Inheritors Rules

“His Majesty has passed away”. The proclamation was made in the dead of night. His inheritors are soon at his bed on their knees, moaning about the King’s death. The King has no nomination for the heir, only leaving the last words “Crown the new King by virtue.” That was the final challenge to his inheritors, to prove themselves the worthiest heir to lead the Five Realms. At dawn, the inheritors have made their way to induce the noble clans and establish diplomacy. Only one of them can sit on the much-desired throne.

I. Game Overview

Inheritors is an open drafting, hand management card game. Players will take the role of the inheritors of the King. Take turns to influence the Five Realms OR use talents’ abilities to facilitate the victory. At the end of the game, the player with the most VPs wins.

Components

24 Basic Talents (Lobbyist, Spy, Advisor)

6 Tomes

8 Honors

5 Relics (1 per color)

65 Number Cards (13 per color)

II. Setup

Group the number cards and relics into 5 decks according to their color.

(Only for 2 players) Randomly pick a color to be removed from the game. Return its relics, clans, quests and number cards to the game box.

Randomly set a number of honors faceup and quests facedown based on the following table:

2 players - 4 honors and quests

3 or 4 players - 5 honors and quests

Randomly pick a clan for each color, set them face up under the honors. Return other clans to the game box.

For new players, we suggest: Wolf, Fox, Bear, Lynx and Rat.

Remove the basic talents (lobbyist, spy, advisor) that do not fit your number of players (e.g. remove 3+ and 4 in a 2-player game).

Take a number 1 card from each color. Deal 1 to each player facedown. Shuffle the remaining with the basic talents, tomes, relics, and other number cards to form the main deck facedown. Deal 10 cards to each player, forming total 11 cards in hand. (For experienced players, you can try drafting instead. Take 1 card and pass the remaining to the left. Repeat this until everyone took 11 cards.)

Reveal 3 cards from the main deck to form the market.

Reserve an area to be the removed area.

Take out the reference cards according to the player count. Make sure the one which the red seal icon is included. Shuffle and deal 1 to each player. The player with the red seal reference card is the first player.

Key Concept: Play Area

Each player should reserve an area in front of themselves to be the play area. The play area is used to display your number cards played, honors claimed, clan claimed and the quests you owned.

Usually any claimed clan card and the color cards will be in the first row.

below that you should have a stack of your quests and honors.

In the early game, you should have no clan, honor or quest in your play area. Just leave them empty.

III. Gameplay

Starting with the first player, the game is played overturns in clockwise order.

During your turn

Play a number card following number order.

Discard 1 card, draw 2 cards from the main deck.

Discard 1 card, take all cards of 1 row in the market (same color, number or name with the top most card).

Discard 3 cards with the same color, take 1 quest and draw 1 card from the main deck.

Play a talent, use its ability, and place it in the removed area.

Actions in detail

1. Play a number card following number order.

The number on the card shows your influence within a realm if the card is played in your play area.

The color of a number card is its realm in the Kingdom. The symbol(s) on the card shows the number of copies in the game. For example, the game contains 3 “number 1” cards of each color.

You may play a number card onto your play area following the number order covering the previous card (if any). For example, if you have purple 1 in your play area, you can play purple 2 this turn. Besides, you can only have 1 stack of the same color in your play area. You can’t play a blue 1 if you already have a stack of blue cards in your play area.

By performing this action, you can increase your influence within a realm. This action is the main source of your VPs.

The Market There are always 3 rows in the market. Each row may contains multiple cards. If a row is empty, reveal a card from the main deck to refill it.

Discarding Every time when you discard card(s) in this game, you need to discard them on any card rows in the market. Covering the previous card leaving the top section visible.

2. Discard 1 card, draw 2 cards from the main deck.

3. Discard 1 card, take all cards of 1 row in the market (same color, number or name with the top most card).

When performing this action, you need to discard a card onto one of the row in the market. Take all cards of another row that the top card has the same color (tome or epic counts as any color), number, or name with the card you discarded. Lastly, refill the empty row in the market.

4. Discard 3 cards with the same color, take 1 quest and draw 1 card from the main deck.

Discard the 3 cards one-by-one on any row in the market. The distribution of the discarded cards is decided by you.

Quest: Quest is one of the sources of VPs. During scoring, they will provide 1 to 2 VPs depending on whether you meet the requirement or not. The requirement is always about the cards in your hand at the end of the game.

5. Play a talent, use its ability, and place it in the removed area.

Spy’s ability: Pick a player and announce a number card that can be played by you following the number order, if they have the card, they must play it in your play area. If they do not have it, you draw 1 card from the main deck.

Example:

For example, you already have a purple 1 in your play area. You play a spy. Then, you pick Jeffrey to play a purple 2. Because he really has a purple 2 in his hand, he needs to play it in your play area covering the purple 1. Because Jeffrey has a yellow 3 in his play area which is higher than the yellow 2 in yours. Therefore, you can use lobbyist’s ability to skip 3 and directly play a yellow 4. The used talents will be placed on the removed area divided by their names. The removed area is a reference to check how many talents have been used. E

Advisor’s ability: Take any 2 cards from the market. The 2 cards can be from diffrent rows. You can take them even if they are covered by other cards. Refill the market (if needed) after you take the 2 cards.

Lobbyist’s ability: Play a number card skipping 1 number of the number order. (Requires a player with a higher number of that color than yours before playing)

The used talents will be placed on the removed area divided by their names. The removed area is a reference to check how many talents have been used.

Claiming Clans and Honors Apart from performing one action in your turn, you may claim bonuses if you fulfilled the requirements. Before or after your turn, you have a free action to claim 1 clan in maximum and claim as many honors as you can. A clan is the ruler of one of the five realms in the Kingdom. Claiming a clan means you impressed the clan to support you in the competition for the throne. To do so, you must have a number card with number 3 or above in your play area of the color. For example, if you want to claim the Wolf, you need to at least have a yellow 3 played in your play area.

A player can only have 1 clan. The ownership cannot be changed in the rest of the game. Even if another player plays a larger number card of that color, the clan will not be taken from the owner. The owner gains the abilities of the clan. Some clans provide special cards. The special cards are also explained in the brackets on the clans.

Honors:

When you fulfilled the requirement written on the honors, you may claim it before or after your turn. Each honor provides 1 VP at the end of the game.

IV. End of the Game

When ONE of the following end game conditions is fulfilled:

1. All the quests and honors has been taken.

2. The main deck is empty. (Including the case when the deck is empty because of the ability of the Rat clan.)

Complete the current round so that each player has played the same number of turns. Proceed to scoring to determine the winner!

V. Scoring

Remember, some clans affect end game scoring.

Each player counts their own VPs in the following order:

1. Sum the top number cards of each color played in your play area. The total number is your base VPs.

2. Show your hand, compare the number of tomes (and epics). The player with the most gains 3 VPs. The second gains 1 VP. If tied, all players in the tie gain the full amount of the reward. If the first place is tied, there is no second place.

3. The relic owners check if they have the highest number (including tie) of the color that the relic belongs to. If yes, gain 1 VP. If not, lose 1 VP.

4. Each of your quest provides you 1 to 2 VPs depending on your hand.

5. Gain 1 VP for each honor you claimed.

The player with the most VPs wins the game! If tied, the player in the tie with more tomes in hand wins. If tied again, the player in the tie with more cards in hand wins. If still tied, all players in the tie share the victory.

Credits

Game Design: Jeffrey CCH, Kenneth YWN Cover Design: Coda Ho Graphic Design: Roxy Dai, Coda Ho Production: Isaac Chan, Kenneth YWN Editor: Alex Chan, Isaac Chan