Fog of Love
Fog of Love Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Please Note: Play the Tutorial First
- Overview of the Game
- Components
- Setup
- The Right Mindset
- Different Types of Goals
- Your Character
- Creating Your Characters
- How to Play
- Anatomy of a Scene
- Playing a Scene
- How Scenes Work
- Scene Types
- Playing with Destinies
- The Finale
- Gender Complications
- Organizing the Game
- Designer's Thoughts
- Reestablishing the Tutorial
- Credits
- Tutorial Start — Welcome to Fog of Love
Please Note: Play the Tutorial First
It's easier and faster to learn the rules of Fog of Love by playing through the tutorial. Check the back of the rulebook to see how.
We recommend you avoid unpacking and mixing the cards before you've tried the tutorial.
Use the rulebook for reference or for learning the game only if you cannot play the tutorial.
Check the "Reestablishing the Tutorial" section to learn how to reestablish the tutorial if the cards have been unwrapped and mixed.
Overview of the Game
In Fog of Love, players take turns playing scenes with important choices to be made.
You'll have to decide between what is best for you and what is best for the relationship – and you'll need to consider what your partner decides, as both of your decisions will have an impact on the shared outcome.
You'll receive and lose satisfaction (heart), and you will receive personality tokens. You may change your character's traits, and ultimately you'll decide their final destiny.
In the end, the game is about fulfilling this destiny.
In Fog of Love, all can end well for both characters. However, it's equally likely that one or the other – or both – will end with unsatisfied destinies.
As a player, you decide what destiny you'll go for. Some destinies are tragic, some are romantic and some are… less charitable. Your destiny influences whether you play cooperatively or competitively.
Initially you have a handful of destiny cards, but as the game progresses you'll secretly discard most of these until you select a final destiny at the end of the game – in the finale.
Your character's final destiny determines whether your character stays in the relationship or breaks up. It also sets some conditions you need to achieve.
Fulfilling your destiny relies on your partner's actions as much as yours – it takes two to tango.
As you play, you're therefore continuously trying to learn about where your partner might be going in the relationship in order to decide how to act and what destiny you should pursue.
Just like in a real relationship, your success will depend on your ability to read each other well.
Components
| Qty | Component |
|---|---|
| 1 | Rulebook (this book) |
| 1 | Game board |
| 2 | Dual-sided character cards (man/woman) |
| 2 | Card holders (pink and blue) |
| 2 | Player aids |
| 2 | Token boxes |
| 1 | Custom insert to organize all content |
| 18 | Card dividers |
Cards
| Qty | Card type |
|---|---|
| 4 | Love Stories (17 chapter/finale cards and 4 synopsis cards) |
| 110 | scenes |
| 38 | traits |
| 60 | features |
| 36 | occupations |
| 14 | destinies (7 pink and 7 blue) |
| 30 | Tutorial cards |
Tokens
| Qty | Token |
|---|---|
| 8 | choice tokens (4 pink and 4 blue weighted chips labelled A, B, C and D) |
| 70 | personality tokens (35 pink and 35 blue wooden tokens) |
| 10 | personality tokens with a value of 5 (5 pink and 5 blue wooden tokens) |
Setup
- Put the game board on the table between the two players. Notice that each player side has a color: blue and pink.
- Take the card holder (g), the choice tokens (h) and the token boxes with tokens in your character's color (i). Place them in front of you.
- Decide which Love Story to play. Pick up the synopsis, chapters, the finale and scenes that come with the Love Story. For your first play, we recommend playing 'Sunday Morning Date' – preferably as part of the tutorial.
- Note any special rules in the synopsis. Then place it with the overview side up on the synopsis spot on the board.
- If you include any special events (from the Love Story you chose above and/or from other Love Stories), place them below the synopsis card. special events have this symbol in their lower right corner: a starburst on a card.
- Place the chapters and the finale face down in a pile on the chapters spot on the game board. chapter one should be on top, then chapter two, and so forth. the finale should be at the bottom.
- Sort any other scenes that come with the Love Story into the 3 main decks (sweet, serious and drama). Each scene has a symbol in the lower left corner indicating where it belongs: a circle is sweet, a square is serious and a starburst is drama.
- Sort any linked scenes that relate to the special events you included (in step 5) into the 3 main decks.
- Shuffle the decks and put them on the game board where indicated. The custom (a pentagon) space will be used in later expansions.
- Shuffle the trait, occupation and feature decks, and put each deck on its spot on the game board.
- The Love Story specifies which destinies to use. Each player receives a set in their color.
- The player who last blew a kiss is the first player.
After setup you should now create your characters (see "Creating Your Characters"). First, however, there are a few concepts that need explaining.
The Right Mindset
This is a game that tells a story. The more you infuse the game with your own imagination, the more rewarding it will be.
To help you with that, some cards will ask you to tell something. In those cases, be as creative as you feel like. If you feel that it is hard to come up with something, just skip it.
As long as you follow the rules for sharing information (see "Sharing Information"), the game is designed to support fun dialogue and immersion.
You are each playing an imaginary character involved in an unpredictable romance. It's a comedy, and it might also be a tragedy. As in all stories, your character can change. You can move the story in any direction you want it to go.
In the end, the game is all about creating a good story.
Even though you are representing your characters and acting on their behalf, you are also playing from a more 'godlike' position, exposing the characters to fun and crazy experiences.
You are playing the story as much as you are playing the characters. Whether you fulfill your characters' destinies or not at the end is therefore less important than the story you have created together.
Different Types of Goals
In Fog of Love, you keep track of two types of points: satisfaction (heart) and personality tokens. Fulfillment of your final destiny will depend on these points.
Satisfaction
Fog of Love is a game about a relationship and how satisfied your character is in the relationship. Most things you do in the game will influence this.
The number you have marked on your character card is your current satisfaction. Use one of the tokens in your color to track satisfaction on the character card. satisfaction is shown on cards like this: a heart.
The higher the number, the happier and more satisfied you are in the relationship.
Whenever you get an effect that says: +2 hearts or -2 hearts you move your token up or down the relevant number of spaces.
When you reach 10 satisfaction points, place a counter in the middle of the card for each 10 and continue around the track.
You cannot have negative hearts. You can only lose the positive hearts that you have accumulated. If you are asked to lose more, you'll stay at 0 hearts.
The Personality Dimensions
The central area of the board shows six personality dimensions, each with two aspects (an up aspect and a down aspect). There are 12 aspects in all.
| Personality dimension | Up aspect | Down aspect |
|---|---|---|
| Discipline | Organized, diligent, hard-working | Disorganized, reckless, lazy |
| Curiosity | Curious, creative, unconventional | Closed-minded, prosaic, conventional |
| Extroversion | Extroverted, sociable, assertive | Introverted, shy, reserved |
| Sensitivity | Sensitive, anxious, sentimental | Thick-skinned, calm, unsentimental |
| Gentleness | Gentle, cooperative, forgiving | Rough, antagonistic, stubborn |
| Sincerity | Honest, modest, fair | Deceitful, pretentious, self-centered |
Personality Tokens
Most choices you make in Fog of Love are aligned or misaligned with your character's personality.
You keep track of your choices by placing personality tokens on the central area of the board.
It contains six personality dimensions (Discipline, Curiosity, etc.), each with two aspects represented by an up and down arrow.
You track your choices using personality tokens (i) in your color.
The points you receive are signified by a symbol for a personality dimension inside an up or down arrow.
For this: a gentleness up arrow — you place your token on the arrow pointing up (the up aspect) next to gentleness.
It's possible (and likely) to have personality tokens on both the up and down aspects within a personality dimension at the same time.
You never remove personality tokens unless specifically asked to do so.
Trait Goals
Each character will have preferences for choices made in the game. These are represented by traits that have trait goals.
At the end of the game, personality tokens are the way you fulfill trait goals. Fulfilling trait goals gives hearts.
Fulfilling an individual trait goal depends on your balance. This is the difference between the number of tokens on a related up and down aspect.
So if you have this on your trait card:
Individual balance is 3 gentleness up or more
…you'll need at least three more personality tokens in your own color on the aspect pointing up (gentleness up) than you have on the opposite aspect (gentleness down).
Below is a fulfilled trait with the above trait goal.
Example: Your trait goal says that you need: 3 gentleness up.
This is pretty kind. You have, however, been a bit rough and have accumulated: 1 gentleness down.
To reach your trait goal you therefore need: 4 gentleness up — to balance this roughness out.
Shared Trait Goals
With a shared trait goal you should count the combined balance of both players' personality tokens.
So with this trait goal:
Shared balance is 5 gentleness up or more
…you'll barely succeed if your and your partner's personality tokens are distributed like this (illustrated on the board).
When you have a shared goal, you don't just care about your own behavior but about your partner's as well.
If you have 2 trait goals that share the same aspect, the balance requirements for the second trait goal are doubled.
At game end you decide which trait goal will be first and second.
Requirements are tripled for the third similar trait goal, if you (most unlikely) happen to have one.
Destinies
Most destinies – but not all – rely on your hearts.
You get hearts by making the right choices in the scenes you play throughout the game and by fulfilling your character's trait goals.
If neither of the characters end happy, it's very difficult to fulfill any destinies. Just one happy character is, however, enough to make some relationship constellations tick.
unconditional love can, for example, be fulfilled if just your partner is happy. You don't need to care about your own hearts.
Besides hearts, several destinies require a certain balance of personality tokens. In order to fulfill unconditional love, your character must make sincere choices.
With unconditional love, you'll stay in the relationship. You also need your partner to stay.
Some destinies do, however, result in a breakup. They will be introduced in one of the included Love Stories. Such destinies can have a large impact on your partner's ability to fulfill their chosen destiny.
Use them with care. For detailed rules on destinies, see "Playing with Destinies".
Example destiny card — UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
You will stay in the relationship — but you will only be happy if your partner is happy.
You will fulfill your destiny if…
- You have an individual balance of 4 sincerity up or more,
- & Your partner's hearts is 40 or more,
- & Your partner does not break up.
Your Character
Gender
Select your gender by flipping the appropriate side of your character card up. Gender has virtually no influence in this game, but it is important for the purpose of role playing. The few exceptions will be explained later (see "Gender Complications").
Traits
Your traits represent your character's inherent personality traits. As explained earlier, your character becomes happier in the relationship if these are ultimately fulfilled.
traits have trait goals, which give you incentives to make certain types of choices in the game.
For example, As a Worrywart, you must seek a shared balance of 5 sensitivity up or more.
(Trait card example — WORRYWART: "Inclined to excessive worrying, especially about unimportant matters." TRAIT GOAL: Shared balance is 5 sensitivity up or more.)
traits do not bind you. Like in any romantic comedy, your character might change their personality later in the game. You can play against one of your traits because you hope a scene later in the game will allow you to change it (see "Card Effects" to read more about change). This, of course, involves some risk but also a great reward in terms of storytelling.
Occupation
This is what your character does for a living. Your occupation gives you 1 personality token. A few scenes allow you to change your character's occupation later in the game (see "How Scenes Work").
For example, Politician gives you 1 extroversion up.
Features
features represent what others notice about your character. They are defined by the other player. A few scenes allow you to change your character's features later in the game (see "How Scenes Work"). Each feature gives you 1 personality token.
For example, Body Odor gives you 1 discipline down.
Creating Your Characters
After you've setup the game (see "Setup"), you are ready to create your characters.
-
Each player selects the gender of their character by flipping the appropriate side of their character card up. Put the character cards on the game board where they belong.
-
Deal 5 traits to each player. These may only be seen by the player who received them.
Select 3 out of the 5 traits you received, and place them in your card holder, hidden from your co-player. When selecting traits, it's a good idea to avoid choosing cards with opposite trait goals (having aspects that point in opposite directions), as these can't all be fulfilled. You should also avoid cards with the same symbol in the same direction. They are harder to fulfill as explained earlier (see "Shared Trait Goals"). Place the leftover cards beneath the traits deck.
-
Deal 3 occupations to each player. Each player selects 1 occupation, which are revealed simultaneously. Place them face up on the occupation spot near each player on the game board. Place the leftover cards beneath the occupations deck (e).
-
Deal 5 features to each player. Think of features as the things you first noticed or fell for in your co-player's character. In turn, select a feature for your co-player's character. First player starts. Place the feature on your co-player's side of the board.
When placing the card, try to tell what it was about this feature that your character fell for (e.g., "When we first met, I immediately noticed your 'broad shoulders' and knew you would be the kind of person I'm looking for").
Don't make up how you met. This will be done later. Just tell what you noticed about the other.
Continue this back and forth until you each have selected and placed 3 features for the other player's character. Then place the leftover cards beneath the feature deck.
-
Each feature and occupation gives you a personality token, as indicated by the symbol in the lower right corner of the card. Place the 4 tokens on the relevant aspects on the board.
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Choose a name that is not your own name. Remember, you are playing fictional characters.
-
Now take a moment to introduce the characters you have created. Tell each other who your characters are in a few sentences. You should still not tell about how you met.
-
Each player draws 5 scenes for their starting hand. The synopsis defines how many cards to draw from each deck.
Now you are ready to play.
How to Play
Sequence of Play
During your turn, you do the following:
- You may discard a minor scene to draw a new scene. Repeat as many times as you want.
- Play a scene from your hand and resolve it (secrets are not resolved, but will stay hidden).
- Draw scenes into your hand so you end up with 5 scenes. If you somehow already have 5 or more scenes in hand, you won't draw any additional scenes.
- Check for chapter end.
Players alternate taking turns until the number of scenes played is equal to chapter length (which is indicated on the current chapter card).
After the current player has finished their turn, you'll reveal the next chapter card. This does not count as a player action.
Sharing Information
What may you NOT do? (unless allowed by a scene)
- Reveal your scenes in hand.
- Reveal your destinies.
- Reveal your traits and your trait goals.
- Reveal your secrets in play.
- Openly discuss what would be the best thing to choose in a scene.
What CAN you do?
- Talk about the characters' relationship in overall terms and where you want it to go (not necessarily honestly).
- Indicate that you are happy or unhappy with choices already made.
- Role play the characters and establish the situations that give flavor and life to the game.
Chapters
The game is structured into multiple chapters, usually 3 or 4. The first chapter is usually the sweet one. More serious and dramatic events come into the characters' lives in the middle chapter(s). The tension increases in the last chapter up to the finale.
The first card played in the game is chapter one. It tells you how the story begins. Place the chapter one card in the play area, right next to the personality dimensions.
Read the card out loud. Then make your choices and resolve any additional effects. How to resolve these will be explained below.
After resolving chapter one, the first player takes their first turn.
The main function of chapters (beside driving the overall story) is to define what deck you may draw scenes from during the game. This influences the dramatic curve of the story.
In the lower right corner are the icons representing the different scene decks. You may only draw from the deck that is indicated on the current chapter card (unless told otherwise by a scene). The icon has no impact on what scenes you may play.
Draw cards from: (deck icons)
At the bottom of all chapters, you'll also find the length of the chapter illustrated like this:
Length: XX cards
Once the number of scenes played reaches this number and the player has drawn new scenes, the chapter ends (as explained later, don't count unrevealed secrets or minor scenes in the number of scenes played).
Remove all cards from the play area, and place them in the discard pile next to the sweet deck. Place them face up. This will help you remember who played the last scene when you begin playing scenes again in the new chapter.
Deck Types
The deck types are:
- The sweet deck is about romantic and sweet experiences.
- The serious deck is about the important events that happen in life.
- The drama deck is about dramatic situations, secrets and scenes of personal change.
- The custom deck will only be used in later expansions for special Love Stories.
Anatomy of a Scene
The example scene card used below is "Argument at the restaurant" (a drama scene, card ID 63 with an asterisk).
ARGUMENT AT THE RESTAURANT
I can't believe you did that! This kind of thing makes me so mad!
BOTH CHOOSE
How do you both continue the discussion?
A. Sorry, honey. You're right. I'm wrong. chooser -2 hearts / other +2 hearts — 2 gentleness up
B. You know I'm right! chooser +1 heart / other -1 heart — 1 sincerity down, 1 gentleness down
C. Let's stop this stupid fight. I love you and just want to have a good time with you. chooser -1 heart — 1 sensitivity down, 1 gentleness up
ADDITIONAL EFFECTS
Match B: The fight escalates dramatically. both -2 hearts
Match C: both secretly select a scene from their hand to give to the other. You then trade scenes simultaneously.
The parts of the card:
- Title (top). This is the title of the scene. The title at the bottom of the card is similar to the one at the top. Sometimes it's abbreviated slightly.
- Card type. The overall type of card. It defines who chooses and might also specify other types of cards.
- Explanation line. Explains a bit more about the choice you are going to make.
- Choices. The available choices in this scene. Text in bold is what chooser says. A parenthesis is used when there is an exception to this rule. This works slightly differently for chapters.
- Choice effects. Choice effects on chooser and other. If both select the same, each will be chooser and other. E.g., if both choose option A, nobody will gain or lose hearts.
- Deck symbol (lower left). This tells you that the scene belongs to the drama deck. The symbol is placed in the corner to make it easy to sort the cards when you're done playing.
- Opening line. This is what the player of the card says. Explanatory text in parenthesis is used when there is an exception to this rule. This area works slightly differently for chapters, which aren't played by a specific player.
- Personality token icons. The personality tokens gained by the chooser of an option.
- Additional effects. These additional effects depend on how both players chose. A match in this scene can end very negatively (Match B) or with an okay outcome (Match C).
- Highlighted effects. Some cards have effects that aren't explained in the rules. They are always explained on the card, like trade in this example. All the effects are highlighted using a red color for easier recognition.
- Card ID. You won't use the card ID for now. The * tells you that the card belongs to the tutorial.
- Scene-type icon (lower right). Some types of scenes have an icon in the lower right corner (not this card though). This icon makes it easier to distinguish the scene, when it's put in the play area. It can also help you find the scene, when a card asks you to scan the deck for it. Then you just need to skim through cards in the deck looking at the lower right corner.
Playing a Scene
When a player plays a scene, they place it on top of the last played scene (or chapter) in the play area. Place it so that the lower part of the last scene or chapter card remains visible.
You can read it aloud if you choose. All information on the scene is available to both players (unless it's a secret, but then you don't play it in the play area).
Player Signifiers
On the cards, the players can be referred to in various ways:
player & partner:
- player is always the player who played the card.
- partner is always the player who did not play the current card.
chooser & other:
- chooser always refers to the player who made a particular choice.
- other always refers to the player who is not making the current choice.
- This means that on a both choose card, both players will be chooser for their respective choices and other for the other player's choices.
How Scenes Work
Making Choices
Most scenes and all chapters ask you to make a choice. When making choices, you aren't allowed to discuss what to choose. The choice is based on what you already know – and on your intuition, of course.
There are two types of choices in the game: partner chooses and both choose.
Partner Chooses
The player who didn't play the scene – which in our terminology is the partner – gets to choose. personality tokens awarded by the choice are also given to the partner (which is the one who made the choice).
Both Choose
Both players simultaneously and in secret select one of the options (A, B, C, D). Use a choice token to represent your choice. Place the selected choice token face down on the board on the choice circle and both reveal it simultaneously.
Resolving a Scene
When resolving a scene, go through these steps:
Personality tokens: Most choices will award the chooser one or more personality tokens. This is indicated by aspect icons to the right of them (e.g., a sincerity down arrow). Place your personality tokens on the corresponding places on the board.
In a partner chooses scene, only the choosing player gets personality tokens.
Choice effects: A choice will often impact the chooser or the other in some way, for example by influencing hearts. Resolve all effects before continuing.
Additional effects: Most cards with both choose will have some additional effects. If there are any, it's time to resolve them. These effects depend on what both players chose. Notice that you'll often get more hearts if your choices match (but not always).
Card Effects
Change: Some scenes ask you to change something – usually a trait. When you are changing, you will either randomly or by choice (depending on the scene) discard one of your traits, features or occupations (depending on what you are asked to change).
First, put the discarded card face down under the relevant deck. Then, draw 3 new cards of the relevant type and select one of them. The leftover cards are placed under the deck.
Changing a feature or an occupation will impact your personality tokens. Remove the token provided by the discarded card, and add a new one for the new card.
Tell: When a card asks you to tell something, you must come up with a bit of storytelling to fill in the rest. Be creative!
Reveal: When asked to reveal a card, show it to your co-player and then hide it again. If a card asks you to reveal a secret, this will trigger the reveal effect of the secret. Place the secret in the play area.
Discard: Discard the card face down (unless specifically instructed otherwise) in the discard pile next to the sweet deck.
Other effects: There will be other effects. They are always explained on the cards.
Scene Types
Besides the both choose and partner chooses, there are a couple of other types of scenes in Fog of Love.
Situation
You play a situation on your turn. situations are played in the play area, like most other scenes. Unlike most other scenes, however, they usually don't have any choices on them. Instead they have an impact on the next scene played, often influencing the effects of that card. Two (or more) situations can be played right after each other, but only the most recent one will have an effect.
This carry-over effect is marked by the following icon in the lower right corner of the card: a curved arrow pointing up.
This icon is used whenever there is a carry-over effect and not just for situations. It serves as a reminder when playing the next scene in the play area.
A situation will never impact a chapter or the finale. If it is played right before a chapter ends (and thus before the next chapter card is revealed), it will impact the next regular scene played in the new chapter.
Secret
When you play a secret, it is placed face down in front of you beneath the edge of the game board. It is kept secret until another scene reveals it or until the game ends.
If it is revealed, you read out the card and resolve the 'reveal' effects. You also give the player the personality tokens indicated on the top of the card (if any).
If the secret isn't revealed during the game, you will reveal it at the finale and will then resolve the 'if not revealed' effects. The player now gets the personality tokens indicated on the top of the card (if any).
A secret doesn't count towards the chapter length while it remains unrevealed. Playing a secret, however, still ends a player's turn. If a secret is revealed, place it in the play area as you would with any other scene. It now counts towards the chapter length.
Minor Scene
minor scenes don't count towards chapter length. minor scenes have this symbol in the lower right corner: a dot inside a circle on a card.
Rather than placing them in the play area, minor scenes are placed in the discard pile next to the sweet deck after they have been played. They still end a player's turn.
At the beginning of your turn, you may discard any number of minor scenes face up and immediately draw new scenes to replace them. You may only draw from the deck(s) specified by the current chapter. If you draw new minor scenes, you may continue discarding and drawing new cards.
Reveal Secret
Reveal and resolve a secret played by the other player. reveal secret is a minor scene.
Reaction
reactions can only be played as a response to other scenes just played. The reaction always specifies when you can play it. reactions can't be played in response to a chapter or a finale card.
Each reaction is different. Some might allow you to skip the scene just played, others might allow you to change the choice your partner just made.
Because they are played out of turn order, they never count as a player turn. You immediately draw a new scene after playing a reaction. reactions are minor scenes.
Special Effect
Some scenes have unique effects. Together they are called special effects scenes. The special effect is specified on the scene.
Special Events and Linked Scenes
special events aren't included in the decks but are put aside under the synopsis card at the beginning of a game.
Special events have this symbol: a star, or a star on a stack of cards.
It's easy to miss that these two symbols are the same, since one of them is placed in a box that looks like multiple cards.
Some scenes allow you to shuffle a special event into a deck. These linked scenes are marked with one of these symbols: an asterisk, a fetus, or two interlocking rings.
special events will be introduced in some of the Love Stories included in the box.
You can include the special events in any Love Stories you play. You don't need to play the specific Love Story in which they were included.
When you include a special event, you should also include the linked scenes that relate to it. Sort the linked scenes into the main decks (sweet, serious and drama) and place the special event under the synopsis.
Playing with Destinies
These cards must always be kept secret.
Throughout the game, some cards will make you discard your destinies. You always discard destinies face down in your personal discard pile.
A player can never have fewer than two destinies in hand after a discard. Ignore any excess discards.
Both players start with the same destinies in hand. An important part of the game is deducing which destinies your co-player has kept or discarded. This helps you understand where your partner might be heading in the relationship.
At the end of the game, at the finale, you will have to choose a single final destiny; this is the destiny you will try to fulfill in this story.
Your final destiny also tells you whether you stay in the relationship or break up. In some Love Stories, there won't be destinies that allow you to break up.
Initially, all destinies you have are considered 'in hand' (unless told differently in the synopsis). Throughout the game, some effects will make you move destinies from your hand to your personal discard pile, and from the personal discard pile to your hand.
Effects on Destinies
Swap In: If the mentioned destiny is in your personal discard pile, you add it to your hand from your personal discard pile, and discard another destiny from your hand.
Swap Out: If the mentioned destiny is in your hand, you must discard it and choose another destiny from your personal discard pile to add to your hand.
Discard: Place the destiny in your personal discard pile. This will only take effect if the destiny is in your hand. Remember that you can only discard a destiny if you are left with at least two in hand after you discard.
Retrieve: Pick up a destiny from your personal discard pile. Ignore if you have that particular destiny in hand already.
If there are no destinies in your personal discard pile, you cannot swap in or swap out.
Ignore effects that refer to destinies that aren't included in the Love Story you play.
The Finale
At the end of the game, when you've come to the finale, you select your final destiny, and score additional hearts based on your secrets and your trait goals.
Follow the instructions on the finale card. There will be slight variations from Love Story to Love Story.
The key pieces of information that might affect game play are also available in the synopsis. In this way you don't need to spoil the finale before your first play-through.
You'll now see if you have fulfilled your characters' destinies and learn whether the relationship between the characters ends with a happily ever after.
However the story ended, we hope you had a good time and had some memorable tales to tell.
A good way to round off a play session is to retell the story you participated in and discuss what happened. This will make the memories of your shared experience even more vivid and meaningful.
Gender Complications
Scenes with Special Requirements
A few scenes depend on specific gender constellations (e.g., man and woman) or refer to choices specifically for him or her. If you aren't allowed to play a card because the gender does not correspond, you can discard it at any time and draw a new scene instead.
[Spoiler alert] Customizing "I Know What I Want"
Don't read ahead if you don't yet want to know about the story in "I Know What I Want."
There are a few scenes in the Love Story "I Know What I Want" that depend on specific genders.
That's because the story is – among other things – about having children. If you want to, you can of course ignore these dependencies.
You can shuffle the special scene into the serious deck right from the beginning (rather than place it under the synopsis) to make it possible to have a child even if you are playing a couple of two men (two women can have a child, since one of them can become pregnant. As in real life, this can happen without having sex in Fog of Love).
Remove any linked scenes that don't fit your story, before sorting the rest in. The storyline will then be about adoption rather than somehow becoming pregnant (which all the linked scenes are about) in order to have a child. What you do is up to your imagination.
This of course also applies if you want to use the special event and the linked scenes in other Love Stories. You can customize as you want.
Organizing the Game
The game comes with 18 dividers to help you organize the game.
Scene Decks – 3 dividers
There is a divider for each of the main decks: sweet, serious, drama. Use these to make it easy to setup the game.
Love Stories – 7 dividers
The game includes 4 Love Stories. Each Love Story comes with unique synopsis, chapter and finale cards plus additional scenes. There is a divider per story.
The regular scenes that come with a Love Story (i.e., not special events and linked scenes) can be used freely in other Love Stories. You can therefore just add them to the three main decks, rather than keep them with the Love Story they came with.
The game comes with 3 extra dividers for Love Stories that will be released later. These dividers will make it easy to include the expansions in the main box when the time is right.
Character and Destinies – 2 dividers
There is a divider for the pink cards and one for the blue cards.
Special Events – 1 divider
The special events and their linked scenes should be kept together, as they belong together. You can organize them using the special events divider.
Tutorial – 1 divider
Keep the 30 Tutorial cards here. You might use them later, if you want to introduce others to the game.
Miscellaneous – 4 dividers
These extra dividers can be used for anything. Perhaps you got some special promo cards for Fog of Love that you want to keep, or there are a few cards you don't like to use – or you have made your own fan expansion. Feel free to use these dividers for whatever need you might have to organize further. If you happen to have disorganized as one of your traits in real life, you can also just forget about them.
Designer's Thoughts
My aim with the game was to create something that breaks away from how games are designed today.
Almost all games are about conflict, competition or optimization (either between the players or between the players and the system).
My vision was to create mechanics that somehow simulate a completely different sphere of human experience, namely interpersonal relationships and the building of trust.
This is, of course, part of other games as well but always as a means towards winning a conflict or optimizing something, not as a goal in itself.
The project started more than three years ago when I got frustrated about how difficult it was to find a game my wife could enjoy playing with me. I'm a geek, and she is the very incarnation of a romantic.
When we watch movies together, we can often find something that thematically suits us both. But this was almost impossible in board games. There was (and still is) no section for 'Romance' (or just 'Drama') in any board game shop or board game database.
This got me thinking, and I decided to create a game we could play (and perhaps others might enjoy). I'm an experienced innovator (this is my day job), so I used all the methods I know of (user research, translation of scientific/academic insights into concrete mechanisms, prototyping, testing, lots of feedback and iterations, etc.) to create this game.
I read more than 2000 pages about love and romantic comedies to find ways to gamify romance. I've directly observed more than 300 hours of playtesting to learn how I could fine-tune the experience of trust, understanding and misunderstanding provided by the game. Finally I've, of course, played the game countless times myself. I'm relieved that I still find the game fun and surprising.
All this effort was in order to achieve the delicate balance between mechanics and theme that is essential for this game.
I haven't done this alone, since my wife played a big role in this as well. She has been involved right from the beginning and has been an amazing resource to learn from for a geek like me. On a side note, we also work together in our shared innovation and design company – so we are used to doing projects together.
She has helped envision the beautiful visual style of the game and has helped me fine-tune almost all content.
As the game slowly materialized, my ambitions evolved. Initially it was a game for my wife and me. Then Fastaval, a large Danish gaming convention, was added to the purported audience. People at the con liked the game very much, even though it was still an unpolished prototype.
Later, after even more months of work and rework, the game was presented at Spiel 2015 in Essen. The reception at the world's largest board gaming fair was amazing. Several influential game designers said that this should be obligatory material for anyone who wants to learn about new ways of designing. Wow! This fueled my ambitions to a completely new level.
Since then the game was successfully launched on Kickstarter. The campaign was a great and also somewhat terrifying experience for a textual introvert like me (I love to speak with people but have difficulty writing anything for a public audience… and Kickstarter is all about writing for a public audience).
We added a lot of material to the game as a result of Kickstarter stretch goals, and we added much more time for development as a result of the added material. We also got a lot of amazing support from the community of backers, support that I had never dared even dream of.
I'm thankful to all who have made this game possible. Thankful to my muse, my love, my friend, my expander-of-my-universe, my wife, Lotte. I'm thankful to all backers who financed a large part of the initial print run, to Jacob E. who came and helped me when I was most in need, to Mike, who took the visual universe to a new level, to the wonderful and diverse playtesters, who helped refine the game, to the proofers and writers who helped polish the language, and of course to you, for wanting to try it out.
Now it's time to set my little 'baby' free.
Luckily for the little 'baby' it has been discovered by a huge mass market retailer, that wants to do more with board games. They sensed the same gap in the market as we did and found Fog of Love a perfect match. They'll do an exclusive launch of our game in their stores. If all goes well, it might be the beginning of a new amazing adventure.
Whatever happens from now on, I still strongly believe that the world needs more games that cater to our inner romantic to give us some more power to balance out our inner warlords and inner bureaucrats. I hope this game can contribute to such a change.
Love,
Jacob Jaskov
17 July 2017
Reestablishing the Tutorial
If the cards have been unwrapped and mixed, but you want to learn the game, you need to reestablish the tutorial. It's easy, but takes a few minutes.
You need to find all the cards in the game with an asterisk (*) after their ID number. These 119 cards are included in the tutorial:
- 30 Tutorial cards (27 large and 3 small cards)
- 2 Character cards
- 5 Cards from Sunday Morning Date (1 synopsis, 3 chapters, 1 the finale)
- 2 Player aids
- 37 scenes (12 sweet, 10 serious, 15 drama)
- 8 destinies
- 16 traits
- 9 occupations
- 10 features
Sort the large and small cards from lowest to highest number. The cards with the lowest number should be on top. All cards should be face down (ignore this for cards with text on both sides).
Then divide the pile of large cards into 3 decks. The back of the Tutorial cards will tell you where they split. #1 is on top of sweet, #35 is on top of serious and #61 is on top of drama.
Similarly divide the small cards into 3 decks. #82 is on top of traits, #99 is on top of occupations and #109 is on top of features.
Now you're done. Remember that the tutorial begins on the back of this rulebook.
Credits
Game design: Jacob Jaskov.
Game development: Jacob Jaskov, Jacob Engelbrecht.
Visual concept: Mike Højgaard/neue.pink (art direction, graphic design & guidance), Jeppe Norsker (technical infrastructure), Lotte M. Klixbüll Jaskov (initial vision).
Photography: Anders Bøggild.
Models: Sarah Cederstrand, Jacob Engelbrecht, Alvilde Holm, Morten Grøftehauge, Filip Jakobsen, Jacob Jaskov, Lotte Margrethe Klixbüll Jaskov, Morten Jæger, Dajo Vande Putte, Gertrud Høgh Rasmussen, Lars Vilhelmsen, Michaela Wallachova, Lucia Žitňanská, Marek Zitnansky.
Kickstarter support: Jacob Engelbrecht, Emil Larsen.
Playtesters and givers of feedback: Morten Andersen, Jette Wiborg-Andersen, Scott Arnone, Richard Austen, Morten Barklund, Christian Ertmann-Christiansen, Nilas Bay-Foged, Signe Waldorff Bonde, Peter Brodersen, Joachim Anastatios Christiansen, Jeppe Christoffersen, Christie Irene Madvig Czarny, Pawel Czarny, Jacob Engelbrecht, María Ge Erre, Raluca Alexandra Fetic, Martin Hedlund Fink, James Finkel, Troels Rohde Flanagan, Jakob Gadmar, Edgar Gallego, Jon Gilmour, Jakob Givskud, Jacob Gunness, Lovis Hakala, Richard Ham, Britt Rosendahl Hansen, Jasmin Hardt, Benny Heidelbach, Elias Helfer, Lotte Margrethe Klixbüll Jaskov, June Thea Bronnée Jensen, Otto Plantener Jensen, Andreas Josefsson, Bendegúz Juhúsz, Mikkel Jurs, Morten Jæger, Filip Kevély, Viktor Konakovsky, Keghani Kouzoujian, Sylvester Langvad, Kasper Lapp, Kailie Leggett, Signe Liliendahl, Sidsel Lundahl, Peter K. Lunn, Maja Løvbakke, Kyle Maddex, Aron Marossy, Craig Martin, Tony Mastrangeli, Jacob Merrild, Brett Alan Miller, Max Møller, Pia Møller, Joachim Rishworth-Norgaard, Jeppe Norsker, Ádám Novák, Oliver Nøglebæk, Asbjørn Olsen, Olivér Ősz, Cecile Othon, Ole Palnatoke, Erik Rodrigues Pedersen, Alex Pescott, Jimmy Petersen, Teresa Pons, Dajo Vande Putte, Ida Rask, Josephine Robert, Linnea Sahlgaard, Sia Sophia Schjerning, Marie Louise Broegaard Schlanbusch, Johannes Sjolte, Kasper Svendsen, Morten Snak, Ole Steiness, Bo Thomasen, Uffe Thorsen, Jimmi Thygesen, Anja Thye, Connie Traxl, Monica Hjort Traxl, Siriluck Vanichkitrungruang, Nis Videbæk, David Vindtorp, Vivien, Ryan Vogel, Morten Weilbach, Daniel Windfeld, Kirsten Østerskov, plus hundreds of players at Fastaval 2015, Fastaval 2016, Spiel 2015 and Spiel 2016.
Proofing and language support: Scott Arnone, Tobias Demediuk Bindslet, Bastian Borup, Brad Choate, Theo Clarke, Kenneth Ferguson, Edgar Gallego, Joshua Gaylord, Jon Gilmour, Benny Heidelbach, Jonas Bruun Jacobsen, Otto Plantener Jensen, Kevin John, Tonya John, Craig Johnson, Allan Kirkeby, Christian Kudahl, Hans Lauring, Greg Loring-Albright, Rachael Mortimer Proofreading Services, Max Møller, Asbjørn Olsen, Andrew Owen, Vilhelmine Ozolina, Brett Patching, Ole Palnatoke, Morten Schnack, James Sendy, Monica Hjort Traxl, Steven Willmott.
Manufactured by: Shanghai Whatz Games Co., Ltd.
Special thanks: Lynn Bailey, Sebastian Hammer, Johnson Thurston.
Eternal gratitude and love: Lotte Margrethe Klixbüll Jaskov.
Copyright © 2017 Hush Hush Projects ApS. All rights reserved.
Version 1.00 – 17 July 2017. Designed with love and perseverance. Made in China.
Contact info: Hush Hush Projects ApS, Ørestads Boulevard 61F, 7.th, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark — www.hushhushprojects.com — email: [email protected]
Follow the game on: www.fogoflove.com, facebook.com/fogoflove, twitter.com/FogOfLoveGame
Warning! Not suitable for children under 36 months. Contains small parts that could be swallowed or inhaled. Please keep this information for future reference. Not a children's toy. Age 17+ hobby gaming product. © 2017 Hush Hush Projects. All rights reserved. Made in China. Created by Jacob Jaskov.
Tutorial Start — Welcome to Fog of Love
READ THIS FIRST!
The first time you play Fog of Love you can play 'out of the box' – learning how to play while you play. It is therefore important that you do not shuffle any cards before or during your first play-through!
This tutorial will take between 90 and 120 minutes.
Read the setup instructions on this page, and follow the instructions on the numbered cards and you will soon be playing.
Each Tutorial card has a number on its back letting you know when to pick it up – it is that simple to get started! Enjoy your first game of Fog of Love.
Tutorial Setup
- Place the game board between you (see illustration).
- Without shuffling, unwrap and place on the game board, three decks of scenes on their three spots, sweet on sweet (a), serious on serious (b) and drama on drama (c). Do the same with the traits, occupation, and feature decks (d, e, f).
- The name of the deck is printed on the first card of each deck.
- Take the card holders (g), the choice tokens (h) and the token boxes with tokens in your character's color (i). Place them as in the example setup.
The Decks
- The sweet deck contains romantic and sweet experiences.
- The serious deck contains important events that happen in life.
- The drama deck contains dramatic situations, secrets and scenes of personal change.
- The custom spot is only used in later Love Stories.
- We will get back to how the cards in the decks work soon. For now, just leave them setup as instructed.
The Right Mindset (Tutorial)
- The game involves a little role playing.
- To help you with that some cards will ask you to tell something. In those cases, be as creative as you feel like. If you feel that it is hard to come up with something, just skip it.
- This tutorial is about learning the game, so don't think much about end game success. Just try to have fun while you are playing.
Tutorial Cards
- When you play your first game, a series of Tutorial cards will introduce you to the rules gradually.
- Whenever you reveal a Tutorial card, pick it up and read it (as soon as you are done playing or reading the previous card).
- It is important that you read the whole card when reading a Tutorial card.
- Keep the Tutorial cards next to the play area for easy reference.
Tutorial Cards Have 3 Icons on Them
- This icon indicates that the text block consists of rules without any need for action on your part.
- This icon indicates that the text block consists of actions you will need to take. When encountering these text blocks, perform each bullet point one after the other, finishing all instructions on one before beginning on the next.
- This icon indicates that the text in the text block consists of actions related to the tutorial itself. They will always tell you how to proceed with the tutorial.
Your First Tutorial
- In Fog of Love you will play as two characters and take them through a stormy romance. You are not playing as yourselves but as a fictional couple.
- You will play scenes from your relationship and decide how to react to those situations.
- At the end of the game you will discover how your relationship evolves – or ends.
- It is possible for both of you to be happy in the relationship or for the relationship to falter. But it is also very possible that one will be happy in the relationship while the other won't.
- In this particular Love Story you just met and are now going on your first date.
- The player who last blew a kiss is the first player.
- The first player should pick up and read out loud the Tutorial card on top of the sweet deck.
- Have fun!