Discworld: Ankh-Morpork Rulebook
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DISCWORLD® ANKH-MORPORK Welcome to Ankh-Morpork, the largest, smelliest, and most ‘interesting’ city on Discworld. The city’s patrician, Lord Vetinari, has disappeared, and the citizens are calling out for firm leadership. Will one of the noble families take control of the city, or will the people welcome the return of the king to restore peace? Then again, Vetinari’s absence may have been temporary and his spies could be spreading around the city, ready to start pulling the levers of power for their master. Ankh-Morpork is a relatively simple game. When it is your turn depends on the secret personality that is assigned to you at the you play a card, do what it says on it, and then fill your hand start of the game. You must keep your aims secret from the other back up to five cards. The next player then does the same, and so players and at the same time try to divine what your competitors on until someone declares that they have won the game, or the are up to and make sure they do not beat you to the ultimate deck of cards runs out. What you need to do to win the game prize – lordship over the most unruly city in Discworld. Components As well as the rule book and the playing board you should also have the following pieces: four sets of twelve four sets of four demon pieces, three troll pieces, minion pieces, six buildings, twelve trouble one twelve thirty-five silver coins worth four Player Aid cards, markers, sided die, $1 each, seventeen gold coins worth $5 each, twelve Random seven Personality twelve City Area forty-eight green and fifty-three Event cards, cards, cards, bordered Player brown bordered cards, Player cards. The board shows the city of Ankh-Morpork. The city has been divided into twelve areas. Each area is bordered either by a line or the River Ankh. Every area has a nameplate, a number and a cost for building there. The number in an area is used to determine where random events occur. Areas are adjacent if they share a common border or are connected by bridge. Starting the game Each player should select a set of playing pieces of the Separate the Player cards into two decks, the green bordered same colour. A set consists of twelve minion pieces deck and the brown bordered deck. Shuffle the brown deck and six building pieces. Each player should place one and place it on the table, face down. Then shuffle the green of their minions in The Shades, The Scours, and deck and place it on top of the brown deck, face down. Dolly Sisters. One trouble marker should also be Deal out five cards from the top of the deck to each player. placed in each of these three areas. Place the remaining cards by the side of the board to form a draw pile. Place the remaining trouble markers by the side of the board. Place the City Area cards face up on display by the side of the map so Place the money by the side of the that they can be clearly seen by all board to form a bank. Each player of the players. starts with ten Ankh-Morpork dollars. During the game players cannot hide Each player should also take one how much money they have from Player Aid card. This card helps to other players. remind you about important rules. Place the demon and troll pieces Use the die to randomly by the side of the board. determine who will be the first player. Shuffle the Personality cards and deal one to each player. You keep your Playing with just two players Personality card secret until you either – You will need to remove the achieve the victory conditions on it or Chrysoprase card before the game ends. Place the remaining shuffling and dealing out Personality cards to one side, without Personality cards. You will also examining them. need to remove the Hubert and Cosmos Lavish cards from the Shuffle the Random Event cards and draw pile (both are brown place in a deck face down by the side bordered cards). of the board. Playing the game Players will take it in turn to have their ‘go’, starting Now the player to your left has his or her turn. Play continues with the first player. in this manner until either one player declares that he or she has won (which depends on their Personality card) or the When it’s your turn you choose one of your cards to play. draw pile is exhausted. At this point if a player is Commander You do whatever it tells you to do on the card. You may have Vimes then they have won, otherwise the player with the most the option to play another card. When you have finished points wins the game. playing cards you then take enough cards from the draw pile to bring your hand size back to five cards. It may be that It is very important for all players to be aware of what all during your turn you picked up more cards, bringing your of the potential victory conditions are. You must be careful hand size up to more than five. This is fine, you just do not not to ‘gift’ the game to another player by not keeping an eye pick up any more cards at the end of your turn and neither on what they are doing. The victory conditions are detailed do you have to discard any. towards the end of this rule book. Please make sure you read them carefully before you start to play the game. The key to this game is learning how the Player cards in Dolly Sisters you can legally place one in any area indicated work. Nearly every such card has one or more by the arrows. Note that areas that are connected by bridges are symbols at the top. These symbols tell you what adjacent to each other. actions you can do and the order in which they can be performed. When you play a card you may carry out some or all of the Trouble markers actions indicated. The order in which the actions can be Whenever a minion is placed or moved into an area that performed goes from left to right along the top of the card. already has one or more minions in it then you must place You are not forced to perform an individual action, so you a trouble marker in that area. An area can only contain one could choose one or more not to perform. The only action trouble marker. As soon as a minion is moved or removed that you must perform is the Random Event action. Once from an area, any trouble marker in the area is also removed you have finished with the card you place it next to the draw (even if there are two or more minions remaining). Placing a pile, face-up. This is the discard pile. building in an area does not cause trouble. There are two main Example: If you played the Bursar card then you effects of trouble. Firstly, you can only assassinate a minion if would first draw a Random Event card, you there is a trouble marker in that area. Secondly, you cannot would then have the option to swap the positions build a building in an area that contains a trouble marker. of two minions (as written at the bottom of the Trolls and demons are regarded as being minions and so will card). Finally, you would have the option to play affect trouble in the same way as a player’s minion. another card. You complete one action before you start the next action. Each of the actions is explained on this and the following page. Note that there are two ‘asides’, one to explain trouble markers and the other to explain City Area cards. Example: Here is an example of what happens when you place Place a minion a minion in an area that already contains a minion. The picture to the left shows the board before you have your turn, the one on You take one of your minion pieces and you place the right after you’ve had it. As there was already a minion in it in an area on the board. You must place it in Dimwell you must also place a trouble marker in the area. either an area that you already have a minion in or in an adjacent area. There is no limit on the number of minions that can be placed in an area. If you already have all of your minions on the board then you can remove one and then Place a building place it somewhere else (making sure you follow the other You can place one of your building pieces in an rules above). These rules apply whenever you have to place a area that you have a minion in. You cannot build minion, including due to the play of an interrupt card. If you in an area that already contains either a building or do not have a minion on the board then you can place your a trouble marker. The cost of placing the building minion in any area. is shown in the area and on the matching City Area card. You pay this amount of money to the bank. You then take the matching City Area card into your possession.