Each year, on the somertide solstice, we honor the Descension of Aquila – the day she came down from the heavens to teach us about the magical powers of the River Nae and instructed us to build our cities on the sacred river’s shores and deltas.
As the celebration draws to a close, the Oracle of Thyne is bathed in a beam of light from the heavens. The elders, reading this as the return of Aquila, enter the Oracle to find the altar piled high with Radiants, fabled orbs of power bestowed by Aquila and once used to fight back the darkness.
Each noble gathered for the solstice celebration takes a Radiant from the altar. Most depart to guard their holdings from the dark times the Radiants imply, but you few Dukes and Duchesses stay to give thanks to Aquila for these wondrous gifts.
As the solstice fades into night, battle horns sound in the east and ghastly monsters, drawn by Aquila’s light, descend upon the Oracle of Thyne and clammer to breach its walls.
The scattered tribes of monster-kin have harried Valeria since the first brick was laid for its first city, but now they fight together. Orcs battle alongside Gnolls. Goblins create contraptions for the Undead. Something has united them in a common cause—to destroy Valeria.
Aquila’s light brightens, the roots of the Oracle tremor, and the elders call out, “She returns! Hold back the darkness!” You draw your blades and ready your spells to face the enemies of light.
Darksworn introduces cooperative play to Valeria: Card Kingdoms through a story-driven narrative in which your game group are Dukes or Duchesses working together to push back an ancient darkness that threatens the land. During the game, you will be slaying Monsters, recruiting Citizens, praying to Aquila for Blessings, and completing Tasks from a series of Books that reveal the saga of your adventures.
Each of the 6 Books in the Darksworn Saga is a structured deck of cards and punchboard that introduce new rules that change Valeria: Card Kingdoms into a fully cooperative game. Your game group will set out on a Holy Quest to expand the Kingdom westward and defeat a growing darkness threatening the land and people of Valeria. Every Book starts out with new rules and sets your group against new Monsters, then spins out an expanding storyline that ties your rolls and Citizenry into the tasks and threats awaiting you.
Sitting above the Monster Row, this board displays the current Book, shows the Book’s new rules, and has an oubliette to hold captured Citizen cards.
Set between the Story board and the Monster Row, these tiles define the Monster attack columns. When your roll matches any of these numbers the Monster card in that column attacks your Citizen stacks.
There are 9 new Monster cards that get added to an assortment of Monsters from the base game and expansions. Together they form the Monster deck with only 5 Monsters active at any one time. If you slay a Monster, that column can’t attack this turn, buying your Citizens a brief respite from the carnage.
Between the Monster Row and the Citizens are the Walls. They offer some protection from most of the Monsters but walls get damaged, walls fail, and then the screaming starts. Luckily, there are ways you can re-build the walls…if you have any Actions left.
Actually, there are no new Citizens in this expansion. Instead, you can use any of the Citizens in the base game or any other VCK expansion to outfit your Citizen Stacks. Don’t get too attached to them, though; Monsters love to capture or banish Citizens.
Below the Citizen Stacks, you’ll find the Aquila Board. Here you can use a Prayer Action and spend Victory Points to activate one of Aquila’s Blessings on display. These useful boons will ease your efforts to push back the darkness.
You may have noticed that there is one permanent Blessing on the Aquila Board…Spend 8VP to Rebuild 1 Wall. Along with that, there is also a deck of 12 Blessings with a 3-card draft line to give you a variety of other useful Blessings to assist you.
Each player receives a special Starting Card – Explorer. This Citizen card will reward players when all seems bleak (none of your Citizens match the rolled dice) and in times of celebration (rolled doubles). No one should be without an Explorer.
Most of the Books include punchboard tokens to represent certain special Monsters, deadly effects, looming terrors, or magical benefits. You’ll discover all of these and more as you progress through the Books.
This new edition of the Valeria: Card Kingdoms base game will have a lower MSRP than the original so that more gamers can enter the amazing game universe we launched back in 2015. It will have a new system of tracker boards, tokens, and +10 markers to count resources, and the box’s plastic insert will have a special well to store the track boards. VCK2E will also include a new set of monster-based event cards that were not part of the original game components.
Flames & Frost has been out of print for more than a year and Crimson Seas stock is running really low, now is the perfect time to reprint these major VCK expansions so that more Valeria gamers can get the full experience. The 2nd expansion, Shadowvale, is still available and can be purchased on our web store at a reduced price with immediate shipping.
The items you select to add-on to your pledge will ship with your pledge level rewards when the project is fulfilled.
