GearSeed Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
• The Cards
  • Seed Cards (44 Cards)
  • Season Cards (4 Cards)
  • Burst & Score Cards (8 Cards)
  • The Castes of GearSeed
• Playing GearSeed
  • Seasons
  • Player Turns
  • Building
    • Building Example
  • Shrine Abilities
  • Burst
  • Scoring Points
  • Hand Size, Discarding, and Ending the Turn
  • Additional 3 and 4 Player Rule - Raze
• Ending the Game

Setup

Shuffle together the 44 Seed cards, forming the deck. Deal 3 Seed cards, face down, to each player. Players may look at the cards they are dealt, but keep them secret from the other players. Move the deck to the side of the play area, and place the top 3 cards of the deck, face up, in the middle of the play area, side by side.

Give each player 1 Score card and 1 Burst card. Players begin the game with a score of 0 points and their Burst card with the white side face up. Return any unused Score and Burst cards to the box.

Shuffle together the 4 Season cards and place them in a face down deck, forming the Season deck.

Players use whatever method they choose to determine the starting player. That player takes the Season deck and then the game begins.

The Cards

Seed Cards (44 Cards)

SEED cards represent buildings and locations in the world of GearSeed. Each Seed card is 1 of 5 different TYPES (Tower, Castle, Expanse, Fountain, or Shrine), and has 1 of 4 Caste Icons (Coalkin, Thorned, Gremlin, and Shrine) indicating which Caste the Seed card belongs to. Seed cards are Built (played) next to (orthogonally) other cards that have already been played. Each Seed card also provides an Ability, as well as the possibility of a Bonus Ability or a Trigger Ability.

Season Cards (4 Cards)

There are 4 different SEASON cards. GearSeed is played over the course of 3 random Seasons (rounds). At the beginning of each Season, a new Season card is revealed. Season cards add additional Bonuses and Abilities when Seed cards are built. Additionally, the Season deck is used to track the starting player for each Season.

Burst & Score Cards (8 Cards)

BURST cards are used in conjunction with the SCORE cards to track the players' scores. Additionally, once per game, a player may flip their Burst card to Build an additional Seed card and score additional points. As a player gains points, their Burst card is adjusted to reflect their score.

The Castes of GearSeed

• Gremlin: The Gremlin rule during the growth of Spring.
• Coalkin: The Coalkin thrive in the freezing Winter.
• Thorned: The Thorned revel in the rot of Fall.
• (Fourth Caste icon, the Shrine icon; the source prints no name beside it): All of the Castes loathe Summer, and spend that Season building Shrines to their Season.

Playing GearSeed

GearSeed is played over a series of 3 Seasons (rounds). Each Season, a new Season card is revealed, and each player takes 1 turn. After the third Season, the game ends. The player with the most points wins.

Seasons

At the beginning of each Season, the previous Season card is moved to bottom of the Season Deck. The top card of the Season Deck is then revealed.

After the new Season card is revealed, the start player for the Season shuffles the Seed Deck and takes a turn. Then, each other player takes a turn in clockwise order. After each player has taken a turn, the Season ends, and the Season deck passes to the player on the Starting player's left.

Each Season affects cards that are Built, and also offer a unique Ability whenever a player Builds a Shrine card.

Player Turns

Each Season, each player receives 1 turn. At the beginning of the player's turn, they draw 3 cards. Then, they Build 2 cards. Finally, they discard down to 3 cards.

Building

When a player Builds a card, they select 1 card from their hand and place it face up next to any other Free card. A Free card is a card that has less than 4 cards next to it. In GearSeed, "next to" means orthogonally. When a player Builds a card, several things happen in this order: Trigger, Caste Bonus, Ability, and Seasonal Bonus.

When a card is Built next to a card with a TRIGGER, if it meets the Trigger's requirement, the player follows the text of the Trigger. If a card is built next to multiple cards with Triggers, the player chooses the order that the Triggers occur. Cards that have a TRIGGER feature an additional Icon on their top right corner.

Next, the player checks to see if building the card grants a CASTE BONUS. The Caste Bonus is located on the Current Season card.

Then, the player performs the card's ABILITY to the best of their ability. Ability text is non-italicized.

Finally, if the conditions of the card's SEASONAL BONUS are met, the player follows the text of the Bonus to the best of their ability. Seasonal Bonus text is italicized and is always the last portion of the card's text.

Building Example

Jeb builds the Thorned Expanse next to a Shrine and a Thorned Castle.

The Shrine has a Trigger, and since he built next to it, he gets to draw 1 card or gain 1 Point.

It is not Fall, so there is no Caste Bonus.

He follows the Thorned Expanse's Ability which grants him 2 Points for each Thorned card it was built next to. It was built next to 1 Thorned card (the Castle) so he gains 2 Points.

It is not Fall, so he does not gain the Expanse's Seasonal Bonus.

Shrine Abilities

Each Season card grants an additional Shrine Ability that is unique to the Season. When a player Builds a Shrine card, they may use the Shrine Ability for that Season one time.

Burst

In addition to building 2 cards, the player may flip their Burst card to the black side if it has not yet been flipped. When a player flips their Burst card, they may Build 1 additional card that turn, and they then gain 1 Point for each Seed card in play indicated on their Burst card. A player's Burst card may not be flipped more than once per game.

Scoring Points

Every Seed card grants some amount of Points when Built. As a player gains points, their Burst card is slid to show their current Score. Score cards are double sided, and are flipped once the player reaches 15 or more points. If a player goes over 30 Points, the Burst card is rotated to show "Points +30" and the Score card is flipped back to the 1-15 side.

Hand Size, Discarding, and Ending the Turn

Players may have any number of cards in their hand during their turn. However, at the end of a player's turn, they must discard down to 3 cards in hand. Discarded cards are placed on the bottom of the Seed deck. After a player has discarded down to 3 cards in hand, their turn ends. After each player has taken 1 turn, the Season ends. If it was not the third Season, a new Season begins. If it was the third Season, the game ends.

Additional 3 and 4 Player Rule - Raze

In a 3 or 4 player game of GearSeed, at the end of each Season, each player, beginning with the last player to take a turn for the Season and continuing Counterclockwise, chooses 1 Free Seed card in play and discards it.

Ending the Game

The game ends immediately after the third Season ends.

The player with the highest score wins. In the event of a tie, each tied player gains 1 point for each Seed card in play that corresponds to the Seed type on their Burst card. The player with the highest score wins. If a tie still exists, both tied players share in a joint victory over the other players.