Runika and the Six-sided Spellbooks
Runika and the Six-sided Spellbooks Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- Guide to Your First Game
- Rulebook
- 80 elemental dice
- 4 player boards
- 4 elemental disks
- 4 spell master cards
- 24 basic rune cards
- 4 mastery rune cards
- 12 merit cards
- 16 influence tokens
- 36 points tokens
- Initiative token
- Summary cards
- Drawstring bag
Set-up
To set up a game of Runika and the Six-sided Spellbooks:
A. Place the dice into the drawstring bag, and put this in reach of all players. B. Pick a character to represent you. Take the player board and influence tokens matching your character. Take an elemental disk and place it on your player board with the green side rotated to be at the top. C. Shuffle the merit cards. Place them face-down to form a merit card deck. D. Shuffle the basic rune cards (with silver edges). Place them face-down to form a rune deck. Deal out a number of rune cards face-up in a row next to the rune deck equal to the number of players plus one. E. Place the four mastery rune cards (with gold edges) near them. F. Place the spell master cards in the middle of the table. G. Make a pile of silver and gold points tokens in reach of all players. H. The player who last finished reading a book takes the initiative token and begins the game.
Round Order
Step One: Drafting Elements
Draw: The player with the initiative token draws 4 dice per player from the bag and puts them into the middle of the table. Do not roll them yet.
- 2 players: 8 dice
- 3 players: 12 dice
- 4 players: 16 dice
Draft: Starting from the player with the initiative token and going clockwise, each player selects one of the dice and places it on the "stored elements" section of their player board. Continue drafting until all dice are claimed.
Roll: You may roll the dice in your stored elements at any point from now until you start resolving dice on your turn. Players may also discard a stored die to reroll any number of other stored dice on their board. You may never discard your last stored die in this way.
Tip: The first time you play, it can be difficult to know which dice to draft. A good strategy is to collect as many of the same colour as possible. Think about what other players might want, and avoid competing over the same elements.
Step Two: Player Turns
The player with the initiative token takes the first turn. That player completes their entire turn before the next player (clockwise) takes a turn.
Continue until all players have finished taking a turn. At the end of the round, the initiative token will pass clockwise.
Roll: If the active player has not rolled their stored elements yet, they must roll them now.
Resolve: The active player then resolves all dice in their stored elements, one at a time, in any order. Dice resolve according to the symbol they rolled.
Claim Prestige Cards: After a player has resolved all of their dice, they may be able to claim a merit card and one or more rune cards.
Scoring Merit Cards: At the end of your turn, if you have an influence token on all four spell masters, take back all of your influence tokens and draw a merit card. Merit cards reward you with 2, 3 or 4 points as indicated on the card.
Scoring Rune Cards: After you have resolved all of your dice, if you can claim a rune card that is in play, you may do so. To claim a rune card, the dice on your spell grid must be in the same pattern as the symbols on the rune card you wish to claim.
The pattern may be in any rotation on your spell grid (but cannot be a mirror image). Some rune cards are smaller than 4x4 — those cards may be scored in any position on your spell grid as well.
Take the claimed rune card and place it on your player board. For each die with a points symbol that you used to make the rune, gain that many points tokens. Then discard all of the dice you used to make that rune.
Clean-up: If there are any empty rune card spaces, refill those spaces. The number of spaces should always be equal to the number of players plus one.
If you reveal a rune card that matches one already in the row, stack that rune card on its duplicate and draw another until the gap is filled. Finishing a rune that is stacked on another simply reveals the matching rune for players to complete in future turns.
Then the next player clockwise takes their turn.
Step Three: End of the Round
After all players have taken their turn:
Clear spell slots: Discard any energy dice on spell master spell slots.
Check for victory: The game is over if:
- Any player has 20 or more points, or
- The rune card deck or merit card deck is empty.
Begin a new round: After all players have taken their turn, if the game is not over, the player with the initiative token passes it to the next player clockwise and players begin a new round.
Resolving Dice
Points: Any points dice in your stored elements section can be resolved by "pushing" them onto your spell grid from the matching coloured side (see Pushing Dice below).
Example: A water die is pushed onto the spell grid from the water side.
Energy: There are four different energy symbols (one for each element): air, fire, earth, water.
Energy dice can be resolved by pushing them onto your spell grid (as above), but they can also be used to influence spell masters (see Influencing Spell Masters below).
Example: An air energy die is being used to influence Spell Master Simza.
Rotate: These dice are not added to your spell grid when they are resolved.
When you resolve a rotate die, discard that die and rotate your elemental disk once clockwise.
Example: A rotate die causes the elemental disk to rotate once clockwise.
Pushing Dice
When dice are added to your spell grid, they are pushed on from a side matching their colour. The elemental disk indicates the four sides of the spell grid (air, fire, earth, water). When the disk rotates, the sides from which you push dice onto the board also rotates.
To push a die onto your spell grid, choose one of the spaces on the side matching that die's colour (as indicated by your elemental disk). Push the die into this space. If there are any dice in that space already, they are pushed into the next space in the same direction (and so on).
If a die is ever pushed into an empty space, the empty space does not continue to push dice in the same direction.
Example: 1. Four dice (one of each element) have been pushed onto the spell grid, one at a time from their matching side. 2. On the next turn, an air and earth die have been added. Note how they push the dice already on the grid into the adjacent spaces.
Pushing Elements Off the Grid
If you ever push a die off of your spell grid, it is simply discarded. Return it to the bag.
Influencing Spell Masters
You may also resolve an energy die by placing it on the empty spell slot of a matching spell master. Each spell master indicates the kind of energy that is used to influence them.
If a spell master's spell slot is full, they cannot be influenced again this round.
Gain Influence: If you do not have an influence token on the spell master, put one of your influence tokens on them. These are used to score merit cards at the end of your turn (see Scoring Merit Cards above).
Use Ability: After influencing a spell master, you must use their ability.
Example: Runika influences Simza by placing an energy die on the spell slot. She then places an influence token on Simza's card.
Spell Master Abilities
Each spell master has a different ability.
Master of Air: Push a die on your spell grid into an adjacent space. This can push other dice.
Master of Fire: Discard one die on your spell grid. Gain 1 point token if the die you discarded showed a points symbol.
Master of Earth: Rotate your elemental disk to any of the four rotations.
Master of Water: Draw two dice from the bag. Roll them and add them to your stored elements. You must resolve them this turn.
Example: 1. Simza is influenced to push an earth die. 2. Ainfean is influenced to discard a water die. 3. Ekamu is influenced to rotate the elemental disk. 4. Ko'bataar is influenced, providing two additional dice.
Rune Cards
Elemental Runes
These rune cards have one of the four elemental colours. You must use dice of that colour to claim one of these cards.
Wild Runes
These rune cards have a light purple colour. You may use any matching colour to claim one of these cards — that is, the dice you use must all be the same colour.
Mastery Runes
These gold-edged runes are special. To claim an element's mastery rune card, you must have no dice of that element in any of the dark-grey spaces indicated on the card.
Example: The left-hand spell grid cannot complete the Thunderbolt fire mastery rune because the fire die in the bottom corner is on a grey space on the rune card. If that die is removed (eg by pushing it off or influencing Ainfean), the rune can be scored. The right-hand spell grid can complete the rune.
Completing Masteries: You may complete a mastery rune that has been claimed by another player. If you do however, you do not get the rune card's ability, but you do still gain points. Gain 1 point for each points symbol used to make the rune (as normal), and then gain points equal to the value of the mastery rune (the number in its top-right-hand corner).
Rune Powers
Rune cards grant powers that may be used during your turn. Unless they specify, these powers only affect you and are optional to use.
- Continuous powers are always active.
- Once per round powers may be used once per round.
- Discard on your turn powers are one-time abilities that require you to flip over the claimed rune card on your turn to activate. You do not lose any points for flipping over a card in this way.
Ending the Game
Runika can end in one of two ways. The game ends at the end of a round if:
- A player has 20 or more points, or
- The rune deck or merit deck is empty.
If either of those is the case, players add up their points from scored rune cards, merit cards and points tokens. The player with the most points wins.
In the event of a tie, all tying players win.
Example: Diego has 3 points from Thunderbolt, 1 point from Charm, 7 points from his merit cards, and 9 points from tokens. In total, he has 20 points, which is enough to end the game.