Royal Family

Two royal families race to destroy each other. An open source table top game that requires only a normal deck of cards.

Two Players

Card Designations

• Aces are Castles
• King, Queen, Jack are Royal Family Members
• 3–10 can be various, i.e. Soldiers, Pursuasion/Threat Points
• 2 is an Assassin
• Joker toggles the Age

Setup:

1. Get a normal 52 count card deck. Keep the Jokers in the deck.
2. Each player starts with two castles of the same color (Ace cards):

• Player One (Black):
  • The Starless family, their crest is the Spade ♠️️. The crest of their alliance family is the Club ♣.
  • Player One starts with both black castles placed in front of them—Spade face up and Club face down. The Spade castle starts fully developed and the Club castle is not yet developed.
• Player Two (Red):
  • The Scarlett family, their primary crest is the Heart ♡. The crest of their alliance family is the Diamond ♢.
  • Player Two starts with both red castles placed in front of them—Heart face up and Diamond face down. The Heart castle starts fully developed and the Diamond castle is not yet developed.

1. Shuffle the remaining deck and place the deck to the side, face down.
2. Deal the first round's flop—face up—between the two players. This is "The Field".
3. Final setup should look as like this (^ is face up, v is face down):

                        Player
                      
                     Ace 2   Ace 1
                       v       ^
           
Dis-   The              The Field     
Card   Deck     Card 1 | Card 2 | Card 3
 ^      v         ^    |   ^    |   ^

                     Ace 1   Ace 2
                       ^       v
                       
                        Player

Winning

⚑⚑⚑⚑

A player wins when their opponent has no active castles.

Game Play Overview

The game is played in a continuous series of Rounds until the winning objective is met by a player.

Round Breakdown

A round consists of a flop and three (3) turns. Or in more detail:

1. The "Flop":
2. Deal: Deal three cards from the deck to the field.
3. Resolve Age Change: If any of the three cards is a Joker, move it off to the side opposite the deck and replace it with a new card from the deck. If a joker is already present there, then discard both jokers. This shows where the Joker is to be placed:

The              The Field          
Deck     Card 1 | Card 2 | Card 3    Joker
Down       Up   |   Up   |   Up

1. If there are not enough cards to fill the field, then collect up all the cards from the field and discard piles (leave Jokers in play), shuffle, place the deck back and start over with a new flop.
2. Determine the current "Age":

• "Age of Uprising" if the Joker is not present.
• "Age of Oppression" if the Joker is present.

1. Determine Turn Order: A round consists of three (3) turns. One of the players gets the 1st and 3rd turn. The other player gets the 2nd turn. Turn order is dependent on the current age.
2. First look at the three cards in the field. Count how many red cards and how many black cards.
3. If it's the Age of Uprising, then the player with the lower count goes 1st and 3rd, the other player goes 2nd.
4. If it's the Age of Oppression, then the player with the higher count goes 1st and 3rd, the other player goes 2nd.
5. Players take their turns determined by the turn order.
6. End of Round

If you have trouble keeping track of who's turn it is and when to flop, use some tokens (e.g. dice, coins, lint). Have two similar tokens and one that is different (e.g. dime, dime, quarter). E.g. When you determine turn order, the person that gets two turns takes the quarter and dime. The other player takes the other dime. Then when taking turns they push the tokens to the middle like so: Player one goes (pushes dime in), Player two goes (pushes dime in), Player one goes again (pushes quarter in). The dime always represents the extra turn. This way it's always clear where you are in the turn order.

Turn Breakdown:

1. Draw: Take any one card from any one of the field piles or the deck. If the deck or some field piles are empty, just draw from another pile that has cards.
2. Take an Action

Actions

The following actions are allowed:

• Field
• Number Card Actions
  • Pursuade or Threaten
  • Defend
  • Attack
• Royal Family Card Actions
• Assassin Card Actions

Field

Any card can be fielded.

Field: If the player doesn't want to, or can't do anything else, they must "field" the card. To "Field", place the card face-up on one of the three field piles.

Fielding can actually be a major part of the game. It's often wise to pick up a card for the sole purpose of discarding it to cover up a powerful opponent card that you don't want them to draw.

Number Card Actions (3–10):

Number cards (except 2s) can be used to perform a variety of actions:

Pursuade or Threaten

Your alliance needs some pursuasion to convince them to war with you. Once pursuaded they will help attack your opponent and will defend themselves. You can perform all the same actions with your alliance kingdom that you can with your own. On the flip side, you can threaten your opponent's alliance. Intimidate them to prevent them from joining in the war.

• Pursuade Your Alliance: Place a card that matches your alliance suit on top of your alliance's inactive face down castle. The number on the card represent the amount of pursuasion points applied to your alliance. Once you place at least twenty (20) pursuasion points on your alliance castle it becomes active—flip the castle face up and discard all pursuasion and threat cards. An active castle can no longer be threatened, they are in it to win it, victory or death!
• Threaten Your Opponent's Alliance: Place a card that matches your primary castle suit on your opponent alliance's face down castle. Threat points cancel out pursuasion. If you cancel out all pursuasion (equal or greater), discard all the pursuasion and threat cards.

Squaring Up Points: If at any time you can discard an even amount of pursuasion (+) and threat (-) point cards, do so. E.g. There is +9 and -9. Discard both cards since they cancel each other out. E.g. There is +4, +5, and -9. Discard all three cards, since they also cancel out. Otherwise, just keep all cards there and keep a running total.

Defend

Defense is represented by "Fortifications"—a wall of soldiers standing in defense of your castle. Fortifications must match the suit of the castle they are defending. They will help protect against future attacks. The larger the number on the card, the stronger its defense. You may only have one (1) active fortification per castle at any time. Different defense options are:

• Fortify a castle: Place the card above the castle with matching suit. Place it sideways to signify a wall.
• Upgrade a Fortification: You may upgrade a fortification by replacing it with a higher number card (still of matching castle suit). The old card is discard.
• Repair a Fortification: You may repair a damaged fortification by replacing it and all damage with a new fortification card (still of matching castle suit). The old card and damage cards are all discarded.

If you had pursuaded your alliance to fight and then one castle is defeated, the soldiers from the defeated castle can be used to fortify, upgrade or repair the remaining castle.

Attack

Attack with an army of soldiers. You can command your soldiers to attack your opponent. If your targeted castle has a fortification then you must destroy it first before you can apply permanent damage to the castle. Once you have done twenty (20) damage to a castle it is destroyed.

If you had pursuaded your alliance to fight and then one castle is defeated, the soldiers from the defeated castle can still be used to battle and raid the opponent's castle, including applying permanent damage.

Different attack options are:

• Battle: Place a card that matches any of your active castle suits on top of an opponent's fortification. Orient the card such that it covers up the number of suit symbols from the attack card (e.g. A fort of 9 of spades is attacked by an army of 5 of hearts, so place the 5 on top of the 9, but only cover 5 of the spades). If the total soldiers placed are equal to or greater than the fortification soldiers, then discard all fortification and attacking soldier cards.
• Raid a Castle: If an opponent castle has no fortification, then you can raid it. Use a card that matches any of your active castle suits, if the castle you are attacking from does not have any royal family within then just discard the card, otherwise read "Permanent Damage" bullet below. You always have the chance to do Permanent Damage, and you can also choose one of either Kidnap, Rescue or Kill.
  • Permanent Damage: You can permanently damage the castle if attacking with a castle that has at least one royal family member present. Place the card next to the raided castle. That castle now has that much damage and it cannot be removed. Once there is at least twenty (20) damage on a castle, it is defeated; permanently remove from the game the castle, any family members within, and any applied damage cards. That castle is no longer active. All of the defeated castle's soldier may still be used to attack their opponent, and additionally they may be used to defend (fortify, upgrade, repair) the remaining alliance castle.
  • Kill, Kidnap, or Rescue (Choose one):
    • Kill: You can kill one (1) family member living in the raided castle ONLY IF you have a family member of equal or greater station than the one you'd like to kill (e.g. King can kill any, Queen kills Queen and Jack, Jack kills only Jack). Discard the killed family member card.
    • Kidnap: Same rules as Kill, but instead of discarding the family member card, place it below one of your active castles (in the dungeon). Only one (1) kidnapped prisoner is allowed per castle at a time. If there is already a kidnapped prisoner, replace it and release the old prisoner to the field.
    • Rescue: If there are any of your family members in the attacked castle's dungeon, rescue one (1) and place it in its matching castle.

Royal Family Card Actions (King, Queen, Jack):

• Bring to Power: If the card matches the suit of an active castle in your possession, you may place it in on top of that castle (leave the Ace showing a bit out the top of the face card). Having at least one family member allows you to deal permanent damage to your opponent castles.

Assassin Card Actions (2)

• Assassinate: If you draw the assassin from the field and if your opponent has at least one family member in a castle you can play this card to assassinate one (1) family member. Discard the killed family member and assassin.
• SURPRISE! If you draw the assassin from the deck, then it's not good for you. The assassin was sent to kill one of your family members. Discard one (1) family member (own or alliance) and the assassin.