The Red Dragon Inn: Allies – Cormac the Mighty
The Red Dragon Inn: Allies – Cormac the Mighty Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
Take your four Rage Tiles and place them in a single pile near your Player Mat. From top to bottom, the Rage Tiles should be labeled A, B, C and D. Leave room near the Rage Tiles for your Rage Pool.
You will need a Drink Deck from another Red Dragon Inn product to play.
Rage Tiles
Cormac's four Rage Tiles represent his increasing Barbarian Rage! Each Rage Tile has two sides. One side indicates the number of cards needed to activate that tile. The other side shows the effects that apply to Cormac after that tile has been activated. When a Rage Tile is activated, it covers any previously-activated Rage Tiles.
At the beginning of the game, Cormac is calm. He has no activated Rage Tile yet, so he receives no special bonus or penalty from his Rage Tiles. As Cormac's Rage Pool builds, he causes more Fortitude loss, but is also more affected by Alcohol. These effects are shown on his Rage Tiles.
When Cormac gains Alcohol Content, that Alcohol Content gain is increased by the given amount. (Note that this affects all of Cormac's Alcohol Content gains, not just the gains from Drinks!)
When Cormac causes a player to lose Fortitude, that Fortitude loss is increased by the given amount.
Printed on the B Rage Tile: +1 Alcohol Content (tankard icon) and +2 Fortitude loss (sword icon). Printed on the C Rage Tile, as stated in the rules examples: +2 Alcohol Content and +3 Fortitude loss.
Note on this transcription: the values on the A and D Rage Tiles, and the card counts printed on the tile backs, are shown only as artwork on the source sheet and could not be read reliably from it. They are not transcribed here; consult the physical Rage Tiles.
Rage Pool
Some of Cormac's cards have special icons in their text boxes. Cards with these icons are not discarded after they are played. Instead, they are added to Cormac's Rage Pool.
Rage icon (skull): After this card resolves, place it face down into your Rage Pool instead of putting it into your discard pile.
Double Rage icon (two skulls): After this card resolves, place it face down into your Rage Pool instead of putting it into your discard pile. You may then also place a card from your hand face down into your Rage Pool.
Cormac's Rage Pool is divided into two piles, the Building Rage Pile and the Raging Pile. When you add a card to your Rage Pool, it goes to your Building Rage Pile. When the number of cards in your Building Rage Pile is equal to the number indicated on your next Rage Tile, activate that Rage Tile by flipping it over and placing it on top of any previously-activated Rage Tiles. Then, move the cards in your Building Rage Pile to your Raging Pile.
Example: Cormac currently has a total of 7 cards in his Rage Pool: 2 in his Building Rage Pile and 5 in his Raging Pile, so his "B" Rage Tile is active. He is one card away from activating his "C" Rage Tile, so he decides to play "Barbarian rage" to increase his Rage Pool. He puts "Barbarian rage" face down into his Building Rage Pile, then flips over his "C" Rage Tile, revealing its effect and placing it on top of the "B" tile. He then puts the three cards in the Building Rage Pile into his Raging Pile. He now needs three more cards in his Rage Pool to activate his "D" Rage Tile.
After Cormac's "D" Rage Tile is flipped over, there will be no more Rage Tiles, but cards with a Rage icon in their text boxes are still placed into his Building Rage Pile rather than being discarded.
Note that all cards in both the Building Rage Pile and the Raging Pile count as part of Cormac's Rage Pool. If a card effect causes Cormac to put his Rage Pool into his discard pile, he puts all cards from both his Building Rage Pile and his Raging Pile face up into his discard pile, then resets his Rage Tiles into a single face-down pile in A-B-C-D order, just like at the start of the game.
Example: Cormac has 9 cards in his Rage Pool. One of them is in his Building Rage Pile next to his "D" Rage Tile. The other 8 are in his Raging Pile. Cormac plays "Barbarian's constitution." He gains 2 Fortitude and puts all 9 cards face up into his discard pile. After clearing his Rage Pool, Cormac puts all of his Rage Tiles back into a single face-down pile, in A-B-C-D order. He now has no Rage effect, but his Rage will start to increase again as he plays more cards!
Other Rules
Mandatory vs. Optional Rage
Placing a card with a Rage icon into your Rage Pool is always mandatory when that card resolves. If a card has the "double" icon in its text box, then placing that card into your Rage Pool is mandatory, but placing a second card from your hand into your Rage Pool is optional.
Timing
Placing a card into your Rage Pool happens after all other effects on the card are carried out. This means that you use Cormac's current active Rage Tile to figure out Fortitude loss, even if he would have a new active Rage Tile after the card resolves.
Example: Cormac has 7 cards in his Rage Pool, so his "B" Rage Tile is active, but one more card will activate his "C" Rage Tile. He plays "Hey, I'm a barbarian! Sometimes I hurt things" on Fiona (Action: Pick another player. They lose 2 Fortitude). Fiona loses 4 Fortitude (2 from the card plus 2 more because of the "B" Rage effect). Cormac then puts the "Hey, I'm a barbarian" card face-down into his Building Rage Pile. Since that pile now has three cards, he flips over his "C" Rage Tile, placing it on top of "B". He also moves the three cards from his Building Rage Pile into his Raging Pile. In his Drink Phase, he reveals Wine. Because his "C" Rage Tile is now active, he gains 4 Alcohol Content (2 from the Wine plus 2 more because of his new Rage effect).
If you play a card with the "double" Rage icon and the first card you place in your Rage Pool activates a new Rage Tile, activate your new Rage Tile, then move your Building Rage Pile into your Raging Pile. You may then choose to place a second card from your hand into your Building Rage Pile, starting you toward your next Rage Tile activation.
Negating a Rage Card
If a card with a Rage icon in its text box is Negated, it goes directly to your discard pile. It does not go to your Rage Pool, because it never resolves. If a card with the Rage icon is altered, reduced, Ignored, etc., it still goes to your Rage Pool normally.
"Barbarian rage"
The card "Barbarian rage" does nothing except put itself into Cormac's Rage Pool. This can be useful for dealing that one extra point of damage!
"Wench, bring another for my friend!"
Cormac has a particularly interesting card: "Wench, bring another for my friend!" This card allows him to give a copy of a Drink that he just drank to another player. As the card states, you may not do this if you reduced or Ignored the Drink or split it with another player. The targeted player receives a new copy of the original, unaltered Drink.
This card does not count as a card that affects a Drink, therefore "Wench, bring another for my friend!" cannot be Negated by "The Wench thinks you should stop playing with the drinks."
Any effects that altered the original Drink do not apply to the copy. However, effects that can alter a Drink can still be played on the copy!
Card text: You may play this card immediately after you drink a Drink. You may not play this card if you Ignored the Drink, split the Drink with another player or reduced any of its effects. Pick another player. That player gets a copy of that Drink (plus Chasers) as though they had just revealed it from the Drink Deck.
Example: Cormac (who currently has no active Rage Tile) reveals Wine with a Chaser of Light Ale as his Drink on his Drink Phase. Natyli plays "A drop of Uncle Phrenk's Special Stuff" to add 1 Alcohol Content to the Drink. Cormac gains 4 Alcohol Content, then plays "Wench, bring another for my friend!" to give Natyli a copy of the Drink. Natyli receives an unaltered Wine with a Chaser of Light Ale as though she had just revealed it herself. She thinks she is about to gain 3 Alcohol Content, but then Dimli plays "Spike it with firewater" and Phrenk plays "This'll give that drink a little extra kick!" Natyli gains 6 Alcohol Content and receives her comeuppance.
Rage Effects and Drinking Contest
If one of Cormac's Rage effects increases the amount of Alcohol Content he gains from a Drink, that does not alter the Alcohol Content of the Drink itself. It simply alters the effect he takes from that Drink. This can be relevant in a Drinking Contest.
Example: Cormac's "C" Rage Tile is active (+2 Alcohol Content, +3 Fortitude loss). During a Drinking Contest, Cormac reveals Elven Wine (3 Alcohol Content) and Deirdre reveals Dwarven Firewater (4 Alcohol Content). Because of his active Rage Tile, Cormac gains 5 Alcohol Content, but Deirdre wins the Drinking Contest.