Beasts and Diplomacy Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Summary
  • Festival Objectives
  • Festival Daily Schedule
• Understanding Cards
  • Beast Cards
  • Diplomat Cards
  • Trader Cards
  • Personnel Cards
  • Quest Mini-Cards
  • Environments and Cages
• Main Game
  • Festival Setup - Table Setup
  • Knight Exhibition (Player Tableau) Setup
  • First Game Setup - Starter Hands
  • Setup - High Priority Spot Blockers
  • Before We Start
• How to Play
  • Day Flow
  • Morning - Worker Deployment
  • Noon - Welcoming Diplomats
  • Afternoon - Exhibition Tour
  • Evening - Paying Maintenance
  • End of Day
• Festival Results - Scoring
  • Calculating Scores - Summary
  • Calculating Scores - Example 1/2 (Knight Zoë counts her score: Diplomats, Bonus, Beasts, Trades, Ore)
  • Calculating Scores - Example 2/2 (Knight Zoë counts her score: Personnel, Quests, King's Medals)
  • Calculating Scores - Tiebreakers
• Extras
  • Solo Variant - How to Play
  • Solo Variant - Achievements
  • Family Mode Variant - What Is It?
  • Family Mode - Setup
  • Family Mode - How to Play (Round Flow)
  • Family Mode - Scoring
  • Quest Encyclopedia
  • Beast Personnel Encyclopedia
  • Cage / Environment Personnel Encyclopedia
• FAQ
• Expansions
  • Year of the Beast Mini-Expansion

Game Components

• 1 Quick and Dirty Rulebook (not covered in this transcription)
• 1 Complete Rulebook
• 3 Player Aids
• 120 Beast cards
• 42 Environment cards
• 58 Diplomat cards
• 40 Trader cards
• 70 Personnel cards
• 1 Knight/Cage card per Knight
• 48 Quest mini-cards
• 1 Scoring Pad
• 1 Home Base (Player Mat) per Knight
• 6 Workers (meeples) per Knight
• 1 Turn Stack disc per Knight
• 8 Year of the Beast cards (mini-expansion)
• 48 Ore chips, value 1
• 24 Ore chips, value 5
• 20 Ore chips, value 10
• 10 High Priority Spot Blocker chips
• 12 King's Favour chips
• 34 King's Medal chips
• 1 Day Tracker D6 die
• 1 Time of Day Tracker token
• Modular game board modules: Personnel, Diplomat, Beast and Trader game boards, plus the Family Mode overlay

Summary

Festival Objectives

In Beasts and Diplomacy you step into the role of a Knight of Aterra who's participating in the yearly Neutralia Solstice Festival Beast Exhibition competition. The Festival lasts 3 Days and each Day you will be engaging in activities that will help you grow your Beast Exhibition.

To win, you must attain the highest amount of Influence points by welcoming Diplomats from all over Aterra and exhibiting Beasts that appeal to their Preferences. It's important not to disappoint Diplomats, as doing so will cost you a lot of Influence points!

On top of that, you have to work towards completing your secret Quests for additional Influence points. The more Beasts that match your Quests, the more Influence points you will obtain.

Ore is Aterra's currency and it's also worth some Influence points at the end of the game. However, an Exhibition of Beasts costs Ore to maintain! You'll have to keep an eye on your budget and sell Beasts to Traders and deploy Personnel to avoid going into debt at the end of every Day.

Lastly, Neutralia's King Phalen can also help you gain Influence points by awarding you with the King's Medals.

By the end of the Festival, the Knight with the highest amount of Influence points wins!

Festival Daily Schedule

The Neutralia Solstice Festival lasts 3 Days. Each Day is subdivided as follows.

I. Dawn - Quest Assignment. Knights (players) obtain and exchange Quest cards. Each Knight receives 2 Quest cards and has to discard down to the current Day number. They can also discard more Quests than the number they need to keep and replace them with Quests that other Knights have discarded.

Each item (e.g. Beast) in their Exhibition that matches one or more of their Quests is worth the amount of Influence points indicated on the Quest cards at the end of the game.

II. Morning - Worker Deployment. Knights deploy their Workers to Drafting Areas to draft cards. They also collect King's Favours and work towards getting King's Medals.

After running out of Workers, Knights can pass and collect 1 Ore or relocate 1 Worker to a different Drafting Area and draft 1 card by spending 5 Ore or by discarding 2 cards from their hand onto the board.

III. Noon - Welcoming Diplomats. Knights welcome new Diplomats to their own Diplomat Stack.

All Diplomats have Preferences that they want to see met by the end of the game (bottom of each Diplomat card).

All of the welcomed Diplomats will evaluate their Knight's Exhibition at the end of the game. They will also provide small Ore incentives as they witness Beasts they appreciate being housed.

IV. Afternoon - Exhibition Tour. Each Knight transfers the cards from their hand to their Exhibition (tableau).

Doing all intended actions in a row, within 1 turn, Knights will be buying Environments, housing Beasts in Environments or their Cage and having the Diplomats react to the new Beasts, selling Beasts to Traders, and deploying Personnel.

V. Evening - Paying Maintenance. Knights use their Ore to pay for the Maintenance cost of their Exhibition.

If they cannot afford to pay for the entire budget, selling off some Beasts may become necessary.

End of Day. Everybody made it to the next Day, with a growing Exhibition of Diplomats and Beasts.

The Knight with the least Ore goes first and we proceed to the next Day.

If this was the 3rd Day, the game ends and all Knights count their Influence points. The Knight with the most Influence points wins.

Understanding Cards

Beast Cards

Beasts are the main attraction of the Beast Exhibition game. Their Criteria are all important.

Card layout

• Habitat: Angelion, Murkhor, Gaelixia, Imperium, Teutonika, Javelon.
• Colour: White, Red, Yellow, Blue, Grey, Black, Orange, Green, Purple.
• Element: Rock, Wind, Nature, Light, Water, Lightning, Fire, Death, Crystal (9 Elements).
• Species: Lizard, Horse, Bird, Fiend, Dragon, Fish, Insect, Giant.
• Activity: Diurnal, Nocturnal.
• Diet: Carnivore, Herbivore, Omnivore.
• Influence points: from least valuable (1) to most valuable (5).
• Maintenance cost: from least expensive (1) to most expensive (5).
• Beast name and card code (for example B-32).

Beast timing and use

1. You can draft Beast cards during the Morning.

2. You can house Beasts during the Afternoon by placing them in an empty Environment or your empty Cage.

3. Once housed, all Diplomats in all of the Knights' Diplomat Stacks, yours or otherwise, will react to the Beast by giving the Knight that's welcomed them Ore contributions. The Criteria of the Beast, specifically Habitat, Colour, Species, Element, Activity and Diet, matter for this purpose.

   Beasts can also be sold to Traders or sold off for their Maintenance cost or 2 Ore, whichever is lower.

   Beasts can be modified as well by deploying Personnel cards under them.

4. Beasts will give you Influence points at the end of the game. They will also cost you the indicated Ore in Maintenance in the Evening, every Day.

Diplomat Cards

Diplomats are the judges of your Exhibition. They will offer Ore contributions and Influence points.

Card layout

• Card code and Diplomat name.
• Rank: Patron, Aristocrat or Royal (shown on the card).
• Ore contribution: whenever a Knight houses 1 Beast, the Beast's Criteria are evaluated by all Diplomats at the table, irrespective of which Knight has welcomed them. If the Beast's Criteria match a Diplomat's Preferences, that Diplomat will reward their Knight with the indicated Ore contribution.
• Preferences: the required Beast Criteria to successfully satisfy this Diplomat at the end of the game. When 2 distinct Criteria are shown, 2 distinct Beasts are necessary.
• Influence points: the amount shown on the card, received at the end of the game if the Diplomat's Preferences are fully satisfied.

Diplomat timing and use

1. You can obtain Diplomats by drafting them in the Morning.

2. You can welcome as many Diplomats as you want at Noon by adding them to your Diplomat Stack.

3. Diplomats will react to the Beasts that Knights house in their Environments and Cages as long as the Beasts' Criteria match their Preferences. They will award the Knight who has welcomed them with the indicated Ore contributions.

   Diplomats will reward you with their Influence points at the end of the game if you have fulfilled their Preferences in full. If you fail to fulfill them, you won't receive their Influence points and you will lose some additional Influence point bonuses at the end of the game (see Scoring, page 32).

4. Diplomats have different types of Preferences:

   • 1 Beast matching 1 simple Criterion.
   • 2 Beasts, each matching 1 distinct simple Criterion.
   • Multiple Beasts matching 1 simple Criterion.
   • 2 Beasts, each matching 1 distinct composite Criterion.

   All Royal Diplomats want 2 distinct Beasts, even if one Beast is capable of satisfying both Preferences. The Knight can decide which Beast matches which Preference during and at the end of the game.

   Important note: Royal rank Diplomats are a lot harder to satisfy, as Beasts they like are a lot rarer. Bear this in mind when drafting during the 3 Mornings available to you.

Preference examples (from the rulebook)

• 1 Beast matching 1 simple Criterion: Marrah wants you to have at least 1 Beast of the Fire Element in your Exhibition by the end of the game for a 5 Influence point reward. All Fire Element Beasts will reward you with 2 Ore when housed.
• Multiple Beasts matching 1 simple Criterion: Oswaldo wants you to have at least 2 Beasts that are from Imperium in your Exhibition by the end of the game for a 4 Influence point reward. All Imperium Beasts will reward you with 1 Ore when housed.
• 2 Beasts, each matching 1 distinct simple Criterion: Polinter wants you to have at least 1 Bird and 1 Lizard in your Exhibition by the end of the game for a 4 Influence point reward. All Birds and all Lizards will reward you with 1 Ore when housed.
• 2 Beasts, each matching 1 distinct composite Criterion: Kwilut wants you to have at least 1 Omnivore from Murkhor and 1 Lightning Element that's not from Javelon by the end for 6 Influence points. All matching Beasts will reward you with 2 Ore when housed.

Trader Cards

Traders want to buy your Beasts from you. Sales make you lots of Ore, and some Influence points.

Card layout

• Trader types: ordinary Traders pay between 2 and 8 Ore. Elite Traders pay between 4 and 12 Ore. Only 25% of all Traders are Elite Traders.
• Main Criterion (mandatory) with the Main Ore reward.
• Bonus Criteria (optional).
• Influence reward: 3 Influence points at the end of the game.
• Time of use: Afternoon and Evening.
• Card code.

Trader timing and use

1. You can obtain Traders by drafting them in the Morning.
2. Traders must be played alongside Beasts. You can only sell 1 Beast to 1 Trader once.
3. Beasts can either be in your Exhibition or in your hand when you sell them. Traders can only be used in the Afternoon or in the Evening.
4. Once a Beast has been sold to a Trader, the Beast card is trashed. The Trader card is placed beside your Home Base and will be worth 3 Influence points at the end of the game, irrespective of the quality of the sale. This Trader cannot be used again.

Main Criterion and Bonus Criteria

• The Main Criterion must be satisfied in order to sell a Beast to a Trader. If the Beast doesn't match it, the sale cannot be made. Matching the Main Criterion is sufficient to get the Main Ore reward.
• The Bonus Criteria are nice-to-haves. If the Beast matches one or both of the Bonus Criteria, extra Ore is awarded. Matching the Bonus Criteria doesn't affect the Influence points you will get at the end of the game.
• Whenever you complete a sale successfully, irrespective of how many Criteria you fulfill, the Trader card gets stacked beside your Home Base and will give you 3 Influence points at the end of the game.

Strategy notes (from the rulebook)

• Traders are one of the most efficient ways to make larger amounts of Ore in the game.
• Paying for all of the Maintenance costs in the Evening will be very difficult without taking full advantage of Traders.
• Elite Traders will pay more for specific Beasts, but they are after rarer Criteria than ordinary Traders. Elite Traders pay between 4 and 12 Ore. Traders pay between 2 and 8 Ore.
• Selling a Beast that matches all 3 Criteria at the same time to a Trader is a great way to make lots of Ore.

Example: how to use Traders

This Trader wants a Beast whose Element is Lightning. It would be even better if it were from Imperium and Diurnal.

• Impossible sale: the Main Criterion, Lightning, is not matched. The Bonus Criteria don't matter.
• Passable sale: the only matching Criterion is the main one, Lightning. You will only get 2 Ore.
• Good sale: the Beast matches Lightning and it's Diurnal. You will get 2 + 3 = 5 Ore.
• Perfect sale: the Beast matches all 3 Criteria at the same time. You will get 2 + 3 + 3 = 8 Ore.

Personnel Cards

Personnel are highly skilled specialists. They are rule-breaking cards that will elevate your game in Beasts and Diplomacy. Consult the Player Aid and the Personnel Encyclopedia section of this Complete Rulebook (pages 45 to 46) for more information on what each Personnel card does. There are 3 distinct types.

Single Use Personnel

• These Personnel cards can be deployed at appropriate times, as indicated by the Time of Use section of the cards. The Commander, for example, can only be deployed during the Morning. Their effect is indicated by the icons at the bottom of each Single Use Personnel card.
• Deploying a Single Use Personnel card in the Morning does not cost a Worker, unless otherwise specified. It does, however, cost you an action, so once you play one of them, your turn is over.
• Once played, Single Use Personnel cards are immediately trashed.
• For more information about how each Single Use Personnel works, consult the Player Aid.
• Example card: Commander. Card effect: the Commander returns 2 of your deployed Workers back to your Home Base so they can be deployed again.

Environment Personnel

• These Personnel cards can only be deployed during the Afternoon, tucked under an Environment or your Cage, as indicated by the brown dotted section of the card. In most cases they aren't affected by Beasts being housed where these have been deployed. Deploying them has a one-time Ore cost. Their effect is indicated by the icons on the left side of the card.
• Once deployed, they remain tied to that Environment / Cage for the remainder of the game, unless a new Environment Personnel card is deployed under the same Environment / Cage, in which case the old Environment Personnel card is immediately trashed.
• Some of these Personnel cards take up the Environment / Cage completely, as indicated at the top of the card by this icon. For example, the Guardian occupies an Environment permanently and you may not house a Beast in there anymore. If you do, the Guardian gets immediately trashed.
• Example card: Guardian. Card effect: the Guardian permanently occupies 1 Environment. You won't be able to place a Beast in here. He will give you 1 Ore at the start of every Evening. He gives 7 Influence points at the end of the game.

Beast Personnel

• These Personnel cards can only be deployed during the Afternoon, tucked under a Beast, as indicated by the red dotted section of the card. Deploying them has a one-time Ore cost. Their effect is indicated by the icons on the right side of the card. Most of them override 1 Criterion of the Beast.
• For example, the Sunmistress changes a Beast from Nocturnal to Diurnal. These cards remain tied to that Beast for the rest of the game, unless a new Beast Personnel card is deployed under the same Beast, in which case the old Beast Personnel card is immediately trashed and their previously modified Criterion is reverted to what's on the Beast card.
• If you move this Beast to a different Environment or your Cage, the deployed Personnel goes along with the Beast.
• You cannot deploy Personnel whose modification would not result in any effect (e.g. the Sunmistress cannot be used on a Diurnal Beast).
• Example card: Sunmistress. Card effect: the Sunmistress permanently changes 1 of your Beasts from Nocturnal to Diurnal. She gives 1 Influence point at the end of the game.

Example: Environment and Beast

1. This Beast is so expensive to maintain! Knight Melissa pays 1 Ore to deploy the Soother. She will lower the Maintenance cost of this Beast and the Environment by 4, forever.
2. Melissa needs a Yellow Beast! Nothing the Yellow Dyer can't fix. Melissa pays 1 Ore to deploy her under her Shining Gillius. This Criterion change can cause Diplomat reactions and satisfy Diplomats and Quests.

Quest Mini-Cards

Quest cards are secret, cumulative objectives. They're a great way to score a lot of Influence points by focusing on filling your Exhibition with cards (usually Beasts) that fulfil their specific objectives.

1. Quest cards are smaller than all other cards. This is because they aren't part of your hand. They are placed above your Home Base, facing down, but you can consult them as many times as you like, so long as you keep them secret from the other Knights.

2. As a general rule, Quest cards can only be obtained at Dawn, 1 per Day. Each Knight will have 3 Quest cards above their Home Base by the end of the game.

   Note: this is the printed wording. The Dawn procedure, which gives each Knight 2 Quest cards and then discards down to the Day number, is the step-by-step rule that is followed in play.

3. Quest cards score cumulatively. Each Beast that matches the Criteria indicated at the bottom of each Quest card gives additional Influence points as shown in the top right corner of each Quest card. The more Beasts that match the Quest Criteria, the higher the Influence points at the end of the game.

   Important note: if you fail to match a Quest at least once, that Quest is worth -5 Influence points at the end of the game!

4. Some Quest cards aren't achieved with single Beasts and some aren't concerned with Beasts at all. Check the Quest Encyclopedia section (pages 43 to 44) for more information.

Quest card layout: card name, card code, Influence points (top right), and Quest Criteria (bottom).

Quest cards shown in the printed example (Influence points and Criteria)

• Gathxia (3 Influence points): each 1 Beast matching.
• Moonlight (5 Influence points): each 2 Beasts matching.
• Rainbow (2 Influence points): each 1 Beast that's different.
• Tempest (2 Influence points): each 1 Beast matching any.
• Treasury (4 Influence points): each 2 successful trades.

Example: drafting with Quests in mind

1. It's the Morning of Day 2 and Knight Mike is looking to draft a Beast. You can see the current state of his Exhibition (tableau) below.
2. Only Mike knows what his secret Quests are, but due to his welcomed Diplomats Gilb and Paridea he has identified 3 Beasts that work for him. All of them are Purple and Carnivorous.
3. Mike decides to take a peek at his secret Quests. Here's what he has. Based on this, which Beast do you think he should draft?
4. Based on the information we have, it looks like the best option for Mike is the Vigilant Zephyr. This Beast would be liked by both Gilb and Paridea and, because it's a Bird from Teutonika, it also counts towards both secret Quests.

Environments and Cages

Environment and Cage cards are necessary, as all of your Beasts need to be housed somewhere.

1. Environments and Cages are necessary to house the Beasts that you capture. You start the game with your Cage (by flipping over your Knight card) and 1 free Environment from the deck.

2. Housing area: Beasts are housed here, on the red dotted outline. A Cage can only house Beasts whose Maintenance cost is 2 or lower. Only 1 Beast fits here. Environments have no restrictions as to what type of Beast can live here. 1 Beast per Environment.

   • Each card shows its card code, card name, and Maintenance cost. Cages show the Knight's faction emblem.

3. Both the Cage and all Environments can only house 1 Beast at a time. You only get one Cage as part of your Exhibition setup. Each Knight (player) gets their own Cage, matching that Knight's faction emblem. You cannot acquire any more Cages. It's not possible to sell off your Cage.

   You can buy more Environments during each Afternoon. They cost 3 Ore each. There is no limit to how many Environments you can have in your Exhibition. If you're short on Ore, you can sell off empty Environments for 1 Ore each.

Example: Cages and Environments

1. Knight Gregory is ready to update his Exhibition during this Afternoon. He has the following 3 Beasts to house.
2. This is Day 1, so Gregory only has his Cage and his initial Environment available in his Exhibition (tableau).
3. He decides to house the Nervous Staticore on Peak Mountain. It's a 4 Maintenance cost, so this is his only option. He houses his Shallow Explorer in his Cage. It's a 2 Maintenance cost, so that's a legal move.
4. Unfortunately Gregory ran out of space for his Ruby Manta. He decides to buy one more Environment and place it beside Peak Mountain. Now he has room for his 3rd Beast in his newly acquired Verdant Canyon. Buying an Environment costs 3 Ore.

Main Game

Festival Setup - Table Setup

Set up the game for the number of Knights (players). The chairs have been colour coded to represent the different Knights. All decks must be shuffled before being placed beside the board. The rulebook's example is set for 4 Knights.

• Ore supply: all of the available Ore chips. Place them in 3 piles, divided by value (1, 5, 10). Important note: Ore is meant to be infinite. If you run out of chips, use a suitable replacement.
• Personnel deck: all 70 Personnel cards facing down. Leave space behind the deck for the Trash Pile (represented by a darkened card).
• Personnel game board: place the Personnel game board module on the table. Unfold it so all panels are facing up and visible and slot it against the Diplomat and Beast boards, on the right side.
• Diplomat game board: place the Diplomat game board module on the table. Unfold it so all panels are facing up and visible and slot it against the Beast board.
• Beast game board: place the Beast game board module on the table. Unfold it so all panels are facing up and visible and slot it against the Diplomat board.
• Diplomat deck: all 58 Diplomat cards facing down. Leave space behind the deck for the Trash Pile (represented by a darkened card).
• Quest deck: all 48 Quest cards facing down. Leave space beside the deck for the Trash Pile (represented by a darkened card).
• Environment deck: all 42 Environment cards facing down.
• Beast deck: all 120 Beast cards facing down. Split them into two decks of roughly the same amount of cards each. Leave space between the decks for the Trash Pile (represented by a darkened card).
• Trader game board: place the Trader game board module on the table. Unfold it so all panels are facing up and visible and slot it against the Diplomat and Beast boards, on the left side.

Knight Exhibition (Player Tableau) Setup

Each Knight (player) starts with the same setup.

• Ore reserve: each Knight receives 5 Ore per Worker that's in their Home Base on the 1st Day. In this 4 Knight example each Knight starts with 3 Workers, so the initial budget is 15 Ore.

• Workers: place the maximum amount of Workers of your colour near your Home Base. The maximum amount of Workers depends on the number of Knights that are playing:

  • 1 to 3 Knights = 6 Workers (4 in the Home Base + 2 outside it).
  • 4 to 5 Knights = 5 Workers (3 in the Home Base + 2 outside it).
  • 6 Knights = 4 Workers (2 in the Home Base + 2 outside it).

  Leave 2 of the Workers outside your Home Base and place the rest inside your Home Base. Return the unused Worker(s) to the box.

• Turn Stack disc: place the Turn Stack disc of your colour near the Home Base.

• Home Base: the Home Base is the starting point of your Exhibition (tableau). Place it in such a way that there is room for two columns of cards beside it that won't intrude into the board as they grow. Over the course of the game, you'll use the Home Base to place your Workers in it and place Trader and Diplomat cards on each side of it. Quest cards will go above it.

• Cage and free Environment: place your Knight card near your Home Base and flip it to reveal your Cage. It should match your colour. The Cage must be placed beside the Home Base, at a distance of approximately 1 card's width. Take a random Environment card from the top of the deck and place it beside your Cage. This is your free starting Environment.

• Starting hand: give each Knight 5 random cards from the top of their respective decks (for Beasts you can choose either deck). This will form their starting hand. They will need:

2. Replicate this same setup for all other Knights. If necessary, the setup for Knights on the opposite side of the table can be mirrored.

First Game Setup - Starter Hands

Beasts and Diplomacy has been designed to be played with a completely random hand for you to start your game with. However, if there is a new Knight (player) at the table, the rulebook recommends that all Knights use one of the 6 pre-constructed Starter Hands. The cards that form a Starter Hand set all share the same Egg icon. The 6 sets go from "A" to "F".

1. Take the 4 main decks: Beasts, Diplomats, Traders, and Personnel. Go through each deck looking for Egg icons in the corners. The Egg icon is in the bottom right corner of Beast cards, the top right corner of Diplomat cards, the top right corner of Trader cards, and the top right corner of Personnel cards.

2. Work together to find the cards you need much faster. Below are all of the Starter Hand sets, to help you find them. Card codes for each set:

   • Set A: B-42, D-3, D-10, T-15, P-35
   • Set B: B-18, D-4, D-22, T-35, P-12
   • Set C: B-75, D-0, D-21, T-22, P-23
   • Set D: B-97, D-2, D-7, T-20, P-22
   • Set E: B-109, D-5, D-9, T-19, P-33
   • Set F: B-48, D-1, D-20, T-29, P-24

   (B = Beast, D = Diplomat, T = Trader, P = Personnel.)

3. Place the Starter Hands facing down on the table in their 6 sets, A to F. Each Knight (player) should select 1 Starter Hand set randomly. Shuffle the remaining Starter Hand cards back into their respective decks. Now you're ready to continue.

Setup - High Priority Spot Blockers

1. The High Priority Spot Blockers cover High Priority Spots that cannot be occupied based on Knight count.
2. Check each High Priority Spot on the board (see diagrams on the right). If the Knight count is lower than the number displayed, place a Blocker on it. In the 4 Knight example we need 2 Blockers, 1 per 6 Knight High Priority Spot in both the Beast and the Diplomat Drafting Areas. Return all unused Blockers to the box.

Before We Start

1. We need to determine the Knight (player) turn order. In Beasts and Diplomacy turns are executed following the Turn Stack. Follow along to understand how this works.

2. First thing first, all Knights must place their Turn Stack discs near the board. Then, in random order, each Knight rolls the Day Tracker D6 Die. As the results become apparent, the Turn Stack discs get placed on top of one another following the results. The Knight with the highest result ends up at the top and will go first; the one with the lowest result ends up at the bottom and will go last. In case of a tie, the tied Knights roll again until a clear winner between the tied Knights is established. This process is repeated until the Turn Stack has been assembled completely.

   Example: assembling the Turn Stack

   1. Knight Gregory will roll first. He rolls a 6! He might be going first!
   2. Knight Andrew will go next. He rolls a 2... Definitely towards the bottom of the Stack.
   3. Next is Knight Zoë. Drum roll... She rolls a 4! She's between Gregory and Andrew.
   4. Last but not least, it's Knight Mike's turn. He rolls a 4! He is tied for second with Zoë.
   5. Tiebreaker time! Mike rolls a 2. Zoë rolls a 1! The Turn Stack can finally be assembled. The turn order is going to be: Gregory, Mike, Zoë, and Andrew.

3. After having established the Turn Stack turn order for the first time, the Day Tracker D6 Die is only used to track the Festival's progress. It has no other function.

4. We have to update each Knight's Ore and King's Favours based on the Turn Stack order.

   • The 1st Knight adds nothing to their initial supply.
   • The 2nd Knight adds 2 Ore to their initial supply.
   • The 3rd Knight adds 4 Ore to their initial supply.

How to Play

Day Flow

I. Dawn - Quest Assignment

1. At the beginning of Dawn, move the Time of Day Tracker token to the corresponding slot on the board. Then, give every Knight 2 Quest cards from the top of the deck.
2. Follow the Turn Stack turn order (top to bottom). Knights must discard Quests down to the Day number.
   • Day 1: Knights start with 0 Quests, receive 2, then discard down to 1.
   • Day 2: Knights start with 1 Quest, receive 2, then discard down to 2.
   • Day 3: Knights start with 2 Quests, receive 2, then discard down to 3, which they keep until the end of the game.
3. Whenever you discard a Quest card, you must place it on the board facing up. This is because the Knights that follow can exchange their Quest cards with the Quest cards they can see on the board. They can exchange as many Quests as they want, as long as they are left with the same number of Quests as the Day number. If you already have the correct amount of Quests and you don't want to exchange yours with any of the Quests on the board you can pass. You will be able to exchange Quests in a later turn, if a new opportunity shows up. It's legal to discard Quests that you've kept on previous Days, should better ones show up for you to take on the current Day.
4. Whenever it's your turn you can deploy as many Single Use Personnel as you want / can. This does not replace your turn. You will still need to end your turn with the same number of Quests as the Day number.
5. Continue to exchange Quests, for as many turns as you want, until all Knights are happy with the Quest(s) they have and agree to move on. Place the Quest(s) you chose to keep above your Home Base, face down, then trash all of the Quests that have been rejected (the Quests that have been left on the table).

Example: receiving and exchanging Quests

1. It's Day 1. Every Knight has received their first 2 Quest cards. It's Orange Knight Mike's turn to go first. He decides to keep Splendor, as he thinks he has a better chance of going after Yellow Beasts than Omnivores, because one of his Diplomats from his starting hand (see card below) is interested in Beasts of the Fiend species, which tend to be Carnivorous, not Omnivorous. He discards Omnitheon. Green Knight Gregory goes next.
2. Gregory has an Omnivorous Beast in his starting hand as well as a Diplomat that's interested in 1 Omnivore (see cards on the left). He discards both of his Quests and takes the one Mike discarded earlier.
3. As soon as Gregory discarded Mammalogy, the Quest that promotes an Exhibition with as many Fiends as possible, Mike's eyes lit up. However, Mike needs to wait for Blue Knight Zoë and Red Knight Andrew to take their turns before him. They might just take it for themselves!!! If they don't he's sure to discard the Splendor card and exchange it with Mammalogy.

Morning - Worker Deployment

Card setup

1. At the beginning of the Morning, move the Time of Day Tracker token to the corresponding slot on the board (see example below).
2. The first thing we need to do at the start of every Morning is draw cards from the top of their respective decks and place them facing up on their respective slots on the board. The rulebook shows how the table should look when done.

Action summary

Over the course of the Morning, Knights (players) will take turns following the Turn Stack, from top to bottom, to deploy 1 Worker per turn from their Home Base to the board, in the Drafting Areas.

Drafting Areas

• This is where you will be deploying your Workers to throughout the Morning. An infinite amount of Workers can be deployed to any Drafting Area, but each Drafting Area has High Priority Spots you can deploy your Workers to, depending on Knight (player) count. Each High Priority Spot only allows for 1 Worker. Blocked Spots can never be accessed.
• In the representation of the Beast Drafting Area, there are 4 High Priority Spots, only accessible if the Knight count matches or exceeds the indicated numbers (in this case the 6 Knight High Priority Spot is blocked, as this is a 4 Knight game example).
• Once 1 Worker is in one of these High Priority Spots, it cannot be accessed again unless that Worker relocates to a different Drafting Area.
• When you deploy 1 of your Workers to 1 Drafting Area, you must draft 1 card that corresponds to that Drafting Area and add it to your hand. If you deploy the Worker to a High Priority Spot, you also collect 1 King's Favour.
• Important note: when you draft 1 card from a Drafting Area slot, that slot doesn't refill!

High Priority Spots

In this example there are 4 Knights. If you look at the Beast and Diplomat Drafting Areas, you can see that only 3 of the 4 High Priority Spots are available for this game, whereas in the Trader and Personnel Drafting Areas, both of the High Priority Spots are available for this game.

It's important to deploy Workers to High Priority Spots before other Knights, because each Worker deployed there will immediately give you 1 King's Favour. As soon as you have 3 King's Favours, return them to the supply to take a King's Medal in exchange. Each King's Medal is worth 2 Influence points at the end of the game. Each group of 3 King's Medals is worth an additional 3 Influence points at the end of the game!

Card drafting (1 of 2)

1. Follow the Turn Stack. Deploy 1 Worker from your Home Base to a Drafting Area, in a standing position, to draft 1 card of that Drafting Area's respective type and add it to your hand (see the yellow Worker on the printed diagram). You can draft 1 Beast, 1 Diplomat, 1 Trader or 1 Personnel card. You can either:

   • draft 1 face up card of the Drafting Area's type and add it to your hand, or
   • draft the top facing down card from a deck of the Drafting Area's type and add it to your hand.

   If there is an empty High Priority Spot in the Drafting Area you want to deploy your Worker to, make sure you go there, as you will collect 1 King's Favour alongside the card you want. When you have 3 King's Favours you immediately exchange them for 1 King's Medal, which is worth 2 Influence points at the end of the game. Also, each group of 3 King's Medals is worth 3 additional Influence points. See Scoring (pages 32 to 35) for more information.

2. During your turn you can also deploy one of your Single Use Personnel cards, as long as the Time of Use section of the card indicates that it can be used in the Morning.

   • Deploying a Single Use Personnel card uses up your turn action. It doesn't require the use of a Worker, unless otherwise specified on the card.
   • A deployed Single Use Personnel card is immediately trashed.
   • Example: a Personnel card marked as usable in the Morning is usable; a card not marked for the Morning is NOT usable in the Morning.

3. When you run out of Workers in your Home Base you can relocate your deployed Workers. If you do they become exhausted (purple leftmost Worker). Exhausted Workers cannot be relocated again today.

   Below is a list of actions you can take after you run out of Workers:

   • Spend 5 Ore to relocate 1 of your deployed Workers to a different Drafting Area and draft 1 more card.
   • Discard 2 of the cards from your hand to relocate 1 of your deployed Workers to a different Drafting Area and draft 1 more card. You can discard Beast, Diplomat, Trader, and Personnel cards. You can discard any combination of these card types as long as you discard exactly 2 cards. Place the discarded cards on the board, facing up, in any of the empty card slots that match the card types. These become drafting options for all other Knights (players) other than yourself for this turn (after this turn, even you will be able to draft them). If there are no available card slots, place the discarded cards near the board facing up. Move them to empty slots if any become available later.

Favour of Labour: are all your Workers exhausted when the Morning is over? Collect 1 King's Favour per Day number.

Example: Knight Lilith (left) vs Knight Zoë (right), Day 2, Morning

1. Lilith deploys Worker 1/5 to a High Priority Spot in the Beast Drafting Area to draft the Howling Sentinel and adds it to her hand. It's Red, a Carnivore, and a Bird. She collects 1 King's Favour.
2. Zoë deploys Worker 1/5 to the only available High Priority Spot in the Personnel Drafting Area to draft the Motivator. She collects a King's Favour.
3. Lilith deploys Worker 2/5 to the Personnel Drafting Area to draft the Songwriter. Zoë has already taken the High Priority Spot there, so Worker 2/5 has to go to the area marked with an infinity icon. Lilith doesn't collect 1 King's Favour.

Example continued: Knight Lilith (left) vs Knight Zoë (right), Day 2, Morning

1. Lilith has run out of Workers in her Home Base. Throughout the Morning she has collected the following cards, and has also obtained 3 King's Favours in total, which she's already converted to 1 King's Medal.
2. Zoë has 1 Worker left, because on her 3rd turn she deployed her Motivator, which forced her to relocate 1 Worker. So far she got 2 King's Favours and these cards (the cards drafted with the Motivator, see Player Aid for more information).
3. Lilith wants the Albino Slitherer. She decides to spend 5 Ore to relocate her deployed Worker 2/5 from the Personnel Drafting Area to the Beast Drafting Area and draft the Beast.
4. Zoë has drafted a Green Beast before, the Nervous Staticore. There is an Orange Beast on the board, the Riverside Shrieker, so she decides to deploy her last Worker to the Diplomat Drafting Area and draft Jerridei.
5. Lilith doesn't want to spend any more Ore. She discards 2 cards she had kept in her hand from Day 1, the Orange Dyer and a Trader. She places both cards on free slots on the board. Thanks to this she can relocate 1 Worker. She chooses Worker 5/5 to relocate to the Trader Drafting Area, to the only High Priority Spot, to draft the perfect Trader for the Albino Slitherer and collect 1 King's Favour.
6. Zoë needs 1 Orange Beast. She planned to draft the Riverside Shrieker, but the Orange Dyer that Lilith just dropped is a cheaper option than housing an extra Beast. She spends 5 Ore to relocate Worker 3/5 to the High Priority Spot in the Personnel Drafting Area to draft the Orange Dyer and collect her 3rd King's Favour. She converts all 3 into 1 King's Medal.
7. Lilith decides to pass and collects 1 Ore. She will still be able to take more actions when it's her turn again, or pass again and collect more Ore, as long as Zoë keeps taking actions. However, Zoë also decides to pass. This immediately concludes the Morning, whether Lilith is happy with it or not. Because Zoë was the last Knight to pass, she doesn't collect 1 Ore.

After the Morning

After all Knights agree to move on from the Morning, you need to:

• Check your deployed Workers. If they're all exhausted, take as many King's Favours as the Day number.
• Return all of your Workers (and exhausted Workers) to your Home Base.
• Trash all of the cards that are left on the board. The cards need to be placed facing up, near their respective decks, in the same orientation as the decks as indicated on the edges of the board.

Now we're ready to move on to Noon.

Noon - Welcoming Diplomats

1. Move the Time of Day Tracker token to the Noon slot. Add as many Diplomats as you want from your hand to your Exhibition, right of your Home Base. All Knights can do this at the same time. Stack the Diplomats so that their Preferences and Ore contributions are all simultaneously visible. We'll refer to this as the Diplomat Stack.

2. The Diplomat Stack is one of the largest sources of Influence points at the end of the game. However, the more Diplomats you have in the Stack, the more Beasts you will need to match the Diplomats' Preferences.

   By adding Diplomat cards to your Stack you are committing to satisfying all of their Preferences by the end of the game. You can refuse to welcome Diplomats by keeping them in your hand, but while Diplomat cards in your Stack don't cost anything to maintain every Day, each Diplomat card in your hand costs you 3 Ore in Maintenance cost during the Evening, as shown on the back of the card.

   More satisfied Diplomats means more Influence points, but if you fail even just 1 Diplomat, you don't make the Influence points indicated on the Diplomat and you lose the 10 Influence point bonus you would get for not failing any Diplomat in your Stack (see Scoring, pages 32 to 35).

   Important note: once a Diplomat has been added to the Stack, they can only be removed in 2 ways:

   • spending 10 Ore (can be done during any Time of Day), or
   • using the Exiler Personnel card.

3. Diplomats in your Stack will also give you financial incentives by providing small Ore donations, as shown on the card, by reacting to exhibited Beasts. Whenever any Knight houses a Beast in their Exhibition (tableau), all Diplomats at the table evaluate that Beast against their Preferences. They do this whether they are in the same Exhibition or not and whether they are already satisfied or not. All Ore donations resulting from the reaction come from the common Ore supply and go to the Knight who has the reacting Diplomats in their own Exhibition (more on reactions in the Afternoon section of this rulebook, pages 26 to 28).

4. All of these reactions happen in the Afternoon, not at Noon. Check out the example below to understand how to add Diplomats to the Stack and why you would want to add 1 Diplomat or not.

Example: welcoming Diplomats and adding them to your Diplomat Stack

1. Knight Andrew is ready to welcome some Diplomats from his hand into his Stack. He already has some in his Stack from the previous Day. By the end of the game, at the moment, he needs to have at least the following Beasts in his Exhibition:
   • 3 Water element Beasts.
   • 2 Black Beasts.
   • 1 Black Diurnal Beast.
   • 1 Beast that's Nocturnal from Imperium.
2. In his hand, Andrew has:
   • Zoya, who wants at least 2 Birds.
   • Juvin, who wants at least 1 Black Nocturnal Beast and 1 Fiend from Imperium.
3. Andrew decides to welcome Zoya because he's confident that he will be able to easily match her Preference over the course of the game. He already has a Bird. Finding a second one shouldn't be too difficult.
4. Juvin is more of a risk, but Andrew decides to welcome him anyway. He already has a Black Nocturnal Beast in his Exhibition, but he's missing the Imperium Fiend. Considering Diplomat Laskariah already likes Imperium Beasts, Andrew feels that welcoming Juvin is a reasonable risk to take, considering the synergy.

Afternoon - Exhibition Tour

Summary

1. Move the Time of Day Tracker token to the Afternoon slot. Following the Turn Stack order, from top to bottom, all Knights get to update their Exhibitions (tableaus). The actions below are what you can do during your turn. Some of the actions are available to you during the Evening as well (see bullet point icons).

   • Buy an Environment: spend 3 Ore to add an Environment to your Exhibition. Each Environment can house 1 Beast. There are no limits to how many Environments you can have. If Environments run out, buying one becomes impossible!
   • House a Beast: place 1 Beast from your hand into 1 empty Environment or into your empty Cage. You can only use your Cage if your Beast's Maintenance cost is 2 or lower. Housing a Beast will make all Diplomats on the table react. The Afternoon is the only time you can house Beasts! Any Beasts still in your hand during the Evening must be sold to a Trader or sold off.
   • Deploy Modifications (Beast and Environment Personnel): train your Beasts to change their Criteria, lower their Maintenance cost or increase their Influence points by deploying Personnel cards from your hand that act as modifiers to either Beasts or your Cage or your Environments. Deploying Personnel can make Diplomats react when changing Beast Criteria. Diplomats will react only to the modified Criterion specifically. Beasts, the Cage and Environments can only have 1 deployed Personnel each. Deploying a new one will trash the previous Personnel.
   • Transfer Beasts: move your Beasts from an Environment into another (works with your Cage, to and fro, as well). If there is another Beast in the target Environment or Cage, the Beasts swap places. If a Beast has a Beast Personnel card deployed under it, it goes along with the Beast. The Cage restriction regarding the Maintenance cost must be respected when moving Beasts.
   • Deploy Single Use Personnel: deploy as many of the Single Use Personnel cards from your hand as you want, as long as the Time of Use section on the card indicates it's legal to use the Personnel during the current Time of Day. Resolve the Single Use Personnel effects immediately, then trash the card.
   • sell Beasts directly from your hand (bypassing Diplomat reaction) or from your Exhibition. The Beast you want to sell must match the top Criterion of the Trader you're pairing to it. If the Beast you're selling has a Beast Personnel card deployed under it, trash it. Stack the Trader left of your Home Base. Trash the Beast.

Afternoon example 1/2 (Knight Lilith plays her Day 2 Afternoon, 2 Knight game, against Knight Zoë)

1. Lilith's Exhibition looks like this after Day 1. It's now Day 2, Afternoon. On the right you can see the cards in her hand. She has already added the 2 Diplomats to her Stack at Noon. Now she will proceed to play the rest of the cards from her hand, one by one.
2. Zoë's Diplomat Stack is shown; the rulebook is only interested in her Diplomats reacting to the Beasts Lilith houses.

Example: Lilith houses her Cyclonic Hound

1. Lilith wants to house her Cyclonic Hound. Its Maintenance cost is higher than 2, so she must first buy an Environment. She pays 3 Ore to take a new Environment card from the top of the deck and adds it to her Exhibition. She shows the Cyclonic Hound around the table by holding the Beast card up, so everyone can see it. Then she places it into the Dank Deadwood.
2. Lilith's Diplomats react. The Cyclonic Hound is a Grey Fiend, which means that Diplomats Torg and Calestro both like it. Lilith receives 3 Ore.
3. Ulker likes Beasts from Teutonika (1 Ore). Jeriad likes Wind element Beasts (2 Ore). Zoë receives 3 Ore.

Example: Lilith houses her Howling Sentinel

1. Lilith wants to house her Howling Sentinel. As its Maintenance cost is 2 or lower, she can house it in her Cage. Once again, all Diplomats react and reward both Lilith and Zoë with Ore, if they like the Howling Sentinel's Criteria.
2. 3 of Lilith's Diplomats like the Howling Sentinel. Zarkant likes it because it's a Red Carnivore, Polinter likes it because it's a Bird, and Calestro likes it because it's a Water element Beast from Imperium. That's a 5 Ore reward.
3. What about Zoë? Unfortunately for her, none of her Diplomats care for the Howling Sentinel at all.

Example: Lilith houses her Albino Slitherer

1. Lilith wants to sell her Albino Slitherer to a Trader, but she notices that she can house the Beast first to prompt Diplomat reactions that will benefit her. To house her Albino Slitherer she needs another Environment. She pays 3 Ore to add one more to her Exhibition. Let's see what Diplomat reactions are triggered.
2. Zarkant likes White Omnivores. The Solemn Stormfur already satisfies that Preference, but that doesn't matter. Diplomats keep giving out Ore contributions even if their Preferences are already satisfied. Calestro likes it because it's a Water element from Imperium. It's a Lizard, so Polinter also reacts. Lilith gains 5 Ore.
3. Once again, no reactions for Zoë.

Example: Lilith sells her Albino Slitherer to a Trader

1. Lilith decides to sell the Albino Slitherer to the Trader in her hand. All 3 Criteria, Lizard (Main Criterion), Omnivore, and from Imperium (Bonus Criteria), are matched by the Beast, so this is a perfect trade! Lilith gets 2 + 3 + 3 = 8 Ore, the Beast is trashed, and the Trader gets added to her Trader Stack, on the left of her Home Base.
2. While it's possible to sell Beasts to Traders directly from your hand, Lilith knew that if she housed her Albino Slitherer before selling it, she could take advantage of her Diplomats' reactions. This way she made 5 Ore (reactions) + 8 Ore (trade) = 13 Ore.
3. Zoë gets nothing from Lilith's trade, as trades don't affect other Knights. It's recommended that all other Knights at the table pay attention to trades to make sure that they are done correctly!

Example: Lilith deploys the Songwriter to reduce Maintenance cost

1. Lilith has one last card in her hand she wants to use, the Songwriter. The Songwriter is an Environment Personnel card which must be deployed under an Environment, by tucking it under the selected Environment, as the brown dotted line shows, and immediately paying the indicated cost in Ore, 1 Ore in this case. When deployed, the Songwriter will permanently reduce the total Maintenance cost of the housed Beast + the Environment itself by 3 Ore, to an absolute minimum of 0 Ore. Additionally, the Songwriter will reward Lilith with 2 Influence points at the end of the game! Lilith decides to deploy her to the Environment where the Cyclonic Hound is.
2. After deploying the Songwriter, Lilith declares that she's finished with her turn. Zoë will go next.

It's important that all Knights (players) pay attention to each other's Afternoon turns to make sure they benefit from their Diplomat reactions! We won't follow Knight Zoë's turn step by step. We'll move on to the Evening.

Evening - Paying Maintenance

Calculations and actions (1 of 2)

Move the Time of Day Tracker token to the Evening slot. Follow the Turn Stack order, from top to bottom. All Knights have to pay their Maintenance cost. During your turn, in order, here's what you need to do:

1. Receive Personnel income: some Environment Personnel, like the Collector, award you with Ore at the start of the Evening.
2. Calculate the Exhibition Maintenance cost: sum the Beast Maintenance cost with the Environment Maintenance cost (bottom left corner of each card).
3. Subtract Personnel discounts: some Environment Personnel decrease the Maintenance cost of Beasts and their Environments to a minimum of 0 Ore, like the Appeaser. Apply these discounts now.
4. Deploy Single Use Personnel that can be used during the Evening: some Single Use Personnel that provide further discounts, like the Carer, can be deployed now, if you want to. If you deploy one or more of them now, apply their discounts.
5. Add the Hand Maintenance cost to the total. Cards you've decided not to use that are still in your hand have a Maintenance cost, as indicated on the back of each card:
   • Beasts can't be kept past the Evening. Sell them to a Trader or sell them off.
   • Diplomats can be kept for the next Day. They cost 3 Ore each to maintain.
   • Personnel can be kept for the next Day. They cost 1 Ore each to maintain.
   • Traders can be kept (as many as you want) in your hand for the next Day for free.
6. Pay the total Maintenance cost. If you are able to pay without taking any actions, declare that you're done and the next Knight goes.

At any point during your turn you can perform as many of the actions below as you want. After taking as many actions as you want you're going to have to restart your Maintenance cost calculation again (from point 2, above). You won't be able to end your turn until you pay your Maintenance cost in full.

Calculations and actions (2 of 2): actions during your turn

Whether you can pay your Maintenance cost or not, the actions below are what you can do during your turn (note that all of these actions were also available in the previous Time of Day, the Afternoon). You only get 1 turn.

• Transfer Beasts: move your Beasts from an Environment into another or Cage, to and fro. If there is another Beast in the target Environment or Cage, the Beasts swap places. If a Beast has a Beast Personnel card deployed under it, it goes along with the Beast. The Cage restriction of Maintenance cost must be respected when moving Beasts.
• Deploy Single Use Personnel: deploy as many of the Single Use Personnel cards from your hand as you want, as long as the Time of Use section on the card indicates it's legal to use the Personnel during the current Time of Day. Resolve the Single Use Personnel effects immediately, then trash the card.
• Sell a Beast to a Trader: sell Beasts directly from your hand or from your Exhibition. The Beast you want to sell must match the top Criterion of the Trader you're pairing to it. If the Beast you're selling has a Beast Personnel card deployed under it, trash it. Stack the Trader left of your Home Base. Trash the Beast.
• Sell off Beasts: trash a Beast from your hand or your Exhibition in exchange for its Maintenance cost or 2 Ore, whichever is lower. If the Beast has a Beast Personnel card deployed under it, trash it.
• Sell off empty Environments: return an empty Environment to the bottom of its deck for 1 Ore. If there's an Environment Personnel deployed here, trash it.

Clarifications and example (2 of 2)

1. To clarify, below is a list of items in your Exhibition that don't have a Maintenance cost:

   • Welcomed Diplomats in your Diplomat Stack (right of your Home Base).
   • Your secret Quests in your Quest Stack (above your Home Base).
   • The Traders in your Trader Stack (left of your Home Base).
   • Your Cage (beside your Home Base).
   • Your Workers (inside your Home Base).
   • Your deployed Personnel (tucked under your Beasts, your Environments and your Cage).

2. There are strategic elements to paying your Maintenance cost. Before the next Day starts, the Turn Stack must be updated. Knights with less Ore than their opponents will go further up in the Turn Stack (earlier in the turn taking order) tomorrow. But beware: having less Ore available may give you difficulties when you're trying to relocate Workers, as you may not be able to afford it.

   Medal of Dedication: if all of your Environments and your Cage are not empty (1 housed Beast or 1 deployed Personnel) and you have exactly 0 Ore after paying your Maintenance cost, the King awards you 1 King's Medal. Do you have exactly 0 Ore, no empty Environments and no empty Cage after paying your Maintenance cost? Collect 1 King's Medal, you've earned it.

3. Should you find yourself not being able to pay after calculating the total Maintenance cost you will have to reduce the Maintenance cost, sometimes by selling off valuable Beasts that contribute towards fully satisfying your Diplomats' Preferences. Doing so may save you for today, but you will have to find suitable replacement Beasts to ensure your Diplomats are satisfied by the end of the game, if you don't want to fail their expectations.

   While extremely rare, it is technically possible to have a Maintenance cost that you cannot pay for even after you've sold off all Beasts and Environments. If that happens, trash all of the cards from your hand and whatever is left of your Ore. You will not receive a King's Medal after exercising this Last Resort.

Example: Knight Mike counts up the Maintenance cost

1. Mike needs to count up the Maintenance cost of his Exhibition and his hand (the Yellow Dyer cannot be deployed during the Evening). He starts with 7 Ore.

   • Exhibition Maintenance cost: Emergent Mimesis 1, Confident Liona 2, Desiccated Canyon 1, Deepest Vesper 5, Brimstone Volcano 1.
   • Hand Maintenance cost: Yellow Dyer 1.

   That's 11 Ore. Mike can't afford to pay! He must reduce the total Maintenance cost, probably by selling off some of his precious Beasts for 2 Ore or the Beast's Maintenance cost, whichever is lower.

2. Mike decides to sell off the Deepest Vesper. This gives him +2 Ore, so he now has 9 Ore, and reduces his Maintenance cost by 5 Ore, down to 6 Ore in total, which he can afford. That's a shame: Diplomat Dryad was fond of that Deepest Vesper. These are the kind of painful cuts you will have to make, should you not be able to pay your Maintenance cost.

3. After every Knight (player) has finished paying their Maintenance cost, we can move on to the end of the Day.

End of Day

All Knights have paid their Maintenance cost. Time to turn in for the night. Check the Day Tracker D6 Die.

Next Day or end of game? Is the Day Tracker D6 Die showing 3 pips and is it in the third slot?

• If no, the next Day begins (see the steps below).
• If yes, the Festival is over. Time to count up the scores. Break out the Scoring Pad (see Scoring, below).

Steps to start the next Day (example: the 4 Knight game, after Day 1)

1. Firstly, update the Turn Stack. Differently from the start of Day 1, at the start of Day 2 and Day 3 the Turn Stack order is decided by the quantity of Ore each Knight has. Poorest goes 1st, richest goes last. In case of a tie (two or more Knights have the same amount of Ore), the Knight who was furthest down in the Turn Stack before gets to go on top of the other currently tied Knight(s).

   Example: Gregory is richest, with 14 Ore. He will be last in Day 2. Mike, Zoë, and Andrew have 6 Ore each. They're tied for the top position in the Turn Stack. As Andrew was last before, he gets to go 1st. Zoë will go 2nd, as she was further down compared to Mike, who ends up last in the 3 way tie, in 3rd place.

2. Then, we also need to:

   • Rotate the Day Tracker D6 Die so it shows 1 more pip.
   • Move the Day Tracker D6 Die to the next column.
   • Give the Workers in that Day's column to their Knights.
   • Move the Time of Day Tracker to the Dawn slot.

3. Now a new Day can start. Go to the Dawn section of this rulebook (page 20), under the Main Game - How to Play chapter, if you want a refresher on how Dawn is played.

Festival Results - Scoring

Calculating Scores - Summary

1. Take a sheet from the Scoring Pad and start counting your Influence points.

2. Score each of the following steps, in turn order:

   Diplomat Score. Take your welcomed Diplomats from the Stack (right of your Home Base) in your hand and place them facing up one by one, stacking them again from top to bottom. With each Diplomat you put down, you have to verify that their Preferences are fully satisfied by the Beasts in your Exhibition (tableau). If a Diplomat is satisfied, stack the next satisfied Diplomat so that you can see the Influence point contributions from all satisfied Diplomats at the same time. If the Diplomat is not satisfied, take the unsatisfied Diplomat card and place it nearby, facing down. When you complete a stack of 3 satisfied Diplomats, start a new stack beside it. The sum of the Influence points shown on your satisfied Diplomats is your Diplomat score.

   Diplomat Bonus Score. Count your amount of complete sets of 3 satisfied Diplomats. Each is worth 5 Influence points. If you haven't failed any Diplomats, you gain 10 more Influence points. Lastly, every pair of 2 unsatisfied Diplomats is worth -5 Influence points. Sum these together to get your Bonus score.

   Beast Score. Sum together the Influence points of all of your Beasts in your Exhibition, not counting any Personnel discounts, modifications or bonuses. The total sum of the Beast Influence points is your Beast score.

   Trader Score. Count the successful Trades in your Exhibition (left of your Home Base). Each is worth 3 Influence points. Sum them to get your Trader score.

   Ore Score. Count your Ore. Divide it by 2 and round down to get your Ore score.

   Personnel Score. Sum together the Influence points visible on all of the Personnel cards in your Exhibition. The sum is your Personnel score.

   Secret Quest Score. Reveal your Quest cards one by one. For each, count how many items (e.g. Beasts) in your Exhibition fulfill each Quest's Criteria. Multiply this number by the amount of Influence points shown on the relevant Quest to get its Quest score. If a Quest has no items in your Exhibition that fulfill at least 1 of its Criteria, it's considered failed and it counts as a -5 Influence point score. Sum the scores of each Quest to get the total Quest score.

Calculating Scores - Example 1/2 (Knight Zoë counts her score: Diplomats, Bonus, Beasts, Trades, Ore)

1. Diplomats and Bonus. Zoë takes her Diplomats in her hand and places them down one by one, to form stacks of 3, going from top to bottom. With each Diplomat she puts down, she has to verify that the Diplomat's Preferences (the Criteria indicated on the card) are matched by at least the amount of indicated Beasts in the Exhibition. She takes Diplomat Yurivalt, for example. He wants 2 Fish. Zoë shows the other Knights that she has at least 2 Fish Beasts: the Boiling Spiner and the Loathsome Drifter.

   Zoë verifies that all Diplomats are satisfied, then she adds up all of their Influence point contributions, for a total of 24. Then she checks her Bonus score: she has 0 unsatisfied Diplomats so that's another +10, and she has 1 set of 3 satisfied Diplomats and that's another +5. Her total Bonus score is 15 Influence points.

2. Beasts. Zoë adds up the Influence points shown on each Beast in her Exhibition. She ignores all Personnel related modifiers and discounts as those don't affect the Beast score. She also ignores all Environments, as those don't give any Influence points. Her total Beast score is 21.

3. Trades. It's as simple as counting the amount of Trader cards in the Exhibition (left of the Home Base) and multiplying that number by 3 Influence points. Zoë's total Trader score is 3 × 3 = 9.

4. Ore. Zoë counts her Ore and then divides the resulting number by 2. She has 7 Ore. 7 / 2 = 3.5. As 3.5 Influence points is not an acceptable result, she has to round that down to 3 Influence points, which is her final Ore score.

Calculating Scores - Example 2/2 (Knight Zoë counts her score: Personnel, Quests, King's Medals)

1. Personnel. Zoë looks at all of her deployed Beast and Environment Personnel cards. If she had any, she would ignore any deployed Single Use Personnel, as they wouldn't give any Influence points at the end of the game. The Doctor gives her 7 Influence points and the Songwriter gives her 2 Influence points, for a total Personnel score of 9.

2. Quests. Zoë reveals each of her Quest cards one by one.

   • The first Quest is Passion, which rewards her 3 Influence points for each Red Beast in her Exhibition. She has 2 Red, which means this Quest is worth 6 Influence points.
   • The second Quest is Variety, which rewards 2 Influence points for Beasts with different Maintenance costs. She has all 5, which means this Quest is a whopping 10 Influence points.
   • The last Quest is Moonlight, which rewards 5 Influence points for each pair of Nocturnal Beasts. She has 3 Nocturnal Beasts, so only 1 complete pair, which means this Quest is worth 5 Influence points.

   Zoë's total Quest score is 21 Influence points.

3. King's Medals. The King's Medals that Zoë collected are now counted. Each King's Medal is worth 2 Influence points on its own. Zoë has collected 3 King's Medals, so that's 6 Influence points. Each group of 3 King's Medals is also worth a 3 Influence point bonus. Her total Medal score is 6 + 3 = 9 Influence points. The 2 King's Favours aren't worth anything.

4. Total. Adding up all of the scores, it becomes clear that Knight Zoë has performed the best and has assembled the most praiseworthy Beast Exhibition for this Festival, worth 111 Influence points. Congratulations Zoë!

Calculating Scores - Tiebreakers

At the Neutralia Solstice Festival we don't believe in ties. Somebody has to win. It's a competition after all.

Below is a list of tiebreakers that must be applied in order to determine who the winner is in case of a tie. If Knights (players) are still tied after checking for the 1st tiebreaker, check the next one. Continue down the list until a clear winner is established.

1. Highest number of Beasts
2. Most welcomed Diplomats (satisfied or otherwise)
3. Most King's Medals
4. Most completed sales to Traders
5. Least Ore
6. Highest Turn Stack Position

Example: Knight Andrew wins on the Beast tiebreaker. The printed scoring pad for this example shows Zoë, Andrew and Mike all on 103 Influence points.

• Knight Zoë's playthrough went well. She has a highly efficient Exhibition, with a few Beasts satisfying a large amount of Diplomats. Unfortunately she wasn't able to focus on her Teutonika Quest, so that's a mere 3 Influence points, which hurts her score. On top of that, she's been strapped for Ore throughout the playthrough. Her final score is 103 Influence points.
• Knight Mike has focused his playthrough on Personnel. Thanks to his Personnel he was able to keep his Maintenance cost low and accumulate score at the same time. He has a small amount of Diplomats, all satisfied by a small amount of Beasts in a very efficient manner, but it's unfortunate that he wasn't able to get a better Quest than Tempest as that one really doesn't work for him. His final score is also 103 Influence points.
• Knight Andrew has focused on selling Beasts to Traders. He was hoping to find at least 1 Yellow Beast on Day 3, but he wasn't able to, so the Splendor Quest was failed, which cost him 5 Influence points. His final score is 103 Influence points as well. It's a 3 way tie! The first thing we check to break the tie is who has more Beasts. Turns out Andrew is the winner, as he has 6 Beasts, which is more than everyone else.

Extras

Solo Variant - How to Play

Beasts and Diplomacy can be played Solo as well. It works almost exactly the same as the Main Game (refer to the Main Game section of this rulebook for information on how to play).

The only differences are listed below.

• Draw 3 Quests at Dawn: instead of giving yourself 2 Quest cards to choose from as you would in multiplayer, give yourself 3 Quest cards each Day. You still only get to keep as many Quests as the current Day number and have to trash the others.
• Winning condition is 100+ Influence points: in the Solo Variant you're competing against yourself and not other Knights. To win a Solo game your final score must be at least 100 Influence points.
• No help from other Knights: you cannot rely on other Knights housing Beasts that will make your Diplomats react and give you Ore. You're going to be responsible for all of your Diplomat reactions. To perform well in the Solo Variant you will need a keen eye for opportunities and a solid grasp of your financial situation at all times.
• No passing in the Morning: passing to collect 1 Ore in the Morning is impossible when playing the Solo Variant. As soon as you decide to pass, the Morning ends immediately.
• Solo Achievements: for an extra challenge, you can go after the Achievements listed below.

Solo Variant - Achievements

Below is a list of Achievements you can keep track of on your road to mastering Beasts and Diplomacy. Tick them as you progress. Multiple Achievements can be unlocked in a single Solo Variant game.

Important notes: Achievements can only be unlocked by winning standard games. No expansions or house rules allowed! If you're playing with a Starter Hand (see page 17), all Achievements are not available for you to unlock.

1. Authoritative: win a Solo game with at least 150 Influence points.
2. Well Connected: win a Solo game with at least 25 Influence points coming from your Diplomat Bonus score.
3. Secret Agenda: win a Solo game with at least 18 Influence points from a single Quest.
4. Machiavellian: win a Solo game with at least 120 Influence points with at least 1 failed Diplomat in your Exhibition.
5. Synergetic Convergence: win a Solo game where 1 of your Beasts is liked by at least 6 Diplomats at the same time at the end of the game.
6. Serial Employer: win a Solo game with at least 6 deployed Personnel (Beast or Environment / Cage).
7. Sight for Sore Eyes: win a Solo game where your Exhibition contains Beasts of at least 7 different colours.
8. Crowd Control Issues: win a Solo game where your Exhibition contains at least 10 Beasts.
9. No Pain No Gain: win a Solo game where at least 25 Influence points come from your Beast score.
10. Well Travelled: win a Solo game where your Exhibition contains Beasts from at least 6 different habitats / empires.
11. Close Call: win a Solo game with 0 Ore and no empty Environments after paying your Maintenance cost at the end of Day 3.

Family Mode Variant - What Is It?

Family Mode is a more approachable version of Beasts and Diplomacy that's more suitable for younger Knights (players). However, at least 1 Knight who knows how to play the Main Game should be present during the first playthrough of Family Mode, as numerous rules and game mechanisms carry over from the Main Game to Family Mode. In Family Mode, only 2 Workers per Knight (player) are ever used, Ore is removed completely and there are no Traders and no Personnel, therefore less components are necessary.

Components needed for Family Mode

• 120 Beast cards
• 58 Diplomat cards
• 48 Quest mini-cards
• 1 Home Base (player mat) per Knight, on the Family Mode side (includes the Family icon)
• 12 King's Favour chips
• 36 King's Medal chips
• 1 Round Tracker D6 die and 1 Round Tracker token
• 2 Workers (meeples) per Knight (player)
• 1 Modular Game Board, with the Family overlay
• 4 High Priority Spot blocker chips

All of the rest of the components can be returned to the box.

Family Mode - Setup

Table setup (set up the game for 4 Knights; the Diplomat, Beast and Quest decks must be shuffled before being placed beside the board)

• Diplomat deck: all 58 Diplomat cards facing down. Leave space behind the deck for the Trash Pile (represented by a darkened card).
• Diplomat game board: place the Diplomat game board module on the table. Unfold it so all panels are facing up and visible and slot it against the Beast board.
• King's Favour supply: all of the available King's Favour chips. Place them in a pile. When playing, if you have 3 King's Favours, you must immediately convert them into 1 King's Medal.
• King's Medals supply: all of the available King's Medal chips. Place them in a pile. Important note: the King's Medals are meant to be infinite. If you run out of chips, use a suitable replacement.
• Quest deck: all 48 Quest cards facing down. Leave space beside the deck for the Trash Pile (represented by a darkened card).
• Beast game board: place the Beast game board module on the table. Unfold it so all panels are facing up and visible and slot it against the Diplomat board.
• High Priority Spot blockers: place the Blockers to cover High Priority Spots whose number exceeds the Knight (player) count.
• Beast deck: all 120 Beast cards facing down. Split them into two decks of roughly the same amount of cards each. Leave space between the decks for the Trash Pile (represented by a darkened card).
• Round Track: use this section to track the game's progression through the rounds using the Round Tracker token. When the Round Tracker token moves from the sixth round spot to the last spot, the game ends.
• Round Tracker D6 die: place the Round Tracker D6 die near the board, just above the Family Mode overlay, close to the Round Track.

Before we start

1. First, let's roll the Round Tracker D6 die to determine which Knight (player) gets to go first. Whoever rolls the highest number gets to go first. If there's a tie between Knights with the highest number, they should roll again until a clear winner is established. Whoever goes first takes the Round Tracker D6 die, rotates it so it shows 1 pip, and places it in their Home Base. Every round after the first round until the end of the game, the next Knight in clockwise order will receive the Round Tracker D6 die, place it in their Home Base showing the round number, and take their turn first for that round.

2. Starting from the 1st Knight (player), give each Knight 2 Quest cards. Check your Quests secretly and if you see this icon then this Quest is not valid for Family Mode. Show it to the other Knights, put it in the Quest trash pile and draw another Quest card from the top of the deck. Repeat this until everybody has 2 valid Quest cards. Each player must choose 1 Quest to keep. Place your Quest card face down, left of your Home Base and trash the other. Throughout the game, this will be your only Quest, so keep an eye out for Beasts that match it!

   Example: Quests that are not valid in Family Mode

   Knight Gregory has received his 2 Quests. One of them is Power! He notices that it has the Family icon in the top right corner, near the Influence point rewards. He shows it around, puts it in the Quest trash pile beside the Quest deck, then he draws another... Personnel! That doesn't work. Another... Focus! No. Maybe the next one. Treasury? There are no Traders in Family Mode! Gregory finds Omnitheon. That one works. He decides to place it beside his Home Base and trashes his other Quest, Herbitheon. Gregory is ready to play!

3. Place the Round Tracker token on the Round Track on the board, on the first slot. We'll play exactly 6 rounds, as indicated on the Round Track, on the Family Mode overlay.

   The Round Tracker D6 die must be on the slot in the first Knight's Home Base, showing the current round number. The Round Tracker token must be on the first slot, at the top, matching the number on the Round Tracker D6 die. The 1 Quest card must be facing down, beside the Home Base.

Round Flow - Setup

1. Let's put cards on the board so that we can draft them. We need 12 Beast cards and 6 Diplomat cards, so let's draw them from the top of their respective decks and place them on the slots on the board.

Family Mode - How to Play (Round Flow)

Drafting

1. Family Mode works similarly to the Morning of the Main Game mode. Deploy Workers to the Drafting Areas on the board to draft 1 Beast or 1 Diplomat. If the Worker goes to a High Priority Spot, collect 1 King's Favour as well. Add the cards to your Exhibition immediately. If you collect 3 King's Favours exchange them for 1 King's Medal.

   Example: Knight Andrew (left) vs Knight Melissa (right), Round 1

   1. Andrew has the Round Tracker Die, so he drafts first. His Quest card would normally be secret, but we'll reveal it, just so this example is clearer. It's Dragonology. He deploys 1 of his 2 Workers to draft the Plated Krosk, the only available Dragon for this round. He immediately adds the Beast to his Exhibition. He also collects 1 King's Favour from the High Priority Spot there.
   2. Melissa is next. She deploys 1 Worker to draft the Grinning Lacerator. It's a Bird from Angelion... This Beast matches her Angelion Quest and allows her to potentially draft Diplomat Haska next. Then, she immediately adds the Beast to her Exhibition and collects 1 King's Favour from the last available High Priority Spot in the Beast Drafting Area.
   3. Andrew is going to try to form synergies with his Plated Krosk. Diplomat Ulker, who likes Beasts from Teutonika, would work well, so he deploys his second and last Worker to draft him and collects another King's Favour.
   4. Melissa drafts the Surface Carver. Not only is this Beast from Angelion, it's also highly valuable, to be specific. Both High Priority Spots here are already taken, so no King's Favour for Melissa, but maybe she thinks that a Beast that also matches her Quest is worth it.

2. Once all Knights run out of Workers, you need to:

   • Return all of your Workers to your Home Base.
   • Trash every card from the board. All of the cards need to be placed facing up, near their respective decks (e.g. Diplomats go behind the Diplomat deck), in the same orientation as the decks themselves.
   • Move the Round Tracker token down by 1 space, to the next slot.

Family Mode - Scoring

1. Take a sheet from the Scoring Pad and start counting your Influence points.

2. Score each of the following steps, in turn order:

   • Diplomat Score. Take your welcomed Diplomats from the Stack (right of your Home Base) in your hand and place them facing up one by one, stacking them again, from top to bottom. With each Diplomat you put down, you have to verify that their Preferences are fully satisfied by the Beasts in your Exhibition (tableau). If a Diplomat is satisfied, stack the next satisfied Diplomat so that you can see the Influence point contributions from all satisfied Diplomats at the same time. If the Diplomat is not satisfied, take the unsatisfied Diplomat card and place it nearby, facing down. When you complete a stack of 3 satisfied Diplomats, start a new stack beside it. The sum of the Influence points shown on your satisfied Diplomats is your Diplomat score.
   • Diplomat Bonus Score. Count your amount of complete sets of 3 satisfied Diplomats. Each is worth 5 Influence points. If you haven't failed any Diplomats, you gain 10 more Influence points. Lastly, every pair of 2 unsatisfied Diplomats is worth -5 Influence points. Sum these together to get your Bonus score.
   • Beast Score. Sum together the Influence points of all of your Beasts in your Exhibition. The total sum of the Beast Influence points is your Beast score.
   • Secret Quest Score. Reveal your Quest card. Count how many items (e.g. Beasts) in your Exhibition fulfill the Quest's Criteria. Multiply this number by the amount of Influence points shown on the Quest to get its Quest score. If your Quest has no items in your Exhibition that fulfill at least 1 of its Criteria, it's considered failed and it counts as a -5 Influence point score. The total score of your Quest is your final Quest score.
   • King's Medals Score. Count your King's Medals. Multiply by 2 to get your King's Medals score. Each group of 3 King's Medals is worth an additional 3 Influence points.

Quest Encyclopedia

Quest Encyclopedia 1/2

• Colour (Grey, Black, White, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple): these Quests give the indicated Influence point value for each Beast you have housed in your Exhibition whose Colour matches the indicated Colour. Rainbow is a special Quest. It will give you 2 Influence points for each different Colour of Beast that you have in your Exhibition. Therefore, the absolute maximum it can score is 18, as there are 9 Colours in total. These Quests are usable in the Family Mode Variant.
• Habitat (Angelion, Murkhor, Gaelixia, Imperium, Teutonika, Javelon): these Quests give the indicated Influence point value for each Beast you have housed in your Exhibition whose Habitat matches the indicated empire. Travel is a special Quest. It will give you 2 Influence points for each different Habitat of Beast that you have in your Exhibition. Therefore, the absolute maximum it can score is 12, as there are 6 empires in total. These Quests are usable in the Family Mode Variant.
• Species: these Quests give the indicated Influence point value for each Beast you have housed in your Exhibition whose Species matches the indicated Species. Ecosystem is a special Quest. It will give you 2 Influence points for each different Species of Beast that you have in your Exhibition. Therefore, the absolute maximum it can score is 16, as there are 8 Species in total. These Quests are usable in the Family Mode Variant.
• Element (any 1 of the 3 indicated Elements): these Quests give the indicated Influence point value for each Beast you have housed in your Exhibition whose Element matches any 1 of the 3 indicated Elements. Elementarium is a special Quest. It will give you 2 Influence points for each different Element of Beast. The absolute maximum it can score is 18, as there are 9 Elements in total. These Quests are usable in the Family Mode Variant.
• Activity (Diurnal, Nocturnal): these Quests give the indicated Influence point value for each pair of housed Beasts whose Activity matches the indicated Activity. These Quests are usable in the Family Mode Variant.

Quest Encyclopedia 2/2

• Diet (Carnivore, Herbivore, Omnivore): these Quests give the indicated Influence point value for each pair of housed Beasts whose Diet matches the indicated Diet. These Quests are usable in the Family Mode Variant.
• Maintenance cost: these Quests give the indicated Influence point value for each Beast you have housed in your Exhibition that matches the indicated Maintenance cost. Variety is a special Quest. It will give you 2 Influence points for each different Beast Maintenance cost you have in your Exhibition. Therefore, the absolute maximum it can score is 10. These Quests are not usable in the Family Mode Variant.
• Diplomats (Patron, Aristocrat, Royal): these Quests give the indicated amount of Influence points for each welcomed Diplomat of the indicated Rank (Patron, Aristocrat, or Royal), as long as by the end of the game their Preferences are fully satisfied. Legion is a special Quest. It will give you 3 Influence points per pair of satisfied welcomed Diplomats, irrespective of rank. These Quests are not usable in the Family Mode Variant.
• Beast or Environment/Cage Personnel: this Quest gives the indicated Influence point value for each pair of Beast and Environment/Cage Personnel combined that you have deployed in your Exhibition. Each pair of deployed Personnel is worth 5 additional Influence points. This Quest is not usable in the Family Mode Variant.
• Traders: this Quest gives 4 Influence points for each pair of successfully completed sales. This Quest is not usable in the Family Mode Variant.
• Focus: this Quest gives 4 additional Influence points for each time your other 2 Quests are matched 3 times. Imagine, for example, that you have Focus, Passion (Red Beasts), and Herpetology (Lizards). In your Exhibition you have 3 Red Beasts and 4 Lizards. Focus would be worth 8 Influence points because Passion and Herpetology combine for 7 matches, so Focus activates twice. This Quest is not usable in the Family Mode Variant.

Beast Personnel Encyclopedia

The following properties apply to all Beast Personnel cards:

• Can only be deployed in the Afternoon.
• Each Beast can only have 1 Beast Personnel deployed under it.
• You cannot deploy a Beast Personnel that changes Criteria on a Beast if this wouldn't produce any changes (for example, the Orange Dyer cannot be deployed under an Orange Beast).
• You can remove a Beast Personnel from a Beast only by deploying a different Beast Personnel under it. The previous one is trashed. Doing so may revert one of the Beast's Criteria to its original state.
• If you transfer a Beast to a different Environment or the Cage, its deployed Beast Personnel goes with it.
• If you sell or sell off a Beast with a Beast Personnel, that Beast Personnel is immediately trashed.

Name	Code	Cost	Effect
Black Dyer	P-58	1	Changes the Beast's Colour Criterion to Black. Worth 1 Influence point at the end of the game.
Blazemistress	P-54	2	Changes the Beast's Element Criterion to Fire. Worth 1 Influence point at the end of the game.
Blue Dyer	P-61	1	Changes the Beast's Colour Criterion to Blue. Worth 1 Influence point at the end of the game.
Boltmaster	P-52	1	Changes the Beast's Element Criterion to Lightning. Worth 1 Influence point at the end of the game.
Butcher	P-67	1	Changes the Beast's Diet Criterion to Carnivore. Worth 1 Influence point at the end of the game.
Doctor

Cage / Environment Personnel Encyclopedia

The following properties apply to all Cage / Environment Personnel cards:

• Can only be deployed in the Afternoon.
• Each Cage / Environment can only have 1 Personnel deployed under it.
• You are not allowed to transfer a Cage / Environment Personnel from one location to another.
• You are allowed to remove a Cage / Environment Personnel only by deploying a different Cage / Environment Personnel under its location. The previous one is trashed.
• If you transfer a Beast to the Cage or an Environment with a deployed Cage / Environment Personnel, the Personnel is unaffected. However, if the Personnel shows the "No Beast" icon, you can still move the Beast into the Cage / Environment, but the Personnel is immediately trashed.
• If you sell off an Environment with an Environment Personnel, that Environment Personnel is trashed.

Name	Limitation	Code	Cost	Effect
Appeaser	Environment	P-40	1	Lowers the combined Maintenance cost of the Beast that's housed in this Environment and the Environment itself by 2 Ore, to a minimum of 0 Ore. Also worth 3 Influence points at the end of the game.
Chef	Environment	P-43	2	Gain 1 Ore per Beast in your Exhibition at the beginning of every Evening. Also worth 2 Influence points at the end of the game.
Cleaner	Cage	P-46	3	Worth 1 Influence point per Beast in your Exhibition at the end of the game.
Collector	Environment; No Beast	P-37	1	Gain 4 Ore at the beginning of every Evening. Also worth 2 Influence points at the end of the game.

FAQ

Can I hide my Ore or my Diplomat Stack from my opponents? No, all face up information that's on the table is public. It's against the spirit of the game to conceal it. Your opponents are not allowed to see the front of the cards in your hand and your secret Quests on the table.

What happens if I run out of chips at any point during the game? Try to exchange 1 Ore chip for 5 or 10 whenever possible. Convert King's Favours into 1 King's Medal as soon as you have 3. There are exactly 10 High Priority Spot Blockers, because no more are ever necessary. All chips are meant to be infinite. If any are missing or have been misplaced, use a suitable replacement.

What's the difference between "Discarding" and "Trashing"? Discarding can only be done at Dawn and in the Morning. It means placing a card from your hand onto the board, face up, which makes it possible for other Knights (players), as well as yourself, to draft it in future turns. "Trashing" means placing a card face up into its respective trash pile. Save for rare occasions revolving around the deployment of specific Personnel cards, all "Trashing" in Beasts and Diplomacy is done publicly. All Knights should have an awareness of what is being trashed.

Can I look through the Trash Piles whenever I want to? No. You're only allowed to rummage through the Trash Piles when using a Personnel that enables you to do it, such as the Exhumer or the Socialite.

In the Morning can I pass before deploying my Home Base Workers? No. You can only pass if there are no more Workers in your Home Base. If you use the Commander to return 2 Workers to your Home Base, you won't be able to pass until they are deployed.

In the Morning am I forced to deploy my Workers to the High Priority Spots if they are available? No. You can deploy them to the desired Drafting Areas, in the Infinite Spot. Generally speaking, however, it's always desirable to collect as many King's Favours as possible.

Can I deploy relocation Personnel if all of my Workers are exhausted? Yes. You can deploy the Superintendent, the Minister, the Consigner, or the Spotter even if you cannot relocate Workers to their respective Drafting Areas (e.g. your Workers are all exhausted). Their effect will be resolved in full, but you won't be able to relocate your Worker and draft a card.

I'm failing a Diplomat. Is my only option random drafting Beasts? No. You can ban a Diplomat that's giving you problems by paying 10 Ore. Also, frequently there are Personnel that can be very helpful in finding a Beast you need, like the Archivist, for example. Looking outside the box is key to turning a difficult playthrough around!

Can I remove a deployed Beast Personnel / Environment Personnel? Yes. While you cannot simply trash a Beast Personnel or Environment Personnel, you can deploy another Personnel to replace the current one. If you do that, the old one is immediately trashed and its effects are reverted (which could cause Diplomat reactions!). If you have an Environment Personnel that doesn't allow you to house a Beast in the same Environment, simply moving a Beast into that Environment in the Afternoon or Evening is enough to trash the unwanted Personnel.

In the Evening of Day 3 can I discard cards that I chose to keep until now, or do I have to pay the Maintenance cost for them? No. You have to pay the Maintenance cost in full, as you would any other Day.

Can I deploy the Somnologist on 1 Beast only? No. The Somnologist always needs 2 Beasts to put to sleep and costs nothing in Maintenance cost for today. You choose which 2, but it must be exactly 2. If you only have 1 Beast in your Exhibition, he cannot be deployed at all!

In the Evening do I always get a King's Medal if I have no Ore? No. If your Cage or one of your Environments is empty, then you don't get the Medal. To be clear, a Cage or an Environment with a Personnel deployed there is NOT empty.

Can I sell a Beast to a Trader to whom I've sold a different Beast before? No, your completed Traders in your Exhibition are only there to be counted as Influence points at the end of the game.

What happens if one of the decks is out of cards? You won't be able to interact with that deck at all. You don't shuffle the trashed cards and form another deck. If you don't have cards to add onto the respective Drafting Area in the Morning the slots remain empty. For example, if the left Beast deck has no cards you only set up the 6 Beasts on the right.

Can I house a Beast without an empty Cage / Environment? No. You cannot house a Beast and, by consequence, get Diplomat reactions if you don't have a valid place to house it in first. You'll have to either buy an Environment for 3 Ore or free up one of your Environments or the Cage before you can house a Beast.

An opponent hasn't noticed that they would get more Ore from a Diplomat reaction. Can I keep this information to myself? You can, but you really shouldn't. It's against the spirit of the game for you to essentially cheat by omission. We encourage all Knights (players) to keep an eye on each other's situations so that these types of errors don't poison the results of an honest game.

Is an Omnivore both a Herbivore and a Carnivore at the same time? No. Omnivore is a third, distinct option for the Diet Criterion. It's not a wild for the other 2.

Is there a hand limit or can I collect as many cards as I want? No. You can collect as many cards as you can manage, would be a more accurate way to put it. Taking extra actions to draft cards costs you Ore or cards and keeping cards from Day to Day is costly as well.

Spy and Bureaucrat - do they give me 1 extra Quest? No. These Personnel only allow you to exchange 1 of your Quests. Every Day you can only keep as many Quests as the current Day number.

Expansions

Year of the Beast Mini-Expansion

The Year of the Beast mini-expansion consists of 8 unique cards that are included in every box. It's an optional module you can include in your multiplayer games if you want to have an additional scoring option.

If you include this module, each game you play will take place in a different year. Each year will give scoring bonuses for a specific Species.

Before starting the game, shuffle the Year of the Beast deck and place it somewhere visible to all Knights (players). Flip the top card. The Species shown will control what year it is. Each Beast in your Exhibition matching the current year's Species will score additional Influence points at the end of the game, as shown on the card. Add this extra score to your Quest score.

The bonus is cumulative. For example, let's imagine that this game it's the Year of the Lizard. You will get extra Influence points for each Lizard in your Exhibition at the end of the game as follows:

• 1 Lizard = its score + 1 Influence point.
• 2 to 3 Lizards = their score + 2 Influence points for each (4 to 6 in total).
• 4 or more Lizards = their score + 3 Influence points for each (12+ in total).

Not transcribed: the Almanac solo expansion is a separately sold product (its product description and components list) and is not part of this rulebook.