Prince's Gambit
Prince's Gambit Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Setup
The Prince's Gambit requires six to eight players. These players will belong to one of two sects: the Camarilla, which styles itself as the aristocracy of the night, or the Sabbat, a death cult steeped in fire and blood.
I. Loyalty Cards
As indicated below, add a number of Camarilla and Sabbat Loyalty cards and shuffle them.
| Number of Players | Camarilla Loyalties | Sabbat Loyalties | Camarilla Praxis |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| 7 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
| 8 | 5 | 3 | 10 |
Deal Loyalty cards, one per player, from the shuffled deck.
A player may claim and talk about her sect all she likes, but players may not show each other their Loyalty cards to prove their sect allegiance until the game is over.
Next, all players close their eyes and one player counts to three. On the three-count, only the Sabbat players open their eyes and confirm each other's identities. Thereafter, count to three again, after which all players open their eyes at once, so the Camarilla players do not know each other's true Loyalty.
II. Clan Cards
Deal Clan cards, one per player, from a shuffled deck of all eight Clan cards. Players place their Clan cards face-up in front of them.
Set aside the remaining Clan cards; they won't be used.
III. Traits
Shuffle the Trait cards into three stacks by type, and set these draw piles face-down on top of the appropriate Trait type card. For example, Physical cards are shuffled and placed face-down on the card designating the Physical draw pile.
Each player chooses four Trait cards, one of each type (Physical, Mental, Social), plus one of the player's choice.
Keep the Trait draw piles conveniently available to all players. Trait cards have values of 2, 3, or 5.
A player may not show her hand of Trait cards to another player to prove their types or values. She can claim and talk about the values of her Trait cards all she likes, however, whether or not those claims are true. When discussing Trait values in this way, players may not claim specific numbers, but may use descriptive phrases such as "I will be minimally able to contribute this time" or "I'm very well suited to helping this Intrigue."
A player's maximum hand size is four Trait cards, unless otherwise stipulated. Players may not trade or gift Trait cards among each other.
IV. Prestige
Give every player three Prestige counters (or you can use pennies, glass beads, or any other convenient token).
V. Initial Intrigues
Shuffle the Intrigue cards and place three, face-up, in the center of the table, visible to all players.
VI. Prince's Favor and Seats
Determine randomly which player will begin the game with the Prince's Favor card. This player is "Seat one" for the purposes of awarding Prestige (see below) and other players increase the Seat numbers clockwise. Give each player their corresponding Seat card, which should remain visible to all players.
[Transcriber's note: the rulebook's sample play-area layout (page 2) and the labelled play-area diagram (page 6) are illustrations and are not transcribed.]
Turn Sequence
I. Choosing Intrigues
The player with the Prince's Favor selects an Intrigue and chooses an appropriate number of players to conduct it. The number of players who must be assigned to an Intrigue is indicated on each card. The player need not include herself among the Intrigue participants.
The Difficulty of each Intrigue is also indicated on the card. Intrigues have Difficulties of 5, 8, or 13.
[Card shown in the rulebook: "Repel the Crusade", Physical 13, 3 Praxis, 4 Players.]
II. Resolving Intrigues
A. Collect
The players named to participate in the Intrigue submit a number of Trait cards face down to the player with the Prince's Favor. The player with the Prince's Favor dictates the order in which participating players submit their face-down cards. Each player participating in the Intrigue may submit none, any, or all of his Trait cards.
Players not participating in the Intrigue turn in no cards.
B. Reveal
The player with the Prince's Favor shuffles the cards collected from the players and reveals them. Trait cards of the same Trait type as the Intrigue contribute their value to the Difficulty total required to succeed at the Intrigue. Trait cards of other Trait types subtract their value from the Difficulty total required to succeed at the Intrigue.
If the sum of the Trait equals or exceeds the Difficulty for the Intrigue, it succeeds and the Camarilla gains the number of Praxis points listed on the Intrigue.
If the sum of the Trait is less than the Difficulty for the Intrigue, it fails and the Sabbat takes the Intrigue.
Ex.: Resolving an Intrigue, Player Two reveals Trait cards totaling 9 Physical and 3 Mental. The Difficulty of the Intrigue is Physical 5. Nine Physical minus the 3 Mental equals 6 Physical, so the Intrigue is successful, and scored for the Camarilla. But now the players know there's probably Sabbat member among these particular Intrigue participants....
Resolved Intrigues are moved to the appropriate scoring area for the sect that claimed them (see below).
Discard the Trait cards used for this Intrigue face-up below their appropriate draw piles. If a Trait draw pile runs out of cards, simply shuffle the discarded Trait cards of that type and create a new draw pile.
C. Prestige Award
After the Intrigue is resolved, each player (not just the players conducting the Intrigue) simultaneously chooses another player, indicating that player's Seat number by a show of fingers.
Table talk is permitted — indeed, encouraged! — before the simultaneous reveal of who's granting Prestige to whom. Players don't have to honor any promises they make, but they do have to reveal their recipient at the same time all other players do.
Once all players have simultaneously indicated another player, each player receives one Prestige for every other player who has shown their Seat number. This Prestige award is taken from the pool of available Prestige tokens, not the Prestige of the player who indicated her.
Ex.: After an Intrigue, Player Two and Player Three indicate Player Five with a show of fingers. Player Five receives two Prestige from the pool.
A player may not choose himself for this reward. He must choose one of the other players.
D. Upkeep
Take another Intrigue from the shuffled deck of Intrigue cards and place it in the center with the others.
There should always be three Intrigues from which to select when a new turn begins.
Pass the Prince's Favor to the player with the most Prestige. (This may be the player who already has it.) In case of a tie, pass the Prince's Favor to the player with the most Prestige closest to the previous Prince's Favor holder's left.
E. Replenish Traits
All players (not just those who participated in the Intrigue) may redraw a single Trait card, of the type of their choice. Players who are already at their maximum hand size of four may not draw an additional Trait card, however.
III. Scoring Intrigues and Victory
Each Intrigue has a Praxis point value.
The Camarilla gains the Praxis value for each Intrigue that is successfully resolved. The Sabbat doesn't care about Praxis value; it merely wants Intrigues to fail.
If the Camarilla gains the total Praxis value as determined by the number of players (see above), the Camarilla has consolidated its influence over the city and is declared the winner. If the Sabbat claims three Intrigues, regardless of their Praxis value, it has destabilized the domain, sent the Prince into exile, and is declared the winner. The game ends when one sect or the other has achieved its victory condition.
Once the game has ended, players may reveal their Loyalty cards.
Usurping the Prince's Favor
After an Intrigue is resolved, and once the Prince's Favor has passed to the player with the most Prestige, a player may attempt to steal the Prince's Favor for herself. The player initiates this by bidding one or more Prestige.
Any other players may respond and attempt to seize the favor for themselves by bidding at least one more Prestige than the previous player — including the player who already has the Prince's Favor. Bids happen one at a time, to the left of the player who currently possesses the Prince's Favor; two players cannot bid the same amount and both be in contention to usurp.
While someone is attempting to usurp the Prince's Favor, players may gift their own Prestige to other players, in order to aid another's influence. This gift occurs immediately, and is added to the usurping player's Prestige bid. Players may gift Prestige in this manner repeatedly, or in one sum, at their discretion, but only during an attempt to usurp.
Once players choose not to increase the bid, the player who has bid the most receives the Prince's Favor and may then select, choose participants for, and resolve the next Intrigue.
Once a challenge for the Prince's Favor has been resolved, all Prestige bids are collected and returned to the Prestige pool, regardless of whether the players who bid actually won the Prince's Favor.
Usurping the Prince's Favor may happen only once before another Intrigue is chosen and resolved. That is, players may not wait for one player to bid one Prestige to take the Prince's Favor, and then usurp the Prince's Favor again for one Prestige before that player chooses and resolves the next Intrigue.
The Prince's Favor may not be usurped in the first turn of play (before any Intrigues are chosen and resolved).
Clan Disciplines
Each player represents a unique Clan, as distinguished by the card that begins play face-up in front of her. Each Clan has its own Discipline, which the player may invoke once per game. To do this, the player must pay the Prestige cost of invoking the Discipline, in circumstances specified on the Clan card.
After using a Clan Discipline, the player turns the Clan card upside-down (not face-down) to show that it is exhausted, and may not be used again in play.
Clan Brujah's Discipline is Celerity. The player may draw two additional Trait cards when it is invoked. The player keeps these Trait cards until they are used in an Intrigue. So long as the player has four or more Trait cards, she may not replenish Traits after an Intrigue. This costs 1 Prestige to invoke.
Clan Gangrel's Discipline is Protean: The Gangrel player chooses another player, and that player may not participate in the next Intrigue. The Gangrel player may choose to use the Protean Discipline on a player who has been named to an Intrigue before that Intrigue is resolved, in which case the player with the Prince's Favor must name another player to replace her on the Intrigue. This costs 2 Prestige to invoke.
Clan Malkavian's Discipline is Dementation: After an Intrigue is chosen but before players contribute any Trait cards, the Malkavian player may increase or decrease that Intrigue's Difficulty by 3. This costs 1 Prestige to invoke.
Clan Nosferatu's Discipline is Obfuscate: After an Intrigue is resolved but before a new one is put in play, the Nosferatu player looks at the next two Intrigues without showing them to the other players and chooses which one to put in play. The discarded Intrigue is placed at the bottom of the Intrigue deck. This costs 1 Prestige to invoke.
Clan Toreador's Discipline is Presence: The Toreador player collects a total of 7 Prestige from any combination of players and redistributes it as she sees fit among players other than herself. If the chosen players don't have 7 Prestige among them, the Toreador player simply takes what Prestige is available among them. This Advantage cannot be invoked during an attempt to usurp the Prince's Favor, but can be used before such an attempt. This costs 3 Prestige to invoke.
Clan Tremere's Discipline is Thaumaturgy: The Tremere player chooses any other player, who then refreshes her exhausted Clan Discipline. This costs 2 Prestige to invoke.
Clan Ventrue's Discipline is Dominate: The Ventrue player may reclaim his Prestige bid after attempting to usurp or retain the Prince's Favor. The Ventrue player reclaims only his own Prestige, not any Prestige gifted by other players (keep these distinct during the bid), which return to the pool as normal. This costs 3 Prestige to invoke, and cannot be paid from Prestige that would be reclaimed.
The Caitiff are not a true Clan, but have the Discipline of Mysterious Lineage: A Caitiff player may use any of the Disciplines that any Clan at the table possesses, whether or not that Clan Discipline has been exhausted. Invoking Mysterious Lineage costs +1 Prestige as the Discipline being invoked. For example, if a Caitiff player chose to invoke the Gangrel's Protean Discipline, she would pay 3 Prestige.
[Transcriber's notes: this is the preview edition, which uses eight Clan cards (Brujah, Gangrel, Malkavian, Nosferatu, Toreador, Tremere, Ventrue, Caitiff) and 6–8 players; the BGG description refers to a larger Clan list, so the retail booklet may differ. Printed typos are normalised in this transcription: "IntrigueS" is set as "Intrigues" and the hyphenated "re- solved" is set as "re-solved". The Clan Discipline text prints "Advantage" for the Toreador's Presence, kept as printed. The card-face text (Intrigue, Trait and Clan card art, including card titles and flavour lines other than the example card above) is not transcribed.]