Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: A Board Game of English Magic Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
  • Aim of the Game
  • Contents
• Concepts & Components
  • Social Engagements
    • Invitations
    • Introductions
  • Magical Elements
    • Element Tokens
    • Feats of Magic
    • Spells
  • Player Area
    • Magician Boards
    • Named Connexions
    • Books of Magic
• Setup
• How to Play
  • Turn Sequence
  • Preparation
    • A. Move the year token
    • B. Reveal a new card of Marseilles
    • C. Draw a book of magic
  • Player Turns
  • A. Choose an Action or Still the Waters
    • Standard Actions
    • Unique Actions
    • Casting Spells
  • B. Visits
    • Moving Your Magician
• Game End
• Clarifications
• Advanced Difficulty
• An Example Turn
• Quick Reference

Overview

In Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, you will take the role of the leading magicians of the age, scholars of the history and practice of practical English magic. You will traverse Europe attending concerts and dinner parties, earning repute by consorting with the famous personalities, and performing grand feats of magic. As you increase your influence and power, you will find and accumulate rare books of magic, make important connexions that will help you in your endeavours, and grow your magical ability in order to defeat the gentleman with the thistle-down hair. He grows ever in his power, and if he is not defeated by 1817 he will grow too strong even for the most powerful magician and will dominate England for time eternal.

On each player's turn they will choose an action to focus on, from acquiring rare books to studying the elements of magic. They will then move around the board, using invitations to prestigious events and introductions to the great and the good for their own social benefit, increasing their prestige. Finally players will develop their magicianship by completing great feats of magic.

This push and pull between prestige and magicianship is the heart of the game. Prestige will grant opportunity but magicianship will grant victory, so be careful which you prioritise. Players may never have more than five invitations or introductions in their hand, and so must choose their actions thoughtfully to maximise their opportunities. The strength of the fairy and the prestige of each magician will always be visible, but each player's magicianship will remain hidden until the end of the game.

Aim of the Game

The player with the most magicianship once the fairy has been defeated will be named the greatest magician of the age, winning the game. You can accumulate magicianship by completing feats of magic, by taking on a pupil, and by collecting books of magic. However, the gentleman with the thistle-down hair grows ever in his power, and if he is not defeated by 1817 he will grow too strong even for the most powerful magician and will dominate England for time eternal.

Contents

• 48 Invitations
• 48 Introductions
• 33 Feats of Magic
• 24 Spells
• 6 Named Connexions
• 18 Books of Magic
• 12 Cards of Marseilles
• 4 Magician pieces in 4 colours
• 44 Wooden discs in 4 colours
• 1 Fairy disc
• 1 Year token
• The map of Europe and London
• 4 Magician boards: Mr Norrell, Jonathan Strange, John Segundus, and Miss Redruth
• 78 Spell element tokens in 6 elements: birds, hills, rain, stones, trees, and wind

Concepts & Components

Social Engagements

During the game, players will attend social engagements throughout London and Europe, playing cards from their hand when they reach certain locations. Players can also use these cards to do magic during their turn. Social engagement cards are kept secret in each player's hand. No player may have more than five social engagement cards in their hand at any time.

Invitations

Invitations represent the social events you are invited to attend across Europe. By attending them, you can get introductions to influential people and receive requests to perform great feats of magic.

1. You can always use an invitation to do magic of the card's element.
2. This reference reminds you that you can take up to two introductions or feats of magic when you attend the event.
3. The location tells you where you need to go to attend the event.
4. London locations are a different colour and are highlighted by the L symbol here.

Introductions

Introductions represent the important people of the era whom you have the opportunity to visit. By travelling and meeting them, you earn prestige, which affects turn order and lets you hire connexions.

1. You can always use an introduction to do magic of the card's element.
2. This prestige value indicates how much prestige you earn by meeting the person.
3. The location tells you where you need to go to meet the person.
4. London locations are a different colour and are highlighted by the L symbol here.

Magical Elements

Great acts of magic are how players will increase their magicianship during the game. Completing feats grants magicianship and immediately gives players access to powerful spells which offer a one-time benefit.

Element Tokens

When you do magic, you will place element tokens on your feats of magic. You may never save element tokens for later – they must be placed immediately onto a relevant feat. Once all the elements indicated are present, you perform the feat to spectacular effect! There are six types of magical element: birds, hills, rain, stones, trees, and wind. A further symbol refers to a spell element of any kind.

Feats of Magic

Completing feats of magic is essential for growing your magicianship, and lets you discover new spells. Feats are kept on the table in your player area.

1. The magicianship value tells you how much magicianship the card contributes when it has been completed.
2. The elemental requirement of the feat of magic indicates which element tokens need to be placed on the card for it to be completed.

Spells

Spells are powerful incantations which can be used for useful benefits during the game or can be discarded for prestige. Spells are kept secret in your hand, but do not count towards your limit of five invitations or introductions.

1. The spell effect tells you what happens when you cast the spell (example, Teilo's Hand: "Play an introduction card regardless of your current location.").
2. The prestige value reminds you that the card can be discarded for 1 prestige instead.

Player Area

Each player has a personal player area on the table, which represents their character's achievements and resources. It will contain their magician board and the feats of magic they are currently working on, as well as any named connexions and books of magic they have gathered to themselves.

Magician Boards

Your magician board represents your character and tracks the actions and connexions you have made throughout the game.

1. The silver basin stores your action discs during the game.
2. When you take an action, you will move a disc from the basin to the relevant action slot.
3. At the end of your turn, you will move the disc in the action slot to cover the action symbol to show that it is no longer available.
4. The effect gained from taking your unique action.
5. You will place a disc on the connexion type when you gain a new connexion.
6. The connexion effect gained from having a particular connexion.

The connexion types and their effects:

• Advisor: Once per turn, discard an introduction or invitation to draw a card of the same type.
• Man of Business: If you have fewer than five cards in hand at the end of your turn, draw an invitation.
• Confidant: Before choosing an action or stilling the waters, draw an introduction.
• Street Magician: Discard two cards of matching elements to place an element of any kind.
• Pupil: Worth 3 magicianship.
• Coachman: During one of your moves each turn, move up to two locations.

The unique action on Jonathan Strange's board reads: "You can do magic with one additional element of your choice this turn."

Named Connexions

Most connexions you make are useful, but some are even more advantageous. When you get the chance to gain a connexion, you can choose a named connexion for a special one-time benefit. Named connexions are kept on the table in your player area.

1. The connexion type indicates which connexion you mark with a disc on your magician board when you take the card.
2. The effect indicates the immediate benefit you get when taking the card (example, Davey, Coachman: "Move to any location on the board.").

Books of Magic

Books of magic empower you to do magic more effectively and increase your magicianship. Books are kept on the table in your player area. If you have your eye on a particular book, you should act quickly – certain books will become unavailable at the end of every round.

1. The cost indicates which type of card you must discard to use the book.
2. The effect indicates the number and type of element tokens generated by using the book.
3. The magicianship value reminds you that each book in your player area adds 1 to your magicianship.

Common Area

This is the main area in the centre of the table where the map of Europe and London is kept. All the various decks of cards are also kept here, within reach of all players. New cards are drawn from the relevant deck in the centre of the table, and when they are played they are discarded to a communal pile of each type. If a deck ever runs out, shuffle the discarded cards of that type (if any) to form a new deck.

The Cards of Marseilles

The cards of Marseilles reveal the prophecy of the Raven King and foretell the return of English magic. These cards are not dealt to the players, but instead are kept near the board. Each year, a new card of Marseilles is drawn which will affect all the players.

1. The fairy's strength indicates how much the fairy's power grows this year.
2. The invitation value tells you how many invitation cards to draw at the end of your turn.
3. The available elements limit what types of magic you can perform this turn. To do other types of magic, you will need to study.

Map of Europe and London

The map tracks your movements across the continent, as well as your prestige, the current year, and the fairy's strength.

1. The map of the City of London.
2. The map of Europe.
3. The locations are where you go to fulfil invitations and introductions.
4. The paths indicate how the locations are connected. All locations in London are connected to one another.
5. The London space is never occupied. Instead, you will always immediately move to one of the locations in the City of London.
6. The year tracker tells you which year it is and the raven symbol indicates those years on which you will confront the fairy at the end of your turn.
7. The fairy tracker tells you the current strength of the gentleman with the thistle-down hair, the magicianship value that you need to equal to defeat the fairy.
8. The prestige tracker is where you track your prestige, and determines player order. It has four marked connexion spaces.
9. The books of magic slots indicate where to place the available books of magic.
10. The feats of magic slots indicate where to place the available feats of magic.

Setup

• Place the map of Europe and London in the centre of the table.
• Shuffle each type of card separately to form seven decks and place these face-down near the board.
• Sort the spell element tokens by type and place them near the board.
• Draw three books of magic and place them in a line face-up near their slots on the edge of the board.
• Draw four feats of magic and place them in a line face-up near their slots on the opposite edge of the board.
• Draw two named connexions and place them face-up near the board.
• Place the fairy token on the raven space of the fairy tracker and place the year token on the first space of the year tracker.
• Give each player a magician board, along with the wooden discs and pawn in the matching colour. The area around each player's magician board is known as their player area. Players should leave enough room for the books and feats of magic they will acquire over the course of the game.
• Each player should place six discs in the centre of the silver basin on their magician board: these are their action discs.
• Take another disc from each player and stack them in a random order on the space of the prestige tracker showing the wax seal: these show each player's prestige and determine the turn order.
• The remaining discs will be used to gain connexions over the course of the game. Players should keep the remaining discs and their pawn to one side for now.
• Deal two invitations and two introductions to each player. These form their initial hand of cards and should be kept secret.
• Then deal three feats of magic to each player. These are kept face-up in their player area.

How to Play

Turn Sequence

The game is divided into twelve years, starting in 1806 and finishing at the very earliest in 1811 and at the latest in 1817. Each year, you will go through preparation as a group, and then individually take player turns. Once every player has taken their turn, you move on to the next year. The sequence looks like this:

Preparation

A. Move the year token B. Reveal a new card of Marseilles C. Draw a book of magic

Player turns

A. Choose an action or still the waters B. Visits C. Do magic D. Confront the fairy (if applicable) E. Draw invitations and tidy

Preparation

A. Move the year token

Skip this step in the first year of the game. Move the year token to the next space on the year tracker.

B. Reveal a new card of Marseilles

At the start of each year, draw a card of Marseilles and place it face-up near the board, covering the previous year's card. This card is the current card of Marseilles. You can always check the previously revealed cards should you wish.

Immediately move the fairy token up a number of spaces equal to the strength on the current card of Marseilles. The card also determines which elements you can do magic with this year, and how many invitations you will draw at the end of your turn.

C. Draw a book of magic

Skip this step in the first year of the game. Remove the face-up book of magic in the slot closest to the prestige tracker (marked red) and discard it into a face-up discard pile. Reveal a new book of magic from the deck and place it in the slot closest to the fairy tracker, moving the other books down. There will always be three available books of magic.

Player Turns

Starting with the player with the highest prestige, you will now take individual turns. If multiple players are on the same space of the prestige tracker, the player closer to the top of the stack gets to take their turn ahead of any players below them. Whenever you move your disc onto a space with other discs, always place yours on top.

Any cards you acquire which are portrait in orientation are kept secret in your hand. Any cards which are landscape in orientation are kept in the player area in front of you.

Once a player has finished their turn, the next player in turn order takes their turn, and so on until each player has taken a turn. A new round then begins with the preparation for the next year.

A. Choose an Action or Still the Waters

The first thing you do on your turn is choose one of the six available actions to perform this turn. To do so, move one of your action discs from the centre of the silver basin and place it in the relevant action's action slot. That action is now your current action. If an action symbol is covered by a disc you must choose another action.

Instead of choosing an action, you can still the waters. When you do so, return all action discs to the centre of the silver basin. On the turn after you still the waters, all actions will be available to you again. Each action will either have an immediate effect or will grant you a benefit during this turn.

Standard Actions

Each magician has the following standard actions:

• Take the King's Roads: Once this turn when you move, you can move to any location on the board.
• Acquire book of magic: Immediately take any of the three available books of magic and place it face-up in front of you. Reveal a new book of magic from the deck and place it in the slot closest to the fairy tracker, moving down any other available cards.
• Study rain and hills: When you do magic this turn, you can treat rain and hills as available elements, even if they're not shown on the current card of Marseilles.
• Study birds and stones: When you do magic this turn, you can treat birds and stones as available elements, even if they're not shown on the current card of Marseilles.
• Study trees and wind: When you do magic this turn, you can treat trees and wind as available elements, even if they're not shown on the current card of Marseilles.

Unique Actions

In addition to their standard actions, each magician has their own unique action. The effect of this action is listed on your magician board. (Jonathan Strange: you can do magic with one additional element of your choice this turn. John Segundus: you can use the ability of one connexion you do not have – see the example turn.)

Casting Spells

During the game, players will gain spells for completing feats of magic. During a player's turn spells can be played for a one-time benefit or be discarded to gain 1 prestige. Some spells can be played outside a player's turn. This will be specified on the card.

B. Visits

After you have chosen an action, you will move around the board fulfilling social engagements. At this point you may move your magician up to twice, and fulfil up to two invitations or introductions. This can happen in any order.

Moving Your Magician

You can move your magician to any adjacent location connected by a path. Some effects, like the take the King's Roads action or the coachman connexion, may change the way you move.

For your first move of the game, place your magician on any location on the board. This counts as one move towards your limit of two.

City of London

When you would move onto the London location, instead move to any location in the City of London. When you move from a location in the City of London, you can move to any other location in the City of London or to any location adjacent to the London location.

Fulfil Social Engagements

If your magician is in the location listed on an invitation or introduction in your hand, you can play it for its effect:

Invitation: Immediately draw two introductions, or take two of the available feats of magic, or draw one introduction and take one feat of magic. Introductions always go into your hand, and feats of magic are always placed face-up in front of you.

If any feats of magic were taken, reveal new feats from the deck until there are four available again.

Introduction: Immediately move your disc on the prestige tracker up the number of spaces indicated by the card. If your disc lands on the same space as other discs, place yours on top.

Connexions

If you move onto or past one of the marked connexion spaces on the prestige tracker, you immediately gain a connexion. When you do so, place a disc on any empty connexion space on your magician board. You immediately have access to the associated ability.

Named Connexions

When you would gain a connexion, you may choose one of the two available named connexions instead. Place the card face-up in front of you and immediately gain the listed effect. Then place a disc on the connexion space on your magician board indicated by the card. If that space is already filled, you cannot take that named connexion.

If you take a named connexion, reveal another card from the deck if possible.

C. Do Magic

To do magic, you must discard an invitation or introduction from your hand and place an element token of the matching type on a feat of magic in front of you. The element shown must either be:

1. An available element on the current card of Marseilles

OR

2. An element made available through your current study action (or Jonathan Strange's unique action).

You cannot place element tokens of other types. Element tokens must always be immediately placed on feats of magic where that element is shown. They cannot be saved for a later turn.

Completing a Feat of Magic

As soon as a feat of magic has element tokens on it that exactly match the number and type indicated, it is completed. Return all the element tokens to the supply and add the card to a face-down pile in front of you. It now contributes to your magicianship.

Immediately draw a spell from the deck. You may check your completed feats at any time, but you may not check the completed feats of other players.

Books of Magic

When you do magic, you can use any book of magic in your player area to enhance your powers. To do so, discard an invitation or introduction of the element specified by the book. Then place the token(s) specified by the book on one or more of your feats of magic. Finally, flip the card face-down as a reminder that you cannot use it again this turn.

The token you are placing must match the current card of Marseilles or your current study action, but the card you are discarding need not match. For example, you may discard a card of the trees element if you have a book which allows you to convert trees to a different type of magic, even if you cannot do magic with trees this turn. There are three possible forms a book of magic can take:

• Discard a card of a specified element to place two tokens of the same element.
• Discard a card of a specified element to place a token of any element.
• Discard a card of any element to place a token of the specified type.

D. Confront the Fairy

This step only occurs in 1811, 1813, 1815, and 1817. In any other year, skip this step.

Total all your magicianship from the following sources:

• Your completed feats of magic.
• Your books of magic.
• Your pupil, if you have one.
• Your played spells, if they grant magicianship.

If your total is less than the current strength of the fairy as shown by the fairy tracker, nothing happens, and you move on to the next step. You do not have to announce your total to the other players.

If your total is equal to or greater than the current strength of the fairy, you have defeated the gentleman with the thistle-down hair! Announce your achievement to the other players, and revel in your sophistication. The game immediately ends, and other players do not get to take their turns this round. However, they still have a chance to win if they have out-played you in an earlier turn! Move to the game end step to compare your scores.

E. Draw Invitations and Tidy

Draw the number of invitations indicated by the current card of Marseilles. If the deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile into a new deck.

If you have more than five cards in hand, you must now discard until you have only five cards left. Only invitations and introductions count towards this limit. There is no limit to the number of spells, books of magic, feats of magic, or named connexions you may have.

Flip any used books of magic face-up. If there is a disc in one of your action slots, move it so it covers the matching action symbol. Play now passes to the next player in turn order. Skip any player who has already taken a turn this year.

Game End

The moment the fairy is defeated, all players must immediately total their magicianship, adding magicianship granted by:

• Their completed feats of magic.
• Their books of magic.
• Their pupil, if they have one.
• Their played spells, if they grant magicianship.

Regardless of who defeated the fairy, the player with the highest total magicianship wins. If there is a tie, the winner is the player who is highest on the prestige tracker. If there is still a tie, the player whose disc is on top of the other wins.

If the gentleman with the thistle-down hair remains undefeated by the end of 1817, he extends his reign over all of England. No player can be considered the greatest magician of the age, but you may still compare magicianship to see who amongst you is the best.

Clarifications

• Any time a book or connexion would allow you to place one or more spell elements, the type you are placing must be allowed through the study action, Jonathan Strange's unique action, or the current card of Marseilles.
• If placing a spell element using the Street Magician or Viniculus connexion, it must be of a type which would otherwise be allowed this turn. You need not discard a matching invitation or introduction.
• You may use the Daedalus's Rose spell to place one of the spell types specified, regardless of whether it would otherwise be allowed this turn. You need not discard a matching invitation or introduction.
• If you need to draw any type of card but the deck is empty, shuffle all the cards in the matching discard pile into a new deck.

Advanced Difficulty

The fairy token will usually start on the first space (value 0) of the fairy tracker. If all players are experienced magicians, you can choose to start the game with the fairy token on space 4 of the fairy tracker for an added challenge. If all players are foolhardy magicians, you can instead choose to start the game with the fairy token on space 8 for a nearly impossible challenge.

When using the advanced difficulty, all players will lose the game if the fairy is undefeated.

An Example Turn

It's John Segundus's turn, and he needs to choose an action. He really wants to get across the board quickly to fulfil an introduction, but since the 'take the King's Roads' action has a disc on it, he cannot choose this action. He could still the waters so he can do it next turn, but he doesn't want to still the waters with only one action used. Instead he chooses to take his unique action, which lets him use the ability of one connexion he doesn't have. By choosing the coachman, he can now move further this turn!

Having resolved his action, John Segundus now moves on to the visits step, where he can fulfil up to two invitations or introductions and move up to twice. He starts by attending a private ball in Madrid, where he starts his turn, and in doing so fulfilling his invitation. He already has several feats of magic, so he decides to draw two new introductions, adding them to his hand.

Next, he wants to get to Padua to fulfil an introduction. Normally, it would take three moves, but as his unique action lets him use the coachman connexion, he is able to move two locations with one of his moves, so he moves two locations to Florence, then one location to Padua.

In Padua, he has the option of either attending a fashionable party he's invited to or a meeting with Flora Greysteel, but he can only fulfil one more introduction or invitation this turn. He decides to fulfil his introduction, earning him two prestige points, leaving the party invitation until next turn.

John Segundus wants to keep working on his next feat of magic. He plays a card from his hand showing the stones element, which lets him place a stones token on the feat. He also wants to play the trees card he has in hand, but the current card of Marseilles doesn't show trees as an available element, so he has to wait until a future turn. He decides to move on to the next step.

The year is 1811, so John Segundus must now confront the fairy. He adds up his magicianship, counting 11 from his completed feats of magic, 1 from his book of magic, and 3 from having the pupil connexion, for a total of 15. He compares that to the fairy strength tracker, which is at 18. He has failed to defeat the fairy, so the game continues and he draws two cards as specified by the current card of Marseilles. He doesn't have more than five invitation or introduction cards so doesn't need to discard, and he has no books of magic that need resetting, so he ends his turn.

Quick Reference

Preparation: Move the year token up one space (ignore in the first round). Reveal a new card of Marseilles: immediately increase the fairy's strength; this card determines the available element(s) and the number of invitations drawn this round. Draw a book of magic: discard the book closest to the prestige track, slide the rest down, and draw a replacement (ignore in the first round).

Player turns:

• Choose an action and place a disc in the action slot, or return all discs to the centre of the silver basin.
• Visits: move up to two times. Fulfil up to two invitations or introductions. Fulfilled invitations grant two introductions or feats of magic. Fulfilled introductions grant the prestige shown.
• Do magic: discard invitations and introductions to place the spell elements shown on feats of magic. Only elements allowed by the current card of Marseilles or your action may be placed.
• Confront the fairy: only in 1811, 1813, 1815, or 1817. Compare your magicianship to the fairy's strength. If it is lower, there is no effect. If it is equal or greater, the fairy is defeated; the game ends.
• Draw invitations and tidy: draw the number of invitations indicated by the card of Marseilles. Discard down to five invitation and introduction cards in hand. Flip books of magic face-up.

Actions: Take the King's Roads: move to any location on the board in one move. Acquire book of magic: take a book of magic, refill the supply. Study rain and hills, birds and stones, or trees and wind: you can place those element tokens.

Magicianship: +2/3/4/5 per completed feat of magic; +1 per book of magic; +1 per spell which grants magicianship; +3 for having a pupil.