Stitches: A Card Game of Monstrous Proportions Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Goal
• Setup
• Components
  • Part Cards
  • Word Cards
• Play
  • Declaration
  • Player Actions
  • Action: Scavenge
  • Action: Attack
    • Attacking Another Player
    • Attacking the Abomination
• End of Round
• Winning the Game
• Variants
  • Torso Variant
  • Multiple Game Variant
• Appendix
  • Abomination Deck

Contents

• 28 Human Part cards
• 7 Human torso cards
• 36 Monster Part cards
• 9 Monster torso cards
• 36 Word cards
• 8 Abomination cards
• 8 Abomination Deck cards
• 7 Player Reference cards
• 30 Stitches tokens
• 1 First-player token

Goal

The goal is to defeat the Abomination by taking its head, arms and legs in combat, either by yourself or as part of a team. Become strong enough to do so by taking parts from other players' monsters or by scavenging parts from the forest floor.

Setup

1. Give each player a starting set of Human cards (head, two arms, legs, and torso), one Word, one Reference Card, and 2 Stitches tokens. Each player should have a different Word.
2. Place the appropriate number of tokens (see chart) in the center of the table. These tokens form the Pot.

Players	Tokens
3	8
4	10
5	12
6	14
7	16

3. Shuffle the Monster Part cards and place them face-down in the center of the table. Draw three cards and place them face up next to the deck. These cards form the Market.
4. Shuffle the Word cards and place them face-down to the side.
5. Randomly select one Abomination head and one torso, placing them face down with the head adjacent to the torso. These cards will not be revealed until a player attacks the Abomination. Place one card from the Monster Part deck next to its torso, attached to one of its three empty sides.
6. Shuffle the Abomination Deck cards and place face down.
7. Assign the first-player token to whoever woke up feeling most like a monster that morning.

Components

Part Cards

Each head, arm or legs Part card has one or more symbols on it. These symbols represent the strength and weakness of the part.

• Rock represents bashing and crushing, and beats Scissors.
• Scissors represents cutting and slashing, and beats Paper.
• Paper represents squeezing and ripping, and beats Rock.

The Monster Part cards also have a Stitches symbol, showing how many Stitches tokens (between 2 and 5) you'll need to pay to Scavenge that Part from the Market.

Example: This cephalopod head costs 4 Stitches to Scavenge. It also has 2 Paper symbols and 1 Scissors symbol.

Word Cards

Players learn new words whenever they brawl with another player. When one player attacks another, each player draws one Word card from the deck. Players that share the same word can then become a team and fight the Abomination together. They're also encouraged to say their words in a monster voice!

Play

Each round has three phases: Declaration, Player Action (Scavenge or Attack), and Abomination Action.

Declaration

• To start each round, players simultaneously and secretly decide whether to Scavenge or Attack. Before the decision players are encouraged to gesture, grunt, howl, and speak the words they know to influence other players' choices.
• The first player now calls for the declaration by raising their arms and loudly growling. Once at least one other player has joined in, the first player closes their eyes and begins to grunt. All other players must now also close their eyes. On the first player's third grunt all players signal their intended action and open their eyes: arms remaining up to Attack, arms down to Scavenge.

Noise-sensitive monsters: Some players may be more comfortable with a quieter declaration phase; in this case use the player reference cards to declare your intentions. The first player counts "1, 2, 3," and on 3 each player reveals their reference card, showing either the Attack side (red) or the Scavenge side (blue).

Player Actions

• All Scavenging players evenly share the Stitches in the Pot, leaving any Stitches that do not divide evenly for the next round.
• Starting with the first player and moving in turn order clockwise around the table, each player either Scavenges or Attacks, depending on their declared action.

Action: Scavenge

• The player draws one card from the Parts deck and places it face-up in the Market. They can then buy as many Parts as they can afford from the Market.
• For each desired Part, pay the required Stitches cost into the Pot, placing the existing card for that slot (if any) in the Discard pile and replacing it with their new purchase.

Example: Mary has 7 Stitches. There are two cards in the Market, a head with a cost of 5 and legs with a cost of 3. A) Mary draws and adds a card to the Market: an arm with a cost of 3. Mary decides to buy the arm (3) and the legs (3), and so pays B) 6 Stitches into the Pot. C) She attaches both new Parts to her monster, D) discarding her old arm and legs.

Action: Attack

Choose whether to Attack another player or the Abomination.

Attacking Another Player

1. Either take half the player's Stitches, rounded up

OR

2. Choose one part that you want to take. The combined symbols from your entire body must beat all of the symbols on the targeted part. You may not target torsos. You then attach the captured part on your monster, discarding any replaced parts.
3. In either case, both players receive a Word card, as tearing a limb off of your fellow monster has taught you both some language. If a player receives a Word they already know, discard and draw another.

Example: Percy wants Mary's legs, which have 2 Rock symbols and 1 Paper symbol. His arm has 2 Paper, covering her 2 Rock, and his head has 1 Scissors, cutting her 1 Paper. He takes her legs, discarding his own. Mary and Percy now each draw one Word.

Attacking the Abomination

• If not yet revealed, turn the Abomination torso and head face-up.
• If the Abomination has any empty slots, shuffle the Discard pile and fill in the empty slots from the shuffled deck. If the Discard pile is empty, draw from the top of the Parts deck. This step only occurs at the start of the attack.
• You attack the Abomination as a team. Any player who shares a Word with the player that initiated the Attack is part of the team.
• Starting with the initiating player and going clockwise around the table, each player on the team either attacks or retreats.
• The initiating player MUST attack at least once.
• Combat with the Abomination occurs in rounds, ending only when the team has defeated the Abomination, all team members have retreated, or combat has reached a stalemate.
• The first player to retreat loses one of the Word cards that let them join the team. All other players can then retreat without penalty. If a solo player attacks there is no penalty for retreating.

Each Abomination Attack Round:

• Choose a part on the Abomination to remove, assuming you can defeat one of the Abomination's parts.
• The Abomination now counterattacks, targeting the part on your monster with the highest Stitches value that it can defeat using the symbols on all its parts. In the case of a tie, it will start with the head and move clockwise around the body. Human and Abomination parts have a Stitches value of 0. If it cannot defeat any of your parts its counterattack is over. Parts removed during the counterattack are discarded.
• Once combat is finished you may add any parts from the Abomination you removed to your body.

Example: Percy has chosen to attack the Abomination. He knows the words Rock, Kitty, and Squishy. Claire knows the words Rock and Mama. Mary knows the words Kitty and Squishy. Because Claire and Mary both share a word with Percy, they both join in the attack. Percy attacks first and takes the Abomination's head. The Abomination targets and takes Percy's legs. Claire is next up. She decides to attack and takes the Abomination's legs. The Abomination strikes back, taking her right arm. Mary decides to retreat and will lose a Word as a result. She can give up either Kitty or Squishy since she shares both with Percy.

Example (cont.): It is now Percy's turn again. The Abomination still has both arms, and Percy sees he can't defeat either one. He retreats, and Claire does too, both without penalty. Percy and Claire now place the parts they took from the Abomination on their monsters, discarding any replaced parts. The Abomination places the parts it tooks on any empty slots.

End of Round

• Draw a card from the Abomination Deck and follow the instruction on the card.
• Discard any remaining Market cards and draw three more from the Parts deck to create a new Market.
• Move the First player token clockwise to the next player.

Winning the Game

When the attacking team has removed all of the Abomination's parts from its torso, they win!

Variants

Torso Variant

If at any time a player has three parts from the same monster, she may replace her Human torso with the matching monster torso. The new torso is a permanent upgrade regardless of whether the player loses the parts that granted the upgrade.

Multiple Game Variant

All players from the winning team may keep one part from their monster to use on their starting monster for the next game.

Appendix

Abomination Deck

There are four possible Abomination Deck cards:

1. It Grows: Draw one card from the Part Deck and place on an empty spot next to the Abomination torso. It will replace any 0-value cards (Human Parts).
2. It Attacks: The Abomination targets the Part with the lowest value on the First or Second players' body that it can defeat. Remove that Part from the player and attach it to an empty spot next to the Abomination's torso. If it has no empty spots discard the Part. If the Abomination cannot defeat any Parts there is no effect.
3. It Rampages: The Abomination targets the Part with the lowest value on each players' bodies that it can defeat, starting with the First player. Remove the Part from the player and attach it to an empty spot next to the Abomination's torso. If it has no empty spots left discard the Part. If the Abomination cannot defeat any Parts on a player there is no effect for that player.
4. It's Behind You: Immediately move the First Player Token clockwise by 2 players, essentially skipping the next player's turn as First.