Kellia: The Risk of the Desert Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Number of Players
• Introductory Version and Full Game
• Materiel
  • Cubes and Their Meaning
• Introductory Version: Setting Up the Game
• Introductory Version: How to Play
  • I. The Daytime
    • 1. Moving
    • 2. Contemplating the Desert
    • 3. Placing a Cube
    • In Times of Need: The Church
  • II. Evening and Night-time
    • 1. Go Home
    • 2. Pray
    • 3. Eat and Drink
    • 4. Night-time Incidents
    • 5. Squares and Cubes for the Morning
• Introductory Version: End of the Game
• Full Version
  • Character Cards
  • Full Version: Setting Up the Game
  • Full Version: How to Play
    • Game Duration
    • Daytime Actions
    • Obstacles
    • Evening and Night-time
    • End of the Game

Object of the Game

Kellia is a cooperative game: the players all win together or lose together.

The goal of each player is:

– to have food and water every day to survive in the desert

– before the end of the game, to have built their kellion, symbol of his or her whole life as amma or abba (prayer, work, contemplation, food …)

Number of Players

Kellia is best played with 3 or 4 players.

For a 2-player game, each player chooses two game tokens: the game is then played as a 4-player game.

Introductory Version and Full Game

There are two sets of rules for this game: the introductory version (p. 3) allows you to get familiar with a good part of the rules used in the full version (p. 8), which is more strategic and allows for more varied games.

Materiel

Note: In the introductory version, only the material indicated by [square brackets] is used.

• 19 desert squares
• 7 resource squares, each with a logo: palm tree, reeds, oasis, garden, tree, camel, cactus
• 7 improvements, each corresponding to a resource square
• 3 building squares: well, bread oven, basket workshop
• 3 obstacle squares: river (x2), mountain
• 3 pathways, one for each obstacle
• 10 incident cards: sandstorm (x4), drought (x2), famine, bandits, akedia, fasting
• 5 character cards, printed on both sides
• 5 kellion cards, printed on both sides
• a board
• 5 playing tokens
• a die
• 100 wooden cubes
• a reference card

Cubes and Their Meaning

Kellia is played with cubes of different colours:

• Food cubes: bread, roots, cactus…
• Water cubes: cactus juice, water, oasis…
• Work cubes: wood, camel hair…
• Attention cubes: cubes of attention to nature.
• Inner Life cubes.

The cubes are placed in a stock, next to the board. When cubes are to be placed on the board, or when players receive cubes, they are taken from this stock. When cubes are removed from the board, or a player discards cubes, they are returned to the stock.

At the end of each round, each player must discard one Food cube and one Water cube to survive. Players must also build their kellion with several of these cubes to win the game.

Introductory Version: Setting Up the Game

To play the introductory version, you need (see also the items indicated by [square brackets] on p. 2):

• 14 desert squares
• all resources, except the camel and the cactus
• all improvements, except the camel and cactus
• the well
• 6 incidents: 4 sandstorms, 1 famine, and 1 of the two droughts
• the board, the tokens, the die, and the wooden cubes.

The remaining material can be left in the box.

1. Shuffle and place the following squares face down on the board: 14 desert squares, the 5 resources, the well. The church is at the centre of the board.
2. Each player chooses a kellion and puts the corresponding playing token on it.
3. Each player receives (and puts in front of them): 1 Food cube, 1 Water cube, 1 Inner Life cube.
4. Beside the board, put: the improvements (face up); a pile of 6 incidents (face down): 4 sandstorms, 1 famine, 1 drought.

The calendar on the edge of the board is not used in the introductory version.

Introductory Version: How to Play

At the beginning of the game, the players designate an elder, who will always play first.

The game is played in 7 rounds, or days.

Each round is played as follows:

• I. Daytime: Each player plays his/her actions.
• II. Evening: There are several stages:
  • Go home, Pray, Eat and drink.
  • Incident, New Squares and Cubes for the Morning.

I. The Daytime

Each player plays his/her actions. The elder begins. When he/she has finished his/her actions, it is the turn of the next player, going round clockwise.

Each player can perform 3 actions during the day, from these 3 possibilities:

1. Moving
2. Contemplating the desert
3. Placing a cube.

When a player has performed 3 actions, they can choose to stop playing, or else to discard an Inner Life cube in order to gain 3 new actions. He or she can do this several times a day.

Important! Each player may never have more than 7 cubes, regardless of colour. Moreover, throwing cubes away is not allowed.

When a player moves to the same square as another player, they can freely give cubes to each other. However, it is never possible to give Inner Life cubes to each other.

Note: Collecting cubes or giving cubes to each other does not count as an action.

If a player arrives on a square that is face down, the player turns it over. If it is a resource square or the well, the cubes indicated are placed on it. The player can then immediately collect all or some of these cubes.

Also, if a player arrives on a square that is face up where there are cubes already, they can immediately collect them.

1. Moving

For an action, a player may move their token one square, following the lines on the board.

When they reach a square that is face down, the player turns it over.

2. Contemplating the Desert

By taking the time to contemplate the great desert spaces, the abbas and ammas become more sensitive to the environment in which they live.

For one action, a player on a desert square can contemplate the desert. He/she then receives 1 Attention cube, + 1 further Attention cube for each visible desert square around him/her.

Note: You can decide to take only some of the Attention cubes that you are entitled to receive.

3. Placing a Cube

For an action, a player may place one of their cubes on the square he or she is on.

This action can take two forms:

a. Taking care of a resource square. The player takes care of the resource square he/she is on by placing 1 Attention cube on the green logo of this square.

At the end of the day, a square which has been taken care of is covered by its improvement, which produces more cubes (see part II. Evening and night-time).

Note: On each Resource Square, the little cubes indicate what this square will produce once improved.

b. Building the kellion. When a player is in his or her kellion, he or she can use one of their cubes for building the kellion, following the colours needed. (2 actions in the illustrated example.)

Notes:

• Once a cube has been placed, it cannot be collected anymore.
• You can visit the kellion of another player, but you cannot build the kellion of someone else.

In Times of Need: The Church

1 action. Someone who is having trouble finding something to survive can beg at the church: there they will find other ammas and abbas who have been in the desert longer than he/she has, and who are willing to help.

When moving at the church, a player can choose to beg: if they do not have enough to survive, the church can give them only one of the cubes they lack (Food or Water).

Their turn is then immediately finished, even if they have actions or Inner Life cubes left. The only thing they can still do is exchange cubes with other players.

Notes:

• You can move to the church without begging.
• Moving to the church counts as an action, but begging is not an additional action.
• If you go to the church to beg, begging must be the first thing you do there. You can exchange cubes after begging, but not just before!

Tips for the daytime:

• In the first few rounds, don't hesitate to discard Inner Life cubes to explore the desert.
• Do not wait until the last rounds to build your kellia.

II. Evening and Night-time

When all the players have finished their actions, it is evening. The elder then announces the different stages, which everyone performs at the same time.

1. Go Home

Each player moves their token to their kellion.

2. Pray

The ammas and abbas end each of their days with prayer. Their praise is also nourished by what they have contemplated during the day.

During the prayer, each player receives 1 Inner Life cube. During the prayer, 3 Attention cubes can also be exchanged for an additional Inner Life cube (once per prayer).

Reminder: A player may never have more than 7 cubes. If he/she has 7 cubes already at prayer time, he/she does not receive the Inner Life cube.

Examples:

• A receives 1 Inner Life cube.
• B receives 1 Inner Life cube and exchanges 3 Attention cubes for 1 Inner Life cube.
• C already has 7 cubes, and so receives nothing.
• D has 7 cubes, but exchanges 3 Attention cubes for 1 Inner Life cube. He/she then has space also to receive their normal Inner Life cube.

3. Eat and Drink

Time for the meal! Each player must discard 1 Food cube and 1 Water cube.

If anyone does not have these 2 cubes at this point, everybody immediately loses the game!

Then it is night, and the beginning of a new day.

Before the day begins, two more steps are taken:

4. Night-time Incidents

Throw the die to know which part of the desert is affected.

Then take an incident card from the top of the pile. There are 3 possible incidents:

• a. Famine and b. Drought: In the area concerned, remove all cubes of the indicated colour. No cubes of this colour will appear there until the end of the day.
• c. Sandstorm: In the area concerned, remove all the squares, all the cubes, all the improvements… Everything has to be started all over again! Shuffle the removed squares, without looking at them, and put them back face down. These squares can be turned over again when visited during the day.

When the last incident card is drawn, there is one last day for the players to finish their kellion (while finding something to survive).

5. Squares and Cubes for the Morning

Each resource square that has been taken care of (see Placing a cube) is improved: remove the Attention cube, and cover the resource square with its improvement square.

New cubes are then added to the squares that produce cubes: do this so as to complete what is indicated on each square.

Note: When you add new cubes, don't forget to take into account the incident that took place.

When all of these steps are done, start a new day (see I. The Daytime).

Introductory Version: End of the Game

All players win if in the evening everyone has finished building their kellion and all have enough to survive (1 Food cube and 1 Water cube).

If in the evening at mealtime any of the players does not have the two cubes needed to survive, the game is immediately lost.

When the last incident card is drawn, there is one last day for the players to finish their kellion (while finding something to survive).

At the end of this last day:

• if one of the kellia is not finished, the game is lost;
• if all the kellia are finished, and all the players have enough to survive, they win the game… by the skin of their teeth!

Full Version

A brother said to Abba Theodore, "Speak a word to me, for I am perishing." "I am in danger myself… so what could I say to you?"

This set of rules gives the changes you need to make to the introductory version to integrate all the elements of the game. You need to have read and understood the rules of the discovery version first.

Note: the source prints "discovery version" here; it refers to the introductory version above.

Character Cards

Each amma and abba is special, with their own strengths, weaknesses and their personal way of living in the desert.

Each player chooses a character card with a special ability and the kellion to build that corresponds to it.

Some of these abilities refer to things that are explained on the following pages.

Note: the character cards' flavour text is omitted; the abilities are transcribed as printed.

• Amma Melania the Elder: She can perform one extra action each day. (An Inner Life cube still only lets her perform 3 more actions.)
• Abba Serapion the Sindonite: He can decide not to come home in the evening (to his kellion or to the church), and to stay on the square where he is. If any cubes appear there, he can collect them straight away. If he is on an Obstacle square, he can leave it in the morning in any direction he likes. If there is a sandstorm, the procedure is as usual, and then the square where he is is turned face up, as though he had just moved there. On Saturday evening, if he does not go to the church, he cannot participate in the meal together.
• Abba Paulos of Thebes: Once during the day, even if it is not his turn, he can send his raven to bring one of his Work cubes or Food cubes to another player. (This does not count as an action.)
• Abba Agathon of Egypt: To survive, he needs only one Attention cube. He begins the game with one Attention cube and an Inner Life cube. He can beg for this Attention cube. During the fast, he still has to discard one Attention cube.
• Amma Syncletica of Alexandria: When it is her turn she can exchange cubes with players who are on squares next to where she is. As with normal exchanges, this does not count as an action.
• Amma Sara of the Desert: She can possess up to 10 cubes, instead of only 7.
• Amma Alexandra: For one action, she can exchange 2 Work cubes for 2 Food cubes or 2 Water cubes.
• Amma Talida: When she is on the same square as another player, she can give him/her a word. This counts as one action. The other player then receives an Inner Life cube. She can do this only once per player each day.
• At the end of the prayer, just before the meal, he can pray for one player who needs a Water cube in order to survive. The player receives the Water cube he or she needs. Every evening, he can only pray in this way for one player. On Saturday evenings, Bessarion's prayer takes place before the meal together.

Full Version: Setting Up the Game

The complete version can be played at 3 levels of difficulty: Easy (★), Normal (★★), Difficult (★★★). The number of incidents used depends on the level chosen (see Game Duration below).

1. Each player places the kellion card of his/her character with the token of the corresponding colour on top of it.
2. Put a desert square face up in front of each kellion.
3. Each player receives (and puts in front of them): 1 Food cube, 1 Water cube, 1 Inner Life cube.
4. Shuffle and place the following squares face down on the remaining squares of the board: 10 desert squares, 3 random resources, the 3 obstacle squares.
5. Next to the board, place: the unused desert squares; improvements, buildings, and pathways (face up); 3 of the 4 other resources (face down) – the last resource goes back in the box.
6. Put a token on the starting square of the chosen difficulty level (for example, here to start a normal game).
7. Shuffle the incident cards and put them under the edge of the board, facing down, starting on the first day of the calendar after the token.

Each corner of the board represents the end of a week. On the night from Saturday to Sunday, the abbas and the ammas meet in the church (see the full-version evening steps below).

Full Version: How to Play

Game Duration

The number of incidents to be prepared depends on the difficulty level chosen.

Incident	Easy (★)	Normal (★★)	Difficult (★★★)
Sandstorm	4	4	3
Famine	1	1	1
Drought	2	1	1
Bandits	1	1	1
Fasting	1	1	1
Akedia	1	1	1
Total

At difficult level, there are two further possibilities.

• Expert: replace the fasting card by a sandstorm card.
• Random: use an extra sandstorm card, shuffle all the incident cards, and remove one of them without looking at it.

Daytime Actions

In the complete version of the game, placing a cube can be done in 5 ways:

a. Taking care of a resource square: as in the introductory version, the player places 1 Attention cube on the green logo of the resource square he/she is on.

b. Building the kellion: as in the introductory version.

c. Building a pathway (1 action). The player places a Work cube on the red logo of an obstacle square. At the end of the day, that square will be covered by the corresponding pathway: it will then become possible to move from it like any other square.

d. Building on a desert square (1 action). The player places a Work cube on a desert square. At the end of the day, that desert square will be replaced by a building square chosen by the players: the well, the bread oven or the basket workshop.

e. Bringing to life a desert square (1 action). The player places an Attention cube on a desert square. At the end of the day, that desert square will be replaced by one of the 3 remaining unused resources taken at random.

Obstacles

When a player moves onto an obstacle square, he/she can only leave it by going back in the direction he/she came from.

Notes:

• It is possible to exchange cubes on an obstacle square.
• The river produces 1 Water cube.
• When contemplating, the mountain counts as a desert square: the mountain can be contemplated too!

Evening and Night-time

At the end of each week, the ammas and the abbas meet in the church, to pray together, share a meal, and find out how the others are doing.

There are several changes in the evening steps.

1. Go home. This depends on the calendar:

• On a normal day, everyone goes home to their kellion.
• If the calendar token indicates Saturday (evening), all the players move their tokens to the church square.

Note: This movement to the church can not be used to beg.

2. Pray. (No change is printed for this step in the full version.)

3. Eat and drink. On a Saturday evening, after prayer, the abbas and the ammas share a common meal. This means that they can freely give each other cubes before and after the meal.

For example, if a player does not have a Water cube but another player has 2 of them, everything is fine. Inner Life cubes cannot be exchanged.

4. Night-time incidents. First, move forward the token on the calendar. Then, turn up the incident card of the corresponding new day and put it back in the same place, face up.

• a. Famine and b. Drought: (no change is printed in the full version; the introductory rule applies.)

• c. Sandstorm: In the full version, a sandstorm makes one square disappear.

  • In the sector concerned, remove all the squares, all the cubes, all the improvements… everything has to be started all over again!
  • The players chose together an empty square where they put a completely new desert square (facing up).
  • Shuffle the squares that have been removed, without looking at them, and put them back face down. The one square which is left over is removed completely from the game without anyone looking at it.

  Notes: The kellia are not affected by sandstorms. To avoid having an obstacle right in front of a kellion, you can put the new desert square there.

• d. Bandits: When the Bandits card is drawn, each player must discard one cube of their choice (it can be an Inner Life cube).

• e. Fasting: This card announces a day of fasting for all. The following evening, the abbas and ammas will not need to discard Food and Water cubes for the meal. During the fast, it is not possible to beg at the church.

• f. Akedia: The worst enemy of the ammas and the abbas: weariness as days pass, tiredness with all spiritual things, aridity in prayer. When the akedia card is drawn, all the players immediately lose all their Inner Life cubes!

Note: The throw of the die has no effect for bandits, fasting and akedia.

5. Squares and Cubes for the Morning. Before the cubes appear, the following changes are made:

• A desert square where a Work cube has been placed is replaced by a building of your choice (face up).
• A desert square where an Attention cube has been placed is replaced by a random resource (face up).
• A resource square where an Attention cube has been placed is covered by its improvement.
• An obstacle square where a Work cube has been placed is covered by its pathway.

These Work and Attention cubes are then removed.

Notes:

• In an area affected by a sandstorm, the cubes placed have disappeared before step 5: there are therefore no improvements, pathways, or new squares.
• When there are no more resource or building squares left, the cube is removed, and the desert square is not replaced.

Once these steps are done, we start a new day. On Sunday morning, the players start from the church.

End of the Game

The last round/day takes place when the token on the calendar arrives at the last place. This day is a Saturday: at the end of the last day, the players meet at the church, and can help each other to survive the last day.