Riftforce Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Guilds
• Setup: Guild Selection
• Setup: General
• Setup: Personal
• Gameplay
  • A) Play
  • B) Activate
  • C) Check & Draw
• Guild Abilities
• Game End
• FAQ: General
• FAQ: Guilds

Components

• 110 cards: 10 guilds (1 summoner + 9 elementals each), bilingual
• 5 locations
• 2 score track halves
• 3 overviews (bilingual)
• 28 tokens: 25 damage, 2 Riftforce markers, 1 start marker

Goal of the Game

Destroy your opponent's elementals and control locations along the Rift to gain Riftforce. The player with the most Riftforce at the end of the game wins!

Guilds

At the beginning of the game you choose 4 guilds each, with which you will face each other in the battle for Riftforce. Each guild consists of 1 summoner and 9 elementals.

In the upper corners of each elemental you can find a number and a symbol. The number represents the life points of the elemental and the symbol indicates its guild.

• 4 elementals show the number five.
• 3 elementals show the number six.
• 2 elementals show the number seven.

All elementals of a guild have the same ability which is described on their summoner.

The opponent's elementals are referred to as "enemies" and your own elementals are referred to as "allies".

Setup: Guild Selection

Shuffle the 10 summoners and randomly remove 1 of them. Then each of you draws 1 random summoner. Display the remaining 7 summoners in a line. Choose 1 Riftforce marker each.

Determine who starts to select their next summoner by tossing the start marker. Then proceed in turn, selecting 1 summoner alternately until you each have 4 summoners.

Remove the last summoner. Place both removed summoners and their elementals back into the game box. These guilds will not be used in this game.

Setup: General

1. Place the 2 halves of the score track next to each other so the numbers are in ascending order. Choose which side of the cards you want to use depending on your table size.
2. Place your Riftforce markers next to the score track.
3. Place the 5 locations in a row between you and your opponent to create the Rift.
4. Place the damage on the table to form the general supply.
5. Place the 3 overviews next to the play area.

Setup: Personal

6. Select your guilds as described in the Guild Selection. Display your 4 summoners next to the score track. Place the start marker next to it if you started in the Guild Selection.
7. Collect all 36 elementals of your 4 guilds. Shuffle them together thoroughly and then place them face down to form your draw pile.
8. Leave some room next to your draw pile for your discard pile which will form during the game.
9. Draw 7 elementals from your draw pile to form your starting hand.
10. The player without the start marker, afterwards places the top elemental of their draw pile face up at the middle location.

Gameplay

The player with the start marker begins the game. Perform 1 action alternately.

There are 3 different actions:

• A) Play
• B) Activate
• C) Check & Draw

A) Play

Play up to 3 elementals from your hand to locations on your side of the Rift. They must either all show the same symbol or all show the same number.

You can play these elementals either individually to adjacent locations or together in an order of your choice all to the same location. If you are playing elementals to adjacent locations, you can only play 1 elemental per location.

Note that the outermost locations on both ends are not considered adjacent to each other.

If you play elementals to a location with previously played elementals present, place the new elementals on top, ensuring the numbers and symbols of all elementals are clearly visible.

B) Activate

First discard 1 elemental from your hand face up onto your discard pile. Activate up to 3 elementals that either all show the same number or all show the same symbol as the just discarded elemental. The elementals you activate can be at any location and do not have to be adjacent to each other.

When you activate an elemental, it uses the ability described on its guild's summoner. You must resolve all steps of the ability in order from top to bottom as much as you can.

When elementals change their position through abilities they are placed at the last position of the new location.

With most abilities you will place damage on the "first enemy". This is the elemental closest to the location. Take the damage from the general supply.

When you activate an elemental, resolve its ability completely and then check if you destroyed any elementals before activating your next elemental.

If the damage total on an elemental is equal to or higher than its number, that elemental is destroyed. You gain 1 Riftforce for each destroyed enemy. Move your Riftforce marker forward on the score track accordingly.

If an ability places more damage on an elemental than is needed to destroy it, the excess damage is not carried over to the next elemental.

Your opponent places the destroyed elemental face up on their discard pile and returns the damage on it back into the general supply.

C) Check & Draw

You can only choose this action if you have less than 7 elementals in your hand.

Check if you control any of the locations. You control a location if at least 1 of your elementals and no enemy is present there. You gain 1 Riftforce for each controlled location. Move your Riftforce marker forward on the score track accordingly. If you choose this action only you can gain Riftforce even if your opponent controls locations at that moment.

Now draw elementals from your draw pile until you have 7 elementals in your hand.

Guild Abilities

Each guild's summoner describes the ability shared by all its elementals.

• Fire: Place 3 damage on the first enemy at this location. Place 1 damage on the ally directly behind this Fire.
• Earth: When you play this Earth, place 1 damage on each enemy at this location. Place 2 damage on the first enemy at this location.
• Light: Place 2 damage on the first enemy at this location. Remove 1 damage from this Light or any ally.
• Plant: Place 2 damage on the first enemy in an adjacent location. Move this enemy to the location of this Plant.
• Water: Place 2 damage on the first enemy at this location. Move this Water to an adjacent location. Place 1 damage on the first enemy at the new location.
• Ice: Place 2 damage on the first enemy at this location. If there is a last enemy at this location, place 4 damage on it. Otherwise, place 1 damage on it.
• Shadow: Move this Shadow to any other location. Place 1 damage on the first enemy at the new location. If the Shadow destroys this enemy, gain +1 Riftforce.
• Crystal: Place 4 damage on the first enemy at this location. When this Crystal is destroyed, your opponent gains +1 Riftforce.
• Thunderbolt: Place 2 damage on any enemy at this location. If the Thunderbolt destroys this enemy, repeat this ability once immediately.
• Air: Move this Air to any other location. Place 1 damage each on the first enemy at the new and the adjacent locations.

Game End

As soon as you reach 12 Riftforce the game end is triggered. Finish your action completely. If you started the game your opponent still takes 1 action. If your opponent started, the game ends immediately. That way both of you get the same amount of actions.

The player with the most Riftforce wins!

In case of a tie, both of you perform another action and afterwards check if there is still a tie. If the tie remains, repeat this step until the tie is broken and a winner is declared.

FAQ: General

You are ready to play Riftforce — should a question arise during the game you can most likely find the answer here.

• You may play / activate identical cards that show the same number and the same symbol.
• If you gain more than 12 Riftforce flip your Riftforce marker on the +12 side and continue from the start of the score track.
• Play: Elementals played in previous rounds don't influence which elementals you can play or where you can play them.
• Activate: The number of an elemental is not changed by the damage that is placed on it. You may activate an elemental even without an enemy to target. That damage is simply lost.
• Check & Draw: Should your draw pile run out of elementals simply shuffle your discard pile and place it face down to form your new draw pile. Continue to draw until you have 7 elementals in hand.
• Discard pile: The players may not look through the discard piles during the game.

FAQ: Guilds

• Ice: If there is only 1 enemy at the same location as the Ice it is both the first enemy and the last enemy at the same time.
• Light: The Light can remove damage from an elemental at any location even without being present there.
• Fire: Even other Fire elementals are affected by the ally damage of the Fire ability. If this damage destroys an ally, your opponent gains Riftforce as usual.
• Crystal: If your Crystal is destroyed, your opponent gains 2 Riftforce in total, unless your opponent destroys your Crystal with a Shadow, then they gain 3 Riftforce in total instead.
• Water: The Water cannot stay at the same location. The outermost locations are not adjacent. That means that a Water activated at these locations must move a location closer to the middle.
• Air: The Air cannot stay at the same location. Place 1 damage each onto the first enemy at the left, same and right location.
• Shadow: The Shadow cannot stay at the same location. If you destroy an enemy with the Shadow you gain 2 Riftforce in total, if you destroy a Crystal you even gain 3 Riftforce in total instead.
• Plant: The ability of the Plant targets only 1 enemy on the left or the right location of that Plant's location. The Plant cannot target enemies on its own location.
• Thunderbolt: When you destroy an enemy with the Thunderbolt use its ability again immediately. This effect can only trigger once per Thunderbolt and activation. The effect does not count as activation itself.
• Earth: The Earth is the only elemental with an effect that is triggered immediately when you play it. For each played Earth place 1 damage on each enemy at the same location immediately. This effect cannot be triggered again. When you activate the Earth, place 2 damage on the first enemy.