Incantation
A strategy game heroes, dark forces, and ultimate
power for 2-4 players (recommended 3-4). An
average game is 20-30 minutes.
Goal
Be the first to chant the four magical syllables
(Syls) with your character on the pentagram token
to win the game!
Components
The Dark Wood
Cards
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4 character cards (reversible)
20 spell/ability cards (reversible)
Setup
1. Determine character pick order by: rolling a
single six sided dice, rock-paper-scissors, or
any other agreed method.
2. Select characters in the order determined.
3. Place characters in REVERSE pick order on
one of the four Scrines (green corner tiles)
Please see the Dryad and Barrow-Wight
character sections for special starting rules.
4. Each player randomly selects a tile from the
bag of syllables and (without looking!)
places them left to right above the board
face down. This is the Incantation.
5. Place animals on the yellow spawn points
and the Pentagram/Demon token on the
center tile.
6. On a piece of paper write each player's
name. This will serve as an 'inventory' to
hold collected Syls.
Gameplay:
Your goal is to collect all the component Syls of
the incantation and recite them on the
Pentagram. See 'Win Conditions' for more
information.
Each player must use their individual spells
and traits to navigate the map, impede other
players, and visit each Scrine to decode the
Incantation.
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9x9 grid.
4 sacrificial altars
4 scrines (shrine + scry)
18 trees of power containing a syllable
Pieces
 4 character tokens
 7 summonable tokens
 18 syllable tokens
 5 animal tokens
 1 flow orb
 1 demon token
 1 sheet of paper
When you visit a Scrine you reveal one of the
facedown Syl tokens, where the location of a
Scrine corresponds to a place in the order 1st,
2nd, 3rd, and 4th. See 'Scrines' in Special Tiles
for more information about this.
Be careful about what information your reveal
when collecting Syls. You do not need to visit
every Scrine, but you MUST collect all four
Syls to recite the incantation.
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Each player gets 2 action points (AP) per turn.
Most actions cost 1 AP, some actions are free,
while other actions cost 2 AP.
Refer to your character’s card or look at the
bottom of a spell card to find out the AP cost of
an action or spell. Resolve an action
completely before choosing your next.
You cannot save action points from one turn to
another. If you have extra action points at the
end of your turn and have no other actions to
take, you must take the “Pass” action until all of
your AP have been used.
Common Actions
Here are the details of each Action. A quick
reference list is printed on each player’s
character card.
1. Move 1 Space – Cost: 1 AP
Move your character from the current space into an
adjacent space. You may not move onto a space
with another character. However for all tokens
(except the Treant and Demon tokens) you can
move past the token by having enough AP to move
to the other side of them. The Syls, Treant,
Lyrannikin, and Demon are treated as impassable
terrain and cannot be moved through except as
ethereal.
2. Move Corpse/Item – Cost: 0 AP
When you move you may drag one corpse or item
behind you as a free action as long as you are
adjacent to it and moving away from it. The
corpse/item will occupy the location previously
occupied by your player at the resolution of each
movement. You cannot drag a corpse/item through
another player.
3. Throw Corpse/Item – Cost: 1 AP
A character may 'throw' or move an adjacent
corpse/item to another adjacent space.
4. Spells – Cost: See Player Cards
5. Collect Syllable – Cost: 1 AP
You must be adjacent to the Syl you are collecting.
When you collect a Syl, add it to your 'memory'
i.e. write in on the sheet of paper under your name.
6. Attack Animal/Token – Cost: 1 AP
Deal 1 point of damage to an animal or player
summoned token.
Win Conditions:
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You must be standing on the pentagram
space (backside of demon token)
You must have all of the Syllables collected.
You must recite them in the correct left to
right order.
You must recite them in the appropriately
dramatic fashion!
Special Tiles:
Syllable Trees (Syls)
These magical trees hold fragments of a powerful
incantation. You must stand adjacent to a Syl to
collect its magical syllable and Memorize it (write it
onto your player inventory).
Syls are impassable terrain and cannot be moved
over accept as ethereal or as a spell effect.
Scrines
There are four green corner tiles on the map. When
stood upon they reveal a syllable of the Incantation.
The order is as follows: NW Scrine = 1st Syl, NE
Scrine = 2nd Syl, SW Scrine = 3rd Syl, SE Scrine =
4th Syl.
Altars
There are four grey altar tiles. If you are
responsible for putting an animal corpse onto an
altar you can use its dark energy to steal a Syl from
another player memory. Erase the Syl from their
'memory' and add it to your own. If you already
have the Syl in question simply erase it from the
victims memory. A corpse can only be used to this
effect once.
If two of the alters contain corpses the demon is
summoned! If the demon is summoned the Treant
becomes the Lyrannikin.
If you are standing adjacent to a corpse bearing
altar when the demon is present you may spend 1
AP point to move the demon one space.
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Tokens:
Characters:
The Pentagram
Dryad Setup
This is the location that you must stand on to
perform the incantation. You may not step onto this
space unless you attempt the Incantion!
On character placement you must place the
Hometree token on the nearest Syl. If there are
multiple Syls at the same distance choose between
them.
If two or more altars contain a corpse flip the
pentagram token to the Demon side. All players
who start their turn adjacent to the demon lose that
turn. This effect cannot occur two turns in a row.
Animals
Barrow-Wight Setup
On character placement you must place the barrow
mound on an adjacent space. This represents
impassable terrain.
There are 5 animal tokens. Each animal has 3
health points. When an animal is killed flip the
token to the corpse side. You can move a fresh
corpse onto an altar for certain affects see Altars
above for more information.
Flavor Texts
The Barrow
I lost my tree long ago and became a vicious
hungry thing. Killing, killing… Until one day I
woke over the body of a sister. Sane with grief
I was able to regain the bond, the sustaining
connection to nature.
This is a special token of the Barrow-Wight. It can
be pillaged for the Flow Orb. See special actions on
your player card.
The Flow Orb
This item token adds +1 to AP, each turn, for
whoever is adjacent to it at the start of their turn.
While the Flow Orb is outside of the Barrow the
Spirit becomes the Banshee.
Hometree
This is a special Dryad token that must be placed
on a Syl.
Any player, besides the Dryad, can Defile the
Hometree (See special actions on your player card)
thereby removing the token from the board. This
transforms the Dryad into the Vampiriad.
Summoned Token
Summoned tokens can be killed in the same way
an animal may be killed. Summoned tokens effects,
abilities, and stats are described on the individual
spell cards.
Let's play!
Lily, 800 year old Dryad
Deet, Elder Dryad
Spirits rest in old quiet places. Be careful not to
disturb them for when roused they become quite
formidable…
Grella, Magus of the Third Circle
A druid must always remember that he serves
nature. If he should turn against that inclination and
seek power for himself, he will lose his very identity
to the darkness.
Malforas, Druid of the Talon
Their burning and cutting and chopping... So many
of my children grow angry instead of tall. Hatred
seeps into the wood like rot and they become
twisted and bent on vengeance...
Rosfrn-Skel-Sknskn, Great Gardener Ent
When the forest is corrupted... so too are its
guardians.
Rosfrn-Skel-SknSkn, The Black One
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Resources
http://www.stonetronix.com/games/maze/mazerules.pdf
http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Star_Wars
_Epic_Duels_Game.PDF
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