Anima: Shadow of Omega Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Number of Players
• Goal
• Card Types
  • Characters and Groups
  • Locations
  • Missions
  • Bonuses
  • Events
• Turn Sequence
  • When Are Bonus Cards and Special Abilities Used?
• Game Setup
  • Starting the Game
• Gameplay
  • Reset Phase
  • Movement Phase
  • Interaction Phase
  • Exploration Phase
• Battle and Other Rules
  • Battle
  • Speed Check
  • Discarding
  • Inactive Characters
  • Losing a Turn
  • Changes in Speed
• Additional Rules
• Example of Play

Game Components

110 playing cards, two six-sided dice and five tokens of different colors.

Number of Players

The game is for two to five players. On average the game lasts 20-30 minutes per participant.

Goal

The winner is the player who completes missions: first a Main mission, and then the Final mission. A player cannot begin the Final mission until he has completed at least one Main mission. Each player draws two Mission cards at the start of the game. At first it is unknown what the Final mission will be; but when any player completes a Main mission, he draws one of the three Final Mission cards and places it face up in the center of the table for all to see: it becomes the Final mission for all players.

Each completed mission gives the player bonuses, so players often prefer to complete both of their Main missions before starting the Final one.

Card Types

There are 5 types of cards in the game: Characters, Locations, Events, Missions, Bonuses. Before looking at the game itself, let us look at each type of card and its purpose.

Characters and Groups

As in any epic story, each player needs Characters to move around the world and complete missions. At the start of the game a player controls only one character, but there are locations where you can hire more heroes. Certain Event cards can also add a character to the group. A Group is a party of one or more characters. The maximum number of heroes in a Group is four.

During a battle, an Event or another player's action, a character in a group may die. When this happens he is placed in the Character discard pile. When a player loses all of his heroes, he draws one card from the Character pile and puts it into play to form a new group.

Each character has a Gender, Strength and Speed, which are used to decide the outcome of battles and to set the turn order. The Strength and Speed of a Group are the sum of the Strengths and Speeds of all the Characters in the Group. For example, if the group contains an Acrobat (Strength 4, Speed 4) and a Sorcerer (Strength 3, Speed 4), the group's total is Strength 7, Speed 8.

The icons in the bottom left corner of each Character card show the special abilities available to him. There are three kinds of abilities: Magic, Ki, Trickery. Depending on which ability is active, the player can use certain Bonus cards when turning the Character card.

Turning: Turning a Character means rotating the card by 90 degrees. Some Characters have special abilities that can be used only when the card is turned. Cards are also turned when Skill cards are used. If a Character is turned, during that turn he cannot use his abilities or Skill cards. For example, if a Thief card is used (turned) at the start of the turn to steal, it stays turned until the end of the turn, and no Trickery cards can be used by that Character. But even if the card is turned, the Character can take part in battles, that is, his Strength and Speed are not subtracted from the group's points.

Locations

Location cards represent the various territories of the world that Characters can visit to obtain Bonuses, hire new group members or accomplish the objectives of their missions. Locations have two phases: the Exploration phase, in which the player tries to explore the territory, and the Reward phase, in which the player receives a reward if the exploration went well. Some locations have special additional rules written on the card itself. If a Location card shows a trade icon, the player at that location may trade.

Each location has a level from 1 to 3 showing how dangerous the place is. The level of a location is the maximum level of the Event that can happen there. This is explained in more detail in the Events section.

Missions

There are two types of missions: Main and Final. Each Main mission has a specific goal, and when a player achieves it he may proceed to the Final mission. When a player begins a mission, which he must announce to the other players, he places the Mission card on the table to his left to show that he is carrying it out (unless the card says otherwise). When the mission is completed, the player places the Mission card to his right to show that it is finished, and receives the reward shown on the card.

• Resistance Mission: Some missions require the group to remain in a specific location for several turns. In that case the Characters do not need to explore the territory again in order to stay there - the group remains there automatically. The mission is carried out during the Exploration phase, which means that other players may attack the Characters carrying it out during the Interaction phase. If the Group is defeated, whether by enemies from the mission or by rivals, the Group leaves the location and must start the Mission over.

Bonuses

Bonus cards are used by players to achieve their goals more easily. There are two kinds of Bonuses: Skill cards, which are used by characters, and Plot cards, which are used directly by players to influence the course of the game. A player may hold at most 5 Bonus cards in hand at one time.

• Skill cards: Skill cards represent abilities used by characters. Each character can use certain abilities, which are marked on the Character card itself. There are three types of skills: Ki, Magic and Trickery. To use a Skill card, a character must possess that skill and must be turned.
• Plot cards: Plot cards can be used without turning any characters, since they are played directly by the player to influence the game. Each Plot card has a different effect and duration. Some Plot cards, such as "Magic Object", stay in play, while others, such as "Zeppelin Journey", are played once.
• Organizations: Organizations are a special type of Plot card. Playing such a card means your group joins a certain faction, which grants new abilities to your characters but also places new obligations on them. A player may belong to only one organization at a time: if you want to join another, you must discard the card of the one you already belong to during the Reset phase. Also, some organizations are rivals of other organizations, and their members are obliged to fight each other. If two groups of rival organizations are in the same location at the same time, they must fight during the Interaction phase. If all members of the group have died and the player must choose a new character, he must discard the Organization card.

Events

Events are situations and problems that arise when your characters come to explore a new location. You may meet a monster and have to fight it, or you may suffer an accident... Fortunately, not all events are negative; you may receive an unexpected reward. Events have levels from 1 to 3 (like Locations), indicating their difficulty. For an Event to occur, its level must be equal to or lower than the level of the Location where it occurs. For example, in the location "Corns Village" (level 1) you cannot meet the "Dragon God" (level 3), but you can meet the "Wandering Warrior" (level 1). If the Event's level is higher than the Location's level, the event does not occur and the card is discarded to the Event discard pile.

• Monsters: If the Event is an encounter with a Monster, your group must fight it according to the battle rules. Each monster has Strength and special abilities.
• Event: Events are problems and situations that have various effects on the group.
• Preliminary Event: Each time a Location card is played, whether for the first time or from the discard pile, an Event is played first. If it is an event (not a monster), the group that has come to this territory is subjected to its effect, and then the card is discarded. If it is a monster, it remains in the location until it is defeated (this means that if the monster wins the battle, it stays in the location until it is destroyed). Battles with Preliminary Events are resolved during the Movement phase.

Turn Sequence

Each turn of the game consists of 4 different phases: Reset, Movement, Interaction, Exploration. The order in which players act depends on the Speed of their groups; the player whose group has the highest speed goes first, then the second-fastest player goes, and so on. If two or more players have equal group Speed, a die is rolled, and the one who rolls the higher number goes first. A player does not play all phases in a row; instead, each player in turn order plays the Reset phase, then each player in turn order plays the Movement phase, and so on.

The player order established at the start of the Reset phase remains the same until the end of the turn. If the Speed of any group changes during one of the phases, the turn order does not change.

Each phase is examined in detail later; for now, here is a brief overview of each phase:

1. Reset phase:
   • Turn all turned cards back upright and turn face up all cards lying face down
   • Throw out (remove from the group) cards or characters you do not need
   • Use special abilities or Bonuses that can be used in this phase
2. Movement phase:
   • Declare the movements of your group:
     • Go to an active location
     • Explore a new location (only one player per turn)
     • Rest
   • Play Event cards
3. Interaction phase:
   • Trade with any player who, like you, is in a location with a trade icon
   • Attack any group located in the same location
4. Exploration phase:
   • Declare whether or not you want to explore the location you visited
   • If the exploration was successful, choose a reward

When Are Bonus Cards and Special Abilities Used?

The use of Plot cards, Skill cards and the special abilities of characters is usually limited to a certain phase of the turn. As a general rule, a player must wait for the appropriate phase before using them, except for Interrupt and Battle cards.

• Interrupt: These cards can be used in any phase to intervene in or change an effect, result or action. For example, the card "Wrong Road", which lets you redirect another player's group to any area you like, can be played during another player's Movement phase when he declares where his group is going.
• Battle: These cards can be used by players when entering a battle. Players must use such cards before the other side rolls the die, unless the card says otherwise.

Game Setup

Separate the 5 different types of cards into separate piles and shuffle each one separately. Then place the piles on the table according to the diagram on this page. Finally, each player chooses a token that represents his group.

Starting the Game

Each player draws two Main Mission cards without showing them to the other players. Set the other Mission cards aside so that nobody knows which missions remain in the pile. Then each player draws two Character cards and 4 Bonus cards. Each player chooses 1 character and 3 bonuses; the 2 unneeded cards are discarded. The discarded cards are shuffled with the remaining cards of their type, and the piles are shuffled again.

After that, place face-up Location cards equal to the number of players in the game, and place Event cards face down on each Location card. These are the Preliminary Events of the first territories: they remain secret until players visit them.

Gameplay

Reset Phase

In the Reset phase all players return their turned characters to the upright position, turn their inactive characters face up (making them active again), and then act in order of Speed.

• Discarding and removing: During the Reset phase, a player may throw out any Bonus card from his hand or remove (throw out) a Character from his group. This is more important than it seems at first glance, because it is the only chance during the turn to voluntarily discard cards or characters. A player who already has 5 Bonuses in hand (the maximum) cannot take more cards, and a player with 4 characters in his group cannot hire a new character when the opportunity arises. If you want to leave an organization, this is exactly the moment when you must declare it. The player with the fewest characters in his group may automatically hire any character discarded this turn, and the player with the fewest bonuses may take any bonus discarded by another player. But if two or more players are tied for the fewest characters or bonuses, then none of them may take the discarded cards.

Movement Phase

In this phase each player declares where his group is going. Each player may choose what to do:

• Go to an active area: You may go to any active area in play. If the active area has a preliminary event (either the one placed there during the initial setup, or an uncovered but undefeated monster), it must be played in order to proceed. If you lost a battle with a monster or the event that occurred ended your turn, you can do nothing more this turn, that is, you do not reach the place you were heading to. When you have successfully reached a location, place your token on the location card. The maximum number of territories that can be on the table is equal to twice the number of players (if three people are playing, there can be at most 6 active locations in the game, if four, 8 active locations, and so on).
• Explore a new location (only one player per turn): In this case the characters explore the world and discover new territories. If you choose this action, you may do one of two things: draw a location card from the Location pile and play it on the table, or choose a location from the discard pile and make it active again. Either way, you must draw an Event card and place it face up on the location as a Preliminary Event. As usual, when you enter a territory with a Preliminary Event, if you lose a battle with a monster or if the event that occurred ends your turn, your characters do not reach the location, and you cannot act until the end of the turn. If you reached the location, place your token on it to mark the position of your group. When one of the players brings a new location into play by choosing the Explore a new location option, this territory becomes active and any player may subsequently choose to visit it. Only one player per turn may choose Explore a new location. If another player has already done so in his turn, you cannot. If the newly played location card makes the number of possible active locations excessive, one of them leaves the game and is placed in the Location discard pile. The player who played the new location chooses which location to remove. A location cannot be removed from the game if a group is on it or if the preliminary event at that location has not yet been played. Also, any player may prevent the removal of an active area by discarding one of his Bonus cards. In this case, the player who brought the new location into play must choose another location to discard.
• Rest: If you are not interested in visiting any of the active locations and do not want (or cannot) explore a new location, you can rest and thereby increase the strength of your group. On the next turn (and only the next) your group gets +2 to Strength and +2 to Speed.

Interaction Phase

This is the phase in which groups can interact with each other. They can exchange bonus cards and character cards and attack other groups.

• Trade: If two groups are in territories with a trade icon, they may freely exchange any bonus cards and character cards. Remember that the groups need not be in the same location; it is enough that both are in locations with a trade icon.
• Declaring war: You may declare an attack on another group located in the same location, but only if the difference in the number of characters between the groups does not exceed one (for example, a player with four characters cannot declare an attack on a group of two characters). If your groups belong to rival organizations, they must fight. The loser of the battle must give the winner a random bonus card and leave that location. The loser's turn ends there: he cannot take any actions until the next turn.

Exploration Phase

This is the last phase of each turn. Only players whose groups successfully reached locations can do anything in this phase, and only if they were not removed from the territory during the Interaction phase. The goal of this phase is to explore the location in order to receive a reward. A player is not obliged to explore the location if he does not want to.

• Exploration: When a player declares his intention to explore the location where he is, he must roll the die and look up the result on the exploration table on the left side of the location card. Depending on the number rolled, the result differs:
  • Nothing: Nothing hindered you. You may calmly receive the reward.
  • Event: Some difficulties arose during exploration, and the player must draw a certain number of Event cards from the pile. They must be revealed in the order the player drew them. If you drew a monster card, you must fight it to continue, and if it is an event, you must do what the card prescribes. If the monster defeated you, or the event ended your turn, you must leave the location and receive no reward. Thus, if you did not overcome the first card, you do not draw the second. Monster cards drawn in this phase do not remain in the location, but are discarded after the battle. Remember that an event cannot be higher than the level of the location where it occurs. If the event's level is higher than the location's level, simply discard the event card. For example, if you visited Archangel (level 1) and drew only one event, which turned out to be Omega's Shadow (level 3), the event is simply discarded, and you immediately receive the reward. The event was a false alarm.
  • Special case: Special events may occur in some locations. Such Location cards contain an explanation of what may happen on a particular die roll.
• Reward: If the group successfully explored the location, it receives one of the location's three rewards. Naturally, nothing prevents the group from returning here in subsequent turns and receiving another reward (or the same one, except Hire, as explained later).
  • Bonus: Draw a number of bonus cards equal to the level of the location where your group is. Remember that you cannot hold more than 5 bonus cards in hand. For example, a player with 4 cards in hand can draw only one bonus card, even if he is in a level 3 location.
  • Hire: Draw a character from the pile; he or she joins your group. If you already have 4 characters, you cannot choose this type of reward. Also, you cannot hire in the same territory two turns in a row.

Battle and Other Rules

Battle

In various situations you will have to fight monsters or other players. To resolve such a situation, each group rolls a die and adds the result to its Strength points (the sum of the Strength of all characters in the group). If it is a monster, any opponent rolls the die for it. The one with more points wins.

In the case of a tie in a battle with a monster, the group wins. If two players tie, the battle continues until someone loses (but they cannot enter into battle again on the same turn).

If a group loses a battle by a margin of 5 or more points, one of the characters of the group (chosen by the player) dies and must be discarded.

Speed Check

Some missions require a Speed Check. Add a die roll to the group's Speed (the sum of the Speeds of all its members). If the sum is equal to or greater than the difficulty specified by the mission, the check succeeds.

Discarding

Every time a character dies, you use a bonus, you encounter an event or you discard a location, the card goes to the corresponding discard pile. When one of the piles is completely used up, the corresponding discard pile is taken, shuffled and returned to play as the main pile.

The only exception to this rule is the Location pile. If all 14 Location cards have been played, they remain in the discard pile without being shuffled, allowing each player who has declared Explore a new location to draw any territory of his choice from the pile of used cards. For example, if all the Event cards have been played, take them from the discard pile, shuffle them and return them to play.

Inactive Characters

Certain cards, such as "Sleep", or special abilities, such as the Assassin's abilities, take a character out of action for a turn. When this happens, place this character face down. An inactive character cannot act during the turn, and his Strength points are not added to the group's Strength total. During the Reset phase such a character is turned face up and becomes active again.

Losing a Turn

When you are forced to lose a turn (if you lost a battle or because of special events), you lose the current turn, but not the next. If it is an event where you must lose your next turn, the card will say so.

Changes in Speed

If a player's Speed changes during the Reset phase (a character or Organization card leaves), the order of play remains the one established at the start of the turn.

Additional Rules

There are several additional rules that players can use to make the game more interesting.

• Tree structure of locations: An interesting variation on the normal rules is to arrange the territories in a tree structure by level. Thus, to reach a level 2 territory you must first visit a level 1 territory. For example, you cannot go straight to the "Tower at the Edge of the World" (level 3), even if it is on the table: first you must go to a level 1 location, such as "Archangel", then on the next turn to a level 2 territory such as "Ruins", and only then, on the next turn, to the "Tower at the Edge of the World" (level 3). To introduce this rule, at the start of the game place the location cards in three piles by level. Each time you want to go up or down levels, draw a Preliminary Event card. If you lost a battle or were removed from the territory by an Event, you temporarily leave the location tree, and at the start of the next turn you must begin again from a level 1 location. When this rule is in play, the "Zeppelin Journey" card allows you to move to any territory regardless of its level.
• Increased number of missions: If players want to make the game longer, they can make it mandatory to complete both Main missions before the Final one.

Example of Play

The following is an example of play for a better understanding of the game process. The example covers several turns of three players: John, Peter and Steve.

• John has an Acrobat and an Illusionist in his group (Strength 6, Speed 8)
• Peter has only a Mercenary (Strength 3, Speed 2)
• Steve has a Thief and a Specialist (Strength 4 and Speed 7)

By Speed totals, the turn order this turn is: John, Steve, and last, Peter.

Reset phase: First all players return their turned characters to the upright position, then John may begin to play. He decides to play one of his Bonus cards, the "Black Sun Organization". He does not want to do anything else, and for him the phase ends. Now it is Steve's turn. He announces that he wants to use the Thief's special ability to rob John; to do so he turns the character card, rolls the die, gets a 3, and the theft fails. After that he discards one of his bonus cards. Since John and Peter have the same number of cards in hand, nobody can pick up the discarded card. Steve can do nothing more, and his turn is over. Finally, it is Peter's turn, but he does not want to do anything. The Reset phase ends.

Movement phase: John begins the Movement phase by announcing that he wants to go to "Archangel", one of the active territories. There is no Preliminary Event there, so he places his token on the location card and ends his turn. Steve is next, and he decides to Explore a new location. He draws a territory card, which turns out to be "Lost Ruins" (level 2), then draws a preliminary event, which turns out to be "Omega's Shadow" (level 3). The event's level is higher than the territory's level, and so it is discarded. Next Steve places his token on "Lost Ruins", and his Movement phase ends. Finally, Peter goes. He also goes to "Archangel", so he places his token there. Since everyone has moved, the Movement phase ends.

Interaction phase: John goes first again. He announces that he wants to trade with Peter. Peter accepts the offer, and they freely exchange their cards. Steve can neither attack nor trade. Peter cannot do anything more: he has already traded with John, and he cannot fight because he is in "Archangel", a territory where fighting is forbidden.

Exploration phase: John announces the exploration of "Archangel", rolls the die and gets 5. Then he checks the "Archangel" card and sees that he must draw 1 event. He draws a card from the Event pile and it turns out he must fight the "Old Warrior" (a monster card). He rolls a 3 and adds his Strength points - the total is 9. Another player rolls the die for the "Old Warrior" (Strength 2), rolls 4, and the total is 6. The monster is 3 points lower than John, so it loses the battle, and John may take his reward. He decides to hire a character, draws the top card from the Character pile, which turns out to be the "Weapon Specialist". Now it is the turn of Steve, who is in the "Lost Ruins". He decides he wants to explore, rolls the die badly and must draw 2 event cards. The first event is the "Dragon God", whose level is 3, and it is discarded ("Lost Ruins" is level 2). Steve is lucky with the second card, because it is "Treasure", which allows him to draw 2 bonus cards. After that, since he did not lose a battle and was not removed from the territory, he may choose a reward. Since one of his missions is "Defeat Tiamat", Steve goes to the "Pit of Hell" and tries to complete his mission. Unfortunately, even though he uses several bonus cards to improve his battle values, he loses. Finally, Peter explores "Archangel". He rolls a 2 on the die and avoids any incidents. Then he chooses hire and draws the "Sorcerer", who joins his group. Now that all 3 players have finished the phase, the turn ends and the next one begins.