The Vale of Eternity: Curse Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setting Up the Game
• Gameplay
• Cursed Cards
• Curse Phase
• Wards
• End Game Scoring
• Summoners
  • Tolvar
  • Varena
  • Iwo
  • Muura
  • Foros
  • Belledin
  • Marcosa
  • Kang San
• Combining Expansions
• Abilities FAQ
  • Even cost
  • Keep 1 more/less stone
  • Magic stone overflow
  • Pay any amount
  • Up to
  • Empty area
  • Fixed value
  • Fixed cost
  • Summoning a Card

Components

• 28 Cards. Cards from this expansion can be recognized with the Curse symbol (the eye motif).
• 8 Summoner tiles.
• 12 double-sided Ward tokens (active side and broken side).
• 40 Curse tokens.
• 1 Tree standee.

Setting Up the Game

This expansion requires The Vale of Eternity base game. For your first game with The Curse, shuffle all cards with the base game cards.

Set up the game as normal, plus these extra steps:

1. Place the Tree standee and all Curse tokens near the supply, within reach.
2. Each player takes 3 Ward tokens, active side up.
3. Each player takes a Summoner, starting with the last player and going clockwise. (You can also use any method of your choosing to select summoners.)
4. Each player places their Summoner tile on its starting side, indicated with a certain number of Curse tokens, then takes the number of Curse tokens and other resources depicted.

(The sheet's setup diagram shows a Summoner tile with its starting Curse tokens and resources, a Tree standee, Curse tokens, Ward tokens and a Summoner. It is an illustration only.)

Gameplay

This expansion adds cards to the deck, and most of them revolve around curses. Either they interact with them, or are cursed themselves. You will take the curses from the cards you summon over time!

Players all have a summoner tile with additional abilities. All summoner tiles may be flipped, either once in the game, or multiple times, to change their abilities!

The rounds are played as normal (1. Hunting Phase, 2. Action Phase then 3. Resolution Phase), with an extra sequence at the end of each round: 4. Curse phase.

At the end of the game, each Curse on yourself or on creatures in your area removes 2 points from your score. However, active wards and soothed creatures are each worth 1 point (more on soothed creatures later).

Cursed Cards

Whenever you summon a card, check whether it has Curse symbols. If it does, take as many Curse tokens as there are symbols on it, from the supply, and place them on the summoned card. A summoned card with Curse tokens on it is considered cursed.

Note: In the rare event you run out of Curse tokens, please use any suitable replacement for additional Curse tokens.

Example: As Eric summons Hantu Banyu in his area, he places 3 Curse tokens from the supply on it.

• Whenever a cursed card is discarded (through an action or effect), all its Curse tokens are returned to the supply.
  • Tip: Discarding useless cursed cards is effective, as the Curse tokens on them are removed as well.
• Whenever you recover a cursed card, you take its Curse tokens.
• Whenever a cursed card in your area sees its last Curse token removed, you have managed to soothe it. Place it face down, beneath your Summoner tile. Soothed cards are not in your area nor in your hand. They remain there until the end of the game, and each of them is worth 1 point. They take no space in your area, meaning each card you soothe frees a space for you!

Curse Phase

After each Resolution phase, there is a Curse Phase. This phase can be played simultaneously. During this phase, all players must move a Curse token from each of their cursed cards to themselves. Each player chooses in which order you move tokens from your cards. Remember, if you remove the last token from a cursed card, you managed to soothe it!

Example: After the resolution phase (earning him 3 magic stones), Eric moves to the Curse phase. He takes the last Curse token from Hantu Banyu. Hantu Banyu is soothed and placed, face down, underneath his Summoner tile.

(The sheet's illustration of this example is captioned "Resolution Phase" and "Cuese Phase"; the second caption is printed that way on the sheet, with the misspelling kept as printed.)

Wards

Each player starts the game with 3 active wards. Wards can be active or broken, and they will help fend off the curses… or you can break them and use their energy for power!

Whenever you pay the cost for summoning a card in your area or removing a card from your area, you may break a single of your active wards by flipping it to its broken side. This pays for 2 of the cost.

Example: Eric wants to summon Taniwha, and breaks one of his active wards to do so. Instead of paying 5, he must now pay 3.

(The sheet's example illustration shows a ward being broken to pay toward Taniwha, which costs 5 magic stones; the illustration is not reproduced in text.)

Whenever a game effect has you mend a ward, flip a broken ward to its active side. If all three of your wards were active as you mended a ward, instead, remove a curse from yourself instead. Return the removed Curse token to the supply.

This means an effect that mends Wards can be applied when you have no broken wards, but only if you have curses left to lose!

Tip: This is the main way of getting rid of curses.

End Game Scoring

At the end of the game, before determining the winner, each player gains 1 point per active ward and soothed card they have underneath their Summoner tile, and loses 2 points per Curse on them and on each creature in their area. Note that if the endgame has been triggered, whatever happens, the game still ends, even if the curses move players under 60 points.

Summoners

Every summoner has two sides, and can flips from one to the other side when the flip icon (a circle with a curved arrow) is triggering. Some summoners may flip only once during the game (and are usually easier to play), and some may flip multiple times during the game. Each side is denoted by a different piece of art, and by a qualifier, which is used mainly for flavour and reference, and has no impact on the rules themselves.

Flipping the summoners when you meet their condition is mandatory.

Tolvar

Tolvar has come to the Vale with a heavy burden… can he free himself from his own demons?

Tolvar starts the game with 3 wards broken.

At the end of the game, he doesn't lose points from curses on his cursed cards.

Varena

Varena is writing an encyclopedia on magical creatures, and what better place than the Vale to do so?

As a part of her summoner setup, and before the cards of the first round are revealed, Varena draws a card from the draw pile.

Iwo

Always belittled by the court and his mystical tutors, this noble sorcerer wants to prove his peers he is capable of great deeds.

Iwo starts the game with 3 wards broken.

Muura

A bard will never be seen with no inspiration. Muura wanders the vale… simply to collect new stories to tell.

When Muura summons a card while his Tormented side is face up, he gains 2 Curses, then resolve the card's instant effect, if any.

Remember that Muura, when on his Jolly side, flips at the start of the round before any game action is taken.

Foros

For Foros, life is an experiment field – live, laugh, curse and all that.

On her Curious side, Dunia can make cursed cards hold more curses than they normally would. That means their resolution effects or permanent effects can last longer. She also can make cards that should not be cursed… cursed. That means you can soothe cards that could not be soothed originally, and make space for more!

Source note: the sheet headings this summoner "Foros" but its ability text names "Dunia"; both names are kept as printed.

Belledin

Lady Belledin's penchant for novelty brought her to the Vale: why linger in a dusty old mage tower when all the magic in the world happens elsewhere?

When Belledin summons a card of a family she does not have while she is on her Friendly side, she gains a blue magic stone, then resolves the card's instant effect, if any.

Marcosa

Being a devoted healer, Marcosa tries to get rid of the Curse-Tree's vile influence… but all this evil is also… quite tempting.

When Marcosa breaks a ward, she immediately flips, and thus will earn a blue magic stone in the Resolution Phase.

If she doesn't break any wards, she doesn't flip, and thus will mend a ward instead.

Remember that Marcosa, when on her Tempted side, flips at the start of the round before any game action is taken.

Kang San

A traveling merchant, Kang San always brings his wares on his back, clinking and rocking at every step. Rumor brought him to the Vale to gather even more artifacts!

As a part of his summoner setup, and before the cards of the first round are revealed, Kang San shelter the top 2 cards from the draw pile.

Combining Expansions

You can combine the Artifacts expansion with The Ancient Curse. When you combine both, you can play with Burr. As usual when playing with Artifacts, the endgame is triggered at 80 of the usual 60 points.

Source note: the sheet names the expansion "The Ancient Curse" here; kept as printed.

Abilities FAQ

The sheet's FAQ is keyed to the cards pictured beside each entry. The printed card text of those cards is given here so the entries can be read on their own.

• Anansi: Earn 3 points for each card with an even written cost in your area.
• Ares: You can keep one more stone.
• Axomama: You can keep one less stone.
• Inferno: Earn any 4 stones. For each red round token gained, earn 2 points, and for each blue stone gained, earn 1 point.
• Selkie: Pay any amount to remove one Curse from yourself per 1 paid.
• Tarasque: Discard up to 2 of your other summoned cards, then earn 1 point for each of your empty areas.
• Mephisto: The value of your red round token is fixed to 3.
• Taniwha: Choose a card with the family icon from any area and add it to your hand. The summoning cost of your cards with the family icon is fixed to a blue stone.
• Strix: Earn 2 points for each your ward and mend up to 3 wards.

Even cost

(The sheet prints an icon after "Even cost"; the icon does not render in the PDF and is left blank here.)

Zero is even.

Keep 1 more/less stone

Such effects change the number of magic stones you can have at a time. They take effect immediately, potentially causing stone overflow. Similarly, if you loses access to such an effect, you can have too many stones and must immediately discard stones to remove the excess before any other game action is taken.

Note: Except in this case, you cannot voluntarily discard stones.

Magic stone overflow

(The sheet prints an icon after "Magic stone overflow"; the icon does not render in the PDF and is left blank here.)

You may temporarily earn more magic stones than your limit. However, you must discard the excess stones immediately so that you're within the limit before taking any other actions or resolving effects.

With summoning Inferno, you may earn two red round tokens, a blue magic stone, a purple magic stone, and 5 points, even if it exceeds your limit. Then, discard any excess stones.

Pay any amount

This means you pay any amount using magic stones. (Remember, you cannot break wards to pay for this. The only times you can break wards to pay is to summon a card, or to remove a card from your area.)

Up to

Remember that resolving effects is mandatory. However, if the effect specifies "up to [a number]" or "any amount," zero can be chosen.

Empty area

Your empty areas may grow as the game goes; they are the unused spaces for creatures. For instance, if you have summoned only one card in round 3, you have 2 empty areas.

Fixed value

With Mephisto in your area, your red round token is always worth 3. Agni does not increase the value.

Fixed cost

Fixing the cost to a blue magic stone means you can only summon it with a specific blue magic stone.

You can still summon dragons for free with abilities, such as Dragon egg already in play or Ghost.

Summoning a Card

When summoning a cards, first pay the summoning cost, breaking a ward if necessary. Then resolve any permanent effects triggered by the summon, followed by the instant effect of the summoned card.