Create a deck with all Role dominoes. Shuffle and deal each player 1 Role. Once revealed, also give each player their corresponding Starting Dominoes.
Start the Shared Map in the center of the table by combining the Starting Dominoes of all Roles (even those not in the current game) however you like.
All players also start their Personal Map by placing their second Starting Domino before them.
This game is a mix of cooperative and competitive by default. Still, you must choose if you play as a group (cooperative) or against each other (competitive).
These rules explain the cooperative version first; at Variants, you can read the small changes to make it competitive.
You lose the game once a single player has failed 3 Missions.
You win the game if you manage to complete 3 Missions per player before that happens. (For example, in a 3-player game, this means completing 3x3 = 9 Missions to win.)
Your final score is the strength of the weakest player. Higher is obviously better!
Play happens in rounds. Each round has three steps: DRAW, PLACE, and REPORT.
Draw 2 times as many dominoes as there are players (from the deck). Place them faceup in a row on the table: the Domino Market.
Each player also receives a new Mission Domino.
Some Missions have the secret eye. This means the Mission must be kept secret. You may discuss and strategize together, but not communicate this Mission.
From start player, take clockwise turns until the Domino Market is empty.
On your turn, pick 1 domino (from the market) and place it.
- You may place it either in your Personal Map or the Shared Map.
- It must attach to the existing map (and not overlap). All maps have a maximum size of 8x8.
- On your Personal Map: paths must match, terrain does not.
- On the Shared Map: terrains must match, paths do not.
- Crucially, if an icon is present on a Role card, only that player may handle dominoes showing that icon.
Picking and placing a domino is required. Only do nothing if you can’t use any of the remaining dominoes.
Take turns in the order of the role numbers. (Low to high; every role has a unique number.)
Every player checks if their Mission Domino is fulfilled. If so, place it faceup in a shared “Success Pile”. If not, they place the domino facedown before them.
If a player has 3 facedown Missions ( = 3 failed rounds), they’re disowned and must leave the family.
The strength you need to have (in certain areas) is always dynamic: it depends on the current state of the board. If a mission shows the same icon multiple times, you must only satisfy the highest number of those options.
Some missions also give a reward for succeeding or penalty for failing.
In this game, the scores and pathing of each Player’s map are the most important parts.
Why? Because only Capital icons actually do something. The other icons modify what the Capital does if they’re on a path connected to it.
A Capital icon is bigger and marked by castle icons on all 4 sides. In the base game, the only Capitals are the Role Icons and the white Neutral icon.
The score of every player is their Role’s strength. For example, if the Brother of Warfare has a map that scores 8, then the current strength of your empire’s Military is 8.
Calculating your score has three steps.
- Find all Capital icons on your Personal Map. Each of them is worth +1 by default.
- Check any paths attached to it, starting from that Capital and moving away.
- Icons on that path modify the score of that icon, such as doubling it.
- Any Capital on the path stops the path. (Otherwise the path simply stops whenever it can’t go further.)
- Finally, multiply the score of your Personal Map by the size of your Province on the Shared Map.
- Your Province is the group of tiles with your Role’s terrain attached to your Starting Domino.
As such, you need each other to complete missions, and their numbers are always about all the maps (combined).
If your mission requires 5 Military, for example, then ensure the Brother of Warfare actually produces that amount. You have enough Military for everyone? Great! If not, the owning Role decides how to distribute the strength they have.
Any Roles not in the game assume the same score as the highest-scoring player. They also decide how to distribute that power.
Played the base game and ready for more? Or want to tweak it a little to fit your group? Check out these variants and expansions!
Feel the game is too hard?
- Enable the “Power” on each role. You can use this ability during your turn.
- Allow the Shared Map to be more freeform: “When placing a domino, only 1 Terrain needs to match with neighbors (instead of all)”
Feel the game is too easy?
- Enable the “Report” action on each role. This punishes bad behavior or placement, or rewards cooperative behavior and good placement. You check if you satisfy this requirement at the start of the Report phase.
- Any Roles not in the game assume the score of the lowest scoring player (instead of the highest scoring).
For a COMPETITIVE game: most of the game stays the same. Only the following changes need to be made.
- The game ends as soon as one player must leave the empire ( = they have 3 failed missions).
- All players score themselves. The player who left, however has a -8 penalty on their strength. Highest score wins!
- All Missions are public. (Ignore the secret eye.)
- You can’t withhold power or anything. If someone needs 5 Military from you, and you have it, they get it.
Want to use all roles, always? You can! Simply deal all Roles at the start, so certain players get multiple of them. This changes nothing else about the game. (This is merely left out of the base game to make it simpler to play your first game.)
For an even more tactical game: include the following two changes.
Change 1) Also count the Shared Map when determining your score/strength! The full formula becomes:
- Check your Role’s Capital icons on both your individual and Shared Map.
- Multiply the sum of that by your Province size, divided by 2.
Change 2) You’re now allowed to grow your Province by connecting different “patches” with your Role’s terrain using paths. (So they’re connected to your Starting Domino by path, not by terrain.)
For a more chaotic game: start your Personal Map empty. Your score can never go below 1. (So your strength, at the start of the game, is 1.)
This expansion makes external threats (from Goblins) more immediate and powerful.
It introduces the Corrupter Capital. This can be used by any player.
All People icons attached to a Corrupter (via a path) become Goblins instead.
This number of Goblins is used in missions to scale their threat.
It also introduces missions with the “Attack” penalty. An Attack means the following.
- Find all open-ended paths in your Personal Map. (Paths that lead nowhere, pointing out of your map.)
- Goblins attack all those locations! Remove each domino which has one or more open-ended paths from your map.
This expansion adds more icons that can appear on tiles, all of which have “proximity” powers. That is, they change score or only do something depending on the icons/paths around them or close to them.
This expansion also adds Events.
- During setup, create a deck of all Event dominoes. Shuffle and place facedown.
- At the start of each round, reveal the top Event. It has a power or rules change that applies to this entire round.
This expansion adds paths with arrows (sometimes).
When following a path, if you hit a directional path that points the OPPOSITE way, you must stop.
In other words, you can only count paths connected to Capitals insofar as they consistently point the same direction.
If a path has no arrows, it is always fine—it is considered “both directions”.
This expansion is about connecting players and using the Personal Maps to feed into a bigger engine (or “machine”).
It introduces a few new icons and missions (as usual), but also introduces a few big and crucial rule changes.
You can only share your strength freely with another player if you are connected on the Shared Map. (That is, there must be a path between a Capital in your Province and a Capital in their Province.)
If unconnected, you can still share your strength with someone, but that is the only player with whom you may share it (this round).
Every round, You may choose to give your power or your role icon to another player.
- Only players to whom you’re connected (on the Shared Map) can borrow it.
- This means you can’t use your own power or handle dominoes with your own icon anymore, but the player who borrowed it can.