Prelude

Game Mechanics

Response and Actions

Each Turn consists of a Response from each player. When the player Responds, they will have a certain amount of Actions they can use (which is 4 minus the Suspend which is denoted on their character card with black ball at the bottom). Each Action will allow for one thing to be done. This can be, drawing a weapon, attacking with a weapon, drawing a flask, drinking from the flask, etc. Each time a new person’s Response comes into play, all actions are reset. No one can use an action on another person’s Response save for to defend or if an ability, card, etc. overrides this rule. (However, if a spell, item, etc. was started on a players Response and they did not have enough Actions to finish the spell, item, etc. they can finish it on the other person’s Response by using their actions. This will cause them to lose actions that would have allowed them to defend. Also, should they be distracted from their task, through an immediate or taking damage directly [must be at least 10% of their life], they will stop what they were doing and the actions they have used will be wasted. If it is a spell they are casting, the spell simply dissolves and is sent to the cemetery.)

Weapons, Items, etc. have suspend balls on them as well. This is how many actions the card will consume to use. If it has a 4 on it and the player has only 2 actions per round, then the attack will consume their 2 actions, plus the next two actions of on the next players response. Meaning that they will not be able to defend during the next person’s move. Traps that have these same balls on them will take that long to set, thus the player will have to take up those actions to use them.

If an item, weapon, etc. has 0 on suspend, it still costs to use, but only 1 action. Thus if a card has 0 on the suspend, it will cost 1 action to bring into play, but then can be used immediately without the cost of a second action to use. Usually these are healing items and the like, but there are some weapons that have this as well. Keep these close as they are rare and since they cost no actions, they can be used to attack with as many times as the player has actions to attack. Whips are used in this way and can deal a great deal of damage, even though they have little direct attack.

If a player is out of Actions, they can not respond, thus if they are attacked, they can not defend. Use actions wisely. (See Actions, Response, Suspend, Cemetery.)

Main Deck

All decks start with Ranks for more than one style of character. This allows each player to be able to alter their character for what suites them the most. However, this means that there are some cards in the deck that are not needed for the current character. Choose your ranks carefully, as there are certain characters that can’t use certain types of cards, or that can only use certain types of cards.

Below are the instructions for getting the deck setup for game play.

Race Cards

Each race has its own abilities and disabilities. Due to this, certain races can’t use certain magics, energies, etc. due to their racial make up. Certain Ranks are unachievable by this race.

To find out what the character can use, look at the Icons page of the character card. This page will show all the icons for the character to be used. If an icon is not there, then the ability can’t be used (See Racial Cards Broken Down).

Look carefully at each and see what is missing from them. Then go through the deck to remove anything that does not work with this character. The cards removed are not cast aside, however, they can be used if there is a different character that you would like to use. (There should be 2 characters in the starter deck that allows the player to see the difference between each race.)

Once the cards are removed, you can see if they are useable by looking at the center of each card to find its casting needs. If your character does not have that icon on their icon page, then they can not use it. The only exception would be the Green Ball with the numbers in it. Those are Training Numbers. (See Training Numbers))

Rank Decision

Rank Cards define a character as a certain type. Such as a Swordsman, Mage, etc. If a person wants to use magic, they will start with the magic user cards they can find. In this case, the tiers to become a Mage are the first ones everyone gets. (See Mage). Remember that things are a bit different in this realm and thus magic users may not be what you think. Also, remember that some ranks can be interchangeable with one another so that if a Swordsman decides later to become a Gladiator instead, he need only drop to the Soldier rank and then build back up from there. (This will all be noted on the card as per if it is a common rank or a specific one.)

No one can have more than one Rank on the field until they have mastered that Rank. If a person is playing with Magic at the beginning of the game, they must continue with the color of magic they have until they become a master of that Rank. At that point, they will get a Masters Acknowledgement and then be able to start learning another magic while still using the first. Though, be careful not to mix colors as they can be rather explosive. This same thing goes for Swordsman and Barbarian and any other Ranks. If someone wants to be a Barbarian Swordsman, they have to first finish the Barbarian before they can become a Swordsman. (This is only to the Master level, there are usually many more levels above the Master level.) (See Magics, Swordsman, Barbarian, Mage, Ranks, Masters Acknowledgement.)

Note 1-2

Note: The above rule does not apply to those with Cross Training. (See Cross Training.)

Note2: It usually take 4-5 tiers before a Mastery is granted. There are usually about 8 of these before one has maxed out their ability in this field. Most will not get to the end of the tiers before being overcome by time, killed by someone else, or trading out to a different Rank. Many will mix and match the Ranks, jumping from one set of tiers to another to make a more well rounded character. (Some Ranks don’t allow this, be careful to read everything about your chosen Rank before moving forward.)

Removing the Unnecessary

Once you have chosen your Rank and know that it will work for your character and race, then remove all other rank cards that are in your deck that don’t belong.

I.E. If you are a swordsman, remove all magics and energies from your deck. Also, remove all Barbarian weapons from the deck as well.

If you are a Green Mage, then remove all other colors from your deck and all sharp weapons. (These would be all weapons that are not common or that have the sharp weapon symbol on them.)(See Sharp Weapons.)

If you are a character that has two ranks, (Which means that you have Cross Training at the beginning of the game) then you can use Green and Red Magic together, so place the first Rank Card of each of these colors. Or a Swordsman and a Green Magic User, then place the first of the Swordsman and the first of Green Magic on the field.

Before Game Setup!

Each player takes their character cards and places them on the field. In this moment, all agreements must be made before anything else is started. If there is a “bet” on the game, then the item, weapon, etc. that is the subject of said bet must be placed to the side of the field, or shown so that everyone knows where it will be. During this phase of the game setup, all agreements must be solidified or they do not exist. Once the preliminaries are placed on the field, all agreements are stopped and only the ones before this action will be upheald.

Preliminary Cards

All Preliminary Cards will have the name as such on the card as an identifier. Without this, there must be an ability, talent, etc. that will allow the card to be considered a Preliminary. There are never more than two Preliminaries placed on the field and all must go in sequence to the one before. (Such as if you place Green Magic 1, then the second card must be Green Magic 2 and not 3. If you place a 2, you must have the 1 to allow this to be placed. That said, all players can place, in sequence, any cards on top of the preliminary that is of the same type. Such as, Green Magic 1 and 2 are on the field, and the character has used all of the magic reserves on Green Magic 2, then they can place another Green Magic 1 on the field to refill the reserves. They will have to have another Green Magic 2 to continue moving up the scale, however. This is due to the fact that only 1 Preliminary of any given type can be counted at any given time. If it is Green Magic and there are 5 Preliminaries on the field, then only the top Preliminary can be counted into the attacks, abilities, etc. for use by the character.)

Note: With Preliminaries, there can be two types of Preliminaries on the field, but the player can still only start the game with 2 Preliminaries. Meaning that both of these types will have to be the Rank 1 to start off with. No Preliminaries that are not placed at the beginning of the game can be used throughout the rest of the game. (This means that if a player has only Mage levels at the beginning of the game, then they are a Mage and can not later drop a Preliminary for a Swordsman. Once the game starts, the Preliminaries that are on the field bind the character, all other types of Preliminaries will be disregarded if they drop. Make certain you get the Prelims down the way that you want or this could be a catastrophe.)

Note 2: Some races allow more than one type of Preliminary on the field. This will be noted on the character card with either an ability, such as Cross Training, or an racial talent that will be spelled out on the card. Otherwise, only one type of Preliminary can be on the field at a time for each given player. That is, until they have mastered that Preliminary. (See Preliminaries.) (Just rehashing what was said above.)

Shuffling the Deck

All players will shuffle their own deck, but when completed, one opponent to the player’s left will then cut the deck in half, halves, or however they may choose, to ensure that there is no stacking of the deck going on. The opponent will then place the deck back together and give back to the player. Should the player choose, they can again cut the deck, but only in half and place the halves as they choose. Once shuffled to completion in this way, the deck is placed on the field and becomes the Battle Chest.

Who Goes First

Each play mode has a different way of doing this, but for the most part, each player will lift their deck and look at the bottom card. The card with the highest life total will be the first person to draw and continue (See Life).

In the case of a tie, the two that tied will look at their Initiative and the person with the highest initiative will go first.

Note: certain types of game play do not incorporate certain parts of the Prelude and thus will state as such on the rules for that type of game play.

Player One

Player one draw 7 cards in most game styles (Please read the style of game play you are playing to ensure that this is correct as all of them have different ways of doing things.)

This person can then play from their hand any Value Cards they have, but only one of each type (See Value Cards). (Also See Rank Values, Racial Values for all other types of Value at Startup.)

They can then play any weapons, items, etc. that they can pay for to bring into the field. Paying for an item to enter the field does not cost an action. Once on the field, however, all items, weapons, etc. have to be equipped before using and this will cost an action.

Note: In the case of creature cards, Minions, etc. when they first hit the field, they have no actions until the following round. Thus they can not use abilities, attacks, spells, etc. until they have actions to use (See Actions).

Player One can not attack their first turn unless they have an ability, talent, etc. that allows this.

The Rest of Game Play

The rest of game play should be explained as per the type of game that is being played. Read the rules for these types of game play and see what the next move is.