XENXU GAME CORE RULES

GETTING GOING

Welcome to our vertical slice playtest of the Xenxu Game. This is only one test module with rules, game actions, and game engine still under development, but proof of concept is past our internal alpha testing, and now we'd like any input you may have. This mission has been tested, however, and plays well.

This 30 minute video might be the fastest way to get an intro to the game and how it works. It's set up to be quickly and easily grasped, and to get the player to the action in as short a time as possible. However, the video does not include a few fun, but not required, elements. You'll have to read on for those.

Unless you have a way to download and print PDFs on your mobile device, we recommend you do this on computer.

This short book will act as a reference manual for how to set up and play through modules (adventures, missions, campaigns) which take place in-Xenxu, our constantly expanding world. Once ready for widespread release, the Xenxu Game will be a tabletop role-playing game and online hybrid, where almost all game play will be handled by a mobile app. It's played with a proprietary Tarocchi-like card game developed from the ground up for the modules.

Although the demo playable from this page, and the character creation, are done manually, the app will do all this automatically, including tracking all stats, levels, etc. But for this demo, you'll want to download and print the Personi Sheet linked below.

FIRST OFF

Open and/or download and print the PDF of the Xero card deck, which is divided into 10 Majors and 36 Minors. Please note that all card art is placeholder art, and will be designed and rendered by our team artist. If you happen to have card sleeves in your game room, use those. If using card sleeves, then you can also print the card backs. Print SIX COPIES of the Minors card backs, and TWO COPIES of the Majors card backs.

CREATING A PERSONI

For this demo, to create a personi, our word for character or avatar, follow these steps.

Separate the Majors from the Minors. Shuffle the Majors and deal the top card. This card is your major determiner for your class. The table of classes (Stats/Cats) corresponding to the Majors is below.

Deal 2 more cards. These cards will inform you of your Virtues and Vices. The first 2 cards correspond to your Virtues (see the table below). The third card corresponds to your Vices. If you draw a Vice card which shares the same statistical categories as your Virtues, put it on the bottom and draw a replacement card. Repeat this until your Virtues and Vices don't overlap. Worry not! Eventually, the mobile app will make short work of this process.

If you'd like the larger printable version of this table, click here.

PERSONI SHEET

If you'd like the printable version of this sheet, click here.

Using the table as a reference, on your Personi Sheet mark down your card deal results. Did you draw Journey, as an example? If so, then you have an investigative, curious and suspicious mindset, tend to be greedy, have a high IQ and are charismatic. Acting within the skin of your personi, you are invited to set aside your IRL characteristics and preferences, and go into the coming adventure as the character you've just built, making decisions, alone or with your team, driven by all of those traits.

For fuller character backgrounds, open this page (opens in a new tab).

PLEASE NOTE: In the finished release game, played on the mobile or desktop app, the personi sheet will be done automatically.

ORACLE ELEMENT

Even though nothing of this element is required in gameplay, you might find it fascinating to use the soothsaying function of the Xero. Sticking with the idea that you've drawn Journey, here is what the card sees for you, OR for your character (or both), and it might be giving you clues into how to conduct yourself in the coming adventure.

JOURNEY

Your story, and your place within Awareness Itself. What is it if not a story, the hero's journey? This life in the present personi is but a slice of timeform in the eternity of Awareness Itself. Remember that. Recalibrate your image of self in the cast of a role, one you play and move on from, thus freeing you, for a time at least, from the burdens you carry. And what is a journey without a journey? Perhaps it's time to see a new land, or take on a new adventure.

It would therefore seem the investigator in you is ready to embark on a new adventure, and you are being called upon to understand that it's a role, and that role calls for a keen intellect, and if necessary, a charming and pursuasive nature.

TIP: Remember this...in adventure encounters you'll be dealt a hand, so all cards, if you want to include this dimension, have oracular meanings you might want to factor into your gameplay.

If you'd like to throw the oracle element into gameplay, even if it's only an additional, possibly emotional, dimension, open this page for all card meanings (opens in new tab).

READY TO PLAY?

Follow the story and your chosen branches, and make decisions where they make sense. When you are ready to proceed to a new area, simply click where you would like to go or with whom you would like to speak. If something says -ENCOUNTER-, this means an encounter is about to begin. Encounters are the catchall term for Fights, Arguments or Information Extraction, which are effectively the dice-roll moments of most TTRPGs, but not ours. Ours is a fast trick-taking card deal between you and Xenxu's mind and characters. If you choose an option which contains ENCOUNTER, prepare to play!

PLAYTEST MISSION - Click here to open the mission (opens in a separate tab).

HOW ENCOUNTERS WORK

Step 1 - At the beginning of an encounter, shuffle both the Majors and Minors decks separately, then place them in two piles next to each other.

Step 2 - Deal 1 card from the top of the Majors deck. This first card will apply its effect to the ENCOUNTER. For ease of reference, they're listed in alphabetical order, and not by hierarchical rank, as they are in the Stats/Cats table.

• Anomaly - Players may choose to discard a card from their hand, then play the top card from the Minors deck.
• Awareness Itself - At the beginning of each opponent turn, opponent reveals 1 card from their hand.
• Decay - At the beginning of the encounter, players will exchange one card from their hand with the opponent.
• Fool - Instead of drawing, the opponent plays the top card of the deck.
• Frequency - Players must draw half their encounter cards, or Minors, rounded down, face down, and not reveal these until played.
• Journey - All Personi Suit Cards are debuffed.
• Polarity - Each player draws one extra card face down. Once during this encounter, each player may swap the trump card with their face down card.
• Shamash - At the beginning of the encounter, the opponent will state a suit (for this demo, use the top Minors card). Players must return all cards of that suit back to the draw pile.
• Siren - Each player must exchange one card from their hand with a player to their right. If playing the solo demo, set aside a card and draw one from the Minors pile.
• Timeform - Players may opt to discard a card from their hand to instead play the bottom card of the deck.

Step 3 - Deal a second card from the top of the Majors deck. The second Major will add +1 its corresponding statistics (i.e. Muscle, Talent, Charisma) to the current ENCOUNTER, meaning, if you play a character with an affinity for those statistics, ALL of your cards will receive +1 this ENCOUNTER.

Step 4 - Deal a third card from the top of the deck. The third card will apply a -1 effect to characters whose affinities are of those statistics (i.e. Muscle, Talent, Charisma) for this Encounter.

NOTE All +1 and -1 effects will be applied to all players whose statistics are relevant to the encounter.

EXAMPLE SETUP

Johnny, Susan, and Lee start an encounter, and so they shuffle the Majors deck and deal the top card. The top card is "Polarity," and so it will apply its text effect "Each player draws one extra card face down."

The second card to be revealed is "Anomaly," BUT, because it is the SECOND card to be revealed, it's text box is disabled and can be considered blank for the round. Instead, Anomaly will provide a +1 to characters whose major statistics (the highest values on the character sheet) of IQ and Fortitude.

Johnny's character, as it happens, is a Soldier class, and so therefore has High IQ and High Fortitude, and so will receive the +1 to his cards in this round. This means, each card that Johnny plays, will be considered 1 higher than it is, so his 4s will be 5s, his 8s will be 9s, etc. Susan, on the other hand, has neither majority stat of IQ or Fortitude, and so she will not receive the +1 benefit this time around. Finally, Lee, whose character has high Fortitude, but low IQ, will also receive the +1 benefit, as he has at least 1 statistic category which matches Anomaly.

The players will then lay this card face-up and horizontal next to the Polarity card.

Then, finally, the players will reveal the third and final card from the Majors deck for the round. In this case, the card is Timeform, and so it affects players whose statistics are Fortitude and Charisma.

Johnny, as previously stated, is a Soldier, and so therefore has the "Fortitude," statistic, and so will therefore receive a -1 to his cards. This means the +1 from the 2nd Major card is negated, and so Johnny will not receive a +1 or -1. Susan's character is high Charisma, and so she will receive a -1 to her cards in this Encounter (4s are 3s, 8s are 7s). And Lee is unaffected by the third card, so he will maintain his +1 effect from the 2nd revealed major.

AI, AKA GAME MASTER

The cards given to the AI, or to the world, or encounter, or however you want to imagine it, represent Xenxu's denizens and creatures who are at odds with you and your party's goals. Given that Xenxu World is a DM-less game, this system allows for players to still achieve a strategic experience in their encounters, while not having to deal with the administrative tasks of counting for their Game Master. This comes with some interesting caveats, though, in the form of how both the AI and the Player(s) get to "cheat" the rules.

HOW TO PLAY XERO

Xero is the game players will play after setting up the encounter. Xero is a trick-taking game where the goal is to get the most tricks.

To win a trick, a player must play the highest numbered card of the trump suit among all other players and the AI.

Step 1: Shuffle the Minors (Numbers) Deck and then place the top card of the Minors deck face up next to the Minors deck. This determines the trump suit for the encounter, as well as the severity of the encounter. Severity determines how long an encounter will be. Follow the Severity rules below, and with this demo, you'll be drawing for the opponent. Since in the more complete game, played on the mobile app against Xenxu's Mind, you'll be dealt to first by standard dealing conventions.

• A 1-3 will be considered a "Light Encounter," and so players will draw 6 cards
• A 4-6 will be considered a "Medium Encounter," and so players will draw 7 cards
• A 7-9 will be considered a "Heavy Encounter," and so players will draw 8 cards

Then, deal the same number of cards to the "AI" or Automated Game Master.

NOTE

In Xero, there will always be TWO TRUMP SUITS. The first is the ENCOUNTER TRUMP SUIT, which was determined by the first card revealed from the Minors deck just a moment ago. This trump suit can be thought of as the "ENCOUNTER Trump Suit," as it will affect THE ENTIRE ENCOUNTER. More on that in a moment.

Play will always begin with the AI playing one card from its hand face up next to the trump card. This card played by the AI/Game Master determines the SECOND TRUMP SUIT. This trump suit can be called the "Round Trump Suit" as it only affects the CURRENT ROUND.

This is the GOLDEN RULE of Xero. Players MUST play a card which matches the ROUND TRUMP SUIT if they have one in hand. If they do not have a Round Trump Suit, they can play whichever card they like. If their played card is an ENCOUNTER Trump Suit card, they will automatically win.

To win a game of Xero, players will attempt to achieve the most "tricks" during the ENCOUNTER. To do this, players will have to play a card which is higher than any other number, but most importantly higher than the AI/Game Master, or otherwise of a more valuable Encounter Trump Suit.

But here's the kicker, the AI will always set the ROUND trump suit, and must not follow the rules in this regard.

SCORING A TRICK

• Regardless of the number of players, the highest Minor matching either trump always wins, unless otherwise modified through card effects and abilities.
• If no player has a Minor matching the trumps, then the AI/Game Master takes the trick.

EXAMPLE XERO ROUND

You and your party enter into an ENCOUNTER with the theme of a street fight in Zan City, the Major Cultural hub of Xenxu. The ENCOUNTER's Trump suit, is determined to be CODE this time. The ENCOUNTER is also determined to be a "Light" encounter per the aforementioned setup rules, and so each player will draw 6 cards. After each player has drawn their 6 cards, the AI will then draw its 6 cards face down so players cannot see what the ENCOUNTER has in store for them.

In this case, the AI plays a 4 of WAVES. This means, players MUST play a WAVES card if they have it. If they do not have a WAVES card, they can play whatever they want from hand.

Johnny, the first player, then plays a 1 of WAVES, as that's the only legal card he can play this round. Susan, the second player, plays a 5 of WAVES, so she has beaten the AI by one. Then Lee, the third player, plays a 1 of CODE, as Lee does not have any WAVES cards in hand. To determine who wins this round, follow the triage of scoring:

1. The highest card matching one of the trump suits will always win unless otherwise stated through various card effects and abilities.

2. If no card matching the Encounter Trump (initial dealt number card) suit is played, then the highest number matching the AI's Round Trump suit will win the round.

3. If no card is played higher than the AI's Round Trump suit, and no card is played on the Encounter Trump suit, then the AI's card will win.

So, in our previous example with Johnny, Susan, and Lee, Lee would win the round, as he played a 1 of CODE. Remember, the CODE is the ENCOUNTER'S Trump suit and so any card that has that will win.

If Lee had not played the 1 of Code, Susan would have won with her 5 of WAVES, as it both matches the AI's Trump and is even 1 point higher.

If both Susan and Lee had not played these cards, the AI would have won the round, as Johnny had only played a 1 of WAVES.

The winning player (or AI) will then collect the pile of cards and place them next to them face down.

After that, play begins again with the AI playing a random card from their hand to determine the round's trump suit. Repeat these steps until all players are out of cards and there are a number of face down piles equal to the SEVERITY of the Encounter.

If the AI has the majority of face down piles, the players have failed their task.

If the players have the majority of the piles or there is a tie between players and the AI, the players have achieved their task.

The player with the majority of piles will also be given the status of SAGE and will be given the temporary "Sage" ability. This will last until the next encounter. Players may also refuse the "Sage" if they want to.

DETERMINING THE OUTCOME

In most Xero encounters, there are 4 possible outcomes:

• Decisive Victory
• Close Victory
• Decisive Defeat
• Close Defeat

This is determined by the degree to which either the player(s) or AI has achieved a majority.

Therefore, the required number of tricks is determined by Severity of the ENCOUNTER:

Light Encounter (6 Playable Cards)

• 1 Trick Decisive Defeat
• 2-3 Tricks Close Defeat
• 3-4 Tricks Close Victory
• 5-6 Tricks Decisive Victory

Medium Encounter (7 Playable Cards)

• 1 Tricks Decisive Defeat
• 2-3 Tricks Close Defeat
• 4-5 Tricks Close Victory
• 6-7 Tricks Decisive Victory

Heavy Encounter (8 Playable Cards)

• 1-2 Tricks Decisive Defeat
• 3-4 Tricks Close Defeat
• 5-6 Tricks Close Victory
• 7-8 Tricks Decisive Victory

In the previous example, Johnny, Susan, and Lee were able to obtain 4 of the 6 tricks, and so they have achieved a "Close Victory."

If Johnny, Susan, and Lee were able to obtain either 5 or 6 of the piles, they would have achieved a "Decisive Victory" and been rewarded handsomely in the fight.

If, however, the AI had won 5 of the 6 playable hands, the players will have experience a "Decisive Defeat," and will receive a penalty as a result, be that lack of information or an injury or something which fits the theme of the encounter.