Aether Captains: Clockwork Cabal Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Setup
  • Player Cards
  • Society Hall
• Play
  • Important Rule
• Location Cards
• Game Items
• Winning the Game
• Losing the Game

Overview

Clockwork Cabal is a game for one player lasting about 20 minutes. You win by finding all 6 parts of the Antikytheria before time runs out.

Required to play:

• 1 player pawn
• 1d12
• 13 small eurocubes
• and the deck of 54 cards

Setup

There are three types of cards used in the game:

• Player Cards which record your stats and items found
• City Sector Cards which create the map of the city
• Location Cards which show events and locations you discover during the game

Separate out the 4 Player Cards and place them face up in front of you.

Place 1 marker on the red (6) space on the health track.

Roll 1d12 and place 1 marker on a space matching that number on either the green knowledge track or the blue strength track. Then, subtract this number from 12 and place a marker on that number on the track you did not choose [ex.: you roll an 8 and place a marker on the (8) space on the knowledge track and a marker on the (4) on the strength track].

Place 1 marker on the black (60) space on the time track.

Next, locate the 'Society Hall' City Sector Card and place it face up in front of you in the center of the table with your player pawn on it. You will build the map of the city around this card as the game progresses, so leave plenty of room. Shuffle the remaining City Sector Cards and place them face down as a draw pile.

Lastly, shuffle the deck of Location Cards and place them face down next to the City Sector draw pile.

Player Cards

• Health / Strength card: This card records your current health and strength stats. If your health ever reaches (0) you have lost the game.
• Knowledge card: This card records your knowledge stat and items you locate during the game.
• The Antikythera Device card: This card records the parts of the Antikytheria you find during the game. Find all 6 parts before time runs out and you win.
• Time card: This card records the amount of time left in the game. You will count down from 60. When you reach the (31) space, rotate the card 180 degrees and continue counting down to (1). If the time track ever goes beyond (1) you have lost the game.

Society Hall

Society Hall is the home of the Society of Clockwork Engineers in Val Justinia. You can always return to this card and spend 2 hours of time to recover one point of health or spend 1 hour to gain 1 point of strength.

Play

Begin by deciding which direction you want to move off the card your pawn is currently on. At the start of the game this will be from the 'Society Hall' City Sector Card. Moving to an adjacent card is, however, optional.

City Sector Cards have black triangles marking the directions of movement. These directions may change as Location Cards are played. If the direction you wish to move in does not have an adjacent card, draw one from the City Sector deck (if there are still cards to draw) and place it next to your current card in the direction of travel. Each City sector card has a small cog icon in the upper right. When placing a new City Sector Card, orient the card with this icon to the upper right.

Some City Sector Cards have a large icon on them:

• If you see a GEAR icon, draw a Location Card and follow the rules on the card. See the section titled 'Location Cards' for an in-depth explanation of those cards.
• If you have purchased the key in the Amber Market you may travel from any card with this KEY icon to any other card with the icon through the sewers of Val Justinia, spending only 1 hour of time, instead of the usual travel time of 1 hour per card traveled.

Then, move your pawn to the adjacent card, and slide the Time Track marker down one hour.

Whether or not you have moved, you must now choose a card from the Location deck if the GEAR icon is showing. Follow the directions on that Location card. The turn is then over.

Important Rule

You will always slide the Time Track marker down one hour each time you move to a new card (unless you possess the Map [see Game Items for an explanation]). If you, instead of moving, remain on the card your pawn is currently on during a turn, and try to find the Antikytheria part (depending on the Location Card drawn) or buy items in the Amber Market, or you resolve a Location event/action, you will still need to move the Time Track marker down one hour.

Location Cards

There are two types of Location Cards in the game:

Some Location Cards let you find/buy items in the game. These cards will be placed on top of the current City Sector Card your pawn is on and may change the ways you can travel from that card to another adjacent card. Each time you find a part of the Antikytheria, place a marker on your player card on the part number matching that listed on the Location Card.

• Librarie Cilenia: will allow you to gain 1 point of knowledge for each hour of time you spend.
• The Hive: will allow you to find the Map, at a price, which allows you to move up to 3 cards in distance for one hour of time.
• The Amber Market: will allow you to purchase the Lens (cost: 3 health points), the Key (cost: 2 health points and 2 knowledge points) or gain knowledge (cost: 1 knowledge point gained for each strength point lost). You may buy only one item at a time during a turn.
• The Mobile Catacombs: Find part (1) of the Antikytheria by spending one point of health.
• Springwind Alley: Find part (2) by spending 2 points of knowledge.
• Floating Docks: Find part (3) by spending 3 points of strength.
• Time Union: Find part (4) by spending 2 points of both strength and knowledge.
• Revolution Square: Find part (5) by spending 2 points of health, 1 point of knowledge and 2 hours of time.
• The Watchtower: Find part (6) by rolling 6, 9, or 12 on a 1d12 roll.

The other Location Cards are one-time events that you will need to resolve in order to progress in the game. The listed events have a set of instructions on them to follow. These cards will be put in a discard pile after that event is resolved, and, if the Location draw pile is ever empty, shuffle the discard pile and form a new draw pile.

Example event card — Shifting Boundaries: If cards remain in the city sector card deck, place currently occupied city sector card back into the deck and re-shuffle it. Draw a new city sector card and place it under your current position.

Example location card — Librarie Cilenia: The secret library of Mr. Cilenia, constructed of volumes residing in the separate libraries of Val Justinia's noblility. Knowledge can be gained for the price of time.

You do not need to find the parts of the Antikytheria in numerical order. Once you find a part, that Location Card no longer needs to be resolved.

Game Items

There are 3 items in the game you can find/buy that will help you in your search. These will be marked as owned on one of the Player Cards, where they are listed, when you procure them.

• The Key: move from any City Sector card with a Key Icon to any other for only 1 hour of time lost.
• The Lens: spend one less point of knowledge any time knowledge is required to resolve a Location Card.
• The Map: move up to 3 cards in distance at a cost of 1 hour. You will not pick a new Location card (and one is chosen only if the GEAR icon is showing) until you have finished moving.

Winning the Game

You win the game if you find all six parts of the Antikytheria before the 60 hours of time runs out.

Losing the Game

You lose the game if the Time Track or your health ever reaches (0).