Player's Handbook
Credits
| Highlander: TCGTM and the SwordMasterTM System Created By: | Mike Sager |
| Arms and Tactics Lead Designer: | Sam Orlando |
| The Four Horsemen Lead Designer: | Sean Cordero |
| Art Direction, Visual Design, and Layout | Matt Widmann |
| Rulebook Version 1.0 | Sam Orlando, Sean Cordero, and the Rules Advisory List. |
| TCGames Web Page: http://www.tcgames.com | Prodipto Roy, Shane Stafford, Sam Orlando |
| E-mail "Discussion" List Server highlander@monotreme.com | Laurajean Neafsey and Vincent J. Murphy |
| Editor and HTML Adaptation |
Rules Advisory List
Jeff Barnes, Steve Crow, Jonathan Halperyn, Bruce Loebrich, A. Allen McCarley, Paul
Senft, and Stealth Dave
Special Thanks
Bill Panzer, Peter Davis, Gillian Horvath, Donna Lettow, Lonko Miyazaki, Xclusive Imaging,
Greystone Graphics, Wendell Kline, and MaryJo Spellerburg.
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Thunder Castle Games P.O. Box 11529 Kansas City, MO 64138 (816)363-9363 E-mail: TCGames@AOL.com Web: www.tcgames.com |
© 1996 Thunder Castle Games. The NexusTM, The NexusTM logo, SwordMasterTM, and the SwordMasterTM logo are Trademarks of Thunder Castle Games. All Rights Reserved. Highlander © Davis-Panzer Productions. Printed in the United States by Greystone Graphics.
Handbook for Highlander: The Card Game - Version 1999.3.10
Copyright © 1995-1999 Thunder Castle Games - All Rights Reserved. This document may be freely reproduced and distributed, so long as it remains unaltered and this copyright notice is preserved. Highlander is a protected trademark of Davis-Panzer Productions & Gaumont Television, used under license.
This Handbook, along with the associated Rulebook replaces and supercedes all official or sanctioned documents and rulings, including Rulebooks, Erratas, FAQs and Databases, about the rules and text of Highlander the Card Game released before this Handbook.
Unlike the Rulebook, this Handbook is not designed to be read straight through. If you have not read the Rulebook, you should probably do so to gain at least a basic understanding of the game. This Handbook is a reference tool best utilized when questions arise during Deck Construction, Game Play, and Tournaments. The most recent errata'd card text is included for all of the cards that are legal to use when playing the game.
There are several stylistic conventions used in this document. This is to make things consistent throughout the document, and more importantly, to make it easier for the player to quickly recognize important terms and concepts. These words and phrases all have their own entries that you might need to read as well to fully understand an entry.
- All errata'd card text is listed in Bold Red.
- A defined term, such as cannot or prevention is printed in italics
- Game terms, such Ability, Endurance, Special, etc., are capitalized. These are different from defined terms in that they represent specific objects in the game, where defined terms describe an action taken during the game.
- Card names and Persona names are in bold
- Any examples follow the entry. If there are multiple examples, they are numbered.
- Any card identified as Persona Specific or Immortal Specific is list as Card Title: Persona
or Weapon Name, the Title and Name being separated by a colon (:), as well as any Sub-Titles necessary.[0-9][A][B][C][D][E][F][G][H][I][J][K][L][M][N][O][P][Q][R][S][T][U][V][W][X][Y][Z]
ENTRIES - 0-9 -4H - Abbreviation for Four Horsemen Expansion
Ability - Your "score" is your Ability. You start the game with 15 Ability. If you take damage, your Ability will be reduced equal to the amount of the damage done to you. You may only hold as many cards in your hand as your current Ability.
Ability
Adjustment Phase - The Ability
Adjustment Phase immediately follows the Attack Phase.
Cards cannot be played once you start this phase. If a card or
effect occurs when you "take damage", the effect occurs
during this Phase. If a card raises or lowers your Ability, or you have pending damage,
make that adjustment now. Take into account any cards that prevent
Damage, remembering that it has no effect on Ability Loss.
A successful Attack
normally does 2 damage.
Example1: Player A has taken a successful Lower Left Attack, and
3 damage from an Angry Mob. He has also drawn the
last card in his Endurance, causing 5 Ability
Loss due to Exhaustion. He discards a Dr. Anne
Lindsay to prevent 2 damage,
and plays a Lost Love to gain 1 Ability. Starting
at 15 Ability, Player A now has 8 Ability
(15 - 2 - 3 - 5 + 2 + 1 = 8).
Example2: Player A has Honor Bound
in play. Player B plays Focus (This Turn) on Honor Bound
and plays Street Punk. During his next Ability Adjustment Phase, player A "takes damage", and Honor Bound is removed from play.
Example3: Again, Player A has Honor
Bound in play. Player B plays Focus on Honor Bound
and plays Street Punk. At the beginning of his next turn, Player A plays Focus
(This Turn) on Honor Bound. During his next Ability Adjustment Phase, player A "takes damage", but Honor Bound is Focused and is not
removed from play.
Ability Loss
- Ability Loss may not be prevented
by cards which prevent damage. Ability
Loss is adjusted during the Ability Adjustment
Phase.
Example: Kastigir plays Boom
Boom which causes 1 Ability Loss. His opponent cannot
use Dr. Sonny Jackson to prevent
damage because there is no damage to prevent.
During his Ability Adjustment Phase, his Ability is adjusted from 15 to 14.
Adjoining Area - Any area that is next to (above, below, to the left or right) or diagonal to one area already covered by the Block.
Alertness
- Defenses In Play - You may play Alertness on
an Attack and use a Defense already in play
to defend against that Attack.
Example1: Player A plays Master's Attack:
Kastigir. Player B already has a Lower Guard in play, so he
plays Alertness: Block on Master's Attack: Kastigir, and
then uses the Lower Guard in play to block.
Example2: Player A plays Lower Left Attack,
Combination, and a Hidden Attack.
Player B plays a Lower Left Block and hopes that it also covers the Hidden Attack. The Attack is revealed, and it is a Dirty Trick:
Shove, which is unblockable. Player B
plays Alertness: Block and uses the Lower Left Block to
defend the Attack.
Ally - Any non-Pre-Game card whose Title depicts the proper name of a character from the TV Series or the Movies is considered to be an Ally.
Amanda
- Damage from Attacks - Amanda's Attacks
do half of the normal damage; 1 damage for a
normal Attack and 2 damage for a Power Blow. When Amanda
plays an Attack that says it does 'X' damage,
the amount of damage on the card supercedes Amanda's
half damage Attacks. If Masters
Advantage: Ramirez is in play against Amanda, she essentially is
able to block as normal, but only make 1 Attack at normal damage; 2 damage for a normal Attack,
4 damage for a Power
Blow. Though you may make 2 Attacks, you may only use one Attack from an Exertion. If Amanda
is restricted in her first Attack by a Defense,
she may forfeit her first Attack, and attack without restricting
her next Attack. When Amanda faces another Amanda,
they play as normal Personas would, but their damage
is halved. Any additional damage is added on to that amount.
Example1: Amanda plays a Thrust.
A normal Attack does 2 damage. Amanda
does 1 damage. Thrust does an additional point of damage if successful, and
would do 2 points of damage to her opponent.
Example2: Slan Quince plays a
Lower Left Attack and makes it a Power Blow. Amanda blocks
the Attack, and takes 3 damage. If she Exerts to make the Block a Power Block, even a 0-card Exertion, she
still takes 2 damage. If she makes a Power
Block without an Exertion, such as with Continuity
or Ancestral Blade, she takes no damage from the Attack.
Ancestral Blade
[Promo] - 1 - [Generic] - OBJECT
You may Power Block without an Exertion.
Angry Mob
[SE] - [Generic] - EVENT:
BYSTANDER
All players take 3 damage.
Armor
and Damage - No matter how many Armor you have in play,
an Attack's damage is only reduced by 1. If
an Attack covers multiple areas, you must have Armor
in play that covers all the areas of an Attack in order for Armor
to reduce the Attack's damage.
Example: Khan has
Armor: Breastplate and Armor: Helmet in play. Player A plays a Slash:
Left and a Slice: Rapier. Khan does not defend
against the Attacks. Khan's Armor
covers all areas of the Slice, Upper Left and Middle Center, so damage from the Slice is reduced by 1, doing 1 damage. However, the Slash: Left covers Upper Left,
Middle Left, and Lower Left. Khan does not currently have Armor
in play which covers Lower Attacks, so damage from the Slash
is not reduced by 1, and Khan takes 1 damage from
the Slash.
Armor
[ME] - R3 - Khan - OBJECT
Breastplate: All damage from Attacks
completely covered by Armor is reduced by 1. Armor: Breastplate
covers Middle Left, Middle Center, and Middle Right grids. You may
only have 1 Armor: Breastplate in play.
Armor
[ME] - R3 - Khan - OBJECT
Greaves: All damage from Attacks completely
covered by Armor is reduced by 1. Armor: Greaves covers
Lower Left, Lower Center, and Lower Right grids. You may only have 1 Armor:
Greaves in play.
Armor
[ME] - R3 - Khan - OBJECT
Helmet: All damage from Attacks completely
covered by Armor is reduced by 1. Armor: Helmet covers
Upper Left, Upper Center, and Upper Right grids. You may only have 1 Armor:
Helmet in play.
Arms and Tactics: "Break
Glass" - If your opponent has several cards in play that prevent you from doing something, you may use the Arms
and Tactics: "Break Glass" (that allows you to ignore
prevent effects, or "break glass" ceilings)
to ignore ALL cards and effects that prevent
you from any actions.
Example: Honor Bound, Intimidate: Slan
Quince, and Catwalk are all in play. You may use a single Arms and Tactics:
"Break Glass" to ignore all of these prevent effects.
associate
- Any Pre-Game cards that you use with your Deck are associated with your Deck. You are allowed to associate up to 6 Pre-Game cards
with your Deck.
Example: Player A is playing with the Amanda
Persona, Arms and Tactics: Break Glass, Darius:
Pre-Game, and James Horton: Watcher Pre-Game. These cards are
all associated with Player A's Deck.
AT - Abbreviation for Arms and Tactics Edition
Attack Phase - The Attack Phase immediately follows the Defense Phase. During this phase you may normally only play one Attack. If you are prevented from playing an Attack or have lost all of your attack opportunities you cannot play a Attack, or make an Exertion for one. When preparing to attack, take note of the last Defense you played. If the Defense was a Block, you may only attack to an area that the Block does not cover. A successful Dodge will defend an Attack as well and perhaps affect your next Attack, depending on its Text, if any. A Dodge with no Text does not restrict your Attack in any way. If you haven't played a Special Card yet, you may do so in this phase. Remember that you may only play one Special Card per turn.
Attack Weapon: War Axe - If the Attack played in conjunction with Attack Weapon: War Axe is a Power Blow, there is a 4 in 6 chance of your opponent breaking their weapon regardless or whether or not your opponent makes a Power Block.
Attack Weapon: War Axe and Chance of Success - If your opponent Power Blocks, the chances that their weapon breaks are unchanged.
Attacks - Attacks have either a red or yellow Grid. Attacks with a yellow Grid are Special Attacks.
Attacks -
Damage - Unless an Attack states otherwise, it will
do 2 damage if successful.
Any additional damage done by the Attack
is added on to this base amount.
Example: Player A plays 3 consecutive Flurry
Strikes. Each Flurry Strike does an additional point of damage for each Flurry Strike played that turn. If successful, each Flurry Strike
will do 5 points of damage; 2 + 1 + 1 + 1.
Attacks as
Blocks - If you are able to play Attacks as Blocks, Attacks played as Blocks
are not considered Blocks until they are played as Blocks.
Attacks in your Hand are still considered Attacks even if you are able to play them as Blocks.
You may play Attacks as Blocks even if prevented from playing Attacks.
Example1: Yung Dol Kim has
his Master's Attack in his hand. Slan Quince plays Intimidate,
preventing Yung Dol Kim from playing Attacks, and plays an Upper Left Attack. Yung
Dol Kim plays Master's Attack as a Block,
even though he is prevented from playing Attacks.
Example2: Player A has Parrying Blade:
Object in play. Kastigir plays Charm, causing
Player A to discard all Blocks from
his hand, and plays a Lower Center Attack. Player A has a Lower
Guard and a Lower Center Attack in his hand. He discards the Lower Guard, but not the Lower
Center Attack. He then blocks Player A's Lower Center Attack
with his own.
Attacks
That Modify Later Attacks - When multiple Attacks
have been played where one Attack modifies a successive Attack if it is successful,
you may choose to defend against the successive Attack as normal
and later Exert for a Defense against the
first Attack. If you do not find a Proper
Defense for the first Attack, the second Attack
is now modified and any restrictions on Defenses for that Attack will affect the Defense you have already
played, and may make that Attack successful.
Example: Duncan MacLeod plays Leg Sweep:
Duncan MacLeod and Masters Head Shot: Duncan MacLeod in conjunction with Flashing Blade.
His opponent plays Back Away against the Masters Head Shot: Duncan MacLeod
and Exerts for a Defense against Leg
Sweep: Duncan MacLeod. No Defense is found, making the Masters
Head Shot: Duncan MacLeod undodgeable.
Unless that player is able to make an additional Exertion and
find a Proper Defense, he loses his head!
Attacks
to Specific Areas - When referring to groups of Attacks
by area, such as Upper Attacks and Lower Attacks, any Attack
that includes at least one Grid square in that area is considered to
be that type of Attack.
Example: The Weapon
Specific card Slice: Rapier contains the Grid areas Upper
Left (or Upper Right) and Middle Center. It is considered to be an Upper Attack, a Right
Attack, a Middle Attack, and a Center Attack.
Back Away
[all editions] - DDD/DDD/DDD - Amanda, Connor, Duncan, Luther,
Nefertiri, Richie, Slan, Xavier, - DODGE
This Defense will not avoid Ranged Attacks.
You may only make Ranged Attacks this turn.
Bait and Switch
[TG] - [Generic] - EDGE
Play this card in conjunction with a Defense. That Defense is treated as pulled from
an Exertion. This does not count as making an Exertion
Basic Attack - You must include the 9 Basic Attacks in your deck during deck construction. The Basic Attacks are Lower Center Attack, Lower Left Attack, Lower Right Attack, Middle Left Attack, Middle Right Attack, Thrust, Upper Center Attack, Upper Left Attack and Upper Right Attack.
Basic Block - You must include the 6 Basic Blocks in your deck during deck construction. The Basic Blocks are Lower Center Block, Lower Left Block, Lower Right Block, Upper Center Block, Upper Left Block and Upper Right Block.
Basic Cards - Every Highlander Deck must include at least 1 of each Basic Attack and 1 of each Basic Block.
Battle Rage
[ME][SE] - R4 - Connor, Duncan, Khan, Nefertiri,
Richie - EVENT
Play this card in place of a Basic Attack. Make an Exertion to search for an Attack. You may
play up to 5 non-Special Attacks from that Exertion and your Hand. You lose 1 Ability. A Dodge cannot avoid
multiple attacks you play this turn.
beginning of your turn - Any action that you must or may take at the beginning of your turn that does not involve playing Special cards is done during your Sweep Phase. If the action involves playing a Special card, it is performed at the beginning of your Defense Phase before any other actions. If you have several beginning of your turn actions, you may choose which order to resolve them in.
Berkeley Games Distributors - This card determines your base number of Attacks on your turn. If you don't like the number of base Attacks you rolled with Berkeley Games Distributors then you may discard another Berkeley Games Distributors and try for a better roll. There is no "chance of success" inherent to this roll. Thus, it cannot be modified by Iron Will. (ME)
Berserk [SE] - R2 - Slan - EVENT
Play this card in place of a Basic Attack. Make a 10-card Exertion to search for an Attack play this
card. Play all non-Special Attacks from this Exertion. A Dodge cannot avoid multiple
attacks you play this turn.
Big and Bad - Calculating Minimum Deck Size - If you have 1 Big and Bad in your deck, your minimum deck size is increased to 90 cards. 2 Big and Bad cards is 100 cards. 3 = 110, 4 = 120, 5 = 130, 6 = 140. These minimum deck size requirements apply no matter how Big and Bad is brought into your deck.
Blatant Clue
[4H] - 3 - [Generic] - OBJECT
You may ignore the effects of any cards in play to play Situation: Plots. This will only allow you to play Situation:
Plots in this manner. You may discard this card from play to search your Endurance for 1 card with the same Title as any Situation you have in play and
place it in your Hand.
Block And Strike
[4H] - SOO/OSO/OOO, OOS/OSO/OOO, OOO/OSO/SOO, OOO/OSO/OOS -
[Generic] - SPECIAL
ATTACK or BLOCK
If this card is the last Defense played this turn, it becomes the
next Attack at the beginning of your Attack
Phase. You may use this Attack to attack to areas blocked by Block
and Strike.
Blocks - Blocks are Defenses with a blue Grid. When you Block an Attack, you are physically stopping your opponent's Attack with your weapon. If you Block a normal Attack or Power Block a Power Blow, the Attack is not successful. You may not attack to an area covered by the last Defense you play if that Defense is a Block.
Bloodlust
[ME] - R2 - Kurgan - EVENT
Play in place of a Basic Attack. Make a 15-card Exertion. You may play up to 15 non-Special
Attacks from the Exertion and your Hand.
All Attacks that do damage played due to Bloodlust
do 1 damage. No Attacks played due to Bloodlust
can be a Power Blow. A Dodge
cannot avoid multiple Attacks from a Bloodlust. You lose 4 Ability.
Borrowed Cards - When a card is "borrowed" through card effect (i.e. Immortal Research or Shapeshift) the card is treated as if the borrower had played the card as normal.
Borrowed Cards and Returning
Cards To Your Hand - If a card that has been borrowed is returned
to a players Hand, it returns to the player who played the card, not
the player whose deck the card came from.
Example1: Kane borrows a Dirty
Trick: Choke from the top of his opponent's deck. The Attack
is not successful. On the following turn, Kane
plays Feint: Event and places his opponent's Dirty Trick: Choke
which he had played into his Hand.
Borrowing Cards - If your opponent plays a card from your Hand, Endurance, or Discard Pile, he is borrowing that card. Signature and Weapon Specific cards cannot be borrowed except by that Persona or by using that Weapon of Choice, respectively, but Reserved cards can.
Bystander - All cards with the Title or Group Line of Bystander are considered to be part of the Bystander group, and are affected by any card which targets Bystanders.
cannot - see Denial v Permission
Card Anatomy - All Highlander cards will have some or all of the following components on their face: Group, Hand Icon, Icon/Grid, Picture, Reserved/Signature Symbol, Subtitle, Text, Text Box, Title and Title Bar
Cards that
Do Damage - Any reference to cards that do damage
also refer to any successful Attacks
that do damage as well as any card that states that it does
damage. Cards or effects that refer to cards that may do damage also refer to any Attacks that do damage if they have not yet been declared successful
or unsuccessful and any cards that do damage if certain conditions are met.
Example: Player A has Safe Haven: Situation
in play. Player B may not play Battlefield or Kiss Your Butts
Goodbye, since they may do damage.
Cards
that Hold Other Cards - Some cards "hold" other cards. The cards
that are being held are placed face-down underneath the card that is holding them. If the
card that is holding cards is removed from play, the cards underneath are returned to
their respective owner's Discard Piles. If the card is nullified,
the cards remain held underneath.
Example1: Player A has Dojo
in play with 4 cards held underneath. Player B takes control of Dojo
using Shapeshift: Kane. Player A plays Police and
removes Dojo from play. Dojo and all cards underneath
return to Player A's Discard Pile.
Example2: Kurgan has Four
Horsemen in play with 2 Master's Head Shot underneath. Kane
uses Shapeshift to take Four Horsemen. Shapeshift
and 2 Back Away are place under Four Horsemen. Kurgan
plays Police and removes Four Horsemen from play. Four
Horsemen and the 2 Master's Head Shot cards are placed in Kurgan's
Discard Pile, while Shapeshift and the 2 Back
Away: Kane are placed in Kane's Discard
Pile.
Carl [SE] - [Generic] - SITUATION
You may discard this card from play to counter a Holy
Ground card.
Chance of
Success - If a card or effect has a chance of success, it
requires a die roll. The card will state that you have a "n in 6
chance" to have some effect occur (n being a number between 1 and 6). Some
cards will affect a chance of success, but will not necessarily affect all die
rolls.
Example: Iron Will [ME] increases a
cards chance of success, but will not affect cards like Master's Disarm:
Kurgan, which has no chance of success.
Chessex - Losing Your Attack Phase - If you play two Events, there is no way to be able to get an Attack Phase this turn. If you play one Event, and remove Chessex, you still have an Attack Phase.
Chessex
- Darius and Chessex - Darius
is an Event and counts as one of your Events
for Chessex. If you play an Event in conjunction with Darius, you have
played 2 Events and may not play an additional Event
due to Chessex. However, you may play an Event and
a second Event in conjunction
with Darius even though this is now 3 Events, since
Darius is played in conjunction
with the second Event. This will not allow you to play Darius
in conjunction with a Special other than an Event and still play an additional Event.
Example1: Player A has Chessex in
play. He plays Darius in conjunction
with Alliance: Xavier. He has now played 2 Events
and may not play additional Events due to Chessex
this turn.
Example2: Player A has Chessex in
play. He plays Angry Mob followed by Darius in conjunction with Alliance: Xavier.
Example3: Player A has Chessex in
play. He plays Darius in conjunction
with Forethought: Xavier. He may not play an additional Event
since he has already played Forethought as his Special
card.
Circular Parry - Circular Parry will only increase the chance of success on cards with the Title Disarm. Circular Parry will not affect cards in the Disarm group, such as Master Disarm.
Clan MacLeod - Duncan MacLeod and Connor MacLeod can both used these cards. Clan MacLeod cards are considered to be Persona Specific. Clan MacLeod is a Faction.
Combination - Hugh Fitzcairn and Kanwulf and Attack Modifiers - Any damage modifiers on the individual Attacks (i.e. Thrust) still apply to the single Attack formed by Combination.
Combination
[all editions] - Connor, Duncan,
Gen Katana, Kalas, Kastagir, Khan, Kurgan, Luther, Nakano, Nefertiri, Kinman, Richie, Silas
- EVENT
Play an additional Attack this turn. If you make more than 1 Attack this turn, this Attack may be Hidden.
Completely Disarmed - If all of a Player's Weapons of Choice are disarmed, that player is completely disarmed.
Conceding a Match - A player may concede a match before the resolution of a Head Shot (i.e. before an Exertion for a Defense) provided that his opponent accepts the concession. Any agreements between players regarding the concession are strictly between players and have no effect on tournament standings after the concession is made.
Connor MacLeod
[SE][ME] - Connor - PERSONA
You may attack areas you just blocked. You may look at Hidden Attacks. You may include up to seven Master cards.
Connor MacLeod and Guards - Connor and Duncan may not attack to areas covered by a Guard while it is in play, however they may drop the Guard at any time in order to attack to those areas.
Continuity
[all editions] - Amanda, Connor, Duncan, Fasil, Kastagir, Khan, Kurgan, Luther, Hyde,
Methos, Nakano, Nefertiri, Kinman, Richie,
Yung Dol Kim - SITUATION
Your next 3 Defenses may be Power Blocks without an Exertion. Remove this card from play after the third Defense card is played. This is a Standing
Defense.
Continuity - Power Blocks - Continuity only affects the next 3 Defense cards "played." If you have a Guard in play, it does not count when you use it to Defend for the purposes of Continuity. If you make a Guard a Power Block, it only remains a Power Block for that turn. Any subsequent use of the Guard as a Power Block is considered a "new use" and counts towards Continuity's 3 Defenses.
Continuous
Effects - If an effect remains over several Phases or turns, it is
considered a continuous effect. Many Objects, Situations, Locations, and even some Events and Pre-Game cards have continuous
effects. It is possible for a card to have both continuous effects and immediate
effects. See also immediate effects.
Example1: The effects of Challenge
[SE] last until the end of that players next turn. It has a continuous
effect.
Example2: Trenchcoat [TG] has
an immediate effect which removes all
Pedestrians, Reporters, and Bystanders from play, and a continuous effect which prevents players from playing Pedestrians, Reporters, and
Bystanders.
Controlling An Opponent's Cards In Play - When a
player takes control of an opponent's card that is already in play, he also takes control
of any cards that are played "on" that card, such as Hidden Resources,
Watcher: Revealed, and Security Guard, or any cards
underneath that card, such as Dojo and Four Horsemen: Situation.
Players may take control of an opponent's Signature cards,
but may not take control of an opponent's Pre-Game cards.
Example1: Kronos has End of
Time in play. Kane plays Shapeshift and trades Nexus
with End of Time, even though End of Time is Signature. Kane may use End of Time
as his own.
Example2: Player A has a Thunder Castle
Games card in play. Player B may not use Impulse to take control
of that card.
Counterfeit
[SE] - [Generic] - EVENT:
PLOT
Betrayal: You may only play this card if you have Counterfeit: Abduction
and Counterfeit: Plastic Surgery in play. Discard all 3 cards. Your
opponent must take the top 10 cards from their Endurance and put
them in their Discard Pile.
Countering
Cards - When a card is countered,
all Text on the card is nullified and
the card is immediately placed in the Discard Pile without
effect. If a card is countered, the card is
considered to have been played, even though it has no effect. If a card with a Target is
played, it must be countered before a Target is
chosen. The player playing the card with a Target must give his opponent the opportunity
to counter the card before declaring a Target.
Cards which counter other cards are always discard to use cards.
Example1: Player A has Forethought: Xavier
in play. Player B plays Challenge. Player A immediately discards Forethought
to counter Challenge. Player B
has already played a Special card this turn, even though it
was countered, and may not play another Special card this turn.
Example2: Player A has Watcher: Watcher
Involvement in play and plays Master's Head Shot: Duncan. Player
B plays Master's Block: Katana. Player A immediately Discards Watcher
to counter Master's Block. Since
you are only allowed to play 1 Defense against each Attack, the Master's
Head Shot is successful and Player B
loses his head!
Example3: Xavier has Forethought
in play. Player B plays Police: Remove Situation, and asks Xavier
if he wishes to counter the Police.
He does not, and Player B then chooses Plan Ahead: Xavier as the card's
Target.
Example4: Rachel Ellenstein
is in play. Player A plays Focus (This Turn). Rachel Ellenstein
counters Focus before Player A
has a chance to declare a Target for Focus.
Crystal
[AT] - [Generic] - PREMIUM:
CRYSTAL
Calliope: Crystals do not count toward your Pre-Game
limit. During deck construction, you may either substitute any 1 non-Special Attack for 1 Basic Attack
or substitute any 1 Defense for 1 Basic
Block for each Crystal associated
with your deck. Do not remove these Attacks and Defenses
from the game if the Crystals leave play. You may only have 1 Calliope
in play.
Crystal
[4H] - [Generic] - PREMIUM:
CRYSTAL
Clio: Crystals do not count toward your Pre-Game
limit. During deck construction, you may either substitute any 1 non-Special Attack for 1 Basic Attack
or substitute any 1 Defense for 1 Basic
Block for each Crystal associated
with your deck. Do not remove these Attacks and Defenses
from the game if the Crystals leave play. You may only have 1 Clio
in play.
Crystal
[AT] - [Generic] - PREMIUM:
CRYSTAL
Euterpe: Crystals do not count toward your Pre-Game
limit. You may play this card if you have Calliope in play. During deck
construction, you may either substitute any 1 non-Special Attack
for 1 Basic Attack or substitute any 1 Defense
for 1 Basic Block for each Crystal associated with your deck. Do not remove these Attacks and Defenses from the game if the Crystals
leave play. You may only have 1 Euterpe in play.
Crystal
[4H] - [Generic] - PREMIUM:
CRYSTAL
Melpomene: Crystals do not count toward your Pre-Game
limit. You may play this card if you have Clio in play. During deck
construction, you may either substitute any 1 non-Special Attack
for 1 Basic Attack or substitute any 1 Defense
for 1 Basic Block for each Crystal associated with your deck. Do not remove these Attacks and Defenses from the game if the Crystals
leave play. You may only have 1 Melpomene in play.
Crystal
[AT] - [Generic] - PREMIUM:
CRYSTAL
Terpsichore: Crystals do not count toward your Pre-Game
limit. You may play this card if you have Euterpe in play. During deck
construction, you may either substitute any 1 non-Special Attack
for 1 Basic Attack or substitute any 1 Defense
for 1 Basic Block for each Crystal associated with your deck. Do not remove these Attacks and Defenses from the game if the Crystals
leave play. You may only have 1 Terpsichore in play.
Crystal
[4H] - [Generic] - PREMIUM:
CRYSTAL
Erato: Crystals do not count toward your Pre-Game
limit. You may play this card if you have Melpomene in play. During deck
construction, you may either substitute any 1 non-Special Attack
for 1 Basic Attack or substitute any 1 Defense
for 1 Basic Block for each Crystal associated with your deck. Do not remove these Attacks and Defenses from the game if the Crystals
leave play. You may only have 1 Erato in play.
Damage - When you take damage, your Ability is reduced by the amount of damage you take. This amount is calculated during your Ability Adjustment Phase.
Damage - Pending - Damage from Events is pending as soon as they are played, and damage from Attacks is pending when they become successful.
Damage -
Preventing - Damage may only be prevented if it is pending.
Example1: Player A has 3 Dr. Sonny Jackson
and an Angry Mob in his Hand. He can't play the 3 Dr.
Sonny Jacksons because there is no damage pending,
even though he wants to play the Angry Mob immediately afterwards.
Example2: Player A attacks with a Riposte.
Player B has no Defense, so he declares the Attack
successful. He then Discards Dr. Anne
Lindsay to prevent 2 damage.
Damage
- Redirecting - Some cards appear to "redirect" damage from one source
to another. In these cases, treat the card that is redirecting damage as preventing that damage, and then doing an equal amount of damage to the player who caused the redirected damage.
Example: Player A plays Street Punk [SE], which does 1 damage. Player B plays Do It Yourself: Katana which prevents 1 damage from the Street Punk
and then does 1 damage to Player A.
Darius - Darius and Chessex - see Chessex - Darius and Chessex
Darius
[SE] - [Generic] - EVENT
You may include one card from another Persona in your deck. You may
only play that card or put that card into play in
conjunction with this card. You may play this card in
conjunction with another Special card even if you are
only allowed 1 Special card this turn.
Darius: Event - countering - When Darius: Event is countered, the card that Darius is played in conjunction with is not affected or countered.
Darius: Event - Putting Cards Directly Into Play
- You cannot use a card which puts another card directly into play to bring a
card brought into your deck with Darius: Event directly into play.
Example1: Connor MacLeod plays Conjure,
but cannot use it to bring Bowie Knife: Kern into play.
Example2: Kern has Safe
House in play with Alaine: Ceirdwyn underneath it. Kern
plays Police to remove Safe House from play. On his next
turn, Alaine comes into play without Darius: Event, a
requirement for Alaine to be played. Alaine is discarded
without effect.
Darius: Pre-Game - You do not need to include the card whose Restriction number you are increasing. Also, you may only increase the Restriction number on cards that you can "normally" include in your deck. Cards from other Personas, whether included in your deck through the use of a Quickening, Persona Power, Darius: Event, or some other means, are not "normally" allowed in your deck.
David Blake
[ME] - 2 - [Generic] - EVENT
You may only play this card if your opponent played an Event that
will do damage to you. Your opponent takes damage
equal to the damage targeting you caused by that Event.
DC - Abbreviation for the Duncan Collection.
Deck - Your deck includes all cards in your Endurance, Hand, Discard Pile, and any Pre-Game cards that you associate with your deck.
Deck Construction - The following guidelines must be used when building your Highlander deck:
Defense - Blocks and Dodges are both Defenses, and are the only cards in Highlander that are considered Defenses. You may play 1 Defense against each Attack that your opponent played against you last turn. If you guess wrong against a Hidden Attack, you may Exert for a Proper Defense. If the Grid of a Defense covers all areas of the Attack, it will defend against the Attack. For more specific information, see Blocks and Dodges.
Defense Phase - The Defense Phase immediately follows the Sweep Phase. If there is no Attack pending, you cannot play a Defense, nor make an Exertion for one. You may play one Defense against each Attack that your opponent played in their turn, and cannot knowingly play an Improper Defense. If the colored area on your Defense card covers the entire corresponding colored area on your opponents' Attack, the Defense is successful and you normally take no damage from the attack. You may play a Special Card in this phase, or wait until your Attack Phase.
Deflect: Gladius and Additional Attacks - You only get one additional Attack for the last Deflect you played if it successfully blocked an attack.
Denial v Permission
- There are cards that say that you cannot or may not or will not
do something (a denial), and cards that say that you can or may do
something (a permission). In cases where these instructions are in conflict, a denial
always overrides a permission. An exception to this rule is if the permission
specifically targets that card or effect.
Example 1: Your opponent plays Impressive Move,
which say that you cannot draw cards. You play Lean and Mean, which says
that you may draw a card. You do not draw a card because cannot overrides may.
Example 2: Your opponent plays Master's Attack:
Connor MacLeod, which cannot be blocked. You
play Alertness which specifically says that you may play a Block
against an Attack that cannot
be blocked. You may now play a Block against the Attack.
Desert [ME] - [Generic] - LOCATION
All players must place the top two cards of their Endurance in
their Discard Pile at the beginning of their turn.
Desperation
[SE] - R - Nefertiri - EVENT
You must draw 3 cards. You must discard 2 of those cards. You may play another Special card this turn.
Die
Roll - Altering Odds - When using any card or effect to alter a die
roll, you must declare how the die roll is being altered before the die
roll is made.
Example: Player A has Change of Fortune
in play. Player B plays Disarm and Iron Will, declaring
that the Disarm now has a 2 in 6 chance to Disarm Player A. Player A
Discards Change of Fortune and declares that the Disarm
once again has a 1 in 6 chance of success. Player B then rolls the die.
Die Roll
- When To Roll - You may only make a Die Roll when instructed to do so by
a card or effect. When a card or effect requires a die roll and does not specify
when the die roll occur, the die roll occurs as soon as the card is
played, or immediately after a "triggering" action which is specified by the
card. If a player needs to make a die roll due to a continuing effect or a card
or effect played by their opponent, the die roll occurs during the "Must Do" Phase. If several die rolls are
required and no order is specified, the person making the die rolls chooses the
order.
Example1: Player A plays Disarm in
place of a Basic Attack and immediately rolls to attempt to
Disarm his opponent.
Example2: Sulpher Plant is in play,
and Player A makes a Power Blow. As soon
as the Attack becomes a Power
Blow, he rolls to see if he becomes Prone.
Example3: Player A plays Collapse
while in the Catwalk. Player A rolls immediately for Collapse.
During his "Must Do" Phase, Player B rolls for Collapse.
Example4: Player A plays Influence
with 3 Situations in play. Player A can choose to roll to remove
those Situations in any order he chooses.
Die Rolls - Modifying - Any card or effect which modifies a die roll must be used before the die roll is made. No die roll may be modified to be greater than 6 or less than 1.
Die Rolls - No player may make a die roll on their opponent's turn. If a card states that a die roll takes place on both players' turns, each player will roll a die for themselves.
Director's
Cut: Situation - Director's Cut: Situation may only be used to fulfill the requirements of another Plot card. It does not duplicate the Plot card, and
may not be used with Plots that do not have a requirement, such as Cat
and Mouse. Director's Cut: Situation
may stand in for additional Plot requirements as long as it is in
play. You do not have to identify which requirement Director's Cut is
fulfilling until you play a Situation: Plot needing a requirement. Director's
Cut is NOT a Situation: Plot.
Example1: Player A has Director's Cut
in play and plays Sea Witch: Line, declaring that Director's Cut
is "filling in" for Sea Witch: Hook.
Example2: Player A has Director's Cut
in play and plays Cat and Mouse (Discard Attack). His opponent only
discards 1 Attack, since Director's Cut is not fulfilling any requirement
for Cat and Mouse.
Example3: Player A plays Director's Cut.
Since Director's Cut is not itself a Situation: Plot,
he may not play Schemer to play another Situation: Plot
or Director's Cut, even though Director's Cut can
fulfill a Plot's requirements.
Dirty Trick
[AT] - OAO/OOO/OOO - 4 - [Generic] - 1H - ATTACK: DIRTY TRICK
Choke: If this Attack is successful,
your opponent must place 1 card from the top of their Endurance
face down under this card. At the beginning of each of his turns, your opponent must place
1 card from the top of his Endurance face down under this card
for each card already under this card. This card remains in play until you draw a card or
take damage.
Dirty Trick: Choke - Multiple Chokes - If you have two successful Dirty Trick: Chokes in play against your opponent, cards from your opponents Endurance are placed under each Dirty Trick: Choke at the beginning of his turn.
Dirty Trick: Head Butt - The player playing Dirty Trick: Head Butt discards cards for its effect once the Attack is declared successful.
Dirty Trick: Tackle - Immediately after playing Dirty Trick: Tackle, roll to see if you are Prone. Your opponent must roll if and when Dirty Trick: Tackle becomes successful against them.
Dirty Tricks - All cards with the Title Dirty Trick follow the rules for Dirty Tricks laid out in the Rulebook. Dirty Tricks do no damage, may be played if you are Disarmed, and are unblockable. Dirty Tricks cannot be Power Blows.
Disappear
[SE] - R2 - Luther - EVENT
Prevent all damage done to you
this turn. You avoid all Attacks that are not already successful. You cannot attack this turn.
Disarm
[SE][ME] - [Generic], Connor, Duncan, Luther,
Nefertiri, Xavier - EVENT
Play this card in place of a Basic Attack. There is a 1 in 6
chance that your opponent is Disarmed.
Disarming and Weapons of Choice - If your opponent has disarmed you, he then chooses which Weapon of Choice has been Disarmed. It is then turned over and has no effect on game play and you cannot play any Weapon Specific cards for that Weapon of Choice. Even though you may have another Weapon of Choice that is not disarmed, you may still roll a die at the beginning of each turn and on a one (1) will regain your disarmed weapon. Also, as long as you have one Weapon of Choice in play (with the exception of the Shield), you can still attack and block normally.
Discard
a Card to Play a Card - If you must Discard a card in order to play
another card, the card being Discarded must come from your Hand. It
cannot come from any other source, such as an Exertion.
Example: Player A has Master's Advance
in play. Player B has 1 Dodge in his Hand. He
cannot play the Dodge and Exert for a Dodge to Discard. Player B CAN Exert for a Dodge, and then discard the Dodge in his Hand in order to play the Dodge from the Exertion.
Discard Costs
- If there are several different effects that require you to Discard cards, you must
discard individually for each effect; you may not Discard once for several effects.
Example: Your opponent has the Location
Battlefield and the Situation Master's Advance
both in play. If you discard a Dodge for Battlefield, you
must still Discard an additional Dodge for Master's Advance
if you wish to play a Dodge.
Discard Pile - Anytime cards are Swept from play, turned over in an Exertion, or Discarded from play or your Hand, they are placed face-up in your Discard Pile. You may look through any player's Discard Pile at any time during the game.
Discard to
Use Cards - You may discard discard to
use cards from play to use them any time after your opponent plays a card on
their first turn after you played your discard to use
card. Also, if your opponent does not play a card on that turn, you may discard to use your card any time after their
turn is over. If you prevent a discard to use card from being discarded, then
it has no effect. You may not use a discard to use
card once it has been targeted by a card. Once the card has been targeted, it may be used
as soon as the effects that have targeted the card have been resolved, provided that the discard to use card is still in play. You may discard to use a card even if you are not able
to play cards, including your opponent's turn and any Phase that you are not allowed to
play cards in.
Example1: You play Nexus, a discard to use card, on your turn. Your opponent
plays Patience. You may now use Nexus.
Example2: Player A has Lt. John Stenn
in play. Player B plays Police. Player A does not immediately discard to use Lt. John Stenn,
so Player A targets Lt. John Stenn with Police. Player A
can not now discard Lt. John Stenn to counter
Police, and is then removed from play.
Discarding Cards - Any time you place cards from your Hand into your Discard Pile, you are discarding cards.
Discarding Specific Card Types at Random - If you are
forced to discard certain card Types cards that fit a specific description at random, pull
all cards fitting that description from your Hand and randomly
determine which of those cards will be discarded.
Example: Cassandra discards
3 Defenses to use her Persona Power.
Her opponent has 4 Defenses and separates them from his Hand. Cassandra then chooses 3 of those Defenses at random and discards them.
Discipline
(all versions) - Discipline only works when you are prevented
from playing Attacks or Special cards
specifically by a card in play. If you are unable to play a card from your Hand,
such as through the effects of Fast Talk: Hugh Fitzcairn, you cannot play
Discipline to ignore the card's effects
since you are unable to play Discipline. Discipline only
allows you to ignore the effects that are preventing you from playing Attacks
or Special cards (depending on which Discipline
you played), and does not allow you to ignore other effects
of a card.
Example1: Player A plays Fast Talk: Hugh
Fitzcairn. Player B has Discipline in her Hand,
but cannot play it since she cannot play cards from her Hand due to Fast
Talk.
Example2: Player A has Safe Haven: Situation
in play. Player B plays Discipline (Attacks). Player B may now play Attacks, but is still prevented
from playing any Special cards which may do damage
to Player A.
Divine
Intervention [Promo] - [Generic]
- EVENT
You may only play this card if your opponent has a Pre-Game card
in play that can be removed from the game. That card is removed from the game. This card
is removed from the game.
Dodge
[SE] - DDD/DDD/DDD - Connor, Duncan, Luther,
Nefertiri, Richie, Xavier - DODGE
You lose your next Attack this turn.
Dodges - Dodges are Defenses with a green Grid. When you Dodge an Attack, you are moving out of the way of your opponent's Attack. If you Dodge your opponent's Attack, the Attack is not successful.
Dojo [WC] - [Generic] - SITUATION
At the beginning of your turn, you may either place cards from your Hand
face down underneath Dojo or take cards from the Dojo
and place them in your Hand. This card may have 5 cards underneath it.
If this card leaves play for any reason, then the cards underneath it are discarded. You
may only have one Dojo play.
Draw/Discard
Phase - At this time, if you have more cards in your Hand
than your Ability, you must discard down to your Ability.
These cards are immediately placed in your Discard Pile. If
you have fewer cards in your Hand than your Ability,
you may draw one card at a time, stopping at any point as long as you do not exceed your Ability. You may normally draw cards only during this phase. If you
forget to draw during this phase, you will have to wait until your next Draw/Discard Phase to draw. After dealing with any effects
(if any) that may occur during this phase, and you have completed drawing up and or
discarding cards your turn is over.
Example1: Player A has 13 cards in his Hand, but his Ability is only 8. He must Discard 5
cards to adjust his Hand size to only 8 cards.
Example2: Player B has 9 cards in his Hand, and an Ability of 12. He chooses to draw 2
cards for a Hand size of 11; he does not have to draw all the way up
to 12.
Drawing Cards
- Any time that you place cards from your Endurance directly into
your Hand, you are considered to be Drawing Cards. If you "may
draw up to" a number of cards, you may choose to draw any number of cards up to that
amount, or not at all. If you "may draw to" a number of cards
(as opposed to "up to"), you may draw that number of cards or none at all.
Placing cards into your Hand from an Exertion
is NOT considered Drawing Cards.
Example1: Methos Discards 2 cards
and Draws to replace them. He is "drawing" cards.
Example2: Player A plays Courage
and Exerts for an Attack. He finds 3 Attacks
and places 2 of them in his Hand. This is NOT considered
"drawing" cards.
Example3: Player A plays Patience,
which says he may "...draw to [his] Ability." He has 12
cards in his Hand and an Ability of 15. He may
draw 3 cards or no cards.
Example4: Player B has 11 cards in his Hand and an Ability of 13. During his Ability Adjustment Phase, she may draw 0, 1, or 2
cards, "up to" her Ability of 13.
Duende - If you have two Duendes in play, and your opponent makes a successful Attack, you choose which Duende the Attack goes under. Duende nullifies the Text of the Attack played against you, not any cards that modify the attack.
Duncan MacLeod
[SE][DC] - Duncan - PERSONA
You may attack areas you just blocked. If you Power
Blow, your opponent's next Attack cannot be Hidden. You may
include up to six Master cards.
Duncan MacLeod and Guards - Connor and Duncan may not attack to areas covered by a Guard while it is in play, however they may drop the Guard at any time in order to attack to those areas.
Duncan MacLeod and Hidden Attacks from Power Blows - Your opponent's next Attack cannot be Hidden, not just their first Attack.
Duplicating
a Card's Effects - If you are duplicating a card's effects, you
do not need to meet any of the requirements for that card. Any card or effect that
modifies the card being duplicated is also duplicated.
Example1: Player A plays Police: Remove
Situation in conjunction with 3 Excessive
Force. Nakano duplicates the Police,
and the effects of Excessive Force which modified the Police
are also duplicated.
Example2: Ceirdwyn has Flashback:
Ceirdwyn in play. Her opponent plays Watcher: Treatment and Princes
of the Universe. Ceirdwyn duplicates the Princes
of the Universe and gains 1 Ability.
Dust Cloud
[ME] - [Generic] - EVENT
You may only play this card if Desert: Location is in play. Your
next Attack may be Hidden and your opponent's next Attack may be Hidden.
Edges - If a card has an outstretched hand as its Icon in the upper-left hand corner of the card, it is an Edge card. Edge cards are removed from play during a player's Sweep Phase. Edge cards are NOT Special cards. You may play as many Edge cards during your turn as you wish. You cannot play any Edge cards in the middle of an Exertion or while discarding from your Hand, or to interrupt any other effect. Multiple copies of the same Edge card do stack. You may play Edge cards during your "May Do" Phase, Defense Phase, or Attack Phase. You may play an Edge card during your "Must Do" Phase only if it directly affects, prevents, or nullifies a Must Do action.
Effects
In Place of a Special - There are some effects and Persona Powers that state "If you do not play a Special,
you may..." have an effect, using those or similar words. If you choose to use that
effect, you are not prevented from playing a Special card; you have chosen not to play a Special card in order to gain that effect.
Example: Instead of playing a Special card, Cassandra discards 3 Defenses in order to discard 3 Defenses from
her opponent's Hand. She cannot then play Master Head Shot:
Event because she chose not to play a Special
card; she is not prevented from playing a Special card.
Elizabeth Vaughn
[SE] - [Generic] - EVENT:
REPORTER
You may discard up to 6 cards from your Hand and replace them from
your Endurance.
End of Time and First Blood - If you use End of Time to play a Situation, Object etc. in First Blood, it is not removed. Such removal only occurs when First Blood begins.
Endurance - Your Endurance is the pile of cards face down that you draw cards into your Hand from (or your deck, if you will).You may count the number of cards remaining in your Endurance at any time. (Face down, of course.)
Endurance Burn - see Exhaustion
Events - If a card has a lightning bolt as its Icon in the upper-left hand corner of the card, it is an Event. Events are removed from play during a players Sweep Phase. When an Event is removed from play, due to a Sweep Phase or some other effect, any unresolved effects for that Event still occur even though the Event is no longer in play. Events are Special cards.
Exerting to Pay a Cost - If you must Exert to pay a cost, you Exert at the same time you play the card. If the card is countered, you must complete the Exertion. If you must make two or more Exertions to pay a cost for one or more effects, you may legally do so, as long as you are able to make the multiple Exertions.
Exertions - To make an Exertion, take the top 5 cards from your Endurance and place any unused cards in your Discard Pile. After making an Exertion, you cannot play any more cards for the remainder of the Phase that you are in. Exerted cards are not considered to have been discarded. You may only make 1 Exertion per turn.
Exertions
- Keeping Cards From - If you play a card that allows you to take cards
found in an Exertion and place them in your Hand,
you may only keep cards found in an Exertion from your
Endurance.
Example: Ceirdwyn has Alaine
in play and plays Treachery to make an Exertion
from her opponent's Endurance. Ceirdwyn cannot
keep any Attacks found from your opponent's Endurance.
Exertions - Taking Cards From Exertions - When a card
or effect allows you to take cards from an Exertion and place
them in your Hand, whether it be select cards or the entire Exertion, you are not required to show those cards to your opponent
since they are never placed in your Discard Pile.
Example: Player A plays Memories (Special)
and makes an Exertion. He takes a Special
card into his Hand from the Exertion and
shows the rest of the cards in the Exertion to his opponent. He
does not show his opponent the card placed into his Hand.
Exertions and Low Endurance Size - If you don't have enough cards in my Endurance and Discard Piles to make an Exertion a card or effect requires from you, you would make an Exertion with as many of the cards as you could. If the Exertion is not a full Exertion (per the required number), then the remaining card effects are nullified.
Exhaustion - When the last card in your Endurance is drawn, placed in your Discard Pile, or otherwise removed from your Endurance, you have Exhausted your Endurance. You lose 5 Ability. This is adjusted during your next Ability Adjustment Phase.
Exhaustion and Abnormal Endurance Size - You suffer Exhaustion (loss of 5 Ability) when you draw the last card of your Endurance. You would stop drawing cards at that point, if you have no cards in your Discard Pile to reshuffle and continue to discard from. If you do have a Discard Pile remaining, you will reshuffle, and continue discarding cards, Exhausting again if you are able. Any Ability Adjustment Phase where you still have no cards in your Endurance, you will suffer another 5 point Ability Loss.
Extra Shot
[all editions] - Connor, Duncan,
Gen Katana, Kalas, Kanwulf,
Kastagir, Khan, Kurgan, Hyde, Methos,
Nefertiri, Richie - EVENT
You may play an additional Attack this turn. If you play more than
one Attack this turn, your opponent cannot play a new Defense card specifically for that Attack
unless that Defense is from an Exertion.
The Eyes Have It - No parts of this Plot may be used in a Sanctioned tournament unless all players are informed before the tournament that the Plot is being allowed.
Faction - A Faction describes a group of Immortals with some sort of relation or allegiance. Just like a Persona Specific card, a card with the sub-title of a Faction allows all members of that Faction may use that card. The only Factions currently in Highlander are Clan MacLeod, which includes Duncan MacLeod and Connor MacLeod, and Four Horsemen which includes Caspian, Kronos, Methos, and Silas. Cards with the same Title as a Faction are not specific to that Faction.
Factory [ME] - [Generic] - LOCATION
All players cannot draw during their Draw/Discard Phase.
This card is removed from play if any player's Hand falls below 5
cards.
Fast Talk
[WC] - S2 - Fitzcairn - EVENT
Your opponent cannot play cards from his Hand next turn.
Feint
[SE] - [Generic] - EVENT
You may only play this card if your last Attack was an unsuccessful non-Special
Attack card. You must place that card in your Hand.
Feint: Duncan MacLeod
and Special Attack or Blocks - If Duncan extends the area
of a Special Attack or Block with Feint:
Duncan MacLeod, the area does not remain there to become part of the Special Attack.
Example: Duncan MacLeod plays Feint:
Duncan MacLeod in conjunction with Block
and Strike to cover the Upper Center Grid. The Special Attack portion of Block and Strike
does not include the extended Upper Center Grid.
Feint: Duncan MacLeod and Guards - If played with a Guard, that Guard only gains the benefit from Feint for that Defense Phase.
First Blood
- When the time allotted for a match has expired and the outcome of the game has yet to be
determined (no player has lost their Head or started their Attack
Phase with 0 Ability), First Blood
begins.
When time expires, the current player finishes playing their turn as normal. The Tournament Judge will then invoke First
Blood. All Special cards are removed from play, and all Events are nullified. All pending Attacks are treated as if no Events have been
played (are no longer unblockable, undodgeable, Power Blows, Head Shots,
etc. due to any Events played). Both players immediately adjust Ability for any Ability Loss due to Special cards leaving play. Any other effects granted by a card
leaving play are otherwise nullified. Once First Blood begins, Special cards can
no longer be played or duplicated, and no Thunder Castle Games cards may
be used.
Once all Special cards have been removed from play and Abilities have been adjusted, both players immediately shuffle their Hand into their Endurance and draw a number of
cards equal to their current Ability. No cards may be drawn by any
means or by any player for the remainder of the game. Play continues until one of these
conditions are met:
First Blood and Arms and Tactics (Discard 5) - You may use the Arms and Tactics Premium to remove 5 cards from your Hand, Discard Pile, or Endurance from the game before you shuffle your Hand into your Endurance if you wish to do so.
First Blood and Drawing Cards - You may not draw cards during First Blood. However, you may play cards such as Lean and Mean or Patience during First Blood even though you will not be able to draw cards as a result.
Flamboyant
Attack - Flamboyant Attack reduces all damage
from the Attack it is played in
conjunction with when the Attack becomes successful, but Flamboyant Attack has no
effect on any Text the Attack may have not
pertaining to damage.
Example: A player plays Flamboyant Attack in conjunction with Master Head Shot: Duncan.
The Attack is successful.
The Attack does no damage, but the players opponent still
loses his Head and the game!
Flashback - Additional 3-Card Exertion
- Flashback gives you an additional Exertion. It
does not extend an Exertion. Also, you must first make an Exertion to gain an additional Exertion.
Example: Annie Devlin has Flashback
in play. She Exerts 5 cards for an Attack, but does not find one.
She then discards Flashback to make an additional, separate Exertion of 3 cards for an Attack.
Flashback
[4H] - Silas - SITUATION
You may discard this card from play after your opponent makes a successful Attack against
you or removed one of your Allies from play. Search your Endurance
for any card with the same Title as a card in play and place it in
your Hand. Reshuffle your Endurance.
Flashing
Blade [WC] - [Generic] - EDGE
Play this card in conjunction with an Attack. A Dodge cannot avoid multiple attacks
you play this turn.
Flying
Machine [TG] - S2 - Corda &
Reno - OBJECT
Wings: While this card is in play, your opponent must make an Exertion
to play a non-Ranged Attack during his turn. If Flying
Machine: Wings leaves play, you lose 1 Ability. You may only
have 1 Flying Machine in play.
Focus -
Nullifying Situations - Focus nullifies
everything on a Situation but its Type. It cannot be played
without a Situation in play to Focus. A Situation that is Focused can still be affected cards that affect Situations.
Example1: Honor Bound: ME is in
play. Player A plays Focus (This Turn) on Honor Bound,
and may now play Special cards. He then plays Police
to remove Honor Bound from play, even though Honor Bound
has been nullified.
Example2: Disguise: Kurgan is in
play. Player A plays Focus (This Turn) on Disguise and
then plays Simple Mind. Because Disguise is a Situation: Plot, it is not affected by Simple Mind, even
though it has been nullified.
Focus
[AT] - [Generic] - EDGE
Choose one Situation in play. That Situation
is nullified during your opponent's next turn.
Focus-ing
Cards that "Hold" other cards - There are some cards that can
store or "hold" other cards within them. Typically, the cards being held are
placed face-down underneath the card in play that is holding them. If that card is nullified through the use of Focus or other
means, the cards remain underneath that card. If that card is removed from play, any cards
being "held" are placed in the owner's Discard Pile.
Example1: Player A has Safe House
in play with several Allies "held" in the Safe House. Player B
plays Focus on Safe House. The Allies remain under Safe
House.
Example2: Player A has Dojo in play
with 3 cards underneath it. Player B uses Police to remove Dojo
from play. All 3 cards underneath the Dojo go to Player A's Discard Pile.
Focused
Strike - Your opponent cannot Power Block
this Attack using any card or effect.
Example: Duncan plays Master's
Head Shot in conjunction with Focused
Strike. Luther plays an Upper Center Block, but
cannot make it a Power Block even though he may normally do so
without an Exertion.
Forethought
[SE] - R - Xavier - SITUATION
You may discard this card from play to counter an
Event.
Free Hand - A "Free Hand" is an easier way of saying you have less than two Hand Icons in play.
Gaining Ability
- If your opponent's Ability is increased for any reason, including
regaining lost Ability, he is gaining Ability, and may be targeted by cards or
effects that target a player who has gained Ability.
Example1: Player A plays Watcher: Treatment
and gains 2 Ability. Player B plays Stalk: Martin Hyde,
which is now unblockable and undodgeable because Player A gained Ability.
Example2: Player A has had Poison Gas:
Xavier in play for several turns. Player B removes Poison Gas
from play with Police, and regains 4 Ability.
Player A plays Kate, which causes Player B 2 damage
because he gained Ability last turn.
General Katana
[ME] - Gen Katana - PERSONA
If you do not play a Special card, any time during your turn
you may make an Exertion to remove a Situation.
You may include up to 5 Master cards.
Generic Cards - Generic cards may be used by any Persona, including a Generic Persona.
Generic Immortal [Persona Specific Non-Reserved] - If Master's Advantage: Ramirez is in play against you, you cannot play the cards your Persona allows you to include. You may utilize normal Generic deck-building rules in addition to your Persona Power.
Generic Immortal [Reserved Cards] - Martin Hyde
- Against Martin Hyde, your Master limit is
actually lowered for each Reserved card you have included.
You may use Darius: Premium to increase your Master
Limit and therefore the number of Reserved cards you may use
to 4.
Example: Generic Immortal [Reserved Cards]
includes 2 Intimidate: Luther in his deck, reducing his Master
card limit to 1. Martin Hyde may now only draw 1 extra card during his Draw / Discard Phase.
Generic Immortal
[Reserved Cards] - Master's Advantage - If Master's
Advantage: Ramirez is in play against you, you cannot play the cards your Persona allows you to include. You may utilize more than one of the same Reserved card.
Example: Generic Immortal [Reserved Cards]
includes 2 Intimidate: Luther in his deck. His opponent has Master's
Advantage: Ramirez in play. Generic Immortal [Reserved Cards]
cannot play Intimidate: Luther unless he removes or nullifies
the Master's Advantage: Ramirez.
Generic
Immortal [Substitute Basics] - When this Persona
includes a Special Attack or Block, it counts as
either an Attack or Defense during Deck
Construction, but will not count as both. This Persona is not
affected by Master's Advantage: Ramirez.
Example: Generic Immortal [Substitute
Basics] includes 6 Block and Strike in his Deck as Defenses, but he must still include 9 more Attacks
in his Deck as Block and Strike only counts for either an Attack or Defense during Deck Construction.
Generic Immortal [Weapon Specifics] and Master's Advantage - If Master's Advantage: Ramirez is in play, you cannot play more than the normal Restriction number of those cards until you have Exhausted or Reshuffled. You may use Darius: Pre-Game and your Persona Power to increase the Restriction of a Weapon Specific card by 2.
Generic Immortals [All] and Master cards - Without a Generic Immortal Persona, any version, you cannot use Master cards. Darius: Premium raises all Master Limitations on Generic Immortals as well.
Generic Persona
- If you choose to play without a Persona, you are considered a Generic Persona (in
Highlander a Generic Immortal) and may use cards from all of the Personas. But you may only use one of each unique
Persona Specific Card, and none of their Reserved or Signature cards. You cannot include Master cards in your deck if you do not use a Persona Card. Persona Cards with the name Generic
Immortal follow all of these rules plus any additional Text on the Persona Card, and can use Master cards as specified on the Persona.
Example1: You may
include 1 Power Blow: Connor MacLeod and 1 Back Away: Connor
MacLeod.
Example2: You may
include 1 Power Blow: Connor MacLeod and 1 Power Blow: Duncan
MacLeod.
Example3: You may
not include 2 Power Blow: Connor MacLeod or Master's
Attack: Connor MacLeod, which is both a Master card and a Reserved card.
grid - If the card is an Attack or a Defense, the Icon will be a 9 square Grid like a tic-tac-toe board. The areas of the Grid that are colored in are the areas covered by the Attack or Defense. Attacks are Red, Special Attacks are Gold, Blocks are Blue, and Dodges are Green.
Group Line - The first line of Text (directly below the picture on a Highlander-backed card) is the Group Line. This line lists the card's Type and may also include any Groups that the card may belong to.
Groups - Certain
groups of cards are often referred to as a group by other cards, such as Watcher cards and Armor cards. If a card's Title
or Group Line contains the group name in any form, it is
considered to be in that group.
Example: Khan plays Armor, an Object, then Armorer, an Edge which allows
him to play another Armor card, and then plays Forged Armor. In this case, Armor,
Armorer, and Forged Armor are all in the Armor group.
Guards - Guards are Blocks that may stay in play to cover
multiple Attacks over multiple turns. Guards are Standing Defenses. You cannot attack to an area that is
covered by a Guard that you have in play. Guards
stay in play until they are dropped, and are not swept during the Sweep Phase. You cannot play a new Defense
while you have a Guard in play. You may drop a Guard at any time.
Example1: Player A has an Upper Guard
in play. Player B plays a Lower Left Attack. Player A drops the Upper
Guard in order to play a new Defense against the Attack.
Example2: Player A plays a Lower Guard
and the drops the Lower Guard to play a new Defense.
The Lower Guard is immediately placed in the Discard
Pile, and does not wait for Player A's next Sweep Phase.
Guards
- Dropping to Attack - You may drop a Guard at any
time to Attack to an area that the Guard
covers, but if you used the Guard to Block an Attack that turn you still may not Attack to
areas that you just blocked with your last defense.
Example1: Player A blocks an Attack
with an Upper Guard. He drops the Upper Guard, but he
still cannot play an Upper or Middle Attack since he just blocked with the Upper
Guard.
Example2: Player A leaves the Upper Guard
in play and plays a Lower Left Attack. He then drops the Upper
Guard and plays Extra Shot to allow him to play his Upper
Center Attack since the Upper Guard is no longer in play.
Guards and Disarming - If you are Disarmed and have no Weapon, any Guards that you have in play are Discarded.
Gypsy Camp - Removing Gypsy Camp from play - The owner of the Gypsy card decides where it goes if it is removed from play.
Gypsy Lover
[SE] - [Generic] - SITUATION
During your turn, you may randomly select a card from your opponent's Hand,
look at it, and return it to their Hand.
Hand - At the beginning of the game, you draw 15 cards, 1 for each point of Ability, from your Endurance. This is your Hand. During each Ability Adjustment Phase, you must discard down to or you may draw up to a number of cards equal to your Ability.
Hand Icons - If you already have two Hand Icons in play, you cannot play any cards which would increase the number of Hand Icons in play. But if it does managed to happen, then you must discard any cards in play to bring the number of Hand Icons you have in play to two. This may mean getting rid of a card in play with a Hand Icon or even having to disarm a Weapon of Choice. In either case, you get to decide which Hand Icon is lost.
Head Shot - A Head Shot must be an Upper Attack. When an Attack becomes a Head Shot, it also becomes a Power Blow. If a player is unable to defend against or otherwise avoid the Head Shot, that player loses their Head and the game. Any Quickenings that player was using must be given to their opponent as stated on the Quickening card. If a player Blocks a Head Shot but does not Power Block, he does not lose his head, even though the Attack was successful.
Head Shot
[all editions] - [Generic] - EVENT
You may only play this card in conjunction with an
Upper Attack. That Attack is a Head Shot.
Hidden Attacks - Defending Against - When you defend against a Hidden Attack, play a Defense that you believe will cover the Attack that your opponent has played. You may also choose to play no Defense against the Attack. Reveal the Attack. If you played a Proper Defense against the Hidden Attack, you have defended against the Attack. You may make an Exertion to make a Power Block if necessary. If you guessed wrong and played an Improper Defense, you may choose to Exert for a Defense. Be sure to play any cards that modify your opponent's Attack before you make the Exertion, like Alertness.
Hidden Attacks - Making - When another card or effect allows you to make an Attack Hidden, play the Attack face-down on the table. Your opponent must now guess where the Attack is aimed and try and Defend against it. The Attack will remain Hidden even if the effect leaves play (i.e. Mountain Cave leaving play).
Hidden
Attacks - Declaring - When you play a Hidden
Attack, you must be able to offer a valid reason for it being Hidden. Valid reasons
include your opponent made a Power Blow, a
card or effect in play, or because of the Text of the Attack. If you make a Hidden Attack
a Power Blow, you must tell your opponent
that it is a Power Blow. You do not have
to disclose other attributes of a Hidden Attack,
such as unblockable, or if the Attack is a Head Shot.
Example1: You play a Block, and
then play a Hidden Riposte. Your opponent asks "Hey, why is that Attack Hidden?" You reply "Because the Text
on the Attack says it can be played Hidden."
Example2: Duncan MacLeod
plays Jump and then plays his Master's Head Shot Hidden. He must tell his opponent that the Attack is a Power Blow, but does not have to mention that it is undodgeable or that it is a Head
Shot.
Hidden Attacks - Due to Power Blows - If your opponent
makes a Power Blow, your next Attack on the following turn may be played Hidden, even if you lose your first Attack "opportunity".
Example: Your opponent makes a Power Blow, and the Location
Dueling Grounds is in play. You block his Attack, and then
skip your first Attack. You then play your next Attack
Hidden.
Hidden
Attacks - Multiple Attacks - When Defending against multiple Hidden Attacks, play all Defenses
from your Hand first, and then reveal the Hidden Attacks. You may then choose to make
any Exertions necessary to Defend against any Attacks
still pending.
Example: In the Mountain Cave, your opponent
plays Battle Rage and 4 Hidden Attacks.
You play 4 Defenses, and then reveal the Attacks.
You may now Exert for a Defense if
necessary.
Hidden Attacks - Revealing - After you reveal a Hidden Attack, you may still play a card or use an effect to avoid the Attack, such as Holy Ground.
Hidden
Explosives [WC] - R2 - Xavier
- EVENT
All players take 1 damage for each Situation: Plot
in play.
Hidden
Resources - If you reveal a card that prevents
your opponent from playing a card, as he is playing that card, the card is already played,
and resolves normally. Unless what you revealed is a discard
to use card that can counter his card,
which may be used immediately.
Example1: Player A has a Situation
face-down underneath Hidden
Resources. Player B plays Challenge. Player A immediately
reveals the Situation, and it is Garfield. Garfield
has no effect on Challenge, which has already been played.
Example2: In the example above, the Situation is revealed to be Forethought: Xavier.
Player B immediately reveals and Discards Forethought, which counters Challenge.
Higher Ground - Multiple Higher Grounds - If you have multiple Higher Grounds in play, and your opponent has one or more Higher Ground also in play, all Higher Grounds in play are nullified.
Hogg [WC] - S2 - Kern - OBJECT
You may make an Exertion during your Defense
Phase to avoid one Attack; or, you may make one of your Attacks
this turn a Power Blow without an Exertion. If Hogg leaves play, you lose 1 Ability. You may only have one Hogg in
play.
Holy
Ground [SE] - [Generic] - EVENT
You may only play this card during your Defense Phase. You
avoid all Attacks not already successful
this turn. All players must discard 4 cards and draw up to their Ability.
Your Defense Phase ends. You must skip your Attack Phase this turn.
Holy Ground - Playing Unprovoked - You may play Holy Ground, any version, even if your opponent did not attack you last turn.
Holy
Ground [ME] - [Generic] - EVENT
You may only play this card during your Defense Phase. You
avoid all Attacks not already successful
this turn. All players must shuffle their Hands into their Endurance. All players must draw to replace their Hands.
Your Defense Phase ends. You must skip your Attack Phase this
turn.
Honor Bound
[Promo] - 1 - [Generic] - SITUATION
You must discard this card from play after your opponents next 5 turns to cause all
players to lose 4 Ability.
Hook [SE] - R3 - Xavier - EVENT
Play an additional Attack this turn. If you play more than 1 Attack this turn, this additional Attack cannot be blocked.
Hugh Fitzcairn
[WC] - Fitzcairn - PERSONA
If you do not play a Special card, you may make an Exertion on your turn to prevent
up to 2 points of damage. You may include up to 5 Master
cards.
icon - In the upper left-hand corner of the card, there will be an Icon denoting the card type, unless it's a Pre-Game card.
ignore -
When a card or effect is ignored, the player who is ignoring the effect nullifies
the effect that target or directly affects that player. You can only ignore
effects that target or directly affect you, the player. Any effect that does not directly
affect the player occurs normally.
Example1: Methos has Secret
Identity in play. His opponent plays Angry Mob [SE] and takes 3
damage. Secret Identity allows Methos to ignore
any Event played by his opponent. He takes no damage.
Example2: Methos has Secret
Identity in play. His opponent plays Head Shot in conjunction with an Upper Center Attack,
which makes the Attack a Head Shot. Head Shot
does not target or directly affect Methos, and is not ignored.
Illegal Cards - Misprinted Premium cards from the Gathering Edition may not be used in tournaments Sanctioned by Thunder Castle Games. Also, Thunder Castle Games often releases Promotional cards. These cards may not be used in Sanctioned events until they have been officially released by Thunder Castle Games.
Illusory Terrain
[Promo] - 1 - [Generic] - SITUATION
All players cannot play Locations. All Locations
are removed from play.
Illusory
Terrain - This card has a continuous effect. Thus, if Focused,
when Illusory Terrain returns to play and sees that a Location has been played, the Location is
removed.
Example: Illusory Terrain is in
play. Player A plays Focus (This Turn) on Illusory Terrain
and plays Mountain Cave. After Player A's turn is finished, Focus
is no longer nullifying Illusory Terrain
and Mountain Cave is removed from play.
Immediate
Effects - If an effect occurs immediately when a card is played or an
action is taken, that effect is considered an immediate effect. Immediate
effects cannot be interrupted by other effects or to play other cards. See also continuous effect effects.
Example1: Nefertiri plays Bassett
and Hotchkiss. The effects of Bassett and Hotchkiss occur as
soon as the card is played. When she discards Attacks, she may
choose to discard them to the top of her Endurance. However, she
may not draw to her Ability until after the effects of Bassett
and Hotchkiss have been completed, drawing and discarding the same Attacks over and over.
Example2: Trenchcoat [TG] has
an immediate effect which removes all
Pedestrians, Reporters, and Bystanders from play, and a continuous
effect which prevents players from playing
Pedestrians, Reporters, and Bystanders.
Example3: Player A has Master's
Advance in play. Master's Advance has an immediate effect
of forcing Player A's opponent to discard a Dodge each time that
player plays a Dodge. The immediate effect of discarding a Dodge for Master's Advance is triggered by Player A's
opponent playing a Dodge.
Example4: Duncan MacLeod
plays Leg Sweep and Master's Head Shot. Player A has an Upper
Guard in play, and chooses to allow the Leg Sweep to be successful. Leg Sweep has an immediate
effect when it becomes successful. The Upper
Guard is removed by Leg Sweep when it becomes successful, however Player A can now play a new Upper
Guard against the Master's Head Shot.
Immortal
Research [MC] - S3 - Methos - EDGE
Declare which Phase of your turn that you are playing this card in as you play it. Look at
your opponent's Hand. You may immediately play any 1 non-Persona Specific card from your opponent's Hand.
You may only play 1 Immortal Research this turn.
Proper Defenses - A Defense which will avoid or block an Attack is an Proper Defense. See also Improper Defense.
Improper
Defenses - A Defense which will not avoid or block
an Attack is an Improper Defense.
You are not allowed to play a Defense that does not defend against
an Attack played by your opponent. You may play an Improper Defense against a Hidden
Attack, even if you are able to look at the Hidden
Attack. Any restrictions or other effects from the Defense's Text still occur if the Improper Defense
was the last Defense played. See also Proper
Defense.
Example: Xavier St. Cloud plays a Middle
Left Attack, Hook, and Thrust as a Hidden Attack while in the Mountain Cave.
His opponent, Connor MacLeod, plays Duck against the Middle
Left Attack and looks at the Hidden Thrust, as per his Persona Power. Even though he knows the Attack
is unblockable due to Hook, Connor
plays his Master's Block against the Thrust. The Thrust
is successful, but Connor's next
Attack is unblockable
due to the Master's Block.
Improvised
Weapon [ME] - OOO/OSO/OOO - 3 - [Generic]
- SPECIAL ATTACK: RANGED
This Attack does no damage. If this Attack is successful your
opponent must take the top 3 cards from his Endurance and place
them in his Discard Pile.
Impulse [AT] - 3 - [Generic] - EVENT
Play this card if your opponent has a non-Pregame card in play that must be discarded from
play to be used. You take control of that card until the end of your opponents next
turn.
Impulse
- Timing - When a player plays Impulse, their opponent
cannot immediately discard the target of Impulse to prevent you from taking control of it. You may use the
card controlled by Impulse immediately of you choose.
Example: You play Impulse on your
opponent's Nexus. He cannot discard Nexus after it has
been targeted by Impulse because he no longer controls that card.
In
Conjunction - Exertions - Cards that are played in
conjunction with cards that you are searching for in an Exertion
a considered to be played simultaneously, even though you are not actually doing so. Treat
any cards played in conjunction with each other in
this manner the same as all other in conjunction
effects. If a card specifically states that it is played in
conjunction with a card or effect, it may only be played in conjunction with that card or effect.
Example1: Player A has a Thunder Castle
Games (Rip) in play. Player B plays Head Shot and Lunge,
then Exerts for an Attack to play in conjunction with Head Shot and Lunge.
Player A wants to counter the Head Shot,
but waits to see if Player B finds an Attack first. Player B finds
an Upper Right Attack, so Player A then counters
the Head Shot card with the TCG.
Example2: Player A plays Head Shot
and Lunge, then Exerts for an Attack.
He finds a Riposte: Upper Left and a Lower Right Attack.
If he chooses the Riposte: Upper Left, the Attack
is a Head Shot, but is not affected by Lunge
since it is not a Basic Attack. If he chooses the Lower
Right Attack, it is not a Head Shot since it is not an
Upper Attack, and it is not made a Power Blow
because it is not a Head Shot. The Lower Right Attack
is a Basic Attack, and is still affected by the Lunge.
Example3: Lunge says to
"Play this card in conjunction with a Basic Attack." Lunge can not be played in conjunction with a card other than a Basic Attack, although other cards can be played in conjunction with that Basic
Attack.
In Conjunction
- Cards that are played in conjunction with one
another are played at the same time. If your opponent is playing a series of cards in conjunction with one another and you wish to counter one or more of the cards, wait until the
entire series of cards are played and then counter
the cards. You may play several of the same card in conjunction with one another even if they don't stack.
If you do so, your opponent must counter each
identical card in order to counter the card's
effect.
Example1: Player A has a Thunder Castle
Games (Rip) in play. Player B plays Head Shot, Lunge,
and Upper Right Attack. After all 3 cards have been played, Player A
Discards (and destroys) Thunder Castle Games to counter the Lunge. Player A may
dodge the Attack as normal.
Example2: In Example1, Player B sees that
Player A has a TCG card in play, and plays 3 Lunge in conjunction with the Upper Right Attack.
Player A uses the TCG to counter
1 Lunge, but the Upper Right Attack is still affected by
the other 2 Lunge cards played in
conjunction with it.
In-Game Cards - Any card with the standard Highlander: The Card Gametm and Swordmastertm logos is an in-game card.
Insurance: Kalas: Situation and Theatre: Location - If Theatre and Insurance: Kalas: Situation are both in play, you would take your opponents Hand and randomly choose which cards to discard and discard them for your opponent.
Interference
[SE][ME] - [Generic] - EVENT
Target player must discard 2 cards.
Intimidate
[SE] - R - Luther, Slan
- EVENT
Your opponent cannot attack next turn.
Jack Donovan
[ME] - [Generic] - SITUATION
You may discard this card from play instead of playing a card on your turn. You do not
have to make an Exertion for not playing any cards this turn.
Joe Dawson Pre-Game - When you Exert to move the cards from your Discard Pile to the bottom of your Endurance, make the Exertion first, then move the cards from your Discard Pile to the bottom of your Endurance. The cards from the Exertion then go to your Discard Pile. Any Watcher cards in that Exertion do not get moved to the bottom of your Endurance.
Kane [TG] - Kane - PERSONA
At the beginning of your turn, you may look at the top card of your opponent's Endurance. You may use that card this turn if you discard the top
card of your Endurance in
conjunction with using that card. You may include up to 5 Master
cards.
Kanwulf and Master's Advantage - If he is using the War Axe one-handed, and Masters Advantage: Ramirez affects him, he will need to either wield it two-handed, or Disarm it in favor of a second Weapon of Choice. Using the War Axe one-handed does not make it a one-handed weapon, although it will be considered to have only 1 Hand Icon in play.
Katana Sword and Hand Icons - You cannot play any cards that would make you have more than two Hand Icons in play, and in Katana Sword's case, you cannot make it a two-handed weapon if you already have two Hand Icons in play.
Kirk Matunas
[ME] - 3 - [Generic] - EVENT
You may play any number of Kirk Matunas cards in
conjunction with this card. Your opponent takes 1 damage
plus 2 additional damage for each Kirk Matunas
played in conjunction with this card after the
first.
Kirk Matunas - Countering
- All Kirk Matunas' played together are considered to be one source
of damage. If one Kirk is countered,
it adds no damage to the other Kirk Matunas it is
played in conjunction with. If the damage from Kirk Matunas is countered, all damage is countered.
Example1: Player A plays 3 Kirk Matunas
in conjunction with each other to produce 5 points
of damage. Player B Discards Forethought: Xavier St. Cloud
immediately counters 1 Kirk Matunas.
Kirk Matunas now does 3 damage.
Example2: Player A plays 3 Kirk Matunas
in conjunction with each other. Player B plays Police
which counters all damage
from an Event. Since the damage produced by Kirk
Matunas is only one source, all damage from Kirk
Matunas is countered.
Last Turn Effects - See Looking Back at a Previous Action
Linda Plager
[SE] - [Generic] - EVENT:
REPORTER
All players must discard 2 Attacks.
Locations
- If a card has a ruin as its Icon in the upper-left hand corner of
the card, it is a Location. There may only be 1 Location in play at any given time. If another Location
is played, any Location already in play is Discarded. Locations do not have any effect if they are not in play. Locations are Special cards.
*Note: The Location Pyramid was printed
before Locations were standardized, and was given the Icon of a Seeing Eye on a pyramid. Pyramid
*is* a Location.
Looking
Back at a Previous Action, or "Last Turn" Effects - There are
occurances that require you to look back at a previous action to determine
whether or not an effect will occur, usually whether or not you did something on your
previous turn or if your opponent did something on his turn. Even if the effect was not in
play when you perform the action, the effect occurs. If you did not have a turn to look
back on, the effect does not occur.
Example1: Player A does not play an Attack. Player B plays Slaughter House: Location. On
his turn, Player A may not play a Special card because he did
not attack on his last turn.
Example2: Extra Shot: Annie Devlin would not
make the extra Attack unblockable
if this was the first turn of the game.
Example3: If your opponent did not have a "last
turn", you may not Discard a Defense because he did not attack
last turn.
Example4: Player A plays Master's Head Shot:
Duncan and Challenge, a Special card.
At the end of the turn, you must look back to see if you played a Special card. Player A did, and so the Master's Head Shot
is not a Head Shot or Power
Blow.
Luck [SE] - R2 - Richie - EVENT
You may retrieve any card from your Endurance and place it in
your Hand. You must shuffle your Endurance.
Making
Attacks v. Playing Attacks - Any time a card allows you to "make"
an Attack, whether or not you are playing an Attack
card, you are considered to be playing that Attack. If you
make an Attack without playing a card, you still need to play a
card during your turn or make an Exertion.
Example: Xavier St. Cloud may "make"
a 1 point middle-center Attack if he does not play a Special card. Xavier would be be playing
this Attack. Xavier must still play a card or make
an Exertion during his turn.
Example2: Verona, Italy 1637 is in play. Corda and
Reno play a Basic Attack. They want to use The
Equalizer to "make" the Basic Attack a Ranged Attack, but can't because Verona, Italy 1637
prevents them from playing or making Special Attacks.
Maniacal Laugh [Must Attack] - No Attacks - If you have no Attacks in your Hand, you must Exert for one. If you are prevented from attacking, you need not Exert, but will still lose a Defense.
Mask [ME] - R3 - Slan - OBJECT
All damage from Attacks completely covered by
Mask is reduced by 1.Mask covers Upper Left, Upper
Center, and Upper Right grids. You may only have 1 Mask
in play.
Master -
Any card with the word Master in the Title or Group Line is considered to be a Master card,
or in the Master group. You must associate
a Persona card, even if it is a Generic Immortal Persona, with your Deck in order to use Master
cards. Your Persona card defines how may Master
cards you can include in your Deck. "Using" and "including" Master cards in your deck is the same thing.
Example1: Player A is using the Duncan
MacLeod Persona card. He is allowed up to 6 Master cards in his deck, as defined on the Duncan MacLeod
Persona card.
Example2: Player B wants to use a Generic
Immortal, but also wants to include Master cards. He
decides to use one of the Generic Immortal Persona
cards. He may now include up to 3 Master cards in his deck.
Master Limit
- Your Persona card will tell you how many Master
cards you are allowed to include in your deck. This is your Master
limit. If you do not associate a Persona
card with your deck, you may not include any Master cards.
Example1: You are using the Duncan
MacLeod Persona. Your Master limit is 6.
Master's Disarm (Nakano or Connor) and Forged Steel - If you have Forged Steel in play and you play Master Disarm for Nakano or Connor, you take your opponent's weapon and break it. His weapon is now broken and only you may roll to recover your weapon.
Master's Disarm (Nakano or Connor) and Weapons of Choice - If you are using two Weapons of Choice, you must Disarm both Weapons before you can play Master Disarm. Having a card in the Weapon group (a card with the word "Weapon" in the Title) has no bearing on whether or not you have a "weapon" for the purposes of Master Disarm.
Master's Disarm: Kurgan and Iron Will - You can use Iron Will [AT] with Master's Disarm: Kurgan. The play sequence would be to play Master's Disarm, play any Iron Wills you want, then make the Exertion and roll the die. Remember, after making an Exertion, you can no longer play any cards from your Hand for the remainder of the current phase.
Master Head Shot - If you use a Persona Power that is used "only if you do not play a Special" this does not prevent you from playing Special cards, but rather you choose not to play a Special card, and thus Master Head Shot cannot be played.
Master Swordsman
[WC] - OOO/OOO/OOO
- [Generic] - SPECIAL
ATTACK or BLOCK
When you play this card, choose on area on the Grid where the Attack or Block applies. If used as an Attack, this Attack may be a Power Blow without an Exertion.
If used as a Block, this Block may be a Power Block without an Exertion.
Master's
Advantage [TG] - S2 - Ramirez - SITUATION
While this card is in play, all Text on your opponent's Persona Power is nullified. If
their Persona Power allows them additional cards in their
deck, they may not play these cards. Your opponent may still play Master
and Persona Specific cards.
Master's Advantage and Personas that Increase
Restriction Numbers - If a Persona that is allowed
more than the Restricted number of a card his deck
is targeted by Master's Advantage: Ramirez, he may only play that card if
there are LESS than the total Restriction number
normally allowed to that card that he has in play or in his Discard
Pile.
Example1: Xavier has included
12 Unholy Alliance Plot cards in his deck. He has 4 Unholy
Alliance in his Discard Pile and 2 Unholy
Alliance in play. His opponent has Master's Advantage in play.
He may not play any additional Unholy Alliance Plots
until he reshuffles his Discard Pile into his Endurance or removes, nullifies, or ignores Master's Advantage.
Example2: Generic Immortal [Weapon
Specific] allows you to increase the Restriction
number on Weapon Specific cards by 1, and is using the War Axe with 3
Throw Weapon. Generic Immortal has 1 Throw
Weapon in his Discard Pile and 1 in play. His
opponent plays Master's Advantage. Generic Immortal can
not play Throw Weapon until he reshuffles his Discard
Pile into his Endurance or removes, nullifies,
or ignores Master's Advantage.
Master's Advice
[all editions] - R1 - Amanda, Duncan, Richie - SITUATION
While this card is in play, your Ability is increased by 2. You may
only have 1 Master's Advice in play.
Master's Attack [4H] - AOO/OAO/OOO, OOA/OAO/OOO - R2 - Caspian - ATTACK
Master's
Attack [all editions] - OOO/OSO/OOO - R2 - Amanda,
Ceirdwyn, Connor, Duncan, Gen Katana, Kastagir - SPECIAL ATTACK
This Attack cannot be blocked.
Master's
Block [SE] - BBB/BBB/BBB -
R2 - Richie - BLOCK
You may attack normally to any area this turn. Your next Attack
this turn may be Hidden.
Master's
Disarm [ME] - R - Connor, Nakano - EVENT
You may only play this card if you are completely Disarmed and your opponent played at
least 1 non-Ranged Attack last turn. Play this card in your Defense Phase. Your opponent is Disarmed. You are rearmed. Your Defense Phase ends. Your opponent may roll to recover your lost
weapon, unless it was broken.
Master's Sanctuary - If Master's Sanctuary is protecting you from the effects of a Holy Ground: Location, you lose the game immediately if Master's Sanctuary leaves play or is nullified.
Master's
Stance - When Master's Stance is used to make a Block a Guard, any Text on
the Block has no effect unless that Defense
was used to block an Attack that turn.
Example: Connor MacLeod has Master's
Stance in play with Master's Block in play as a Guard. However, his opponent did not attack last turn, so he does not
get an unblockable Attack
due to Master's Block.
Master's Wisdom
[MC] - R4 - Methos - EVENT
Play this card to duplicate an Event your opponent played during his
last turn. Treat the effects of the duplicated Event as if you had
played it.
Master's Advantage - Even though all Text on your Persona Power is nullified while Master's Advantage is in play, you may still play Master cards since the Master card limit is used only in deck construction.
Master's Advantage and Persona Specific or Master Cards - Master's Advantage: Ramirez removes all Text on your opponent's Persona, but does not remove their Title, or Persona name. Therefore, your opponent may play Persona Specific cards normally allowed them, when you have Masters Advantage in play. They may also play the Master cards they have included in their deck.
Maximum Ability
- Your maximum Ability is your starting Ability of 15 PLUS
any Ability gained from continuous effects. Your Maximum
Ability may change throughout the game depending on cards you have in play. You may gain Ability up to your maximum Ability, but not more. You may
play cards that allow you to gain Ability, but you will gain no Ability beyond your
Maximum.
Example1: Player A has taken 1 damage,
and has a Richie Ryan: Premium, which gives +1 Ability,
and Master's Advice which gains 2 Ability while in
play. His Ability is 17 and his maximum Ability is currently 18.
Example2: Player A from above plays Watcher:
Treatment which allows him to gain 2 Ability. He cannot
raise his Ability above his maximum Ability, so his Ability is now 18.
May Do Phase
- After taking care of all Must Do Effects, you may then
process May Do effects. These effects can be identified by the Text of
their instructions, which will have the word "may" in the description of the
action you may take. Again, you may accomplish these effects in any order you choose. You
may opt not to do any May Do effects at all. If your opponent did not attack during his
last turn you may discard one Defense from your Hand
during this phase. If you have an Edge card that will counter or affect a May Do effect directly, then you
may play it when resolving these effects. No Special cards may
be played during the "Must Do" Phase.
Example: Master's Stratagem states
that you may discard two cards and draw to replace them. This is done during the "May Do" Phase.
MC - Abbreviation for Methos Collection
ME - Abbreviation for Movie Edition
Methos and Master's Stratagem - Methos' Persona Power allows him to discard "up to" 2 cards from his Hand, so he could choose to discard 1 or 2 cards (or none) and then immediately draw to replace them. Once you have discarded and drawn to replace the first card, you cannot then decide to discard and draw to replace a second card.
Mirror Image - Multiple Mirror Images - If you have two Mirror Images in play, both Mirror Image cards stay out. However, your opponent only has to roll against the most recently played card. A miss would still be counted against all Mirror Image cards in play. If any of the Mirror Image cards have two misses on it, it is removed from play.
Mishap [ME] - 2 - [Generic] - EVENT
You may only play this card during your Defense Phase if your
opponent made a Power Blow last turn. You
avoid that Power Blow. Your next Attack this turn cannot be
blocked.
Monkey [4H] - [Generic] - SITUATION
When this card is played, your opponent must discard a card from his Hand
for each Monkey in play. You may play another Monkey
this turn.
Multiple
Attacks - Many players have a difficult time handling a long string of Attacks. Attacks and Defenses
resolve in the order they are played or used. For example: Player A plays a Battle
Rage and manages to play 4 Attacks: an Upper Left
Attack, and Lower Right Attack, an Upper Center Attack,
and a Lower Left Attack. Player B plays an Upper Left Block
that would normally block the Upper Left Attack and the Upper
Center Attack. However, there is a Lower Right Attack in between
them. To carry the Upper Left Block over to block the Upper
Center Attack as well, you would have to let the Lower Right Attack
hit you (become successful). Player B decides to
play a Lower Center Block to block the Lower Right Attack
then plays a Left Guard to block both the Upper Center Attack
and Lower Left Attack. If Player B didn't have the Lower Center
Block, he could decide not to play a Defense against the Lower
Right Attack and instead make an Exertion to search for
a Defense. Since he cannot play cards from his Hand
after making an Exertion, he plays the Left Guard
against the Upper Center Attack and Lower Left Attack
first. He then makes an Exertion to search for a Defense to play against the Lower Right Attack and
finds a Back Away.
You need to analyze the Defenses you do have in your Hand. Will some of the Blocks cover more than one
consecutive attack? Are you prevented from playing some
kind of Defenses? Will a certain type of Defense
not block or avoid consecutive attacks (i.e. Battle Rage)? After you
figure out the answers to these questions, you can usually work out your best options to
playing what Defenses you have. If, after playing any Defenses from your Hand, there are other attacks
that are left undefended, you can then make an Exertion to search
for a Defense in the hopes to block or dodge one of them.
Must Do Phase
- The "Must Do" Phase is a sub-Phase of the Sweep Phase. After cards are Swept, any Must Do effects are
resolved. These effects can be identified by the Text of their
instructions, which will have the word "must" in the description of the action
you must take. If you have multiple Must Do effects to take care of, you may handle them
in any order you choose, as long as you take care of all of the Must Do effects if
possible. You may play an Edge card during your "Must Do" Phase only if it directly affects, prevents, or nullifies a
Must Do action. No Special cards may be played during the "Must Do" Phase.
Example1: Quality Blade: ME states
that you draw a card. This is a "Must Do" action and is done at the beginning of
your turn.
Example2: Luther plays Malicious
Grin. During his "Must Do" Phase, Luther's
opponent must Discard all Dodges from his Hand.
Instead, his opponent plays Selective Memory, which directly affects
Discarding. He no longer must discard all Dodges.
Example3: Player A completes the Counterfeit
Plot. Player B wants to play Underworld Contact to counter the effects of Counterfeit,
but he can not play Special cards during the Sweep or "Must Do" Phase.
Nefertiri
[SE] - Nefertiri - PERSONA
During your turn, you may draw back up to your Ability if you have
fewer cards in your Hand than your Ability.
When you discard from your Hand, you may place some or all of those
cards on top of your Endurance. You may include up to five Master cards.
Nefertiri
and Interrupting Effects - She may draw to her Ability
at any time during her turn, as long as it does not interrupt an immediate effect.
This includes the time before her "Must Do" Phase.
Example: Nefertiri plays Bassett
and Hotchkiss. When she discards Attacks, she may choose
to discard them to the top of her Endurance. However, she may not
draw to her Ability until after the effects of Bassett and
Hotchkiss have been completed, drawing and discarding the same Attacks
over and over.
Nemesis
[ME] - [Generic] - SITUATION
Psychosis: You may only play this card if your opponent is General Katana.
While this card is in play, General Katana may only make Standard Exertions during his turn.
Nemesis Cards - You may only have one Nemesis card in play. If a Nemesis card says that you cannot do something, then you are prevented from performing that action, even if another card you have in play permits you to.
Next Attack
- If a card or effect refers to your next Attack, it
refers to the next Attack that you play that turn.
Example: Player A plays Dual Attack:
Parrying Blade. Player B is using the Amanda Persona and plays Dodge,
causing her to lose 1 Attack. She then skips her first Attack and plays an Upper Right Attack in conjunction with Head Shot. This
is her next Attack and cannot
be blocked due to Dual Attack: Parrying Blade.
Nexus and Drawing Cards - The drawing of cards in your Draw/Discard Phase is an immediate effect. You cannot discard Nexus to reshuffle while Drawing, and then continue drawing after reshuffling.
The Nexustm League - The Nexustm is Thunder Castle Games' tournament league program. Nexustm members are ranked against players across the country based on their performance in Sanctioned Tournaments, receive a Quickening card for winning a Sanctioned Tournament, receive promotional cards available only to Nexustm members, and receive Thunder Castle Games quarterly newsletter, Castle News. If you would like to join the Nexustm, please contact Thunder Castle Games at http://www.tcgames.com or call them at (816) 363-9363.
No Damage v
0-Damage - An Attack that does 0 damage
may potentially do damage if it is modified to do so. If an Attack does No damage, effects which increase damage from Attacks have no effect.
Example1: Duncan MacLeod is using the Kurgan
Quickening which increases damage on successful Attacks by 1. He
plays Leg Sweep, which does 0-damage. If successful, Leg Sweep will now do 1 point of
damage.
Example2: The Kurgan plays a Dirty Trick,
which does no damage. Even though Kurgans Persona Power says that all successful
Attacks do an additional point of damage, Dirty
Trick still does no damage.
Example3: The Kurgan plays a Dirty
Trick after playing Bloodlust. Even though Bloodlust
says that all Attacks do 1 point of damage,
the Dirty Trick still does no damage.
nullify
- When a card or effect is nullified, it has no affect on
game play or other cards in play. Once the card is no longer nullified,
any Continuing Effects that the card may have return to play, but effects that occur when
a card is brought into play do not occur.
Example: Player A has Monkey in
play. He plays Focus (This Turn) Monkey and finishes his
turn. On Player B's turn, Monkey is no longer nullified
and returns to play. Player B does NOT discard any cards for Monkey,
because the Discard effect only occurs when Monkey is brought into play.
Objects - If a card has a sword as its Icon in the upper-left hand corner of the card, it is an Object. Objects stay in play until they are removed by a card or effect. Objects may remove themselves from play. Objects do not have any effect if they are not in play. Some Objects must be discarded to use. Their effects occur immediately when discarded. Objects are Special cards.
Pagliaccio and Forced Discards From Your Endurance - Making an Exertion for any reason is not considered "forced discarding". If Cull the Weak: Exhausted is played, count the cards remaining in your Endurance, then discard that number of cards from your Hand.
Parking Garage
[ME] - [Generic] - LOCATION
All players cannot roll to recover any Disarmed weapon.
Paul Kinman and Exerting for Defenses - His power only kicks in if you play an unsuccessful Defense. If you play no Defense against his Hidden Attack, you may Exert as normal. Once your opponent guesses wrong against any Hidden Attack you play, then they can't make an Exertion to search for a Defense at all that turn.
Pedestrian (Game Ends in 5 Turns) - At the end of the fifth turn that Pedestrian is in play, the player with the highest Ability wins the game. If both players have the same Ability, the game continues in First Blood.
Pedestrian
[SE] - [Generic] - SITUATION:
BYSTANDER
All players cannot attack. This card is removed from play after your opponent's next two
turns.
Pedestrian
[SE] - [Generic] - SITUATION:
BYSTANDER
If this card is in play after your opponent's next 5 turns, the player with the highest Ability wins the duel. If there is a tie, First
Blood begins.
Persona - A Persona is a Pre-Game card which depicts an Immortal from the TV Series or Movies. When you use a Persona card, you play the role of that Immortal for the game. You may only use one Persona card. The Text in the lower box on the back of the Persona card underneath the Persona's history is the Persona Power.
Persona Power - A Persona's "power" is all game Text on the Persona card. The game Text is located on the back of the Persona card (opposite the Immortal's picture) underneath the Persona's history. All game Text is part of a Persona's power, even if it may seem to inhibit the Immortal.
Persona Powers in Place of a Special - see Effects in Place of a Special
Persona Premium - Persona Premiums are a sub-class of Premiums. Persona Premiums have the same name as your Persona. They are an extension of your Persona. They may not be removed from play, and are not affected by cards that remove Pre-Game cards from the game.
Persona Specific - If the sub-title of the card is the name of a Persona, that card is Persona Specific. If you are using the Persona named, you may include that card in your deck as you would Generic cards. Generic Immortals may use Persona Specific cards in a limited fashion. See Generic Immortals for details.
Phases - There are 5 Phases, plus two sub-Phases. They are listed here in order:
Pistol [ME] - OSO/OOO/OOO, OOO/OSO/OOO, OOO/OOO/OSO
- 3 - [Generic] - SPECIAL ATTACK:
RANGED
You may only play this Attack if the last Defense
card you played this turn was a Back Away. This Attack
does 1 damage. You may play this Attack even
if you are Disarmed.
place - When placing cards, you may place those cards in any order. When placing cards from an opponents Hand, you may look at the targeted cards unless those cards are randomly chosen.
Plan Ahead
[SE] - R - Xavier - SITUATION
You may discard this card from play to remove a Situation from
play.
Playing
Cards Face-Down - Cards played face-down are still considered to be
that Type of card, and are affected by cards and effects that remove or otherwise affect
that card Type.
Example: Player A plays a Situation
face-down and in conjunction with Hidden
Resources. Player B may then play Focus or Police on that card, and if
the face-down card is not a Plot, it is affected by Simple
Mind.
Playing
Cards From Your Hand - If you are prevented
from playing cards or certain types of cards from your Hand, you are
not prevented from using cards already in play.
Example: Player A plays Taunt: Katana
and a Riposte: Upper Left. He didn't notice that Player B has an Upper
Guard in play. The Guard successfully
blocks the Riposte.
Plot - Plot cards have the word Plot in the Group Line, usually Situation: Plot or Event: Plot. Plots often require that you play several cards before they have an effect on the game.
Plot Requirements - The second part of a Plot only requires that the first part of that Plot is in play with it is played. If the first part is removed from play, the second part remains in play. Part one and part two both need to be in play for part 3 to be played, and all 3 parts must be discarded for part 3 to take effect.
Plot: Events - Most Events wait until your next Sweep Phase to be placed in your Discard Pile. However, most Event: Plot tell you to "Discard all three cards." In this case, all three cards, including the Event: Plot, are placed in the Discard Pile.
Poison Gas
[SE] - R2 - Xavier - SITUATION
While Poison Gas is in play, your opponent loses 4 Ability and
you lose 2 Ability. Poison Gas is removed from play if you
draw a card.
Power Block - If you Power Block a Power Blow, you will avoid all damage from the Attack and the Attack is not successful.
Power Blows - Damage - A Power Blow normally does 4 points of damage. If a player blocks a Power Blow without making a Power Block, the Attack still does 2 damage. Blocking a Power Blow with a Power Block avoids all damage from the Attack. For Power Blow damage from Amanda see Amanda - Damage from Attacks.
Power
Blows - Making Power Blows - You may make an Attack
a Power Blow by making an Exertion, or by using a card or effect that allows you to make a Power Blow without making an Exertion. You may only make 1 Power Blow per turn. If an Attack
is already a Power Blow, you cannot make
that Attack a Power
Blow again. If you make a Hidden Attack a Power
Blow, you must tell your opponent that it is a Power Blow.
Example1: Duncan MacLeod plays his Master's
Head Shot without playing a Special card. He cannot
then make an Exertion to make that Attack
a Power Blow because it is already a Power Blow.
Example2: Player A completes the Destruction
Plot, which allows his next 3 Upper Attacks to be Power Blows. He makes an Upper Left
Attack and an Upper Right Attack. Only 1 Attack
may be a Head Shot, because Head Shots
are Power Blows, and you may only make 1 Power Blow per turn.
Pre-Game Cards
- If a card states that it must be played before the game begins, it is considered a Pre-Game Card. You may only have 1 of each unique
Pre-Game card in play. Persona cards and Persona Premiums are Pre-Game cards.
Example1: Darius: Pre-Game
states "Play this card before the game begins." It is a Pre-Game
card.
Example2: Kanis: Persona
states "You may begin the game with one Hound already in play."
Although you begin the game with a Hound already in play, you do not play
the card before the game begins. Hound does not become a Pre-Game card.
Premium Cards
- Premium Cards can be identified by a gold foil print or plastic lamanent. Most Premium
Cards are Pre-Game cards. Like all Pre-Game
cards, Pre-Game Premium cards are limited to 1. Premium Cards with
the same Title but different Text are considered
to be unique cards. In-Game
Premiums (Premiums with the standard Highlander(TM) back) are treated the same as other In-Game cards.
Example: A player may have 1 Arms And Tactics
"Head Shot" Premium and 1 Arms And Tactics "Break
Glass" Premium, but may not have 2 Arms And Tactics "Head
Shot" Premiums.
Premiums
- Persona Master Premiums - Persona Premiums
which prevent your opponent from countering your Master cards
or removing them from the game also protect your Master cards from
being removed if they were brought into your deck by another card or effect that has been nullified or itself removed from the game.
Example: Kurgan is using the Quickening
which allows him to include Master cards from other Personas and the Premium: Masters Cannot Be Countered: Kurgan
(MCBC). His opponent removes the Quickening using Divine
Intervention, but the Premium: MCBC prevents
the Master cards from being removed from the game.
Preventing
Play of Cards by Effect - If you are prevented
from playing cards that produce a particular effect, such as cause damage
or Ability Loss, you are also prevented
from playing cards which may potentially cause those effects.
Example1: Spiritual Center in play.
Kiss Your Butts Goodbye cannot be played because it is an Event and it may cause damage.
Example2: Safe Haven: Situation is
in play. You cannot play Excessive Force in conjunction with Police because
the Police will now do damage.
Prevention
- If a card or effect forbids you from playing a card or performing an action that you
would normally be allowed to do, such as saying that you cannot do something or you
may only play some cards and excluding others, you are being prevented from doing that action. An exception to this
rule is that a Defense that you play does not prevent
you from playing an Attack. Also, if you lose Attacks or have no Attack Phase, you are not prevented
from attacking; you simply do not have the opportunity to attack.
Example1: Your next Attack cannot be blocked or dodged
is a prevent action.
Example2: Master's Advance states
that you must Discard a Dodge to play a Dodge,
thereby preventing you from playing a Dodge.
Example3: Player A plays Fast Talk:
Hugh Fitzcairn. Player B has Discipline: Special in his Hand and wants to play it. Discipline: Special allows
you to play itself if you are prevented from playing Edge cards. However, in this case you are being prevented
from playing "cards from your Hand", and not necessarily
playing Edge cards. Player be is unable to play Discipline:
Special.
Example4: Slaughterhouse is
in play. Player A plays an Upper Center Attack. Player B plays an Upper
Guard and has only Upper Attacks in his Hand. Even though he
cannot attack to areas covered by the Guard, he is not prevented from playing an Attack. On his next turn, Player
A cannot play a Special card due to Slaughterhouse.
Example5: Pedestrian (Hidden Attack)
is in play, which states that you may only play Hidden
Attacks. This prevents you from playing Attacks that are not Hidden.
Example6: Distraction says
that you lose an Attack. You are not prevented from
attacking.
Example7: Kronos says that
his opponent cannot play more Attacks than he did. He is
therefore preventing you from playing additional Attacks beyond the number of Attacks that Kronos
played.
Example8: Chessex and Holy
Ground (Discard 4) both tell you to skip your Attack
Phase. You are not prevented from attacking, you
simply do not have the opportunity to attack.
Princes
of the Universe [Promo] - 1 - [Generic] - EDGE
You may only play this card if your Ability will increase this
turn. You gain 1 additional Ability. This card will not raise your Ability above your Maximum Ability.
Promo - Promotional cards for Highlander: The Card Game are available from Thunder Castle Games and many other sources.
Prone - When
you must Discard cards to play cards because you are Prone, you must Discard the same Type
of card you are playing. When you play Edges or Special cards, the card must have the same Icon.
Attacks and Defense must have the same color
Grid, but do not need to cover the same areas. Being Prone is
cumulative (stacks) with other similar effects. Being Prone does not prevent you from playing cards.
Example1: You are Prone, and you play Back
Away: Dodge and Angry Mob: Event. You Discard Duck:
Dodge for the Back Away and Challenge: Event for Angry Mob.
Example2: You are Prone, and the Location
Joe's is in play. You play Angry Mob. You must now Discard 2 Events, or you cannot play the Angry Mob.
Psyche - You are not forced to play or not play anything to facilitate the play of the card selected with Psyche. Essentially, if you are clever, you can simply Discard the card Psyche selects from the game without disruption to your turn.
Quality
Blade [AT] - Saber - OBJECT
You may choose to have any Basic Attack discarded from your Hand placed at the bottom of your Endurance. You
may only have 1 Quality Blade in play.
Quality Blade: Saber - Quality Blade: Claymore depicting Luther should be Weapon Specific to Saber instead (Quality Blade: Saber).
Quickening
[Promo] - [Generic] - QUICKENING
[Renaissance]: If you take your opponent's head, you may choose to gain all of his Persona Powers for the rest of the tournament. You must take all
or none of that Persona's Power.
Quickening
[Promo] - [Generic] - QUICKENING
[General Katana]: If you do not play a Special card, any time
during your turn you may make an Exertion to remove a Situation from play.
Quickenings - Bob Quickening - Allows you to use only one non-Reserved card per Persona.
Quickenings and Watcher Database - A Quickening may only be affected by a Nemesis card (with Watcher Database in play) if that Quickening exactly matches a portion of that Persona's Power. A Persona gains no additional benefit from using a Quickening that mimics their own Power. If a Quickening allows you to add cards to your deck, and the Quickening is removed, you must remove all those cards from your deck.
Rachel Ellenstein - It is impossible to Focus the card Rachel Ellenstein. She will counter the first Edge played, or be Discarded without effect if she is unable to do so.
Rachel Ellenstein - Multiple Rachels - If more than one Rachel Ellenstein is in play, all Rachel Ellensteins are discarded when the next Edge card is played. That Edge card is still countered.
Ranged Attack
- Ranged Attacks are Special
Attacks with the Group Line RANGED. Back Away will not avoid Ranged Attacks. You must have a "free
hand" (1 Hand Icon in play or less) to be able to play
a Ranged Attack.
Example: Slan Quince is using
the War Axe. He wants to play Shooting Blade, but he
cannot since he has 2 Hand Icons in play due to War Axe,
and does not have a "free hand".
Recover Weapon
[SE][ME] - [Generic] - EVENT
You may only play this card if your are Disarmed but your weapon is not broken. Your
weapon is rearmed.
Regaining
Your Feet - When you become "unprone", you have regained
your feet. If you play a card which allows you to regain your feet, you must
still discard a card of the same Type, as you are still Prone when you play it.
Example: You must still discard an Event
when you play Up and At 'Em, as you have not yet regained your feet
when you play the card.
Removing
Situations from play - When a Situation is
removed from play, it no longer has any effect on the game. However, its effects are not countered. No matter how quickly the Situation is removed from play, once it hits the table it has been
played, and any effects that occur when it enters play are resolved.
Example: Xavier has Plan
Ahead and several other Situations in play. Xavier's
opponent plays Simple Mind. Xavier must remove all non-Plot Situations from play, even if he immediately removes Simple
Mind with Plan Ahead.
Renaissance Format Tournaments - Renaissance Format is no longer supported by Thunder Castle Games. See Tournament Guidelines (available from Thunder Castle Games) for more details.
Reporter
[SE] - [Generic] - EVENT:
REPORTER
All players gain 2 Ability. This card cannot raise any player's Ability over their Maximum Ability.
Reporter - Group - Any card with the word Reporter in its Title or Groups Line belongs to the Reporter group.
Reserved Cards
- Reserved cards may only be included in your deck if you
are using the Persona whose name appears below the Title
(its Immortal Specific name). If you are able to include that card in your deck by other
means, you are able to play that card as if it were your own unless otherwise restricted
by how you were able to include the card in your deck (i.e. Darius: Event).
Reserved cards have a sword symbol in the upper right hand
corner of the card.
Example1: Generic Immortal wants to
include Intimidate: Slan Quince in his deck, but is unable to because the
card is Reserved. He then decides to use Darius:
Event to bring the card into his deck. When he plays Intimidate: Slan
Quince, it must be played in conjunction
with Darius: Event due to the Text on Darius.
Example2: Richie Ryan includes Seduce:
Amanda in his deck using his Persona Power. He may
play Seduce: Amanda as if it were his own.
Restriction
by Title - You may have up to six (6) cards in your deck that have the
exact same Title, even if there are several unique
cards with the same Title. The sub-title is
NOT considered part of the Title, so cards with the same Title but different sub-titles are still
Restricted to 6 by Title, such as with Plots.
Example1: You may include 2 Watcher: Treatment
(Restricted to 2), and 4 Watcher: Hunter (not Restricted), but not 2 Watcher: Treatment and 6 Watcher:
Hunter.
Example2: Master Head Shot is different from Master's
Head Shot, and you may include 6 of each barring Restriction.
Restriction
Number - If there is a number in the right hand side of the Title Bar,
that card is Restricted to that number. You cannot
include more of the same card in your deck than its Restriction number.
Example: Street Punk has a Restriction number of 3. You may only include 3 Street
Punk cards in your deck.
Richie
Ryan and Darius - If Richie Ryan
uses Darius: Event to use a card he is already using due to his Persona Power, he may only play 1 of that card without Darius
each time through his Deck. Once Richie Exhausts
or uses another card or effect to shuffle his Discard Pile
into his Endurance. If one of the cards is removed from play, Richie
may choose to assume that the card removed was the card brought in by Darius.
Example1: Richie includes Seduce:
Amanda in his deck using his Persona Power, and then
uses Darius: Event to bring in 3 additional Seduce: Amanda.
Richie plays Seduce with Darius on turn
1, and then Seduce without Darius on turn 2. If Richie
wishes to use Seduce on turn 3, he must use Darius.
Example2: After the above Example, Richie
uses Nexus to reshuffle his Discard Pile into
his Endurance. Richie may now play Seduce
from his Hand without the use of Darius.
Richie Ryan and Quickening: [Bob] - If using the Quickening: [Bob], Richie Ryan may use one non-Reserved card, and one Reserved card, from each Persona.
Riposte [ME][TG] - AOO/OOO/OOO, OAO/OOO/OOO, OOA/OOO/OOO, OOO/AOO/OOO, OOO/OAO/OOO, OOO/OOA/OOO, OOO/OOO/AOO, OOO/OOO/OAO, OOO/OOO/OOA
- [Generic] - ATTACK
If the last Defense you played this turn was a successful Block, this Attack may be Hidden.
Rips - See Thunder Castle Games cards
Rules of the Game and Focus - Rules of the Game does not have a continuous effect. You may play Focus (This Turn), and another Rules of the Game may be played. It is thus possible to have two Rules of the Game in play.
Run Through
[ME][SE] - R3 - Kurgan, Slan - EVENT
You may play this card after your opponent plays a non-Ranged
Attack. You cannot play a Defense this turn. Your opponent's Attacks succeed. Your next Attack this turn cannot be blocked.
Safe Haven
[Promo] - 2 - [Generic] - SITUATION
Your opponent cannot play any Attack cards. Your opponent cannot
play any Special cards that may do damage.
This card is removed from play if you play an Attack, or if you play a Special card that may damage your opponent.
Safe
House - Playing Cards From - When Safe House
leaves play, you may be allowed to play multiple Event and Situation Allies, as long as they were under Safe House.
You choose the order they come into play, but you must obey any Text
that requires them to be played in distinct phases. If the Ally has
requirements that must be met in order to be played, those requirements must be met or the
Ally is discarded without effect. Any Darius from Safe
House may be used to play an Ally you included with Darius
in your deck, from your Hand. Any Ally that
require Darius to be played with them cannot be played without Darius.
Example: Player A has Safe House
in play with Kate underneath. Player A plays Police to
remove Safe House from play. Next turn, Player B does not gain Ability. Kate
comes into play, but Player A's opponent has not gained Ability, which is a requirement
for playing Kate. Kate is discarded without effect.
same - A
card is the same as another card, or unique,
if it has the same Title, Grid/Icon
and Text.
Example: Watcher: Treatment has the same Title and Icon as Watcher: Hunter, but it has
different Text, so they are not the same
cards.
Sanctioned Tournament - Sanctioned Tournaments offer a place for players to compete against each other for prizes from Thunder Castle Games, a chance to increase or decrease their Nexustm Rating based on their performance, and a Quickening card for the winner (if he or she is a Nexustm member). If you would like to run a Sanctioned Tournaments, please contact Thunder Castle Games on their web site at http://www.tcgames.com, or call them at (816) 363-3693.
Scorn -
[Generic] - SITUATION
While this card is in play, target player loses 2 Ability.
This card is removed from play after your opponents next 2 turns.
SE - Abbreviation for Series Edition
Secret Identity
[MC] - S2 - Methos - SITUATION
You may ignore the effects of any of your opponents Events.
Security Guard - If you play a Security Guard on an Object, Situation, Situation: Plot and remove that card from play by discarding to use, completing the Plot, or another effect, that card is still removed, as Security Guard only protects against Situations and Objects being removed by your opponent.
Seduce
[SE] - R4 - Amanda - EVENT
Your next Attack this turn is unblockable
and undodgeable.
Seduce
[WC] - R - Fitzcairn - EVENT
You gain control of any Situation: Ally your
opponent has in play. You may choose a different target or opponent if that card requires
one.
Seduce
[SE] - R4 - Nefertiri - EVENT
Your next Attack this turn may be undodgeable
and your opponent loses their next attack.
See No Evil
[4H] - [Generic] - SITUATION
You may discard this card from play in conjunction
with playing a Hidden Attack. Your opponent cannot Exert to search for a Defense if they play an
unsuccessful Defense
against that attack.
Selective
Memory - If you avoid Discarding cards with this card, it does
not prevent any effects which occur if you do not
Discard cards.
Example: Player A plays Kiss Your Butts
Goodbye. Player B plays Selective Memory in her "May Do" Phase and does not Discard any cards. Player B
still takes 2 damage from Kiss Your Butts Goodbye.
Sheathe Weapon - If your opponent Disarms themselves by playing Discard Weapon in conjunction with Sheathe Weapon and then Disarms you by "taking" your weapon, you may still roll to recover your weapon. Even though real-world logic dictates that your opponent has both his and your weapons, there are no cards or effects in play that prevent you from re-arming yourself. Similarly, if a Discard Weapon (Object) is removed from play, that player may still roll to recover their weapon. Remember: it's not real-life; it's just a game!
Shooting Blade
[SE] - OOO/OSO/OOO - R1 - Slan - SPECIAL ATTACK: RANGED
This Attack does 4 damage.
Signature Cards
- Signature cards are similar to Reserved
cards in that only the Immortal named on the card (Immortal Specific name) may include
that card in their deck. However, Signature cards can not
be used or included by any Persona other than the one
named on the card BY ANY MEANS. The Restriction number
on a Signature, if present, cannot be altered by other
cards or effects. Signature cards have a sword symbol
wrapped with an "S" in the upper right hand corner of the card.
Example1: Richie Ryan may not include Hogg:
Kern.
Example2: Hugh Fitzcairn may not use Darius:
Pre-Game to include a third Fast Talk.
Silas and Combining Basic Blocks - Silas can play two Basic Blocks, same or different, using his Persona Power even if one of those Blocks is inappropriate. If he plays multiple Blocks, and is using Quality Blade: War Axe, he may extend the single Basic Block they form by one Grid.
Situations - If a card has a silhouette of an Immortal as its Icon in the upper-left hand corner of the card, it is a Situation. Situations stay in play until they are removed by a card or effect. Situations may remove themselves from play. Situations do not have any effect if they are not in play. Some Situations must be discarded to use. Their effects occur immediately when discarded. Situations are Special cards.
Special Attack - Special Attacks have a gold Grid Icon, and are often more difficult to defend than normal Attacks.
Special
Attack or Block - Some cards state that they are both a Special Attack and a Block. At any given
time, this card is either a Special Attack or a Block. While it is in your Hand, it is either,
players choice. When you play a Special Attack or
Block, it is played as either a Block or a Special Attack.
Example: Block and Strike and Master
Swordsman are examples of Special Attack or Blocks.
Special
Attack or Block and Exertions - You may play an Special Attack or Block from an Exertion
for a Defense, but not from an Exertion
for an Attack, because you cannot pull Special Attacks from
an Exertion.
Example: Player B Exerts for
a Defense against an Upper Left Power Blow. He finds a Master Swordsman
in the Exertion and uses it to make a Power
Block.
Special Attack or Block and Prevention
- If a there is a card in play which prevents you from
playing Attacks to certain areas, you may still play a Special Attack or Block to those areas as a Defense. However, you will not be able to use that card as an Attack while you are prevented from
attacking to those areas.
Example: Cover is in play, which prevents players from playing Middle Attacks. Player A
plays Block And Strike as a Defense, but he cannot use Block
And Strike as an Attack due to Cover.
Special Card - Event, Location, Object and Situation cards are all considered Special cards. You may only play one Special card per turn, and only during your Defense or Attack Phases.
Stacking
- Identical versions of Objects, Situations,
and Locations with continuing effects do not compound their
effects, or stack, unless they affect Ability or they
specifically state that they stack. Different cards with similar effects do
stack. Also, a Persona Power does not stack with a Quickening
that duplicates that Persona Power.
Example1: Xavier St. Cloud has two Poison
Gas in play. His Ability is -2 FOR EACH Poison Gas for a
total of -4 Ability. His opponent would be -8 Ability.
Example2: Richie Ryan has Mask: Slan Quince
and Armor: Helmet: Khan both in play. All damage from Upper
Attacks is reduced by -1 for Mask and -1 for Helmet for a total of -2.
Example3: Kurgan using the Quickening
that increases all damage to Attacks by 1
only does +1 damage, not +2.
Example4: A player has two Master's Advance in
play. His opponent only needs to discard 1 Dodge in order to play a Dodge.
Example5: Player A plays 4 Monkeys
in one turn! The Discard effect for Monkey occurs when the card enters
play, and is not a continuing effect, so Player A's opponent must discard 10 cards (1 + 2
+ 3 + 4 = 10) at the beginning of his turn.
Example6: Methos has Master's
Stratagem in play. Even though Methos' Persona
Power and Master's Stratagem are nearly identical, they are different
cards and therefore do stack. He may discard and replace 2 cards for his Persona Power AND 2 cards for Master's Stratagem.
Stalk
[SE] - OOO/OSO/OOO - R1 - Xavier - SPECIAL ATTACK
This Attack cannot be blocked
or dodged.
Standard Exertions - There are 5 Standard Exertions:
Standing Defenses - Cards with the Group Line of Standing Defense or state that they are a Standing Defense are all considered a Standing Defense. Guards are Standing Defenses. You cannot normally drop a Standing Defense at will. The inherent properties of Guards do not apply to other Standing Defenses.
Street Punk
[ME] - [Generic] - EVENT:
BYSTANDER
You may only play this card if your opponent played a Location
last turn. Your opponent takes 2 damage.
Street Punk
[SE] - 3 - [Generic] - EVENT:
BYSTANDER
Target player takes 1 damage.
sub-title - Unless the card is "Generic," you will find the name of a Weapon of Choice, Persona, or Faction (e.g. Clan MacLeod) that categorizes a Persona just beneath the Title, in slightly smaller letters. Though the name of a Weapon of Choice, Persona, or Faction may appear in the Title Box, it is not considered part of the Title when determining card effects and restrictions. A card is Weapon Specific if it has a Weapon of Choice's name, and Persona Specific if it has a Persona's name. Weapon Specific Cards cannot be included in your deck or used during a game unless you are using the proper Weapon of Choice. Only a Persona whose name or Faction name appears in the Title Box may include that card in their Endurance, unless you are playing with or playing as a Generic Persona.
Successful
Attack - An Attack is successful
if a player is unable to block or dodge the Attack, if the Attack does damage, or if a Player is unable to
otherwise avoid the Attack. Attacks must be
defended in the order that they are played. The one exception to this rule is that when
you play a Defense from an Exertion, you
may place that Defense anywhere along a string of Attacks. Defenses are then resolved in order. Attacks become successful at
the end of your Defense Phase, or you can declare an Attack played against you successful
before that time. Once an Attack is declared successful, no Defenses can
be played against that Attack and the Attack
can no longer be avoided. See also Multiple Attacks and Attacks that Modify Later Attacks.
Example: Player A makes a Thrust,
which does an additional point of damage if successful, a Power Blow. Player B blocks the Attack, but does not make a Power Block.
Player B takes 3 damage from the Thrust (2 + 1).
Superior
Tactics - When played in
conjunction with a Back Away or other Dodge,
it is treated as having no Text much like Distract: Amanda
or Master's Dodge: Cassandra, allowing you to avoid Ranged Attacks as well as attack as normal.
Example: Slan Quince plays Shooting
Blade. Methos plays Superior Tactics in conjunction with Back Away. Methos
avoids (Dodges) the Shooting Blade even though he
used a Back Away. Methos then plays an Upper
Center Attack, since all Text on the Back Away
is nullified.
Sweep Phase - What Cards Are Swept? - Only cards that you play during your turn, either from your Hand or any other source, that do not normally stay in play (such as Attacks, Events, Blocks, Dodges, etc.) wait for your next Sweep Phase to be Discarded. Cards removed from play, Discarded, or Exerted are immediately placed in your Discard Pile.
Sweep Phase - When you play cards during your turn, they are left in play during your opponent's turn as a reminder of what you played. At the beginning of your next turn, you discard any cards still in play that normally do not remain in play. Cards waiting to be swept during your next Sweep Phase are considered to be in play. Any card or effect that removes a card from play does so immediately, instead of the card waiting for your next Sweep Phase. You cannot play any cards until after cards are Swept. After cards are Swept, any Must Do and May Do effects are resolved. No Special cards may be played during the Sweep Phase.
Target -
When a card requires a Target, choose a player or card as required by the card. That
player or card is the Target. If a card or effect affects a card or player, that card or
player is considered to be that effect's Target, even if the card does not specifically
use the word "Target". A card or effect can have multiple Targets.
Example1: Methos has Secret
Identity in play. His opponent plays Angry Mob [SE], which
targets all players. Methos may ignore the
effects of Angry Mob.
Example2: Methos has Secret
Identity in play. His opponent plays Head Shot: Event and an Upper
Left Attack. The Target of Head Shot is the Upper Left
Attack, and not Methos, so the Head Shot: Event
is unaffected by Secret Identity.
Tessa - Tessa only allows you to extend a 5 card Exertion. It does not allow you to extend other, modified, Exertions.
Text - At the bottom of the card, you will find the Card Text, also known as Game Text. Here you will find any special instructions about that card. You may also find a sub-category to a card here in the group line. It will be found following the type of card on the first line of Text.
TG - Abbreviation for The Gathering Edition
Thief [ME][TG] - [Generic] - EVENT
All Objects are removed from play. You lose
1 Ability for each Object removed from play.
Throw: War Axe - The Weapon Specific card Throw: War Axe only affects Attacks and Blocks that you make on your next turn, and do not have any affect any additional Attacks that you make on the turn you play Throw.
Thrust [SE][ME][AT] - OOO/OAO/OOO - [Generic]
- ATTACK
If Thrust is successful, it does an additional
point of damage.
Thunder
Castle Games [all versions] - [Generic] - PREGAME
You may discard this card from the game to counter
any Special card or Edge card. You must
rip this card into at least 2 pieces in conjunction
with doing so.
Thunder Castle Games Cards - All Thunder Castle Games cards, or "Rips", are considered to be the same card, and are not considered to be unique, even though they may have slightly different Text, quotes, or pictures. Being a Pre-Game card, you may only have 1 Thunder Castle Games card in play.
Timed Games
- Games in a Sanctioned Tournament have a time limit of 30 minutes. When that time has
expired, any match that does not have a winner goes to First Blood.
The Tournament Judge may change this time limit or add a
random element to the time allotted provided that the change is announced before the
tournament starts. The exact time for each match does not need to be announced if the time
allowed will be random. Players may not take more than 30 seconds per turn. See the Tournament
Floor Rules published by Thunder Castle Games
for more information.
Example1: When the round begins, the Judge tells all players to start their games. After 30
minutes, the Judge calls time and invokes First Blood.
Example2: A Judge
announces before the tournament that each round will be between 27 and 32 minutes long. At
the beginning of each round, the Tournament Judge rolls a
6-sided die and adds the resulting number to 26 and allows the match to run for that
amount of time (a roll of 3 + 26 = 29 minutes).
Title - A card's Title is found in large print at the top of the front of the card, in the top-left corner of the Title Box, above any sub-title that card may have. This includes In-Game and Pre-Game cards.
Title Box - The Title Box is the box on the front of a card which displays the Title and any sub-title, Restriction number, Reserved or Signature symbol, and any Hand Icon. It is located at the top of the card just right of the card's Icon. The Title Box on a Pre-Game card only contains the card's Title, and spans the top of the card (no Icon).
Tournament Judge - Anyone running a Sanctioned Tournaments for Thunder Castle Games must abide by the Rulebook, Handbook (this document), and Floor Rules that Thunder Castle Games has established. Any special rules for different tournament styles and formats must be announced in advance of the tournament. If you find a Tournament Judge who does not abide by these guidelines, please contact Thunder Castle Games directly.
Treachery
[MC] - 3 - [Generic] - EVENT
Play this card immediately before you Exert to make a Power Blow or Power
Block. You may take cards from the top of your opponents Endurance
instead of from the top of your Endurance until after that Exertion.
Type - A card's Type is defined by it's Icon.
| Attacks: Attacks have a red Grid Icon. | ||||||||||
| Special Attacks: Special Attacks have a gold Grid Icon. | ||||||||||
| Blocks: Blocks are Defenses with a blue Grid Icon. | ||||||||||
| Dodges: Dodges are Defenses with a green Grid Icon. | ||||||||||
| Events: Events have a lightning bolt Icon. | ||||||||||
| Situations: Situations have a silhouette of an Immortal as their Icon. | ||||||||||
| Locations: Locations have a Greek style ruin Icon. | ||||||||||
| Objects: Objects are marked with a sword Icon. | ||||||||||
| Edge: Edge Cards are marked with an outstretched hand. This is not a Hand Icon. |
Unblockable Attacks - Attacks that say that they "cannot be blocked", "may not be blocked", or are "unblockable" are all considered to be unblockable and cannot be blocked. You may not play a Block against unblockable Attacks, either from your Hand or from an Exertion.
Undodgeable Attacks - Attacks that say that they "cannot be dodged", "may not be dodged", or are "undodgeable" are all considered to be undodgeable and cannot be dodged. You may not play a Dodge against undodgeable Attacks, either from your Hand or from an Exertion.
Unique Card
- A unique card is defined by its Text,
Title, and Grid or Icon. See
also same card.
Example: Watcher: Treatment has the same Title and Icon as Watcher: Hunter, but it has
different Text, so they are considered to be different and unique cards.
Verona,
Italy 1637 [Promo] - [Generic]
- LOCATION
All players cannot play Special Attacks.
Watcher - Any card with the word "Watcher" in the Title or Group Line belongs to the Watcher group, and are affected by any card which affects Watchers.
Watcher Pre-Game - These are Pre-Game cards which depicts a Watcher assigned to your Immortal. The Watcher Pre-Game card includes Text identifying it as your Watcher. Watcher Pre-Game cards do not have the word "Watcher" in the Title, and are therefore not considered part of the Watcher group.
Watcher
Regional HQ [WC] - [Generic]
- LOCATION
All players may draw a card at the beginning of their turn for each Watcher card they have in play.
Watcher
[SE] - [Generic] - SITUATION
You may discard this card from play to counter a Watcher card.
Watcher: Fair Fight - Both players are forced to re-arm when Watcher: Fair Fight is played.
WC - Abbreviation for Watcher's Chronicles
Weapon
Bind [ME] - [Generic] - EDGE
Play in conjunction with a Block.
If this Block is successful,
you may not attack this turn, and your opponent may not attack next turn.
Weapon of Choice - Weapons of Choice are Pre-Game cards. You can identify a Weapon of Choice by the words "Weapon of Choice" across the top of the back side of the card. Below the Weapon history and the Game Text are 1 or 2 Hand Icons. This tells you how many "hands" it takes to wield that weapon. You may only use 1 Weapon of Choice unless a card specifically states otherwise (see Multiple Weapons). If you do not use a Weapon of Choice card, you are assumed to have a 1-handed Weapon and 1 Hand Icon in play.
Weapon Specific - A Weapon Specific card has the name of a Weapon of Choice in its sub-title. You must be using that Weapon of Choice to include, borrow, or play that card.
Weapons of Choice: Multiple Weapons - If you are using two Weapons of Choice, all Text of both
Weapons are always in effect. You cannot Defend or Attack with only
one of the two Weapons in order to avoid any potential penalty for using a given Weapon.
Example: You have Gladius and Parrying
Blade in play. You make a Power Block you MUST Discard
3 cards from the top of your Endurance for Parrying Blade
AND Discard a Defense from your Hand for Gladius.
Weapons of Choice: Secondary Weapons - You may use two Weapons of Choice together that state "you may use this
Weapon if you are using another Weapon of Choice",
even if they are the same Weapon.
Example1: You may use 1 Parrying Blade
and 1 Shield.
Example2: You cannot use 2 Parrying Blade
or 2 Shield because they explicitly state that you cannot use those
Weapons with themselves and you can only associate 1 of
each unique Pre-Game card in
your deck.
will not - see Denial v Permission
Xavier
St. Cloud [SE] - Xavier -
PERSONA
If you do not play a Special card, you may play an additional
1 point Middle Center Attack, that cannot be a Power
Blow. You may include up to twice the normal number of Plot cards.
You may include up to five Master cards.
Xavier St. Cloud - 1 Point Middle Center Attack - The additional 1 point Middle Center Attack does not count as "playing a card", although it does count as playing an Attack. It can be Hidden if possible.
Yuk-Hsui
Chun [4H] - 3 - [Generic] - SITUATION
At the beginning of your Draw/Discard Phase, you may
draw up to your opponents Hand size instead of your Ability. You must then proceed with your normal Draw/Discard Phase.
Yung Dol
Kim [TG] - Yung Dol Kim - PERSONA
You may play Attacks as Blocks. Once during
your turn while you have Extra Weapon in play, you may discard the top
two cards from your Endurance to play an additional Attack or make a Block you play
a Power Block without an Exertion. You
may include up to five Master cards.