The Tower

Note: This is a transcription of rules mentioned in the podcast

Friends at the Table, in Episode COUNTER/Weight 27: An Animal
Out of Context, as explained by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)
and Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal). The transcriber did not make
this game, and does not make any money from this transcription.
This transcription will promptly be taken as soon as the
official rules are released or announced, or if the creators
reach out and ask for it to be removed.

The Agenda
Together, the two players will
Explore mysterious places.
Hunt for relics.
Build an enormous tower.
Talk to a divine.

The Pilgrim is:

Brave
Curious
Lost
Confused

As the Pilgrim, you will

Leave your tower.
Embark on a pilgrimage.
Encounter four trials to be overcome with dogma and
interpretation, or end with disappointment.
Have the chance to turn to the Divine in love or
desperation and be rewarded.
Discover rare and powerful relics and interpret their
meaning.
Return to your tower and enshrine the relic at the center
of a new floor.
Revere relics for great benefits or expend them.

The Divine is:

Capricious
Loving
Wise
Confused
As a Divine, you will
Watch the Pilgrim leave the tower.
Test the Pilgrim across four trials.
Describe a relic to the Pilgrim.
Listen to their interpretation and actualize it in dogma.
Treat the Pilgrim well if they turn to you in desperation.
But remember their weakness.

The Rules

This is a cooperative game. The Divine and the Pilgrim may each
have to cede narrative power.

You need two decks of cards. Suits narratively represent:

- effort
- combat
- courage
- wits

Aces:
Can only be matched with another ace or a lower card of the
same suit.

The Joker:
If the Divine draws the Joker, the Adversary, they must
play it.
The Pilgrim may play it immediately or hide it from their
lord. If the Divine finds the Joker in the Pilgrim's hand,
the Pilgrim must explain the narrative reason for the
connection.
Whoever first draws the Joker is the one who narrates its
appearance every other time.
The Joker becomes like a free level in the Tower, but is
next to the Tower.
Once per turn, the Pilgrim can use its active move to
bypass all remaining trials and secure the relic, and The
Divine gains 4 disappointment points.
The Pilgrim can discard it and remove a single
disappointment point.
If another Joker is drawn while there is a Joker on the
table, the first Joker 'fires', meaning it does its active
move.
The Pilgrim collects:
Dogma tokens (earned by keeping teachings and laws)
o If the Pilgrim pays 5 dogma points, the Divine has to
discard a card from their hand blind, shuffle it back
in - skips a trial.
Interpretation tokens (earned by meeting a challenge
uniquely)
o If the Pilgrim pays 5 interpretation points, to
"consult the text", look in the discard pile, and
choose to replay a solution card.

The Divine collects

Disappointment tokens
o The Divine can pay 5 disappointment points to trash
the Pilgrim's hand, and the Pilgrim draws back up.
o The Divine can pay 10 disappointment points to destroy
all of the relics they want, except for one. The
Divine picks which relics.

First Round: Epiphany

The Pilgrim narrates, briefly describing their world and how
they came across the first relic.

The Divine places the first card of the deck face up.
Accounting for its suit and number, the Divine narrates,
describing the first relic and stating their name.

The Pilgrim takes the card and places it at the base of their
tower and narrates what they do with it. They write the first
law of their new faith by interpreting what the relic means
and deciding what law they think the Divine is giving them.

The Pilgrim draws a full hand size (5). They discard cards of
a value equal to or greater than the relics they wish to keep
active, and then briefly narrate what actions they perform in
the Divines name. Then they refill their hand.

If the Pilgrim doesn't keep the relic active, it shuts down

and they can no longer use it. Active and numbered relics add
a passive +1 to any of that suit in their hand.
 Second Round: Pilgrimages
First Phase: Journey
The Pilgrim choses a direction to set out in, which is
limited, i.e. north, into the woods, along a road. Note that
over time, the Pilgrim gets more control of what they do, but
the Divine gets more power over the world.

The Divine places the top card of their deck face down as the
relic of the next pilgrimage. The Divine then draws four
cards. The Divine names the pilgrimage, and narrates, ending
by playing a card representing a challenge.

Second Phase: Trials

The Pilgrim must overcome the challenge. They can
1. Play a card of the same suit of equal or greater
value, which will earn them a dogma point.
2. Play a card of a different suit of equal or lesser
value, which will earn them an interpretation point.
3. Play a card of the same suit of a lower value, which
will give The Divine a disappointment point. The
Pilgrim's attempt and failure is noted on both
accounts.

The Pilgrim then plays a card and describes what they do.

The Pilgrim can turn to the Divine when they can't do any of
the above. The Pilgrim narrates how they turn to the Divine
to request aid. The Divine solves the problem for the
Pilgrim, but takes a random card from the Pilgrims hand, and
may introduce it as a new trial at any point, this pilgrimage
or any other. The Divine takes one disappointment point.

This repeats 2 more times, leading to 3 total trials.

Third Phase: Reward

The Divine flips the relic card over, and narrates what it
is, and how the Pilgrim can use it. The Pilgrim adds it to
their tower, says what they do with it, and describes how the
area around the tower changes. They create a new law based
around the challenges and reward the Divine gave them.
Fourth Phase: Judgement
The Divine reflects on the pilgrimage and its aftermath,
collecting them and their reasoning a secret. The Divine can
narrate, but doesn't have to.

The Divine gives points based on:

1. If the Pilgrim followed their own laws, give one
dogma point.
2. If they found loopholes, give one interpretation
point.
3. If they broke their own laws, take one disappointment
point.
4. If they impressed you with their actions, give one
dogma point.
5. If they shocked you with their actions, give one
interpretation point.
6. If they disappointment you with their actions, take
one disappointment point.
7. If they honored your relic, give one dogma point.
8. If they coveted your relic's power, give one
interpretation point.
9. If they disavowed or distanced themselves from your
relic, take a disappointment point.
10. If they made a law in your image, give one dogma
point.
11. If they made a law in your and their collective
image, give one interpretation point.
12. If they made a law in their image, take one
disappointment point.

Tive again. The Pilgrim draws up to a full hand size (5).

They discard cards of a value equal to or greater than the
relics they wish to keep active, and briefly narrate what
actions they perform in the Divine's name. Then the Pilgrim
refills their hand.

If the Pilgrim has cards with low numbers, they may combine
two of them to meet the number.

This round repeats five more times, for a total of six levels
of the tower.
 Round Three: The End
The Pilgrim and The Divine talk about the ending.

Add up all points earned, total, including spent.

1. If dogma points are the highest, the Divine narrates,

then the Pilgrim, then the Divine.
2. If interpretation points are the highest, the Pilgrim
narrates, then the Divine, then the Pilgrim.
3. If disappointment points are highest, the Pilgrim
narrates, then the Divine, and then the game ends.