Tempest of the Gods

Tempest of the Gods Rulebook

Table of Contents

Terms

We have tried to stay away from confusing or alien terms and just use plain speech. However, even normal sounding terms will need some explanation. Throughout the rules, you will see terms you may not understand fully or at all. When this occurs, consult the glossary at the end of the rules for a definition.

Golden Rule

Anytime a rule seems to conflict with a card, the card should be considered the final authority.

The Pantheons

"The best and worse of humanity cannot co-exist without a struggle" — Lord Malcons, Steward of Thale.

You may choose to play a mixed deck, or structure a deck to play a certain Pantheon (Good, Evil, or Chaos). Pantheon cards are indicated by the following symbols:

GOOD — Good symbol
CHAOS — Chaos symbol
EVIL — Evil symbol

Neutral cards do not have a symbol. They can be played with any Pantheon.

If you play with a mixed deck, each Temple can only contain cards belonging to its Pantheon.

The best way to play, however, is with one Pantheon. With the Starter Deck and a couple of boosters, you should be able to have an effective deck built around one Pantheon.

The Cards

Each card has a name, occupation, and numbers on it. Some will also have a Pantheon Symbol (those that don't are considered Neutral). The name is simply to identify the card, and many of these are taken from the fantasy world of Darkurthe as detailed in the Darkurthe LEGENDS role-playing game.

Occupation refers each card's function in the game and Ability reflects what certain cards can do that others can't.

The numbers on the card represent a card's Strength, Faith, and Summoning cost. The numbers are depicted as such: Strength first, then Faith and right below these two numbers is the Summoning cost to bring the card into play. In some cases, the card might simply have a bullet (spot) in the place of one of the scores. This means that the card will be as powerful as the player makes it, from 0 on up. The card will explain how to power it up.

Card template: the layout shows Name and Occupation at the top left, ST/FT and SU at the top right, and a Card Description box along the bottom.

Strength

Abbreviated ST. This is a card's attacking and defensive capability. If a card with a ST of 6 attacks one with an ST of 4, the 6 wins. In the case of a tie, both cards are destroyed. Relics will often affect a card's attacking or defensive capability, and so will some spells and miracles.

In some cases, attacking cards can also be joined with other cards. If that is the case, it will be specified on the card itself. For example, the card depicting the Evil wolves of Darkurthe, the Vulne, might say: "Can pack with up to 4 additional Vulne". Or a card might specify that it can carry a rider. In each case, you will add all the cards' ST score together for their total attack and defense capability. In other words, three Vulne packed together are considered one attacking force, and they each have a ST of 1. Their total attacking and defensive capability is 3. When Cards are Joined, they are considered one card.

Important: To destroy a card, its ST must be reduced to 0. Character cards (those cards that are animate) with a ST of 0 are considered to have a ST of 1 for all purposes, except when attacking or defending.

For more information on how Strength affects play, see the section on Combat.

Faith

Faith is abbreviated FT. It is what gives your cards power to summon. Whatever your card's FT score is can be used for summoning something else, with the following restrictions:

Most cards can only use their own FT to summon something. Only with a Priest, Demi-god or Deity in play can cards add their FT to others for the purpose of Summoning.

Cards can, however, add their FT together for the purpose of Summoning a Priest.

When a card is drained of its FT for Summoning, you should indicate such in some way, by turning the card sideways or slanting it. When all the cards under a Temple are drained, you can simply turn the Temple card to indicate that all of its cards are drained.

Summoning

Summoning is abbreviated SU. It is the number of FT points necessary to bring a card into play. Cards can only use their FT to summon individually. For example, a Champion with a FT of 3 could not summon a Guardian with a SU cost of 4, nor could he use another card's FT to make up the difference.

Priests, Demi-gods and Deities are another matter. They can combine the FT of all cards in the same Area for the purpose of summoning. In other words, if there was a Priest in the Wander Area, that Priest could channel all the FT of the cards in Wander for Summoning. If the Priest was in a Temple, he could Drain the FT of all the cards in the Temple for Summoning (turn cards to indicate they are Drained).

Card Descriptions

Followers

Followers are the lower Faith cards. Many are neutral, and have a low Strength. However, Followers can often save you from disaster.

Followers have no special ability other than what is on their card, and can only Pool their Faith together to summon a Priest. Otherwise, Followers may use their individual FT to summon.

Priests

Priests are the main cards in Tempest. There is very little you can do without them. Each Priest in play can Pool the Faith from undrained cards for the purpose of summoning a new card. Priests can summon any card.

Guardians

Guardians are summoned from other dimensions to protect and fight for those that summon them. If they have any special abilities, these are indicated on the card. Guardians may be summoned to the Battleground directly.

Champions

Champions are similar to Guardians, except they usually have higher Faith. Champions have no special ability unless it is indicated on the card. Champions may be summoned directly to the Battlefield.

Temples

Must be summoned by a Priest, Demi-god or Deity. Temples provide protection for its Occupants, and require damage equal to its Strength to destroy. The Temple must be destroyed before any of its Occupants can be harmed, unless the player has a card that allows the Temple to be bypassed. Some Temples have exotic locations, requiring special ways of travel to attack.

The number of Occupants a Temple can hold is indicated on the Temple's card.

Relics

Relics are magical or holy items. They can be played two different ways. You may summon them as a normal card, and play them face up on the card or Temple that will be using the Relic, or you may treat them as a 0 Summoning card, playing the card face down, and paying the SU cost when you actually use it. A Temple can hold 2 Relics, a Character card can hold 1 (a character in a Temple holding a Relic counts towards the total number of Relics the Temple can hold).

Relics are not Cumulative. You cannot play two of the same Relics in one Temple and get double the effect. You can play them both in a Temple, but only one of them would be operating at a time.

Spells

Spells are used by the Mages in the game and can be played even when it is not your turn, as long as you have power left from your turn to Summon it. In order for a card to be able to use a Spell, it must say Spell Cast on the card. Spells are Summoned using Strength instead of Faith, and Strength can only be obtained from another card for this purpose by Joining.

Spells being cast by a Priest with Spell Cast ability can be Summoned using the Priest's Strength and Faith together to Summon the spell. However, the Priest cannot pool Faith from other cards to Summon a Spell.

1 Spell may also be played face down under a Spell Caster, and the Spell Caster simply pays the Summoning cost when he actually casts it.

Example card (Chimeran, Guardian): ST shown as a bullet (variable), FT 2, SU 5. Its ability is marked with a bullet: "At the beginning of each of your turns, you must declare one of the following for this card: Winged Lion: ST 6, Flying Card. Armored Goat: ST 5, defends at ST 7. Sea Serpent: ST 4, Water Card, Sneak."

Miracles

Miracles are Summoned only by Priests, Demi-gods, and Deities. Miracles can also be played when it is not your turn if you have power left over from your turn.

Unlike spells, Miracles can be summoned by the pooled Faith of other cards. However, Miracles cannot be played face down and held until needed.

Demi-gods

Demi-gods are like powerful Priests. They may Summon Miracles, Temples and Deities, as well as other Demi-gods. You do not need a Temple in play to Summon a Deity.

Deity

Deities are the main goal of Tempest. Summoning a Deity satisfies a victory condition. To summon a Deity, players must have both a Temple and a Priest in play. The Deity can be summoned to the Wander Area, but the Priest and all of the cards involved in the Summoning must be in a Temple to summon the Deity.

Deities also have statistics and abilities listed on their cards. This is done in case players want to ignore summoning a Deity as a victory condition.

Starting Game Play

Players start with five cards in their hands, and at least 50 cards in their draw deck. A starting player is selected and he/she can draw one card, play down any 0 summoning cards (cards with a Summoning cost of 0), discard up to three cards, and then draw to give your hand a total of five. No matter how many cards are played, you must end up with five cards in your hand when the turn is done.

Play then proceeds to the player's right. All players follow the same instructions for the first round of play.

After all the players have had one turn, you will play the rest of the game with 5 cards in your hand (unless a card in play modifies this) and you will draw one card and play down up to two 0 summoning cards to begin your turn and discard as many as three cards and draw back up to 5 to end your turn.

IMPORTANT: You cannot attack an opponent until he has played down a Priest, entered the battleground, or attacked you in some manner.

Order of Play

Each Card may only do one thing in a turn, unless otherwise specified on the card. They can either be drained of Faith, use their ability (if any), move or attack. Joining is the only action they may take that does not drain them.

First:

Player resets his cards
Player draws a card from his draw deck

The following three can be done in any order:

Player summons any cards he would like
Player moves any cards he desires
Player attacks if he desires (declare all attacks at once)

Then:

Player discards up to three cards
Player redraws until he has five cards in his hand (or more if he has a card in play allowing him to do so)

Playing Spells and Miracles Out of Turn

Spells and Miracles that affect other players may be cast AT ANY TIME so long as the player has FT and/or ST remaining to do so. If he is attempting to counter someone's spell or action, he must do so before that player moves onto his next action. The player must allow for opponents to play any spells or miracles if they wish. If you are playing a multi-player game, and two players attempt to counter the current player's action, the right of way belongs to the player whose turn follows closest to the current player's turn.

Playing Cards Down in Your Homeland

When you begin to play cards down, they are in the Wander Area, meaning they are the Wandering in the wilderness with no protection (see the Wander Area for more information). The first cards you play down will be Followers. Followers can only add their FT together to summon a Priest until a Priest is in play to "channel" their FT. Otherwise, they can summon cards using their individual FT only.

For example, if two Followers were in the Wander Area, and one had a FT 2 and the other a FT 1, they could summon a Priest that had a SU of 3. If they were trying to summon a Champion with SU of 3, they could not do it without a Priest in play to Channel their FT together.

How you arrange your cards in the Wander Area is up to you. It doesn't matter where they are, since the Wander area is considered all one place. However, we suggest playing cards that are in the Wander Area on your left side and cards that are in temples on your right side. Also, your draw deck can be used to indicate where your Homeland ends and the Battleground begins, with cards between you and your draw deck being in your Homeland, and those past your draw deck being in the Battleground.

If you play down a Temple, remember the Temple card must be summoned by a Priest. On the card it will state how many cards the Temple can hold. For example, it might say "Holds 5". This is the number of Characters the Temple can hold. Each Temple can also hold 2 Relics. These are not counted in the number it can hold.

You can also choose to play 0 SU cards or Relics face down in the Temple. You then pay the SU cost of the Relic when it is used. Any time a card is played face down and then used for any purpose, it must then be played face up.

The Wander Area

When cards in your Homeland are not occupying a Temple or in the Battleground, they are said to be in the Wander Area. The Wander Area is a dangerous place. All cards in this area are subject to Ambush, meaning the attacker gets to pick which card to attack if you have no cards in the Battleground to defend with.

When a Temple is summoned into play, those cards not already drained may move immediately into the Temple from the Wander Area if they wish to. If cards from one Temple are used to Summon another, they can either remain in their original Temple, or immediately move to the other.

There is a benefit, however, to being in the Wander Area. A Priest, Demi-god or Deity in the Wander Area can use the FT of up to all the cards in the Wander Area to summon with. They are not limited by the holding capacity of the Temple.

Entering the Battleground

The Battleground is the center playing area.

A card heading for the Battleground from a Temple must first enter the Wander Area, then the next turn enter the Battleground, and attack the third turn. This is obviously a slow process, so it is wise to use cards already in the Wander Area for attacks. Cards in Wander may then go directly to the Battleground the first turn and attack the next.

To move a card into the Battleground, it should be out in front of the rest of the player's cards.

Guardians and Champions may be summoned directly to the Battleground, even if the card summoning them is not in the Battleground. Cards summoned to the Battleground are drained for that turn just like normal.

Cards in the Battleground cannot pool their FT together to summon unless they are Joined, and then can only Summon Spells or Miracles. If they wish to Summon other cards, they must return to their Homeland.

Cards in the Battleground must block a card that is attacking or attempting to move into their Homeland if they are able, even if they will lose. Drained cards may be used to block attacks.

"Same Area of Play" Cards

There are some cards in the game that state they affect other cards in the same area of play. The same area of play refers to cards in the same Wander Area, same Temple, or in the Battleground. For a card to be considered in an opponent's Wander Area, that card must be able to make an attack on the opponent's Wander. In other words, there must be no blockers in the Battleground, or the card must be able to get past the blockers.

To be considered in an opponent's Temple, you must Teleport or Gate in. Some cards have abilities that affect cards in the Temple, such as the False Prophet or Thief. When these cards use their abilities, they are considered to have entered the Temple in the same way as a Gate, i.e. entering and leaving in the same turn.

Drain

Draining occurs when a card does any of the following:

Moves
Attacks
Summons (the card Summoning can also contribute its Faith towards the Summoning.)
Contributes Faith for Summoning
Uses a Special Ability

For example, a Priest with a Faith of 2 is Summoning a Miracle with a cost of 3. Since it is a Priest card, it can borrow or Pool Faith from another card to assist it. 1 point is still needed, so a Peasant is also used to provide Faith for the Summoning. Both cards would be considered Drained in this case.

When a player drains a card, the card should be slanted or turned to indicate it has been used. At the beginning of the player's next turn, the cards are "reset", indicating they may now be Drained again.

Summoning and Game Play

All cards summoned come into play drained of any FT they may have. Summoning is the first thing a player must do after drawing his card at the beginning of his turn.

When a card is summoned, it goes into play in the same area it was summoned from. For instance, a Priest in the Wander Area summons another Priest card. This card would be played down in the Wander Area. If the Priest was in a Temple, and was summoning another card into play, it would go into the Temple.

There are three exceptions to this rule. They are:

Spells and Miracles are not restricted to the area they were summoned.
Guardians and Champions may be summoned directly into the Battleground regardless of where the cards doing the Summoning are located.
If a card is being summoned by a Priest to a Temple that is full, the player must either move one card out first to make room for the new card, or the new card will simply be summoned into the Wander Area.

Temples, Deities, Demi-gods and Miracles can only be summoned by Priests, Demi-gods and Deities. Spells can only be summoned by those whose cards say "Spell Cast" in their ability descriptions. Everything else can be summoned by anyone, as long as they have the FT to bring it into play.

One last important point: each Priest, Demi-god or Deity Pooling the FT of other cards may only summon 1 card per turn, regardless of whether or not they use their own FT to do so or not (it would be wise to use their FT first, since they are going to be drained for this turn anyway).

There is no penalty for excess FT points spent. For example, if a player had three undrained cards available to summon with, and their FT scores were 3, 4 and 2, and the player only needs 8 points, the additional point is simply lost.

Movement

Cards can make one movement per turn. They can move from one Area to another. For example, a card can move from a Temple into Wander, from Wander into the Battleground, or from the Battleground back to their Wander.

Cards in the Battleground can attack an Opponent's Wander Area or Temples from the Battleground. They do not actually move into an Opponent's Homeland.

Combat

Cards must be in the Battleground to Attack unless otherwise stated on the card. The attacker in the Battleground declares who, if anyone, he wishes to attack. If his opponent has no one on the Battleground, the attacker may pick the card he is going to attack in his opponent's Wander Area, or he may attack his opponent's Temple if there is one in play. Any card is vulnerable unless it is inside a Temple. A Temple must be destroyed before any of the cards inside it can be attacked, even with spells or Miracles, unless the attacking card says otherwise.

If the opponent has cards on the Battleground, he must pick from any of them on the Battleground to block the attack unless the attacker has a way of bypassing a defender (such as Sneak). Cards that have been Drained may still Defend against one attack.

Any time a card attacks, it matches its ST against the defending card's ST (unless the card dictates special situations). The lowest number loses and must be placed in your discard pile, and a tie destroys both the attacker and defender.

If the attacking player's cards outnumber the defending player's, he/she can double team a card (this can also be done when attacking a Temple or cards in an opponent's Wander Area). In such cases, both the attacker and defender must discard.

For example, the attacking player attacks with two cards (ST 3, ST 4). The defender only has 1 card in the Battleground (ST 5). Normally, the defender would win, but the attacker is able to double team the defender's single card, attacking with a total ST of 7. The attacker is able to defeat the defending card, but also loses the card of his choice as well. In this case, he discards the ST 3.

Defending

A card in the Battleground must defend against an Attacker if it is able. If the card is Drained, it can still Defend. A card may only Defend against one other card per turn.

Special Combat Situations

Flying cards: Only cards that can fly can attack or block a flying card unless otherwise stated on that card. Missile weapons can also attack flying creatures. For instance, both the Elivari Bowmen and a card possessing the Strong Bow can attack flying cards.
Teleports and Gates: Teleports and Gates can be used to instantly attack and return in one round. Teleports can be used from anywhere and allow a card to travel anywhere in play (even inside another player's Temple), attack and then return to its original location instantly. If you Teleport into another player's Homeland you must return immediately. Teleports are one time use. Gates also allow you to attack and return. Each Gate card specifies where it can allow cards to go, and how long it remains in play. Cards Gating through must also return immediately after attacking.

Teleporting and Gating cards cannot be blocked. In fact, the attacking cards may choose either to attack the Temple or appear INSIDE of it and attack any card they choose.
Cards with Sneak: Cannot be blocked, but are attacked as normal.
Cards with Ambush: May choose who they are attacking even if the defending cards are on the Battleground.
Cards with Tunneling: Will be destroyed by a Tremor card of any ST, but cannot be blocked except by another Tunneling card. A Tunnel card may attack any card in a Wander Area from the Battleground unless it can be blocked.

Tunnel cards are considered above ground unless they are drained to indicate they are Tunneling. If they are above ground, they attack and defend as a normal card.
Relics: A character card can carry 1 Relic. If the card carrying these Relics is destroyed, so are the Relics.

Destroying a Temple

A Temple is in danger when an attacking card gets past any defenders on the Battleground and attacks the Temple. If the attacking card has the same or higher ST than the ST on the Temple card, the Temple is destroyed (if they tie, both the Temple and the attacking card are destroyed). When this happens, all cards in the Temple are now considered in the Wander Area. Any Relics that were in the Temple are destroyed.

Summoning Spells

Spells being cast use ST to summon instead of FT. Having a familiar will allow the spellcaster to add the familiar's ST with his. Priest Spellcasters can add their ST and FT together for spellcasting, but the FT and ST of their followers cannot be used for spellcasting unless a special card in play allows them to do so.

Spells will remain in play unless the card states it is to be discarded after use.

Control Cards

Cards that control other cards may only control Characters, unless otherwise stated. They cannot control Relics, Temples, Spells or Miracles.

Summoning Miracles

Miracles must be summoned by a Priest, Demi-god or Deity, unless the card states otherwise. Miracles are summoned using the FT of the Priest and any other cards' FT needed to pay the SU cost.

Miracles will remain in play unless the card states it is to be discarded after use.

Summoning a Deity or Demi-god

Deities and Demi-gods can only be summoned by a Priest, Deity or Demi-god. A Temple must also be in play, and all the cards used to Summon the Deity or Demi-god must be in one Temple. Summoning a Deity automatically wins the game, unless the players choose to eliminate this as a victory condition before hand. In this case, play continues until all of a player's opponent's cards are destroyed. Note: This option will take longer, especially with multi-player games.

Victory

Victory is obtained when a Deity is successfully Summoned into play, all of your opponent's cards are removed from play, or all the remaining cards an opponent has are under your control. If you purchased a deck that had no Deity, simply take a common card like Peasant and write the following stats on it: ST: 10 FT: 10 SU: 15. This is the statistics for the Neutral Deity card called Avatar. The Avatar card can be summoned by any Pantheon.

Glossary

Battleground — The area common to all players. The Battleground begins for each player beyond where they place their Draw Deck.

Block — Block is used to describe an action taken by a card to stop an Attacker. See also "Defend".

Character Cards — Character cards are any cards that represent animate beings. Spells, Miracles, Temples, and Relics are not Character Cards.

Defend — Some cards have a higher defensive score than their ST; when defending (Blocking) against an attack these cards would use their defensive score instead of the normal ST.

Channel — Channel is the ability a Priest, Demi-god and Deity have to collect the Pooled Faith of other cards and Summon with that Faith.

Drain — Indicates that a card has been used for the turn by slanting or turning it. Cards reset at the beginning of the next turn.

Draw Deck — The deck from which your cards to be played are normally drawn. Must contain at least 50 cards.

Faith — The power each card has due to its belief. Cards can summon other cards with a Summoning cost of equal to or less than its Faith. A Priest in play can Pool the Faith of up to all the Followers in the same area or Temple to Summon a card into play.

Homeland — Each player in the game has a Homeland. The Homeland contains the player's Wander Area and Temple Area.

Join — Cards that can Join say so on the Card. Joining allows the cards to combine their Strength for attacking.

Miracles — Miracles are holy "spells". They must be summoned by a Priest, Demi-god, or Deity.

Pantheon — Pantheon refers to Good, Evil or Chaos.

Remove — A card that is to be removed from play is placed in your Discard Pile unless the method of removal states otherwise.

Spells — Spells are cast by cards with the Spell Cast ability. Strength is used when spell casting, unless a Priest, Demi-god or Deity can spell cast, in which case both the card's Strength and Faith can be used to spell cast.

Summon — Summon means to bring a card from your hand to the playing area.

Wander Area — Refers to the area outside of your Homeland that does not contain Temples and its occupants.

Deck Building and Tournament Play

No more than 4 of any one card may be included in your deck. For tournament play, limit the following cards to one per deck:

Time Sphere
Seven Seals of Doom
Meteor Shower
Destroying Angel
Sands of the Ages
Wild Lands
Flood
Apocalypse
Tremors
Krill Vortex
Bitter Frost
Spider Plague

Pantheon Descriptions and Strategies

All decks should be made up with about 25% of the cards having a SU cost of 0, and another 10% or so with an SU of 1. Having less might cause you some Faith shortages early on in the game, and having more will give you a lot of Faith, but limits what you can do with it.

Good — The Good Pantheon focuses on defense. It contains strong Champions and Temples, and its Miracles are mostly of a regenerative or defense nature. A Good deck should have a lot of Priests and Followers and works best when geared towards Summoning a Deity.

Evil — The Evil Pantheon's are built around destruction. They focus on guardians and destructive miracles. A well built Evil deck can cause havoc on other players. In a two player game, players using this Pantheon might want to focus only on Guardians, Champions and Miracles and leave the Deities out. With more players, concentrate on building forces to keep other players busy while you try to gain power to Summon your Deity.

Chaos — The Chaos Pantheon is strong with Magic. Spells work well with a deck with this Pantheon. In addition, Chaos has many powerful and strange abilities. However, some of these are a double-edged sword. Chaos players should try and jump ahead quickly by bringing a lot of cards into play so they can still gain an advantage when some of their powers affect them as well as the other players. Chaos cards can be summoned by Good or Evil cards as well as their own, but at twice the SU cost (Chaos Miracles will cost twice as much, and would double the FT necessary to do each point of damage).

Example of Play

In order to demonstrate how Tempest should be played, following is a brief example of how a game might transpire.

The players, Dave, Matt and Karen, begin by selecting a starting player. In this case, they roll a die and Karen ends up going first. Karen is playing a deck built around a Good Pantheon. She draws a card, and plays into her Wander Area three cards that have a Summoning (SU) cost of 0. Since this is the first turn and she has no cards already in play, cards with a 0 SU cost are all she can play. The three she has played down are: 2 Peasants and a Beggar. She has a Priest with a 0 SU cost, but decides not to play it since she would then be vulnerable to attack.

Karen then decides to discard 1 card (she is allowed to discard up to 3) and draws back up to a total of 5 to end her turn.

Matt goes next. He is playing cards from the Evil Pantheon. Matt plays down two 0 SU cards into his Wander Area, a Farmer and a Druine (an evil elven priest). Matt is now considered to be susceptible to attacks. He discards his other three and redraws.

Dave is playing Chaos. He plays down 1 Pilgrim, 1 Peasant and 1 Woodland Drue. Since the Pilgrim has a special ability that allows it to come into play undrained, Dave drains his Pilgrim, giving him 2 Faith (FT) points. He summons the Garrison card with these 2 points. Dave keeps the remaining cards in his hand and redraws back up to 5.

Karen's 2nd turn now starts. She draws a card and resets all of her cards in play. She has two cards with a FT of 1 and one with a FT of 2. Since all of the cards are Followers, she can only add their FT together to summon a Priest. Also, since the first turn has past, she is only allowed to play down two cards that have a 0 SU cost each turn. She only has one anyway, and plays down her Alms Priest. She then Summons a Garrison with her Beggar card since it has a FT of 2 and the Garrison has a SU cost of 2. Since her Alms Priest is drained, she only has the 2 Peasants left to do anything with. She Pools their FT together and Summons the Healers of Southton Abbey. Since the Healers is a Priest card, she can Pool her Follower's FT to summon them.

Matt draws his card and resets the ones already in play. He plays down two 0 SU cards, one is the Vulne card (evil wolves) and the other is another Druine. He Pools his existing Druine and Farmer together (they both have a FT of one) and summons a the Dead Wood. Since his Druine and Farmer both were involved in the Summoning, they are considered in the Temple, and don't have to spend a turn moving into it. The Dead Wood also gives all Evil Guardians in play a +1 Strength (ST), so Matt is starting to become a threat. Matt keeps his remaining cards and draws back up to 5.

Dave draws a card and resets his cards in play. He plays down one 0 SU card, a Warlock, and sends his Garrison into the Battleground (he indicates this by moving his Garrison card away from him, and out past his Draw deck). Dave uses his Peasant to summon an Iron Golem and ends his turn by redrawing.

Karen draws one card and resets the others she has in play. She plays down another peasant, and then uses her Healers of Southton Abbey with her Beggar for a total of 4 to summon the Rose Ossuary. Dave then states he is countering her play with the Miracle Blasphemy. The Rose Ossuary is returned into her hand, and her Healers card is destroyed. Karen sends him a withering look and continues her turn.

Play continues in this manner for a couple more turns. Forces are now massing on the Battleground. Karen has 2 cards undrained in the Battleground. One is a Darkwalker, a Dwarven champion armed with an Enchanted Blade giving a total ST of 4, and a Steward, a human knight with a ST of 4. She also has her Elivari Bowmen in a Temple that can aid her attack. She declares her Darkwalker is attacking Matt, who can either defend with his Crypt Feeders, which have a ST of 3, or his 2 Vulne (Joined) that have a ST of 2. Since he has the Dead Wood in play, both cards gain a +1 (the Vulne are considered 1 card since they are Joined). He defends with the Crypt Feeders. Since it is a tie, both cards would be destroyed and removed from play, but Karen uses her Bowmen, gaining a +1 and destroying the Crypt Feeders. She finishes off her turn by killing his Vulne with her Steward.

Matt is in a world of hurt now. He has one other card in the Battleground, it is an Evil guardian with a ST 2 (+1 ST from the Dead Wood Temple). Dave has no cards on the Battleground, but has several in his Wander Area. Since Dave has no one defending, Matt knows he can choose any card he wants to attack Dave's Wander Area. He attacks Dave's Woodland Drue. However, Dave was baiting Matt and left his Mage Master undrained from his turn. Dave announces he is countering and that his Mage Master is casting Domination. Dave takes control of Matt's Guardian, forcing it to attack Matt's Dead Wood Temple. Since Matt has no one left in the Battleground to defend, the Guardian attacks the Temple. The result is a tie, and both the Guardian and the Temple are destroyed.

Matt has 3 cards left in play that were in his Temple. Since his Temple has been destroyed, the cards are now considered to be in the Wander Area. He is able to summon one more card before the end of his turn.

Dave's turn is next. He draws and gets the Rain of Arrows spell card. He also has enough Faith to Summon a Deity, but it is split up between the Wander Area and a Temple. He sends several of his cards from his Wander Area into the Temple. Moving drains them, so he will have to wait a turn to summon the Deity. In the meantime, he plays the Rain of Arrows on Matt, destroying all of Matt's cards and putting Matt out of the game.

Karen has her turn next. She powers up a nasty Miracle to send at Dave, using most of her Faith to do so. The Miracle affects cards in the Temple, so Dave is really in danger of losing a large number of cards. He searches his hand, and discovers a card he drew during the redraw phase. The card, Krill Vortex, allows him to steal the Faith she is using to Summon her Miracle. Karen had powered her Miracle with 15 Faith points, and playing the Krill Vortex allows Dave to steal it and use it immediately. The 15 points is enough to Summon a Deity and he wins the game.

Optional Rules

Here are some additional rules and rule changes that can be used to speed up, slow down or just enhance your game. If you plan to use any of these options, make sure everyone is in agreement and aware of the changes before playing.

Speeding Up Game Play

Tempest usually plays very fast with 2 players, although it can vary quite a bit. With multiple players, the game time can vary even more so. If you wish to speed things up a bit, try some of the following:

Allow Guardians and Champions that are Summoned to the Battleground to come into play Undrained.
Allow Priests to come into play Undrained.
Remove the two card limit on 0 Summoning cards.
Allow a Deity or Demi-god to be summoned using cards in the Wander Area or in a Temple, instead of just by cards in a Temple.

Slowing the Game Down

For longer game play you can try some of the following rule changes:

Do away with the Discard phase of the players' turns.
Only allow one 0 Summoning card to be played each turn instead of two.
Remove the Victory condition allowing players to win when a Deity is summoned and require them to destroy their opponents' cards to win.

Variations on Play

Some of these suggestions can be used to enhance the game or just for a change of pace.

Ignore the Pantheon cards except when cards affect certain Pantheons. In other words, disregard the Pantheon when Summoning cards into play.
Assign a number of points for Victory. Then either allow Victory when someone has that many Faith Points in play. Or assign the points for Victory and allow Victory when someone has destroyed cards totalling the assigned points in Strength.
Allow players to start with a certain number of Follower cards, Priests and Temples in play.
Team Play. Team up against another pair of players and use your Spells and Miracles to assist your partner during his or her turn.
Consider Deity and Demi-god cards to be the actual god, and only allow one of the same card in play at a time.

Questions??

Questions should be directed to:

Black Dragon Press Q and A Dept. P.O. Box 362 Logan, UT 84323

Or by e-mail at [email protected]