Royal Espionage
Royal Espionage Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
- Remove "assassinated!" Info card. It will not be used during this game.
- Place Tracker cards on the table.
- Place cubes next to the Suspicion trackers and a cube on the 3 on the Influence tracker.
- Shuffle & place Info cards face down on the table within easy reach.
- Place Character tokens face down above Tracker cards and mix them.
- Randomly draw a Character token and place it face up on the King symbol (crown) on the Tracker card. This is your character for the game.
- Randomly draw another token– DO NOT LOOK AT IT– place it face down on the Usurper symbol (crossed swords). This is the Usurper.
- Place the King card to the top left.
- Find your Character's card and place it on the Tracker card, overlapping the "spy" placeholder.
- Shuffle and randomly deal the remaining Character cards face up in two rows around your Character as shown in the diagram.
- Shuffle the Support tokens face down and randomly place one on the top left of each Character card.
- Place the last Support token face down on the top left of the King card.
- Place the pawn on your Character card. You are now ready to begin!
Gameplay
- Draw and Assign Info Card
- Move Pawn
- Check for Support
- Use Influence (at any time)
1. Draw and Assign Info Card
Draw & place a card on one of the next three Character cards in clockwise order from the pawn's location, not including the card the pawn is on. When you reach the end of the top row, continue clockwise by going to the next card below and back along the bottom row from right to left. Movement goes in a continuous cycle.
There's not a "right or wrong" way to play Info cards. Pick the character (from available choices) you want the information to be about.
Throughout the game Character cards will move from the row. If Characters have moved, skip them until you have three Characters to choose from. When there are less than three Characters left you may play Info cards on any of the remaining Characters.
At the end of the game each Character, except the King, will have exactly three Info cards, no more, no less.
2. Move Pawn
Move the pawn to the Character card that was assigned the Info card.
3. Check for Support
After placing an Information card if the Character now has three Info cards determine which side the person supports. This is based on the number of King symbols (crown) vs Usurper symbols (crossed swords) on the three cards. Note: crossed swords = 1 symbol
When a character supports a side do the following in this order:
- a. Move Character Card
- b. Move Suspicion Cube
- c. Move Influence Cube
- d. Draw Character Token
a. Move Character Card
If there are more King symbols move the Character, their Info cards, and Support token to the King's side (left of Tracker cards). If there are more Usurper symbols move the Character to the Usurper's side (right of Tracker). Leave the pawn in the empty space.
b. Move Suspicion Cube
After a Character card is moved, determine if the information you shared with the King or Usurper created suspicion.
Count the number of purple flames then the number of red flames on all three Info cards. If there are more of either type of flame, increase the corresponding Suspicion Tracker by the difference. If the flames are of equal amount they cancel each other out and neither side increases in suspicion.
Ex: One Info card has 3 purple flames, another 3 red, and the last has 1 red. Thus 4 red - 3 purple = 1 red. Move the cube on the Usurper's Suspicion Tracker one space towards the X. If there were 3 red and 3 purple flames, neither tracker would move.
If a tracker reaches the X, you're dead!
c. Move Influence Cube
When you gain suspicion for either side move the Influence cube the same number of spaces. In the example above one red flame was gained, increase Influence by 1.
If you gain zero suspicion, gain 2 influence points.
If your Character already supports a side (King or Usurper) and the Character that just moved (besides your own) supports the same side as you, gain 1 Influence.
Ex: You are the Royal Bodyguard and support the King. The Captain of the Guard moved to support the Usurper. You do NOT move the Influence cube.
d. Draw Character Token
When a Character moves to support either side, select one Character token and turn it face up. This member of the court is NOT the Usurper.
4. Use Influence
At any point during the game you may use Influence points as follows:
- Spend 1 = reveal one Support token by flipping it face up.
- Spend 2 = reveal one Character token, excluding the Usurper, by flipping it face up.
- Spend 3 = dismiss one Info card BEFORE assigning it to a Character card. Place it facedown on the King. This is information the King dismisses as false. Maximum use of two times per game. Draw a new Info card.
Revealing the Usurper
After revealing the last Character token reveal the Usurper token (on the crossed swords symbol) by flipping it over. This person is the Usurper!
Once both the Usurper has been revealed and their Character card has three Info cards, determine if the Usurper is supporting the King. If yes, they have successfully infiltrated the King's trust! Move their card to the Usurper side. This upset is very suspicious, increase the King's suspicion by 2 (this may result in your death).
Game End
When the last Character card, including yours, has three Info cards and all cubes have been moved, the game is over.
If any Support tokens have not been revealed turn them face up. Add up the total Support token value for each side. The side with the higher total value of Support tokens conquers the other side.
The King always wins ties.
If you are supporting the conqueror's side you win and are now the Kingdom's Royal Spymaster! If not, you're dead!
Example: The total Support token value for the King is 23 while the Usurper has 21. The King conquers the Usurper. You supported the Usurper and were on the losing side– you're dead!