Renown is a card game currently under development by PJ’s Attic. Renown will ultimately be played with a custom deck of illustrated cards, but for the moment we’re offering a free download of the game’s prototype, which uses a standard deck of cards. If you’d like to be an acknowledged part of our testing team, the PDF download of the game rules contains contact information and a short questionnaire.
Download Renown Rules Alpha (PDF, 141.4k)
A PJ’s Attic Card Game
Alpha (Red) Version, 2nd edition
Welcome! This version of Renown, then called Incarnate, was first played at my wedding reception. I’d had the idea a few days before and was dying to try it out. Since then, I’ve modified the game quite a bit in order to integrate it into the world of the Drachurae. The final version of Renown will ultimately be released with a custom illustrated deck, but until that deck is finished, please feel free to test this version and let us know what you think!
At the end of these instructions, there are a few questions we’d love for you to answer in an e-mail to us at PJ’s Attic. Everyone who submits the questionnaire prior to the next test release will get an Alpha Test credit in the final game’s manual! Keep an eye out for future testing for even better treats.
- 3 to 6 players
- A deck of standard playing cards, without Jokers
- 108 Favor markers (54 Heroic and 54 Villainous)*
*Feel free to use Go or Pente pieces, coins, buttons of contrasting colors, or Poker chips. You only need 9 of each marker for every player in the game, so only gather up 27 of each type for a 3 person game, 36 of each type for a 4 person game, and so on.
Drachurae, the very name fills us with awe. The race is ancient beyond belief and powerful beyond imagining, their internal struggles for power and wealth predate the very existence of our world, Taeompei. Some say that our game of cards, Renown, reflects these struggles. Others say that even now the Drachurae disguise themselves to walk among us, watching the outcome of the games we play, determining the balance of power based on the fall of the cards. Still others say that the fate of the world itself may lie in their calculations…
A game of Renown is called a Struggle. A Struggle is divided into Eras (rounds), Eras are divided into Regimes (hands), and Regimes are comprised of Schemes (turns).
During their individual Schemes, players collect cards, accumulating Renown. Hearts and Diamonds provide Heroic Renown. Spades and Clubs provide Villainous Renown. At the start of their Scheme, players may also elect to sacrifice cards from their hands, affecting the position of cards on the table, or even removing points from an opponent’s hand.
At the beginning of each Regime, players bid a single marker of either Heroic or Villainous Favor, assessing the lay of cards on the table, and the cards in their hands, to determine which sort of Favor to try and win.
At the end of an Era, the players total the value of the cards in their hands and the player with the highest Heroic Renown collects the Heroic Favor markers that were bid at the beginning of each Regime and the player with the highest Villain Renown collects the Villainous Favor markers that were bid.
At the end of the Struggle, the player with the highest number of a single Favor wins (i.e. if Jeffrey has 30 Villainous Favor markers, and Clayton has 29 Heroic Favor markers, Jeffrey wins). In the event of a tie… everyone loses.
The Struggle Ensues
- Each player receives 9 of each marker type. These markers represent their Heroic and Villainous Favor.
- For the first Era, a player is chosen at random to be the first Era’s Arch Liege (dealer). For subsequent Eras, the last Successor becomes the new Arch Liege.
The Beginning of an Era
- The Arch Liege shuffles the cards and deals one card, face down, to each player.
- The Arch Liege deals 2 cards per player and lays them, face up, in a row on the table. This row of cards is the Hierarchy.
- The Arch Liege decides which end of the Hierarchy is the low end and places the remaining cards, face down, in a stack at that end. This stack is the Den of Villainy. The high end of the Hierarchy is the Hall of Heroism. This orientation will remain in place for the entire Era.
- The Liege decides whether the player to their right or left will play first and declares them the Successor. Play continues in that direction, either clockwise or counterclockwise. This rotation will remain in effect for the rest of the Era.
The Rise of the Regime
- At the beginning of a Regime, every player must bid a single marker from their Favor (either 1 Heroic marker or 1 Villainous marker) and place it in the Court, a space to one side of the Hierarchy.
- The Successor is the first player to Scheme during a Regime.
Scheming
- The player play may first opt to Sacrifice a single non-face card from their hand. After being Sacrificed, cards are removed from play for the remainder of the Era and should be given to the Arch Liege for safe keeping. Cards from the four suites produce different effects when Sacrificed.
- The player ends their Scheme by adding the top card from the Hierarchy to their hand.
Sacrificing Hearts and Clubs
- Hearts allow you to elevate as many cards up through the Hierarchy as you like, but you may only elevate a number of positions equal to or less than the Sacrificed card’s Renown (aces allow you to move 1 card 1 position, deuces to move 1 card 2 positions, or 2 cards 1 position each, etc.).
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- When elevating multiple cards, you cannot elevate any card which is lower than the starting position of any other card you elevated during this Scheme.
- You may elevate new cards into the Hierarchy, turning them over from the Den of Villainy, but it costs 3 Renown to do so.
- You may elevate cards out of the Hierarchy, placing them face up into the Hall of Heroism, but it costs 3 Renown to do so.
- Spades allow you to bury cards lower in the Hierarchy, working exactly like Hearts in reverse.
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- When burying multiple cards, you cannot move any card which is higher than the starting position of any other card you move during this Scheme.
- It costs 3 Renown to bury a card into the Den of Villainy and 3 Renown to retrieve the top card from the Hall of Heroism.
Sacrificing Clubs and Diamonds
- Clubs knock Diamonds out of other players’ hands, forcing them to Sacrifice Diamonds of equal or greater Renown.
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- Targeted players may Sacrifice multiple cards of lower Renown to match or beat the Club Sacrificed before them.
- Targeted players must Sacrifice face cards, if they don’t have enough numbered card to match or beat the Club Sacrificed before them.
- If the targeted player does not have enough Diamond Renown in their hand to cover the value of the Club’s Renown, they must also transfer enough Heroic markers from their Favor into the attacking player’s Favor to make up the difference. All cards from this exchange are to be removed from play and given to the Arch Liege.
- Diamonds buy Clubs from other players, working exactly like Clubs in reverse.
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- If the targeted player does not have enough Club Renown in their hand to cover the Diamond’s Renown, they must transfer Villainous markers from their Favor into the attacking players Favor to make up the difference.
The Fall of the Regime
- The Regime ends when the final card is removed from the Hierarchy.
- The player who takes the final card declares themselves the new Successor and will therefore be the first player to Scheme during the next Regime (the Successor and the Arch Liege can be the same person).
- If there are enough cards in the Den of Villainy to completely refill the Hierarchy with two cards per player, the Arch Liege deals them out, face up, starting at the Den of Villainy and ending at the Hall of Heroism.
The End of an Era
- An Era ends when any one of three conditions has been met.
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- The Hierarchy is depleted and no cards remain to fill it.
- Any single player has bid or Sacrificed their last Favor.
- The total number of Favor markers in the Court equals the number of players multiplied by nine.
- The Era is ended immediately once any of these three conditions has been met.
- At the end of an Era, players add their Renown totals.
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- Aces gain 1 point of Renown. Deuces through Tens gain 2 through 10 Renown. Jacks gain 11 Renown, Queens gain worth 12 Renown, and Kings gain 13 Renown.
- Add the value of the Hearts and Diamonds in your hand to determine Heroic Renown.
- Add the value of the Spades and Clubs to determine Villainous Renown.
- Each Diamond held in your hand is worth an extra point of Heroic Renown.
- Each Club held in your hand is worth an extra point of Villainous Renown.
- Each player announces their highest Renown total.
- The player with the highest Heroic Renown claims all the Heroic markers in the Court for their Favor.
- The player with the hight Villainous Renown claims all the Villainous markers in the Court for their Favor.
The Struggle Concludes
- A Struggle may consist of as many Eras as you care to play.
- At the end of the Struggle, the player with the largest number of any single Favor, wins. So, if the player with the most Villainous Favor had fewer markers than the player with the most Heroic markers, the Villainous players loses. In the event of a tie there is no winner.
Jeffrey asks Amber and Clayton to come over for a game of Renown. Since Amber kindly volunteered to bring a bottle of wine, they decide she’ll be the first Era’s Arch Liege.
Everyone takes 9 Villainous Favor markers and 9 Heroic Favor markers as Amber deals one card to each of them and lays out 6 cards in the Hierarchy (2 cards per player in the Hierarchy). Amber assesses the lay of the cards and places the remainder of the cards in a stack at she has decided will be the low end of the Hierarchy.
All three players then bid their Favor, placing a single marker in the Court. Jeffrey and Amber both bid a Heroic Favor marker and Clayton bids a Villainous Favor marker.
Amber, realizing that Jeffrey is more likely to use a Club against her than Clayton would, decides that Clayton will be the Successor. The table now looks like Figure 1.
Clayton, who is holding an 8 of clubs, chooses not Sacrifice his only card and happily adds the 3 of clubs to his hand.
Jeffrey, who is holding a 4 of diamonds, also chooses not to Sacrifice a card and takes the 6 of spades, figuring he can use it to his advantage during his next scheme.
Amber decides to Sacrifice the 6 of hearts shes holding to move the Jack of Diamonds up 3 spaces to the top of the Hierarchy and takes it for herself. Her Sacrifice is depicted in Figure 2.
The Sacrificed 6 of Hearts is removed from play.
Clayton looks at the remaining 3 cards on the table and remembers that Jeffrey bid a Heroic marker, but drew a 6 of spades his first Scheme, and knows that if Jeffrey also takes the 5 of spades, he’ll have as much Villainous Renown as Clayton. So Clayton takes a risk, and hoping that his Scheme will work, Sacrifices his 3 of clubs against Amber.
Amber has no choice but to meet this Sacrifice with the only Diamond she has in her hand, the Jack. Both Sacrifice cards are removed from play. This leaves Amber with no cards in her hand.
Clayton takes the 8 of hearts from the Hierarchy, knowing that he can use it to elevate a high point card in a future Regime.
Jeffrey, seeing an opportunity to take all the Renown favor in the Court for himself, Sacrifices the 6 of spades to move the 5 of clubs down 1 position and into the Den of Villainy, the cost of which (3 Renown) was more than covered by his 6 of spades. He then takes the 10 of hearts and, that being the last card in the Hierarchy, declares himself the Successor.
Amber fills the Hierarchy with cards from the Den of Villainy and after the players have all bid another Favor, Jeffrey will have the first Scheme.
