Vantage

Game Overview

Vantage is a cooperative, open-world adventure game for 1–6 players in which each player crashes onto a different location of an uncharted planet and explores it from a first-person perspective. With nearly 800 interconnected locations and over 900 other discoverable cards, players take turns performing actions, rolling challenge dice, and placing those dice on cards to avoid losing time, morale, and health. Success is defined by completing a mission, a destiny, or both (an epic victory), or by whatever you pursue and achieve.
Core Mechanisms: Action selection with storybook-referenced costs, skill-token cost reduction, challenge dice rolling and placement on a 3x3 card grid, boost management, and cooperative information sharing.

1. Game Components

2. Game Setup

1. Place the game box next to one player in charge of finding and returning cards (they receive placeholder cards 1709–1714). Tilt the three big stacks of large cards out of their flat-packed position.
2. Place the board (the "center") in the middle of the table with time, morale, and health trackers nearby. Both sides of the board are functionally the same.
3. Place all skill tokens, coins, boost tokens, skill dice, and storybooks in a general supply near the center. The backs of most storybooks have reference guides.
4. Seed the challenge dice pool with 8 challenge dice plus 2 per player (e.g., for three players there are 14 dice), then return the remaining challenge dice to the box.
5. Each player gains a location card holder. Randomly select the first player.
6. Place the Book of Vantages on the table with the back cover facing up to display location 000. Follow the instructions on location 000 to complete setup, using skill dice for randomization. Each player independently gains their character and starting stats here.
7. For your first game, we recommend the "daring" starting level for time, morale, and health, and avoiding difficult crash locations.

3. Game Flow

Players take turns clockwise around the table. On your turn, you perform 1 action (unless an effect says otherwise) by following these steps in order:
1. Choose one action from three types: location action, card action, or depart action.
2. Read the cost and action (not the result), usually from a storybook entry.
3. Reduce the cost by 1 per matching skill token optionally paid by any player.
4. Roll challenge dice from the pool equal to the remaining cost.
5. Place rolled challenge dice one at a time on open slots on your grid cards (and impact slots on other players' grid cards).
6. Suffer penalties from rolled-but-unplaced challenge dice, then discard them to the penalty section of the center.
7. Read the action result.
8. End your turn (unless instructed to "continue"). Play proceeds clockwise.
You always succeed when performing an action; the challenge is to avoid losing time, morale, or health.

4. Player Actions

Location Actions
- Each location lists (usually 6) location actions in categories: move, look, engage, help, take, and overpower.
- Reference the storybook entry for this location and category.
- You may only perform 1 location action per location per game, unless the action is marked "always available" or an action result instructs otherwise.
- If another player previously visited the same location, you may not perform a thematically contradictory location action.
- Cost: Varies by action (read from storybook). Effect: Read the result after completing steps 4–6.

Card Actions
- Many non-location cards (in your grid, supply, or the center) include action options.
- Reference the storybook entry using the card's number.
- Unless stated otherwise, you may perform a card action even if you have already performed an action on that card.
- You may not look at the card you are gaining until you have completed the action.
- Cost: Varies; some grid card actions also require paying boost from that card. Effect: Read the result.

Depart Actions
- Move away from your location in 1 of 4 cardinal directions (north is always forward).
- Adjacent listed locations (numbers on the compass): a 1-cost move action (WALK or SWIM) that does not use a storybook.
- Unlisted adjacent locations (marked with a star): after declaring a direction, look up the cost, action, and result in the Depart storybook for this location number.
- Blocked directions (no number or star): you cannot depart in that direction.
- Cost: 1 for listed adjacent locations; variable for starred directions. Effect: You arrive at the new location.

Skill Payment (Step 3)
- Any player may discard matching skill tokens to reduce the action cost by 1 each.
- Players may pay skills to benefit each other at any time, not just to reduce action costs.

Boost Powers
- At any time on any turn (even mid-action or during another player's action), you may use boost powers on cards in your grid.
- Boost gained/paid on locations goes to/from your character; boost on other cards stays on/from that card.
- Effects of boost powers last until the end of the current turn.
- Each card has limited boost capacity that cannot be exceeded.

5. Scoring and Game End

The game ends when:
- You complete the mission (you then choose between ending the game and continuing to pursue a destiny).
- You complete a destiny and choose to read its storybook entry, which ends the game. You may collect multiple destiny cards.
- Any player's time, morale, or health is reduced to 0 (read the mission's entry in the take storybook).
- The time you allotted to play has expired.

Victory types: mission victory, destiny victory, or epic victory (completing both the mission and a destiny). When the game ends, return all cards and components to the box; everything resets for a new adventure.

Key Rules and Common Questions

Easy-to-miss Rules:

1. You may never look at your previous locations or other players' locations; only your current location card may be viewed by you.
2. You may not change your mind about your chosen action after reading the cost and description.
3. You cannot read the cost or results of an action before performing it.
4. If the challenge dice pool has fewer available dice than the remaining cost, first refresh ALL challenge dice from grids and the penalty section back to the pool, then roll.
5. The total challenge dice in play is always 8 plus 2 per player; excess dice stay in the box.
6. If a stat you would gain is already at the max of 6, instead gain 1 random skill (roll a skill die).
7. If an action result causes you to lose something you don't have, ignore it—but this only applies to results, not costs.
8. If you gain a card you already have in your grid, instead gain 1 boost on that card (if possible).
9. The first time a player completes their 3x3 grid, place destiny 1705 in the center.
10. Adjacency always means orthogonal adjacency (touching at edges left-to-right or top-to-bottom).
11. When you gain a vertical card and your grid is full, you may reserve the new card or reserve a grid card (other than your character) to make space; if this exceeds reserve capacity, lose an excess reserve card.
12. Reserved cards retain boost tokens but their challenge dice are refreshed, and you may not use their slots, abilities, or powers.
13. You may not place challenge dice on horizontal cards in your supply.
14. Unless a slot specifies otherwise, you can place blank and setback results on open slots.
15. If you can't pay a listed cost, you may not gain the benefit.
16. When a location's arrival effect or other penalty instructs you to suffer 1 heat, cold, or hypoxia damage, lose your choice of either 1 time or both 1 morale and 1 health.
17. If another player is at your location during step 7, you may depart/move them with you (they don't pay the cost) and give them coins, items, flora, and vehicles (ignore "when placed" effects; exchanged cards retain challenge dice but lose all boost).
18. When you replace or lose a grid card, refresh its dice, return its boost to supply, and insert the new card in the same position.
19. You must always have your character card in your grid.
20. If a challenge dice ability says "place them in the center," it means the penalty section (not refresh).

FAQ:

Q: Can I look at other players' location cards?
A: No. Only you may look at your current location card. You may describe its artwork, read the description aloud, and share the location action options.

Q: What happens if I reduce an action's cost to 0?
A: Do not roll any challenge dice.

Q: Can I perform two location actions at the same location?
A: No, unless an action result instructs you to "continue" (ignoring the restriction) or the location specifies an action as "always available."

Q: What does "continue" mean at the end of an action result?
A: If it says "continue," you must perform another action. If it says "You may continue," it's your choice. This only applies to your current turn.

Q: How many challenge dice are used in a solo game?
A: 10 total dice (8 plus 2 per player). There is no Automa; you control only 1 character.

Q: What happens if I can't place a rolled challenge die?
A: Suffer its penalty (time, morale, or health loss), then discard it to the penalty section of the center. Setback results return to the challenge dice pool instead; blanks go to the penalty section.

Q: Is Vantage a campaign?
A: No. Each game is standalone; you only bring to future sessions what you've learned about the world.