The classical abstract game in card form.
Special rules
Actions do not go in the deck. They're played depending on your gesture queue.
You have two 'hands'. You play Things on either of those Hands, forming a queue. When the last Things of the queue form a certain sequence, you've launched a spell.
Card List
Thing
S-P-F Anti-spell
P-S-D-F Charm person
D-S-F Confusion
F-F-F Paralysis
Thing
D-P-P Amnesia
W-F-P Cause light wounds
W-P-P Counter-spell
D-W-S-S-S-P Delayed effect
W-W-P Protection from evil
P-D-W-P Remove enchantment
S-S-F-P Resist cold
W-W-F-P Resist heat
P Shield
PP Surrender!
Thing
W-W-S Counter-spell
CC-S-W-W-S Summon elemental
P-P-WW-SS Invisibility
Thing
D-F-P-W Cure heavy wounds
D-F-W Cure light wounds
CC-D-P-W Dispel magic
S-P-F-P-S-D-W Permanency
W-F-P-S-F-W Summon giant
S-F-W Summon goblin
P-S-F-W Summon ogre
F-P-S-F-W Summon troll
CC-WW Magic mirror
Thing
W-P-F-D Cause heavy wounds
P-S-D-D Charm monster
S-W-D Fear
P-W-P-F-S-S-S-D Finger of death
F-S-S-D-D Fireball
D-F-F-D-D Lightning bolt
S-D Missile
D-W-W-F-W-D Poison
D-W-F-F-DD Blindness
Thing
Always uses two hands.
D-S-F-F-F-CC Disease
S-W-W-CC Fire storm
P-W-P-W-W-CC Haste
W-S-S-CC Ice storm
D-W-W-F-W-CC Raise dead
S-P-P-CC Time stop
W-D-D-CC Lightning bolt*
Shield
Action
P
Protects subject from monster attacks, missile spells, and stabs for this turn.
Remove enchantment
Action
P-D-W-P
Removes all Enchantments on subject. If cast on a Monster, destroys that Monster at the end of the turn.
Magic mirror
Action
C-(w
Any spell cast at the subject of this spell is reflected back at the caster of that spell for this turn. Does not affect spells with more than one target.
Counter-spell
Action
W-P-P *or* W-W-S
Any other spell cast upon the subject in this turn has no effect whatever.
Dispel magic
Action
C-D-P-W
Remove all Enchantments. Destroy all Monsters at the end of the turn. Any other spell cast in this turn has no effect whatever.
Raise dead
Action
D-W-W-F-W-C
Can target destroyed monsters. Remove all Enchantments on subject. If subject is destroyed, return them to play with no damage; otherwise, heal up to 5 points of damage.
Cure light wounds
Action
D-F-W
Recover one point of damage on subject.
Cure heavy wounds
Action
D-F-P-W
Recover two points of damage on subject. Remove up to one Disease from subject.
Summon Goblin
Action
S-F-W
Put a token Goblin in play (Attack 1, HP 1), targeting the non-Elemental subject. It may attack immediately.
Summon Ogre
Action
P-S-F-W
Put a token Ogre in play (Attack 2, HP 2), targeting the non-Elemental subject. It may attack immediately.
Summon Troll
Action
F-P-S-F-W
Put a token Troll in play (Attack 3, HP 3), targeting the non-Elemental subject. It may attack immediately.
Summon Giant
Action
W-F-P-S-F-W
Put a token Giant in play (Attack 4, HP 4), targeting the non-Elemental subject. It may attack immediately.
Summon Elemental
Action
C-S-W-W-S
Put a token Ice Elemental or Fire Elemental in play (Attack 3, HP 3), targeting a subject. It deals 3 damage to everyone not resisting its element at the end of every turn. If another Elemental of the same type comes into play, destroy this one. If a Elemental of different type comes into play, destroy both.
Missile
Action
S-D
Deal 1 damage to subject.
Finger of Death
Action
P-W-P-F-S-S-S-D
Kill the subject. Cannot be affected by counterspells.
Lightning Bolt
Action
D-F-F-D-D or W-D-D-C
Deal 5 damage to subject. Shorter gesture may be used only once by each wizard.
Cause Light Wounds
Action
W-F-P
Deal 2 damage to subject.
Cause Heavy Wounds
Action
W-P-F-D
Deal 3 damage to subject.
Fireball
Action
F-S-S-D-D
Deal 5 damage to subject unless they are resistant to fire.
Fire storm
Action
S-W-W-C
Cancel an ice storm or an ice elemental. If you can't, deal 5 damage to all subjects not resistant to fire.
Ice storm
Action
W-S-S-C
Cancel a fire storm or a fire elemental. If you can't, deal 5 damage to all subjects not resistant to ice.
Amnesia
Action - Mental
D-P-P
If subject is a wizard, next turn they must play a token duplicate of the last gesture on each hand on that hand. If subject is a monster, on the next turn it'll attack the same target it attacked this turn.
Confusion
Action - Mental
D-S-F
If the subject of this spell is a wizard, next turn he writes down his gestures as usual and after exposing them, rolls 2 dice to determine which gesture is superseded due to his being confused. The first die indicates left hand on 1-3, right on 4-6. The second roll determines what the gesture for that hand shall be replaced with: 1=C, 2=D, 3=F, 4=P, 5=S, 6=W. If the subject of the spell is a monster, it attacks at random that turn. If the subject is also the subject of any of: 'amnesia', 'charm person', 'charm monster', 'paralysis' or 'fear', none of the spells work.
Charm Person
Action
P-S-D-F
Except for cancellation with other enchantments, this spell only affects humans. The subject is told which of his hands will be controlled at the time the spell hits, and in the following turn, the caster of the spell writes down the gesture he wants the subject's named hand to perform. This could be a stab or nothing. (Some people, myself included do not allow the gesture to be nothing. Makes the game more exciting, as there is no reason to choose any non-nothing gesture when you have the choice. -- B) If the subject is only so because of a reflection from a 'magic mirror' the subject of the mirror assumes the role of caster and writes down his opponent's gesture. If the subject is also the subject of any of 'amnesia', 'confusion', 'charm monster', 'paralysis' or 'fear', none of the spells work.
Charm Monster
Action
P-S-D-D
Except for cancellation with other enchantments, this spell only affects monsters (excluding elementals). Control of the monster is transferred to the caster of the spell (or retained by him) as of this turn, i.e. the monster will attack whosoever its new controller dictates from that turn onwards including that turn. Further charms are, of course, possible, transferring as before. If the subject of the charm is also the subject of any of: 'amnesia', 'confusion', 'charm person', 'fear' or 'paralysis', none of the spells work.
Paralysis
Action
F-F-F
If the subject of the spell is a wizard, then on the turn the spell is cast, after gestures have been revealed, the caster selects one of the wizard's hands and on the next turn that hand is paralyzed into the position it is in this turn. If the wizard already had a paralyzed hand, it must be the same hand which is paralyzed again. Certain gestures remain the same but if the hand being paralyzed is performing a C, S or W it is instead paralyzed into F, D or P respectively, otherwise it will remain in the position written down (this allows repeated stabs). A favourite ploy is to continually paralyze a hand (F-F-F-F-F-F etc.) into a non-P gesture and then set a monster on the subject so that he has to use his other hand to protect himself, but then has no defence against other magical attacks. If the subject of the spell is a monster (excluding elementals which are unaffected) it simply does not attack in the turn following the one in which the spell was cast. If the subject of the spell is also the subject of any of 'amnesia', 'confusion', 'charm person', 'charm monster' or 'fear', none of the spells work.
Fear
Action
S-W-D
In the turn following the casting of this spell, the subject cannot perform a C, D, F or S gesture. This obviously has no effect on monsters. If the subject is also the subject of 'amnesia', 'confusion', 'charm person', 'charm monster' or 'paralysis', then none of the spells work.
Anti-spell
Action
S-P-F
On the turn following the casting of this spell, the subject cannot include any gestures made on or before this turn in a spell sequence and must restart a new spell from the beginning of that spell sequence. The spell does not affect spells which are cast on the same turn nor does it affect monsters.
Protection from Evil
Action
W-W-P
For this turn and the following 3 turns the subject of this spell is protected as if using a 'shield' spell, thus leaving both hands free. Concurrent 'shield' spells offer no further protection and compound 'protection from evil' spells merely overlap offering no extra cover.
Resist Heat
Action
W-W-F-P
The subject of this spell becomes totally resistant to all forms of heat attack ('fireball', 'fire storm' and fire elementals). Only 'dispel magic' or 'remove enchantment' will terminate this resistance once started (although a 'counter-spell' will prevent it from working if cast at the subject at the same time as this spell). A 'resist heat' cast directly on a fire elemental will destroy it before it can attack that turn, but there is no effect on ice elementals.
Resist Cold
Action
S-S-F-P
The effects of this spell are identical to 'resist heat' but resistance is to cold ('ice storm' and ice elementals) and it destroys ice elementals if they are the subject of the spell but doesn't affect fire elementals.
Disease
Action
D-S-F-F-F-C
The subject of this spell immediately contracts a deadly (non-contagious) disease which will kill him at the end of 6 turns counting from the one upon which the spell is cast. The malady is cured by 'remove enchantment' or 'cure heavy wounds' or 'dispel magic' in the meantime.
Poison
Action
D-W-W-F-W-D
This is the same as the disease spell except that 'cure heavy wounds' does not stop its effects.
Blindness
Action
D-W-F-F-(d
For the next 3 turns not including the one in which the spell was cast, the subject is unable to see. If he is a wizard, he cannot tell what his opponent's gestures are, although he must be informed of any which affect him (e.g. summons spells, 'missile' etc cast at him) but not 'counter- spells' to his own 'attacks. Indeed he will not know if his own spells work unless they also affect him (e.g. a 'fire storm' when he isn't resistant to fire.) He can control his monsters (e.g. "Attack whatever it was that just attacked me"). Blinded monsters are instantly destroyed and cannot attack in that turn.
Invisibility
Action
P-P-WW-SS
Destroy subject if it is a monster. Subject takes no damage from monsters and stabs. Flip subject's gesture cards face down.
Haste
Action
P-W-P-W-W-C
For the next 3 turns, subject must play an extra gesture if able. If they play more than one gesture in the same hand, they may launch spells for each gesture.
Time stop
Action
S-P-P-C
Subject takes an extra turn after this one.
Delayed effect
Action
D-W-S-S-S-P
Subject wizard's next spell can be held in hand and played later.
Permanency
Action
S-P-F-P-S-D-W
Subject wizard's next spell is made permanent: every turn after its casting, it will be recast with the same target and effect.
Surrender
Action
PP
Forfeit the game. Do not perform this gesture accidentally.
Stab
Action
/
Deal 1 damage to subject. Not a spell, so it cannot be mirrored or dispelled.