Cards, Advancements and Sleeving

Any time the rules refer to a "card" it means one of the sleeves and everything in the sleeve.

All cards start with the top slot filled with either a Citizen or a Patrician.

An "advancement" is one of the other slips that start the game unsleeved laid out on the location boards (or extensions boards) and will be added into the "cards" as the game goes on.

An advancement is double- sided and has either the bottom, middle or, more rarely, top slot filled with a "contact" (on its "City side") and a "threat" (on its "Blight side").

Sleeving means taking any available advancement, sometimes just called a "contact", (you can choose top, middle, or bottom) and adding it to the sleeve of a card with the appropriate available slot.

e.g. you can only slot a middle advancement onto a card that has an empty middle slot.

The Deck, The Street, Discarding and Shuffling

Edge of Darkness is played out of one shared "deck" of cards. Cards go from the deck into the Game board in what is called the "Street". The rightmost card in the Street (the furthest away from the deck) is considered the first card. The top card of the deck is considered the sixth card in the Street.

During the game, players will be drawing cards, resolving abilities of the cards in their hand and then discarding those cards.

When the deck becomes depleted, shuffle all the cards in the Discard pile and create a new deck out of those cards.

Allegiance

While the use of the cards in the deck is shared, their ownership is not.

Important: Some cards - called Guild cards - are owned by a specific player (indicated by the Guild's banner at the top left), while others - called Neutral cards - are owned by no player.

Over the course of the game, some abilities will allow you to "claim Allegiance of a Neutral card". When you do, you add your Guild's Allegiance slip to the card to indicate that this Patrician or Citizen has sworn Allegiance to your Guild. When a card has an Allegiance slip on it, it is considered to be that player's Guild card.

This means that a card with your Guild banner (whether it started with it or received your Allegiance slip over the couse of the game) is "your card".

Addendum

This section details the iconography present in Edge of Darkness.

The Anointed

This banner represents the Anointed Guild. A card with that banner means that it has sworn Allegiance to the Anointed.

A conclave that represents the true power behind the clergy in Aegis. They see the Blight as an abomination that only the most pious can truly fight.

As such, only the most devout members of Aegis, regardless of their upbringing or lineage, are welcomed into the Guild to wage war in the name of the Anointed. Their color is white and their symbol a chalice.

The Carnival Of Shadows

This banner represents the Carnival of Shadows Guild. A card with that banner means that it has sworn Allegiance to the Carnival of Shadows.

Every city has its plotters and sycophants and Aegis is no different. All places, the noble houses and the depths of the city's undergrounds, are the recruiting grounds of the cabal known as the Carnival of Shadows.

Very little happens in the city that their members don't know about as they make information their greatest weapon. As the the corruption of the Blight infiltrates the city, the cabal is uniquely positioned to snuff it out. Their color is red and their symbol a mask.

The Fede Cartel

This banner represents the The Fede Cartel Guild. A card with that banner means that it has sworn Allegiance to the The Fede Cartel.

A mercantile consortium with members in every large settlement in the Realm. They see the Blight as a threat to their interests in Aegis and to the entire economy of the Realm.

As a result, they are heavily involved in the funding of the war effort and expeditions into the Forsaken Lands, which serves as solid footing for asserting their dominance. The consortium primarily recruits from tradespeople and explorers in the city. Their color is purple and their symbol a pair of hands shaking.

The Gilded Leaves

This banner represents the Gilded Leaves Guild. A card with that banner means that it has sworn Allegiance to the Gilded Leaves.

A mystical order traveling the lands and offering underhanded help in the fight against the Blight. They are very knowledgeable on what lies in the Forsaken Lands.

They recruit primarily among magicians and learned townsfolk and have important tie-ins with the druids of the Vale. They have many militaristic members and believe they know what led to the Blight and are willing to do anything to combat it. Their color is green and their symbol a leaf.

Icons

This icon represents Influence. A positive number next to it means you "gain" the corresponding amount of Influence tokens. You can also "pay" (as a cost) or "lose" (as an effect) Influence.

On contact effects, threat rewards or location abilities, when it has no number before it, it means "1 Influence". When it does have a number (be it 0, positive or negative) before it, it means "that amount of Influence".

This icon represents Goodwill. A positive number next to it means you "gain" the corresponding amount of Goodwill tokens. You can also "pay" (as a cost) or "lose" (as an effect) Goodwill.

On contact effects, threat rewards or location abilities, when it has no number before it, it means "1 Goodwill". When it does have a number (be it 0, positive or negative) before it, it means "that amount of Goodwill".

This icon represents Coins. A positive number next to it means you "gain" the corresponding amount of Coin tokens. You can also "pay" (as a cost) or "lose" (as an effect) Coins. On contact effects, threat rewards or location abilities, when it has no number before it, it means "1 Coin". When it does have a number (be it 0, positive or negative) before it, it means "that amount of Coins".

This icon represents Reputation. A positive number next to it means you "gain" the corresponding amount of Reputation. On contact effects, threat rewards or location abilities, when it has no number before it, it means "1 Reputation". When it does have a number (be it 0, positive or negative) before it, it means "that amount of Reputation".

This icon represents Battle Strength. A positive number next to it means you "gain" the corresponding amount of Battle Strength. Battle Strength is not represented by a token, and any Battle Strength not used on your turn is lost.

Battle Strength is used when hunting threats; in that case, it represents the Damage dealt to the threat. On contact effects, threat rewards or location abilities, when it has no number before it, it means "1 Battle Strength". When it does have a number (be it 0, positive or negative) before it, it means "that amount of Battle Strength".

This icon represents both the Damage that the threat deals, and the Damage it needs to be dealt when hunted to be defeated.

On contact effects, threat rewards or location abilities, when it has no number before it, it means "1 Damage". When it does have a number (be it 0, positive or negative) before it, it means "that amount of Damage".

This icon represents Threat cubes. When it appears in the bottom left of the contact, it indicates the number of cubes that should be pulled out of the bag and placed in your Threat Zone on your Player board.

If there is no icon, 0 cubes should be pulled out of the bag. On contact effects, threat rewards or location abilities, when it has no number before it, it means "1 Threat cube". When it does have a number (be it 0, positive or negative) before it, it means "that amount of Threat cubes".

Location Types

Each location has one or more icons (types) on them, that help you identify what abilities and effects are associated with them.

Setups in Edge of Darkness follow certain guidelines in regards to which location types should be represented which allow for a good playing experience. These icons are used during solo games; in multiplayer games they only help with Setup.

Allegiance: These abilities and effects allow you to claim Allegiance of Neutral cards, which has a number of benefits.

• Other players will now have to pay you 1 Coin for each effect they want to resolve on the card.

• The card will now go to your Guild Hall rather than the Discard pile if it is discarded from anywhere but your own hand.

• Finally, each filled slot on your cards is worth Victory Points at the end of the game, so sleeving an advancement on this card now gives you 1 point.

Hunting: These abilities and effects allow you to go and defeat one or more threats while they are in the tower, letting you earn the rewards, providing you have an amount of Battle Strength equal or higher to the Damage of the threat.

Defeating a threat also removes all the cubes from the associated tray in the tower, meaning you often have an added incentive to defeat threats that are likely to attack you if left alone.

Train: These abilities and effects allow you to gain access to more trained Agents, thus, letting you dispatch more Agents at a time to the locations available. Since trained Agents are worth Victory Points at the end of the game, there is added importance to having more than your starting 4.

Battle Strength: These abilities and effects allow you to gain Battle Strength during the game, which is used to defeat threats when hunting them.

Since defeating threats gains you Reputation, a variety of rewards, and can stop the threats from attacking, there is added importance to having enough Battle Strength when you decide to hunt threats.

Coin: These abilities and effects allow you to gain Coin during the game, which is used to pay for effects (or the right to resolve the effect in the case of another player's card).

Since Coins are worth 1/4 Victory Point each at the end of the game, ammassing them rather than spending them can sometimes be a good idea.

Defense: These abilities and effects allow you to reduce Damage of threats as they attack you.

Since successfully defending against a threat gains you 1 Reputation, and failing to defend against a threat will cost you 1 or more Reputation, defending well can be crucial to success.

Miscellaneous: This is any ability or effect that cannot be classified in the above types.

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