Index
Inscryption rulebook
Index:
• Basic Game rules - page 2
• Playing cards & the board - pages 3-4
• Card Behavior - pages 4-5
• Game preparation - pages 5-6
• Additional rules - pages 6-7
• The sigils - pages 7-12
• The items - pages 13-14
1
--Basic Game rules--
In this game 2 players battle using
many mythical and real creatures.
The goal of the game is to beat the other
player by having an advantage of 5
damage. damage is kept track of using
the scale - further elaboration below
Scale - in this case is a part of the playing
board. When a player deals damage, the corresponding
amount of blocks should be placed on the scale,
opposite side to the player. When the other player
deals damage they add their own blocks to the side
opposite of them. After that is done only the
difference in blocks counts and the excess can be
taken off the scale.
Both players have 2 lives, when
they run out, the game ends.
The game Is played in turns, on the
very first turn both players draw 3
cards from the playing deck and 1
squirrel from the squirrel deck. On all
other turns except the turn where one of
the players loses a life, players must
draw 1 card either from the playing or
squirrel deck.
2
-Playing cards & the board-
all cards come at a cost, whether
it is blood, bones or simply space on the
board. As you may see, the board is a 4
by 2 spaces grid, each player owns 4 of
the spaces, along the longer side of the
grid.
In order to play a card of your
choice, you must first examine the cost
of the card which is shown in the top
right of the card, there are three
options:
- Blood-in order to play a card the player
must sacrifice the corresponding amount
of cards to the number of blood drops
on the top right corner. The cards that
are to be sacrificed must already be in
play. Please note that the card
sacrificed always grants 1 blood no
matter it's cost.*
when a card is sacrificed it dies.*
- Bones- upon any creature's death a
single bone is given to the card owner,
in the form of a block and stored next
to the board on the owner's side.
When a card that costs bones is played,
*this property may be
3 affected by a specific sigil
Playing cards & the board
the corresponding amount of bones
shall be removed from the player's pile.
- No cost- the card is free to play,
mostly seen on squirrels.
All Cards after perishing go to a
separate stack dedicated to 'dead' cards.*
--Card behavior--
All cards have a specific amount of
health, as indicated by then number in
the bottom right. When playing a card, a
corresponding amount of 'blocks' should
be placed on top of the card- which are
used for keeping track of that creature's
health.
all cards on the board at the end of the
owner's turn will strike the card opposing it*
for the amount of damage that is written on
the card in its bottom left. That amount is
taken away from the card's health and the
number of 'blocks' on that card should be
changed accordingly.
When a card's health reaches 0, it
perishes, goes to the deck of dead cards.*
*this property may be
4 affected by a specific sigil
--game preparation--
there are many ways of preparing the
playing decks, most are listed below
1. The single deck- as simple as it
gets, it's very fast to set up.
both players draw from the same
playing deck, preferably from
which rare cards are excluded.
2. The 2-card pick- both players are
given 2 cards, the players then
choose one they would like to keep
and then discard the other. This is
repeated 20 times for each player.
3. The 3-card pick- exactly like the 2-
card pick but players are given 3
random cards instead of 2.
4. The 3-card double pick- one of the
better ways of setting up the game,
however it can often take a while
to set it up. each player gets 10
'high priority' picks and 10 'low
5
game preparation
priority' picks. 3 random cards are
laid onto the board, the player has
to choose one card form those 3,
however the remaining 2 are not
discarded. The opposing player
picks 1 card from the remaining 2.
after each player picks 10 cards
the 'priority' or the order of picks
is switched between the players.
--additional rules--
--the midpoint--
What happens when one players manages
to get a 5 damage advantage for the
first time in the game? The game doesn't
end quite yet.
A couple things happen:
• Both players draw 3 additional
cards from the deck and 1 squirrel.
• The losing played also is granted a
special card named 'the greater
smoke' from the miscellaneous
stack of cards.
6
Additional rules
• The damage difference between the
players is reset.
• The disadvantageous player goes
first.
--Other rules--
• No more than 3 damage can be
dealt on the first turn for both
players, if the damage output of
the cards is larger, only 3 is
counted. Please note that this
applies to the turns following
the midpoint turn.
--The sigils--
What is a sigil? - it's the symbol on the
bottom of the card that affects the
card's behavior in a major way.
Airborne- This card will ignore
opposing cards and strike the opponent
directly.
7
The sigils
Ant spawner- When this card is
played, an Ant enters your hand.
Bees within- When this card is
struck, a Bee card enters your hand.
Bellist- When this card is played,
Chimes are created on adjacent empty
spaces.
bifurcated strike- This card will
strike each opposing space to the left
and right of the spaces across it.
bone king- When this card dies, 4
Bones are awarded instead of 1.
burrower- This card will move to
any empty space that is attacked by an
enemy to block it.
8
The sigils
corpse eater- If a card that you
own dies by combat, this card may be
played from your hand on its space for
free even during your opponent's turn.
dam builder- When this card is
played, Dams are created on adjacent
empty spaces.
fecundity- When this card is
played, a copy of it enters your hand.
fledgling- After surviving for 1
turn, this card grows into a stronger
form.
guardian- When an opposing card
is played opposite an empty space, this
card moves to that space.
9
The sigils
hefty- At the end of the owner's
turn, this and adjacent cards move right
relative to the owner, after it cannot
move right anymore, it moves left, this
repeats.
hoarder- When this card is played,
choose a card from your deck to be
drawn immediately. The opponent has to
be shown the card picked and the deck
must be shuffled afterwards.
leader- Creatures adjacent to this
card gain 1 damage.
loose tail- When this card would
be struck, a tail is created in its place
and this card moves to the right.
many lives- When this card is
sacrificed, it does not perish.
10
