The City of Kings
The City of Kings Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- The Game
- Learning the Game
- Setup
- Creatures
- Creature Set Up
- Round Summary
- Player Turn
- Creature Activation
- Hero Actions
- Worker Actions
- Workers and Storage
- Levelling Up
- Stats
- Skill Tree
- Equipment
- The City of Kings Tile
- Critical Damage
- Creature Death
- Quest Cards
- Skill Cards
- Position Cards
- Equipment Cards
- Stories and Scenarios
- Credits
The Game
To win
To win the game, you must complete the objectives of each chapter in your chosen story.
When you complete the last objective of the final chapter, you win the game.
To lose
There are 2 ways to lose The City of Kings:
- The city runs out of Hope.
- The heroes run out of Morale.
Learning the Game
The rules for learning The City of Kings are split between two booklets, the Rulebook and the Quick Reference Booklet. You only need to read the Rulebook before you start playing your first game.
Quick reference
Each time you play The City of Kings you will encounter new Quests, Tokens, Map Tiles and Creature abilities, each providing you with different experiences.
Don't worry, you don't need to learn how these work right now. That's what the Quick Reference Booklet is for! Whenever you encounter a new Quest, Token, Map Tile or Creature ability, simply grab the booklet and look it up.
That way, your adventures will be full of surprises, even on the 20th play!
Stories
The City of Kings comes with 7 Stories to play, each story offers unique challenges and can be played in a single session.
Stories are made up of chapters and also include optional Heroic and Legendary challenges. Once you have completed the objectives of the final chapter of your chosen story, you can end the game victorious or continue playing and try the optional challenges.
Be careful, the Heroic and Legendary challenges are designed to test even the most experienced players. You have been warned!
Setup
First time setup: The first time you play, you will need to attach the stands to the Character Tokens and Creature War Banners. You will also need to attach the spinner to the Time Tracker.
1 Choose a story or scenario
We recommend playing the Desecrated scenario first, followed by the stories in order, starting with Story 1.
Every story and scenario includes a setup card showing you which Ageless Realms (green Map tiles) and Azure Rise (red Map tiles) to use and how to place them.
For this example, we are using Story 1, which uses Map tiles 1, 2, and 3.
Locate the Map tiles using the numbers on the bottom left corner of each tile, and lay them out as shown on the story setup card.
Any tiles placed faced down should be shuffled first.
Then, place the Story cards next to the board.
Map tiles 6, 7, 8, 12, and 13 contain special building tiles. When using these, you should only include the Map tiles labelled Phase 1, placing the Phase 2 and 3 tiles to one side.
2 Prepare the board
Place the Old Barn, the Time Tracker, and The City of Kings corner piece around the board as shown.
Set the Time, XP, Hope, and Morale trackers to the values shown on the story set up card.
3 Supply areas
Place all the dice, resources, and tokens near the side of the board.
- Dice: Gather, Chance, and Scavenge
- Resources: Linen, Item Parts, Ore, Wood, and Fish
- Tokens: Attack, Heal, Shield, Transform, Fire, Frost, Poison, NPC, Ward Stone, Attention, Curse, Shredders, Hounds, Vilelings, Witch Doctor
4 Cards
Shuffle the Position, Equipment, Quest, and Skill cards, and place them where they are easy to reach.
Place the Trade District header next to the Equipment cards, the Quest Hub header next to the Quest cards, and the Temple header next to the Skill cards.
Draw 4 Skill cards, and place them face up together under the Temple header.
5 Creature supply
Place the War Banners, Creature Templates, Health Cubes, Creature Stat bars, and Creature Boss bars where they are easily accessible.
There are different Stat bars and Boss bars for 2, 3, and 4-player games. Make sure to use the correct ones for your current player count, and put them in order, with 1 being on top and the highest number at the bottom.
6 Choose a character
Each player chooses a character and places the respective Character Sheet in front of them.
Place the corresponding Character Stand on The City of Kings tile.
7 Set up your Character Sheet
Each player chooses a colour and then sets up their Character Sheet as follows:
- A Place the Worker 1 token on The City of Kings tile and the Worker 2 token on the Character Sheet in the Worker 2 section.
- B Place 4 Action tokens in the Action area, and place the 5th Action token on the Worker 2 token.
- C Place the 12 Skill tokens near your Character Sheet.
- D Set the 9 Stat cubes to the following:
| 4 | 1 (lower) | 1 |
| 1 | 2 (lower) | 1 |
| 1 | 0 | 1 |
- E Finally, place 1 red health cube on the health track to represent your current health.
Creatures
Creatures represent the armies of Vesh and will do their best to stop you, attacking any heroes that get too close. They appear during Stories and Quests and can be encountered when exploring the realms.
During your adventure, you will encounter creatures which you will need to set up and activate during player turns.
Each creature's abilities are generated at the point of encounter, continuously creating new and more terrifying creatures for you to defeat.
Creatures in The City of Kings will not die easily, and it is up to you to decide when you are ready to fight. It is possible for some fights to last over 30 minutes while you simultaneously continue your adventure and battle creatures.
Creature abilities
There are over 50 Creature abilities in The City of Kings, all of which are explained in the Quick Reference Booklet. Each time you play, you will be introduced to new combinations, giving rise to truly unique Creatures.
Abilities come in 3 difficulties:
- Easy — green circle
- Medium — yellow triangle
- Hard — red square
A typical creature will attack and heal, but creature abilities can make them into more fearsome opponents. Creatures can gain power to cast fireballs, summon minions, move, and much more.
Remember - Creatures do not move unless they are generated with a movement ability.
The 5 types of abilities
There are 5 types of creature abilities, each represented by a different icon on the top of the ability tokens.
- Setup: Activated when the token is drawn and only happens once.
- Attack: Activated when the creature performs a basic attack.
- Special: Activated during the creature activation step.
- Defend: Activated when the creature is attacked.
- Death: Activated when the creature dies.
Bonus stats
In addition to the 5 types of abilities, some ability tokens will increase a creature's stats.
Example: This ability token will increase the creature's attack by 3.
Examples of abilities
Throughout this rulebook, there are references to bonus tokens, impairments, and minions, all of which come from creature abilities.
It is useful to understand the basics of these abilities, but don't worry! They are explained in much more detail in the Quick Reference Booklet.
- Enrage: Every time this creature activates, it will gain 1 attack bonus token, increasing its overall strength. (There are many types of bonus tokens which you will be introduced to over time.)
- Fire Ball All: Every time this creature activates, it will place 1 strong fire token on all Map tiles in range which have at least 1 Hero on them. (There are similar abilities which place poison and frost tokens on the board. These tokens are explained in detail in the Quick Reference Booklet, but to summarise, fire and poison cause Heroes to lose health while frost reduces a hero's ability to move.)
- Hounds: This creature summons Hounds, which are minions that move around the board trying to stop you. (Hounds are a type of minion controlled by the creatures you encounter. There are many types of minions, each with their own powers.)
Creature Set Up
To set up a creature, you need to choose a Creature Template and a matching War Banner from the creature supply. All of the templates are mechanically the same, so pick the one you think best represents the enemy you are facing.
You will also need the next creature Stat bar from the pile you set up at the start of the game (either 2, 3, or 4-player Stat bars) and a Health Cube.
If you run out of Stat bars, take the most recently discarded Stat bar instead.
1 War Banner
Place the War Banner on the Map tile that triggered the creature. The War Banner represents the creature's location on the board.
2 Creature Template
Place the Creature Template and Creature Stat bar next to the player who triggered the creature.
If the player already has a Creature Template in front of them, then put this creature in front of the previous creature. The newest creature will always activate first.
The Creature Template and Stat bar represent the creature's abilities and strength, similar to how the Character Sheet represents your hero.
3 Set health
Check the health stat on the Creature Stat bar, and place the health cube on the Creature Template to match.
4 Generate abilities
Every creature will be given a set of random abilities from the ability bags. There is no limit to how many abilities a creature can have, and a creature can have abilities of different types.
- A Stat bar: The abilities icon on the Stat bar will show the creature's default abilities. In this example, 1 easy and 2 medium.
- B Bonus abilities: If the creature was triggered by a quest, then read the quest description to see which extra abilities need to be added. If the creature was triggered by exploring a Map tile, then check the top left corner of the Map tile to see if any bonus abilities should be added. (Example: The Gibbet Cross tile adds 2 hard abilities.)
When you are instructed to set up a creature on a Map tile by a Quest, Story, or Scenario card, the creature does not gain any bonus abilities from the Map tile.
- C Ability draw: Draw the total number of abilities from the corresponding ability bags, and place the ability tokens on the Creature Template. If you draw duplicate abilities, place one of them on top of the other. They will only activate once. (Example: If the creature has 1 easy, 2 medium, and 2 hard, draw 1 token from the green bag, 2 from the yellow bag, and 2 from the red bag. Remember, shake the bags to get new ability combinations each time.)
Round Summary
The City of Kings is played in rounds. At the start of each round, you will first attempt to resolve your current story. Second, move the Time Tracker. Third, each player will take their turn in order, clockwise, always starting with the same player. On a player's turn, they will check for impairments, activate any creatures they control, and then perform up to 4 actions.
Once all of the players have completed their actions, the round ends, and the next round begins. Play continues until you either complete your chosen story, or lose by running out of hope or morale.
1 Resolve story
First round: At the beginning of the first round, the starting player should read aloud Chapter 1 of your chosen story to make everyone aware of the initial objective.
Each player should draw 1 ability token from the red ability bag. Whoever gets the lowest number is the starting player. You should place the Time Tracker in front of the first player as a reminder.
Second round and onwards: Check your current objective. If you have met all the criteria for that chapter, draw the next chapter card and read it aloud. If you have not yet completed all of the criteria, then your adventure continues!
If there are no more chapters, you win the game.
2 Move time tracker
As you adventure across the realms, time will pass, fires will burn out, frost will melt, and poison will disperse. If you haven't victoriously returned to the city by the time the clock strikes midnight, the city will fear for the worst and lose hope.
- A Move the Time Tracker to the next phase of the day.
- B Look at the icon for the new time of day (either fire, poison, or frost) and update all tokens of that type on the board:
- Weak tokens get removed from the board.
- Strong tokens get turned over to the weak side.
- (There won't be any present at the start of the game.)
- C If it is midnight, update the Hope Tracker and all Map tiles with Attention tokens:
- Move the Hope Tracker down 1 space.
- Remove 1 Attention from every Map tile that has at least 1 on it.
Remember - If you run out of hope, you lose the game.
3 Player turns
Each player will take their turn in order to resolve their impairments, activate any creatures they control, and then take actions.
Once all players have completed their turns, the round is complete, and you start the next round. Continue to do this until you either win or lose.
Player Turn
Player turns consist of resolving impairments, activating creatures, and performing actions. Each player will perform all 3 steps before play passes to the next person, clockwise.
1 Resolve impairments
Impairments are created by creatures with abilities trying to disrupt your plans by placing fire and poison tokens on Map tiles.
If you start your turn on a Map tile with fire/poison on it or your Character Sheet has fire/poison on it, you must resolve these effects before continuing with your turn.
The effects of fire and poison are described on page 14 and page 15 of the Quick Reference Booklet.
2 Activate creatures
All creatures next to your Character Sheet now activate in order, starting with the newest and ending with the oldest.
Note: You may not have any creatures next to your Character Sheet at the start of the game.
3 Hero and worker actions
At the start of your hero and worker Action phase, you must remove all previously spent Action tokens from your Character Sheet.
You may then spend up to 4 Action tokens in any way you choose. Tokens are spent one at a time, and you perform each action as you go. Action tokens may be used on hero actions, worker actions, or a combination of both!
- Your hero can Move, Explore, Attack / Heal, perform Specials, or Interact.
- Your workers can Move, Explore, or Work.
To perform an action, you place an Action token on the associated Action slot on your Character Sheet. Some actions can only be performed once per round, and others can be performed twice. This will be indicated by the number of circles in the Action area of your Character Sheet.
You can unlock a 5th Action token by upgrading your workers (see Workers and Storage).
Creature Activation
During a player's turn, before their hero and worker actions, all creatures next to their Character Sheet will activate in order starting with the newest.
Activating a creature means resolving any impairments it has and then activating its heal, attacks, and abilities.
While you can't stop a creature from activating, you can prepare for its attacks by positioning your heroes and controlling how much damage each hero takes.
The hero with the highest max health, who is in range, will be targeted by creatures. This allows the other heroes to safely attack the creature. Make sure you heal the hero getting hurt! You can fight a creature endlessly as long as 1 hero has enough health and another hero heals them.
Deciding the priority Target
The basic attack of creatures, as well as many creature abilities, will only damage the priority target.
The priority target is decided as follows:
- A hero in range of the creature. (If more than 1 hero is in range, check rule 2.)
- The hero in range with the highest max health. (If 2 heroes in range share the highest max health, check rule 3.)
- The hero in range with the highest max health who is next in turn order, starting with the current player who is activating the creature.
If there is no priority target, then the attack/ability does not happen. If the priority target dies during creature activation, then a new priority target is selected. Remember - Max health, not current health. Heroes on The City of Kings tile cannot be targeted by attacks.
Range
Range is always equal to the range stat. If you have a range of 2, you can reach across 2 tiles in addition to the tile you are on.
You can:
- only Attack/Heal in straight lines.
- Attack/Heal over unexplored tiles.
You can't:
- Attack/Heal diagonally.
- Attack/Heal around corners.
The 5 activation steps
To activate a creature, follow the 5 steps below in order.
1 Resolve impairments: Creatures suffer damage from fire and poison tokens in the same way heroes do. If the creature is on a Map tile with a fire/poison or has at least 1 poison on its Creature Template, then resolve this damage as per page 14 and page 15 of the Quick Reference Booklet before continuing.
2 Heal: The creature performs the Heal action restoring its health if it has the heal stat on its Stat bar or if it has heal bonus tokens on its Creature Template. Add the value of the stat and bonus together. If the total value is greater than zero, the creature heals itself. Increase the creature's health by the amount healed.
A creature's health can never go above its max health as shown on the Stat bar.
3 Basic attack: The creature performs the basic Attack action damaging its priority target if it has the attack stat on its Stat bar or if it has attack bonus tokens on its Creature Template.
- A Add the value of the stat and bonus together. If the total value is greater than zero, then the creature attacks the priority target. The targeted hero decreases their current health by the total attack value.
- B If the creature has any attack ability tokens on its Creature Template, then they should be activated now. Activate them in numerical order, following the numbers on the top of the ability tokens.
Example: The creature has Whirlwind (9) and Knockback (12). Attack abilities are activated in numerical order, so Whirlwind (9) is resolved and then Knockback (12) is resolved. Curse and Poison Bolt are special abilities and not attack abilities, so they do not activate yet.
4 Attack all: The creature performs the Attack All action damaging all heroes in range if it has an attack all stat on its Stat bar. If it does, all heroes in range of the creature reduce their current health by the value shown.
Attack All hits all heroes in range, including the priority target, even if they already suffered damage from a basic attack.
5 Special abilities: Finally, the creature performs the Special Ability action, which activates all special ability tokens on its Creature Template. Activate them in numerical order, following the numbers on the top of the ability tokens. Special abilities can be identified by the special icon on the top of the ability tokens.
Example: The creature has Curse (12) and Poison Bolt (33). Special abilities are activated in numerical order, so Curse (12) is resolved and then Poison Bolt (33) is resolved. Whirlwind and Knockback were activated during the creature's basic attack, so do not activate again.
Each ability will only happen once per creature activation. If a creature has 2 tokens with the same ability, then only activate the ability once, each time you activate the creature.
You should always attempt to activate all 5 steps. If a creature has no Priority Target, then some of its Special abilities may still activate.
Hero Actions
Move
The Move action allows you to move your hero from one tile to another. You can Move as many tiles as you like up to your move stat.
You can:
- change direction during a move action.
- move from an explored tile to an explored tile.
- move from an explored tile to an unexplored tile.
- move from an unexplored tile to an explored tile.
- move through creatures, minions, and other heroes.
- stand on the same tile as another hero, worker, creature, or minion.
- travel through tiles with impairments such as fire and poison, noting those you encounter.
You can't:
- move diagonally.
- move from an unexplored tile to another unexplored tile.
- stop and perform actions in the middle of a move.
A hero with a move of 2 can move either 1 or 2 tiles.
Special
While this action does nothing at the start of the game, heroes will become more powerful and unlock new Skills from their Skill tree (see Skill Tree). Some of these Skills are activated by using the Special action space (noted in the Skill descriptions as shown).
Explore
The Explore action allows you to turn over an unexplored tile. Your hero must be standing on the tile you wish to explore before you can initiate the explore action.
When you discover a Map tile for the first time, you should read the Map tile section of the Quick Reference Booklet (starting on page 10) for a description of what the tile does.
Interact
Interact is used for a variety of different tasks throughout the game.
- Activating map tiles: Some Map tiles offer special actions that need to be activated, such as the shop where you can buy equipment. These special actions are explained in the Map tile explanation section of the Quick Reference Booklet.
- Trading Equipment: You can trade equipment with other heroes while located at The City of Kings by performing an Interact action.
- Freeing others from pits: If a hero or worker falls into a pit, then they will need to be freed. This can be done by standing on a tile adjacent to the trapped character and using an Interact action. Once freed, the hero / worker is placed on the same tile as the hero who freed them.
As long as you meet the requirements for the Interact action, you can always do it, ignoring any creatures, minions, impairments, or effects on your current location.
Attack/Heal
When performing the Attack/Heal action, you may Attack a creature or Heal a hero. You may Attack/Heal over unexplored tiles.
Attack:
- Choose a creature in range.
- Calculate damage (attack + bonuses + luck - shield).
- Activate the creature's defend abilities.
- Reduce the creature's health.
Heal:
- Choose a hero in range (You can choose yourself).
- Calculate heal (heal + bonuses + luck).
- Restore target's health.
Calculating damage:
- Base attack: Start with your attack stat as shown on your Character Sheet.
- Bonuses: Add any bonuses you receive from activated Skills or from being located on a Buff tile (see page 10 in the Quick Reference Booklet).
- Luck: Roll 1 chance die for each luck stat you have. Take the highest roll and add it to your total. (Chance die faces: +1, +2, +50%, No bonus.)
- Shield: Check the creature's Stat bar to see if it has a shield. If it does, subtract the shield value from your total.
- Defend Abilities: If the creature has any defend abilities, then activate them in numerical order. (Be careful, some defend abilities can hurt you!)
Deal damage: If you are still alive, decrease the health of the creature by the total damage.
Reflect: If the creature has reflect, the attacking hero must reduce their current health by 1 for each point of reflect. Reflect always hits, even if the creature dies, and is not affected by the creature's shield. If a hero can hit the creature, then reflect will hit.
Calculating Heal:
- Base heal: Start with your heal stat as shown on your Character Sheet.
- Bonuses: Add any bonuses you receive from activated Skills or from being located on a Buff tile (see page 10 in the Quick Reference Booklet).
- Luck: Roll 1 chance die for each luck stat you have. Take the highest roll and add it to your total.
- Restore health: Your target's current health increases by the amount calculated, up to the target's max health (you cannot overheal).
Calculating percentages: When calculating a Heal or Attack that gains a percentage bonus from Luck, or from a Skill, you always use the character's base stat, ignoring any bonuses.
Always round up: When a hero or creature performs an Attack/Heal, they might calculate a number which contains a decimal. In all cases the number should be rounded up to the closest whole number. Example: Attack 3.2 becomes Attack 4.
Example 1: T'Lorra has 8 attack and has unlocked the Skill Eagle's Rally, gaining +2 to her attacks. T'lorra performs a basic attack and rolls for luck; she gets +50%. The total damage is: Basic damage 8 + Bonuses 2 + Luck 4 (50% of 8) = 14 damage.
Example 2: Earthshaker has 10 attack, and performs Hammer Fist. Hammer Fist deals double damage (+100%), and Earthshaker rolls +50% luck. Earthshaker is on a completed Shrine Map tile, which gives +3 attack. The total damage is: Basic damage 10 + Bonuses 13 + Luck 5 (50% of 10) = 28 damage. Calculating the bonus: Earthshaker does double damage; as Earthshaker has 10 attack double damage adds 10. Being located on the Shrine adds a further 3, totalling 13.
Worker Actions
Workers are playable characters whom you manage alongside your hero to perform tasks.
Workers cannot attack, they cannot be attacked, and do not have health. They are not affected by fire, poison, frost, or other such effects, but they do fall in pits.
Move
Worker Move follows the same rules as hero Move (see Hero Actions) with the following exceptions:
- Workers can perform the Move action twice per round as shown on the Action section of your Character Sheet.
- Workers cannot travel through creatures.
If at any time a worker is located on the same tile as a creature, the worker is considered trapped. Trapped workers cannot perform actions or Move. They are considered to be out of play until the creature is either killed or moves to another tile.
Remember - Workers have their own move stat located in the worker area of the Character Sheet.
Explore
Worker Explore follows the same rules as hero Explore (see Hero Actions).
Work
The Work Action allows workers to gather, scavenge, or build.
Gather
If your worker is on a resource tile, you may use the Work action to gather. Resource tiles have the gather icon in the top left corner.
To gather, roll 1 gather die for each gather stat you have.
When gathering, you take the number of resource tokens from the supply equal to the total number rolled, and place them on your current worker's storage area on your Character Sheet.
For each attention you roll, place 1 Attention token on the resource tile.
Each resource tile allows you to gather a different type of resource:
- Forest: wood
- Mine: ore
- Lake: fish
- Field: linen
Attention: When you gather or scavenge, you have a chance to roll an attention icon, indicating you have gotten the attention of a creature. If you do, add 1 Attention token to the Map tile your worker is on for each attention rolled. If at any point you place a 4th Attention on a Map tile, remove all Attention from that Map tile and set up a creature.
The Old Barn: The Old Barn holds all the resources you bring back to The City of Kings, which are considered your available resources. These resources are shared between all players and can be used by anyone. At any point in your adventure, if you require resources for a Quest to buy Equipment, to build a structure, or for any other task that requires resources, you must have them in (and then remove them from) the Old Barn. You cannot spend resources that are currently in your workers' storage areas.
Scavenge
If your worker is on a creature tile, you may use the Work action to scavenge. Creature tiles have the scavenge icon in the top left corner.
To scavenge, roll 1 scavenge die for each scavenge stat you have.
The sides of the scavenge dice show fish, ore, wood, item part, or attention. When scavenging, you take 1 resource token from the supply for each resource rolled and place them on your current worker's storage area on your Character Sheet.
For each attention you roll, place 1 Attention token on the Map tile.
Item parts: During your adventure, you will find Item Parts which can be traded at The City of Kings to unlock new Equipment at the Trade District. You obtain item parts by scavenging. These behave in the same way as any other resource.
A worker can perform a Work action while in The City of Kings to remove 3 item parts from the Old Barn and add 1 Equipment card to the Trade District, placing the card under the Trade District header. This can be done multiple times for just 1 Work action.
Example: You can trade 9 item parts for 3 Equipment cards at the cost of a single Work action.
Build
Some tiles are labelled as buildings and can be upgraded for bonuses.
Each building location starts at phase 1 and can be upgraded twice.
If your worker is on a building tile and the Old Barn has the required resources to upgrade that tile to the next phase (indicated by the top row of icons), then you may perform a work action and spend the required resources to collect the reward (indicated by the bottom row of icons). You should then locate the upgraded version of that Map tile from the box, and place it on top of the current version of the tile.
Example:
- Phase 1: Pay 3 wood, get 2 linen, and place the phase 2 tile on this Map tile.
- Phase 2: Pay 5 wood. All players increase a worker stat by 1. Place the phase 3 tile on this Map tile.
- Phase 3: Pay 3 of any 1 resource and get any 1 resource. This tile is permanent and can be used as many times as you wish as long as you have the resources required.
All workers can build and there is no Build stat.
Workers and Storage
You start with 1 worker and can unlock a second by increasing any of your worker stats to 4. This is shown on your Character Sheet as a reminder.
When you unlock the second worker, move the worker token to The City of Kings tile and use the Worker 2 action section on your Character Sheet to perform actions with it.
The fifth action token
If you unlock your second worker, you also unlock the 5th action token. For the rest of the game you can perform 5 actions per turn instead of 4.
Trapped workers
Workers get trapped by creatures and minions. If a worker is on the same Map tile as a creature or minion, it can no longer perform any actions until that creature/minion is killed or moves to another tile.
Worker storage
Each worker has its own storage area on your Character Sheet, which can hold a maximum of 6 resources.
At any time, you may remove any number of resources from your workers' storage areas and remove them from the game, placing them back in the supply pile.
When your worker is on The City of Kings tile, move all resources from its storage area to the Old Barn.
You cannot spend resources that are currently in your workers' storage areas.
Unloading resources
Each worker is limited to holding a maximum of 6 resources at any given time. Whenever your worker enters The City of Kings tile, move all of their resources into the Old Barn.
You can discard any resources from your workers' storage areas at any time.
Temporary structures
Workers can use a Work action while on The City of Kings tile to purchase a Temporary Structure. Each structure is limited to 2, so only 2 can be in play at any given time.
The Temporary Structures are Traps, Camps, and Barricades. Traps cost 8 ore, Camps cost 8 fish, and Barricades cost 8 wood.
When a worker purchases a Temporary Structure, it immediately goes into its storage area on your Character Sheet. A single Temporary Structure fills a worker's entire storage area, so no resources can be carried by a worker while it is carrying a Temporary Structure.
Workers can use a Work action to remove a Temporary Structure from its storage area and place it on the tile it is currently on.
Similarly, a worker can use a Work action to pick up a Temporary Structure from the tile it is currently on and place it in its storage area.
Once a Temporary Structure is on a tile, it can be activated by any player at any time as it does not cost an action. Once activated, remove the token from the board.
For the below, X always equals your current level (not total XP) as shown on the XP tracker.
- Traps: Instantly reduce the health of 1 creature on the same tile as the Trap by X and then remove the token. Traps do not ignore shields. If the creature has a shield, you must reduce the total damage done by the shield's value.
- Camps: Instantly restore X health to 1 hero on the same tile as the Camp and then remove the token.
- Barricades: 1 hero on the same tile as the Barricade can reduce damage taken from any one source (i.e. creature attack or ability) by X and then remove the token.
Each Map tile can only contain 1 Temporary Structure at any given time.
Levelling Up
In The City of Kings, you share rewards by adding experience points to a single team tracker and level up together. No hero will be left behind!
As you adventure across the realms, you will gain experience points (XP) for completing Quests and killing creatures.
When you gain XP, add them to the team XP tracker by moving the XP token the appropriate number of spaces. When you land on (or pass) a new level, all players gain rewards.
It is possible to level up two or more times with a single XP gain. All players get all the rewards for each level gained if this happens.
If you ever reach the end of the XP tracker, then ignore any further XP gains.
Level rewards:
- Stat increase: Increase any 1 of your hero or worker stats by 1.
- Skill token: Take 1 Skill token from your personal supply and place it on your Skill tree.
- Stat + Skill: You get both a stat increase and Skill token.
Stats
Each character sheet contains 9 stats. Each stat offers different benefits and will change the way you play the game.
Health
Health is represented by 2 values: max and current.
- Max health: The total health your hero can have at any time.
- Current health: How much health your hero has at this point in time. When you take damage, you reduce your current health. When you are healed, your current health goes up.
When you upgrade your health stat, you increase both your current and max health. Remember - Your current health can never go above your max health.
Primary stats
- Attack: How much damage you do with an Attack action (see Attack/Heal).
- Heal: How much health you restore with a Heal action (see Attack/Heal).
Secondary stats
Unlike the other stats, secondary stats require multiple upgrades to increase the value.
For example, at the start of the game you have 1 range. When you upgrade your range by 1, you will still have 1 range. The next time you upgrade range you will have 2 range and so on.
- Range: How far you can reach with an Attack action or Heal action (see Range).
- Move: How far your hero can move in a Move action (see Move).
- Luck: How many chance dice you roll when you perform an Attack action or Heal action, offering a random increase to the action (see Attack/Heal).
Worker stats
- Move: How far your worker can move in a Move action (see Worker Actions).
- Gather: How many gather dice you roll when you perform a work action at a resource location (see Gather).
- Scavenge: How many scavenge dice you roll when you perform a work action on a creature tile (see Scavenge).
Skill Tree
I was once a healer, but now I am the bringer of death.
Each hero can learn to use a unique set of Skills during the game by advancing through their unique Skill tree.
During your adventure, as you level up, you will be awarded Skill tokens. These are placed on your Skill tree in a continuous path, starting from the bottom row of Tier 1. New Skill tokens must always be placed adjacent to existing tokens on the Skill tree, i.e., in spaces linked by a solid line.
As you place Skill tokens in slots, you gain +1 in whatever stat the slot contains. As soon as you place your Skill tokens in a slot, update your character stats.
When placing a Skill token in this slot, you should increase your range stat by 1 space. There are some slots which contain the same stat twice. In these cases you will get both bonuses.
Tiers and unlocking skills
Each Skill tree is made up of 3 tiers, and each tier contains 4 Skills. You can only choose 1 of the 4 Skills from each tier.
To learn a Skill, you must place a Skill token on it. The token must also be connected to the bottom of the Skill tree via a solid line.
Skill cards
When you reach the top of a tier, you can take any face up Skill card from the Temple and place it in the next tier. This will allow you to continue up the Skill tree and work towards the most powerful Skills.
When you take a Skill card from the Temple, you should immediately replace it with a new card from the deck.
There are some Skill cards which contain bonus Skills, and you may learn these Skills by placing a Skill token on them. Bonus Skills can be learned in addition to the standard Skill you learn from each tier.
Skill reset
Each player can reset their hero's Skills once per game by placing a Skill token on the Skill reset slot.
Once activated, remove all Skill tokens and Skill cards from your Skill tree, remembering to reduce your character stats.
Next, replace any Skill cards you removed with Skill cards from the Temple, and take 1 extra Skill card from the Temple and place it over tier 1.
Now place the removed Skill tokens back on your Skill tree in any way you want.
Using skills
There are 2 types of Skills:
- Passive skills: These offer a bonus that remains for the rest of the game.
- Action skills: These require at least one action to activate.
On the Character Sheet, Action Skills will show the required actions under the Skill description, while Passive Skills will not show an action.
Example: Defend is passive and Wardstones requires 2 actions to activate. To activate Wardstones you must place 1 Action Token on the Special action space and 1 Action Token on the Heal action space, at the same time.
Anytime skills
Anytime Skills will always start with the word "Anytime" and work differently from other Skills. They can be used at any time, even during other players' turns!
To use an Anytime Skill, you must still spend an Action token on the necessary action. To use an Anytime action on someone else's turn, you must have saved 1 Action token on your turn (before their turn) and make sure the required Action space is left free on your Character Sheet.
When you perform the Anytime action, you place your available Action token on your Character Sheet as normal.
Transform
Transform Skills require an action and a Transform action to activate. Their description will state an Action you will no longer be able to perform once Transformed.
Example: Vengeful Prayer requires a Special action to use. Once activated, it stops you from using the Move action.
When using a Transform Skill, take a Transform token from the supply and place it on your Character Sheet over the Action described. You can no longer use this Action.
Example: When using Vengeful Prayer, you would put the Transform token over the Move action and place an Action token on the Special action.
Removing the Transform token: To remove the Transform token, you must reuse the Skill on another turn, this time paying the first action cost to remove the token.
Equipment
Each Character Sheet contains 4 slots for equipment. 2 slots may be used from the start of your adventure (legs and body), and 2 slots must be unlocked (head and arms) by either upgrading your health, attack, or heal stat.
An equipment card shows its Cost (e.g. 2 fish), Name (e.g. Grisel's Mane), Stat increase (e.g. +1 attack, +1 move, +1 scavenge or Increase your maximum health by 1), and Equipment slot (e.g. Body or Legs).
Buying equipment
Your hero can buy equipment displayed at the Trade District by visiting a shop or the City of Kings, and spending the required resources from the Old Barn.
Purchasing equipment requires an Interact action, but you may purchase as much equipment as you want for 1 Interact action.
Unlocking head and arms slots
You can unlock the head and arms slots by increasing your health, attack, or heal stats. Only one stat needs to reach the unlock value.
| Stat | Head slot | Arms slot |
|---|---|---|
| Health | 8 or more | 10 or more |
| Attack | 5 or more | 7 or more |
| Heal | 5 or more | 7 or more |
These are highlighted on your Character Sheet with the head and arms icons.
Equipping equipment
When you purchase Equipment, you must immediately place it in the corresponding slot on your Character Sheet and update your character stats as indicated.
If there is already a piece of Equipment in the slot, then it must be discarded and removed from the game.
Unequipping equipment
You can unequip equipment at any time by discarding it from the game or trading it with another hero.
Remove unequipped equipment from your Character Sheet and reduce your character stats, removing any stat increases gained from the equipment.
In the event that unequipping equipment reduces Health, Attack, or Heal below the threshold required to unlock the head or arms, this slot is no longer unlocked. You must also unequip any equipment in that particular slot.
Trading
If 2 heroes are on The City of Kings tile at the same time, then they can initiate a trade by 1 of them using an Interact action.
The heroes can give or receive as much equipment as they want (with permission), as long as they both have unlocked the necessary slots on their Character Sheets.
The City of Kings Tile
The City of Kings tile is the starting area and will always be revealed. It is part of the corner piece, which is used to track Hope, Morale, and XP.
Heroes
When a hero ends a Move action on The City of Kings tile, they immediately restore all lost health and remove any impairments from their Character Sheet.
Heroes cannot attack, heal, or perform special attacks or special heals while in The City of Kings.
Heroes cannot be attacked while in The City of Kings.
Fire, poison, frost, and minion tokens cannot be placed on The City of Kings tile.
The City of Kings tile is both a shop and a stable; you can buy Equipment here and travel to other stables.
Heroes can trade with each other while in The City of Kings (See Equipment).
Workers
When a worker ends a Move action on The City of Kings tile, they instantly move all resources from their storage area to the Old Barn.
Workers can perform a work action to trade resources from the Old Barn for Temporary Structures and Equipment cards.
Creatures
Creatures cannot move onto The City of Kings.
Critical Damage
If at any point a hero's current health falls below 1, then that hero suffers critical damage and is rushed back to The City of Kings.
- Immediately move their hero token to The City of Kings tile.
- Restore the hero's current health to the maximum value.
- Remove all impairments and transform tokens from their Character Sheet.
- Reduce the morale tracker by 1.
If a hero suffers critical damage during their turn, they may continue to use any unspent Action tokens after completing the above 4 steps.
There is no player elimination. Remember - If you run out of morale, you lose the game.
Creature Death
When a creature dies, check its Creature Template for death abilities, resolve rewards, and then return it to the supply area.
While a player is performing actions for a creature, it is possible for the creature to die. If this happens, the effect of the current ability should be completed but no further actions should be activated.
- When a creature dies, check if it has any death abilities. If it does, activate them in order.
- Check the XP reward on the creature Stat bar, and increase the team XP tracker by the value shown.
- Return the creature's Health Cubes, War Banner, and template to the supply area.
- Return the creature's abilities to the corresponding ability bags.
- Put the creature Stat bar in a discard pile.
If the creature was the target of a quest, you should resolve the quest now. If the creature was the target of a story, you should resolve this during the "resolve story" phase.
Quest Cards
During your adventure, your hero may discover Quest Map tiles, which will cause a Quest to start.
To start a Quest, draw 1 Quest card from the Quest deck and read it out loud. Some quests will have two options, and you will need to choose one of the options.
Each type of Quest is described in the Quick Reference Booklet.
Group/individual quests
Group quests are placed together on the table in an area referred to as the Quest Hub and can be completed at any time, by any player.
Individual quests are placed beside the Character Sheet of the player who triggered the Quest and can only be completed by that player.
How quest rewards work
Quest rewards are shown at the bottom of the Quest card.
- Equipment: Equipment rewards should be drawn from the Equipment deck and placed in the Trade District for purchase.
- Resources: Fish, ore, linen, wood and item part rewards are immediately placed in the Old Barn.
- Quest: The player who completed the original Quest should draw 1 Quest card from the Quest deck after all other rewards have been collected.
- XP: XP rewards are added to the team's XP tracker.
Skill Cards
At the start of the game, draw 4 Skill cards and place them face up together on the table. This area is known as the Temple, and it stores all available Skill cards.
Each time a card is taken from the Temple, it should immediately be replaced with a new card from the Skill deck.
Skill cards are used on the Skill tree, which is explained in Skill Tree.
Position Cards
During your adventure, some creatures will move, others will summon minions, and a few will panic you into running away. Position cards are used to determine the movement and summoning locations for these abilities.
The central X represents the target's current location, and the final position is represented by the numbers. The character moving must follow the line to that point.
The movement is resolved in order 1 - 4 until one of the 4 points is valid.
For example, first try to move to point 1. If point 1 is off the board, then try to move to point 2 instead. If point 2 is off the board, then try to move to point 3 instead. If point 3 is off the board, then move to point 4.
One of the 4 locations will always be a valid location. Characters follow the line to their destination and are still affected by fire and poison.
Example: The creature first tries to move to position 1, but it can't as this would take it off the board. It then tries position 2. Since this is on the board (an unexplored tile), the creature moves to this location.
Equipment Cards
Whenever you take a new Equipment card from the pile, you must place it in the Trade District.
The Trade District is an area of the table reserved for all Equipment cards that are available to buy.
Unlike Skill cards, when you take an Equipment card from the Trade District and add it to your character, it is not automatically replaced.
More information about Equipment can be found in Equipment. You will always have to pay for the equipment. Equipment is never free.
Stories and Scenarios
Set up cards
When you play The City of Kings, you may choose either a story or a scenario. Each story comes with a set up card, and each scenario has its set up information on the back.
Set up cards are split into 4 sections:
1 Trackers: Set the Hope, Morale, and Time Trackers to the appropriate values for your player count.
2 Stats:
- XP: Set the XP Tracker to shown value.
- Stats: Each player should upgrade their character by the number of stats shown. (For story 4, each player should increase any combination of stats on their character sheet by a total of 4.)
- Skills: Each player should take the number of Skill tokens shown and place them on their character's skill tree.
- Creature Stat bar: Discard all Creature Stat bars up to, but not including, the value shown. (For story 4, you should start on Creature Stat bar 6, so you should discard Stat bars 1 - 5.)
- Equipment: Place this number of Equipment cards in the Trade District.
3 Board set up: Take the Map tiles listed on the card (above the diagram) from the box and place them, as shown, on the table.
Map tiles are identified using the numbers in the bottom left corner. For story 4 you need all tiles with a 1, 3, or 7.
- Buildings: Some Map tiles contain buildings. When setting up a story or scenario using Map tiles 6, 7, 8, 12, or 13, you should only use the phase 1 building tiles. Keep the phase 2 and phase 3 building tiles to the side; you will need these later in the game. You can identify the phase of a building tile by looking in the bottom right corner of the Map tile.
- Creatures: Some setup cards will list Creature Stat bars. In these instances, set up the creature by the first player, and place the War Banner on the indicated Map tile.
Creatures placed during the set up phase of a story or a chapter do not activate on the round they are setup. They also don't receive any bonuses from Map tiles unless the setup card specifically states otherwise.
4 Starting Locations: Heroes and workers do not always start at The City of Kings and do not always start on the same tile as each other. Place the characters on the tiles indicated on the set up card.
Chapter set up: In addition to the set up card, some chapter cards within a story have extra set up information. These are clearly described and should be carried out as soon as they are encountered. If a chapter setup tells you to set up a creature or boss, that creature does not activate during the round where it was set up.
Objectives
Every chapter and scenario card has an objective clearly shown at the bottom of the card. To win the game, the objective must be complete during the 'Resolve Story' phase of a round.
Escort objective: The Escort objective is a special objective found in scenarios that requires you to escort a character to a specific location.
An NPC token will be placed on a Map tile during setup. As soon as a hero moves onto the same tile as the NPC, they may take the NPC and place it on their character sheet. If the Map tile contains a creature, then you must either kill the creature or wait for it to move to another Map tile before you can place the NPC on your Character sheet.
Once the NPC is on a hero's Character sheet, if the hero takes any damage, the NPC dies and you fail the scenario. If the hero escorting the NPC arrives at the objective's destination, then you succeed.
Bosses
There are a total of 8 bosses and special characters in the game, and the Story and Scenario cards will tell you when to use them. These characters work in exactly the same way as any other creature in the game, but they also have a unique ability on their templates.
Example: Bogrot Hoodrahson has the ability Berserk. This is a Special ability and has an order value of 93. During Bogrot's activation, Berserk would activate in the Special ability phase using the order value of 93.
The Scorched: The Scorched is a special character that cannot be attacked or killed. When you are told to place The Scorched on the map, do not give it a Stat bar or any extra abilities. During the creature activation phase, The Scorched will use its special ability Fire Trail, but has no basic attack or other abilities.
Game Difficulty
The City of Kings is a challenging game and will take time to master. If you wish to make the game easier, then replace step 7D of the set up with the following:
Easy:
| 5 | 1 (lower) | 2 |
| 1 | 2 (lower) | 1 |
| 1 | 0 | 1 |
Very easy:
| 5 | 1 (lower) | 2 |
| 2 | 2 (lower) | 1 |
| 2 | 0 | 1 |
2-player: If you are finding 2-player too difficult, you may increase your starting morale to 3.
Solo play
The City of Kings is a fully cooperative game with no hidden information and supports solo play through a single player controlling multiple heroes.
To play solo, you will need to pick either 2, 3, or 4 player mode and setup the game following the normal rules. You will then need to select the appropriate number of heroes to play.
It is recommended that you try 2 player mode first, and then progress on to the 3 and 4 player modes if you want to increase the options available to you.
Credits
- Game Design: Frank West
- Assistant Producer: Sara Jorge
- World Building: Frank West, Sara Jorge
- Artwork: Miguel Mitchell Da Silva
- Art Direction: Frank West
- Graphic Design: Frank West, with contributions from Alec Jackson and Peter Webb
- Writing: Frank West, Ian O'Reilly, with contributions from Sara Jorge, Joelle Mellon and Meg Stivison
- Editing: Ian O'Reilly, Jeff McCaull, Michael Bane, Amy Smylie, and Carrie Ott