Heading Forward Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective
• Set-Up
• Components
• Skill Card Overview
• Resource Overview
• Flow of Play
• Trigger Card
• End of Round
• End of Game

Objective

Your insurance provider has approved rehabilitation for fifteen, twelve, or ten rounds – the length of time allowed depending on what level of plan you or your employer were able to afford. You must complete therapy goals in three different areas in this span of time. Otherwise, your insurance will determine you have not made adequate progress and will discontinue payment.

Set-Up

Place the display sheet near the center of the table.

• Place the Brain token on the "3" space of the Brain Track.
• Place one Spoon near the "Unused Spoons" side of the display.
• Place the remaining Spoons, and all the Money, in a Supply apart from the display.
• Place the Calendar Token on the 15 (easy), 12 (medium), or 10 (hard) Calendar space, depending on your chosen difficulty level.

To prepare the deck:

• Separate the Stage 3-4 cards from the Stage 1-2 cards. Group the Stage 3-4 cards by the four suits, and fan them out upon the table so that they are easily visible. Ensure the Stage 1-2 cards are oriented so that the Stage 1 half of the card is at the top for all cards. Shuffle these cards to form a face-down deck. Whenever you shuffle cards, take care not to change the orientation of the cards.
• Reveal the top card of the deck, setting it aside: this is the Trigger Skill for this session. Find its corresponding Stage 3-4 card, and place the Stage 3-4 card underneath it.
• Shuffle the red Trigger Card into the deck.

Components

The game is played with 36 cards, one token sheet, and one display sheet.

• 34 of the cards represent skills that you can develop in pursuit of your therapy goals. Each skill has four Stages represented by two cards – the first representing Stages 1 and 2, and the other Stages 3 and 4.
• The Trigger Card represents reminders of the traumatic events that caused your head injury; stress reactions to those triggers impede your progress in rehab.
• A reference card is provided to remind you of the iconography used on the Skill Cards.

The tokens come in four flavors:

• The Brain token is used on the Brain track.
• The Calendar token on the Calendar.
• Spoons represent one resource.
• Money, another.

The display sheet is home to the Brain track and the Calendar, as well as spaces for your Spoons and Money.

Skill Card Overview

Each Skill represents one possible skill you can work on in your head injury rehabilitation process. At any given time, you can only use the Stage represented by the top half of the card.

Each Skill has a Suit representing the area being worked on. (Remember, you must complete your goals in three of the four areas to win the game; "area" and "Suit" are used interchangeably.) Generally, Financial skills provide Money; Cognitive, Brains; Endurance, Spoons; and Adaptability skills manipulate the deck or provide other effects.

Each Skill is identified by its Goal, Stage, and the specific Objective represented by the effects for that portion of the card.

Discarding a card from your hand will generate the specified quantity of Time and/or Care. These will in turn be expended, along with other resources, to achieve, progress, or complete rehab for that Skill.

• The expend section indicates which resources you must use when playing the card. If you can't spend these, you can't play the card!
• The achieve section details the benefits you receive for playing the card. You must take these steps if able, but if you can't, resolve everything that you're able to and skip the rest.
• The progress section indicates what must be done to move to the next stage in the Skill's treatment hierarchy. All Stage 1 Skills progress to Stage 2 (turning them 180°) simply by playing them, but Stage 2 and 3 Skills have additional requirements to progress to Stage 3 and 4, respectively. (To progress from Stage 2 to 3, swap the cards; from Stage 3 to 4, rotate 180°.)
• The complete section of a Stage 4 Skill indicates the additional resources and conditions that must be met to complete rehabilitation for that Skill, removing the card from the deck.

Resource Overview

During the game, you will use a variety of resources to help you meet your therapy goals. These are Spoons, Brains, Money, Care, and Time. Let's take a look at each of these.

Spoons represent your physical and emotional energy to complete tasks. You begin the game with a single Spoon, but you will gradually gain Spoons, enabling you to take on more each turn. Spoons in your possession begin the turn Unused, and when expended, the Spoons are moved to the Used side of the display. Some actions will allow you to refresh Spoons, moving them from Used to Unused. Once gained, you will never lose Spoons.

Brains represent your cognitive capacity for tasks, which improves as your therapy progresses. At the start of each turn, you draw cards equal to the number of Brains you have. Actions may direct you to gain Brains – when you do so, move the marker on the Brains Track ahead one space. You cannot have more than eight Brains; your Brains are never expended or reduced.

Money represents your financial resources. When expended, Money is returned to the supply; when earned, Money is removed from the supply and placed along the right edge of the display.

Care and Time represent other resources that your Skills may provide. At the moment you play a card, progress a Skill, or complete a therapy goal, you may discard cards from your hand to generate the Care and/or Time indicated, which is expended immediately. Any extra Care or Time generated is lost. For example, if a single Care is required and you discard a card for two Care, you may not use the second Care to pay for something else. However, you may not purposefully discard cards beyond those required to meet the action's requirement.

Flow of Play

The game consists of a predetermined number of Rounds, which in turn consist of a variable number of turns. Each Round will run through the entire deck once. Each turn consists of the following steps, performed in order:

• Refresh Spoons
• Draw Cards
• Play Cards
• Discard Your Hand

Refresh Spoons: Move all Used Spoons to the Unused area of the display.

Draw Cards: Draw cards into your hand equal to the position of the marker on the Brains Track, careful to maintain the orientation of the card. Note: You can just as easily place the cards in your "hand" down on the table if that is more convenient for you.

Play Cards: Play cards from your hand one at a time. You may play any card of your choosing unless you have the Trigger Card in your hand (see Trigger Card below). When you play a card, complete the following steps:

• Expend all the resources required (if you can't, you can't play the card!).
• Follow as many of the steps under Achieve as you can, in the order given.
• If you want and are able, Progress or Complete the Skill – rotating/swapping any Progressed Skills, and setting aside any Completed ones.
• Place the card in your discard pile. (Exception: a Completed Skill is set aside permanently, and cannot be discarded, reshuffled, or affected by any other card.)

Discard Your Hand: When you are no longer willing or able to play the cards in your hand, place them in your discard pile. If, during this part of your turn, you discard a card that is on Stage 2 or greater, that skill atrophies, reducing one Stage. Rotate or swap the card appropriately. Note that this only happens when discarding your hand at the end of your turn. Discarding a played card, or discarding cards to generate resources, does not cause those cards to atrophy.

After discarding your hand, start a new turn.

Trigger Card

When the Trigger Card is in your hand, you may not play any cards other than the Trigger card. This causes you to immediately perform the Trigger Card's actions in order:

• Complete the Expend requirements of the Trigger Skill that was set aside at the start of the game. If you can't, immediately end your turn, discarding your hand and atrophying those Skills as you would normally. The Trigger Skill is itself atrophied. Discard the Trigger Card.
• Complete each part of the Trigger Skill's Achieve step, but do not gain any Spoons, Brains, or Money.
• If you can, complete the Progress step of the Trigger Skill and Progress it.
• Discard the Trigger Card, and continue with your turn.

The Trigger Card can't be removed from the deck, and you can't Complete the Trigger Skill – the possibility of encountering a trigger always exists.

End of Round

When you need to draw a card (either at the start of your turn, or when an action on a card instructs you to) and the deck has no more cards, begin a new round:

• Advance the Calendar token to the next numbered space.
• Shuffle the discards to form a new deck, making sure to maintain orientation of those cards.
• Draw the required cards, and continue play.

If the Round ends when on the final Round, don't reshuffle the deck or draw any cards. Instead, complete your turn with any cards you have in your hand, and then end the game.

End of Game

If you have Completed Skills in at least three areas, you have successfully completed your rehabilitation program and win the game.

If you have not, your insurance provider discontinues payment; you lose.