BloodRunes Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setting Up the Game
• Object of the Game
• Caster Turn
  • Draw a Rune
  • Draw a Spell
  • Cast a Rune
  • Cast a Spell
  • Clear the Runes
  • Clear the Spells
• Rune Cards
• Spell Cards
  • Recruit Acolyte
  • Build Fortune
  • Steal Fortune
  • Steal Acolyte
  • Protection Ward
  • Hex: Discard Ward
  • Hex: Steal Ward
• Acolytes
• Game End
• Clan Attributes Variant
  • Blue Clan
  • Green Clan
  • Red Clan
  • Yellow Clan

Components

• 4 Caster Consoles
• 24 Blood Fortunes
• 25 Acolytes
• 106 Rune cards
• 64 Spell cards
• 1 Casting board
• 4 reference sheets

Setting Up the Game

4 players:

Shuffle all the Spell cards together into a deck.

Players sit in a square, each facing a different side of the board.

3 players:

Remove the Spell cards that do not show a "3" in the lower left corner.

Shuffle the remaining Spells together into a deck.

Players sit facing a different side of the board. One side will be empty.

2 players:

Remove the Spell cards that do not show a "2" in the lower left corner.

Shuffle the remaining Spells together into a deck.

Players sit across from one another, facing opposite sides of the board.

All player counts:

Spread the Rune cards face down in front of you, shuffle them around by sliding them around, over and under, one another. Once they're good and shuffled, gather them into a deck. Place the Casting board in the middle. Place the Rune deck to one side of the board. Place the Spell Deck on the other side of the board. Place the Caster consoles in front of each player. You may play as equals or flip the consoles to the "Clan Attributes" side to take on unique advantages in the game.

Deal out 5 Runes to each player face down; this is each Caster's hand.

Deal 3 Runes face up next to the Rune Deck; this is the Rune River. Place 1 Rune face up into the center square of the Casting board. If any face up Rune is a Loki, replace with a non-Loki and shuffle the Loki back into the Rune deck.

Deal out 1 Spell to each player face-up (or more if playing with Clan Attributes); this is each Caster's Spell Book. No Caster can have more than 6 Spells in their Spell Book (unless playing with the Yellow Clan Attribute). Each Caster's Spell Book remains face up so that all other Casters can see them.

Deal 3 Spells face up next to the Spell Deck; this is the Spell River.

Place 3 Acolytes of the appropriate clan on the 3 left-most spots on the Caster consoles.

Place the remaining Acolytes and all the Blood Fortunes in a pile to the side. This is called the Pool. If you are NOT playing with Clan Attributes, remove 1 red Acolyte from the game. There should be a total of 3 Acolytes of each color in the Pool.

The diagram in the rulebook shows a 4 player setup with these areas labelled: Spell Book, Pool, Active Ward Space, Spell River, Spell Deck, Spells Discard, Console, Casting Board, Rune River, Rune Deck, Runes Discard, and Starting Acolytes.

You are now ready to play!

The Caster who has most recently seen their own blood goes first. Play continues clockwise. To the bloodied go the spoils!

Pro Tip: You may discuss strategies and alliances at any time, you can even talk about what Runes you do or don't have in your hand, but you can never show your Runes to anyone.

Object of the Game

The goal of BloodRunes is to build your Clan's Fortunes by casting Spells to gain them or steal them from other Casters. The first Caster to 6 Fortunes wins!

Caster Turn

On your turn, you may take any of the 6 actions below, but you can only take as many actions as you have Acolytes. Take your action and then move an unused Acolyte forward to show one action has been used. You must use all Acolytes.

Draw a Rune

Draw one of the face-up Rune cards from the Rune River and place it into your hand. Immediately replace the space with another Rune card from the Rune deck. If there are no Rune cards left in the deck, leave the top Runes in place on the board, but reshuffle all covered Runes with the discard pile and that becomes the new Rune deck.

Draw a Spell

Draw one of the face-up Spell cards from the Spell River and place it into your Spell Book in front of you face up so that all Casters can see. If you have 6 Spells in your Spell Book, you may not draw another Spell until you cast one you have. Spells cannot be discarded from your Spell Book, they must be played. If there are no Spell cards left in the deck, shuffle the discard pile and that becomes the new Spell deck.

Cast a Rune

Place a Rune card from your hand onto the board in any space. If there is a Rune already on the space, cover it up with your Rune card.

Cast a Spell

If the Rune configuration on the board matches the Rune configuration on a Spell card in your Spell Book, you may cast that spell and do what the spell card effect says. Empty spaces on the Spell card may be anything.

If there are only 2 Rune spaces on the Rune configuration on the Spell card, the Runes can be anywhere on the board, so long as they are next to each other. The cast Spell then goes to the discard Spell pile face up. All discard piles are searchable at any time.

Important Note: the orientation of the Caster to the board is very important. A spell that works for one Caster may not work for another. The placement of the Runes on the board from the perspective of the Caster trying to cast a Spell is the one that matters. However, the rotation of the Rune card does not matter, only the space on the board it is on.

Clear the Runes

Clear all 3 Runes that are face-up next to the board, placing them into the discard pile face-up and replace them with 3 new Runes from the Rune deck. If there are not enough Rune cards in the Rune deck, shuffle the discard pile and that becomes the new Rune deck. All discard piles are searchable at any time.

Clear the Spells

Clear all 3 Spells that are face-up next to the board, placing them into the discard pile face-up and replace them with 3 new Spells from the Spell deck. If there are not enough Spell cards in the Spell deck, shuffle the discard pile and that becomes the new Spell deck.

Once you have taken the action, you may move your next unused Acolyte forward to take another action. If you have no more unused Acolytes then your turn is over. Reset your Acolytes by moving them back to their starting positions in preparation for your next turn.

Rune Cards

There are 11 unique Rune cards in the deck of 106 cards. To hold them upright in your hand, make sure the small rune symbol is in the upper left. Below the small rune symbol, you can see dots. The number of dots denotes how common a Rune card is. They go from 1 = Rare to 5 = Common.

There are 5 Loki cards in the Rune deck. These are wilds and can be used as any Rune at any time. For example, one Caster might play it as a Spear for one Spell, then use it as a Cattle for another spell; and then the next Caster can use it as a Serpent or whatever he or she desires.

Below are all of the Rune cards, their Names, and Card Counts:

• Wealth: 20 cards
• Serpent: 15 cards
• Spear: 15 cards
• Cattle: 10 cards
• Rider: 10 cards
• Hail: 8 cards
• Fire: 8 cards
• Chalice: 8 cards
• Estate: 5 cards
• Horse: 5 cards
• Loki: 5 cards

Note: the printed card counts above sum to 109, while the printed total is 106 cards. Transcribed as printed.

Spell Cards

There are 18 unique Spell cards in the deck of 64 cards. Each card names the effect it has on the top of the card.

The Rune configuration shows what the Casting board needs to look like from the Caster's point of view in order to cast the Spell. Orientation is very important in BloodRunes.

The Picture on the bottom is to graphically show the effect of the Spell and allow other Casters to more easily tell who the Spell will affect.

The numbers in the lower left of the Spell card (2, 3, and/or 4) show whether the card should be in the game or not; based on the number of players. If you're playing with 4 players, use all of the cards. If you're playing with fewer players, remove the cards that don't have that player number on it.

In the lower right, the little dots show how common the spell is. They go from 1 = Rare to 5 = Common.

Below are all the Spell cards and the effects they create:

Recruit Acolyte

Add 1 of your color's Acolytes from the pool to your console. If there are no more of your color left, you cannot use this spell. (10 cards)

Build Fortune

Add 1 Blood Fortune from the pool to your console. There are 3 different Rune configurations for building Blood Fortunes: Alliance, Harvest, Raid. (15 cards)

Steal Fortune

Steal 1 Fortune from an opponent's console as indicated on the spell: Left, Right, Across, Any. Place it on your console. If your opponent has no Fortunes, you cannot use this spell. (16 cards)

Steal Acolyte

Steal 1 acolyte from an opponent's console as indicated on the spell: Left, Right, Across, Any. Place it on your console. If your opponent only has 3 acolytes, take one of their color's acolytes from the pool instead. No caster can have less than 3 acolytes on their console. If you already have 6 acolytes (or 7 for the Red Clan Attribute), discard one of your opponent's acolytes back to the pool.

If no acolytes can be added or removed, you cannot cast this spell. (8 cards)

Protection Ward

Place the Ward spell onto the Active Ward marker on your console. You are now protected from your opponent as indicated on the spell: Left, Right, Across, Any. The indicated opponent may not steal your Fortunes or your Acolytes. You may only have 1 Active Ward at a time. If you cast another Ward, the old Ward is discarded and the new Ward replaces it. Wards may only be removed by other players by casting a Hex. (8 cards)

Hex: Discard Ward

Discard any Caster's Active Ward.

If no Caster has an Active Ward, this spell may not be cast. (5 cards)

Hex: Steal Ward

Remove any Caster's Active Ward and place it onto the Active Ward marker on your console.

If no Caster has an Active Ward, this spell may not be cast. (2 cards)

Pro tip: If Hexes seem difficult to cast, ally with other Casters to take down a stronger foe.

Acolytes

There are 4 unique colors of Acolytes: 6 Blue, 6 Green, 6 Yellow, and 7 Red. Each Caster starts out with 3 Acolytes on their Caster console. No Caster can have less than 3 Acolytes on their console. No Caster can have more than 6 Acolytes on their console (unless they're playing with the Red Clan Attribute, which raises the Red Acolyte limit to 7).

Game End

The first Caster to get to 6 Blood Fortunes wins and the game ends immediately. The dominant clan then does a victory lap, rubbing it in the faces of their enemies.

Clan Attributes Variant

You may play BloodRunes as equals or use the Clan Attributes on the opposite side of the Caster Consoles. In this variant, deal out the appropriate cards to each clan and then reshuffle the deck. There are 4 red acolytes in the pool since the Red clan can have a total of 7 possible acolytes.

Blue Clan

The Blue clan starts the game with 1 random spell and 1 random Blue spell; a Protection Ward.

Green Clan

The Green clan starts the game with 1 random spell and 1 random Green spell; either an Acolyte or Fortune Builder.

Red Clan

The Red clan starts the game with 1 random spell. They may have up to 7 acolytes on their Caster console. They may still not have less than 3 acolytes and the same spell rules apply when stealing acolytes, the only change is that the Red clan has a max of 7 acolytes.

Yellow Clan

The Yellow clan starts the game with 2 random spells. They can have up to 7 spells in their Spell Book instead of the normal 6.