At the start of the game, in a gesture of the collaboration to come, each player must select one White card from his hand and place it, face up, on the Round Table. A discussion should ensue about how to best share those cards among all the Knights.

A Knight, in a noble gesture, may voluntarily take none of the shared cards, while others may pick up several. If there is disagreement (not a good omen of things to come!), the offered cards are shuffled and redistributed randomly to each player. You are now ready to begin.

This game is different, really different! You will at once be playing the game, yet involuntarily helping it defeat you. While the game's mechanics are quite simple, their implications and the potential repercussions of your acts will be anything but.

As a result, unless your group of players is made up of seasoned veterans who have all thoroughly familiarized themselves with these rules and appendices beforehand, we suggest you play your first game without a potential Traitor in your midst. It will lower the tension and fun that can stem from a good bit of backstabbing, but ensure that everyone gets a chance to master the game.

To do so, simply remove the Traitor from the mix of Loyalty cards before dealing those out, and use each Loyalty card face up, solely as a reminder of the game's Victory conditions.

This should allow you to rapidly master the game's mechanics and familiarize yourselves with the unique Special Power of each Knight, and with the Quests and obstacles you are likely to face.

If the rules seem a bit daunting at first, do not worry: All you need to get started is to familiarize yourselves with the game's key components during set-up, and get a firm grasp of the basic game turn structure as outlined on your Coat of Arms and in these rules.

Equipped with that knowledge, you can then start the game and discover the rest as you play, referring to the Book of Quests when entering a new Quest and to the Cards Manifest if an occasional question arises.

Once you have a game under your belt, add the Traitor card back into the mix of Loyalty cards at the start of the game and enjoy! But remember: Someone in your valiant group might now be secretly working against the rest... and he is as intimately familiar with the game's subtleties as you are!

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