Flamecraft

Flamecraft is a gentle, low-conflict game for 1 to 5 players. The town is made of shop cards, and you send artisan dragons to work in them. On your turn you move to a single shop and do one of two things there: gather what the shop produces, or enchant it by spending goods.

Everything you do earns reputation. Most reputation at the end wins.

Setup

1. Roll out the town mat and place the starter shops with their starter dragons.
2. Put the goods tokens to the side and the coins on the fountain.
3. Separate the shop cards into seven piles — one for each of the six goods, plus a seventh for the rest. Take one card from each of the six good piles and four from the seventh, shuffle those together, and that is your shop deck.
4. Build the artisan dragon deck according to player count:

Players	Artisan dragon deck
4–5	Use the entire deck
3	Remove one of each good type (6 cards)
2	Remove two of each good type (12 cards)

5. Shuffle the artisan deck, place it beside the fountain, and reveal the top 5 cards to form the park.
6. Shuffle the fancy dragon deck and place it in its space on the mat.
7. Choose either the purple or golden enchantment deck, shuffle it, and reveal the top 5. First time playing? Use the purple deck.
8. Each player takes a dragon token, its matching player aid and reputation marker.
9. Deal each player 3 artisan dragons and 2 fancy dragons. Keep one fancy dragon and discard the other to the bottom of the deck. You keep all three artisan dragons.
10. Collect everyone’s reputation markers, reveal one at random to decide the first player, then place them all at the start of the reputation track.

In a 4 or 5 player game, the fourth and fifth players each start with one good of their choice to offset going later.

How a Turn Works

A turn is always: visit a shop, then take one of two actions there.

Visiting a shop

Move your token to any shop in town, with one restriction: it must be a different shop than the one you visited last turn.

If another player’s token is already at that shop, you must give each player there one good or coin from your supply. If you have no goods or coins at all to pay with, you must visit an unoccupied shop instead.

Option 1 — Gather from the shop

Gain everything shown by the symbols at that shop. That includes symbols on the shop card itself, on any artisan dragons working there, and on any enchantments tucked under it.

Three symbols are worth learning:

Symbol	Means
Any good	Take any one good — but not a coin.
Coin	Take a coin specifically.
Dragon	Draw an artisan dragon, either face up from the park or blind from the top of the deck.

After gathering you may, optionally and in this order:

1. Place an artisan dragon from your hand into an empty slot that has at least one matching symbol, and gain the reward shown on that slot — reputation, a fancy dragon, an artisan dragon or coins. If placing it fills the shop, draw a new shop and place it face down on an empty slot in town; you will flip it at the end of your turn.
2. Fire up one dragon at the shop — including the one you just placed — by performing the ability next to the fire symbol at the bottom of its card.
3. Use the shop’s own ability, if it has one.

Option 2 — Enchant the shop

Choose a face-up enchantment whose icon matches the shop’s icon, and pay its cost in goods. A coin substitutes for any good, and you may spend several coins to cover several different goods.

Gain the reward, then tuck the enchantment under the top of the shop card. From now on that shop produces one extra good of that type whenever anyone gathers there. A shop can hold a maximum of three enchantments.

After enchanting you may fire up all the dragons at that shop — not just one, which is the main reason to enchant rather than gather.

Things that catch people out:

• Shops showing a dragon or coin icon cannot be enchanted at all. You can still gather the dragon or coin from them.
• Wild shops can be enchanted with any good.
• Some enchantments score based on how many sets of goods you pay. Most of them give you nothing for a single set, so save up.
• An advanced symbol on an enchantment means coins cannot be used to pay for it.
• Some abilities let you reserve an enchantment face up in front of you. Only you can cast a reserved enchantment, and you may only hold one at a time.

Ending your turn

1. Flip face up any new shops you drew this turn.
2. Discard down to 6 artisan dragons in hand. There is no limit on fancy dragons.
3. Discard down to 7 of each good type.
4. Refill the park to 5 face-up artisan dragons, and refill any empty enchantment spaces.
5. Pass clockwise.

The Dragons

Artisan dragons

There are six types, one per good, and every dragon of a type has the same fire-up ability regardless of its name:

Type	Fire-up ability
Iron	Gain two of one good from this shop, or an artisan dragon here.
Steak	Place an artisan dragon in town.
Bread	Draw one artisan dragon.
Diamond	Gain any three goods — they must all be different.
Potion	Swap this dragon with another artisan dragon in town, then fire up the new dragon.
Leaf	Gift a good to another player to gain two reputation.

Fancy dragons

Fancy dragons come in two kinds:

• Sun dragons give a one-time bonus during the game as soon as you meet their requirement. Collect the reward and keep the card face up in front of you — it does not score again.
• Moon dragons score at the end of the game if you meet their requirement.

Companions (optional)

Companions add a one-time special ability each. Deal one to each player face up at the start, and take any start bonus immediately. Each player may use their companion’s ability once per game on their turn, then flips the card over to show it is spent.

How to Win

The end is triggered when the last card of either the artisan dragon deck or the enchantment deck is drawn or revealed. Every player — including the one who triggered it — takes one more turn.

Then score:

• 1 reputation per leftover coin.
• Any bonus reputation from your fancy dragons.

Most reputation wins. Ties are broken by most artisan dragons in hand, then most goods. If players are still tied, they share the victory.

Solo Mode

Set up as though for a three-player game, with these changes:

• After placing the starter shops, build the shop deck from the specific shops listed in the rules, and the fancy dragon deck from its listed dragons. Achievements unlock more of both for future solo games.
• Choose your dragon but keep the other player dragons nearby — they represent your virtual opponents.
• Companions are not used in solo mode.
• Any time you would give or gift a good to another player, return it to the supply instead.
• There can never be more than 12 shops on the board.

At the end of each of your turns, run the automa:

1. Refresh the park to five face-up artisan dragons.
2. Draw an artisan dragon from the top of the deck. Going clockwise from the park, place it in the first matching slot in a shop. If nothing matches, put it on the bottom of the deck and draw again until one does.
3. If that fills a shop, draw a new shop as normal.
4. If the placed dragon matches an opponent’s colour, move that opponent’s marker to that shop — but you are not gifted any goods if they arrive at your shop. If it matches your colour, do nothing.
5. If the placed dragon’s icon matches any face-up enchantment, place that enchantment at a matching shop of your choice, wild shops included.
6. Refresh the enchantments, then flip over any new shops.

The game ends when the last artisan dragon or enchantment is revealed: finish your current turn, then take one more. On that final turn, do not move any non-player dragons or place a non-player enchantment.

Score your reputation normally and compare:

Score	Result
75–89	Unlock one achievement you qualify for
90+	Unlock two

Common Mistakes

• Revisiting the same shop. You must move to a different shop than the one you were at last turn.
• Forgetting to pay the occupant. Landing on a shop where another player already stands costs you a good or coin to each of them.
• Gathering when you meant to enchant. You get one or the other, not both. Gathering fires up one dragon; enchanting fires up all of them.
• Trying to enchant a coin or dragon shop. Those two icons can never be enchanted.
• Spending a coin on an advanced enchantment. The advanced symbol specifically forbids coins.
• Cashing in a set-scoring enchantment too early. One set often scores nothing at all.
• Forgetting the hand and goods limits at end of turn — six artisan dragons, seven of each good.