Bios: Mesofauna
Bios: Mesofauna Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Components
- Book I: Caterpillar & Cocoon
- Caterpillar
- Cocoon
- J. Butterfly Combined Game
- K. The Bios Earth Campaign
- L. Butterfly Solitaire
- Book I Game Credits
- Book II: Butterfly (Full Game / Standard Game)
- A. Butterfly Sequence of Play
- B. Game Components
- C. Butterfly Setup
- D. Actions
- E. Dispersals
- F. Contests
- G. Traits
- H. Events
- I. Endgame & Scoring
- Book II Glossary
- Book II Game Credits
Components
BIOS:MESOFAUNA COMPONENTS for all the Mesofauna games (Caterpillar, Cocoon, Butterfly, & Combined).
Caterpillar Components
- a. Book I Caterpillar/Cocoon Rulebook. You are reading it
- b. 24 Species Cards. 6 Species in 4 different colors.
- c. 61 Mutation Cards in 4 colors
- d. 40 Wooden Creeples. Shape Archetype: 10 pink, 10 blue, 10 purple, 10 gray
- e. 36 Wooden Creeples. Shape Burrower: 9 pink, 9 blue, 9 purple, 9 gray
- f. 28 Wooden Creeples. Shape Armored: 7 pink, 7 blue, 7 purple, 7 gray.
- g. 28 Wooden Creeples. Shape Swimmer: 7 pink, 7 blue, 7 purple, 7 gray
- h. 28 Wooden Creeples. Shape Flyer: 7 pink, 7 blue, 7 purple, 7 gray
- i. 28 Wooden Creeples. Shape Parasite: 7 pink, 7 blue, 7 purple, 7 gray
- j. 110 Organ Cubes 10mm (25 each of yellow, red, green, blue, 10 of white)
- k. 8 Double-sided Cratons, each side has 3 Biomes (hexes)
- l. 20 Yellow wooden Floral tokens
- m. 16 Fossil Chits
- n. 1 Score Card and 4 score counters
- o. 9 Player Aid Cards (2 per player for regular games and 1 for solitaire)
Cocoon Additional Components
- p. 5 Cost Chits
- q. 16 Venom/Mutualism Chits. Only the venom side is used in Cocoon
Butterfly Additional Components
- r. 4 Dice 8-sided (4d8)
- s. Book II Butterfly Rulebook
Combined Game Butterfly Additional Components
- t. 20 Species Cards for Megafauna Species. 5 Species in the 4 Megafauna colors
Book I: Caterpillar & Cocoon
Beginner's Games by Jon Manker
Text Standards
At the end of this book you will find a glossary, in case you want any of the terms in the game explained in detail. Any terms in the glossary are written using First Letter Capital. Words in bold are game terms being defined, and italics are game terms defined elsewhere in the rules. You will be taking actions when playing Caterpillar. Actions are written using SMALL CAPS.
Species Card Anatomy
The two types of cards in the game are Species Cards and Mutations. Both card types are used to build each player's Tableaux, with one Tableau for each Species. You have 6 Species Cards, but only your Archetype Species Card is active from the start and establishes your first Tableau. Each Species Card has these attributes:
- a. Shape. Each shape is a different Species: Archetype, burrower, armored, swimmer, Flyer, and Parasite.
- b. Player Colors are pink, blue, purple, and gray.
- c. Skeletal Number. Used only to determine the first player (highest goes first, then clockwise).
- d. Unborns are stored on the icons provided. This may be helpful to show the number of living Creeples on the map during scoring.
Mutation Card Anatomy
Mutations are cards that represent specialized adaptations unique to each Species. Mutation features are:
- a. Color. Each Mutation is one of 4 colors: yellow (respiratory), red (sensory), green (digestive), or blue (reproductive).
- b. Unpromoted vs. Promoted Side. Each Mutation is double-sided, as shown. In Caterpillar, you will only be using the promoted side.
- c. Organs. The unpromoted side, and some of the promoted sides, has one or two cube icons with a "+". Cubes of the correct color are always placed there. These cubes represent Organs.
- d. Orientation. A card on its promoted side must be in one of its two Orientations as shown. You choose the Orientation, but the side that you do not choose (to the left) will never be used in the game.
- e. Body Parts & Pheromone Icons. Each Mutation Orientation is either a head (Pheromone half-icon to the left), abdomen (Pheromone half-icon to the right), or thorax (Pheromone half-icons to the right and left).
- f. Silhouettes. A white silhouette of a Creeple indicates that this Orientation may be used to create a new Species of that shape. If found on a Species Card, it indicates the shape of the Species Creeples.
- g. Mutation Preview. The icons indicate what Derived Organs, Traits, and Pheromones are available on the promoted side. There are always two promotion options.
- h. Mutation's Head, Thorax, & Abdomen. These preview icons indicate the Portrait type (head, thorax, or abdomen) and their pheromone halves.
- i. Splay & Portrait. Mutations are splayed (arranged) half over an adjoining card to its left as shown below. This forms a Portrait of your bug. As a general rule, two cards cannot be adjoined unless their Pheromone icons match in color.
- j. Venom, Mutualism, & Monster Icons. Ignore these in Caterpillar.
Note: the Event icon is not used in Cocoon & Caterpillar.
Craton Anatomy
The map is represented by Cratons, each with 3 hexes called Biomes.
- a. Sides. Each Craton is double-sided, with a wet side and a dry side. The wet side has more swamps and lakes. You choose the side during setup.
- b. Biome Types. Each Biome (hex) can be 1 of 3 types: weeds, lakes, or swamps.
- c. Carnivore & Herbivore Trophic Levels. Each Biome of a Craton is divided into upper and lower halves: the upper half reserved for Carnivores, and the lower half for Herbivores.
- d. Contest Cube Icon. These determine the winner of contests, as described later.
- e. Mountains (not used in Caterpillar or Cocoon) indicate mountainous barriers along a border.
- f. Faults (not used in Caterpillar or Cocoon) are segments used during the continental drift event. They do not affect dispersion.
- g. Central Icon (not used in Caterpillar or Cocoon). Cratons are numbered from 1 to 8, and are used in Lazarus, airborne dispersals and continental drift. The resource icon(s) are only used in a Bios:Origins grand campaign (J9d).
Caterpillar
Introductory Variant
Caterpillar Setup
- a. Choose Sides. Randomly assign each player a color and all components of that color: 6 Species Cards, 1 player aid card, and the 47 Creeples.
- b. Starting Tableau. Place all 10 of the Archetype Creeples on the Archetype Species Card placed in front of you. This is your Archetype's Tableau.
- c. Inactive Species. You start with your Archetype as your only active Species. Place the other 5 Species Cards aside as inactive. (Archetype 10x, Burrower 9x, Armored 7x, Swimmer 7x, Flyer 7x, Parasite 7x — Starting)
- d. Display Setup (Promoted Faceup). Separate the Mutations into two decks: one with all the red and yellow cards, and the other with all the green and blue cards. The promoted side must be faceup! Shuffle each deck and arrange them one over the other. Draw 4 cards from each deck and arrange them to the left as shown, forming a 2x5 Display (all cards are faceup including the top card of the 2 draw decks).
- e. Pool Setup. Place all Organ cubes in a common Pool.
- f. Map Setup. Each player takes 2 random Cratons and places them into the play area, oriented with the red contest cube icon on top. Other Cratons will not be used. All Cratons start adjoined into a single continent. You can use either the wet side or dry side of the Craton, noting that the wet side has more flooded areas and thus less territory to fight over!
Tip: The icons on the top and bottom of each Biome have the red-yellow-green colors of a stoplight. The red cube in the upper half indicates red is needed to be the apex Carnivore, while the green cube in the lower half indicates green is needed to be the top Herbivore. If Flowers appear, the cube color needed to be the top Herbivore will be yellow instead of green cubes.
- g. Creeple Placement. Start with the player with the highest Skeletal Number (as marked on the Species Card). This player places one of their Archetype Creeples, taken from their Archetype Species Card, into any Biome (hex) on the map. The next player clockwise places two of their Archetype Creeples into any adjacent hexes on the map. The third player (if any) similarly places three Creeples, and finally the fourth player (if any) places four Creeples into adjacent hexes.
- h. Upper Vs. Lower Half. If a Biome is unoccupied, you must place the Creeple into the lower half of the hex (the half with the green cube icon). If it is occupied in the lower half, you must place the Creeple into the upper half (with the red cube icon).
- i. Creeple Placement Restrictions. Do not place into a lake Biome. You can't plant any Flowers during setup (see POPULATE).
Sequence of Play
The player with the highest Skeletal Number (as marked on your Species Card) goes first, by choosing 1 action. Then proceed clockwise, with each player taking 1 action, until a player wins.
Species
You start with just one Species, called your Archetype. You can create up to 5 more Species, each distinguished on the map by a particular creeple shape: burrowers, armored, Swimmers, Flyers, and Parasites.
- a. Tableau is the row of cards for each Species that contains its cards and Organ cubes. The Organs and Traits in a Tableau define how well that Species will do in contests.
SPECIES AUTONOMY: A key game concept is that, once created, each of your Species has its own Tableau which isn't shared with your other Species. If one Species purchases a Mutation, another Species can't promote it into its Portrait. One Species of yours can prey upon another Species of yours, but a Species can't prey upon itself (forbidden by the cannibalism taboo).
- b. Portrait is a picture of your Species that you assemble using Mutations (cards) acquired by MUTATE actions. The Portrait includes at least 1 card, and will include heads, thoraces, and/or abdomens.
Important: Pheromones must match to add to a Portrait. It can include multiple thoraces but it can only have one head and one abdomen. However a Portrait does not need to have a head or an abdomen, it is possible to consist of only thoraces.
Caterpillar Actions
On your turn, perform one action choosing either MUTATE, SPECIATE, or POPULATE:
MUTATE - Select a Mutation (card) from the 10-card Display and place it in the Portrait of one of your Species, to the right of its Species Card (as shown in the illustration above). Any Species can use any Mutation. Follow these steps:
- Choose 1 of its 2 Orientations. If the Orientation chosen contains a white Creeple silhouette, you may optionally instead perform a SPECIATE (next section).
- Placement Rules. If there are already one or more Portrait cards, the new card must be splayed into the existing Portrait but must match the other half of the existing Pheromone icon in color. The new card can exchange (Discarding the old card and cubes) or squeeze between existing cards, as long as both halves of each Pheromone matches in color.
- Place Organs. For each square icon, place an appropriately placed Organ (cube) from the Pool where indicated.
Easily Missed (G1c): Upside-down pheromone icons are not in play.
Example: 1. For your first turn, your Archetype Species claims the "Imago" Mutation from the Display. 2. You place this card, appropriately oriented, just to the right of your Archetype Species Card. 3. You place a white Organ over the card's white cube icon. Pheromone icons are not in play. 4. Refresh the Display by sliding all Mutations in that row to the left and move the top card off the deck to fill the gap as shown on top of next page. This restores the Display to 10 cards.
SPECIATE - Take a card with a white silhouette from the 10-card Display and use it to start a new Tableau as the starting Portrait of a new Species, and to place a Creeple of this species shape on the map. The 6 possible Species are Archetype, burrower, armored, Flyer, Swimmer, and Parasite. Follow these steps:
- a. Silhouette Restriction. Place the card in one of its two Orientations, which must contain the silhouette of the new creeple shape. You must not already have any Creeples of this Species on the map.
- b. Setup New Tableau. Find the new Species Card and use it to start a new row beneath your most recent Tableau row. Place the card used to speciate to the right of the Species Card.
- c. Load the Species Card with all the Creeples of the new creeple shape.
- d. Inheritance. Duplicate the set of Organ cubes found on the mother species and place them on the new Species Card.
- e. Choose a Sacrificial Mother. Replace one of your existing Creeples on the map with one Creeple of the new shape. If the Creeple lost is the last Creeple of a Species, the mother goes Extinct. A new Swimmer can only be speciated from a mother in a swamp.
- f. Flower Planting/Stomping. If it is an Herbivore, the new Creeple can plant or stomp Flowers as described in POPULATE.
- g. Refresh the Display by sliding all Mutations in that row to the left and move the top card off the deck to fill the gap. This restores the Display to 10 cards.
Example: In the previous example, you took a card from the blue/green Display row, and so must slide cards and draw a new card from the blue/green deck as shown.
Then, when it is your turn, you decide to MUTATE a new card. The card currently in your Portrait is an abdomen card with a yellow half Pheromone to the left. Therefore, you choose the "Muscular Gizzard" Mutation, which is a head card with a yellow Pheromone to the right. This fits splayed to the left of the existing Portrait Card as shown, to complete a green Pheromone. You place 2 green cubes on this head as shown. You refresh the Display to finish your turn.
Easily Missed: Event, Venom, and Mutualism icons are ignored in Caterpillar.
Example: Continuing from the previous example, you decide that you need to add a new Species. For your turn, you take the armored elytra/diving elytra Mutation. 1. Oriented one way gives you an armored species, and the other way gives you a swimmer species. 2. You choose the armored Orientation, place it in your Tableau, and beside it place your armored Species Card with its 7 Creeples. 3. The mother species had 3 cubes: 1 white plus 2 green, and these 3 cubes are duplicated and placed on the Species Card of your new armored Species. 4. One Creeple of the mother species is replaced with an armored Creeple. 5. This Biome has a Flower, and the armored daughter species decides to stomp that Flower.
Easily Missed: Parasites have no special rules in Caterpillar, and are treated just as the armored or burrower creeple shape.
POPULATE - This action places a certain number of Larvae (new Creeples) on the map. This number is equal to one plus the number of blue Organs (cubes) of that Species. Thus, if a Species with 2 blue cubes POPULATES, place 3 new Larvae. Each Larva Creeple disperses to a new Biome, moving a number of hexes also equal to one plus the number of blue Organs of that Species. For each Larva follow these steps:
- a. Choose Mother. Place each new Larvae in the same Biome as an existing Creeple of that Species on the map. You may pick a different mother for each Larva, and may even pick a newborn Larva that has just dispersed to be a mother. After you place a Larva, disperse it to a new location called the destination (next 2 bullets).
- b. Dispersal of Newborn Larvae. Each Larva can disperse (move) up to a certain number of Biomes (hexes) on the map. This number is equal to one plus the number of blue Organs of that Species. Thus, if a Creeple with 1 blue cube disperses, it can move up to 2 hexes.
- c. Destination Restrictions. Some Species are not allowed to live in certain Biomes. Only a Swimmer Creeple can choose a lake biome as a destination. Every Creeple can choose a swamp biome as its destination. Every Creeple except for a Swimmer can choose a weeds biome as its destination. If a Species already lives in a Biome, a second Creeple of that Species cannot choose it as a destination. Do not place a Creeple with no valid destination.
Easily Missed: Mountains and Faults are not used in Caterpillar.
- d. Destination Trophic Level. Upon entering your chosen destination, place your Creeple into the lower half of the Biome. If this is occupied by any Creeple, friend or foe, there is an immediate contest (see contest section). Resolve this contest before moving the next Larva.
- e. Flower Planting. If a Larva disperses to a Biome that is empty, or if it is occupied by a Creeple but you win the contest, you may plant a flower by placing a Flower chit over the flower outline under the green icon in the bottom of the Biome. This will effect contests. However, you may not plant a flower in a lake or in a Biome that already has a Flower.
Tip: A Species with a lot of yellow Organs is a good pollinator, and should plant flowers wherever possible.
- f. Flower Stomping. If a Larva disperses to a Biome with a Flower that is empty, or if it is occupied but you win the contest, you may remove the Flower.
Example: You POPULATE with your new armored species of the previous example. There is only one armored Creeple, so this must be chosen as the mother. This Species has no blue cubes, so only one Larva Creeple is born, and it can only disperse one Biome (hex). There are 2 adjacent Biomes, a swamp and a lake, but an armored Species cannot inhabit a lake and so it disperse into the swamp. The swamp is inhabited, so there is an herbivore contest (see next example).
Circle of Life
Each Biome can support only 2 Creeples: one Herbivore in the lower half, and one Carnivore in the upper half. The Carnivore in the upper half is preying upon the Herbivore in the lower half. But because Carnivores and Herbivores coexist as part of the circle of life, Herbivore Creeples are not killed by being the prey of carnivores in this game. Contests only occur between two Herbivores, or between two Carnivores, and not between a Carnivore and an Herbivore.
Contests
Any time a Creeple is placed in the half of a Biome where there is another Creeple, there is an immediate contest. If it occurs in the lower half it is an herbivore contest and if in the upper half it is a carnivore contest that prey upon the Creeples in the lower half.
- a. Invader vs. Defender. Contests are always between two Creeples in the same half of a Biome: the invader and the defender.
- b. Organ Majority Rule. To win a contest, the invader must have more Organs (cubes) of the specified color (next bullet) than the defender. If tied, the defender wins!
Easily Missed: A contest is always between 2 Herbivores, or 2 Carnivores, never between an Herbivore and a Carnivore.
- c. Contest Cube Icon is the square icon in the uppermost and lowermost corners of each Biome. Its color determines the winner of the contest in that half of the Biome. A contest cube icon covered by a Flower in the Biome's lower half is considered to be yellow in color.
- d. Herbivore & Carnivore Contests. To win a contest, a Creeple moving into the lower or upper half of a Biome must have more Organs of the color indicated by the contest cube icon than the defending Creeple. If it does, it kills the defender. If it is tied, or has less, than the invader is killed. All killed Creeples are placed upon their Species card as Unborn Creeples.
Example: The armored Creeple of the previous example has dispersed into a flowerless swamp inhabited by an enemy Flyer. There is an herbivore contest, but you have more green (digestive) Organs (3, including the chameleon cube) and win the contest.
- e. Chameleon Cubes. In a contest, a white Organ is considered to change its color, depending on the contest it is involved in. In a carnivore contest (upper half of a Biome), each white Organ counts as a red cube. In an herbivore contest (lower half of a Biome), each white Organ counts as a yellow cube if in Flowers, and a green cube otherwise.
- f. Flower Planting/Stomping. If you win a contest in the lower half of a non-lake Biome, you may plant (add) or stomp (remove) a Flower there.
- g. Same Color Contests. If both Creeples in a contest are the same color, its owner decides who wins and who loses.
- h. Herbivore Losers Become Carnivores. If a Creeple loses a contest in the lower half of a Biome, move it to the upper half (this move is called a Trophic Shift). If this half is occupied, it wins the contest if it has more red Organs than the defending Carnivore.
Example: The enemy Flyer of the previous example has lost the herbivore contest, and thus becomes a Carnivore feasting upon the armored Herbivore. It made the Trophic Shift even though it was not its turn.
- i. Cannibalism Is Taboo. A Creeple is never allowed to prey upon another Creeple of the exact same color and shape.
EXTINCTIONS If the last Creeple of a Species on the map is moved back to its Species Card, it has gone Extinct. Return its Species Card with all the Creeples to your supply and discard all Mutation cards and cubes that were in its Tableau.
- a. Respeciation. You may now SPECIATE into that creeple shape again since it is in your supply.
- b. Elimination. If all of your Species become Extinct, you lose the game.
Game End & Scoring
The game is a race to 12 points. At the end of your turn, you should total your points to see if you have enough to win. Once someone reaches 12 points, the game ends immediately.
- a. Endgame Points. Each Creeple of your color on the map counts as one point, and each completed (right + left half) Pheromone in your Portrait(s) counts as one point.
- b. Lone Survivor Victory. You can also win if all other players are Extinct.
- c. Deck Exhaustion. If one of the two draw decks runs out of cards, end the game immediately and count scores to determine the winner. If tied, the contestants share victory.
Score Card
Using the scorecard is optional, and has no effect on gameplay. Consider it an aid to keep track of the game state during mainly Cocoon and Caterpillar, since these variants are races to 12 or 16 points.
Simply place the card reachable by all players and move the respective score markers when a player gains or loses points. If you want a game with more hidden information simply ignore the score card. (1 point per: living Creeple on map, connected pair of Pheromones, collected Fossil tokens.)
Cocoon
Intermediate Game by Jon Manker
Cocoon Introduction
Cocoon uses all the rules found in the Caterpillar variant, except it adds the following concepts:
- Promote (New Action). Both sides of a Mutation Card is now used. It is purchased on its unpromoted side, and it takes an action to PROMOTE it to its promoted side. This new action, called PROMOTE, means you now have 5 actions to choose from.
- Spending Allowance (Modified MUTATE). Mutations are now purchased. Each column of the Display starts with a chit indicating its cost. Each Species cannot purchase any Mutation which has a cost greater than the number of its Unborn Creeples.
- Half Cost Purchases (Modified MUTATE). Pheromones allow you to halve your cost when purchasing a Mutation of a particular color during MUTATE.
- Inheritance (Modified SPECIATE). Organs on the Species Cards are now called Basal Organs. New Species inherit only Basal Organs, not all Organs.
- Shape Requirements (Modified Contests). Carnivores now have Shape Requirements when choosing their prey. For instance, if an Herbivore is a Flyer, a Carnivore must also be a Flyer to catch it. During an herbivore contest, Herbivores inedible to a Carnivore in the Biome have the huge advantage that they will win regardless of what Organs they have. Parasites now have special rules, and no longer can be Herbivores or Carnivores. Furthermore, if an Herbivore has a Parasite, its Carnivore no longer needs to follow the Shape Requirement (previous bullet).
- Venom. If a Carnivore has this Trait, it ignores Shape Requirements.
- Endgame Points have been increased from 12 to 16.
Cocoon Setup
The setup for Cocoon is identical to that for Caterpillar, with three exceptions:
- Facedown Mutations. During display setup, all cards have their promoted side facedown, not faceup.
- Cost Chits. Each of the 5 columns of the Display are marked with a cost chit as shown on top of next page.
- Venom Chits. Add these to the Pool for possible use later.
Cocoon Actions
(modified from Caterpillar)
MUTATE ACTION - This action is similar to Caterpillar, in that you select a card from the 10-card Display and place it into the Tableau of one of your Species. But instead of placing your new card as promoted to the right of the Species Card, place it as unpromoted to the left. Another change is that each Species is restricted as to which display cards it can afford to purchase. The fewer Unborn remaining on its Species Card, the more restricted it is. However, if a Species has a Pheromone, this makes cards of this color cheaper. Follow these steps:
- a. Mutation Costs. Each Mutation has a cost, as marked by the cost chit (from 0 to 8) set in the top of its column in the Display.
- b. Spending Allowance. The number of Unborns of a Species is the maximum cost of Mutation that you can purchase for the turn. Think of this number as your allowance each turn in which to buy a card. But since there are no savings, you cannot save any unused allowance for use for the next turn.
Example: Your armored Species has 1 Unborn Creeple on its Species Card, and it has one complete red Pheromone in its Portrait. On its turn, it could not MUTATE a green card from the cost 2 column, but it could MUTATE a red card in that column. (Cost halved for red cards. Spending allowance is 1.)
- c. Mutation Cost Halved. Consider the mutation cost of a Mutation to be half when purchasing a card of a particular color if the Species has one or more Pheromones of that color.
- d. Place Unpromoted Mutation. The card purchased goes on its unpromoted side immediately to the left of the Species Portrait which purchased it. See illustration below.
- e. Place Derived Organ(s). After placing the Mutation, put the Organ(s) of the color specified on the Mutation card over the cube icon(s).
Easily Missed: The Organs on the unpromoted card are part of the Tableau for that Species and its Organs count in contests.
- f. Refresh Display in the same way as Caterpillar.
PROMOTE ACTION (new action)
On your turn, you have one extra action to choose from. This action flips a Mutation Card in one of your Tableaux, and sets it as part of the Portrait. The promoted card is placed splayed, squeeze in between, or even replace one or more existing Portrait Cards. But regardless both halves of the Pheromone icons must be the same color, following this process:
- a. Is the Card Promotable? The uppermost strip of an unpromoted card contains its previews, i.e. icons showing what is on its promoted side, so that you do not have to flip the card over to know what is there. This is important especially for Pheromones because you cannot promote a card unless the promoted Pheromones fit into the Species Portrait (see below). There are two previews, one for each Orientation.
- b. Create Basal Organs. Move the PROMOTED card's Organ cubes to its Species Card. Organ cubes on a Species Card are called Basal Organs. Exceptionally, for a Parasite, discard any Basal Organs other than blue.
- c. Choose Orientation. After flipping the card over to its promoted side, choose 1 of its 2 Orientations and place it splayed to either start or add to the Portrait.
- d. Adding To An Existing Portrait. If the Portrait already has one or more existing cards, the new card must fit into the existing Portrait based on the color of the Pheromone icons at the long edges of the card. The new card may go to the right or left of the Portrait, or squeeze between, or even replace one or more existing Portrait Cards, so long as both halves of each Pheromone match in color.
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- Add Portrait Organs. Put new Organ Cubes (if any) on the promoted Mutation of the indicated color(s).
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- Venom Icon. If there is a Venom icon on the PROMOTED side, add a Venom chit (unless there is one already) under each Carnivore Creeple of that Species on the map.
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- Mutualism Icon. Ignore the Mutualism icon in Caterpillar and Cocoon.
Tip: Note the Pheromones on the preview to see if the card can be promoted into an existing Portrait or not. The Pheromones must match, which implies that a Portrait can have only one head and 1 abdomen.
Example: 1. Your Portrait has a samurai caste head, with the front half of a yellow Pheromone. You PROMOTE a tail spine to its springtail abdomen Orientation, so that its back half of a yellow Pheromone fits to the head. Its red (sensory) organ becomes a Basal Organ on the Species Card. 2. On a later turn, you PROMOTE a halteres thorax, which has a yellow front half and a yellow rear half, to squeeze between the head and abdomen as shown.
SPECIATE ACTION - In Caterpillar this action selected a card from the Display, but in Cocoon the SPECIATE action flips an unpromoted Mutation Card in one of your Tableaux and uses it to start a new Tableau as the starting Portrait of a new Species. The original Species doing the promotion is called the mother species and the new Species is called the daughter species. One mother Creeple is converted into that of the daughter species. Follow these steps:
- Silhouette Restriction. You may not perform this action unless the Orientation chosen contains the silhouette of the new creeple shape, and you do not already have any Creeples of this Species on the map.
- Increase Mom's Basal Organs. Move the cube (sometimes 2 cubes) on the unpromoted card to its Species Card. Although the mother species will lose the card, she keeps its Organs as Basal Organs and so her ability to win contests is increased by taking the SPECIATE action.
- Promote the Card by flipping it over and choosing an Orientation that depicts the new Species being created.
- Setup the Daughter's Tableau. Find the Species Card for the daughter species and use it to start a new row beneath your most recent Tableau row. Place the card used to speciate to the right of the Species Card.
- Load the Species Card with all the Creeples of the new creeple shape.
- Inheritance. Duplicate the set of Basal Organs found on the mother species to her daughter's Species Card (including the Organ cube(s) you just placed there), so that the daughter's Basal Organs are an exact copy of her mother's. However, if the daughter species is a Parasite, it only inherits blue Organs, and not Organs of the other colors.
Example: 1. You decide to promote the unpromoted Mutation "chitin cuticle" in the Tableau of your burrower Species Card. 2. You set its green cube on top of the burrower Species Card. 3. Flip it over, choosing the diving elytra Orientation to SPECIATE a new swimming species. (You could have chosen the armored elytra Orientation to SPECIATE a new armored species.) 4. You start the Tableau for the new Swimmers by making a new row with the Swimmer Species card and the promoted diving elytra. 5. Set all the Swimmer Creeples on this Species card. 6. The burrower has 3 Basal Organs, including the green one transferred earlier, and all 3 are duplicated as Basal Organs for the new swimming species.
- Choose Sacrificial Mother. Replace one existing creeple of the mother species with one of the new creeple shape. If this is the last Creeple of the mother species, she goes Extinct. Exceptionally, if the daughter species is a Parasite, her mother is not replaced (see the Parasite section).
- Mother Choice Limits for Carnivores. If the mother is a Carnivore, her daughter must meet the Shape Requirement (see next section) for the prey.
Example: Your burrower wishes to SPECIATE a Flyer. However, all of your burrowers on the map are Carnivores, preying upon other burrowers. Because a Flyer daughter species from any of these cannot catch burrowers due to the Shape Requirement, SPECIATE is not allowed.
Example: In the previous example, a new swimming species was created from a mother burrower Species. You have 2 burrowers on the map, one in weeds and the other in a swamp. Because the daughter needs water, only the burrower in the swamp can be chosen as the mother.
- Endangered Carnivore. If the daughter is an Herbivore, and there is a Carnivore present, check to see if the Carnivore is Killed due to the Shape Requirement (next section).
- Flower Planting/Stomping. If the new Creeple is an Herbivore, it can plant or stomp Flowers as described in POPULATE.
- Bombardier Venom. If the daughter has the Venom Trait, place a Venom chit under the daughter Creeple. However, if the mother has Venom, the daughter does not inherit it.
Example: 1. Your Archetype Creeple is preyed upon by your own Flyer. You choose to SPECIATE the Archetype Creeple into an armored Creeple. 2. Since your Flyer Creeple cannot prey upon an armored Creeple, it is Killed. (1. Replace mother with daughter. 2. With no edible prey, Carnivore is Killed.)
Shape Requirement
(new rule for Cocoon)
This rule, not found in Caterpillar, more realistically simulates the predator-prey relationship. The concept is simple: a Carnivore can only prey upon an Herbivore that it can actually catch. If the Herbivore burrows, swims, flies, or is armored, so must the Carnivore to catch it. This means that a Carnivore is instantly Killed anytime its prey is (or SPECIATES into) a different shape, with 3 exceptions:
- a. Archetypes. Any shape Carnivore may eat an Archetype Herbivore.
- b. Hosts. Any shape Carnivore may eat an Herbivore with a Parasite. But a Parasite itself can never be prey.
- c. Predator Venom. A Carnivore with the Venom Trait can eat any shape of Herbivore.
The Shape Requirement impacts herbivore contests if (and only if) there is a Carnivore:
- d. Edibility in an Herbivore Contest. If a Carnivore is present in a Biome during an herbivore contest, an Herbivore that is inedible due to the Shape Requirement will win a competition against an Herbivore that is edible.
Example: 1. A blue Archetype is happily munching on weeds, being preyed upon by your pink Archetype. You invade with a pink armored Creeple. 2. You automatically win the Herbivore contest, because the local Carnivore cannot eat an armored Creeple but can eat the Archetype. So the blue Archetype is Killed, but unfortunately your Carnivore also dies, not having any edible prey.
Tip. In Hollywood movies, the apex predator is lionized (have they made a movie called "Herbivore" yet?). You had best discard your predator biases for this game. Carnivores are nothing more than glorified parasites, and as such are ecologically fragile. If given a choice of lifestyles, Herbivore or Carnivore, better take the Herbivore.
Parasites
(new Species Attributes for Cocoon)
In Caterpillar, a Parasite Species is treated as any other Species. But in Cocoon, it uses special rules:
- a. Host. A Parasite is never a Carnivore or Herbivore. Instead, it creates a new Trophic Level with its Creeple straddled on top of an opponent's Creeple called the Host. A Parasite never inhabits the map except on top of its Host. The Host can be in any Biome, including lakes.
- b. Speciation. Upon SPECIATION of a new Parasite, the daughter Creeple starts immediately upon its Host, which must be in the same Biome (hex) as her mother. Thus the mother of a Parasite is not replaced, instead her Parasite daughter is placed upon the Host, which must be an opponent's Creeple that is either the predator or the prey of the mother. The color of the first Host of a Parasite sets its Color Requirement. Future Hosts can be any shape, but are restricted to this color.
Example: Your Archetype wishes to SPECIATE a new Parasite daughter Species. However, nowhere on the map does your Archetype share a hex with a Creeple of another player. Without a suitable Host, SPECIATE is not possible.
- c. Parasite Destination. During the dispersal after a POPULATE action, a Parasite Creeple may only choose a destination containing a Host of the same color as it populated from (regardless of shape). See Color Requirement (glossary).
- d. Parasite Contest. Perform this if your Parasite disperses to a Host that already has a Parasite. You win if you have more blue cubes than the defender, and place your Creeple on top of the Host. See the next bullet to determine the fate of the contest loser.
- e. Parasite Trophic Shift. If a Parasite loses its Host, either because it lost a Parasite contest, or because its Host is Killed, it is allowed to shift to a new Host in the same Biome. This new Host must meet the Color Requirement. If there is no suitable new Host, the Parasite is Killed by returning its Creeple to its Species Card.
- f. If Mother Has a Parasite, then her daughter species during SPECIATE will have the Parasite as well. But her daughters during POPULATE will not have the Parasite. In other words, a Parasite remains if its Host does a SPECIATE or makes a Trophic Shift, yet Larva dispersing from a parasitized mother are parasite-free.
- g. If Mother Is a Parasite, then her daughter species replaces her Creeple as a non-parasite. This puts the daughter Creeple into a contest with the former Host Creeple.
Example: 1. Your Parasite Species performs a SPECIATE, creating a burrower species. You choose the mother to be a Parasite that has your opponent's herbivorous burrower as its Host. 2. You replace the Parasite with a burrower, but this puts 2 Herbivores in competition. 3. You lose the contest, and make a Trophic Shift to become a Carnivore preying upon the burrower Herbivore.
- h. Monochrome Basal. A Parasite immediately discards all Basal Organs other than blue.
Example: Your Parasite PROMOTES a hemimetabolism card into metamorphosis. The card's unpromoted Organ is discarded, because it is green and a Parasite can only accept blue as a Basal Organ. The Promoted side gives two cubes, yellow and blue, and both become Portrait Organs for the Parasite.
Venom
(new Trait for Cocoon)
If you PROMOTE a card to a Portrait with the black widow icon, all Carnivore Creeples of that Species should have a venom chit placed under them. It is unnecessary to place a chit under Herbivores, because Venom is useful only to Carnivores (think spiders, scorpions, and centipedes).
- i. Effects. Venom allows all Carnivores of that Species to ignore Shape Requirements.
- j. SPECIATE Inheritance. A new daughter Species does not inherit Venom from the mother Species.
Example: 1. For your armored species, you PROMOTE your labium into a crinotoxic labium. 2. This is possible because it fits to the tympanal organs abdomen already in your Portrait. 3. You have 3 armored creeples on the map, and 2 of them are Carnivores, so you place a venom chit under both of them.
Game End & Scoring (Cocoon)
Same as Caterpillar except play to 16 points instead of 12.
J. Butterfly Combined Game
Letters in ( ) reference sections from Book II - Full Game.
The Combined Game combines Bios:Mesofauna with Bios:Megafauna, so you can have dinosaurs competing with bugs. It uses all the rules of Butterfly, with exceptions noted in this section. In order to play the Combined Game, you need to use components (but not rules) from Bios:Megafauna. The 4 Species (and their Creeples) from Bios:Mesofauna are called Mesofauna, and those from Bios:Megafauna are called Megafauna.
- a. Overarching Rule 1. When combining the two games, use Mesofauna rules except per below.
- b. Components From Megafauna. You will need the Megafauna Creeples, Mutation Cards, Tool Cards, Monster chits, and Player Aid Cards. You will not use the Megafauna Cratons, Event Cards, and Organ cubes.
- c. Mesofauna Advantages. Many of your Species have more than 7 Creeples. Your Holometabolans (see glossary) can perform airborne dispersal. Eusocial confers mutagen shielding. Parasites often have a lot of Hosts for expansion, which can add 7 to your final score.
- d. Megafauna Advantages. They can get big, and so have advantages in contests and dispersal. Monsters and tools can be formidable. Endotherms are strong in contests. You can use language to end the game.
- e. Terminology Changes. The Megafauna rules and game use terms that are equivalent to differently-named concepts for Mesofauna rules. Thus, plus organs are equivalent to Derived Organs, emotions = Pheromones, personality = Portrait, newborn = Larva, endotherms = Holometabolans, and language is somewhat similar to Eusocial.
J1. Combined Game Setup
The game plays from 2 to 7 players. The number of Mesofauna players should be either 2 or 3, otherwise the event frequency will be too high or too low. It is best to have more than 1 Megafauna player, otherwise there will be little incentive to grow in Size, other than monsters and dispersion bonus, and no competition in the Megafauna Display.
- a. Four Mutation Row Display. The Display is composed of four rows of Mutations: two using Mesofauna Mutations, and two using Megafauna Mutations. All four are set up as described in Mesofauna Display Setup (C3c,d,e).
- b. Megafauna Species Card & Size Dice. Find the Archetype Species Card for each Megafauna in the game, and place on it a Size Dice (see glossary) set at the "1" pip.
- c. Tools. Place the 4 tool cards from Bios:Megafauna into a public deck.
J2. Combined Game Events
Because Megafauna event cards are not used, Events are only generated by only revealing Mesofauna cards.
- a. 4-Player Dodged Bullet. Ignore this icon; in the Combined Game all events are played.
- b. Radiation Events. This is the same as Mesofauna (H3), except that it additionally discards promoted Megafauna Mutations that are not part of a Portrait (see J3d). Emotions shield just as Pheromones do (H3a).
Example: Your dinosaur has a Portrait, as well as the unpromoted gastric glands (green) and the promoted down feathers (blue), when darwinian radiation hits. The Portrait cards are safe, but the gastric glands and the feathers are lost.
- c. Mutagen Events. Megafauna cannot become Eusocial, and thus cannot attain an eusocial shield (H7e). To count Organs for the organ limit in a monster, see J7d.
J3. Combined Game Actions
In the Combined Game, both Mesofauna and Megafauna have 1 action for each Species per A1. Some of the actions have additional features, and there is one new action:
- a. SPECIATE Action & Size Dice Inheritance. Each new Megafauna Species is given a Size Dice (J1c) set at the same Size as its mother. Set it on the Species Card where indicated. You are not allowed to create a new Species if its inherited Size is outside the size range of the promoted Mutation used to start the Species.
- b. SPECIATE Action. If you PROMOTE a Megafauna card to its creeple silhouette Orientation, you must SPECIATE to that shape. This is unlike Mesofauna, in which creation of a new Species is optional (D2b).
- c. MUTATE Action. Players with Megafauna Archetypes can only select from the two Megafauna rows, and players with Mesofauna Archetypes can only select from the two Mesofauna rows in the Display.
- d. PROMOTE Action (easily missed!). If the promoted Orientation depicts half-emoticons, it must become a Portrait card that must match emotions (Pheromones) to any existing Portrait cards. But if it does not depict any emoticons, it does not go into the Portrait and instead is placed to the right of the Portrait (if any).
Example: Your flying dinosaur has 2 promoted cards: jumping legs and songs. Because the songs card has half emotions, it is a Portrait card. If it wishes to promote its endocrine gland, and chooses the pancreas Orientation, it must discard the songs, because the emotions do not match. But if it chooses the insulin orientation, place this next to the songs because it has no emoticons and thus cannot go into the Portrait.
- e. PROMOTE Action (monster). If the PROMOTION sets a monster icon into the promoted Mutation, discard that card and its Organ(s) if any. This can cause it to become a flightless weta (H7f).
- f. POPULATE Action. The number of dispersion points (DPs) of a Megafauna is equal to its number of blue cubes plus Size (instead of the number of blue cubes plus 1 per D4a). However, white Organs do not enable a Megafauna to airborne disperse (E2), and Flyers are the only Megafauna that can airborne disperse.
Example: Your Size 2 Flyer has 1 blue Organ and thus during POPULATE it can disperse with 3 DPs as shown. Because it is a Flyer, it ignores Mountains during dispersal. Three of the dispersing Flyers choose to make a dispersal roll (E2b).
- g. RESIZE Action (new). This new action is only available for Megafauna and monster bugs (J7a). This action changes the Size Dice for one Species by one step (up or down). This can affect contests (J4).
- h. Mutation Maximum Size. If the Size Dice of a Species goes beyond the maximum listed by the dice icon in the upper right corner on any promoted Mutation, discard that card.
Example: Your turtle uses RESIZE to grow from Size 2 to Size 3. It has 2 Mutations in its Tableau with the maximum Size of 2, and both are discarded.
J4. Contests & Size
Except per J7a, Mesofauna are always limited to Size 1. Contests in the Combined Game use Mesofauna rules, modified for Size per the below:
- a. Herbivore or Carnivore Contest. If neither contestant has an advantage in edibility or Organs, the larger Species is the winner. If tied, the defender wins. See J5a for herbivore contests in Flowers.
- b. Parasite Contest. If there is a Size difference between two contestants who are tied in the number of blue Organs in a Parasite contest, the larger Parasite is the winner. If tied, the defender wins. An Herbivore (of any Size) with a Parasite can be preyed upon by any shape of Carnivore, see Shape Requirement.
- c. Endotherm Emergency Disperse. If an endotherm Megafauna loses a contest with an opponent's Creeple, and assuming it cannot survive with a Trophic Shift, once per phase it may disperse using its dispersion points (DPs) to an empty and habitable Trophic Level.
Example: On your turn, you disperse a newborn Megafauna Herbivore Archetype of Size one with one white Organ and one green Organ to a weeds Biome with an opponent's burrower with 3 green Organs. You lost the contest, and a Trophic Shift to carnivory is impossible because of the Shape Requirement, so you disperse (with 1 DP) to an adjacent uninhabited Biome.
J5. Flowers
Flowers can be placed or removed per Mesofauna rules (E4 or F3) by any Size Species, either Meso- or Mega-.
- a. Frugivore. Both Mesofauna and Megafauna Herbivores can use yellow Organs during an herbivore contest (F1b), with the larger Species winning in case of ties (J4a).
J6. Mutualism, Venom, Recession, Horror Plant, Haustorium (Megafauna)
In the Combined Game, there are icons that can appear after a PROMOTION that have special effects.
- a. Mutualism & Venom Icons. These two icons are treated exactly as their counterparts in Mesofauna (G3, G4).
- b. Recession Icon. If, upon PROMOTION, this icon appears, the Species must discard all Basal Cubes of that color, if it has any. It has no subsequent effect.
- c. Horror Plant Icon. Even though it is a Mesofauna, Player Pink is allowed to purchase Megafauna Mutations with the horror plant icon.
- d. Haustorium Icon. This icon allows a Megafauna Species to purchase Mesofauna Mutations.
Example: Your burrower with 2 blue and 1 red Basal Organs promotes its calcification to a "coiled shell". This adds its yellow Derived Organ to become a new Basal Organ, only to become immediately discarded by the card's yellow recession icon. The card has an armored creeple silhouette, and thus speciates a new armored Species inheriting 2 blue and 1 red from its burrowing mom. You can imagine the lost yellow cube as representing the reduction of the metabolic rate of the Species due to its use of armor.
J7. Monsters (Megafauna)
A monster is a Trait that places a monster chit on the Mutation. This chit is considered to be multiple Derived Organ cubes, as many cubes as the Size Dice of the Species (up to the max Size (J3g) indicated). This monster chit, of the specified color, is placed during PROMOTE (J3e) to a monster.
Easily Missed. A monster needs an action to resize, just as any other Species.
- a. Monster Bugs. If after a PROMOTION a Mesofauna has a card with a monster icon (this can happen with a horror plant or a promotion to one of the 3 Mesofauna Mutations with the green monster icon), place on the Species Card both the green monster chit and a Size Dice (J3a) set to 1 pip. It now has the capacity to change its Size using RESIZE, but still must purchase only from the Mesofauna Display. All Mesofauna Mutations are considered to have a maximum Size of 6.
- b. Sorry Mothra. Mesofauna Flyers that grow larger than Size 1 become flightless wetas (H7f).
- c. Monstrous Endotherm Growth Spurt. A Monster starting a phase with at least one white Organ is called an endothermic monster, and has a growth advantage in contests, regardless if it is the Phasing Species or not, or regardless if it loses its white Organ in the contest or not. If an endothermic monster Creeple would lose a contest (regardless combatting a Species of another player or one of your own), it must instantly grow in Size if this allows it to win the contest. The growth must be just enough to allow victory, and forces it to shed Size-restricted Mutations per J3h.
Example (long-necked monster): Your long-necked Size one green monster, with two green and one white cube, is invaded by a grasshopper Creeple with 6 green cubes. As the defender in an herbivore contest, you must employ a growth spurt to increase your green from 2 to 6 in order to win the contest. However, your proventriculus has a maximum Size of 4, and must be discarded, along with its green cube. Therefore, to beat the grasshoppers, you must grow to Size 6, gaining 6 Derived Organs with your long-neck monster chit. In your growth spurt, you lose hemocyanin and its white cube, making future growth spurts impossible.
Example (fermentation crop monster): This is the same as the previous example, but instead of a long-neck, your green monster is the fermentation crop Mutation, with a Size limit of 3. Because you can't grow big enough to survive without discarding the monster card, you do not grow at all. You either make an endotherm emergency dispersal (J4c), or are killed outright.
- d. Mutagen Event. If a mutagen event removes cubes, the species Size is reduced instead, until the required equivalent number of Organs is lost, or the Size is reduced to 1, whereupon the monster chit is lost.
Example: Your Size 2 Species has a tentacled head, which is a green monster conferring 2 effective green Derived Organs. During a mutagen event the Organ limit is 6, but your Species has 8 Organs counting the Monster. You decide to remove one Organ by reducing Size to 1, and the second Organ by removal of the monster chit. This discards the tentacles card.
J8. Tools (Megafauna)
Some Megafauna have purple Pheromones called the curiosity emotion. For every purple Pheromone acquired in its Portrait, you may immediately choose one of the unclaimed tool public cards (J1c). You may choose either side of the double-sided card, and place that side faceup to the left of the Species Card. Each tool is a predator weapon allowing it to hunt the Shape shown on the card. It can also be used by Herbivores per J8d.
- a. Diving Bells. The diving bell tool allows you to inhabit as a Carnivore any Biome with swimming prey. This allows the Carnivore to inhabit lakes (exception to E3a) and ignore the Shape Requirement for swimming prey. However, the Diving Bell does not allow an Herbivore to inhabit lakes.
- b. Tool-Using Carnivores. A tool-user meets the Shape Requirement to prey either upon Creeples of the shape shown on the tool card, or on its Mesofauna equivalent (e.g. a net can prey upon either Megafauna or Mesofauna Swimmers).
Example: Your burrower disperses to a lake, to prey upon a Mesofauna Swimmer. Normally a burrower cannot inhabit a lake, but is allowed in this instance since it has a diving bell and is able to eat the Swimmer. Note that the diving bell does not allow it to survive as an Herbivore in the lake.
- c. Tool-Using Herbivores. A tool-user cannot be preyed upon by Carnivores of the shape shown on the tool card (except tool-using Carnivores per the previous bullet). Thus, an Herbivore acquiring a tool can kill its Carnivore instantly.
- d. Tool Scoring. Each tool is the equal of 1 Fossil during final scoring.
- e. Language. If one of your Megafauna Species gets 3 total Emotions consisting of two or more colors, you acquire language and are allowed to end the game with scoring on your turn.
K. The Bios Earth Campaign
This trilogy covers the entirety of life on Earth begins with Bios:Genesis - how life began. It continues with either Bios:Megafauna and/or Bios:Mesofauna - how life got terrestrial. The grand finale is Bios:Origins - how life got conscious. You can even add High Frontier and make it 4 games: see K3. Each game plays well independently, but also can be played as a grand trilogy, whereby protolife becomes multicellular and invades the land, and then starts inventing stuff.
- a. Dinos Stomping Cockroaches. If you can be flexible when assigning roles in the Meso/Mega game, there should be at least 2 Mesofauna players. Otherwise the event frequency will be low (and no events at all if there are no Mesofauna players). It is not necessary, but a Combined Game with at least one Megafauna player would offer the hope of a non-hive future humanity.
K1. Setup (Transition of Genesis to Mesofauna/Megafauna)
To continue a game of Bios:Genesis leading into a game of Bios:Mesofauna or Bios:Megafauna, you must translate your fittest Genesis Macroorganism into the Meso/Mega game:
- a. Your Fittest Genesis Macroorganism. If you achieved a Macroorganism in the Genesis game, you start with bonuses as listed below. If you started with multiple Macroorganisms, choose one to start with. If you are feeling magnanimous, you can donate an unused Macroorganism to a suitably pathetic player.
- b. Players Starting As Megafauna. If you achieved a: Seaweed/Mosses, Flatworm/Earthworm, Lamp Shell/Snail, or SeaStar/Amphibian Macroorganism in Genesis, you start as a Megafauna! Seaweed/Mosses = Player Green (cytoskeletal plants). Flatworm/Earthworm or Lamp Shell/Snail = Player Orange (hydroskeletal megafauna). SeaStar/Amphibian = Player White (endoskeletal amphibians).
- c. Players Starting As Mesofauna. The other four macroscopic creatures transfer to Mesofauna: Dickinsonia/Mushrooms = Player Pink (insects assimilated by the Cordyceps fungus). Opabinia/Velvet Worms = Player Purple (hydroskeletal lobopods). Trilobites/Insects = Player Gray (exoskeletal arthropods). Arrow Worms/Eurypterids = Player Blue (exoskeletal crustaceans) or (optionally) Player Black in Megafauna (exoskeletal arthropods).
- d. Players Starting As Parasites. Players who failed to achieve a Macroorganism (or new entry players) start as a lowly Parasite, placed upon the Creeple of their choice, with the highest scoring player placing first.
- e. Endosymbionts. For each Biont on your Genesis Macroorganism, not including the Trophic Biont, deal one random unpromoted Mutation of the matching color into the Archetype's tableau and place its Plus Organ(s) on it. If your macroorganism had endosymbiont bionts owned by another player, your Archetype is considered to have the mutualism Ability (G3).
Tip. A player starting as a Parasite should resurrect their Archetype as soon as practical (D3n).
- f. Bonus Starting Organs. If you achieved a macroscopic terrestrial animal in Genesis, you get a bonus: you start with up to as many Basal Organs as Organ cubes on your Genesis Macroorganism. The Organs chosen should match in color as well. Macroscopic marine animals start without bonus cubes (since all animals start on land, they were late crawling ashore).
- g. Setup is per (C), except for color selection and that Parasite players must start on a Host per K1d.
- h. First Meso/Mega Turn Penalty. Start with the highest Skeletal Number per (A). Players suffer a penalty that for their first turn they are limited to purchases in the 0 cost column (D1a). The Genesis game winner(s), players with Bionts on the game winner Macroorganism, and Parasites are exempt from this penalty.
K2. Setup (Transition of Mesofauna/Megafauna to Origins)
These rules supersede the rules in Bios:Megafauna 2nd edition.
- a. Craton Substitution to Bios:Origins Hexes. Duplicate the ending Craton arrangement in Bios:Mesofauna by substituting the 26 hex chits supplied in Bios:Origins. It is recommended that the resource icons (see Craton anatomy) be used as a guide for selecting which hex chits to use. Icons used on multiple hexes (e.g. the biofuel, the auroch cow): you can choose among them. Place unused hex chits either as an archipelago or as a western "New World" continent. If a Biome is blank, any may use any hex chit without a plant, animal, oil, or uranium icon. The player who is ahead in victory points is allowed to choose variables not otherwise specified (e.g. latitude, distance between Cratons, and if two substitutions need the same hex chit).
- b. Megafauna Color Choice. Megafauna players should use their same color and should use their 7 Megafauna Creeples in place of the 12 Migrant figures, which means you will have 5 Migrants less than in the non-campaign game.
- c. Species Transfer to Bios:Origins. Beginning with the winning player, players may choose their starting player color and place one figure into each of the continents they occupied at the end of Bios:Mesofauna/Megafauna, as close to a Biome they occupied as possible observing Footprint limitations. For merfolk or newly introduced players, start as close to their starting spot (the spot on the map of their color) as possible. Players with multiple surviving Species must choose a Species that is Eusocial or has Language, if possible.
- d. Swimmers & Flyers. Swimmer Species are known as merfolk in Bios:Origins, and there is a merfolk variant (entirely marine, see Bios:Origins setup C3) and a Yrr variant (landfolk vs. merfolk, see Bios:Origins setup C4). Flyer Species have their choice to end up as merfolk or landfolk, but note that Bios:Origins plays better if all the players are either on land or in the sea.
- e. First Dispersal. For a realistic campaign, it is recommended to use the first dispersal long game (see Bios:Origins setup C1).
K3. Campaign Scoring
The campaign can be played either as Bios:Earth (Genesis, Meso/Mega, Origins), or Bios:Solar System (Genesis, Meso/Mega, Origins, High Frontier).
- a. Campaign Fossil Points. With the exception of the last game played (which scores normally, see next bullet), the end of each of the 3 games (Genesis, Meso/Mega, Origins), each player gains one fossil chit (or other marker) for each opponent who has fewer VP in that game. These campaign fossil points are added to your final game scoring (next bullet).
- b. Final Game Scoring. First calculate your victory points for the final game that you played, and divide this in half. Then add your campaign fossils from previous games to achieve your final score to determine the winner.
- c. Ties. Winning players share victory if tied.
L. Butterfly Solitaire
By Robin Spathon Ek
This solitaire variant pits you against an opponent called Queen Bee (abbreviated QB). This variant plays the same as the Butterfly game with the exceptions noted here:
- a. On Your Turn, you perform 1 action per Species (L2h).
- b. Ties. If there is a choice in the QB's options, you may choose the option performed if not otherwise specified.
- c. Terms in Italics, unless otherwise referenced, are defined in the QB glossary (L9).
L1. Solitaire Setup
Setup as a normal 2 player game per Butterfly (C), with the following additions:
- a. Starting Cratons. Select 4 Cratons. The other 4 Cratons will not be used.
- b. Starting Continent. Place the 4 Cratons in an adjoined continent of your choice. The Cratons are double-sided, and you may select either side.
- c. Starting Creeples. QB starts with an Archetype placed into the non-lake Biome with the lowest elevation. See L9c in the QB glossary for the definition of elevation. Then QB places another Creeple on an adjacent habitable Biome, favoring going on to another Craton, if tied QB favors lowest elevation. You may now choose 2 non-lake Biomes as your starting Biomes for your 2 Archetypes.
- d. QB Action Card and Dice. Place the QB Solitaire Aid cards and an 1D8 dice by the QB's supply.
- e. Fossil Formation. Place a stack of 8 Fossils. One of these will be removed after every Fossil is awarded during fossil awards (H1). The game ends (L8) when the last Fossil is removed.
- f. Recommended Ticket Setting is merry-go-round (4 dice, C1a).
- g. QB First Turn (MUTATE, PROMOTE, POPULATE). QB starts her Portrait by choosing the cheapest thorax from the Display, if any. If tied, use the stingy rule (L9f). After she MUTATES this choice, she immediately PROMOTES it per L3f. Refresh the Display but ignore any Event that may appear. Then POPULATE by creating a number of Larvae equal to the number of her blue cubes plus 1. Disperse them by choosing a dispersal destination per L6. If QB PROMOTED a yellow mutation she will place flowers during this dispersal due to her Phasing Species having the most yellow cubes.
- h. Your First Turn. Then continue the game by performing 1 action for your Archetype (L2h).
L2. Solitaire Sequence Of Play
QB starts by performing one of her 3 actions, either primary, secondary, or tertiary. She performs her primary action (QB speciation roll) if she can, and going to the secondary (QB Portrait) if the primary fails, and going to the tertiary (QB POPULATE) if the secondary fails. To finish her turn, refresh the Display, remembering to perform any Events that appear. Then you perform 1 action per Species, refreshing the Display after each one, and performing any Events that appear. Then continue with the QB turn again, etc.
- a. Determine QB Phasing Species. In each QB turn, only a single Species (plus her daughter species, see L3j) performs actions: the Phasing Species. This is her Species with the most Unborn of her color (do not count any Zombies). If two QB Species are tied in Unborn, consider the one lower in the Roster to have more Unborn.
- b. QB Speciation Roll (primary action) (skip during the first turn L1g). QB starts by rolling a 1D8 dice to see if she will attempt to make a new Species per L3.
- c. QB Portrait (secondary action). Assuming QB was unable to Speciate, she will attempt to enlarge the Portrait of her Phasing Species per L4. If she cannot, then skip to the next bullet.
- d. QB POPULATE (tertiary action). Assuming QB was unable to enlarge her Portrait, she attempts to POPULATE (L5) with the Phasing Species. Any of her Creeples Killed during the attempt become Zombies (D6).
- e. QB Refresh Display per A3a.
- f. QB Perform Revealed Event(s) per H and L7.
- g. QB Deplete Event Counter. If either you or QB gained a Fossil during a fossil award event (H1), take it from the Fossil Formation (L1e). If it runs out of Fossils, the game ends with final scoring (L8c).
- h. Now It's Your Turn. Choose 1 action for the top Species in your Roster, or pass.
- i. Your Next Species. Perform 1 action for the next Species down in your Roster, if you have any. Continue until all your Species have performed an action, or passed.
- j. Refresh Display and perform the revealed Event(s). Again, this can deplete the Fossil Formation and end the game.
- k. Final Scoring is triggered the moment the Fossil Formation is depleted, see L8c.
L3. QB Speciation Roll Primary Action
First make a QB speciation roll to see if QB has an insufficient number of Species. If so, the QB Phasing Species (L2a) grabs a card from the Display that she flips to the promoted side to form a new Species. She then makes Larvae and disperses from this new Species.
- a. Inviable. If the Phasing Species is a Parasite, Swimmer, or has only a single Creeple on the map, skip the primary action and go to the secondary action (L4).
- b. Make QB Speciation Roll. QB starts by making a QB speciation roll: roll a 1D8 dice and see if the number of QB Species is less than the result shown. If it is, QB has too few Species and her Phasing Species attempts to create a new Species per L3. But if the number of Species is greater than or equal to the roll, or if for any reason she can't create a new Species, then skip to the next bullet.
Example L3b. The QB roll is a 3, but QB already has 3 Species. Therefore, QB skips the rest of her primary action and attempts her secondary action.
- c. Determine Mother Creeple of the Phasing Species by seeing which one has the most stress, but avoids stillborn (the daughter is immediately Killed due to habitability (E3), Shape Requirement, or Color Requirement).
Example L3c. The QB Venomous Archetype speciates a Flyer. There are 3 possible Archetype mothers as shown. The Carnivore is not possible, because its prey is armored and the daughter does not inherit the Venom and would be stillborn. There are two Archetype Herbivores, and the one with a Carnivore is under the most stress due to agoraphobia and is chosen as the mother. Note that the Carnivore, which is a QB armored species, goes extinct as a result of this mother choice.
- d. Determine Card to be Purchased. Use the stingy rule to select a Mutation from the Display that has a promoted new Species shape that the QB does not yet have. However, skip the Parasite and Swimmer shapes unless the Phasing Species inhabits a Biome with a Host or a swamp/lake respectively.
- e. Scrooge McDuck Rule. During both the primary and secondary action, the QB Phasing Species has an infinite spending allowance (D1b), so that it can MUTATE any card in the Display. However, see the stingy rule.
- f. Instant Promotion. QB always PROMOTES cards it buys immediately per D2. Do not forget to turn the unpromoted Derived Organ(s) into Basal Organ(s) per D2c. Therefore, QB will never have any unpromoted Mutations.
Example L3f. The QB speciation roll is an 8, and the cheapest is a dorsal aorta, with a preview depicting a Flyer in one Orientation, and a Swimmer in the other. The Swimmer cannot be chosen because the QB Phasing Species has only two Creeples, both in the weeds where a Swimmer daughter would be stillborn. Therefore, the Flyer Orientation is chosen, which QB does not yet have.
- g. MUTATE & SPECIATE this card oriented to form a new Species using the standard rules (D1, D3), including placing a Creeple of the new Species on the map, using the mother selection of the previous bullet.
- h. Orientation Choice. If both Orientations have qualified Species, you choose which one becomes active.
- i. Speciate Failure. If no mother can be found that would have a surviving daughter, then skip the primary and go to the secondary action (L4).
- j. POPULATE the new Species per L5.
- k. Refresh the Display per A3a. If there are new Event(s), perform them per L2g and deplete the Fossil Formation per L2h.
L4. QB Portrait Secondary Action
Follow this procedure with the QB Phasing Species:
- a. Skip Eusocial. If the Phasing Species is Eusocial, proceed to the tertiary action (L5).
- b. Determine Card to be Purchased. Use the stingy rule to select a Mutation from the Display that can be promoted to legally add to the Portrait of the Phasing Species. But QB can't replace a Mutation (D2d) to add a Portrait Card.
- c. Three Thorax Limit. The Phasing Species cannot purchase a thorax if it already has 3 thoraces. If at the limit, search only for heads or abdomens.
- d. MUTATE & PROMOTE this card oriented to add to the Portrait per L3f.
- e. Orientation. If both Orientations add to the Portrait, choose the one with a Trait, or if still tied you decide.
- f. QB Mutualism. If an Orientation with Mutualism is chosen, the Phasing Species takes one Zombie Creeple from each of your Species that is colocated with the Phasing Species on the map. This is a one-time ZOMBIE action; QB will not use this card's mutualism icon again.
Example L4f. QB purchases and promotes the slave-making card for her burrowers. This gives them the mutualism Trait. These burrowers are colocated with some of your Parasites, Flyers, and Swimmers, and she takes one of each of these shapes from Unborn as slaves.
- g. Portrait Failure. If no Portrait card can be added, proceed to the tertiary action (L5).
- h. Refresh the Display per A3a. If there are new Event(s), perform them per L2g and deplete the Fossil Formation per L2h.
L5. QB POPULATE Tertiary Action
Follow this procedure with the QB Phasing Species:
- a. Determine the First Mom by seeing which Creeple of the Phasing Species has the most stress.
- b. Number of Larvae. QB disperses Creeples of the Phasing Species equal to the number of blue cubes plus 1.
- c. Daisy-Chain Subsequent Moms. In the case in which multiple Larvae are being dispersed, the first mother is determined from the previous bullet, and the Larvae dispersed from that mother becomes the new mother for the next Larva.
- d. Determine Destination. Start each Larva in the same Biome as its mother, and determine its destination per L6.
Example L5d. QB does the tertiary action (POPULATE) with 2 Larvae from the most stressed mother of her Phasing Species. The first Larva disperses to an adjacent Biome, but loses the contest and swarms to another adjacent Biome. It loses this contest as well and is Killed, and yet the second Larva uses the corpse of its dead mother as the starting point for its dispersal.
- e. QB Flower Planting/Stomping. If the Phasing Species has more yellow Organs than any of your Species, she will always plant Flowers in any empty Biome dispersed to, and in any victorious herbivore contest. If QB has fewer yellow Organs then she will instead remove Flowers in the same manner.
L6. QB Dispersal Destination
During dispersal, a QB Creeple will never enter a Biome that is not habitable (E3) for it, and will never enter a Carnivore Trophic Level that violates the Shape Requirement, or a Parasite Trophic Level that violates the Color Requirement.
- a. Determine Adjacent Destination. The Larva disperses to an adjacent Biome, making the choice using habitability (E3), hive loyalty (L9d), agoraphobia (L9a), and finally acrophobia (L9b). If it is a Parasite, it will choose a non-parasitized Herbivore Host before a Carnivore one.
- b. Dispersal Points. During larval dispersals (E1), QB Creeples are always assumed to have enough DPs to reach an adjacent Biome.
Example L6b. The first of 3 Larva disperses to an adjacent hex, ignoring the lake (uninhabitable) and the swamp (already filled with its own color). Therefore it must disperse to the weeds. The second Larva disperse to an adjacent weeds Biome.
- c. Carnivore Contests. If the destination Trophic Level is inhabited by one of your Creeples, there is a contest. If the QB loses a Carnivore Contest, and has not yet swarmed, she is allowed to escape by a swarm. If it has already swarmed this phase, it can do an airborne dispersal (E2) if it has at least 1 white cube or is a Flyer, and has not already used airborne dispersal this phase.
Example L6c. The Larva of the previous example loses its Herbivore contest and can't enter as a Carnivore so it swarms to a Biome further along.
- d. Airborne Dispersal. If a QB Creeple has swarmed, and yet still not found a destination in which she can survive, she may make an airborne dispersal (E2). This option is available only to either a Flyer or a Creeple with at least 1 white Organ. Choose the landing Biome using habitability (E3), hive loyalty, agoraphobia, and finally acrophobia. If it lands and loses a Carnivore contest, it can swarm assuming it has not previously swarmed this phase.
Example L6d. The Larva of the previous example loses its second contest, and is not allowed to swarm further. But it has a white cube, and attempts an airborne dispersal. The dispersal roll is a 1, and it lands as shown. The third Larva disperses using the Larva in Craton 1 as its mother.
- e. Dead Become Undead. Every QB Creeple that is Killed during dispersal or contests is allowed to swarm. If it has already swarmed this phase, and cannot airborne disperse, instead of being Killed it becomes a Zombie Creeple on one of your Species Cards (of your choice). This increases your spending allowance and the Zombie Creeple only returns if the enslaver goes Extinct.
Example L6e. QB inhabits a continent composed of a single Craton, fully populated with her own kind, including the Phasing Species. Her primary action fails because no mom can be found with surviving children. Her secondary action fails because the Phasing Species is Eusocial. Her tertiary action fails because all the children find no place to live on the small continent. Assuming she has 3 children, all three become Zombies, placed upon the Species Card(s) of your choice.
L7. QB Events
- a. Crowd Disease (H4). If a QB Species is the most populous during this Event, QB removes half of its Creeples rounded down, starting with the most stressed.
- b. Mutagen (H7). If a QB loses Organs during a mutagen, she removes cards (along with the cubes on them) starting with the hind end of her Portrait, and going forward.
L8. Endgame & Scoring
The moment the last Fossil is removed from the Fossil Formation (L1e), the game ends with final scoring (L8c).
- a. Fossil Scoring. Before certain events there is a scoring, the player with most points (Living Creeples plus Pheromones) at this time gains 1 Fossil chit. You are also awarded a Fossil for each of your Species that goes Extinct.
- b. Extinction Victory. If QB ever goes Extinct, you win.
- c. Final Scoring. Both you and QB count the number of your Fossil chits, Living Creeples, plus Pheromones, and the higher number wins the game.
- d. Zombie Creeples of either color do not count during final scoring for either player.
- e. If tied: most Fossil tokens wins, second tiebreaker most Eusocial Species.
L9. QB Glossary
Italicized terms in the QB solitaire game, unless otherwise referenced, are found here:
- a. Acrophobia (Destination). A QB Creeple has a fear of heights. During POPULATE or Swarm, a QB Creeple selects the Biome with the lowest elevation.
- b. Agoraphobia (Destination). A QB Creeple has a fear of crowds. During POPULATE or Swarm, a QB Creeple selects a destination Biome that contains the fewest number of total Creeples, and never selects a Biome that already has a QB Herbivore and a QB Carnivore. If a destination has just one QB Creeple, the QB will exhibit hive loyalty.
- c. Elevation (Biome). Each of the three Biomes of a Craton has an elevation depending on how many Mountain segments the hex contains, which are elevation = 0, 1, or 2. If two Biomes have the same number of Mountain segments, the one with the highest Craton number is higher. This is significant because the QB has acrophobia during either crowd disease or Biome choice within a Craton.
Example L9c. For the 3 QB Archetypes shown, A has the highest elevation, and C has the lowest elevation. (A=2, B=1, C=0)
- d. Hive Loyalty (Destination). QB are loyal to her own, she does not enter a contest with her own. A QB Creeple will make a contest with another QB Creeple only in one case: if a QB Archetype Creeple invades where a QB non-archetype Creeple is an Herbivore. In this case, the Archetype becomes the Herbivore, and the non-archetype makes a Trophic Shift to carnivory. If it selects a destination with just a QB Herbivore, and the Carnivore Trophic Level is either empty or has your Carnivore, the QB enters as a Carnivore. If a QB Creeple is forced to make a Trophic Shift to where a QB is a Carnivore, it instead makes a swarm, or it dies.
Example L9d. The QB Phasing Species is armored, which disperses into a Biome with your Herbivore preyed upon by a QB Carnivore. This does not violate hive loyalty, because the herbivore contest is between you and the QB armored creeple. 1. If QB wins the contest, the QB Carnivore is Killed. 2. If QB loses the contest, it may not make a Trophic Shift to carnivory, because this would violate hive loyalty. Instead the armored creeple either dies, swarms, or (if qualified) goes airborne.
- e. QB. Short for Queen Bee, the automated opponent in the solitaire game.
- f. Stingy Rule (MUTATE). When given a choice of cards to MUTATE in the Display, QB will select the cheaper one, and if tied will select the one with Traits (such as Venom or Mutualism). If still tied, choose from the upper R/Y row rather than the lower B/G row. QB do not choose cards from the draw piles.
- g. Stress (mother). Choosing among the Creeples of the Phasing Species, the most stressed is the one with the most agoraphobia, or the most acrophobia if tied. If still tied, you choose.
- h. Swarm (Destination). A QB Creeple that loses a Carnivore Contest uses this Ability to disperse to an adjacent habitable Biome, using hive loyalty, and then agoraphobia, or acrophobia. However, if the Creeple has already swarmed on its turn, or if it has no other option, it becomes a Zombie Creeple placed upon one of your Species.
Book I Game Credits
Bios:Mesofauna Team
- Lead Game Design: Phil Eklund
- Rules Editors: Martina Wolff, Andy Mesa, Justin Grey, Robin Spathon Ek, Evert Coetzee
- Project Coordination: Jon Manker
- Production Lead, Fulfillment & Sales: Besime Uyanik
- Development, Manufacturing & Licensing/Legal: Pål Keller Carlquist
- Map Design: Phil Eklund
- Junior Game Design: Robin Spathon Ek
- Cover & Card Artist: Madeleine Fjäll
- Tabletop Simulator & Vassal: Samuel Williams, Stefano Tiné
- Playtester: Daniel Maurin
- Entomology Peer Review: Dr. Brad Metz, Dr. Steven Buchmann
Copyright © 2021, Ion Game Design & Sierra Madre Games. Bios:Mesofauna: SMG40. EAN: 653341041067. Cover image: Madeleine Fjäll.
Book II: Butterfly (Full Game / Standard Game)
Butterfly Introduction
This book introduces the Butterfly Variant, which adds catastrophic events for the full Mesofauna experience. This book is a complete and independent set of rules, including the glossary.
- Butterfly Number of Players: 1 to 4.
- Bold, Italicized, & Capitalized Terms. Terms being defined are listed in bold. Terms in italics are followed by a reference to their definition. Capitalized Terms are defined in the glossary. A term in SMALL CAPS names one of the 6 actions (D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6).
- The Golden Rule. If the text on a card contradicts these rules, the card has precedence.
- Footnotes are not necessary for gameplay. They are included to integrate the game as a simulation into a story-telling experience.
- Differences from the Cocoon Variant. This Butterfly standard game uses dice, whereas the variants in Book I are diceless. Rather than 1 action per phase, players have 1 action per Species. Rather than a race to a specified score, the end of the game occurs after a certain number of Fossils have been collected during scoring rounds (H1). White Organs are no longer chameleons, but instead make a Species into a Holometabolan.
- New Butterfly Features. Butterfly adds ticket settings (C1), NEOTENY (D5), ZOMBIE (D6), Mountains (E1a), airborne dispersal (E2), Mutualism (G3), Events (H), Fossils from extinctions (I1a), Lazarus (I1c,d), and Fossil Formation exhaustion as an endgame trigger (I2a).
A. Butterfly Sequence of Play
The first player is the one with the highest Skeletal Number, then play continues clockwise. The turn order never changes.
- a. Autonomy. Each of your Species is independent of each of your other Species! When you create a new Species, there will be inheritance from the Species that created it, but thereafter there is no sharing or cooperation of characteristics between any of your Species. You can even have one of your Species preying on another of your Species! However, you do sum the populations and Pheromones of each of your Species during scoring. Only during final scoring do your Species combine their attributes.
A1. Species Roster
The column of Species in your Tableau, with the oldest (often your Archetype) on top, is called your Roster.
On your turn, you perform 1 action for each of your Species in your Roster, beginning with the uppermost, and then proceeding to the next lower Species, until every Species has done an action.
- a. Phasing Species is the Species whose turn it is to act.
- b. Speciation. If a Species performs a SPECIATE (D3) for its action, the new Species goes to the bottom of the Roster. Therefore, the new Species can perform an action later in the same turn that it is created.
A2. Choose 1 Action for the Phasing Species
Each of your Species has 1 action each turn, choosing one from the following 7 actions:
- a. MUTATE (D1). Select a Mutation from the Display and play it into the Tableau of your Phasing Species. The number of Unborn of a Phasing Species indicates its spending allowance.
- b. PROMOTE (D2). Promote one of the Mutations of your Phasing Species, which must fit into the Portrait.
- c. SPECIATE (D3). Promote one of the Mutations of your Phasing Species to create a new Species with inheritance (D3d). Replace one Creeple of the old Species with a Creeple of the new Species.
- d. POPULATE (D4). Place a number of the Unborn Creeples of the Phasing Species onto the map. The number of Creeples born to a Species can be as many as the number of its blue cubes plus one. Each Larva starts from a mother and disperses a number of Biomes (hexes) up to the number of blue cubes of that Species plus one.
- e. NEOTENY (D5). The Phasing Species discards 1 Basal Organ.
- f. ZOMBIE (D6). The Phasing Species steals an Unborn Creeple from a colocated Species.
- g. PASS. Go to the next lower Species in the Roster.
A3. Refresh Display & Perform Events
- a. Refresh Display. After each of your Species has performed its action, refresh the Display so that it once again has 5 cards per row. Do this by sliding cards in the Display to the left (away from the draw deck) to fill any gaps in its row. Then draw new cards to fill any remaining empty positions so there are again 5 cards in each row (not including the top of each draw deck). Draw cards from the respective metabolism or Darwinian draw deck to fill the rows from the leftmost empty slot.
Tip (Map Check): Check each Carnivore to make sure it meets the Shape Requirement. Check lakes to make sure they contain no Creeples other than Swimmers and their Parasites.
- b. Perform Events (H). If any cards with Events have been revealed and remain on top of a draw deck, perform the icons listed from left to right.
- c. Endgame Triggers (I2). If either the Fossil Formation or a draw deck is depleted, first perform the turn's fossil awards (H1) and Events (if any) and then the game ends with final scoring (I3).
- d. What if Multiple Events/Triggers? If multiple cards with Events have appeared, perform the Event on the metabolic (upper) draw deck first, then the one on top of the Darwinian draw deck. If one deck runs out, triggering the endgame per the previous bullet, perform the event on top of the other deck first, if any.
B. Game Components
See Component Limits if you run out of any tokens or chits.
B1. Cards (107)
There are two types of cards in the game: Species Cards and Mutations:
- a. Species Cards (44). See the anatomies in Book I for Species Cards. There are 20 Species Cards that are only used in the Combined Game (J).
- b. Mutation Cards (61). See the anatomies in Book I for Mutations.
- c. Player Aid Cards (3). One double-sided contest/movement, one event, & one solitaire.
B2. Cratons (8)
- a. Anatomy. See Craton anatomy in Book I.
B3. Punchboard Chits
- a. Fossil Chits (10). These add to your score at the end of the game.
- b. Cost Chits (5). Indicates the cost of a column.
- c. Venom/Mutualism Chits (16). Indicates Venomous Carnivores, or (other side) ability to steal the purchasing capacity of other Species.
B4. Cubes (110)
- Yellow (25). Represents circulatory or respiratory Organs useful for high metabolism pollination.
- Red (25). Represents sense Organs useful for the detection and incapacitation of prey.
- Green (25). Represents digestive Organs useful for processing and detoxifying insecticides in vegetation.
- Blue (25). Represents reproductive Organs useful for mate selection and sex.
- White (10). Represents metamorphosis Organs used to overwinter as a cocoon, and to distinguish the larval "growth" form from the adult reproductive form.
C. Butterfly Setup
See Component Limits if you run out of any tokens or chits.
C1. Theme Park Ticket Settings
(new for Butterfly)
The ticket setting is decided at the beginning of the game, and fixed for the entire game. The more dice chosen, the less likely the chance of a severe mass extinction event. Choose between:
- a. Merry-Go-Round. 4 dice (8-sided) for each Mutagen Roll (H7a).
- b. Roller Coaster. 3 dice.
- c. E-Ticket. 2 dice. The default ticket setting.
- d. Hollywood. 1 dice. (Recommended only for those who love disaster movies).
C2. Player Color Assignment
Two to four players can play. Each is assigned a color and sets up their Tableau (row) and Reserves:
- Select Archetype Species Cards. Randomly assign an Archetype Species Card to each player. These are Player Pink (insects assimilated by the Cordyceps fungus), Player Purple (hydroskeletal lobopods), Player Blue (exoskeletal crustaceans), and Player Gray (exoskeletal arthropods).
- e. First Player Skeletal Number. Your skeletal number is printed on your Archetype Species card. The player with the highest Skeletal Number is the first player.
- f. Starting Tableau. Each player starts their Archetype Tableau by placing their Archetype Species Card in front of them, and placing their 10 Archetype Creeples into the spaces provided. Archetypes have the silverfish shape. (10x Archetype, 9x Burrower, 7x Armored, 7x Swimmer, 7x Flyer, 7x Parasite.)
- g. Reserves. Each player receives into their Reserves the 5 remaining Species Cards, player aid cards, and 37 remaining Creeples of their color. Therefore, you start with your Archetype as your only active Species.
C3. Display & Fossil Formation Setup
- a. Fossil Formation (new for Butterfly). Create a stack of 10 Fossil chits.
- b. Pool. Place the Organs (cubes) and Venom/Mutualism chits into a public area. (Using a soup bowl conforms with Bios:Genesis tradition.)
- c. Prepare Draw Decks. Separate all the Mutations into two decks: metabolic (red and yellow cards) and darwinian (green and blue cards). With the unpromoted side faceup, shuffle the 2 decks.
- d. Prepare Display. Arrange the two decks as shown. Deal 5 cards from the metabolic deck into the upper Display row, to the left of the draw deck as shown. Do the same with the darwinian Mutations (green and blue cards), forming a lower Display row just beneath the upper Display row.
- e. Place Cost Chits. The Display is the 2 x 5 grid, not counting the cards on top of the draw decks. Use the chits labeled 0, 2, 4, 6, & 8 to denote the costs of Mutations in the five Display columns as shown.
C4. Supercontinent Setup
An arrangement of adjoined Cratons is called a continent. Butterfly starts with all the Cratons adjoined in a continent called Gondwana.
- a. Craton Assignment. Each player is randomly assigned 2 Cratons. Note that each Craton has a wet side and a dry side (as marked in the center of the Craton), and you can choose either side. Other Cratons will not be used.
Tip: Choosing the wet side will lead to a more competitive and combative game, because the increased number of lakes means less living space for the non-swimmer Creeples!
- b. Building Gondwana. Beginning with the first player (C2b) and proceeding clockwise, each player places their 2 Cratons in an adjoined arrangement to existing Cratons. Each Craton must be placed with its red cube icon on top (see anatomy in Book I). The resulting supercontinent should consist of twice as many Cratons as players in the game.
- c. Populating Gondwana (1st Player). The first player places one of their Archetype Creeples (taken from their Archetype Species Card) into the lower half of any non-lake hex on the map. Flowers can't be planted during setup (because the game begins with no pollinators).
- d. Populating Gondwana (2nd Player). The second player clockwise places two of their Archetype Creeples into any adjacent non-lake hexes on the map. If a hex is unoccupied, placement is in the lower half, and if occupied, placement is in the upper half.
- e. Populating Gondwana (3rd & 4th Players). The third player (if any) similarly places three Creeples, and finally the fourth player (if any) places four Creeples.
- f. First Cambrian Turn. Starting with the first player, play now proceeds clockwise per the sequence of play (A).
Tip: Double check that all of the hexes of Gondwana are aligned the same way, with the green cube icon in the lower half.
C5. Caterpillar, Cocoon, Butterfly Combined, & Solo Variants
- a. Caterpillar & Cocoon Introductory Variants. If this is your first time playing Bios:Mesofauna, or you prefer diceless and faster playing games, consider playing the Caterpillar or Cocoon Variants in Book I.
- b. Butterfly Combined Variant. This variant is a Combined Game with Bios:Megafauna (Part J, Book I), and introduces Megafauna (big animals) that use Size Dice to grow from Size = 1 to as much as Size = 6.
- c. Solitaire Variant. See K, Book I.
D. Actions
The Phasing Species chooses one of these 6 actions, or passes, then goes to the next Species in the Roster. In the rules, actions are written in SMALL CAPS.
D1. Mutate Action
- select and play a Mutation.
Use this action to purchase a card in the Display and immediately add it to your Phasing Species, placed unpromoted just to the left of its Species Card. There is no hand.
- a. Mutation Costs. Each Mutation has a cost (0, 2, 4, 6, or 8) as indicated by the cost chit (B3c) in its Display column. You are not allowed to purchase a card on top of the draw deck.
- b. Spending Allowance. Each Species has a spending allowance equal to the number of its Unborn sitting on its Species Card. Whenever the Phasing Species makes a Mutation purchase, it must not exceed its spending allowance. Your spending allowance is effective only for that turn, and cannot be saved from turn to turn.
Example D1b: You wish to buy a Mutation for your Swimmer, but all 7 Swimmer Creeples are on the map, so the number of Swimmer Unborns is 0. Therefore, you may only buy 1 of the 2 Mutations in the 0 cost column for your Swimmer. (Zero Unborns → 0 Cost column.)
- c. Half Mutation Costs. Once the Portrait of a Species contains at least one of both halves of a particular color of Pheromone (G1), your mutation costs (D1a) for that Species is halved when purchasing a card of that color.
Example D1c: A very attractive red card appears in the cost = 8 column. Your Species have 5 Unborns, so it can't purchase this card. However, your Species PROMOTES, adding a completed red Pheromone to its Portrait. Its mutation costs for red cards is halved, allowing it to purchase the cost 8 card on its next turn. (Cost halved for red cards → Eligible next turn.)
- d. Place Unpromoted Mutation. The card purchased goes on its unpromoted side immediately to the left of the Species Portrait which purchased it.
- e. Place Derived Organ(s). After placing the Mutation, put the Organ(s) of the color specified on the Mutation card over the cube icon(s).
D2. Promote Action
- flip a Mutation.
Use this action to flip an unpromoted Mutation of the Phasing Species to one Orientation of its promoted side. This promotion must be added in a splayed fashion to the Portrait either adjacent to or replacing an existing Portrait Card. In either case, both halves of each Pheromone must be the same color. Add cubes to the promoted card to represent its Organ(s).
- a. Preview. On the top of each unpromoted Mutation is a preview of what the promoted side looks like. It consists of two sets of icons, one for each Orientation (next bullet). See anatomy in Book I.
- b. Orientation. The promoted side has two Orientations. Choose one Orientation to be upright in your Tableau. If you promote to an Orientation depicting a white Creeple silhouette, you have the option to either add it to your Portrait, or use it to SPECIATE (D3).
Easily Missed D2b: A Portrait can consist of just one card, or just a head and an abdomen, with no thorax.
- c. Derived Organs Become Basal Organs. Move all cubes that were on the card's unpromoted side as Basal Organs into the indicated area on the Species Card as shown. However, if the Species is a Parasite, only blue Basal Organs are allowed, so discard any cubes moved other than blue.
- d. Portrait Formation. Add the promoted card to your Portrait, either next to or replacing an existing Portrait Card. The Pheromones must match in color.
- e. Portrait Organs. If the promoted Orientation indicates Derived Organs, place them on the promoted Mutation card where indicated as Portrait Cubes.
Easily Missed D2e: If the Portrait Organ is a white cube, the Species becomes a Holometabolan.
- f. Mutualism Icon. If this icon appears on the promoted side, place a Mutualism chit under all Creeples of this Species. This allows ZOMBIE (D6) and anti-parasite (G3).
- g. Venom Icon. If the icon appears on the promoted side, place a venom chit under all Carnivores of this Species (G4).
- h. Monster Icon. Ignore this icon unless playing the Combined Game (J7a).
D3. Speciate Action
- flip a Mutation into a new Species.
Like PROMOTE, the SPECIATE action flips an unpromoted Mutation of the Phasing Species to its promoted side. But instead of adding it to the Portrait, move the card to start a new Tableau for a new Species, alongside the Species Card for that Species. You may only SPECIATE if the promoted Orientation contains the white silhouette of a Creeple shape that does not yet exist in your color. The new Species is called the daughter species, and the Species that created it is called the mother species. One Creeple of the mother species is sacrificed, replaced by a Creeple of the daughter species.
- a. Species Limits. You are limited to 6 Living Species: Archetypes, burrowers, armored, Flyers, Swimmers, and Parasites. You may not speciate if you already have any Living or Zombie Creeples of that Species.
- b. Mom's Derived Organs Become Basal Organs. Move the cube(s) from the card being promoted to the Species Card of the same mother species. Notice that even though mom bequeaths a Mutation to her daughter, she doesn't lose its cubes (and thus doesn't lose any contest effects).
- c. Creating the Daughter's Tableau. Use the promoted side of the removed Mutation to start a new Tableau for the new daughter species, which is also the first card in her Portrait. The Orientation is with the silhouette uppermost. To the left of this card, put the appropriate Species Card (burrower, armored, Swimmer, Flyer, or Parasite), with a Creeple set upon each spot on the Species Card.
Example D3c: Your Archetype promotes a new Flyer Species. The yellow cube on the flight mutation is added to the blue Basal Organ on the Archetype Species Card. Then the Flyer Species Card is placed, adding a yellow and a blue cube as her inheritance from mom, and adding all the Flyer Creeples as Unborns. The promoted flight card is added to the right of the Flyer Species Card to start its Portrait.
- d. Daughter's Inherited Organs. Duplicate all the Basal Organs of the mother, and place these new Basal Organs on the daughter's Species Card. Note this means that each Derived Organ on the promoted card becomes a Basal Organ on both mother and daughter. See Heritable. Daughters that are Parasites inherit only blue Organs, see Parasite.
Example D3d: Your Archetype has no Basal Organs and 1 red Organ cube on its tail spine mutation. It SPECIATES this Mutation into a springtail, thus promoting it into a flyer. The 1 red cube becomes 2 red Basal Organs, one placed on the mother's Species, and the other on the daughter's Species. The mother's Basal Organ represents her original tail spine organ, but the daughter's Basal Organ represents the same organ evolved into an advanced flightworthy springtail.
- e. Choose Sacrificial Mother. Put all but one of the Creeples of the new Species on its Species Card, and use its last Creeple to replace one of her mother's Creeples on the map. This drives the mother Extinct if it was her last Living Creeple!
- f. Swimmer Daughter Species. A Swimmer is not allowed to inhabit a weeds Biome, and a non-Swimmer is not allowed to inhabit a lake Biome. Therefore, if you are speciating a Swimmer, you must choose a mother in a swamp. If you are speciating a non-Swimmer, you cannot choose a Swimmer mother unless it is in a swamp.
- g. Parasite Daughter Species. As an exception to D3e above, a Parasite Daughter does not replace its mother. A Parasite Species is not allowed to be born in (or inhabit) a Biome unless there is a Host meeting the Color Restriction (G2a), and the Newborn Parasite starts on top of this Host (E3e).
Example D3g: Your Archetype performs a SPECIATE to create a Parasite daughter. The Archetype is preyed upon by an opponent's Flyer, which becomes the Host for the newborn Parasite Creeple. This ends the Archetype's phase, and the Parasite becomes the Phasing Species. You decide to POPULATE, dispersing a new Parasite to another Host of the same color.
Easily Missed: A daughter species retains the Parasite of the mother species. This contrasts with daughters during POPULATE, which are born parasite-free (D4d).
- h. If Mom Is a Carnivore, her daughter species must meet the Shape Requirement for the prey.
- i. If Mom Has a Parasite. Because a Parasite co-evolves with its Host, if the mother had a Parasite the Daughter Species will have one as well.
- j. If Mom Is a Parasite, then her daughter species replaces her Creeple as a non-parasite. This puts the daughter Creeple into a contest with the former Host Creeple.
- k. Pollinator Option (E4). If the mother chosen to be replaced is an Herbivore, you may choose to add a Flower if there is not one (except no Flowers in lakes), or remove a Flower if there is one.
- l. First Species Action. Because the Tableau of the new Species starts as the lowest (youngest) row in the Roster (A1), it will have its first action later in your turn, when you get to the bottom of your Roster.
- m. Endangered Carnivore. If the new daughter Creeple is being preyed upon and the Carnivore no longer meets the Shape Requirement, the Carnivore is Killed.
- n. Archetype Resurrection. If you do not have an Archetype (e.g. Extinction), you may designate the new Species spawned by your SPECIATE to be your Archetype instead of the Species indicated by the silhouette. Place your Archetype Species Card splayed to the left of the Mutation with the silhouette.
D4. Populate Action
- create & disperse new Creeple(s).
For the Phasing Species, take from its Unborn Creeples a number of Larvae equal to its Dispersal Points, and then disperses these Larvae from a mother on the map by moving a number of Biomes (hexes) up to its Dispersal Points. Each Larva enters its destination as an Herbivore, resolving an herbivore contest (F1) immediately if this Trophic level is inhabited, and shifting to Carnivory if Herbivory fails.
- a. Dispersal Points. Each Creeple individually has a number of Dispersal Points (DPs) equal to the number of blue organs of the Species plus one. DPs are used both for how many Larva are born in a populate action, and how many hexes each Larva can disperse.
- b. Choosing a Mother. For each Larva born, choose a mother on the map of the same creeple shape.
- c. Daisy-Chain Rule. Each Larva placed on the map can act as a mother for the next Larva being dispersed, assuming it survives the contest if any.
Example D4c: You populate with your Archetype, which has 2 blue Organs. The three Larvae disperse as shown.
- d. Infested Moms, Clean Daughters. The daughters dispersing from a mother with a Parasite are Parasite-free.
- e. Larval Dispersal. To disperse a Larva, move it from Biome to Biome, costing a Dispersal Point (DP) for each Biome entered per E1.
Example D4e: 1. Your Archetype has 2 blue Organs and therefore 3 dispersal points. During a populate action, you generate 3 Larvae to be dispersed. 2. You choose an Archetype in the weeds to be the first mother, disperse her Larva to a swamp 3 hexes away. 3. This Larva is chosen as the mother for the second Larva, which is dispersed to a new swamp. This swamp is inhabited, but the new Larva wins the herbivore contest. 4. The last Larva chooses the original mother again.
Tip D4e: You should disperse a new Creeple as an Herbivore to either an uninhabited Biome, or one where it can win the herbivore contest against existing Herbivores. It should disperse as a Carnivore to a Biome with an Herbivore to eat, and where it can beat the existing Carnivore if any in a carnivore contest. The predator-prey relationship is a stable one, so that a carnivorous species never engages in a contest against an herbivorous one. See "Circle of Life" (Fb).
- f. Habitable Biome. A Larva cannot choose a Biome as a destination unless it is habitable (E3).
Example D4f: With many red Organs, your Flyer is the dominant Carnivore in the game. After you POPULATE it, you disperse its Larva into a Biome with an enemy Herbivore and Carnivore. You enter the Biome as an Herbivore, lose the contest, make the Trophic Shift into Carnivory. Assuming the prey is edible, you win this contest and end up as the Carnivore, all in the same turn.
- g. Enter as Herbivore. A Larva must enter its destination as an Herbivore. If the destination is inhabited, then immediately resolve the contest (F1, F4, F5). Note that if you fail the contest as an Herbivore, you will automatically try again as a Carnivore, see F2.
- h. Pollinator Option (E4). If a Creeple chooses an uninhabited Biome as its destination, it may add a Flower if there is not one (except no Flowers in lakes), or remove a Flower if there is one.
D5. Neoteny Action
- discard a Basal Organ (new for Butterfly).
Use this action to discard up to 1 Basal Organ from the Phasing Species, without driving it Extinct.
Tip: Removing Basal Organs is useful to avoid Extinction from mutagens.
Example D5: One of your Species Cards has 8 Organs, and for its phase you perform a NEOTENY and discard a blue one.
D6. Zombie Action
- steal a victim's Unborn (new for Butterfly).
This new action is only available to Species with the Mutualism Trait visible in their Portrait (G3). It allows the Species to attack an opponent's Species that is in the same Biome, enslaving one of its Unborn Creeples and storing it on your Species Card as a Zombie Creeple. The victim can be attacked as many times as it has Unborn.
- a. Effects. Take 1 Unborn Creeple from a victim, and place it on your Species card. This has the effect of reducing the victim's Unborn purchasing power during MUTATE, while increasing your own. It also reduces the victim's potential map presence.
Example D6b: Your Phasing Species is a Carnivore with Mutualism, and you decide to ZOMBIE against your prey. You take one Unborn from the Herbivores Species card, and move it somewhere on your own Species card.
- b. Victim Requirements. The mutualized Species must be in the same Biome, and must have at least one Unborn. It also must not be your color! It does not matter if the victim is a Carnivore, Herbivore, or Parasite.
Easily Missed: Like Parasitism, Mutualism may only be used against other players, not against one of your own Species.
- c. Zombie Creeples. The foreign Creeples sequestered on your Species card count as your own Unborn during MUTATE, but cannot be placed on the map during POPULATE. They do not count during scoring.
Tip (anti-parasite): Mutualism is a useful way to reduce the spread of a Parasite, by reducing the numbers of its Unborn available for POPULATE.
- d. Liberation. Creeples are permanently enslaved, and only returned to the owner's Unborn if the enslaver goes Extinct.
E. Dispersals
A dispersal moves a Creeple on the map to a new habitable Biome after a POPULATE (D4), entering as either an Herbivore or Parasite. This can either be a larval dispersal, in which one or more Larva are created from a mother and disperse by spending Dispersal Points (DPs, see D4a), or an airborne dispersal in which a Creeple with either wings or at least one white Organ flees to a random Craton.
- Emergency Evacuation. If none of the available Biomes are habitable (E3), then the Creeple either makes an airborne dispersal (if Holometabolan or a Flyer, see E2a), or is Killed.
E1. Larval Dispersal Movement
It costs one Dispersal Point (DP, see D4a) to enter each Biome. Each Creeple starts its turn with a number of DPs equal to its blue cubes plus one. Unused DPs cannot be transferred to the next turn.
- a. Crossing Mountains. It costs an extra DP for any Creeple that is not a Flyer to cross a Mountain border.
Example E1a: The Creeple shown has 2 blue Organs, and thus 3 DPs. It disperses across the Mountains to the adjoining weeds as shown. (DP = Number of blue Organs + 1.)
Easily Missed: A Creeple can disperse to a non-adjoining Craton that has separated by continental drift only by airborne dispersal (E2).
E2. Airborne Dispersal Movement
(new for Butterfly)
A Holometabolan is a Species with at least one white Organ. If either a Holometabolan or a Flyer Creeple makes a dispersal after a POPULATE, it may optionally roll for an airborne dispersal instead of a larval dispersal (E1). Your bug throws itself to the winds, and rolls the dice to see where it lands.
- a. Requirements. To make a dispersal roll, a Creeple must have just performed a POPULATE either as a Holometabolan (i.e. have at least one white cube) or as a Flyer.
- b. Dispersal Roll. To make an airborne dispersal for a Creeple, roll a number of 8-sided dice equal to the number of white Organs of the Species, plus one if it is a Flyer. You must choose one of the results, and disregard the others. The chosen result indicates a Craton number (see Craton anatomy in Book I), and the dispersing Creeple may enter any of the 3 Biomes of the destination Craton.
Example E2b: After a POPULATE, your Holometabolan Swimmer makes an 1D8 dispersal roll. The result is a "7", and fortunately this Craton is in the game, and one of its Biomes is an uninhabited lake.
Easily Missed E2b: A Holometabolan Flyer adds one additional dice (1d8) to its dispersal roll.
- c. Death At Sea. If the destination Craton is not in the game, or none of its Biomes are habitable (E3), the airborne disperser is Killed.
- d. Destination Contest Avoidance. If the destination Craton contains any unoccupied Trophic Levels, one of these must be chosen if it is habitable (E3).
Example E2c: Your Flyer Creeple is alone on an isolated insular Craton. You have 2 blue Organs, and thus you populate 3 Larva. You make a dispersal roll for the first one, but the roll is a 3 which is a Craton not in the game and the Creeple dies at sea. So you decide to make another attempt for the second one, and this one finds an empty Biome to inhabit. You decide to make a larval dispersion with the last one, and remain on the Craton.
Example E2d: You make a dispersal roll for your Flyer, but the only empty Trophic Levels are a lake, and the Carnivore niche preying upon a burrower. Per E3a and E3d, neither of these are habitable, so instead you make a paratrooper contest (see next bullet).
- e. Paratrooper Contest. Assuming that it has no choice but to land fighting, the dispersing Holometabolan may enter as an Herbivore, Carnivore (if the Shape Requirement is met), or a Parasite (if the Color Requirement is met). A contest is performed per (F), in which the loser either makes a Trophic Shift (F2), or is Killed.
Example E2e: For its dispersal roll, a Flyer with one white cube rolls a pair of 3's. All 6 Trophic Levels of the #3 Craton are fully occupied with Creeples. The dispersing Flyer decides to enter a Biome occupied with one of your own Archetypes. Per F4c, you decide that the Flyer wins, and the losing Archetype becomes a Carnivore. It meets the Shape Requirement because it happens to be Venomous. But the Carnivore slot is occupied by an enemy Flyer, which causes another contest, which your Archetype wins and the Flyer is Killed.
- f. Pollinator Option. If the destination is an unoccupied non-lake Biome, you can plant or stomp Flowers there (E4).
- g. Stowaway Rule. If the dispersing Creeple is a Host, the Parasite travels with it.
E3. Habitable Biomes & Trophic Levels
Each dispersing Creeple chooses a destination which is habitable (see below). By default, all Creeples except Parasites enter the lower half of the Biome Hex, namely the Herbivore Trophic Level. If there is already an Herbivore there, perform a contest before moving the next Creeple. If you lose the contest, you shift to become a Carnivore per F2 and perform a second contest if this Carnivore Trophic Level is inhabited.
- a. Habitable Biomes (Carnivores or Herbivores). All Creeples can inhabit a swamp. All Creeples except Swimmers can inhabit weeds. Only a Swimmer or a parasitized Swimmer can inhabit a lake.
Easily Missed E3a: After dispersing, a Creeple will never disperse again until it loses a contest. If so, it either makes a Trophic Shift (F2, F5a) or is Killed. Cannibalism Taboo (Carnivores or Herbivores). You can never disperse a Creeple into a Biome if a Creeple of the same color and shape is already present.
- b. Cannibalism Taboo (Carnivores or Herbivores). You can never disperse a Creeple into a Biome if a Creeple of the same color and shape is already present.
Easily Missed E3b: You can have one Species of your color as a Carnivore on another Species, also of your color.
- c. Habitable Trophic Level (Herbivores). As long as the previous 2 bullets are met, all Trophic Levels are habitable to Herbivores. But if there is already an Herbivore present, then perform an immediate herbivore contest (F1).
- d. Habitable Trophic Level (Carnivores). A Trophic Level is habitable to a Carnivore as long as a prey Herbivore meeting the Shape Requirement is present.
- e. Habitable Trophic Level (Parasites). A Parasite Creeple may inhabit its destination only if placed on a Host (G2a) that meets the Color Restriction per G2b. If there is already a Parasite present, then there will be an immediate parasite contest (F5).
Example E3e: You are the first player, and you wish to disperse your 3 Larva Parasites. However, all available Hosts already have your Parasites, so all 3 Larvae die. You cannot disperse them to an empty Biome, and hope that the Host will disperse there on its turn.
E4. Pollinator Option
If a Creeple ends its dispersal on an uninhabited Biome, or if it wins an herbivore contest, or an herbivore mother is replaced during SPECIATE, it may choose to add a Flower if there is none in the Biome, or remove a Flower if there is one. However, no Flowers are allowed in lakes (no underwater pollinators).
F. Contests
Each time a dispersing Creeple enters an inhabited Trophic Level (E3), there is an instant contest to see who is the winner and who is the loser. A loser is Killed unless it can make a Trophic Shift (F2). Contests can be either Herbivore (lower half) or Carnivore (upper half), and each contest has two tiers: edibility/habitability and Organs. If two contestants are tied in edibility/habitability, check the cube icon of the Biome to see if the invader wins by having more Organs of that color than the defender.
- a. Parasites constitute a 3rd Trophic Level, which only a Parasite Creeple can enter (E3e).
- b. Omnivory. A single Species can contain both Carnivore and Herbivore members.
The Circle of Life: Each Herbivore Creeple represents thousands of individuals and is never Killed by being eaten by Carnivores. It can be Killed or driven Extinct only by competing Herbivores. In other words, no carnivore is so rapacious that it could drive itself extinct by eating its only prey to extinction, unless the prey is itself in a contest with another herbivore.
F1. Herbivore Contests
If there are 2 Creeples in the lower half of a Biome, they fight until there is just one left.
- a. Edibility (if Carnivore Present). If (and only if) there is a Carnivore present, both Herbivores check to see if they are inedible (due to the Shape Requirement). If only one is edible, it is Killed.
Example F1a: You have populated your burrower, and disperse its Larva to a Biome already filled with 2 of your opponent's Creeples: an Archetype Herbivore and a Flyer Carnivore. Both have more red, yellow, and green organs than your burrower. But things are not as hopeless as they seem. There is a Carnivore present, and your burrower is inedible to the Carnivore (because of the Shape Requirement). Therefore, your burrower wins, and both your opponent's Creeples die, despite their advantage in cubes.
Tip F1a: Edibility is an additional contest step not found in the Cocoon Game. It gives great power to SPECIATE, since new Species are often inedible to existing Carnivores and thus win herbivore contests.
- b. Organs. If there is a Flower present, then the invading Herbivore must have more yellow Organs to win the contest (a bug with more metabolism is better in the pollinator wars). If there is no Flower present, the invading Herbivore must have more green Organs to win.
Example F1b. A grasshopper invades the Biome of an Herbivore spider. No Carnivore is around. The grasshopper has 1 yellow Organ, and the spider has 1 green Organ. If the Biome has a Flower, the grasshopper wins. Otherwise, the Biome is dominated by grasses and the spider wins.
- c. Same Color Final Tie-breaker. If two Creeples Species of the same color are competing, then the owner chooses which Species wins.
Example F1c. Your Flyer is in the weeds, and you disperse an Archetype to the weeds as an Herbivore. You decide that the Archetype wins the herbivore contest, which makes the Flyer make a Trophic Shift (F2) to become a Carnivore with the Archetype as its prey.
F2. Trophic Shift if Lose Herbivore Contest
If an Herbivore Creeple loses an herbivore contest, shift it upwards in the same Biome to become a Carnivore if it meets the Shape Requirement. If it doesn't meet this requirement, it is Killed.
- a. Phasing Player. A losing Herbivore makes a Trophic Shift even if it is not the Phasing Player.
- b. Carnivore Contest. If there is already a Carnivore there, the pair are involved in an immediate carnivore contest (F4).
- c. Host. If it is a Host, its Parasite stays on it during this shift.
Easily Missed F2c: A Trophic Shift is only allowed from Herbivore to Carnivore, and not the other way around.
F3. Flower Power if Win Herbivore Contest
If you win an herbivore contest, you may place or remove a Flower in the Biome, except no Flowers permitted in lakes.
Example F3. The Archetype in the previous example has won its herbivore contest, so it is allowed to remove a Flower that was in the weeds.
F4. Carnivore Contests
Like the herbivore contest, if a Creeple stops in an occupied Carnivore Trophic Level, there is an immediate contest. The carnivore contest is resolved in two tiers: edibility and red Organs. If two contestants are tied in the first tier, go to the second:
- a. Edibility. A Carnivore is Killed if at any time it has no Herbivores to eat that meet the Shape Requirement.
Easily Missed F4a: A Carnivore is able to prey on an Herbivore if (1) it is the same shape, or (2) the Carnivore is Venomous, or (3) the Herbivore has a Parasite, or (4) the Herbivore is an Archetype.
Example F4a: Your opponent occupies a Biome with a Flyer Herbivore. You disperse a Flyer Carnivore to the Biome, but lose the Herbivore contest. But you automatically make a Trophic Shift and become a Carnivore to prey upon it. It takes a Flyer to catch a Flyer.
- b. Red Organs. The invading Carnivore must have more red cubes than the defender, or else it is Killed.
- c. Same Color Final Tie-breaker. If two Creeples Species of the same color are competing, then the owner chooses which Species wins.
Example F4c. Your herbivorous burrower loses its herbivore contest to an opponent's burrower, and does a Trophic Shift (F2) to the upper half of the same Biome. The Shape Requirement is met, because your prey is the same Shape as you (burrower). However, there is already a burrower Carnivore in the Biome, and so there is a contest. Neither of you have red Organs, so you lose the contest and return your Creeple to its Species Card.
F5. Parasite Contests
A Host can only have one Parasite. If you SPECIATE or disperse a Parasite to a Host with an opponent's Parasite, then you must have more blue Organs in order to win and replace it. The loser is Killed unless it can make a Trophic Shift:
- a. Parasite Trophic Shift. If you lose a parasite contest, you can shift to another Host in the same Biome that meets the Color Requirement. There is another parasite contest if there is already a Parasite there.
G. Traits
Traits are non-heritable adaptations depicted by an icon on a promoted Mutation. Upon PROMOTION, all Creeples of a Species have the abilities of a Trait. It is recommended to add venomous or mutualism chits on the map for Creeples that have the Venomous or Mutualism Traits, as a reminder for players.
- Non-Heritable. Because a Trait is not Heritable, a Daughter Species does not acquire it after a SPECIATE.
- Monster Icon. Ignore this Trait unless playing the Combined Game (J7a).
G1. Pheromones & Portraits
A Species has a Pheromone of a specific color if its Portrait includes the right and left halves of the Pheromone icon. The 4 colors of Pheromones are alarm (red), nasonov (yellow), propaganda (green), or sex (blue).
- a. Heads, Abdomen, Thorax. There are 3 kinds of cards in a Portrait: head, abdomen, and thorax. Heads have their half-pheromone to the right edge of the card, while abdomens have it on the left edge. Each thorax has a half-pheromone on both its right and left edges.
Example G1a. View of a Thorax and a head in preview and its promoted side.
- b. Pheromone Restriction. Each time you PROMOTE a card, you must add it to the Portrait of its Species so that both halves of each Pheromone match in color. The new Portrait Card can exchange or squeeze between existing cards, as long as there is no color mismatch in the Pheromone icons.
- c. The Monochromatic Rule. Anytime a Mutation is added (D2d), substituted (D2d), or culled (H7b) in a Portrait, the colors of the Pheromones must match. If they don't, remove cards from the Portrait until everything matches or there is only one card left.
Example G1b. The Archetype of Player Purple has a head with the left half of the red "alarm" pheromone, plus an unpromoted tail spine. During your turn, you promote it into a metasoma sting added to your Portrait as shown. This forms a red pheromone.
- d. Mutation Costs Halved. A completed Pheromone in the Portrait of a Species halves the mutation cost when it purchases a card of that color, see D1c.
- e. Eusocial. If the Portrait of a Species includes one head, at least one thorax, and one abdomen, that Species becomes Eusocial. This offers shielding (H7e) against the mutagen roll, see Eusocial.
Example G1e. Your scorpion of the previous example promotes its feelers into a glandular lure, and inserts this thorax between the head and the metasoma sting abdomen. This creates an Eusocial bug, and creates another Pheromone to increase your endgame score.
G2. Parasites
The saddle-shaped Species are Parasites. These Creeples disperse using dispersion points just as any other Species, but may only end their move on top of an opponent's Creeple called the Host. The location of a Host (weeds, swamp, or lake) does not matter. A Parasite Species may only victimize a single color of Host.
- a. Speciate as Parasite. A Parasite cannot be SPECIATED unless there is an opponent's Creeple in the same Biome (hex) as the Parasite's mother (E3e). As an exception to D3e, a Parasite Daughter does not replace its mother. The first Parasite is placed over this Creeple, which becomes the first Host. The color of the first Host permanently sets the Color Requirement for your future Parasites.
Example G2b: 1. You speciate the salivary glands card to its blood feeding edge, to speciate a new Parasite from your Archetype. 2. Your Archetype Mother Creeple has an opponent burrower as a Carnivore in the Biome. It becomes the Host for the new Parasite Daughter, and you place a Parasite Creeple on top of the burrower. 3. Your opponent speciates into a Flyer on his turn, but your Parasite persists.
- b. Inhabit as Parasite. Parasites populate and disperse as other Creeples, but must find a Host that meets the Color Requirement (previous bullet). The Species does not matter; you can simultaneously have Hosts that are armored, flying, Archetype, etc., as long as they are the same color. If the Host already has a Parasite, there is a parasite contest (F5).
- c. Inherited Basal Cubes. As an exception to D3d, a Parasite can never have any Basal Organs other than blue. Discard any red, yellow, or green Basal Organs as soon as they are acquired. Parasites are still allowed Derived Organs of any color.
- d. Parasite Trophic Shift. If its Host dies, see F5a.
- e. Effects On The Host. An Herbivore with a Parasite can be preyed upon by any Carnivore, even if it is a different shape (see Shape Requirement).
G3. Mutualism
(new for Butterfly)
Species with this Trait are allowed the ZOMBIE action (D6) and are also immune from Parasites. It is not Heritable to new Species during SPECIATE.
- a. Chit. Place a mutualism chit (B3c) under Creeples that have a Mutualism icon in their Portrait.
G4. Venom
Venom is conferred to a Species by PROMOTING a black widow icon into its Portrait. It is not Heritable to new Species, and is only beneficial to the Carnivores of the Species.
- a. Chit. During dispersals or Trophic Shifts, all Creeples of a Venomous Species which become Carnivores get a venom chit (B3c), placed under their Creeple.
- b. Effects. Venom allows a Carnivore to eat any shape of Herbivore, see Shape Requirements.
Example G4: An Archetype Herbivore and an armored Herbivore sit in a flowerbed. Since a Biome can only support one Herbivore, a contest determines which is Killed. The Archetype has more yellow Organs, and will win the contest as the best pollinator. But wait, there is an Archetype Carnivore in the Biome. Since it cannot eat the armored Herbivore, it eats the Archetype, and both Archetypes are Killed. But wait, the Carnivore is venomous, which allows it to eat armored. Now the armored Herbivore is Killed, leaving the venomous Carnivore preying upon the pollinator Archetype.
H. Events
(new for Butterfly)
After the refresh display phase (A3b), if a card(s) with an Event(s) has become visible on top of the draw deck column, perform the Event(s) starting with the leftmost icon on the card. If two events appear, or an event plus a deck exhaustion, see A3d.
- a. Dodged Bullet Rule. If multiple cards become visible after a refresh, perform only the one or two cards on top of a draw deck, starting with the upper (metabolic) one, and then the lower (darwinian) one. Furthermore, do not perform any events that appear during the initial setup (C3d). This means that Events that appear at the beginning of the game or immediately after a mutagen event will never be performed.
Example Ha: You have 4 Species and all of them purchase cards on your turn. During the refresh at the end of your turn, 4 new cards are revealed, and 2 of them have Event icons. However, only one ends up on top of the draw deck as shown, and only this one triggers.
- b. 4-Player Dodged Bullet. This icon means that the event is not performed if playing a 4-player game. It is skipped with no Fossils awarded.
H1. Fossil Awards
(Pheromone or Population)
Each event begins with a fossil award, in which the winning player takes a fossil chit (B3a) from the Fossil Formation. There are two types of fossil award events: pheromone award and population award:
- a. Pheromone Award. Each player counts their number of completed Pheromones in their Portraits. The player with the highest total takes a Fossil. If more than one player is tied for the most, each gets 1 Fossil. However, you must have at least one Pheromone to claim a Fossil.
Example H1a: During a pheromone fossil award, none of the players has any Pheromones. Therefore, no Fossils are awarded.
- b. Population Award. Each player counts their number of Living Creeples on the map. The player with the highest total takes a Fossil. If more than one player is tied for the most, each gets 1 Fossil.
Example H1b: During a population fossil award, you have 3 population counting both your Species. One of your opponents also has 3 population, and the other only has 2. Therefore both you and your opponent take 1 Fossil from the Fossil Formation, while your opponent in last place takes no Fossils.
- c. Event Counter Depletion. All Fossils are taken from the Fossil Formation (C3a), and so hasten the end of the game. If the stack is emptied, see endgame trigger (I2).
Tip: The events score 46% of the time with Pheromones, and 54% of the time with population, so it is best to specialize in one or the other rather than both.
H2. Continental Drift
Each drift event contains a craton number (see anatomy in Book I) indicating the target craton. This Craton either splits or collides depending on if its Fault is sutured to another Craton or not.
- a. Unsutured Fault Becomes Sutured. None of the 5 segments of the Fault is sutured to any other Craton. The target Craton and any Cratons directly connected to its Mountains split away and collide with another Craton(s) so that the 5 segments of the Fault are adjacent to as many mountain segments as possible. If there are multiple possible Cratons, favor suturing with the mountains of the Craton containing the lowest craton number.
Example H2a: The event activates Craton #3, which is Unsutured, located in the northeast as shown. Craton #3 and Craton #8 (connected to Craton #3's Mountains) splits off the east coast, and drifts to ram the west coast as shown, forming a mountain range of 3 segments i.e. becoming Sutured.
Remember: A Fault in a target Craton that starts totally free, not adjacent to anything, will crash into something, so that the Fault is adjacent to as many Mountains of the lowest craton number as possible.
- b. Sutured Fault Separates. The target Craton along with the up to 2 other Cratons adjoined to its Mountains break off and form an island continent of their own. This may result in more than one new continent being formed.
Example H2b: The event activates fault #2. Since it is Sutured, it breaks apart, dragging the Craton connected with its Mountains with it. Cratons 2 and 6 split off to form a new continent. This event shattered the single supercontinent into 3 continents.
H3. Metabolism/Darwinian Radiation
This Event simulates two types of ionizing radiation: metabolism radiation (red & yellow) or darwinian radiation (blue & green). This forces every Species to discard all of its unpromoted cards of the specified colors, along with the cubes on them.
- a. Radiation Shielding. A completed red or yellow Pheromone protects all unpromoted Mutations of that Species against metabolism radiation (red & yellow). A completed blue or green Pheromone similarly protects against darwinian radiation (blue & green).
Example H3a: The supernova event occurs, with a metabolism radiation event. Your Archetype has a yellow Basal Organ and a red Derived Organ in its Portrait, but cubes in Portraits are not affected by radiation. It also has three unpromoted cards: blue, yellow, and green. The yellow is discarded, along with its yellow cube. But if your Archetype includes both halves of a red Pheromone, it is completely shielded from metabolism radiation.
H4. Crowd Disease
The Species with the most Creeples on a single adjoined landmass loses half its Creeples on that landmass, rounding down (i.e., dropping fractions). The owner chooses which ones are Killed. If two (or more) Species are tied, all suffer the disease, choosing in player order (A). Only one landmass is affected.
- a. Carnivores & Parasites preying upon victims of crowd disease are Killed instantly.
Example H4: When a crowd disease strikes, your Archetype Creeples are tied for the most populous, with 5 Creeples on the map. You lose 2 of them, and you choose 2 that are being preyed upon by your opponent's Flyers, so that those 2 Carnivores perish. Player Purple has two Species with 5 Creeples: his Archetype and his predatory Flyers. Both Species lose 2 Creeples, and for the Flyer losses Player Purple chooses the 2 Creeples killed.
H5. Angiosperm Revolution
One Flower is placed in every swamp Biome that does not already contain a Flower.
Example H5: The angiosperm revolution occurs with the configuration shown. You place a Flower in every swamp Biome.
H6. Ice Age
Remove Flowers from every swamp Biome that contains a Flower.
H7. Mutagen
This catastrophic Event forces an overall Mutagen Roll which causes each Species with more cubes (counting both its Basal Organs and its Derived Organs) than the Organ Limit rolled, to discard cards with cubes on them from that Species until the limit is reached. Beware, if even one Basal Organ is lost from a Species, it goes extinct!
- a. Mutagen Roll. Roll two 8-sided dice, and use only the higher number to determine the Organ Limit. Apply this limit to each Species of each player. If playing with a different ticket setting (C1), roll the number of dice indicated but use only the highest result.
Example H7a: During a mutagen event, the Mutagen Roll is 1 and 2. Therefore, the Organ Limit is 2 for each Species.
- b. Mutation Cull. Each Species with a number of Organs (counting all cubes) over the maximum must discard its choice of Mutations with cubes on them to come down to at least the maximum. If a thorax Mutation in a Portrait is lost, move the other cards in the Portrait to fill the gap. If this causes a mismatch of colors in the pheromone icons, discard more Mutations until a legal Portrait is formed (which can be one card).
Tip: A population award is usually performed just before a mutagen event, giving you a chance to score before they are possibly decimated by this extinction event.
Example H7c: During the mutagen event of the previous example, Player Gray has two Species: his Archetype with 2 Basal Organs and 3 Derived Organs, plus a daughter species with 5 Basal Organs. The Archetype loses all its Mutations, and the daughter goes Extinct. If the Mutagen Roll had been snake eyes, Player Gray would have been eliminated.
- c. Extinction. If a Species has culled all its Mutations per the previous bullet, but still is over its Organ Limit due to Basal Organs, that Species goes Extinct (I1) with its Creeples Killed (i.e. moved to Unborn). See Lazarus (I1b).
- d. White Organ Shield. For every white Organ a Species has, its Organ Limit is increased by two. If a Species loses white Organs during an Event, this Organ Limit decreases after the event is performed.
Example H7d: During the mutagen event of the previous example, the Organ Limit is 2. However, if the 3 Derived Organs of the Archetype of Player Gray are instead the colors yellow, green, and white. This raises the Organ Limit to 4 for the Archetype. It chooses to discard only the Mutation with the white cube, so that it has 4 Organs left.
- e. Eusocial Shield. If a Species is Eusocial (G1e), its Organ Limit is increased by four.
Example H7e. The mutagen roll (H7a) reveals a Organ limit of 4. But for the two of your Species that are Eusocial, the Organ limit increases to 8. One of them has 4 Basal Organs and 4 Portrait Organs, and this Species is unfazed. But the other Species has the same number of Basal and Portrait Organs, plus an additional unpromoted Organ, and it chooses to discard the unpromoted card with its Organ.
- f. The Weta Rule. If a Species loses its armor, swimmer, burrower, or Parasite silhouette card, there is no effect. But if a Flyer Species loses all of its promoted cards with the Flyer silhouette, it can no longer fly. Indicate a Weta Species by placing its Creeples upside-down on the map. They must cross Mountains normally, do not add a dice during airborne dispersal, and (like Archetypes) can be preyed upon by any shape of Carnivore.
I. Endgame & Scoring
If an endgame trigger (I2) occurs, each player counts their score (I3) to determine the winner of the game.
I1. Extinctions
An Extinction occurs if all the Creeples of a Species become Unborn. This can be due to a Mutagen Roll, contest, or loss of prey. Discard the Mutations of an Extinct Species, and return its cubes and chits to the Pool. Place its Creeples and Species Card in your unused pile, except return Zombies to their owner(s).
- a. Fossil Record. Every time one of your Species goes Extinct, collect 1 Fossil from the opponent of your choice, which adds to your final score (I3). If by the end of the turn no other players have Fossils, then your Extinction does not gain a Fossil. If there are multiple extinctions from a single event, players claim fossils beginning with the highest Skeletal Number.
Example I1a. Your Parasite creates a Flyer Species. The mother parasite is replaced by a Flyer Creeple, which is immediately in contest with the former Host. The Flyer loses the contest and rolls 1D8 for airborne dispersal, but tragically dies at sea. It is extinct the same turn it was born, so you take a Fossil from the opponent of your choice. It seems appropriate to take it from the player who defeated you in the contest.
- b. Undead. If a Species goes Extinct, return any Zombie Creeples it has sequestered to the Unborn of its owner.
Easily Missed I1b: If your Archetype goes Extinct, you can recover it by resurrection (D3n) or Lazarus.
- c. Lazarus. If your last Species goes Extinct, instead of being eliminated from the game you preserve the Portrait and Species Card (including Organs) of your last Species, but discard all its unpromoted Mutations with their Organs, and Kill its Living and Zombie Creeples if any. If all your Species go Extinct during an event, you choose one to preserve. In any case, continue playing per the next bullet.
- d. Lazarus Game Turn. Until you resurrect, for your turn you may perform one MUTATE followed by an airborne dispersal (E2), rolling 4 dice in the dispersion roll (E2b). Once reestablished on the map, resume play normally.
I2. Endgame Triggers
If either the Fossil Formation (C3a) or one of the draw decks becomes empty, perform all the revealed Events and then determine the winner.
- a. Fossil Formation Exhausted. If the Fossil Formation runs out of Fossils, after all the revealed Events have been performed, end the game with endgame scoring (I3).
- b. Deck Exhausted. If a draw deck runs out, end the game immediately with endgame scoring (I3).
I3. Endgame Scoring
At the end of the game, your final score is the sum of your Fossils (from Extinctions I1a and from fossil awards events H1), Living Creeples, and Pheromones. Zombie and Unborn Creeples of your color do not score.
- a. Winner. The winner is the player with the highest count. Players share victory if tied.
Example I3a. At the end of the game, you have 4 Creeples for each of 3 Species, so 12 Creeples altogether on the map. Together the Species have 5 Pheromones. You also have 1 Fossil. Your total score: 12 + 5 + 1 = 20.
Parts J, K, & L. See Book I.
Book II Glossary
Defines the Capitalized game terms found in all Bios:Mesofauna variants:
- Archetype (C2b) is first of your Species, and the stem animal from which your other Species come from. It has a Creeple shaped like a silverfish.
- Arthropod. All animals in this game except for lobopods (Purple Player) are arthropods that belong to the phylum Euarthropoda. Arthropods, including insects, spiders, and crustaceans, have a global biomass over three times the biomass of vertebrates.
- Basal Organ (D2c) is a cube on a Species Card. Because it represents a defining phenotypic framework for that Species, a Species that loses any Basal Organs during a mutagen cull (H7b) goes Extinct. See Derived Organ.
- Biome is a hex on the map whose color represents a vegetation habitat: green = weeds, brown = swamp, blue = lake (see Craton anatomy in Book I). Each Biome can support one Herbivore plus one Carnivore Creeple, see Trophic Level. Biologically, biomes are structurally and functionally similar vegetation units, without reference to species composition.
- Butterfly Game is the final most comprehensive stage in the progression: Caterpillar, Cocoon, Butterfly. Its rules are contained in this book. The Butterfly Combined Game (Part J, Book I) includes components from Bios:Megafauna. Because real butterflies are holometabolous, there are 4 stages to its life: egg, caterpillar, cocoon, and adult butterfly.
- Carnivore (F4) is any Creeple in the upper half of a Biome (see Craton anatomy). Also called a predator. Species are not innately Carnivore or Herbivore, rather they enter a Biome as Herbivorous, and switch to Carnivory only if they lose the herbivore contest.
- Caterpillar/Cocoon Game are two stages of the introductory Mesofauna game defined in Book I.
- Color Requirement (G2a) A Parasite Species must never prey on Hosts of more than one player color, as set by its first choice of an opponent's Host upon speciation (D3g). This simulates that the Parasite has specialized upon an entire phylum of potential hosts.
- Combined Game (Part J, Book I) is a game of Bios:Mesofauna Butterfly that is played including one or more Megafauna (Creeples and rules imported from Bios:Megafauna).
- Component Limits. If you run out of cubes, Fossil chits, or venom/mutualism chits, use substitutes. All other tokens or chits are limited to what is supplied.
- Craton is a placard representing the core of a drifting block of continental crust. Each Craton is composed of 3 Biomes (see Craton anatomy). The Cratons start adjoined in a configuration collectively called Gondwana. The 8 Cratons are numbered from 1 to 8, and these numbers are used in Lazarus, airborne dispersal, and continental drift.
- Creeple (C2c) is a wooden figure that represents either a Parasite, Herbivore, or Carnivore depending on its position in the hex. It has a player color, and one of six shapes: Archetype (silverfish), armor (spiny), Flyer (butterfly), Swimmer (lobster), burrower (grub), and Parasite (saddle). Creeples on the map are called living creeples. The Creeples on your Species Card are called unborn creeples if they are your color, and zombie creeples if they are an opponent's color, and stolen using ZOMBIE (D6). Place them during setup (C4c) and SPECIATE (D3e). Unborn are converted to Larvae during POPULATE (D4), and dispersed on the map from a mother Creeple.
Book II Game Credits
Bios:Mesofauna Team
- Lead Game Design: Phil Eklund
- Rules Editors: Martina Wolff, Andy Mesa, Justin Grey, Robin Spathon Ek, Evert Coetzee
- Project Coordination: Jon Manker
- Production Lead, Fulfillment & Sales: Besime Uyanik
- Development, Manufacturing & Licensing/Legal: Pål Keller Carlquist
- Map Design: Phil Eklund
- Junior Game Design: Robin Spathon Ek
- Cover & Card Artist: Madeleine Fjäll
- Tabletop Simulator & Vassal: Samuel Williams, Stefano Tiné
- Playtesters: Daniel Maurin
- Entomology Peer Review: Dr. Brad Metz, Dr. Steven Buchmann
Copyright © 2021, Ion Game Design & Sierra Madre Games. Bios:Mesofauna: SMG40. EAN: 653341041067. Cover image: Madeleine Fjäll.