Gods' Gambit Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Contents
• Explanation of the cards
• Preparations
• Flow of the game
• What you do on your turn
  • Play a card
  • Draw a card (and then, if possible, Play a card)
• End of a round
  • 1. The round ends as soon as one player has no more cards in hand.
  • 2. The round ends as soon as the 4th Herald is drawn.
• The Special Cards
  • Wild cards
  • Defense
• Penalty points
• Next round
• Game end
• Other detailed rules
• Optional rules
• Details on some effects
• Hints and tips
• Card explanations
  • Follower 1 (white, black, red, blue)
  • Cleric 2 (white, black, red, blue)
  • Missionary 3 (white, black, red, blue)
  • Angel 4 (white, black, red, blue)
  • Paladin 5 (white, black, red, blue)
  • Priest 6 (white, black, red, blue)
  • Hierophant 7 (white, black, red, blue)
  • Demigod 8 (white, black, red, blue)
  • Avatar 9 (white, black, red, blue)
  • Fairy 10 (Wild, good)
  • Wizard 10 (Wild, good)

Overview

In Gods' Gambit, players represent fallen gods who must solve problems in the world and perform good acts to be allowed to return to the heavens.

By playing a card from your hand of either the same color (same location) or the same value (same trouble) as on the playing table, you clear one of the quests bestowed upon you.

When one player has managed to rid themselves of all of the cards in their hand (quests), or when a certain period of time has passed (when you've drawn four certain special cards from the draw deck), that round is finished. The player who rids themselves of all the cards in their hand gets closer to the heavens, but those with remaining cards are pushed away even further.

But the gods can use their faithful servants for their own purposes as well. They can help their masters to do away with surplus quests, or cause trouble for the other gods by imposing more quests on them. However, when you do so, take care, because all these acts will remain in memory, as bad karma.

If you manage to complete all your quests, your karma will be ignored, but if you fail and have quests remaining, they will become a heavy negative burden.

You will need to determine when to silently do your chores and when to use your servants to increase your chances of success.

Contents

For Gods' Gambit you will need some pieces of parchment, and a writing tool (preferably a Quill) to mark your scores.

1. Pen & Paper
2. 1 rulebook
3. 108 cards total: 100 playing cards, 6 Reference cards, and 2 Blank cards. When playing, give each player 1 Reference card. Be creative and design your own Disciple or Wild using the Blank cards.

• Disciple cards (72) These cards come in four different categories: black, white, red, and blue. The Value ranges from 1 - 9, with two identical cards in each color.

  • Follower (8), Cleric (8), Missionary (8), Angel (8), Paladin (8), Priest (8), Hierophant (8), Demigod (8), and Avatar (8)

• Wild cards (Good) (17) The Karma color of these cards is replaced with a 4-color symbol. The background of the card itself is green, representing beings who lend their power to the gods. They have many merits that normal cards do not, but be careful, they also have high Karma Value.

  • Monarch (4), Fairy (4), Wizard (4), Dragon (2), Hero (2), and Goddess (1)

• Wild cards (Evil) (7) The Karma color of these cards is replaced with a 4-color symbol. The background of the card itself is purple, representing enemies of the heavens: demons and evil gods.

  • Demon (4), Wraith (2), and Evil God (1)

• Heralds (4) The Herald cards are special. When these are drawn from the deck, they are immediately revealed and set aside. When all 4 Heralds have been drawn, the round ends immediately.

Explanation of the cards

The cards used in this game can roughly be divided into four categories. They are all shuffled together, but have different functions.

Card anatomy:

• KARMA VALUE - Karma represents the card's capabilities, the more Karma, the more powerful the card. High Karma cards are useful, but they can come at a cost.
• TITLE - The name of the card.
• POWER - The effect the card has.

Preparations

Shuffle all 100 playing cards, deal 7 cards to each player, and place the remaining cards upside-down in the center of the table.

Draw a starting card from the top of the deck, and place it face up beside the deck. This is called the discard pile. Finally, decide the starting player in any suitable fashion.

• If any player draws a Herald in their starting hand, show everyone and place the card face up beside the playing area. Anyone that draws a Herald should consider themselves lucky for starting with a smaller hand.
• If the starting card in the discard pile is a Herald, then set it aside and draw a new card.
• If the starting card is a Wild, then the starting player chooses which color the card becomes.

Flow of the game

The first player starts with their turn, and then players take turns clockwise. This goes on until the round ends (when one player runs out of cards OR the 4th Herald is drawn).

Players complete one game by playing three of these rounds. Between each round, the cards are reshuffled and re-dealt.

What you do on your turn

On your turn, you must do one of two things:

• Play a card
• Draw a card (and then, if possible, Play a card)

Play a card

In order to discard a card or activate its ability, the card's Karma Value or color must equal the card that is currently on top on the discard pile.

You can play most cards in two ways:

1. Placing a card on top of the discard pile covers the card beneath it but does not activate the card's effect.
2. Placing the card in front of you (your Karma Zone), applies the card's power. Note that this card then stays in the Karma Zone. All cards in your Karma Zone are YOUR Karma.

Draw a card (and then, if possible, Play a card)

You cannot pass. No, not even if you're a Balrog.

If you can't or don't want to play a card, you can draw the top card of the deck and add it to your hand. When you've done so, you must play a card from your hand if possible, following the same principles as explained above.

When you've either discarded or drawn a card, your turn is over, and it's the next player's turn. This goes on until the round ends when someone runs out of cards, or the 4th Herald is drawn.

End of a round

If any of the two below conditions are met, the round ends and players count their total Karma.

1. The round ends as soon as one player has no more cards in hand.

• It doesn't matter if the last card was played to the discard pile of your Karma Zone. If it was played to the Karma Zone, its power is resolved first, and then the round ends. The last card's Power cannot be blocked by a Defense power.
• If a player plays a "Defense" card as their last card, the "Defense" power happens first, and then the round ends.

2. The round ends as soon as the 4th Herald is drawn.

If the 4th Herald is drawn in the middle of resolving some card-drawing power, then finish the current Power, then end the round. However, stop drawing cards if the deck runs out.

• Though this rarely happens, if all 4 Heralds are dealt in the players' starting hands, then the round is invalid. Reshuffle and re-deal.

The Special Cards

Wild cards

The green/purple cards (where the Karma color is replaced with a 4-color symbol) can always be played, no matter what card is in the discard pile.

When you discard these to the top of the discard pile, you get to change the top color of the discard pile to any one of the four colors.

Defense

Some cards have the Power "Defense". These cards can be played in your Karma Zone out of turn to interrupt another player's action towards you. However, "Defense" cards must still follow the normal rules of playing. That means the "Defense" card must be the same color or Karma Value as the top card in the discard pile.

For example, if you want to use the red 9 Avatar as a Defense when someone targets you, the discard pile has to be either a red or a 9.

Because their Powers are being used, they're placed in your Karma Zone in front of you and count towards your total Karma.

Penalty points

Penalty points are the accumulation of a player's total Karma Value in their hand and in their Karma Zone.

When a round ends, all players must count their penalty points, as explained here.

A player with no cards in hand

• A player with no cards in hand gets no penalty, regardless of their amount of Karma.

Players with cards left in their hand

• Players with cards left in their hand gain the total Karma Value in their hand and in their Karma Zone as Penalty Points.

Note each player's penalty points on the score sheet.

Example score sheet (Round 1 column): Kanai 53, Ogata 0, Ishii 30. The score sheet has columns Round 1, Round 2 / subtotal, Round 3 / total.

Next round

When the score is written down, gather all the cards, shuffle them again, and deal 7 cards to each player. The starting player for this round is the player with the most Penalty Points. If there is a tie for the most Penalty Points, then the players must decide who goes first.

Game end

When the third round is finished, the game ends. The player with the least Penalty Points is forgiven and gets to return to the heavens, or bluntly put, wins. The remaining players must polish their good deed reflexes a bit more.

Other detailed rules

Amount of cards

How many cards each player has is open information and should not be hidden.

Karma

When stated on a card's Powers, "Karma" means YOUR Karma. You cannot discard another player's Karma.

Karma Zone and Karma

Cards played in the Karma Zone do not become Karma until their power has been completely resolved. So, a Fairy cannot send itself to another player, and Clerics and Priests cannot discard themselves.

Powers are not mandatory

When activating powers, you can choose to not activate them at all, or only partly activate them. For example, the Priest can discard 2 Karma cards, but you can choose to discard only 1, or none at all.

Optional rules

Decreasing points

Players start with 100 or 200 points, and every Penalty Point they receive reduces this total. Players can play round after round, until one player is reduced to 0 points. At that point, the player with the most points wins. Players can adjust the game time by determining how many points to start with. We recommend 200 points.

Details on some effects

Monarch - The Monarch can re-activate a power of a card in the Karma Zone, but it cannot re-activate a Defense power.

Hero - The Hero can only discard Disciple cards. Not wilds.

Hints and tips

In Gods' Gambit, actually winning by simply discarding your cards one by one (not activating their power), is quite difficult. You need to check your cards in hand and try to decide which card powers will help you to get rid of your hand the fastest possible. Playing cards into your Karma Zone (and thus activating their power) means you still own that card, but an efficient combination of these will help you get rid of your hand quicker.

The key to victory in this game is to quickly decide which cards to simply discard, and which to play as your Karma, and to constantly revise these decisions each time your hand changes.

Card explanations

Follower 1 (white, black, red, blue)

A card with no power. It's penalty value is low, but just because of that it's rarely played, which in turn means that it's a much worse card than it first looks.

Please note: Thouth this has no power, it can be played as Karma, if you wish. Nothing will happen, except that you don't overwrite the play pile.

Cleric 2 (white, black, red, blue)

"Discard 1 Karma"

It is of little use in the beginning, but in the latter half, when you have a lot of Karma cards, you can decrease your penalty points by quite a lot. For example, if you choose to discard one of you Wild Karma, you'll not only decrease your penalty, but change the discard colour at the same time.

Please note: When you discard a card, the normal rules for discarding apply: it has to be the same colour or value as the current top discard.

Missionary 3 (white, black, red, blue)

"Attack: Target loses next turn"

Typical skip effect, only that the turn player chooses who gets skipped. The player who gets skipped can put down his hand cards to remember this.

Please note: If the skipped player gets his turn because of the Avatar, he'll lose the turn that the Avatar gave him, and immediately goes to the player on his left instead.

Please note: This effect does not stack. If a player gets a second Missionary effect on him before his turn has been skipped, he will still just skip one turn.

Angel 4 (white, black, red, blue)

"Discard 1 extra card in your hand"

This allows you to rid your hand of 2 cards at the same time. Also, it's quite cheap as penalty, and is thus an easy-to-use Karma card.

Paladin 5 (white, black, red, blue)

"Attack: Target draws 2 cards"

The turn player chooses who should draw cards. The most straightforward way to mess with your opponent.

Priest 6 (white, black, red, blue)

"Discard up to 2 Karma"

This is the card to use if you have too much Karma.

Please note: As always, when discarding cards, they have to be the same colour of number as the top discard. However if you discard several cards, you decide in which order they are discarded. For example, if you discard a Wild first, you can choose that it should be the colour of the second card you want to discard.

Hierophant 7 (white, black, red, blue)

"Take an extra turn"

In terms of letting you rid your hand of 2 cards in one go, this might seem similar to the Angel. With this, however, your second card can be a Karma card.

Demigod 8 (white, black, red, blue)

"Discard up to 2 cards in your hand"

This allows you to rid your hand of 3 cards in one go, making way for a quite surprising victory.

Avatar 9 (white, black, red, blue)

"Defense: Nullify the effect. It is now your turn."

One of the few Defense cards. It nullifies the effect and has the wonderful bi-effect of making you the turn player.

Plese note: Though this is used as an interrupt out of your turn, as with all other cards, this has to match the colour or value of the top discard. This is easily forgotten, as you play it out of turn.

Please note: The cards you can nullify are the ones targetting you, that is "Paladin", "Fairy", "Dragon", "Demon", "Wraith" and "Evil god".

Please note: Defense effects can't be used on your own turn. Which means that you can't target yourself and then nullify your own attack, or nullify attacks that have been reflected back onto you with the Goddess and so on.

Fairy 10 (Wild, good)

"Attack: Choose 1 Karma and add it to target's Karma"

A card that lets you push your own Karma onto others. It's a bit double-sworded, as it gives you 10 penalty points to yourself, but this is also the only card for you to get rid of Karma that can't be discarded.

Wizard 10 (Wild, good)

"Choose color of the play pile. Then discard 1 card in your hand"

It's basically an Angel with a higher penalty, but it can always be used. Also, you can choose colour of the play pile before discarding. The typical way for a surprise win.

Monarch 10 (Wild, good)

"Choose 1 card in your Karma pile and reuse its effect."

The card that lets you reuse anything in your Karma field. It's versatile, but also carries a high penalty, and for best use also requires you to have quite the selection among your Karma.

Please note: This is not a Defense cards, so it can only be used during your turn. Hence, you cannot use this to reuse a Defense effect.

Please note: If you reactivate a Fairy with this effect, you can actually target the Fairy itself, as it's already a part of your Karma. Likewise, the Cleric and the Priest can discard themselves.

Hero 20 (Wild, good)

"Discard any number of cards with same color as play pile in your hand."

This is the card that allows for getting rid of most cards in one turn. If you can get your hand to contain just one colour, you can get rid of it all in one go.

Please note: You cannot discard Wilds with this effect. It can only be cards with a true colour: White, Black, Red or Blue.

Dragon 20 (Wild, good)

"Attack: Add this card to target's Karma."

This vastly increases the Karma of another player. However, it's also a wild, and can quickly be discarded with the Cleric or Priest. You have to use it with wise timing.

Please note: If this card's effect is cancelled, it's added to your Karma as usual.

Goddess 30 (Wild, good)

"Defense: Reflect the opponent's effect."

This reflects back the attack onto the attacker. It's also a wild and can be used regardless of the colour of the play pile. One of the most powerful cards, and also has a high penalty.

Please note: When you use this as a Karma card, you are no longer the target, and any effects against you are negated.

Please note: You can never use Defense effects on your own turn.

Demon 10 (Wild, evil)

"This card can't be discarded. Attack: Target draws 2 cards."

An evil card that can always be used to have another player draw 2 cards. However, it can never be discarded (neither by normal play, nor by other card effects). Hence, this can only be used as a Karma card, and will stay with your as your penalty. If you draw this card, all you can do is feel the penalty that comes with siding with the dark side, all the while you aim at ridding your hand of all cards.

Wraith 20 (Wild, evil)

"This card can't be discarded. Attack: Target draws 4 cards."

Like the Demon, only worse. Its penalty is also higher.

Evil god 30 (Wild, evil)

"This card can't be discarded. Attack: Target draws cards until they have 7."

The horrible card that reverts anyone's starting hand to the starting amount. Naturally, it has a high penalty. Combined with the Monarch, and everyone else will know how it feels to have an evil King.

Please note: This card hase no effect against players who hae 7 or more cards in hand.

Please note: If the target of this effect happens to draws one or more Heralds, the number of cards he must reach is negated by the same amount.

Herald

The card that controls the end game.

"If you draw this card. Set it aside. If the 4th Herald is drawn, end the round"

The card that controls the end game. Keep good track of them in order to decide whether to aim for a zero hand or just try to decrease your penalty points.

Please note: When drawn, this card still counts as one of the cards you've drawn. You do not draw a new card to replace the Herald.