player setup".)
Gameplay
First, if your Player Chip is flipped to the Passive side, flip it to the Active side. On your turn, you can choose to either "Invite" or "Pass".
Invite
Take 1 card from the Void or from your hand and place it in front of you. This card becomes your Crew Mate. Then, if the card has an Invite effect, it will be activated if possible.
Pass
To pass your turn, flip your Player Chip to the Passive side. Activate any Trigger effects of your Crew Mates that may apply.
After all effects have been resolved, select and place hand cards into the Void until it contains 3 cards. If you don't have enough hand cards to fill the Void to 3 cards, place as many hand cards into the Void as possible. Then draw cards from the Draw Pile to fill the Void back up to 3 cards.
If the Void already contains 3 or more cards, no extra cards are added.
Lastly, draw back up to 2 hand cards from the Draw Pile. If there are not enough cards left in the Draw Pile, draw as many as possible.
Now it is the next player's turn in clockwise order. The game continues in this way until an end game condition is met.
Example
Aroha uses the Invite action to grab Francis Drake from the Void (1). After Francis Drake becomes her Crew Mate, the card's Invite effect is triggered. She uses it to activate Machiavelli, whom she acquired in a previous round. She uses Machiavelli's effect to activate Linda's card (Qin Shi Huang), which she uses to steal Genghis Khan from Moon (2). Since Genghis Khan is not acquired by her Invite action, his Invite effect is not activated. The Void is refilled according to the rules.
Now, it is Moon's turn. He takes Yi Sun-Sin from the Void (3). The effect is triggered and Moon tells Linda to pass her next turn. The Void is refilled according to the rules.
Linda has to pass, which triggers Hammurabi's effect. This means she has to move Hammurabi to the Void. However, since Linda also has Marco Polo, she may choose to move Marco Polo to the Void instead, switching it for Leonidas (4).
Types of Card Effects
There are 3 different types of card effects:
- Invite: Activated after a card is added to your Crew through the Invite action.
- Trigger: Activated when the stated condition occurs.
- End of Game: Activated at the end of the game during scoring.
Card Effect Rules
- If a card becomes your Crew Mate through an action other than your "Invite" action (e.g. the Invite action of another player), the card's Invite effect (if it has one) will not be activated.
- Card effects are not interrupted (except by cards with trigger effects). If an effect is activated for the next turn, the effect is carried out regardless if the card is still a Crew Mate of that player. Use a Reminder Token if needed.
- Card effects must be carried out as soon as they are triggered, unless another card cancels the effect (e.g. if it says "Cannot").
- A player may Invite a card, even if parts of the card's effect cannot be carried out (e.g. taking Robespierre in the first turn).
- If a player's Crew Mate goes (back) to The Void, it no longer belongs to that player.
- If multiple effects are triggered for 1 player at the same time, that player will determine the order in which the effects are activated.
- If an effect is triggered for multiple players at the same time, the effect is processed in clockwise order, beginning with the active player.
- Example: an effect triggers for 3 players: it lets them take cards from the Void. There are only 2 cards in the Void, so only the active player and the next player will get 1 card each.
Card Layout
The card layout is labelled as follows:
- Legacy Point Value (top of the card, shown as a star with a number)
- Name of the Historical Figure
- Quote by the Historical Figure
- Card Type (see the Types of Card Effects section)
- Card Effect
- Next Turn Icon [Use Reminder Token]
- Card Number
Game End
The game ends if both the Void and the Draw Pile are empty OR if all players have passed in succession (all Player Chips are flipped to their Passive side), and only after all applicable card effects have been activated.
Each player adds up the Legacy Points of their Crew Mates, remembering to apply any End of Game effects. The player with the most Legacy Points wins. In the case of a tie, the player with the most Crew Mates wins. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.
Scoring Example
At the end of the game, Aroha's Crew Mates are Plato; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Alexander III; Abraham Lincoln; Henry Ford; and Queen Elizabeth I. Her Legacy Point values would add up to -2. However, Aroha has 3 Crew Mates with End of Game effects that she can apply now. Martin Luther King, Jr. gives himself, Plato, Alexander III, Abraham Lincoln, and Queen Elizabeth I +2 Legacy Points each, since they are all worth 1 Legacy Point or less. Plato adds +2 Legacy Points to Queen Elizabeth I and Henry Ford, since these cards have a Trigger effect. Aroha chooses to use Alexander III's effect last; this doubles her total points, taking her final score to 24 Legacy Points.
Solo Rules
You play against a dummy player. Remove C32 (Alexander III) from the deck. Randomly select 24 cards and shuffle them. Take 2 cards in your hand and place 4 cards on the table. This area is called the Void.
You will take a series of turns until a game end condition is met. The dummy player does not take turns and never passes. On each of your turns, pick 1 card from your hand or from the Void and place it in front of you. This card becomes your Crew Mate. All applicable effects are activated.
If you played a card from your hand, refill your hand by taking 1 card from the Void. Then the rest of the cards in the Void join the dummy player's crew. No effects are activated for the dummy player.
Next, fill the Void back up to 4 cards and play again. Continue until all cards are Crew Mates that belong to you or the dummy player.
If the dummy player ever has to choose one of their Crew Mates (e.g. if you invite C10: Hannibal Barca), select the Crew Mate with the lowest Legacy Point value. If the dummy player has to choose a card from the Void, select the card with the highest Legacy Point value. In both cases, if there are multiple cards with the same value, you may choose which of them to select. At the end of the game, any remaining hand cards go to the dummy player, as well.
The scoring phase is the same as in a multiplayer game. End of Game effects are activated for both yourself and the dummy player.
Flow Chart
- Flip Player Chip to Active side.
- Choose either the Invite action or the Pass action.
- Invite action: Take 1 card from the Void or your hand and place it in front of you. It becomes your Crew Mate.
- Pass action: (no card is taken; the flow chart continues directly to the next step)
- Activate all applicable effects.
- If no end game condition is met, continue with the next player's turn.
Effect icons:
- Invite Effect: Activated after a card becomes your Crew Mate through the Invite action.
- Trigger Effect: Activated if a certain condition occurs.
- End of Game Effect: Activated at the end of the game during scoring.