Michael Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Game Overview
• Anatomy of the Cards
  • Personality Cards
  • Statement Cards
  • Object and Special Object Cards
  • Michael and Edward Cards
  • Specialist Cards
• Game Setup
• Game Flow
  • The Memories
  • The Sessions
  • Actions
  • 1. Talk to a Personality
    • Choose a Personality
      • Blocking
    • Add Stress
    • Listen to the Personality
    • Edward Loses Control
  • 2. Resolve a Personality
  • 3. Give or Receive an Object
  • 4. Close the Session
• End of the Turn
• Victory Conditions
• Defeat Conditions
• Setup for 1, 2 or 3 Players
• FAQ
• Prologue

Game Components

• 150 cards, divided into:
  • 1 Michael card
  • 24 Personality cards (12 Known in colour, 12 Excluded in black and white)
  • 4 Specialist cards
  • 4 External Character cards
  • 7 Special Object cards
  • 20 Object cards
  • 90 Statement cards
• 2 purple tokens: 1 Edward's Stress, 1 Michael's Stress
• 1 white Pill token
• 1 black Active Psychiatrist (Active Specialist) token
• 1 red Active Personality token
• 1 rulebook

Game Overview

Michael is a cooperative game with a strong narrative component. The goal of the game is to resolve the 24 Personalities living inside Michael within 4 rounds, from now on called Sessions, taking great care not to bring Michael to the maximum level of Stress.

The players play a team of Psychiatrists and Psychologists (from now on just called Specialists) and, as such, must pay attention to everything the various Personalities have to tell. Listening to and correctly interpreting the information provided by the Personalities will allow the Specialists to Resolve the problems of the Personalities themselves, giving them what they need.

Anatomy of the Cards

Important: do not look at the cards unless expressly instructed by the game, and the cards always take precedence over the rulebook.

Personality Cards

If the Personality card is in colour, the Personality is called Known; if the Personality card is in black and white, the Personality is called Excluded.

• Front: image of the Personality, name and the related Memory.
• Back: the Memory, and whether the Personality is Known or Excluded.

Statement Cards

The Personalities will give you clues about where to find the Objects they need. Pay great attention to what they have to say!

• Front: the Personality's name and role; the Personality's statement, with the requested Object in red; the Effect; the number of the current Session; the Object that the Personality will hand over once Resolved.
• Back: the name of the Personality and the Session number.

Object and Special Object Cards

• Front: image of the Object, the Object's name and the Memory it is tied to, the number of the Object.
• Back: Object back; Special Object back shows the number of the Special Object.

Michael and Edward Cards

• Michael card: Michael's Stress level track (0 to 9), the Session track (I, II, III, IV) and the number of the current Session.
• Edward card ("Edward, Guardian"): Edward's Stress level track (0, 1, 2, X).

Specialist Cards

Nathan Panning, Daphne Gazzan, Julia Tamanov, Maurice Baron (four of the Specialists). Each card has a front and a back.

Game Setup

This setup is for a 4-player game. For the 1-2-3 player setup see "Setup for 1, 2 or 3 Players".

1. Take the Michael card and place it face up.
2. Take the purple Michael's Stress token and the white Pill token and place them on Michael's card respectively: on the value 0 (starting value of Michael's Stress level); on the value "I" (the value that marks the passing of Sessions).
3. Take the Known Personality card called Edward and place it face up next to the Michael card; take the purple Edward's Stress token and put it on space 0 of his card.
4. Take the remaining Personality cards and separate the Known Personalities from the Excluded Personalities: shuffle the Known Personalities and place them face up, creating two rows of 6 Personalities each. Shuffle the Excluded Personalities and place them face down (without looking at them), creating two rows of 6 Personalities each.
5. Take the Object and Special Object cards, shuffle them separately and place them next to the Personalities.
6. Take the four External Character cards and place them face down in increasing order of value (from 1 to 4, without shuffling) next to the Personalities.
7. Take Dennis's Statement card, which bears on its back his name and the 4 Session symbols and, without looking at it, place it face down on his card.
8. Take the card called Epilogue and, without looking at it, place it next to the deck itself.
9. Divide the Statement card decks according to the Session number shown on the back and, without looking at or shuffling the cards, place them within reach of all players.
10. Each player chooses a Specialist, takes the relevant card and places it in front of themselves.
11. The players choose who will be the first player: this player takes the black Active Specialist token and the red Active Personality token and places them next to their Specialist card.
12. Before starting your first game of Michael, read the Prologue.

Game Flow

The Memories

Michael developed the 24 Personalities over the course of his life: this can be divided into 4 main periods, which from now on we will call Memories. Each Personality is therefore closely connected to one of these Memories.

The Memories are:

• Childhood (Infanzia): Michael's memories as a child, connected to his family;
• Everyday Life (Quotidianità): Michael's memories linked to daily life, school and work;
• Prison (Prigione): memories linked to the time spent in prison;
• Asylum (Manicomio): memories concerning the last period of Michael's life, when he was transferred from prison to the psychiatric hospital.

The Sessions

The game is divided into 4 rounds, called Sessions. Each Session is made up of a variable number of turns that depends on the players' choices. Turns are played starting from the first player and proceeding clockwise.

Actions

During their turn the players, as the 4 Specialists, can perform the following Actions, but each one can be performed only once per turn. A player may therefore perform all 4 of the following actions, but may never repeat the same action twice in their turn.

The Actions are:

1. Talk to a Personality;
2. Resolve a Personality;
3. Give or Receive an Object;
4. Close the Session.

1. Talk to a Personality

Talking to a Personality means interacting directly with one of Michael's 24 Personalities. To do so, the Specialist must, in exactly the order indicated:

You are beginning to explore Michael's mind. To choose the Personality to get in touch with, rely on the analysis of their Memories...

Choose a Personality

First of all the Specialists may discuss among themselves to decide which Personality to interact with. Once it is decided whom to Talk to, the Active Specialist places the red token on the corresponding Personality card: from now on that Personality is called Active. If the selected Personality card is face down, it is always turned face up.

The Specialist can Talk to any Personality, whether face up or face down, except:

• the Blocked Personalities (see Blocking);
• the Personality that already has the red Active Personality token on it: it is therefore not possible to Talk twice consecutively to the same Personality.

Example: Maurice Baron, Active Specialist, decides to Talk to Sarah. Once his Action is concluded, the Active Specialist token passes to Julia Tamanov, who can talk to any Personality except the Blocked ones and Sarah.

Blocking

When, because of the effect of a card, a Personality or an Object is Blocked, it is placed under the card that activated the effect. It is not possible to interact in any way with a Blocked card until the card that activated the Block effect is Resolved. When a Personality is Unblocked, it becomes available to be consulted again and keeps its status (face down or face up). When an Object is Unblocked, it is given to the Active Specialist.

Add Stress

After choosing the Personality to Talk to, the Active Specialist must immediately increase the Stress level. On both the front and the back of the Personality cards, in the bottom right corner, it is indicated which Stress value(s) must be increased by talking to the selected Personality.

• If the chosen Personality is Known and the card is face up, increase Michael's Stress by 1 (+1).
• If the chosen Personality is Excluded, face down or face up, or is a Known Personality card that is face down, increase by 1 both Michael's Stress (+1) and Edward's Stress (+1).

Edward, the first of the Known Personalities you will meet (see Game Setup), is the Guardian: his role is to prevent the Excluded Personalities from interacting with the outside world, so that they cannot hurt Michael by acting in dangerous ways toward others or Michael himself.

Edward would like the Excluded Personalities never to interact with the outside... but sooner or later you will have to face them all. Make sure you are ready...

If you Talk to a Personality you have already Talked to during the same Session, its Effect is not applied again, but Stress is added as indicated above. Unless otherwise indicated by the Effect of the Statement card, the Personality you have just Talked to remains face up.

Listen to the Personality

The Active Specialist must now take the Statement card corresponding to the Personality and the number of the current Session, read it aloud and, after applying its effect, place it face up on top of the Active Personality card.

Every Personality has a precise role. Understanding this role is fundamental to understanding the connections among the Personalities... Keep in mind that you will never find two identical roles in the story!

Edward Loses Control

Edward can keep only a few Personalities at bay at a time so, when the token on his card reaches the X, he loses control. This means that the Active Specialist, once the current Talk action is finished, must immediately perform another Talk action with an Excluded Personality of their choice, without being able to perform any action between one Personality and the other.

Example: Michael's Stress is at 4 and Edward's at 2. The Active Specialist decides to talk to an Excluded Personality, so Michael goes to 5 and Edward reaches the X. After reading the Statement card of the selected Personality and applying its effects, without being able to do any other action, the Active Specialist must immediately Talk to another Excluded Personality. So Michael's Stress goes to 6 and Edward returns to 0, the Statement card of the new Personality is read and the effects applied. At that point the Active Specialist's turn continues as usual.

Note: during the phase just described it is not possible to Close the Session (see Close the Session).

2. Resolve a Personality

Every Personality living in Michael's mind has their own aspirations and desires. The Specialists' task is to listen to the requests of the different Personalities and try to fulfil them. Once they get what they need, the Personalities are ready to merge again as one in Michael's mind.

After Talking to a Personality, the Active Specialist can Resolve it, and to do so must:

• Hand over the requested Object, that is the word indicated in red on the Statement card of the Active Personality; if a Personality requests more than one Object, the Active Specialist can give ONLY ONE of the requested Objects; to Resolve it you must wait until the second Object is also handed over, not necessarily by the same Specialist, but obligatorily in the same Session;
• If available, take the Object shown on the Statement card of the Resolved Personality (the number is indicated on the box icon in the bottom right corner) and keep it next to their own Specialist card;
• Discard the Personality card, the Statement card and the handed-over Object;
• Decrease Michael's Stress by 1 (-1): you are helping Michael Resolve his Personalities, so his Stress is being reduced.

Note: in this phase, Edward does not recover Stress.

3. Give or Receive an Object

The Active Specialist can decide to give to / receive from another Specialist a single Object, increasing Michael's Stress by 1 (+1). It is not possible to Give or Receive a Special Object.

4. Close the Session

By common agreement, the Specialists can decide, whenever they want, to close the current Session, but this will be the last action of the turn. To close the Session, the Specialists:

• Must take all the Statement cards of the current Session (deck, discards and cards placed on the Personalities) and put them back in the box. The only one that always remains in play is Dennis's, if present.
• All Blocked Personalities and/or Objects remain Blocked, and all Personalities keep the status they are in (face down or face up). All Objects placed on Personalities that have not yet been Resolved (that is, Personalities that require 2 Objects) are freely reassigned to the Specialists. Also, Michael's and Edward's Stress levels remain unchanged.
• Must move the Active Personality token onto Edward;
• May exchange any Objects (without adding Stress to Michael);
• Must move the Pill token on Michael's card to the space for the Session they are about to face;
• Must make available to all players the next deck of Statement cards in numerical order;
• Finally, the Specialists must consult the External Character relating to the new Session and immediately apply its effects.

Special Action: Pass the Turn

If the Active Specialist decides not to perform any of the Actions above, they can choose to Pass the turn to the next Specialist, at the cost of 1 Stress of Michael (+1). Every time this special action is performed, the Active Personality token is moved onto Edward. The next Active Specialist can therefore choose which Personality to Talk to without the restriction of the Active Personality (see Talk to a Personality).

Remember!

Each action can be performed only once during the Active Specialist's turn, and card effects always prevail over the rulebook!

End of the Turn

At the end of the turn the Active Specialist token is passed to the next Specialist card, clockwise.

Victory Conditions

The players win the game if they manage to Resolve all 24 Personalities within 4 Sessions and without exceeding the maximum Stress level Michael can bear (9).

Note: the last Personality to be Resolved is always Edward. He is Resolved automatically (no action is needed) when all the other 23 Personalities have been Resolved.

Defeat Conditions

The game is immediately and automatically lost if Michael's Stress exceeds the maximum Stress value (9).

Setup for 1, 2 or 3 Players

The setup for 1, 2 or 3 players is the same as for the 4-player game, with the only difference that one player will control more than one Specialist. Therefore, regardless of the number of players, all 4 Specialists must always be used during the game.

The game flow is the same: each Specialist plays one turn, and interaction with the Personality cards is possible only for the Active Specialist. Objects are assigned to the Specialist cards exactly as in a 4-player game, so only the Active Specialist can interact with the Personalities and make use of the Objects assigned to them.

In a 2-player game, we suggest assigning 2 Specialists to each player, while in a 3-player game, assigning 2 Specialists to the most experienced player.

FAQ

If I must apply Edward's effect when he reaches the X but there are no other Excluded Personalities available because none are on the table or all are Blocked, what do I do? In this case, having no Excluded Personality to apply the effect to, the effect is not applied. Michael's Stress does not increase (not having Talked to a new Excluded Personality) and Edward returns to 0.

If only one Personality remains to talk to (because it is the last one or because the others are all Blocked), can I perform the Talk action twice consecutively with two different Specialists? No, it is not possible. The Active Specialist must use the special "Pass" action, which, at the cost of +1 Stress of Michael, allows passing the turn to the next Specialist, moving the Active Personality token onto Edward. The next Specialist can then return to the Personality and perform the Talk action again, applying Stress but not applying the Personality's effect again, as per the rules.

If I talk to a Personality and as an effect must turn it face down, can I Resolve it if I have the Object it requires? Yes: having Talked to it, its Statement card is placed on the Personality card. So if the Active Specialist has the requested Object, they can Resolve it even if the Personality was turned face down because of an effect.

Some Statement cards have the term "Resolve immediately" in their effect; what does it mean? When an effect says "if you cannot resolve it immediately", it means that this effect will apply only if the Active Specialist, with their next action, is unable to Resolve that Personality.

Prologue

Once you arrive at Michael's house, on the doorstep you find Grace, his mother. She has you sit in the living room where she has already prepared 4 comfortable armchairs. Michael is there staring at you without speaking. Grace whispers something in his ear and, showing no emotion, he turns to you and says:

"I am Edward and I am the guardian. I have control of everything and everyone in here, I decide who can speak and who cannot... but it is hard, it is terribly hard, to keep them at bay. I do not know how long I can hold out... be quick..."

His mother shakes her head, moves away and pulls a box from under the sofa. She walks toward you and, in a faint voice and with eyes full of tears, whispers...

YOUR GAME STARTS HERE: TURN OVER AND READ EXTERNAL CHARACTER CARD 01.