Below you will find official answers by the game designers to player frequently asked questions.
[ Order of Play | Challenges and Contests | Sites | Paths | Pivoting | Timing | Strategy | Miscellaneous | Card Rulings ]
Order of Play
Q: Can a character play more than one action per phase, or turn?
A: Usually no. A character cannot make an action after it is pivoted, and most actions pivot the characters afterwards. There are rare exceptions.
Q: Does each Autarch conduct a complete turn before the next?
A: Yes, in each phase.
Q: When is the player’s turn over?
A: AUTARCH PHASE: After the player has played any Sites and Paths desired, and performed one Dictate.
ALLY PHASE: After all characters have acted or are idled.
Challenges and Contests
Q: Does pivoting a character prevent it from continuing in a seizure or a contest?
A: Yes. A pivoted character is a “spent” character. It cannot participate in any actions, including site seizure, contests, or challenges. If a character
becomes pivoted during the course of one of these actions, it is immediately removed from the action.
Q: Can only active allies (in the active area) be targeted by challenges?
A: Yes, unless a card specifically says otherwise.
Q: Can damage be assigned to both target and defenders?
A: Yes. Damage is assigned by the victor of the challenge, and can apply it to ANY characters involved in the challenge. The victor may even apply the
damage to their own characters!
Q: Can secured Sites be targeted for contests or seizures?
A: No. You will have to play special cards against the Site or its Holders to make controlled Sites unsecured.
Q: Is there any limit to the number of combat or influence maneuvers a character might use during a challenge or contest?
A: No. Maneuvers do NOT pivot the character.
Q: Can characters be killed in any way other than through a challenge?
A: Yes. Some cards specifically say to discard certain characters. Otherwise, any time a character’s Strength is reduced to 0, the character dies.
Sites
Q: Can Holders of a Site be inspected, or are they hidden under the Site?
A: Yes, they may be inspected. They are not hidden.
Q: What prevents a player from stacking a deck with NO sites?
A: The rules! (Page 10)
Q: Can secured Sites be targeted for contests or seizures?
A: No. You will have to play special cards against the Site or its Holders to make controlled Sites unsecured.
Q: Can Holders of Sites be targeted by Actions or Flashes?
A: They cannot be targeted for challenges, but yes, they may be targeted by other flashes or actions. (NOTE: This ruling has been changed for tournament play.)
Q: To secure a Site, does your total influence need to equal the resistance, or exceed it?
A: You must equal or exceed the resistance of a Site to secure it. If a Site has resistance 7, then 7 influence is sufficient to secure it.
Q: When is a secured site lost? Can it be re-secured?
A: A secured Site is un-secured in only 2 ways:
- A card is played on it that causes it to be unsecured, or
- The Holders of the Site no longer have a combined influence equal to or greater than the Site’s resistance. When either of these occurs, the Holders are immediately moved to the reserve, and the Site returns to the Circle. These Sites are now “up for grabs” as they were originally played.
Q: Are sites played face up or face down?
A: Face up.
Paths
Q: Where are the paths played: under, over, or beside Sites?
A: Paths are played face down atop the target Site. The name of the Site and its game text should still be revealed.
Q: What is the means of checking whether a path is legal or not?
A: When the Path is revealed, if it does not match the Dominion of the targeted Site, it is immediately discarded, and has no effect. (In tournament play, the offender will forfeit the round.)
Pivoting
Q: Does pivoting a character prevent it from continuing in a seizure or a contest?
A: Yes. A pivoted character is a “spent” character. It cannot participate in any actions, including site seizure, contests, or challenges. If a character becomes pivoted during the course of one of these actions, it is immediately removed from the action.
Q: When are characters physically pivoted?
A: Characters are pivoted AFTER they complete an action, or when another cards targets them to do so.
Q: Can a pivoted character be the source of an action?
A: No.
Q: During the Coming of Order, may my active artists remain pivoted so that a Holder of a Site may retain the Magic bonus from the artist’s affiliation power?
A: Yes.
Timing
Q: How can a player play Flashes at any time when the player’s turn is over after certain actions?
A: Flashes are immediate, interrupting effects that are played out of turn order. Often, they affect another player’s actions and hence MUST be played on other players’ turns. How a flash is played is explained on the card itself. REMEMBER: Flashes may only be played during the Ally or Autarch phases, and cannot be played after a contest or challenge has “formally” begun.
Q: When a sequence of multiple cards or powers is played that affects the same target, in what order are the cards resolved?
A: The general rule is that the first card or power played is the first that takes effect. Flashes are an exception, in that flashes will always be resolved before any other types of cards or effects. Flashes DO follow the “first played, first effect” rule in respect to other flashes. (NOTE: This has been slightly altered in the tournament rules.)
Q: Some cards (such as Doxios and Pie ‘oh’ Pah) have powers that must be activated by the Autarch, but do not have an activation icon. When can these powers be played?
A: Assume that any powers with vague timing are played at any time, once per turn. The effect will not pivot the card. The effect is NOT a flash, and is subject to the timing restraints of any other non-flash effects.
Strategy
Q: What prevents a player from doing nothing but killing the opponent’s characters?
A: Technically, nothing. That is one strategy in the game. Playtesting has found that “battle” decks will come out strong at the beginning of the game, but slow down after a few turns. Remember: if you want to WIN the game, you have to seize Sites, which requires characters to be REMOVED from the active area. If someone spends all their time beating up on the other players’ characters, that player will reach the end of the game having no Sites, and will lose!
Q: During the Coming of Order, may my active artists remain pivoted so that a Holder of a Site may retain the Magic bonus from the artist’s affiliation power?
A: Yes.
Miscellaneous
Q: Does a player lose when the last card is drawn?
A: Not immediately, but that player’s prospects are not good! When a player draws the last card from the Destiny, he will finish the round, taking a turn in all four phases as usual. At the end f the round, that player will lose the game if he has not met the game objectives. (NOTE: In the tournament rules, there are different kinds of victories. A victory by exhausting your opponent’s Destiny is only a partial victory.)
Q: What is the procedure for examining another player’s cards?
A: Any card “on the table” is open for public view, unless another card specifically says so. Obviously, this does not apply to cards in the other players’ hands, the Destiny, or the In Ovo.
Q: What is an Ally? Are all characters someone’s allies?
A: All characters “on the table” are someone’s Allies. The character is an Ally of the Autarch who played it. To everyone else, it is just a character.
Q: Can characters with activation powers, like Hairstone Banty, use their powers while in reserve? or while Holding Sites?
A: No. Only active characters may use their activation powers.
Card Rulings
Q: Can Meditation Room kill my Allies if they have 1 or 2 Strength?
A: Yes. Whenever a character’s Strength reaches 0, by whatever means, the character is dead and discarded.
Q: Which Allies may I pivot in order to play Boston Bowl?
A: Only active or reserve Allies with Magic of 3 or more. Holders of Sites may not.
Q: Does Emotion: Loneliness affect the play of Ally Action cards?
A: Yes. At least two characters must be pivoted to play Ally Actions when Loneliness is in effect.
Q: Does Loneliness affect Boston Bowl?
A: No. Boston Bowl is not technically an action – it is a flash.
Q: Which Allies may I sacrifice to use Liberatore?
A: Any Ally in play, whether active, reserve, or holding a Site.
Q: When using the Dictate power of the River Ovum, can I redraw the Blue Egg as one of the 3 cards from the In Ovo?
A: No! Since you have to discard the Egg to activate this power, it is not eligible to be redrawn.
Q: Can the Hugger-Mussus use its special power if it is not involved in the contest?
A: No. The Hugger-Mussus must be involved in the contest to target one of the characters. This power “happens” after both Autarchs are finished playing influence maneuvers, but before the final influence is totaled.
[ Order of Play | Challenges and Contests | Sites | Paths | Pivoting | Timing | Strategy | Miscellaneous | Card Rulings ]