This is the page for the official Fantasy Realms game rules for those looking for instructions on how to play Fantasy Realms as advised by the game designer and publisher.
Fantasy Realms at a Glance
| Game Type Fantasy Theme, Card Drafting, Set Collection | Play Time 20 mins | Skill/Complexity (1.8 - 5) Light |
| Age 14+ | Publisher(s) WizKids and others | Published 2017 |
| Categories Family | Players 3 - 6 | Cost $19.99 |
| Our Rating 9.5/10 | Rules Official Rules |
Components
- 53 Cards(ten suits and three wild cards)
- 1 Rulebook
- 1 Score Pad
Overview
In Fantasy Realms you will draw cards from the deck or discard pile in order to form the best combos possible. Victory goes to the player with the highest points. Every card contains four pieces of information: its name, its suit, its base strength, and its bonus and/or penalty.
- Name – Every card has a unique name.
- Suit – Each suit has its own color. There are ten suits: Army, Leader, Wizard, Weapon, Artifact, Beast, Land, Weather, Flood and Flame, along with three Wild cards.
- Base strength – Base strengths run from 0 to 40.
- Bonus or Penalty – Every card has either a bonus or a penalty (some have both), based on the other cards held in your hand. (See SCORING on page 2 for more information.)
Example of game setup for 3 players.
GAME PLAY
Setup: Deal every player seven cards. Choose a starting player randomly and play goes clockwise.
Turns: During each player’s turn, he or she has a choice of drawing the top card from the deck or taking any one face-up card from the discard area. The player who goes first must draw a card from the deck. At the end of each turn, a player must discard a card to the discard area. All cards in the discard area should be spread out so that they are visible to all.
End of Game: The game ends when there are ten cards in the discard area. The player holding the highest scoring hand wins. In case of a tie, the hand with the lowest total base strength wins.
Scoring Hands
At the end of the game, add the base strengths, applying any bonuses and penalties, of all cards in your hand. Cards only care about what is in your hand (except for Mirage and Shapeshifter). Ignore any cards that are blanked.
Cards held by your opponents have no effect on the scoring of your hand.
These are terms that are used in the Bonus and Penalty sections of cards:
WITH
If a card receives a bonus WITH a certain other card or type of card, then it may only receive that bonus once. EXAMPLE: You have the Magic Wand (Bonus: +25 with any one Wizard) and two Wizards. You only get the +25 bonus once.
FOR EACH
A card that receives a bonus or penalty FOR EACH of a particular kind of card may receive that bonus or penalty once for each card you hold of the variety named.
BLANKS
Certain penalty cards say that they BLANK certain other cards. A card which has been blanked has no suit, no bonuses or penalties, and no base strength.
BLANKED UNLESS WITH
This card is blanked, according to the rules above, unless one of the named cards is in your hand.
CLEARS
A special kind of bonus is the ability to CLEARpenalties or parts of penalties from other cards. A card that has had its penalty cleared still keeps its suit, base strength, and bonus. Clearing takes place before any penalties are applied.
All other bonuses and penalties should be self-explanatory.
Scoring Examples
When scoring, the player announces that the Mirage takes on the name and suit of the Rainstorm. Note that the actual Rainstorm would put out the Wildfire – but the ersatz Rainstorm doesn’t give this penalty. The penalty for the Great Flood would normally blank the Wildfire. However, the Mountain clears this penalty, so the Wildfire can continue to burn on the Mountain while the waves of the Flood lash below. The Air Elemental scores 45 bonus points for the Smoke, Whirlwind and fake Rainstorm.
Card 1
Card 2
Card 3
Card 4
Card 5
Card 6
Card 7
This is one of the highest scoring hands possible:
Note that you have to use the Book of Changes to change any of these cards into a Wizard (aside from the Queen who is needed to wield the Sword and Shield) to get the Candle and Bell Tower bonus. Using the Book to change the suit of a card does not change a bonus on any card that mentions the name of the card – just bonuses on cards that need a particular suit.
Card One
Card Two
Card Three
Card Four
Card Five
Card Six
Card 7
Game Variants
1. Two-player Realms
Setup: Neither player starts with any cards. On each turn, a player has the choice of taking one face-up card from the discard area, or taking two cards from the deck and discarding one. This continues until both players have seven cards.
Turns: After a player has seven cards, he or she continues turns as in the Basic version above.
End of Game: The game ends when both players have seven cards and there are at least twelve cards in the discard area.
2. Chaos Realms for 3-7 Players
Setup: All players receive seven cards. Choose a time limit. Five minutes is good for experienced players; inexperienced players may need a bit longer. It’s a good idea to play this in an open space where people can move around. Instead of its regular text, the player with the Necromancer may, after the trading period is over, draw three additional cards from the deck and choose one to add to his or her hand.
Play: Start timing. During the trading period, anyone may trade cards with anyone else at a one-for-one rate.
End of Game: When the time limit has expired, all players add up their scores. Whoever has the highest score wins.
Q&A
Q: What happens if two cards contradict each other?
A: There are rare circumstances where a chain of cards will affect one another. In these cases, first decide what the Doppelgänger, Mirage, and Shapeshifter are, in that order. Then use the Book of Changes. Then follow any instructions which call for the clearing of a penalty or part of a penalty. Finally, apply all penalties, beginning with cards not blanked by any other cards.
EXAMPLE: You have a Blizzard (blanks Floods), a Great Flood (blanks Flames and Lands), a Wildfire (blanks Lands), and Cavern (clears penalties on We a t h e r). The Cavern clears the penalty from the Blizzard first. Since the penalty is cleared, the Great Flood is unaffected by the Blizzard, so it quenches the Wildfire and drowns the Cavern. However, even though they are blanked, the Cavern still has successfully cleared the Blizzard penalty. The active cards in the hand are the Blizzard and the Flood. If you did not have the Cavern, then the Flood would be blanked and the Blizzard and Wildfire would both be active.
Q: What happens if the Doppelgänger copies the Basilisk?
A: If there is no card that clears their penalties, both cards will be blanked. Magicians have long puzzled over exactly how the species reproduces.
Q: How does the Book of Changes work?
A: The Book of Changes transforms the suit of one other card. This should be done before any bonuses or penalties of any card are applied. It does not change the penalties, bonuses, or base strength of the card. The name of the card is also not changed, and any bonuses on other cards which name this card remain the same.
Q: Do the Rangers protect my armies against Wildfire?
A: No. The wording on the Rangers card is, “Clear the word Army from the penalty section of all cards.” Since the word “Army” does not appear on the Wildfire card, the fire still blanks armies normally.
Q: Can you explain the Shapeshifter and Mirage?
A: These cards take on the name and suit of any other card in the game from one of the named suits – it does not need to be a card in your hand. Usually, you will do this to give a bonus to another card in your hand, so the name and suit of the card you’re copying should be clear from that card. It’s possible, though, that you don’t care about what name a Wild card has, you just want to make it a particular suit, and that’s legal. For instance, if you need a Weapon to fill out a World Tree hand and give a bonus to the Forge, but you don’t care which weapon it is, you can just say “The Shapeshifter becomes a generic Weapon.”Also, the base strength always remains 0 – which can be used as part of a run for the Gem of Order. You may also choose not to use a Wild card’s ability, and keep its original suit and name.
That’s all for the Fantasy Realms game rules section on how to play. Check out our review of the game HERE!
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