Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria: Riftlands Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Updates To Base Game
  • First Time You Play
  • Every Time You Play
• Components
• Player Board and Game Board Setup
• Player Board Overlays
  • Always-On Powers
  • Unlockable Powers
  • Battle Bonuses
  • Active Relic Cards
• The Riftlands Board
  • Riftlands Shrine
  • Expedition Chits
  • Relic Cards
  • Award Cards
• Endgame Scoring
  • Relic Card Scoring
  • Expedition Chit Scoring
  • Battle Bonuses
• Appendix: Champion Cards
  • Updated Champion Cards
  • New Champion Cards
• Appendix: Relic Cards
  • Dragon Orb
  • Evermap
  • Mask of Asteraten
  • Thunder Axe
  • Urdr Staff
• Appendix: Award Cards
  • Riftland Awards

Updates To Base Game

First Time You Play

Before you play with the Riftlands expansion for the first time, you'll need to update your original game board. The steps below do not change the shrine powers; the decals just give each shrine its own identifying icon.

1. Locate the decal sheet.
2. Peel off one decal.
3. Align the decal to completely cover the original icon parchment printed on the game board.
4. Stick the decal to the game board.
5. Do the next decal.

(The printed diagram marks the alignment for each decal as "Align left edges," "Align right edges," or "Align center.")

Every Time You Play

Six of the Champion cards in the base game have been updated for Riftlands. Pull out the originals and replace them with these six updated cards whenever you play with the Riftlands expansion. The updated cards are the Assassin, Brawler, Brute, Engineer, Soldier and Stalker (see the Appendix: Champion Cards).

Components

• 3 Instant Champion Cards
• 16 Recurring Champion Cards
• 4 Endgame Champion Cards
• 30 Relic Cards
• 5 Award Cards
• 35 Expedition Chits
• 5 Conquest Chits
• 1 Game Board Extension
• 5 Player Board Overlays

Player Board and Game Board Setup

• Give each player the overlay board that matches their player board. Place the overlay on the player board so that the art aligns with the original player board art. All of the other player board setup steps are handled in the same manner as in the base game.
• Give each player an 11th Conquest chit to cover their overlay's unlockable power.
• Give each player the seven Expedition chits that match their player board.
• Everything left of the Award cards is set up the same as a regular game of Shadow Kingdoms.
• Open the Riftlands board and set it along the right side of the original game board.
• Shuffle the Riftland Award cards and deal one card face-up to the space on the Riftlands board.
• After swapping out the old Champion cards for the undated [sic: updated] ones, add the new Riftlands Champions to their appropriate decks and deal out three face-up cards to each row.
• Flip the draw decks over so that they act as a fourth draftable card in each row.
• Shuffle the Relic cards and place one face-up on each of the spaces on the right side of the Riftlands board. Use the remainder as a draw deck on the left.

Player Board Overlays

The purpose of the Riftlands expansion is to accentuate the asymmetric aspects of the monster-kin races and to offer players the ability to further customize that asymmetry to mesh with their own play-styles. To accomplish this, each player receives an overlay board to place on top of their player board. Think of this overlay as your asymmetry control panel.

Always-On Powers

Near the center of each overlay is the monster-kin's "always on" power. It is triggered when the player moves their character token to the indicated shrine. Note that the left icon on each power is the new icon representing the shrine where the power is active.

• Gargoyle (Tactics Shrine): When the Gargoyle visits the Tactics Shrine, it can cycle out one Battle Plan from the line for free, and it receives an extra 1 gold discount to reserve a Battle Plan from the draft line.
• Gnoll (Gem Shrine): The Gnoll has two "always on" powers. The first is an extra gem storage space, allowing the Gnoll to hold up to 4 gems if their other player board upgrade is unlocked. The second Gnoll power is that it receives 1 magic whenever it visits the Gem Shrine.
• Goblin (Gold Shrine): When the Goblin visits the Gold Shrine, it can spend an amount of gold to receive the same amount of magic, up to a maximum of 3 magic per visit.
• Orc (Champions Shrine): The Orc also has two "always on" powers. The first is that the Orc can always have one more Champion than allowed by the indicators on its player board. The second power is that whenever the Orc visits the Champions Shrine it receives 1 strength to roll up any single die in their control, and it receives an extra 1 gold discount to recruit a new Champion from the draft lines.
• Skeleton (Magic Shrine): When the Skeleton visits the Magic Shrine it can take the standard shrine action twice. It might choose to take 2 Magic from the shrine and score an Award from its "always on" power, or it could take 2 magic twice, or it could score two Awards.

Unlockable Powers

At the top edge of each overlay is the monster-kin's unlockable power. All players start with a Conquest chit covering this power, locking it away until the player completes a battle plan and unlocks the power by moving the chit to the Campaign Board.

• Gargoyle: Whenever the Gargoyle gains a Battle Plan, whether from the Tactics Shrine, a Champion reward, or buying the plan off the draft line while at their Camp, the Gargoyle gains 2 magic and 1 influence.
• Gnoll: Whenever the Gnoll is at their Camp completing a Battle Plan, it can choose to make one of the dice in that battle wild, or it can gain 1 gem to use in a future action. If the Gnoll chooses to gain the gem, it cannot use that gem in this current battle.
• Goblin: When the Goblin has unlocked this power, it gains an extra space to hold a drafted die. Any die can be placed on this space, but if the die is a Goblin die (green) the Goblin receives 2 gold and 1 strength that can be used to roll up any die in the Goblin's control. Once a die has been assigned to this space, it cannot be removed from the space until it is used to complete a Battle Plan.
• Orc: Whenever the Orc gains an Instant Champion through any game process, the Orc can choose to gain 1 influence or 4 gold.
• Skeleton: When the Skeleton is at their Camp and has completed a Battle Plan, it may choose to spend 2 magic to keep one of the dice from that battle, re-roll it, and roll it up by 1 strength. The die is then placed on an open die space on the Skeleton's player board.

Battle Bonuses

Each overlay has the same endgame battle bonus along its bottom edge, but each is keyed to that monster-kin's particular dice as shown on their completed Battle Plans. More details are found in the Endgame Scoring section.

Active Relic Cards

Each overlay has two card spaces, one on the left and one on the right. These spaces hold your active Relic cards. As you'll read in the next section, "The Riftlands Board," you'll be collecting Relics when you visit the shrine, and each of the 30 Relic cards has a unique power for you to utilize at various times in the game.

When you gain a Relic, you can choose to place it on one of the overlay spaces, which makes it active and available for you to use under the conditions noted on the card. Relic cards also have a set collection scoring feature, so you might want the card for its type and not its actual power. In that case, just stack it near your player board until it's time for endgame scoring.

You can only ever have two active Relic cards. If you gain a Relic and both your overlay spaces are full, you may retire one of those cards to your collection stack and put the newly gained card in its place.

The only other time you can change your active Relics is when the dice on the game board are refreshed. At that time you can replace any active Relic with a card from your collection stack and retire the previously active Relic to the stack.

Details for each Relic card are found in the appendix.

The Riftlands Board

The primary component of the Riftlands expansion is the Riftlands Board Extension. This board is placed to the right of the base game board and represents the newly excavated shrine and the Valeria territories and castle you can access through the rifts.

Riftlands Shrine

This shrine is a new place your character token can go to on your turn. As with all of the locations, you cannot stay on the Riftlands Shrine on consecutive turns.

When you move to the Riftlands Shrine, there are two aspects to your visit: the die draft and the rift action.

When you place your character token on the Riftlands Shrine, you immediately draft one die from ANY shrine on the original game board. The discount noted on the drafted die is then applied to the Riftlands Shrine action.

After you've drafted a die, pay an amount of magic equal to the amount shown at your choice of rift, plus 1 magic for each Expedition chit you already have on the other side of that rift. Deduct any discount earned from the drafted die.

For example, The Gargoyle goes to the Riftlands Shrine and drafts a gray 4 from the Magic Shrine. The Gargoyle chooses to go through the second rift at a cost of 2 magic + 1 magic because there's already one Gargoyle Expedition chit on the other side of the second rift. The 3 magic cost is reduced to 1 magic because of the 2 discount earned from the drafted 4.

Expedition Chits

Each player has a set of seven Expedition chits in their player color. Whenever you activate a rift at the Riftlands Shrine, you place one of your Expedition chits in the area to the right of the rift. Each of your chits in a rift area increases the cost for you to activate that rift by +1 magic the next time you visit the Riftlands Shrine.

At the left side of each rift area is a line of VP icons. At the end of the game, the players are ranked based on the number of Expedition chits in that rift area, and the listed VPs are awarded accordingly.

More details are found in the Endgame Scoring section.

Relic Cards

After you have added your Expedition chit to the rift area, you claim one of the face-up Relic cards located in that rift area. When you claim a Relic card, you can use it to replace one of the active Relic cards on your overlay board or you can add it to your collection stack. Refill the empty Relic card space in the rift area immediately.

There are five types of Relics, and each type has six power variations, for a total of 30 unique Relic cards. Next to the Relic draw pile is a line of VP icons. At the end of the game, each player earns VP based on the quantity of each type of Relic they've collected.

More details are found in the Endgame Scoring section.

Details for each Relic card are found in the appendix.

Award Cards

This expansion provides an additional set of five Award cards to go in the upper left space on the Riftlands game board extension, providing you with four Award opportunities for you to achieve while playing Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria with the Riftlands expansion. Set up these Award cards just as you do with the Awards from the base game. These Awards all deal with Expedition chits and Relic cards. Keep them in their own stack and do not mix them with the base game's Award cards.

Details for each Award card are found in the appendix.

Endgame Scoring

Relic Card Scoring

Next to the Relic draw deck is a series of VP amounts that govern the endgame VP you earn for your Relic card collection. Gather all of your Relic cards, sort them by type and then count how many you have of each type, then refer to the VP list.

Relics of one type	VP
1	3
2	5
3	8
4	12
5	18

For example, you've collected seven Relic cards by the end of the game: the 4 Thunder Axes earn you 12 VP, the 2 Dragon Orbs earn you 5 VP, and the 1 Staff of Urdr earns you 3 VP. This gives you a total of 20 VP for endgame Relic scoring.

If you should happen to collect all six versions of one Relic type, you only score them at the 5-card level.

Expedition Chit Scoring

At the end of the game players assess each of the rift areas to rank which players have the most, 2nd most, and 3rd most Expedition chits in that area. Players in those top three slots take the VP shown on the left side of each rift area. If there is a tie, the tied players split the VP for the tied ranking positions.

If two players are tied for most chits on the top rift area, they total the VP for most and 2nd most and split it evenly between them, rounding down if necessary. In this example, the top two ranks total 10 VP, so each tied player would get 5 VP and the next ranked player would get 3 VP.

Battle Bonuses

Each overlay has an endgame battle bonus along its bottom edge, keyed to that monster-kin's particular dice icon as shown on their completed Battle Plans. Each bonus is shown as an hourglass, a purple 1, and the monster-kin's dice icon.

If you are the Gargoyle, you'll review all your completed Battle Plans at the end of the game and score 1 VP for each Gargoyle die icon you find on those cards. In this example, the Gargoyle player would score a Battle Bonus of 8 VP for matching icons on their completed Battle Plan cards.

Appendix: Champion Cards

Updated Champion Cards

There are six Champions with updated recurring powers in this expansion. You should swap out the old ones for the new ones whenever you play with Riftlands.

• Assassin: Whenever you complete an ambush battle, you draft one die from any shrine.
• Brawler: Whenever you complete a clash battle, you draft one die from any shrine.
• Brute: Whenever you complete a siege battle, you draft one die from any shrine.
• Engineer: Whenever you complete a siege battle, you draft one Relic card from the face-up cards on the Riftlands board.
• Soldier: Whenever you complete a clash battle, you draft one Instant Champion card from the draft line.
• Stalker: Whenever you complete an ambush battle, you gain 1 influence on your resource track.

New Champion Cards

There are 17 new Champion cards in this expansion: 3 Instants, 10 Recurring, and 4 Endgame.

• Pathfinder (3 copies): When you draft this card, gain one Relic card from the face-up cards on the Riftlands board.
• Alpha Leader: This card provides you with an extra slot to store your drafted dice. You may want to keep this card near your other die slots. If you do, don't forget to include it when considering your maximum number of Champions.
• Ferryman: Whenever your character token visits the Magic Shrine, this card provides you with 2 gold.
• Gatherers: Whenever you gain a Relic card, this card provides you with 1 magic.
• Hatchling: Whenever your character token visits the Gold Shrine, this card provides you with 2 magic.
• Infiltrator: Whenever you place an Expedition chit in a rift area, this card provides you with 2 gold.
• Manitou: Whenever your character token visits the Tactics Shrine, this card provides you with 1 magic.
• Recruiter: Whenever your character token visits the Champion Shrine, this card provides you with 1 magic.
• Salvager: Whenever you gain a Relic card, this card provides you with 2 gold.
• Shard: Whenever your character token visits the Gem Shrine, this card provides you with 1 gold and 1 magic.
• Syphon: Whenever you place an Expedition chit in a rift area, this card provides you with 1 magic.

Appendix: Relic Cards

There are five types of Relics and each type has six variations, yielding 30 unique Relic cards.

Dragon Orb

The energy emanating from the Dragon Orb is tuned to the auras of different monster-kin, leading to stronger, braver, and more aggressive warriors.

• A: When you draft a Gargoyle die, you may roll up one of your Gargoyle dice by 2 strength or two of them by 1 strength each.
• B: When you draft a Gnoll die, you may roll up one of your Gnoll dice by 2 strength or two of them by 1 strength each.
• C: When you draft a Goblin die, you may roll up one of your Goblin dice by 2 strength or two of them by 1 strength each.
• D: When you draft an Orc die, you may roll up one of your Orc dice by 2 strength or two of them by 1 strength each.
• E: When you draft a Skeleton die, you may roll up one of your Skeleton dice by 2 strength or two of them by 1 strength each.
• F: When you gain any die, you may pay 1 magic to roll up the drafted die's value by 2 strength.

Evermap

The Evermap is a valuable addition to your cartographic supplies. It will assess the terrain, note your strategies, and lead you to more impressive victories.

• A: Each time you gain a Chain Bonus, you may spend 2 magic to gain 1 gem from the Gem Shrine's supply, if available.
• B: Each time you gain a Chain Bonus, you may spend 1 magic to draft 1 Instant Champion card from the game board. Refill the draft line when you're done. You are still limited to the maximum number of Champions allowed by your unlocked player board settings.
• C: Each time you gain a Chain Bonus, you may spend 1 magic to gain 2 VP.
• D: Each time you gain a Chain Bonus, you gain 1 magic.
• E: Each time you gain a Chain Bonus, you gain 2 gold.
• F: Each time you gain a Chain Bonus, you may draft a Recurring Champion by paying 2 magic plus 1 magic for each Recurring Champion you already have in your collection. Refill the draft line when you're done. You are still limited to the maximum number of Champions allowed by your unlocked player board settings.

Mask of Asteraten

It is said that once you are behind a mask you are unfettered and free. The Mask of Asteraten can make certain warriors into something entirely new.

• A: When your character token is at your Camp, one Gargoyle die may be played as wild on the current Battle Plan.
• B: When your character token is at your Camp, one Gnoll die may be played as wild on the current Battle Plan.
• C: When your character token is at your Camp, one Goblin die may be played as wild on the current Battle Plan.
• D: When your character token is at your Camp, one Orc die may be played as wild on the current Battle Plan.
• E: When your character token is at your Camp, one Skeleton die may be played as wild on the current Battle Plan.
• F: When your character token is at your Camp, you may pay 2 magic to make any one die wild on the current Battle Plan.

Thunder Axe

The army that marches in the presence of the Thunder Axe is an army destined for greatness. Foes will fall before its blade and treasure rise from their blood.

• A: When you complete any Battle Plan, you may pay 2 magic to draft an Instant Champion card. Refill the draft line when you're done. You are still limited to the maximum number of Champions allowed by your unlocked player board settings.
• B: When you complete any Battle Plan, you may pay 2 magic to draft a Relic card from the Riftlands board. Refill the empty space when you're done.
• C: When you complete any Battle Plan, you gain 1 magic.
• D: When you complete any Battle Plan, you gain 2 gold.
• E: When you complete any Battle Plan, you may pay 1 magic to gain 1 influence.
• F: When you complete any Battle Plan, you may pay 2 magic to gain 1 gem from the Gem Shrine's supply, if available.

Urdr Staff

The Urdr Staff is powered by chaos and rash decisions. Its wielder can create great change, but it takes wisdom to know when change is needed for success.

• A: As your first task when you move your character token to a new location, you may pay 2 magic to move one die from any shrine to any other shrine.
• B: As your first task when you move your character token to a new location, you may cycle out one face-up Relic card at no cost and refill the space with a fresh card.
• C: As your first task when you move your character token to a new location, you may cycle out one face-up Battle Plan card at no cost, slide down the other Battle Plan cards, and refill the top space with a fresh card.
• D: As your first task when you move your character token to a new location, you may cycle out one face-up Champion card at no cost and refill the space with a fresh card.
• E: As your first task when you move your character token to a new location, you may pay 1 magic to gain 2 gold or pay 2 gold to gain 1 magic.
• F: As your first task when you move your character token to a new location, you may pay 1 magic to move one of your Expedition tokens from one rift area to any other rift area.

Appendix: Award Cards

Riftland Awards

The five new Award cards in this expansion are focused on aspects of the game only available while playing with the expansion components. Do not use these Award cards unless Riftlands is part of your game.

• Invader: You satisfy this Award's requirements when you have two of your Expedition chits on one rift area and two chits in a different rift area.
• Raider: You satisfy this Award's requirements when you have four of your Expedition chits on one rift area.
• Occupier: You satisfy this Award's requirements when you have two of your Expedition chits on one rift area and two chits in a different rift area and one chit in other rift area.
• Provocateur: You satisfy this Award's requirements when you have five of your Expedition chits in any combination of rift areas.
• Pillager: You satisfy this Award's requirements when you have collected one or more cards from three different Relic types.

Printed in the rulebook's empty Award space: "This Space Reserved for the Riftlands Expansion's Effect on the Solo Game Rules."