Shadow Raiders
Shadow Raiders Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Shadow Raiders (Base Game)
Players: 4-8. Age: 13 or above. Time: 60 minutes.
A. Background
It's the end of the 19th century, in the "City of Fog" which got extremely rich from its position as the centre of the world. As wealth accumulated with the rapid development, income disparity, poverty and deteriorating public order caused more and more discontent and hatred.
"Shadow raiders" takes stage in the "City of Fog" where glory and wrath clash. "The shadows" who were born from the darkness, "the raiders" who were recruited as secret agencies by the state, and "the citizens" who were caught up in the fight, each strives to survive in this game.
Each player would play the role of a character in this fight, and only you know who you are.
Identify your allies and enemies, and defeat your rivals.
B. Content
- Rulebook: 1
- Damage board: 3 pieces
- Area board: 6 pieces
- Character cards: 10
- White cards: 16
- Black cards: 16
- Reasoning cards: 16
- Colour cubes: 8 colours, 3 cubes each
- D6: 1
- D4: 1
Source note: the content list gives 16 white and 16 black cards, but the card appendix (Section Appendix B and C) lists 15 white and 12 black cards. The appendix lists are reproduced as printed.
C. Preparation
- Shuffle the 6 area boards face-down, and set them up in a six-point star-shaped area board. Similarly set up the damage board by combining the 3 parts.
- Separate white cards, black cards and reasoning cards. Shuffle each deck face-down, and place them next to the boards set up in step 1.
- Each player picks a colour, then receives three cubes for the corresponding colour.
- a. Place one on the "NO DAMAGE" space of the damage board. (the "damage cube")
- b. Place one right next to the area board. (the "player cube")
- c. Place one next to your hand. (the "indicator cube")
- Divide the character cards into "citizens," "shadows" and "raiders," and shuffle each deck face-down. Then take out the number of each type of card (face-down) according to the table below.
| Type / players | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raiders | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Shadows | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Citizens | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Then, shuffle the picked-out cards (face-down), and distribute 1 card (face-down) to each player. That card is the role for that player.
Each player confirms their own card secretly, and places the indicator cube next to the card (face-down). You can check the content of your card in the game anytime you want.
The remaining cards are not used in the game, and are put back in the box. Don't look at the content of those cards.
- Decide the first player randomly.
D. Character Cards
Each character card contains the following information.
- Name: the name of the character.
- Camp: either raiders, shadows or citizens, distinguished by words and colours in the top left-hand corner.
- HP: the maximum amount of damage the character can take before they die. Once the character receives that much damage (or more), the character dies and the player drops out of the game.
- Win conditions: the conditions for the character to win the game.
- Usual ability: only for Ulrich.
- Special ability: the character's ability (see "Optional rules," Rule 2).
E. Game Flow
Each player takes a turn clockwise. The player who is taking their turn is called "the active player." The active player takes the following actions in order:
- Move (mandatory).
- Take the area action (optional).
- Attack other player(s) (optional).
(1) Move
- The active player rolls two dice (a D4 and a D6). Add up the two dice, and move the player cube to the corresponding area.
- If a "10" is rolled, the active player may move to any area they wish. However, they cannot choose to stay in the current area.
- You must move each turn. The only exception is when you roll the dice and the outcome corresponds to the area your player cube is currently on.
Example: Peter takes his turn. He rolls a D4 and a D6, the outcome of which is 3 and 5 respectively. 3 + 5 = 8, so Peter moves to the area of 8 (Underground passage, 地下通路).
(2) Area Actions
After the movement, the active player may choose to take the action specified on the area board, or not. The following is a list of the area actions.
- Detective agency, 探偵事務所 (2-3): Draw 1 card from the top of the reasoning card deck. Confirm the content of the card, then pass the card to any player of your choice. That player must follow the instruction of that card.
- Grand cathedral, 大聖堂 (6): Draw a card from the top of the white card deck, and follow the instruction.
- Underground passage, 地下通路 (8): Draw a card from the top of the black card deck, and follow the instruction.
- Blackmist area, ブラックミスト地区 (4-5): Draw from either the reasoning card deck, white card deck or black card deck (your choice). Then take the actions of Detective agency, Grand cathedral or Underground passage correspondingly.
- Town hall, 市庁舎 (8): Pick any one player (no matter where they are; you may target yourself) and apply EITHER effect:
- (a) Take 2 damage.
- (b) Heal 1 damage.
- Oliver's hideout, オリバーの隠れ屋: Pick any other player (no matter where they are) and take any 1 of their equipment cards for yourself. If no one else has any equipment, this action has no effect.
To indicate the damage that a character has taken, move the damage cube on the damage board up and down correspondingly.
About Reasoning Cards
Reasoning cards give useful clues as to other players' identities.
- The active player who draws a reasoning card first confirms the content of the card.
- Then, they hand the reasoning card face-down to any other player.
- The player who receives the reasoning card confirms the content of the card. If their character matches the description of the reasoning card (e.g. camp, HP), they must apply the effect stated on the card. If the character does not match the card, the player declares "nothing happened."
- The player who received the reasoning card CANNOT disclose the content to other players. The used reasoning cards are discarded face-down in the discard field.
- All players (except Ulrich) must be honest when handed a reasoning card.
- When the reasoning card deck is depleted, shuffle all discarded reasoning cards to form a new deck.
NB: The reasoning card DOES NOT affect the active player.
Example: It is Peter's turn. Peter draws a reasoning card, which says "If you are a shadow, take 1 damage." He hands it face-down to Mary. Mary is in fact the Werewolf (i.e. a shadow). She looks at the card, and because she is a shadow, she takes 1 damage. Then she discards the card face-down to the discard pile.
Exception, Ulrich: Ulrich's usual ability is that he may tell lies when handed a reasoning card.
About White and Black Cards
White and Black cards are divided into 2 types.
- Discard [使い捨て]: If you draw this type of card, immediately reveal the card and apply its effect. Then discard the card to the discard field.
- Equip [装備]: If you draw this type of card, immediately reveal the card and place it next to your character card, to show that the equipment now belongs to your character. The equipment is effective so long as your character holds that card. The effects of multiple equipment cards stack.
(3) Attack
At the end of your turn, the active player may choose to attack a player whose cube is on the same area or the area to the left (i.e. counter-clockwise). You cannot attack yourself.
To attack, the attacking player rolls two dice (a D4 and a D6). Subtract the smaller value from the larger value; the difference is the damage dealt. If the outcomes are the same, the attack failed and no damage is dealt.
Example: It is the end of Peter's turn. Mary's player cube is on the same area as Peter's, and Larry's player cube is on the area to the immediate left of Peter's. Peter chooses to attack Larry because he feels that they are enemies. Peter rolls a D4 and a D6, the outcome of which are 2 and 4 respectively. 4 - 2 = 2. Larry suffers 2 damage.
F. Death of Characters and Dropping Out of Players
- If, because of attacks or effects of cards, a character's damage is equal to their HP or more, the character dies immediately and the player drops out of the game.
- The player who dropped out must reveal their character card, remove the player cube and damage cube from the boards, and place them on top of the revealed character card.
- All equipment that they hold goes to the discard pile. However, where the character was killed by the attacks (in other words, excluding cards or area effects) of other characters, the killer-player may pick one of those equipment cards and take it for themselves, and discard the rest.
G. End of Game and Victory
- Once a player achieves the win conditions stated on their character card, they should immediately reveal their character card and declare victory.
- A declaration of victory may be made in another player's turn.
- All players who achieve their respective win condition win.
- Even if a player dropped out of the game, if the win condition was eventually achieved when the game ends, that player may also win.
H. Optional Rules
The following rules are optional and can be adopted if players so wish.
Rule 1: Initial hint. If there are more than 6 players, this rule is recommended. Or, the rule is also useful where the players are new or if the table is large.
- After the game preparation is finished, the first player draws one reasoning card from the top of the deck, and hands it to the player on their left, and that player applies the effect.
- Repeat the same for every player in the first turn, such that each player has some clue for the identity of the player on their left.
- Then play the game as normal.
Rule 2: Special ability. Each character has a unique special ability. If you choose to use this rule, each character can use their special ability. To use the special ability, reveal your identity. As to the timing to use the ability, see each card. See the Appendix card list for the explanation of each character's ability.
I. Q&A
Q1: How do the effects of equipment stack?
A1: As an example, suppose an active player holds "妖刀マサムネ," "クロスボウガン," "拳銃" and "ガトリング." Because of "妖刀マサムネ," the player must attack. And because of "ガトリング," all players within their range are targeted.
Suppose that a D4 was rolled and the outcome is 1. Because of the buff of "クロスボウガン" and "拳銃," the damage is buffed to 3. All players within the active player's range must take 3 damage.
Q2: The cards of "エクスカリバー," "幸せのクッキー," "光臨" and "戦慄の闇儀式" state that the effect is applied "if identity is revealed." Are the cards still effective if the character card has already been revealed before?
A2: Yes.
Q3: For areas like "市庁舎" and items like "恩恵" which heal damage, may I pick a player who suffered no damage?
A3: Yes. In that case nothing happens. Also you may use items which cause damage against players who are immune from damage (such as from "いにしえの聖杯"), in which case nothing happens.
Q4: I use "ガトリング" and kill multiple characters in a turn. How do I take the equipment?
A4: In that case, pick one equipment from each character you killed. If you also hold "銀のロザリオ," you take all equipment from all characters you killed.
Q5: Can I choose not to use the equipment?
A5: No, you can't. You must apply all effects of all equipment you hold all the time. The only exception is "神秘のコンパス," which allows you to choose where to go.
J. Hint for Gameplay
Reveal other players' identities. The gist of the game is to secretly find out other players' identities. If you blindly attack, you run the risk of team-killing, or of killing Daniel first (whose win condition is to be the first one to die). At the beginning of the game, use the reasoning cards carefully and observe other players' actions to deduce their identities. BUT be careful of Ulrich's buff.
Team play. In this game, some players share almost the same win conditions. Even if your character was killed, if your team wins you also win. Although it is important for your character to survive, where your sacrifice could deal more damage to the opposing camp, it may be worth taking the risk for the team.
Expansion: Queen Majesty's Airship
Players: 4-10. Age: 13 or above. Time: 60 minutes.
A. Background
Her Majesty is in danger!
A recent attack against Her Majesty shocked the whole "City of Fog." The ambition of the nobilities and the politicians, which had been kept in control by Her Majesty, can no longer be contained. The forbidden "shadows" are now gathering, and the city is threatened by their violence.
The only ones who can stop them are "the raiders," who had served the Royal House for centuries. Receiving Her Majesty's final edict, they are now throwing themselves into an even larger battle.
This is an expansion which scales up the gameplay of Shadow Raiders. The base game is necessary, and the base rules apply. The following explanation presumes understanding of the base rules.
B. Content
- Rulebook: 1
- Additional area board: 1
- Additional character cards: 20
- Additional white cards: 6
- Additional black cards: 4
- Additional reasoning cards: 6
- Colour cubes: 2 colours, 3 cubes each
- Player aid: 5
Source note: the content list gives 4 additional black cards, but the expansion card appendix (Section F to H) lists only 3 additional black cards. The appendix list is reproduced as printed.
C. Preparation for Expansion
When you use this expansion, prepare as follows:
-
Place the additional area board "Her Majesty's airship" in the middle of the area board (i.e. the centre of the star). Place the player cubes next to the area board.
-
Replace the following 4 cards in the base game with those in the expansion:
- a. White card "幸せのクッキー"
- b. White card "闇を祓う鏡"
- c. Reasoning card "If your HP is 12 or above"
- d. Reasoning card "If your HP is 11 or below"
(The source notes that, in the attached card list, the translation in the base-game version was generalised, so whether these cards are replaced makes no difference.)
-
Shuffle the additional white cards, black cards and reasoning cards into the respective decks.
-
Note the character allocation for 9-10 players. (This has been stated in the base game preparation, Section C, step 4.)
-
For the rest of the preparation, see the base rules above.
D. Additional Character Cards
This expansion contains 20 character cards. 10 of them are more balanced (marked with a white star on the list) and 10 of them have abilities which may suit advanced players (marked with a black star on the list).
Pick the characters in either of the following ways.
- Divide all characters into "citizens," "raiders" and "shadows," shuffle each deck and take out amounts of cards according to the character allocation table. (Likely more dramatic.)
- First divide up all characters by their initials ("A," "B" ...), then pick one card randomly face-down from each initial, to form the 3 "citizens," "raiders" and "shadows" decks, and allocate according to the table. (Likely more balanced.)
E. Additional Rules
If you use this expansion, the following additional rules apply.
Movement and Her Majesty's airship. When the active player rolls a "10," they move their player cube to "Her Majesty's airship."
For players in Her Majesty's airship, all areas become in "range" and can be attacked. Likewise, players in other areas can always attack players in "Her Majesty's airship."
Also, players in "Her Majesty's airship" at the beginning of a turn may, instead of rolling dice, move to any area (except Her Majesty's airship).
This applies to players who were moved to "Her Majesty's airship" outside of their turn, such as by reasoning cards.
死神のスコープ (Death's scope) and range extension. Characters who equip "Death's scope" extend their range by 1, in other words, further to the left (i.e. anticlockwise).
The character who equips 2 "Death's scope" would, similarly, extend their range by 2.
F. Additional Characters
(The source lists the additional characters in Appendix E, reproduced below in full. The backstory, which the source omits, is not included.)
G. Expansion Q&A
Q1: If Bylon is equipped with ガトリング and attacks multiple players, how does he apply his special ability?
A1: He must apply the same "effect" on all players attacked, that is, EITHER:
- All players receive damage as normal, OR
- Take 1 equipment from each player. (If that player has no equipment, nothing happens.)
Q2: If Craig is equipped with ガトリング and attacks multiple players, and in the middle someone dies, can he continue to attack the rest of the players?
A2: Yes.
Q3: Can Craig's special ability be used to kill himself?
A3: No.
Q4: For equipment like 賢者のローブ and サーベル where damage is changed by +X, how do you determine whether the attack failed?
A4: The attack fails only when the outcome of the two dice are the same.
Q5: If all raiders and shadows die at the same time, how to determine who wins?
A5: Both raiders and shadows win.
Q6: Can you pass a reasoning card to a player whose identity has already been revealed? (Such as passing an "If you are a shadow, take 1 damage" card to deal 1 damage to a shadow.)
A6: Yes.
Q7: While Ulrich does not have any special ability, does it mean that he can't reveal himself except by death or card effects?
A7: Yes. Players can reveal their identity only for "death," "using special ability" or "card effects."
Q8: If there are only 1 raider and 1 shadow, and cards that deal damage to multiple people like 三つ目の黒犬 and 暴動 are triggered and both die, who wins?
A8: Both camps win.
Q9: Can 応急手当 be used on a player to deal damage? (e.g. using it on a player with 0 damage to deal 7 damage.)
A9: Yes.
Q10: If 10 is rolled for the card 暴動, what happens?
A10: Nothing happens. (The card effect does NOT apply to Her Majesty's airship.)
Appendix: Card List
Source note on HP: the printed card-list tables below give no HP values. HP appears only on the source's print-out pages (Appendix I and J), where the card faces are split across layout cells. The HP values shown are those the print-out labels unambiguously against a character's win condition; the others are marked "not printed."
The print-out pages (Appendix I and J) reproduce the same cards as the tables in Sections A to H in a card-face layout and are not transcribed separately.
A. Base Game Characters
| Name | HP | Win conditions | Special ability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Citizens | |||
| Alice | 8 | You are alive at the end of the game. | At the beginning of your turn, restore to full health. (Once per game) |
| Bylon | 10 | Control 5 or more equipment cards. | When your attack deals 2 or more damage, you may take an equipment card from that player instead of dealing damage. |
| Craig | 11 | Kill someone by your attack after 2 other players have already died. | You may deal 2 damage to yourself to make an additional attack against the same opponent (once per turn). |
| Daniel | 14 | You are the first player to die; OR you are still alive when all shadows have died. | When someone else dies, you must reveal your identity. |
Source note: Section D names the usual ability as "only for Urlich," while the card list spells the character "Ulrich." The card-list spelling is used here.
B. Base Game White Cards
| Name | Type | Function |
|---|---|---|
| いやしの聖水 | Discard | Heal 2 damage for yourself. |
| 裁きの閃光 | Discard | All other players take 2 damage. |
| 光臨 | Discard | If you are a raider, you may reveal your identity. If you do so, heal all your damage. |
| 守護天使 | Discard | Until next turn you take no damage from attacks. |
| 封印の知恵 | Discard | After this turn, take an additional turn. |
| 応急手当 | Discard | Set any one player's damage to 7. (you may target yourself) |
| 幸せのクッキー | Discard | If you are "A" or "U," you may reveal your identity. If you do so, heal all your damage. |
| 恩恵 |
Source note: the content list gives 16 white cards; the list above has 15, reproduced as printed.
C. Base Game Black Cards
| Name | Type | Function |
|---|---|---|
| 吸血コウモリ | Discard | Deal 2 damage to another player. You heal 1 damage. |
| オリバーの子分 | Discard | Steal an equipment from another player. |
| 三つ目の黒犬 | Discard | Take 2 damage, deal 2 damage to another player. |
| 暴動 | Discard | Roll dice, and deal 3 damage to all players in the area corresponding to the roll. (Nothing happens if 10 is rolled) |
| バナナの皮 | Discard | You must give an equipment to another player. If you cannot, take 1 damage. |
| 呪いの人形 | Discard | Pick a player and roll a D6. On 1-4, deal 3 damage to that player. On 5-6, deal 3 damage to yourself. |
| 戦慄の闇儀式 | Discard | If you are a shadow, you may reveal your identity. If you do so, heal all your damage. |
Source note: the content list gives 16 black cards; the list above has 12, reproduced as printed.
D. Base Game Reasoning Cards
Each card reads "If you are …" or "If your HP is …" followed by its effect. Cards are listed in the source's order.
- If you are a citizen or a shadow: Either give an equipment to the active player or take 1 damage.
- If you are a citizen or a shadow: Either give an equipment to the active player or take 1 damage.
- If you are a citizen or a raider: Either give an equipment to the active player or take 1 damage.
- If you are a citizen or a raider: Either give an equipment to the active player or take 1 damage.
- If you are a raider or a shadow: Either give an equipment to the active player or take 1 damage.
- If you are a raider or a shadow: Either give an equipment to the active player or take 1 damage.
- If you are a raider: Take 1 damage.
- If you are a raider: Take 1 damage.
- If you are a shadow: Take 1 damage.
- If you are a shadow: Take 2 damage.
- If your HP is 11 or less: Take 1 damage.
- If your HP is 12 or more: Take 2 damage.
- If you are a citizen: Heal 1 damage. (If you have 0 damage, take 1 damage instead)
- If you are a raider: Heal 1 damage. (If you have 0 damage, take 1 damage instead)
- If you are a shadow: Heal 1 damage. (If you have 0 damage, take 1 damage instead)
- You must secretly show your role to the active player.
E. Expansion Characters
| Name | HP | Win conditions | Special ability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Citizens | |||
| Angela | 8 | The player on your right wins. | Change your win condition to: "the player on your left wins." (Once per game) |
| Agatha | 8 | The game ends on your turn. | At the end of your turn, roll two dice and deal 3 damage to all players in that area. (Once per game) |
| Benjamin | 10 | Another player has at least 5 equipment cards. | At the end of your turn, give an equipment to another player in the same area. |
| Bruce | 10 | Kill someone with 12 HP or more with your attack, OR be at location 9 at the end of the game. | If you kill someone with 11 HP or less with your attack, you must reveal yourself. |
Source note: in the source tables the win condition of each camp is printed once and spans that camp's rows (for example "All shadows die" for the raiders). The same spanning win condition is repeated on each row above.
F. Expansion White Cards
| Name | Type | Function |
|---|---|---|
| いやしの聖水 | Discard | Heal 2 damage for yourself. |
| 幸せのクッキー | Discard | If you are "A" or "U," you may reveal your identity. If you do so, heal all your damage. |
| 闇を祓う鏡 | Discard | If you are a "V" or a "W," you must reveal yourself. |
| 人魚の涙 | Discard | Player(s) with the most damage heal 3. |
| 銀のロザリオ | Equip | When other players die from your attacks, you may take all their equipment. |
| 虹色のパラソル | Equip | Instead of attacking, you may draw a reasoning card and use it immediately on player(s) in range. |
G. Expansion Black Cards
| Name | Type | Function |
|---|---|---|
| オリバーの子分 | Discard | Steal an equipment from another player. |
| 三つ目の黒犬 | Discard | Take 2 damage, deal 2 damage to another player. |
| 死神のスコープ | Equip | +1 range |
H. Expansion Reasoning Cards
- If you are a raider: Move to location 10 (Her Majesty's airship). (If you are already there, take 1 damage)
- If you are a citizen: Move to location 10 (Her Majesty's airship). (If you are already there, take 1 damage)
- If you are a shadow: Move to location 10 (Her Majesty's airship). (If you are already there, take 1 damage)
- If you are a shadow: Take 2 damage.
- If your HP is 11 or less: Take 1 damage.
- If your HP is 12 or more: Take 2 damage.
I and J. Print-outs
The source's Appendix I (base game card print-out, pages 22-23) and Appendix J (expansion card print-out with translation, pages 24-25) are card-face layouts of the cards in Sections A to H. They are not transcribed separately. Their HP labels are reflected in Section A and E above.