Altar: Realms of the Gods Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• Setup
  • Setup's legend
  • Setup for 2 Players
• Gameplay
  • Draw a Card
  • Main Actions
  • Free Actions
• End of the Game
  • Winner of the Game
• Follower Cards
  • Free Action
  • Ritual
  • Worship
  • Influence
  • Protection
  • Activation
• Altars and Shrines
  • Altars
  • Shrines

Overview

Altar is a card game for 2 to 5 players. During the game you fight against enemy gods and try to protect your Realm. Your goal is to build Shrines and discover the hidden Altars in your god's Realm in order to activate them and make your god the most powerful of all and win the game!

Each player chooses a god and takes their board which represents their Realm.

• On their turn a player must first draw a Follower card and then perform 1 main action:
  • Use the ability of a card, perform a Ritual to build a Shrine and place it on their god's Realm or worship a god.
  • When worshipping, a follower is placed face-up next to their god's realm to show where they activate their abilities and protect against the enemy gods.
• In addition to the main action, a player may take any number of free actions.

The game ends when a player builds at least one Shrine and discovers and activates all the Altars on their god's Realm.

Components

• 70 Follower cards
• 5 god's Realms
• 20 Altar tokens
• 15 Shrine tokens

Setup

1. For 3 or 4 player games, remove 1 or 2 priestesses respectively and return them to the box.
2. Each player chooses a god, takes their board which represents their Realm and places an inactive Altar in an empty space (the Goddess of Love takes an active one).
3. The oldest player becomes the first player, except if the Ancient God is participating, then he always begins first (because he is the oldest... of all!).
4. Shuffle the Follower cards. Beginning with the first player and proceeding clockwise, all players draw a number of Follower cards equal to the number of players +1. Example: in a 4 player game, everyone will get 5 cards. Place the remaining cards face-down in the middle of the table to form the draw deck.
5. Reveal a number of Follower cards (face-up) equal to the number of players +1 and place them next to the draw deck.
6. Place the Altar tiles and the Shrine tiles in the middle of the table. The number of Shrine tiles depends on the number of players:
   • 3 players: 6 Shrine tiles
   • 4 players: 9 Shrine tiles
   • 5 players: 12 Shrine tiles
7. Return all remaining Shrine tiles to the box.

Setup's legend

1. God's Realm: this is where gods gather their Altars and Shrines.
2. Follower cards: this is the hand of cards of each player.
3. Follower cards' draw deck and face-up Follower cards: this is from where Follower cards are drawn.
4. Altar tiles: these tiles represent the altars that the followers build for their god. On one side they are inactive and on the other active.
5. Shrine tiles: these tiles represent the shrines that the followers build for their god. On one side they are inactive and on the other active.

Setup for 2 Players

1. Remove 2 priestesses from the deck.
2. Each player chooses TWO gods: takes the boards which represent their Realms and places an inactive Altar in an empty space on each Realm (the Goddess of Love takes an active one).
3. The oldest player becomes the first player, except if the Ancient God is participating, then he always begins first.
4. Shuffle the Follower cards. Beginning with the first player, both players draw 5 follower cards. Place the remaining cards face-down in the middle of the table to form the draw deck.
5. Reveal 5 Follower cards (face-up) and place them next to the draw deck.
6. Place the Altar tiles and 9 Shrine tiles in the middle of the table.
7. Return all remaining Shrine tiles to the box.

Gameplay

On each player's turn, that player must first Draw a card and perform 1 main action. Then the player may also perform any number of free actions if they wish to.

In a 2-player game, each player on their turn draws 2 cards and performs 2 different actions.

Draw a Card

A player may select any face-up card from the table or draw the top card from the draw deck.

Whenever a face up card is selected, immediately fill the empty spot with a card from the draw deck.

The number of available face-up cards must be always equal to the number of cards that were placed face-up at the start of the game.

In a 2-player game, the empty spots are filled after the player has drawn both cards.

Main Actions

On each player's turn, that player must take 1 main action from the ones listed below:

• Use the ability (text) of a Follower card in their hand and discard the card.
• Perform a Ritual: Discard 3 cards with the Ritual symbol, to build a Shrine and place it on the respective spot on their god's Realm. (Max. 3 Shrines)
• Worship a god: A follower with the Worship symbol can be placed face-up next to their god's Realm to show they are worshipping their god and offer their protection against the enemy gods.
• Do nothing (pass).

At the end of a player's turn, if a player has more than 6 cards in hand, the player must discard down to 6 cards and the next player's turn begins in clockwise order.

Free Actions

In addition to the Main Action, even if they pass, players may perform Free Actions.

Cards with the Free Action symbol are Free Action cards and can be discarded to activate their ability.

There is no limit to the number of Free Actions a player can perform on their turn.

End of the Game

The game ends immediately when one of the following occurs:

1. A player has placed the required number of Altars and Shrines on their god's Realm. The players complete the current turn (so that all players have had the same number of turns).

   The player(s) who complete their god's board cannot be targeted by other players. (Their Altars cannot be destroyed).

   In a 2-player game, both Realms must be completed.

2. The stack of Shrine tiles has been depleted. The players, again, complete the current turn (so that all players have had the same number of turns).

3. The draw deck runs out, all face-up Follower cards have been drawn and all players have passed.

   If the draw deck runs out, don't shuffle the discard pile.

   On their turns, players take the remaining face-up Follower cards. If there are no cards left, they must play the cards from their hands until they run out of actions.

Winner of the Game

To win the game, a player must:

• Build at least 1 Shrine (max. 3 Shrines).
• Discover and activate Altars and (icon) on their god's Realm (max 4 Altars). (The printed text of this line contains an icon after "Altars and" that is not identifiable from the text; it appears to refer to Shrines.)

The number of Altars discovered and activated will depend on the number of Shrines built, but it's mandatory to build at least 1 Shrine to win the game.

Example:

• If a player builds 1 Shrine then he will need 4 Altars.
• If a player builds 2 Shrines then he will need 3 Altars.
• and so on ...

If the game ends because of the other two conditions (2 or 3) refer to the gods' and followers' abilities. Some of them, like the Ancient God, have special rules for winning a tie.

• If there is a tie, the player with the most Shrines is the winner.
• If there is still a tie then the player who placed the last Shrine is the winner. And this breaks all ties!

Follower Cards

A Follower card shows its name, its ability, a special kind of Follower, and its symbols (such as Free Action, Worship and Ritual).

Free Action

Cards with the Free Action symbol are Free Action cards. On their turn a player may discard a Free Action card to use its ability. There is no limit to the number of cards a player can discard on their turn.

For instance, as a Free Action, Alchemist allows the player to take 2 actions in the same turn.

Ritual

The followers perform Rituals for their gods in order to please them and build indestructible Shrines.

Cards with the Ritual symbol can be discarded to place Shrines on their god's Realm. To build a Shrine, 3 Ritual symbols are needed.

Some cards with the Worship Symbol double the effect of a Ritual.

Seer, for instance, can be used for a Ritual.

Worship

When a follower worships their god, they offer protection to their god from the attacks of various enemies.

To activate their protection effects, the followers must be placed next to the god's Realm as a Main Action. This is the Worship area, where the divine powers of the followers get activated.

• If a card is in a player's hand it's not considered active.
• A player cannot place the exact same cards on their Worship area.
• While performing a Ritual a player may use cards placed on their god's Realm (used for the "Worship a god" action). If a player wants to use such a card to perform a Ritual, then the value of the Ritual is doubled.

For instance, Amazon can worship her god because she is bearing the Worship symbol and will then protect her god from attacks of warriors. If she is to be used for a Ritual, she counts as two Rituals.

Influence

When played, Follower cards with the Influence symbol stay on the table for one round and affect all gods except yours.

The player who played the card can shuffle the face-up Follower cards with the Follower cards' draw deck and reveal new face up Follower cards. This takes place when the player discards the card with the Influence symbol (at the beginning of their next turn).

Protection

Follower cards with the Protection symbol offer protection to the god from various enemies and abilities.

Activation

Follower cards with the Activation symbol activate an Inactive Altar. This is the ability of a Priestess.

Altars and Shrines

The main goal of the game is to build Altars and Shrines. These are placed on the respective spots on the gods' Realms.

Altars

Inactive Altars: Altars are discovered through the follower cards' abilities. When placed on the god's Realm, Altars are inactive and have no value, until they are activated.

Active Altars: Altars are activated by Priestesses and only once activated do they count toward winning the game.

Shrines

Shrines are built by discarding cards with a total value of 3 Ritual symbols.

In order to win the game, at least 1 Shrine must be built (max. 3).

Shrines cannot be destroyed.

Once a Shrine or Altar tile has been placed on a god's Realm, it cannot be removed from it unless a card's abilities instructs to do so.