Charmed: The Book of Shadows Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
• Contents
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • Movement
  • Types of Spaces
  • The Book of Shadows
  • Confronting Demons
• Powers

Goal of the Game

"The Book of Shadows" is an adventure game based on the television series "Charmed".

You play the Halliwell sisters and Leo, their guardian angel, in their fight to protect the Book of Shadows from the Demons who want to seize it. You must therefore gain power and find the weak points of each Demon in order to fight and destroy them. The players play together against the Demons. They all win together if all the Demons are destroyed before they reach the Book of Shadows.

Contents

This game box must contain:

• 1 game board.
• 4 character figures (Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Leo) and their plastic bases.
• 1 rulebook.
• 2 six-sided dice.
• 1 sheet of tokens.
• 4 character cards.
• 1 table of the Demons and their weak points.

Setup

Each player chooses one of the available characters (Prue, Phoebe, Piper or Leo) and takes the corresponding character card, which they place in front of them, along with the round token representing that character.

Set up the board in the centre of the table and place the figures of your characters on the Start space of the outer track.

If you play with fewer than 4 players, some players must play several characters (all characters must be played).

Sort the other tokens into categories: "Spells and Objects", "Powers" and "Demons". The "Spells and Objects" tokens are placed face down on the Book of Shadows, in the centre of the game board. The "Powers" tokens are placed face down beside the game board. These two types of tokens may be drawn at random as the game progresses.

The "Demon" tokens are placed on the Start space, on the Demon side of the evolution scale towards the Book of Shadows. The "Character" tokens are placed on the Start space, on the Character side of the same scale.

Gameplay

The players' objective is to thwart the Demons by preventing them from reaching the Book of Shadows and taking control of it. To do so, the players must eliminate all the Demons seeking to reach the book.

The youngest player begins the game.

Movement

On their turn, each player rolls both dice and advances by the number of spaces indicated.

Players always move along the outer track of the game board. The centre of the board serves only to mark progress towards the Book of Shadows.

When moving, only the space where you stop has any influence on the game; spaces you pass through have no particular effect.

The effect of a space you land on applies immediately, unless stated otherwise.

Two characters on the same space may exchange an object or a spell (not a power).

Note: movement always goes clockwise.

Types of Spaces

There are four different types of spaces: Demon spaces, Ally spaces, Event spaces and Power of Three spaces.

a) Demon spaces

There are 14 Demon spaces. On each of these spaces appear the photo of a Demon and its name.

If you land on a Demon space, you activate the Demon in question, which moves it one notch towards the Book of Shadows. Take the token representing that Demon and move it one space along the track in the centre of the board (several Demons may be on the same space). One side of the board is used for the advance of the Demon tokens; the other is used for the advance of the Halliwell sisters and Leo (characters may also share a space).

Each time you land on a Demon space, the Demon in question advances one notch, unless you are able to confront and defeat it (see Confronting Demons).

If any Demon manages to reach the Book of Shadows, the game ends and the Demons win.

b) Ally spaces

Ally spaces represent friends or allies of the characters and allow them to advance towards the Book of Shadows. Each time you land on an Ally space, move your token one space towards the Book of Shadows.

c) Event spaces

Event spaces may reveal beneficial or harmful effects. Each of these spaces has a different effect, described on the space itself. If you land on one of these spaces, apply the effect immediately.

d) Power of Three spaces

Each time you land on a space bearing the Power of Three symbol, you have several options:

• a) Advance your character one space towards the Book of Shadows.
• b) Draw at random a token from the "spells and objects" tokens that are still available. These tokens will help you fight certain Demons.
• c) Draw a new Power if you have already reached the Book of Shadows.

The Book of Shadows

A character who reaches the Book of Shadows may draw at random a "Power" token the next time they land on a Power of Three space. The character's token must remain on the Book of Shadows until this new Power has been obtained. That Power then remains theirs until the end of the game.

Once the new Power has been obtained, return your token to the Start space and resume your progress towards the Book of Shadows.

Note: as long as you are stuck on the Book of Shadows, Ally spaces no longer have any effect on you.

If a Demon reaches the Book of Shadows, the game ends and the Demons win.

Confronting Demons

To confront a Demon, you must land on the space representing it. The only way to stop it from advancing one space towards the Book of Shadows is then to confront and defeat it.

To be able to confront a Demon, you must have all the means necessary to defeat it. Each Demon has a certain number of weak points that you must exploit. These weak points correspond to "Powers", "Objects" or "Spells".

To confront a Demon, all four of your characters must at that moment have all of these Powers, all of these objects and all of these spells.

In addition, the character who triggers the attack (the one who landed on the Demon's space) must possess at least one of the Demon's weak points. If this character has none of the Demon's weak points, they cannot trigger the attack against it and are therefore obliged to advance it towards the Book of Shadows.

The confrontation is very simple: if you have all of the Demon's weak points, you can defeat it by rolling a die and obtaining a result of 3 to 6. A result of 1 or 2 is a failure and causes the Demon to advance one space towards the Book of Shadows.

If, to confront the Demon, each Power, Object and Spell has been contributed by a different character, the characters receive an extra bonus of 1 point. The Demon is then defeated on a result of 2 to 6, but a result of 1 always fails.

Example: To defeat the Soul Devourer, you need the Powers of Premonition and Protection, as well as a Banishing Potion. In theory, you therefore need at least one character who holds both Powers and the Object to confront the Soul Devourer. If three different characters each bring one of these three Powers or Objects, the characters receive a bonus of 1 point.

The defeated Demon token is removed from the game.

If a character then lands on the space of an eliminated Demon, they advance the first Demon still alive that they next encounter along the board. The fewer Demons remain, the faster the others advance towards the Book of Shadows (for example, if the Wendigo is defeated, it is the Aquatic Demon that advances one space towards the Book).

Of course, a player may always choose to confront a Demon instead of letting it advance, provided they have the Powers, Objects and Spells needed to confront it.

Powers

There are eight different Powers.

Each character starts with one particular Power, shown on their character card. During the game, each character will have the opportunity to acquire other Powers.

Each Power may be used once per turn of the game board.

The list of all Powers and their explanations follows.

1) Telekinesis (Prue)

Allows you to re-roll one movement die. However, you are obliged to take the result obtained on the new die. This Power may also be used on another player.

2) Freeze Time (Piper)

Prevents a player from advancing. They therefore do not move their token. This Power may be used on all players, even after the dice have been rolled.

This Power essentially allows a player to avoid landing on a negative space or to avoid activating a Demon that is too close to the Book of Shadows.

3) Teleportation (Leo)

Allows you to move by one additional die. After the result of the two dice is known, you may decide to roll one additional die. You are then obliged to add all three dice together for your movement.

4) Premonition (Phoebe)

Roll the movement dice. Once you have the result, you may decide to re-roll the dice if you wish.

The four Powers above are the starting Powers of each character, and allow them to act on the game. The following Powers may be acquired during the game by any character, but have no special effect other than allowing them to confront Demons:

5) Astral Projection

6) Levitation

7) Protection

8) Reflection