All games require a certain amount of protocol, etiquette and sportsmanship to insure fairness and enjoyment by all. The following rules are guidelines to help keep the game play moving smoothly along with little or no conflict as to what's allowed and what is not. These are only guidelines and whether your group wishes to follow them or not is up to you.

Players should announce when they are done with their turn and the next player in sequence can begin their turn. The host, or player responsible for Round updates, should announce the beginning of a new round and read The Kingdom News out loud so everyone is up-to-late on the latest happenings.

This is the old rule of, once you've moved a piece and stopped, you are committed to that move unless something is done in violation of the rules. If that's the case, you must either reverse your actions manually or by using the Undo button.

This is one of those rules that may be important in say, a game of chess, but not so much in a game like this, especially if your group is still on a learning curve. Once your group becomes familiar with the game, whether your group wants to enforce this or keep movement casual is up to you.

When moving your token, you should describe the move so there's no confusion on how you're getting to the location you're moving to. This is important as there are certain spells, special abilities, etc., they may be effective as a rival is "passing by". By knowing exactly how a player is moving their player token, another player can plan how to approach the situation.

If someone notices that a player has committed an error, they must announce this error as soon as possible. If game play can be reversed to its proper state when the error occurred those changes should be made. This can usually be accomplished by hitting the Undo button a few times to step the game back to the time of the error. However, if another player has already begun his turn, cards have been drawn, etc., and it would be far too much trouble to try and reverse the error, or cause a hardship to another player, then the error stands as is. The host should make this call ...although the host may ask for a consensus among the players as to what they should do.

If you notice an error in another player's attribute or player sheet, simply inform the player of the error so they may correct it or offer to correct for them. Also, you may notice an error that would work in your favor if you don't bring it up. This is simply bad gamesmanship. Tell them about the error and get it fixed.

Because of the complexity of the rules and the billions of possible combination of events that may occur, ambiguous situations and disputes may and probably will arise as to what should be done in a particular situation. Most of the time, common sense as to what would realistically take place should prevail. But if the players can not agree as to how to resolve the problem, all the players involved should state their case and then all players vote. The winning vote decides what should be done. If the vote is tied, than a member of each voting party rolls a D20, high die wins and makes the decision whether you think it's correct or not.

Also, if the rules are not clear as to what should be done in a particular situation, I strongly urge you to post the dispute in the TBK forums for an official ruling. If you do so, please be descriptive so I get a clear understanding of the problem and respond accordingly. Include a screenshot, if necessary. This is extremely helpful to other players, in case they run into similar situations, and to me as a game designer to see where the problems lie and what needs to be adjusted for future versions of the game and rule book.

As pointed out in the General Movement Rule, you cannot just pass your turn, i.e., you have to move somewhere unless you have you have the option to stay. Of course, in the real world, interruptions can take place: phone calls, unexpected visits, a pot boiling over on the stove, baby crying, spousal interference, etc.

If you know you're going to be AFK (away from keyboard) for a considerable amount of time, you may ask another player to take care of your character (if they agree) and then switch to observer so that the player can switch between their playerside and yours. Of course, by doing so, you are subject to the whims of the other player so it should be someone you can trust to not get you killed.

Or you can just leave and come back if it's only going to be for a few minutes. During this time, your character, and everything you possess - including independents and tagged items - are treated as if they do not exist. In other words, the location your token is in and the locations your independents and tagged items are in are considered empty and cannot be encountered in any way. These conditions remain in effect until you return.

Of course, if the other players decide to just wait for the player's return, that's fine too.

If a player knows they cannot continue in this campaign, they should switch sides to observer, if they wish to leave their current character open to be used by a new player, or use the [Kill Me] option on their token and then switch sides to observer making that playerside available for a new player to start with a fresh new character.

The complexity of the rules may be quite overwhelming for new players. If you're familiar with the game, help them. If you notice them getting into a nasty situation, remind them of a special ability or item they may have to help avoid that situation, remind them to update their attribute traits when they get a attribute point, etc. Even if it's not to your advantage to inform them of something, inform them anyway. If you notice someone committing an action contrary to the rules, bring out the rule book and point out the problem. In other words, teach ...because, if they're playing, they want to learn how to play it well.

Of course, players can always be helpful if they want, but there is a limit as to how far this helpful behavior should extend. It's the responsibility of the players to read the rule book and get as much of an understanding of the game as possible. In other words, they shouldn't strictly depend on others to the teach them how to play. Not taking responsibility for your own education of the game annoys people and slows down the game considerably. If your gaming group has had enough game sessions under it's belt to where the players should know what they are doing, then, if you notice a player could have done something else to improve their situation, let them worry about it. Players do have to stand on their own, eventually.

Players should always be considerate, though, and answer other players questions about what they can or cannot do or any point of rule, for that matter.

This is probably the most important rule of all. Be nice, enjoy, have fun. Treat your fellow players with respect and have a good time. Mean, argumentative, and obnoxious behavior improves nothing and can only serve to make the gaming experience disappointing.

Good luck and happy adventuring,
Rich "Dr Nostromo" Johnston