Runes and Regulations General Player Rules

Introduction

Runes & Regulations is a turn-based strategic card game with suburban flair. Players take turns casting Spells and summoning Mythical Creatures.

The First Player To Collect FIVE Mythical Creatures On Their Lawn Wins!

The Components

• 1 Main Deck (Including 39 Spell Cards and 50 Creature Cards
• 1 Rune Deck (including 24 Rune Cards)
• 1 Regulation Deck (including 17 Regulation Cards)
• 4 Reference Cards
• 15 Shrub Tokens
• 1 Spinner
• 4 Fences

The Setup

To start, each player must set up their Fence, which will hold their Runes. Good Fences make good neighbors!

The area in front of your Fence is called your Lawn. Throughout the game, you will SUMMON Creatures onto your Lawn. Your Fence and your Lawn combined make up your play area.

Shuffle the Main deck and deal five cards to each player. These cards are now your hand. Place the remainder of the Main deck in the center of the table. Leave space to the left of the Main deck for a Main discard pile, where you will put used Spells, destroyed Creatures, and cards discarded from your hand.

Next, shuffle the Rune deck and deal three cards to each player. Add your three Runes to your Fence to keep them hidden from your neighbors. Place the remainder of the Rune deck next to the Main deck. Leave space to the right of the Rune deck for a Rune discard pile, where you will put used and destroyed Runes.

If either of these two decks run out of cards at any time during the game, shuffle the corresponding discard pile and turn it face down to form a new deck.

Finally, shuffle the Regulation deck and turn over the top card. Read its effect aloud, then place it face up on the table in plain sight of all players. This card is the first active Regulation. Place the remainder of the Regulation deck to the side of the other two decks.

The player with the most pets goes first. If two or more players are tied for the most pets, passive aggressively say things like "No, it's fine, you go first..." until someone actually goes first. Play proceeds clockwise.

The Cards

	CREATURE CARDS: Your Creatures are adorable (or sometimes not so adorable) pets. You may SUMMON a Creature on your turn during your Summon phase. When you SUMMON a Creature, it goes on your Lawn. (Technically you can SUMMON a Creature onto a neighbor's Lawn, but you'll rarely want to do this.) Most Creatures have an effect. A Creature's effect can only be used when that Creature is on your Lawn and not when it is in your hand. When you SUMMON a Creature, it is considered a Mythical Creature by default; however, certain effects can HEX your Mythical Creature and turn it into a powerless shrub, If this happens, your Creature loses its effect and you must place a shrub token on it to show it is hexed. A hexed Creature is no longer considered a Mythical Creature
	SPELL CARDS: Despite your fearsome powers of sorcery, your Spells are primarily used to protect your Lawn and annoy your neighbors. You may CAST a Spell on your turn during your Cast phase. Spells have immediate, one-time-use effect. To use a Spell, read its effect aloud, then move it to the Main discard pile.
	RUNE CARDS: Your Runes are everyday household items inscribed with special symbols that imbue each Rune with magical power. Each Rune states a trigger. You may choose to ACTIVATE a Rune any time its trigger occurs during the game, even if it is not your turn. To ACTIVATE a Rune, reveal it to all players and read its effect aloud, then move it to the Rune discard pile. Always add Rune cards to your Fence and not to your hand. If at any time you have more then three Runes, you muse immediately destroy one of your Runes.
	REGULATION CARDS: A Regulation is a notice from the Homeowners Association about a new bylaw for the neighborhood. Each Regulation states a new rule that is added to the game. Only one Regulation can be active at a time. If a new Regulation becomes active, move the previous active Regulation to the bottom of the Regulation deck.

The Turn

Each turn consists of FIVE PHASES

1) BEGINNING OF TURN PHASE If any Mythical Creature on your Lawn has a trigger that states "...is on your Lawn at the beginning of your turn", you may use that effect during this turn phase.

2) DRAW PHASE DRAW a card from the Main deck.

3) CAST PHASE CAST a Spell from your hand -OR- DRAW a card from the Main deck.

4) SUMMON PHASE SUMMON a Creature from your hand -OR- DRAW a card from the Main deck

5) SPIN PHASE SPIN the Spinner.

You may choose to skip the Beginning of Turn phase, Cat phase , or Summon phase of your turn; however, you must take the turn phases in the specified order. If you accidentally skip on of these three phases during your turn, you cannot go back to an earlier phase. For example, if you have already summoned a Creature for your Summon phase, you cannot go back and take your Cast phase if you forgot to CAST a spell.

You cannot skip your Draw phase or your Spin phase.

The Limits

SUMMONING LIMIT Although you are a mighty sorcerer, your powers have limits. If you gain three or more Mythical Creatures on your Lawn on the same turn, you must DESTROY one Mythical Creature on your Lawn at the end of your turn.

To determine how many Mythical Creatures you've gained, first add up all of the Mythical Creatures that entered your Lawn. This includes any Creatures you SUMMON, STEAL, or RESTORE. Then, subtract all the creatures that were hexed, destroyed, or stolen from you. If this total number is three or more, DESTROY one Mythical Creature on your Lawn.

In other words, if you start your turn with one Mythical Creature on your Lawn and complete your Spin phase with for or more Mythical Creatures on your Lawn, you must DESTROY one of your Mythical Creatures. See the diagram below for an example.

HAND LIMIT Your hand limit is the maximum number of cards you can keep in your hand. If at any time you have more cards in your hand then the hand limit, you must immediately DISCARD down to your hand limit. No effects can be used when a player discards to adhere to the hand limit.

By default, your hand limit is seven cards.

RUNE LIMIT Your Rune limit is the maximum number of Runes you can keep behind your Fence. If at any time you have more Runes behind your Fence than the Rune limit, you must immediately DESTROY one of your Runes.

By default, your Rune limit is three cards.

The Win

The first player to complete their End of Turn phase with 5 Mythical Creatures on their Lawn wins the game. That player can now walk around the room and smugly gloat while each neighbor looks on with burning envy. Yay!

A NOTE FROM THE CREATORS OF THE GAME ABOUT RULE-BREAKING:

Sometimes, a player accidentally (or purposely) doesn't follow the rules. This might come int he form of forgetting to SPIN or forgetting to follow the rule on the active Regulation card. This happened from time to time when we were play testing, so we created our own "house rule" on the matter: if you catch a cheater, you can pull a card from their hand and add it to yours.

If this happens during your game, you can choose to be merciful, you can use our rule, or you can come up with your own. And remember, cheaters never win... unless they collect 5 pets first!