Sequence of Play
Gameplay takes place over a series of 6 rounds with each round broken up into 4 separate phases:
- Refresh
- Order Priority Tiles
- Drink Potions
- Execute Actions
Players will gain Prestige through Fulfilling the orders of Visitors who come to their town seeking potions. At the end of 6 rounds the game is over. Final points are tallied and the player with the most Prestige wins!
Phase Overview
Phase One - Refresh
- Market cards are discarded and refilled.
- Visitor cards above the Round Tracker ("On the Road") are moved into town and new Visitors On the Road are revealed.
- No new visitors are added on the road on the last round.
- There's no limit to the number of visitors that can be in town.
- Visitors with a Once-Per-Round ability are refreshed so their ability can be used again this round.
- The new round's Round Bonus Token is revealed, either granting each player an immediate bonus or creating a goal for bonus Prestige in the round.
Phase Two - Order Priority Tiles
Each player simultaneously orders their five Priority Tiles in their Priority Holders.
Priority tiles determine what actions players want to get more benefits from or be first in. Actions players want to prioritize should have lower numbers, whereas actions players are less concerned about should have higher numbers. Actions are always completed in order from left to right, but players play them in order of priority from lowest to highest.
Doing Work Around Town
If there is an action a player does not wish to perform, they can place their Priority Tile so that the gold is showing in the window of their Priority Holder. This is called Doing Work Around Town. By doing so, the player foregoes the action entirely and will gain the gold amount showing at the beginning of Phase 4 (Execute Actions).
Phase Three - Drink Potions
Players may drink their own potions for the effects described on their player board. This is done in Cauldron order.
A player may only use a potion's effect that is equal to or lower than their Study level at that time and will only gain the benefit of one of the potion's abilities. The player chooses which benefit level to use.
Phase Four - Execute Actions
Actions are executed in order from left to right on the Priority Holder beginning with the Forage action. Players gain benefits from their actions based on the Priority Tile they placed relative to other players.
Priority Tile Ties
If two or more player's Priority Tiles show the same number, the player with the Cauldron closest to 1 is considered to have the best priority and executes the action first. After all tied players have completed the action, they must swap Cauldrons.
- If two players tie, the two players must swap their Cauldrons.
- If three players tie, the first and last players in the tie must swap Cauldrons. The middle player keeps their Cauldron.
- In a four-way tie, the first and last player must swap their Cauldrons. The two middle tied players must swap their Cauldrons.
Actions
The number of action benefits players gain during the Forage, Study and Brew actions is determined by the amount of players in the game. The Market and Fulfill actions are on a "first come first served" basis.
- Forage: Roll a number of dice to gain Ingredients that are required to Brew potions.
- Using an Apprentice increases the number of Ingredient dice rolled equal to the number of Apprentice tokens used.
- Study: Increases Study level for each potion type. Study gained may be split up between potion types.
- Using an Apprentice increases the number of spaces a player can go up on their Study track equal to the amount of Apprentice tokens used.
- Market: Buy Market cards and gain the rewards shown. Cards purchased are not refilled until the Refresh phase.
- Brew: Brew potions in exchange for Ingredients. Each potion has its own required amount of Ingredients.
- Using an Apprentice increases the number of potions a player can Brew based on the Amount of Apprentice tokens used.
- Fulfill: Fulfill Visitor cards in exchange for potions. Gain the rewards and the Prestige shown.
Actions players want to prioritize should have lower numbers whereas actions players are less concerned about should have higher numbers.
End Game Scoring
The game ends after all players have completed the Fulfill action of the sixth round. Players then score end game bonuses based on the following:
- Visitor cards with end-game bonuses
- 1 Prestige for every 2 Gold
- 1 Prestige for every 2 Apprentices
- 2 Prestige for every potion
Leftover Ingredients are not worth any Prestige. In the case of a tie, the player with the Cauldron closest to 1 wins!