Harry Potter: Death Eaters Rising
Harry Potter: Death Eaters Rising Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 44 Character Cards (33 Hero Cards, 10 Death Eater Cards, 1 Voldemort Card)
- 1 Custom-Sculpted Figure (Lord Voldemort)
- 1 Location Board made of 3 interlocking pieces
- 6 Headquarters Cards (2 for each of the 3 Affiliations)
- 1 Large Villain Card
- 6 Mission Tokens
- 6 Place Cards
- 14 Wizard Dice
- 1 8-Sided Voldemort Die
- 24 Spell Tokens
- 60 Damage Counters
- 15 Corruption Counters
- Rules
Object of the Game
Defeat Lord Voldemort and thwart his rise to power! Players must recruit Wizards and defeat Death Eaters before Lord Voldemort and his evil forces corrupt locations in the Wizarding World or too many Wizards are lost! Players win by defeating Lord Voldemort, but can lose in four different ways:
- Too many Wizards are defeated (see End of the Game for more details)
- Any one player has all the Wizards on their team defeated and has no Wizards remaining
- Four (or more) Places are corrupted
- Any one Location is corrupted completely (the two Places at the Location and the base Location itself)
Set Up
-
Lord Voldemort, Game Board and Places:
- a. Connect the 3 Location board pieces with the Lord Voldemort figure in the center of it facing a random Place. This board depicts Locations (Ministry of Magic, Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade) throughout the Wizarding World.
- b. Stack the two Place cards for each Location face-up in a random order. See the table below.
-
Tokens and Counters:
- a. Place the Spell Tokens face down on the table.
- b. Place the Damage and Corruption counters in a supply.
-
Headquarters card, Mission token, and Character cards:
- a. Each player chooses an Affiliation: Hogwarts, Order of the Phoenix, or Dumbledore's Army.
- b. Collect a Headquarters card, choose a starting character from the options in the table below and choose a Mission token of your Affiliation to represent you.
NOTE: Two players may choose the same Affiliation.
-
Prepare the Character card deck
- a. Set aside the Lord Voldemort card from the Character cards.
- b. Shuffle all of the Character cards, including remaining starting characters and Death Eaters to form a draw pile.
- c. Place 3 Character cards face-up next to each of the 3 Places.
- d. Finally, insert the Lord Voldemort card in the middle of the deck.
-
Place the Villain card face up on the table with room beside it. Defeated Heroes and Death Eaters will be placed beside this card as the game progresses.
There is a card for Lord Voldemort which is unique and is not affected by game effects that target Death Eater cards.
Locations and Places
| LOCATION | PLACE | PLACE |
|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Magic | Department of Mysteries | The Atrium |
| Diagon Alley | Ollivander's Wand Shop | Gringotts Bank |
| Hogsmeade | Hog's Head Inn | Hogsmeade Train Platform |
Affiliations, Headquarters and Starting Characters
| AFFILIATION | HEADQUARTERS | STARTING CHARACTER 1 | STARTING CHARACTER 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hogwarts | Dumbledore's Office | Albus Dumbledore | Minerva McGonagall |
| Order of the Phoenix | 12 Grimmauld Place | Nymphadora Tonks | Sirius Black |
| Dumbledore's Army | Room of Requirement | Harry Potter | Hermione Granger |
Card Anatomy
Headquarters Card: Affiliation, Starting Dice Pool, Team Special Abilities.
Character Card: Affiliation, Card Name, Traits, Special Ability, Damage Capacity.
Your Mission token represents your Affiliation. You place this token on a Location at the start of your turn.
Villain Card: Defeated Wizards are placed on one side, Defeated Death Eaters on the other, and the Voldemort card is placed in the middle when revealed. The Villain card also shows the Voldemort Ability and the Corrupt Locations area.
Place Card: Card Name, Corruption Penalty, Corruption Capacity, and the Place's Location symbol.
Wizard Dice
Wizard dice are shared amongst all players over the course of the game. Much of the action in the game will focus on rolling and assigning dice to match Trait symbols depicted on Character cards.
Additionally, an 8-sided Voldemort die is included to direct the actions of the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters.
Game Play
The player who most recently watched a Harry Potter movie goes first, and play proceeds clockwise. On a player's turn, they progress through the following phases:
- Travel to a Location
- Roll Voldemort die and resolve Lord Voldemort and Death Eater actions
- Roll, assign and resolve Wizard dice
- End Turn
1. Travel to a Location
The active player chooses where to send their team for their mission, by placing their Mission token in one of the three Location spaces. During their turn players can only interact with the three face-up characters at this Place, the Place itself, and the Wizards on their team (who are also present in the chosen Place), unless an ability says otherwise.
2. Roll Voldemort Die and Resolve Lord Voldemort and Death Eater Actions
After placing their token, the active player rolls the Voldemort die, and resolves its effects. Three faces rotate Voldemort to the Location to his left, and three to his right. The final two depict the Dark Mark which keeps Voldemort at his current Location.
- Clockwise (R): Voldemort rotates one Location clockwise.
- Counter-clockwise (L): Voldemort rotates one Location counter-clockwise.
- Dark Mark: Voldemort activates ALL Death Eaters not in his Location.
Voldemort will then attack the Wizards in his current Location, adding a Damage counter to them (see Damage). This includes Wizards on the active player's team if their team (as indicated by their Mission token) is where Voldemort is present.
Next add a Corruption counter to Voldemort's Location, indicating his increasing evil influence.
Death Eaters in Voldemort's Location will then have their regular abilities activated (see Death Eaters). This usually results in more Damage being applied to Wizards, or more Corruption added to the Place.
The Dark Mark Symbol
When the Dark Mark is rolled, Voldemort also activates the Dark Mark abilities of ALL Death Eaters. Resolve Death Eater abilities first in Voldemort's Location, and proceed clockwise to Death Eaters in the other two Locations.
Lastly, the penalties from any completely Corrupted Places are also triggered (see Corrupted Places).
3. Roll, Assign and Resolve Wizard Dice
After resolving the Voldemort die and Death Eater actions, the active player then collects and rolls their Wizard dice (the four Wizard dice indicated on their Headquarters card plus any extra dice from character abilities and Spell tokens). The dice pool is limited to the dice provided in the game. If a player has earned more dice of a color than are available they roll all of the dice of that color but may not substitute other colors of dice.
There are 4 colors of Wizard dice which each have different combinations of Trait symbols, weighted to favor the Trait they most represent. Each die type features a different double symbol (2) on one face which counts as two of that Trait (see the Legend for details on the Wizard dice facings).
The four Wizard dice and the Traits they favor: purple = Friendship, red = Loyalty, blue = Knowledge, orange = Bravery.
Combinations of Trait symbols must be assigned to cards in order to recruit new Wizards to a player's team, defeat Death Eaters, and activate some character and Affiliation abilities.
The active player reviews their opening Wizard dice roll, and chooses to assign at least one die (but may assign more) to match:
- a. the Trait symbols of characters in their Place, to either recruit a Wizard or attack a Death Eater
- b. one of the abilities on their Headquarters card
- c. a character ability for a Wizard on their team
If a player cannot or does not want to assign any dice for a roll, they must select and forfeit one die from their dice pool (for the turn).
The player then rolls the remaining dice in their pool, attempting to match more symbols. Usually, they will want it to be the same card(s) they assigned dice to for their first roll, but can choose another in their Place (or Headquarters card).
When dice have been assigned to match all Trait symbols for a character, that character is either successfully recruited (in the case of Wizards) or damaged (in the case of Death Eaters) at the end of the turn.
Dice assigned to a player's Headquarters card or to characters on their team may be used to activate these abilities immediately! For example, if a player assigns a die to their 'Remove a Corruption' ability on their Headquarters card, they may immediately remove a Corruption counter from the Place with their Mission token.
4. End Turn
A player's turn ends when they have used, or, forfeit all of their dice (or it becomes impossible to successfully assign dice to complete at least one available card).
Any Wizards successfully recruited this turn (dice assigned to match ALL their Trait symbols) are added to the active player's team with all Damage counters on them removed. Any Death Eaters successfully attacked (assigned dice to match all their Trait symbols) have a Damage counter added to them, AND the active player gains a Spell token for each Death Eater Damage added (see Death Eaters and Damage). All dice are then returned to the pool.
Any Place cards with filled corruption spaces are moved to the Villain card.
Any characters with full damage are then placed in the appropriate discard area (see Damage for more details). All recruited and defeated characters in a center Place are replaced with the top card(s) from the character deck. Then it is the next player's turn, proceeding clockwise.
As players add Wizards to their team, they will also add abilities to their arsenal, including rolling additional dice for their dice pool, manipulating and re-rolling dice, and removing Damage tokens.
End of the Game
If the players can defeat Lord Voldemort (see "Lord Voldemort") they win the game! However, they must do it before any one of the below lose conditions occurs.
Players can lose the game in a few different ways, as follows:
- Too many Wizards are defeated:
| 2 Players - 8 | 3 Players - 10 | 4 Players - 12 |
|---|
- Any one player has all the Wizards on their team defeated and has no Wizards remaining
- Four (or more) Places are corrupted
- Any one Location is corrupted completely (the two Places at the Location and the base Location itself)
Additional Rules
Damage
Each Wizard and Death Eater has an amount of Damage they can take before being defeated and placed in either the Hogwards Infirmary discard pile (Wizards) or the Azkaban discard pile (Death Eaters). These piles are formed beside the Villain card as indicated. When adding Damage to characters, place Damage counters on empty damage indicator spaces on the character.
Death Eaters are damaged by players assigning dice to match their Trait symbols (see Death Eaters).
NOTE: Damage cannot be added in excess of a character's Damage capacity. If a Wizards damage capacity is full it may not take additional Damage from attacks or in order to activate abilities that require taking damage.
At the end of each turn, if Damage counters on a character are equal to its damage capacity, that character is defeated and placed in the appropriate pile. Remember, if too many Wizards are defeated, players will lose the game.
Some abilities allow players to 'heal' Wizards by removing Damage counters. This may require assigning a die to activate the ability.
Wizards
All Wizards have a special ability listed on their card. Some add additional dice to a player's dice pool (often based on the affiliation of the Wizards, denoted with a color and shape icon). Others allow a player to change the value of a die or re-roll dice before assigning dice. Additionally, some Wizards may be able to draw Spell tokens, or remove Damage or Corruption counters. Note that some character abilities require a player to assign a specific Trait symbol from their dice pool to use the ability. Like Affiliation abilities, these are resolved immediately when the matching dice are assigned. Remember, dice can only be assigned to use these abilities once on a player's turn.
Wizard abilities that refer to a Location apply to any Place card in that Location or the Location itself if revealed.
Affiliation Abilities
Each Affiliation has special abilities noted on the matching Headquarters card. A player can activate the abilities on their Headquarters card once per turn by assigning dice with the required Trait symbols. These abilities are resolved immediately when the dice are assigned.
Death Eaters
Death Eaters are attacked, by assigning dice to match the Trait symbols shown on their cards. If a player assigns dice to match all Trait symbols on a Death Eater, they add a Damage counter to the Death Eater at the end of the turn. Dice can only be assigned to each Death Eater to Damage it once per turn, but other abilities may allow a player to assign additional Damage.
For each Damage, a player adds to a Death Eater, they draw a Spell token as reward (see Spell Tokens below). When sufficient damage counters are added to a Death Eater, it is defeated and sent to the Azkaban card pile, tracking Voldemort's vulnerability (see Lord Voldemort).
Abilities that require players to add damage to the most or least damaged Wizards on their team apply to all Wizards tied for the highest or lowest damage level (including zero).
Spell Tokens
For each Damage counter a player adds to a Death Eater, they draw a Spell token. These have a variety of effects, and may be used on ANY player's turn, meaning players can assist one another in their efforts. Some tokens depict a Trait symbol, which can be assigned to a card to help complete a requirement on that card, or to activate an ability of a Wizard on the active player's team. Other Spell tokens let a player roll extra dice or remove counters, as indicated by the tokens. Spell tokens can be used at any time on any player's turn after rolling and resolving the Voldemort die, meaning a player can wait until after rolling and assigning Wizard dice before deciding if and how to use them. Once used, the Spell tokens are discarded face up. If the supply of Spell tokens is exhausted, turn all used tokens face down and shuffle them to create a new supply.
Corrupted Places
Lord Voldemort is trying to take control of the Wizarding World by spreading his evil influence. When resolving Lord Voldemort's actions each turn, add a corruption counter to the Place where he is present.
NOTE: Corruption counters cannot be added in excess of a Place's corruption capacity.
Players can remove Corruption counters by activating Affiliation and Character abilities. These abilities are resolved immediately when activated. Remember that these abilities may require a player to assign dice to activate them.
At the end of each turn, any place with five counters has been corrupted by Voldemort. Remove the counters and place the card in the Corrupted Place space on the Villain card. Once corrupted, a Place cannot be recovered by players.
NOTE: Corrupted Places have extra abilities that will activate when the Dark Mark symbol is rolled on the Voldemort die! Remember, if any one Place is corrupted entirely (the two Places there and the Location itself), or if four places are corrupted players lose the game.
Lord Voldemort
Players win the game by defeating Lord Voldemort! There are a few special rules for attacking and interacting with Lord Voldemort. When revealed, set the Lord Voldemort card in its designated space on the Villain card. He can now be attacked by any player whose team is present in Voldemort's Location, by assigning dice just like attacking Death Eaters. Damage can only be added to Lord Voldemort equal to the number of Death Eaters defeated (in Azkaban) so players will need to defeat at least five Death Eaters in order to win the game.
Lord Voldemort does not count as a Death Eater when resolving any Character or corrupted Place abilities. Players do gain a Spell token each time they successfully add a damage counter to Lord Voldemort.
Because Lord Voldemort's actions are resolved after the active player deploys their team, players have the ability to redeploy their team to Lord Voldemort's Location after resolving his actions (attacking Wizards, corrupting Places, triggering Death Eaters, etc.). Once Lord Voldemort has been revealed, a player may redeploy their team to his Location by forfeiting one Wizard die of their choice from their dice pool before rolling for the turn. Players will always first collect their dice pool for the turn based on their initial deployment, and do not add or lose dice for Wizard abilities on their team if they decide to redeploy to Lord Voldemort's Location.
Game Variants
Beginning players may decrease the difficulty of the game by reducing Lord Voldemort's damage level to 4 instead of 5. Alternately, for a more challenging experience increase Lord Voldemort's damage level to 6 or more. This will require players to defeat more Death Eaters and deal more damage to Lord Voldemort in order to win!
Legend
Spell Tokens
| Token | Effect |
|---|---|
| Friendship | Add 1 Friendship |
| Loyalty | Add 1 Loyalty |
| Knowledge | Add 1 Knowledge |
| Bravery | Add 1 Bravery |
| Orange die | Add 1 Orange Die |
| Red die | Add 1 Red Die |
| Blue die | Add 1 Blue Die |
| Purple die | Add 1 Purple Die |
| Remove Corruption | Remove a Corruption |
| Remove 1 Damage | Remove a DAMAGE from two Wizards |
| Remove 2 Damage | Remove two DAMAGE from a Wizard |
| Exchange | Exchange a Wizard with another Player |
Wizard Dice Facings
Each of the four die colors carries a different mix of the four Trait symbols (Friendship, Loyalty, Knowledge, Bravery), weighted to favor the Trait it most represents, and one face of each die shows that die's favored Trait as a double symbol (2), counting as two of that Trait:
- Red (Loyalty): Loyalty (2), Loyalty, Loyalty, Knowledge, Friendship, Bravery
- Purple (Friendship): Friendship (2), Friendship, Friendship, Bravery, Loyalty, Knowledge
- Orange (Bravery): Bravery (2), Bravery, Bravery, Knowledge, Friendship, Loyalty
- Blue (Knowledge): Knowledge (2), Knowledge, Knowledge, Loyalty, Friendship, Bravery
Voldemort Dice Facings
- Clockwise (R): Voldemort rotates clockwise one location, and attacks all Wizards in that Location including each Wizard on your team IF your Mission token is in the resulting Location.
- Counter-clockwise (L): Voldemort rotates counter-clockwise one Location, and attacks all Wizards in that Location including each Wizard on your team IF your Mission token is in the resulting Location.
- Dark Mark: Voldemort remains in the current Location, and will attack Wizards and trigger regular Death Eater abilities there. He then activates the abilities of all Dark Mark Death Eater abilities. Then activate all Corrupted Places penalties.
Based on the Rising game mechanic previously created by The OP, USAopoly.