Allegiance, an Aporuëna card game played often in the Free City (stolen from my friend Adam Rausch)

The Goal

In Allegiance, you secretly support one of five noble Houses (Hearts, Swords, Spells, Gems, or Stars). The goal is to ensure that your chosen House receives the most Victories.

Deck

There are 5 types of cards:

35 Faces – Face cards have:

a House: Hearts, Swords, Spells, Gems, or Stars

a Rank: 7 (Count), 6 (Countess), 5 (Knight), 4 (Assassin), 3 (Lady), 2 (Page), or 1 (Maiden).

6 Traits (Clever, Foolish…) – Traits increase or decrease the Rank of a Face card by 2.

12 Victories (Courage, Honor,…) – Victories are the prizes to be won, and count for one point each.

1 Moon: The Moon determines the start of the game.

Tiles

There are also 8 tiles. They are marked, “Lead,” and the numbers 1-7.

Setup

This game can be played with 3-9 players.

If playing with 3, 6, or 9 players, deal out all cards.

If playing with 4 players, deal 2 cards face up and place them off to the side – these will be excluded from the game. The Moon card should never be excluded. Then deal out all remaining cards.

If playing with 5 players, exclude 4 cards.

If playing with 7 players, exclude 5 cards.

If playing with 8 players, exclude 6 cards.

Next, each player chooses one of his/her Face cards, playing it face down in front of him/her. This is your Allegiance card. It designates the House you are supporting. You should keep this card secret until the end.

Play

The first round begins with the Moon card and proceeds clockwise, with each player playing a card face up. Once everyone has played a card, examine the cards. If at least one Face card AND one Victory card have been played, the Victories are awarded to the House of the highest-ranking Face card. If not, play continues for another full round. The game is over when all 12 Victories have been awarded.

The winning Face card is the card with the highest rank. The ranks are, from highest to lowest: Count, Countess, Knight, Assassin, Lady, Page, and Maiden. If two or more Face cards have the same effective rank, the Face card played first has Precedence. This means that card trumps all similarly ranked Face cards until Victories are awarded. To keep track of Precedence, place a tile on each Face card as it is played, beginning with the “1” tile.

The next hand is lead by the player who played the winning Face card.

A House may win multiple Victories in a given round. For instance, if the Countess of Hearts is the highest-ranking Face card in a round that contains the Victory cards Honor and Love, then the House of Hearts receives both Victories.

Traits can be played in two different ways. First, they can be played face-up on a Face card in play. When played as such, they modify the Rank of that Face card as specified on the Trait card. Second, Traits can be played face-down in front of a player (including yourself). The next time that player plays a Face card, flip over the Trait card and apply the specified change in Rank.

When Assassins are played, they count as standard Face cards, but also allow the player to remove (assassinate) a Face card already in play. An assassin may even assassinate a member of his own house.

Winning

As you collect the tricks, keep track of how many Victories were won by each House. Once all Victories have been awarded, determine which House(s) won the most Victories, and reveal the Allegiance cards. Players allied with the winning House(s) gain a point for each rank of their Allegiance card. This means you benefit more by winning after giving up a high-ranking card.

Example Rounds:

Round 1

Player 1 plays The Moon (beginning the game).

Player 2 plays the Knight of Hearts and places the 1 tile on it.

Player 3 plays the Count of Stars (trumping the Knight of Hearts) and places the 2 tile on it.

Player 4 plays Clever (a Trait) on the Knight of Hearts (elevating it from Rank 5 to Rank 7; since the Knight was played first, it has precedence and now trumps the Count of Stars).

The trick continues since no Victory cards have been played.

Round 2

Player 1 plays Honor (Victory card).

Player 2 plays the Count of Swords and places the 3 tile on it (this does not trump the elevated Knight of Hearts since that card has Precedence).

Player 3 plays Time (a second Victory card).

Player 4 plays Beloved (a Trait) on the Count of Swords (elevating it from Rank 7 to Rank 9, trumping the Knight of Hearts).

Since both a Face card and a Victory card are present, the Victories are awarded: two Victory cards to the House of Swords, and Player 2 will begin the next round.