Shadows over Camelot: The Card Game
Shadows over Camelot: The Card Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
Shadows over Camelot - The Card Game invites you to play the role of sons & daughters of the legendary Knights of the Round Table who unite to defeat... the game itself, represented by a deck of Rumor cards that threaten to overwhelm Camelot.
Listen carefully to these rumors and employ your keen sense of observation and the collective wisdom of the group to decide the right time to embark on Quests and collect 7 White Swords to achieve victory. Collaboration is essential. Like in the eponymous board game, and unlike other more traditional games, you will either all win - or all fail - together in this game.
Alas, perhaps not... There may be a Traitor in your midst, a player who drew the "Traitor" Loyalty card at game start and will work to defeat you all by secretly helping to place 7 Black Swords on the table.
Your goal is to make sure you get 7 White Swords first!
Components
- 1 Round Table - not included!
- 16 Swords of the Round Table - used to keep track of the players' progress toward victory (white face up) or defeat (black face up)
- 7 Loyal & 2 Traitor cards - used to determine the players' Loyalty
- 62 Square Rumor cards - representing threats to Camelot and famous characters (Merlin, Morgan, Vivien, Mordred) you may encounter. Each Rumor card features an illustration representing the Quest it relates to (Quest Symbols); the number of Swords that can be won (or lost) by pursuing this Quest (Sword Symbols); and a Rumor Value from 2 (very dubious) to 5 (almost certain) or ? (variable)
- 9 Knight cards - only used in the Knights to the Rescue Expert players variant
- 10 Quest tokens
Setting Up the Game
Determine the Players' Loyalty
From 2 to 6 players: Take 1 more Loyal card than there are players around the table and 1 Traitor card. Put the remaining Loyalty cards away; they won't be used in this game. There might be 1 Traitor in your game!
7 players: Keep all Loyalty cards - the 7 Loyal and 2 Traitor. There might be up to 2 Traitors in your game!
Shuffle the Loyalty cards and deal 1, face down, to each player. Stack the remaining 2 near the center of the table. They may come into play later in the game; care must be taken not to reveal them now.
The players now secretly peek at their card to discover their allegiance and Victory conditions (getting either 7 White Swords or 7 Black Swords on the table first).
Prepare the Rumor Deck
Take all Morgan cards out of the Rumor deck. Randomly pick 6, shuffle these back into the Rumor deck and discard the other 3 Morgan; they won't be used in this game (except in the Expert Variant). Place this prepared Rumor deck in the center of the table.
What about the Swords?
For now, keep the Swords in the box. They will come to the table as the players complete - or fail - various Quests.
What about the Knight to the Rescue cards?
This deck of cards only comes into play in the Expert Variant (see Variants).
Game Turn
The youngest player starts. Play proceeds clockwise in successive turns until at least 7 White Swords or 7 Black Swords are placed on the Table.
During his turn, a Player MUST do one, and only one, of the following 3 actions:
- Listen to Rumors
- Go on a Quest
- Accuse another player
1. Listening to Rumors
The player draws the top card from the Rumor deck and places it face up on top of a Threats pile of previously revealed Rumors in the center of the table for all to see. At any one time, only the last Rumor card revealed is visible.
Vivien: If the card revealed when a player Listens to Rumors is Vivien, that card's effect comes into play immediately, as per its description in the Cards Compendium.
Morgan, Merlin and Mordred: If the card revealed when a player Listens to Rumors is a Morgan, Merlin or Mordred card, that card's effect comes into play when and as indicated per its description in the Cards Compendium.
Picts, Saxons, Dragon, Excalibur, Holy Grail: When one of these cards is revealed, it goes face up on top of the Threats pile, like all other cards, but has no immediate effect. Its impact will only be felt when a player chooses to Go on a Quest, by adding to the Total Rumor Value of that Quest in the Threats pile (see Going on a Quest).
Important Note
This game is different in that the players must cooperate if they hope to succeed. To do so, they may freely exchange information and memories of earlier events, especially as a player is about to choose his action.
But Beware! The game will alternate between periods of free exchange where the players may communicate freely; and periods of imposed silence, as soon as a Morgan card is drawn and placed atop the Threats pile. Communication between the players (verbal, visual and otherwise) may only resume again AFTER a Merlin card is drawn OR a player chooses to Go on a Quest.
Also never forget when listening to advice from your peers that a Traitor may be in their midst. So be careful about who and what you listen to!
2. Going on a Quest
The player may only Go on a Quest if the card visible on top of the Threats pile features a Quest symbol that matches the Quest he wants to go on. For example: a card showing the Excalibur symbol lets the player go look for Excalibur; a card showing the Picts or Saxons symbol lets the player fight the Picts or Saxons; a card showing all Quest symbols lets the player go on the Quest of his choice.
Note: Some Morgan / Mordred cards also feature a Quest symbol. When a player reveals one of these cards, the next player may decide to go on the corresponding Quest during his turn.
The player announces his choice: "I, the soon-to-be-famous Knight, will go fight those Saxons (Picts, etc....) and bring glory to my King!".
He then takes the Threats pile in his hand, and proceeds to reveal these cards, sorting them in stacks by Quest type. The Quest the player chose to go on is the Main Quest; the other Quests appearing because some of their cards were in the Threats pile are Secondary Quests.
Morgan, Mordred and Merlin Encounters: If a Morgan, Mordred or Merlin card is in the Threats pile, do not stack it with any of the Quests: instead simply apply its effect as per the card's description in Cards Compendium.
The player then computes the Total Rumor value of each Quest by adding up the Rumor values in each individual Quest stack. Each card with a Rumor value of ? has a value equal to the number of ? cards present in that stack.
The player is now ready to see how accurate various Rumors were, starting with those concerning the Main Quest he chose to venture on.
If the Total Rumor value of the player's Main Quest is 10 or less: The Rumors that prompted the player to go on this Quest were baseless; the time and forces wasted cast a long shadow on the Kingdom. Evil progresses: Take 1 Sword and place it Black side face up on the table.
If the Total Rumor value of the player's Main Quest is 11, 12 or 13: The player and his companions arrived in the nick of time, successfully completing the Quest and bringing relief to Camelot! Place a number of White Swords face up on the table equal to the number of Swords indicated for that Quest:
| Quest | Swords |
|---|---|
| Picts | 1 |
| Saxons | 1 |
| Excalibur | 2 |
| Dragon | 2 |
| Holy Grail | 3 |
If the Total Rumor value of the player's Main Quest is 14 or more: The player didn't take this Rumor seriously enough early on, inflicting an embarrassing defeat on himself and his companions. Place a number of Black Swords face up on the table equal to the number of Swords indicated for that Quest.
For ALL other Secondary Quests from the Threats pile: If the Total Rumor value of a Secondary Quest is 14 or more, the player and his companions suffer another embarrassing defeat. Place a number of Black Swords corresponding to the number of Swords indicated for that Quest on the table. If the Total Rumor value of a Quest is 13 or less, the Rumors were harmless; no action is required.
Cleaning up
Once all Quests present in the Threats pile have been handled, discard all these cards into a pile; it is the next player's turn. If the Rumor deck runs out of cards, shuffle all the Rumor cards in the discard pile to form a new Rumor deck.
Example 1
The player went on a Quest for Excalibur (stacks: Excalibur, Holy Grail, Picts).
- Excalibur's Total Rumor Value is 5+3+(2x2) [since there are 2 ?'s, each is worth 2 points] = 12. 2 new White Swords go on the table.
- The Holy Grail's Total Rumor value is 3 + 1 = 4; it can be safely ignored.
- But the Picts add up to 5 + 3 + 2 + (2x2) = 14, and 1 new Black Sword must be placed on the table.
Example 2
The player went on a Quest for Excalibur (stacks: Excalibur, Holy Grail, Picts).
- Excalibur's Total Rumor Value is 3+(2x2) = 7. 1 new Black Sword goes on the table.
- Neither the Holy Grail (4) nor the Picts do anything since their respective Total Rumor values are both lower than 14; the Picts add up to 5 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 11, but this doesn't result in a White Sword for the players since this was not the Quest the player chose to go on.
3. Making an Accusation
Each player may only make an accusation once per game, and only if there are at least 4 Swords on the table (regardless of their color). A player may never accuse himself.
The player making the accusation points his finger at the player he suspects, forcing that player to reveal his Loyalty card, with potentially heavy consequences for Camelot:
- If the Accused was Loyal, add 1 Black Sword to the table
- If the Accused was a Traitor, add 1 White Sword to the table
Spreading Rumors: The Traitor. Once revealed, a Traitor's only possible course of action is to further spread Rumors. On each turn, he must draw 2 cards from the top of the Rumor deck, placing 1 face up on top of the Threats pile and discarding the other (without revealing it).
Game End
The game ends the moment at least 7 White Swords or 7 Black Swords are on the table. If the players were in the midst of evaluating the outcome of various Quests from the Threats pile when this occurs, they MUST resolve ALL these Quests (both the Main one and all Secondary ones), possibly adding several other White or Black Swords on the table before proceeding any further.
The players whose Loyalty hasn't been revealed yet (i.e. those who were never accused) now reveal their Loyalty cards for all to see. For each Traitor in their midst, one of the white Swords already on the table is now turned over to its black side!
- If there are now strictly more White Swords than Black Swords on the table AND still at least 7 White Swords, the Loyal players win the game!
- If there are at least as many Black Swords as White Swords on the table AND still at least 7 Black Swords, then the forces of Evil win, along with the Traitor(s), if any!
- If, following the Traitor(s)' flip of Swords at the end of the game, none of the two camps has at least 7 Swords of its own color, the game continues until one of the two camps reaches that threshold of 7 Swords of same color, matching the victory conditions explained above.
Variants
Playing Solo
Aspiring Knights may practice this game solo. The usual rules apply, but Loyalty cards and the possibility of a Traitor, as well as accusations, are left out.
Knights to the Rescue - Expert players only!
Players familiar with the game may want to bring Knights to the Rescue into play.
To do so, shuffle all 9 Knight to the Rescue cards at game start, and place them face down next to the Rumor deck. Set the 3 unused Morgan cards face down, next to it too.
During the game, whenever a player goes on a Quest that succeeds, the forces of Evil become angry - immediately shuffle one of the unused Morgan cards into the Rumor deck.
And each time a player goes on a Quest and that Quest the player went on fails, resulting in additional Black Sword on the table, the player draws the top card from the Knight to the Rescue deck. The player reads that card in secret before placing it face down in front of him.
Each Knight to the Rescue card clearly details when each card can be played and how.
Arthur (x 3)
- When: The moment another player chooses to Go on a Quest
- Effect: Force that player to Listen to Rumors instead!
Tristan (x 2)
- When: On your turn, before deciding your course of action
- Effect: Look through the Rumor deck without changing the order of its cards. You can tell the other players what you saw, but only after having placed the Rumor deck back on the table.
Gawain (x 2)
- When: When a player goes on a Quest, once all Quests Total Rumor Values have been tallied up, but before bringing Swords on to the table.
- Effect: Draw 3 cards from the top of the Rumor deck; play 1 of these immediately (but never a Morgan). If the card is a character (Merlin, Mordred, Vivien), play it as normal. If it is a Quest (i.e. Saxons, Picts, Dragon, Excalibur or Holy Grail) card, add it to the corresponding Quest before recomputing that Quest's outcome.
Galahad (x 1)
- When: On your turn, instead of your action for the turn.
- Effect: Peek at one of the players' Loyalty card, without revealing its content to others.
Percival (x 1)
- When: The moment a player is accused of being a Traitor, or when a Traitor reveals himself at game's end.
- Effect: Add (or flip) 2 Swords of the proper color, instead of 1!
Card Compendium
Note: Whenever a Quest symbol appears on a Rumor card (including Mordred or Morgan cards) being drawn, the next player may always choose to Go on this Quest as his action for the turn.
Picts, Saxons, Dragon, Excalibur, Holy Grail
9 cards each - Four marked with a ?, one 2, one 3, two 4 and one 5.
The player immediately following the player who draws this card from the Rumor deck may choose to go on the corresponding Quest as his action for the turn.
Mordred
When computing the Total Rumor Value of the Picts and/or Saxons Quest(s), Mordred adds a point value equal to the number of cards present in that Quest, for each.
Example: Because of Mordred, the Picts add up to 5 + (2x2) + 3 = 12, since there are 3 Pict cards present; and the Saxons add up to 4 + 1 = 5 since there is only 1 Saxon card.
Vivien
The player who drew Vivien immediately draws 1 of the 2 Loyalty cards that were set aside at game start, and passes the other one, without looking at it, to the player of his choice. These 2 players now each decide whether to keep their initial Loyalty card or the new one, discarding the other Loyalty card back face down, their choice unknown from the other players.
Morgan
The moment any of the Morgan cards is played, all communication between the players, whether verbal, visual or other must immediately cease until a player chooses to Go on a Quest or draws a Merlin from the Rumor deck. In addition, each Morgan card has an additional effect, as follows:
Morgan card # 1: Each player choosing to Listen to Rumors during his turn MUST secretly look at the card he draws and tell other players which card it was before discarding it face down on top of the Threats pile, without actually showing it to others. Traitors may lie, of course! Players must keep doing so each time they Listen to Rumors until a Merlin card is drawn by someone listening to Rumors, at which point this Morgan's effect stops.
Morgan card # 2: Each player choosing to Listen to Rumors during his turn MUST count aloud when drawing his Rumor card; the first player to do so says "1"; the second "2"; etc. Players must keep doing so each time they Listen to Rumors until a Merlin card is drawn by someone listening to Rumors!
Morgan card # 3: When adding Swords following a Quest, once all Quests' outcome have been computed, add 1 more Sword of the same color to those you are placing on the table.
Morgan cards # 4: Add the value indicated on this Morgan card when computing the outcome of Quests following a player's decision to Go on a Quest. If a Quest has no card at all (e.g. there are no Excalibur cards in the Threats deck), then no value is added to that Quest - it can continue to be ignored.
Morgan card # 5: When evaluating the outcome of the Quest a player chose to go on, that Quest's Total Rumor Value must be 12 or 13 to succeed. Treat an 11 the same way as a 10, adding 1 Black Sword to the table.
Morgan card # 6: When computing the Total Rumor Value of all Quests, following a player's decision to Go on a Quest, count each ? as worth 1 instead of its normal ? value.
Morgan card # 7: The next time a player chooses to Go on a Quest, if that Quest's Total Rumor Value is 14 or more, the game ends immediately with a Loss for all Loyal players, regardless of the number of Swords on the table!
Merlin
The moment a Merlin card comes into play, players are free again to exchange advice and opinions regarding what lays in the Threats pile - or anything else, for that matter!
When a player chooses to Go on a Quest, before computing the Total Rumor Value of all Quests present in the Threats pile, set aside all Merlin cards you find in this pile and immediately apply their effect (see below), removing the Merlins AND the cards they take out.
Note that Merlin cards have no effect on ? cards (so if there are only ? cards in a Quest, Merlin has no effect on that Quest).
Merlin card # 1: Immediately before computing the Total Rumor Value of all Quests, following a player's decision to Go on a Quest, remove the card with the highest value in both the Picts and Saxons Quests (if any).
Merlin card # 2: Immediately before computing the Total Rumor Value of all Quests, following a player's decision to Go on a Quest, remove the card with the highest value in both the Dragon and Holy Grail Quests (if any).
Merlin card # 3: Immediately before computing the Total Rumor Value of all Quests, following a player's decision to Go on a Quest, remove the card with the highest value in both the Excalibur and Holy Grail Quests (if any).
Merlin cards # 4: When you draw this Merlin card, immediately choose a Quest to associate with it and place a corresponding Quest token face down next to the Threats pile to mark your choice. The next time a player chooses to Go on a Quest, before computing the Total Rumor Value of all Quests, remove the highest value card from the Quest you had associated with this Merlin.
Merlin card # 5: When evaluating the outcome of the Quest the player chose to go on, that Quest automatically succeeds if there are exactly 5 cards of that type in the Threats pile. It also succeeds as normal (i.e. on a 11, 12 or 13 generally, or a 12 or 13 if Morgan is interfering).
Additional Rules
Morgan card # 8
The next time a player chooses to Go on a Quest, the Picts and Saxons unite to form a single Quest. When computing the Total Rumor Value of all Quests, add the Rumor Values of all Pict and Saxon cards together. If the Rumors for Picts+Saxons were baseless (10 or less), place a single Black sword on the table; otherwise, place 2 swords (White or Black, depending on the Total Rumor Value of Picts+Saxons), on the Round Table.
Note: Mordred adds + 1 to each Pict and each Saxon card; Merlin # 1 cancels both the highest value Pict AND the highest value Saxon card. Merlin # 4 may cancel EITHER the highest value Pict OR the highest value Saxon card (at the player's choice when he reveals that Merlin).
Merlin card # 6
The player who draws this card may immediately Go on a Quest of his choice and add up to 3 points to the Total Rumor value of that Quest (before revealing any of the cards in the Threats pile, of course!)