Druids
Druids Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Challenge
In this game, players don the robes of initiates at Stonehenge Academy in the ancient magical world of the first druids, and try to collect cards from the different domains.
You put the cards you collect in stacks, separated by domain. The top card of each stack will give you experience points. But take care to only collect cards from four domains: as soon as you receive cards from the fifth one, you lose the round.
If you have the most experience points after a set number of rounds, you win the game and are given the title of "An dòigh"—Wise One.
The Druid Cards
- There are 60 domain cards, of five different domains (colors):
| Domain | Color |
|---|---|
| Healing | Green |
| Divination | Yellow |
| Shapeshifting | Red |
| Astrology | Blue |
| Fine Arts | Purple |
The highest card in each domain has the value "12", the lowest one has the value "1".
- There is one card representing "Gaia", the Earth Mother. She combines all five domains (colors) and has a value of "0". An initiate will rarely take a trick by playing Gaia, but if you do, set it aside (with the cards that weren't dealt this round) rather than putting it in front of you (see below).
- There are two "Golden Sickle" and two "Mistletoe" cards. These don't belong to any domain, and show an up or down arrow instead of a value.
Preparation
One player is appointed the "confidant". If that role falls to you, take the Scroll of Domains and enter all of the players' names. After each round, you will need to note down each player's experience points. The rows marked with the sigma sign = ∑ are for adding up interim scores and the final score.
Take the "Gaia" card out of the deck, shuffle the rest of the cards and divide them into two equal piles. Shuffle the Gaia card into one of the piles and put that pile on top of the other one.
Then, deal an equal number of cards to each initiate, depending on the number of initiates in the game:
- 3 initiates: 15 cards each
- 4 initiates: 14 cards each
- 5 initiates: 13 cards each
Put aside all the cards that weren't dealt—you won't need them this round. If there are five players, there will be no cards left. As soon as all initiates have their cards in hand, the round begins.
A Round Begins
The player who has the Gaia card in his or her hand begins. If you are that player, you must play Gaia as the lead card of the first trick and announce which domain it will take on for that trick. The other initiates will need to "follow suit" in that domain.
Taking Tricks
What is a trick?
Each initiate, in turn, plays one card from their hand. These cards make up the "trick". The player who begins, or "leads" a trick can play any card from their hand. The other players have to "follow suit".
Exception: If you lead a trick with a Golden Sickle or a Mistletoe, the first domain card played by another player determines which domain needs to be followed.
What does "follow suit" mean?
The other initiates must play a card that is from the same domain as the first card played in the trick. If an initiate can't follow suit (because he or she has no cards of that color), he or she can play a card from any domain.
Exception: The Golden Sickle and Mistletoe cards are not subject to the "follow suit" rule: You can play these cards even if you still have cards of the matching domain in your hand at the same time.
Who wins the trick?
The highest card of the same domain (color) as the first card played wins the trick. Cards from other domains cannot win the trick, even if they have a higher value. The player who wins the trick leads the next trick.
Important: As a rule, you cannot win a trick by playing a Golden Sickle or a Mistletoe. However, in the rare case that a trick is made up only of these two kinds of cards, the initiate who played the first card (who "led") wins the trick.
Sorting Cards by Domain
If you win a trick, place the cards in that trick in front of you as face-up piles, sorted by domain (color). If a trick contains more than one card of the same domain, you must put the card with the lowest value on top of the pile.
Note: If you get the Gaia card as part of a trick, set it aside with the cards not dealt for that round.
New cards from later tricks are placed in the same way, sorted by domain, either onto existing piles or creating a new pile (if you didn't have cards from that domain before). This way, cards with a higher or lower value will end up as the top cards of your existing piles.
The Golden Sickle as part of a trick
A Golden Sickle will cancel all experience points an initiate has earned in one domain.
If a Golden Sickle is one of the cards in a trick you have won, you must first place all the domain cards in front of you as described above. Then put the Golden Sickle on top of the pile with the highest value, and set that pile aside with the cards not dealt for that round.
If both Golden Sickles are part of the same trick, you must also set aside a second pile, with the highest value still remaining. If you have no piles in front of you, set the Golden Sickle aside without any effect.
The Mistletoe as part of a trick
The Mistletoe cards allow a player to avoid winning a trick or having to follow suit.
If one or both Mistletoe cards are part of a trick you have won, you must first place all the domain cards in front of you as described above. Then put the "Mistletoe" card—or cards, if both were in the trick—at the bottom of the pile of your choice.
Note: No initiate may look at the cards in any pile during a round.
A Round Ends
Normally, a round goes on until no player has any cards left in their hands. However, a round ends immediately if, after winning a trick, any initiate has five domain piles in front of him- or herself. That player loses the round, and the confidant will note down -3 experience points for him or her.
Note: If you have all five domains in front of you after winning a trick, you lose the round even if you could get rid of one pile by using a Golden Sickle card.
Scoring
All initiates who did not lose the round by collecting their fifth domain earn experience points: Each player adds together the values of the top cards on all of their domain piles, and the confidant records them on the Scroll of Domains.
Example: Red 12 + Blue 3 + Yellow 5 + Purple 6. This initiate earns 26 experience points.
A New Round
The initiate who earned the fewest experience points in this round takes all the cards, including those set aside before or during the round, shuffles them, and deals them out for the next round as described under "Preparation", above.
The End of the Game
The game ends after five rounds. The initiate with the most experience points wins. They may now call themselves "An dòigh", the Wise One. If there is a tie, there will be more than one Wise One, who all count as winners.
Sun & Moon Variant
When Stonehenge Academy was founded, the druids following the Moon Cult determined that whenever there was more than one card of the same domain in a trick, the one with the lowest value would go on top of the domain pile. Over the course of centuries, however, the druids from the Sun Cult gained increasing influence. They were of the opinion that, in such a case, the card with the highest value should be the one that goes on top of the pile.
If you decide to include this variant rule, the player who plays Gaia at the beginning of a round decides which rule counts for the current round. If they put Gaia down with the dark side up, players must put the card with the lowest value on top of the pile (as normal). If they play Gaia with the light side up, the Sun Cult rule applies and the card with the highest value goes on top of the pile during this round.