By Your Side

By Your Side: Beyond the Veil

Learn to play and rule reference.

Welcome#

In By Your Side: Beyond the Veil, two players are forced to step into a shifting astral landscape. There they explore a realm beyond time and space, face manifestations of both the void and the mind, recall forgotten memories, and confront pieces of themselves they have tried to suppress.

This is a cooperative card game about connection and the quiet courage it takes to trust each other. Together, you reshape your decks through shared sacrifice and reward. You grow and evolve through a give and take playstyle, and as your relationship deepens, so do your abilities.

Quick facts. 2 players. About 60 to 90 minutes per scenario. Start with Scenario 1.

Components#

Card types#

Cards belong to one of several types. Player cards (Actions, Items and Sigils) can be combined to suit different play styles and scenarios.

Action cards#

Actions have an immediate effect when played. They manipulate the Astral Planes, gain insight, or prepare you for the challenges ahead.

Severance is a subtype of Action. Severance cards Weaken Manifestations and Threats, and represent the players' ability to confront and overcome obstacles.

Item cards#

There are two kinds of Items: Talismans and Charms.

Talismans#

Talismans are played to your Player Area and provide persistent bonuses or abilities, often with cooldown.

When you play a Talisman and put it down in your Player Area, it is equipped. You may unequip a Talisman at any time by discarding it. This discard doesn't count toward other discard effects.

Equip limit. Each player can have at most 2 Talismans equipped at a time. This limit is not printed on the character boards, so the rule lives here.

Cooldown. Some Talismans say "or put it in cooldown". When you use a Talisman, put it in cooldown by turning it 90° clockwise. At the start of each following Player Phase, turn it another 90° clockwise (180°, then 270°). A Talisman can't be used while it is turned. At the start of the third Player Phase after the one in which you used it, it turns upright again and is ready. A Talisman can therefore be used in every third Player Phase and sits out the two in between.

Charms#

Charms are consumable, one-use items. Their effect activates when they are Banished.

Sigils#

Sigils are placed in your Player Area or on a card in the Astral Planes. They provide ongoing benefits or debuffs, or trigger effects when conditions are met.

Threats#

Threats challenge the players in different ways. You have to manage and deal with them to succeed on your quest.

Manifestations#

Manifestations are a subcategory of Threats. The beings you meet in the Astral Planes are manifestations: feelings or ideas that have taken form. Their presence is measured in Strength. The higher it is, the more effort it takes to Banish the manifestation from the Planes. Banishing a manifestation does not affect its origin. For example, you can Banish a manifestation of fear, but to be free of the fear itself you have to face and overcome it.

Apex Manifestations#

Some manifestations in the Astral Planes have such specific or strong sources that they have become self-contained in their ability to manifest. These transcendent beings are very diverse, but we call them Apex Manifestations.

The Watcher cards are the Apex Manifestations. They have boss status, and Apex is shown in the type line of the card. No other Threats are Apex yet. Effects that refer to non-Apex Threats, such as Stun and Kenneth's Watch, do not work on them. An Apex Manifestation is defeated instead of Banished. Its card says what happens next.

Intrusive thoughts#

Doubt and Exhaustion are Threats of the Intrusive thought kind. When one is revealed, it goes into a player's discard pile. It comes back when that pile is shuffled into the draw deck, and its In hand effect applies once it is drawn. Drawing a card does not count as revealing it.

The players decide together which player puts it in their discard pile. If they cannot agree, they work it out between themselves.

Environment cards#

Environment cards are neutral and can't be retrieved. Read their effects when they are revealed and tread carefully. They are not hostile, but they can still be dangerous.

Environment cards have no Strength. A Weaken action that targets an Environment card triggers its "When weakened" effect, whatever the amount. An effect that Weakens several cards Weakens each revealed card once, so it can trigger another Environment card next to it. Resolve each trigger fully before the next.

Event cards#

Event cards are triggers that move the scenario forward. When one is revealed, you read the next unread Event for the current scenario in the Campaign Book. The Event says what happens to the card.

Angels#

When an Angel is revealed in the Astral Planes, it opens the Angel's Offering, which gives players a chance to gain new cards to help them on their travels.

Component anatomy#

Cards#

Character boards#

Game board#

Scenarios and campaign#

This prototype of By Your Side: Beyond the Veil contains the first three scenarios of the Jolene and Rosi campaign. Player decks carry between scenarios throughout the campaign. Game mechanics are introduced gradually over the three scenarios.

Each scenario takes an estimated 60 to 90 minutes.

Scenarios are described in the Campaign Book. Each one includes:

The prototype is the three-scenario campaign. Free Play is not part of it.

Scenario flow#

If the loss condition is met, the scenario is lost. Return each player's deck to the state it had at the start of the scenario, as recorded in the Journal, and replay the scenario from the beginning.

Only what you do in the current attempt is recorded. Clear anything you marked in the Journal during a lost attempt (events read, Statuses and progress boxes). Deck changes are written to the Journal only when a scenario is won, so the start-of-scenario deck is always safe to return to. This changes the Journal's back side, which now says you mark your deck after each session.

When you replay a lost scenario, each player chooses one of these Charms: Garnet, Citrine Shard or Quartz Shard, and shuffles it into their deck before drawing the starting hand.

The Charm comes from the Archive. Each replay gives the bonus once. The Charm is not written to the Journal when you receive it. It is recorded with your deck only if you win the scenario and still have it, like any other card you keep.

Decisions matter. Some events offer individual or collective choices that affect future scenarios. Mark your choices and progress in the Journal when prompted.

Progress carries over. Player decks and rewards carry forward. Only Threats, temporary effects and Stability are reset between scenarios.

Stopping mid-scenario. If you stop in the middle of a scenario, start it again from the beginning with the deck saved in the Journal.

Cards you Retrieve, including Charms and Talismans, join your deck and stay in it when you win the scenario. Cards that were Banished do not come back after a win. If you lose a scenario and load your deck from the Journal, the deck is back to its state at the start of the scenario, so Retrieved and Banished cards from the lost attempt are undone.

The Journal#

In the Journal you track your scenario and campaign progress by filling it out as you play. You can later resume the game by referring to the Journal. It also records which cards are in your decks. Think of the Journal as the save and load component of the game. This way you can have multiple games going at the same time.

The Journal is a double-sided A5 sheet with one copy for each campaign. The front tracks where you are: the names of both players, a progress tracker with a checkbox for the prologue, each event and the epilogue of every scenario, a Statuses tracker for the choices events tell you to mark, and room for player notes. The back is the save and load side. For each player it lists the Action, Sigil and Item cards, and after each session you mark which cards are in that player's deck.

Setup#

Follow these steps before you begin a scenario. Each scenario may also give additional setup instructions in the Campaign Book. Watch for special setup rules and special rules in the scenario you are playing. We strongly recommend starting with Scenarios 1 to 3, which are designed to teach the rules gradually. If this is your first time playing, Scenario 1 guides you step by step through the first turn.

Draw cards from the Exploration Deck and place them face-down, one in each focused position, starting with position 1 and working out to position 5. In Scenario 1 every position is focused, so you draw five cards.

Draw your starting hand. Each player draws cards from their deck up to the hand limit (5). You start with 0 Energy and your Stability token on the maximum.

Once setup is complete, begin with the Player Phase.

How to play#

Objective#

Winning and losing are determined by each scenario in the Campaign Book.

Golden rule. If a card's text contradicts a rule in this book, the card wins. If an effect says you can't do something, that beats any effect that says you can.

Open information. This is a cooperative game, and you may talk about your plans and your hands freely. You may show your cards to the other player at any time.

Rounds and phases#

A scenario is played in rounds. Each round has two phases: the Player Phase, followed by the Astral Phase.

A round at a glance#

Each round follows the same sequence. The sections below give the details.

Player Phase. Before acting, resolve immediate effects on cards in your hand and rotate cards in cooldown 90° clockwise. Then act freely in any order: play cards, convert cards to Energy, Retrieve cards, activate Sigils, Items and Full Focus, focus a chakra, and Support the other player (from Scenario 2). When both players are finished, return unused Energy, discard played and converted cards, draw up to your hand limit and resolve end-of-phase effects.

Astral Phase. First check the Threshold: if it holds more than 7 Threats, the scenario is lost. Then the Planes shift: the card in position 1 crosses the Veil, the next card moves into position 1 and is revealed, and empty focused positions are refilled. Then Threats resolve: cards on the Threshold from oldest to newest, then revealed cards Beyond the Veil from the Veil outward.

Then a new round begins with the Player Phase.

Player Phase#

This is when you make decisions, play cards and interact with the Astral Planes to overcome Threats and progress toward your goal. Players act freely. There is no set order, and no limit to how many actions a player can take in a row. The phase continues until neither player can, or wants to, take any more actions.

Energy. Energy is kept per player. You have no Energy at the start of a Player Phase. You gain it by converting cards and from card effects such as Humming Bee Breath. Unused Energy is returned at the end of the Player Phase.

Before taking actions#

Available actions#

During the Player Phase, you may do the following in any order:

Keeping cards#

You may keep any number of cards in your hand instead of playing or discarding them. Cards kept this way stay in your hand for the next round.

Ending the Player Phase#

When both players are finished, the Player Phase ends.

Resolve any effects that trigger at the end of the Player Phase. Then the Astral Phase begins.

Drawing cards and hand limit#

A character's hand limit is 5 cards. Effects can raise or lower that number. If your hand limit is reduced below the number of cards in your hand, you don't discard cards, but you can't draw cards if doing so would put you over the limit.

When you draw cards, draw as many as you can up to your hand limit. If an effect tells you to draw more cards than you have room for, you draw only as many as you can.

Once either player begins drawing cards to refill their hand, no further Player Phase actions may be performed. The moment both players finish refilling their hands marks the end of the Player Phase.

The Astral Phase#

During the Astral Phase you move further into the Astral Planes, and the Planes react to your presence. Follow these steps in order.

Threats that enter the Threshold are placed to the right of any Threats already there, so the leftmost card is the oldest. When all card movements and effects are resolved, the Astral Phase ends and a new Player Phase starts.

Refill. Whenever cards move, draw cards from the Exploration Deck and place one face-down in each empty focused position. In the Astral Phase the refill happens after all movement is done. A card placed in position 1 is revealed. If the Exploration Deck runs out, leave the position empty. A box that has just become focused is filled at the next refill, not at once.

Closing gaps. When a card leaves a position Beyond the Veil, for example because it is Retrieved or Banished, or an Event is read and Banished, the cards behind it move forward at once to fill the gap, skipping unfocused positions. Then the Planes are refilled. A card that moves into position 1 is revealed. Cards only cross the Veil in the Astral Phase.

Moving a card. When an effect moves a card Beyond the Veil to another focused position, the card leaves its position and the cards in between shift one step to close that gap and, at the same time, make room at the destination. Nothing is swapped, Banished or discarded. Back means away from the Veil, toward position 5. The cards that shift skip unfocused positions, as they do in the Astral Phase.

Veil Surge#

A Veil Surge happens only in the Astral Phase. If a Threat crosses the Veil and the next card to move into position 1 is also a Threat, that Threat follows it across. This can create dangerous chain reactions. The chain is limited to three Threats in total, counting the first one. The chain breaks when the card that moves into position 1 is not a Threat. A card that is revealed and then read or Banished, such as an Event, also breaks it, even if a Threat comes right behind. A Threat that is stopped by the limit or by a break stays in position 1 and crosses in the next Astral Phase.

A Threat moved to the Threshold by an effect, such as Anger's, doesn't count toward the limit of three. Cards only cross the Veil in the Astral Phase. A card revealed at any other time, such as during the Player Phase, doesn't cross the Veil.

Example round#

Detailed rules#

Events#

Events represent significant moments, choices or twists in the narrative. They move the story forward, offer the players choices, or introduce consequences based on earlier decisions. Event cards are part of the Exploration Deck. When an Event card is revealed, read the next unread Event for the current scenario in the Campaign Book. The Event says whether the Event card is Banished, shuffled into the Exploration Deck or put at the bottom of it. Events that belong to an Apex Manifestation are read only when its card tells you to, for example when a Watcher is defeated. Event cards skip them and read the next unread Event that is not tied to a card. The Journal tracks which Events you have read. Read an Event as soon as it is triggered.

Dice#

Dice are introduced in Scenario 3. The game uses one six-sided die. When a card tells you to roll a die, roll it and use the result the card gives for that number. When an effect lets you re-roll a die, roll it again. The new result replaces the old one and cannot be re-rolled again unless a card says so. When an effect lets you raise or lower a result by 1, do it before the card reads the result.

Position, adjacency and range#

The Astral Planes#

The Astral Planes are the shared play area where you meet and confront Threats. They have two parts: the Threshold and the area Beyond the Veil.

The Threshold is the part of the Astral Planes closest to you. It represents the immediate present, where what lies ahead becomes real and can be confronted directly. The Veil divides the Threshold from the rest of the Astral Planes. The area Beyond the Veil is made up of positions 1 to 5. These positions represent what lies ahead. Position 1 is closest to the Threshold and position 5 is farthest away. Threats that cross the Veil stay on the Threshold, are adjacent to both players, and resolve in every Astral Phase until they are Banished. The Threshold holds at most 7 Threats. If more than 7 Threats are on the Threshold at the beginning of an Astral Phase, the scenario is lost.

As the game progresses, you move deeper into the Astral Planes and what is yet to come moves closer to the Threshold. Cards enter at position 5 and move toward the Threshold over time.

Cards in position 1 are always revealed. They represent what you can perceive just beyond the Veil. Cards farther away are not yet fully known and may need to be revealed through other effects.

Player Area#

Each player also has an individual Player Area, which is separate from the Astral Planes. This is where you manage your hand, Charms, Talismans and other personal cards. The Player Area is considered adjacent to the Threshold but is not part of the Astral Planes.

Adjacency#

Cards are adjacent if they are in neighboring positions.

Range#

Some effects specify a range, which limits how far away they can target. A card is within range if its distance from the Threshold is equal to or less than the effect's range value. For example, to target a card in position 3, an effect must have a range of at least 3.

Effects that target adjacent cards may only target cards adjacent to the players or to the specified card. If an effect doesn't specify a range or adjacency requirement, it may target any valid card in the Astral Planes.

Targeting areas#

Valid targets#

Unless the card says otherwise, an effect can only target a revealed card, and the card must be one the effect can affect (an effect that Weakens needs a Threat or another card that can be Weakened). Effects that move cards or Scout can also target face-down cards Beyond the Veil.

Card effects and trigger timing#

Card effects resolve immediately. If an effect has several parts, resolve them in the order written on the card. If part of an effect can't be resolved, resolve as much of it as possible unless stated otherwise.

Some effects are automatic and trigger when specific conditions are met. These are triggered effects. They begin with phrases such as:

Triggered effects resolve automatically whenever their condition is fulfilled. If several forced effects trigger at the same time, resolve them starting with the effect closest to the source of the triggering event and continuing outward. If effects are tied for distance, the players choose the order. A card must finish resolving before another triggered effect begins.

Effects that contain the word "may" are optional. Optional triggered effects may be resolved before, between or after other triggered effects.

If a card leaves play while its effect is resolving, the effect still resolves unless stated otherwise.

When an effect says "one player" or "either character", the players decide together which character it affects.

Retrieving cards#

Cards with a retrieve cost in their lower-right corner may be Retrieved while they are revealed in the Astral Planes. To Retrieve a card, pay its retrieve cost in Energy and place the card in your discard pile, unless stated otherwise. Environment cards can't be Retrieved.

Playing cards#

During the Player Phase, you may play cards from your hand by paying their play cost in Energy, unless stated otherwise. To play a card:

Different card types are placed differently after being played:

Played Action cards are not considered to be in your hand, in your discard pile or in the Astral Planes.

Discarding cards#

Discarding has several functions in this game. You can discard cards at any time, and only your own cards.

You may discard cards to:

Discard pile#

Discarded cards are placed face-up in your own discard pile next to your draw deck. You may not browse the discard pile unless stated otherwise. Some cards or situations let you browse, Retrieve, Banish or otherwise interact with cards in your discard pile, and they say so explicitly. Some effects require you to discard a card as a penalty or cost. These discards don't trigger any other discard effects.

Shuffling the discard pile#

When you are about to draw a card and your draw deck is empty, immediately shuffle your discard pile to form a new draw deck. If your discard pile is empty as well, add Exhaustion cards from the Archive instead, until you reach your hand limit.

Activating Sigils#

Sigils are played into a Player Area or attached to valid cards in the Astral Planes, as described by their effect. Marked and Mental Chains go on a Threat Beyond the Veil, and they are discarded when that Threat crosses the Veil or is Banished.

Some Sigils have triggered effects that resolve when their conditions are met. Some triggers are automatic and immediate and can't be ignored. Others are optional. Other Sigils provide ongoing effects while they remain in play.

You can have up to 3 Sigils in play. Marked and Mental Chains do not count toward this limit. You may discard your own Sigils at any time during the Player Phase, so to play a Sigil above the limit, discard one first.

Scout action#

A Scout action lets you do one of the following:

To Reveal a card is to turn it face-up. Immediately resolve any When revealed effects. To Peek at a card is to look at a face-down card without revealing it. Cards in position 1 are always revealed.

Scout 1: perform one Scout action, which is either a Reveal or a Peek.

Confronting and Weakening Threats#

You confront Threats by using card effects, Sigils, Talismans and other abilities that Weaken them. To Weaken a Threat is to reduce its Strength. When a Threat's Strength is reduced to 0, it is immediately Banished. A Threat can only be targeted if it is a valid target within the effect's specified range or adjacency. If an effect doesn't specify a range or adjacency requirement, it may target any valid revealed card in the Astral Planes.

When a Threat is Weakened, reduce its Strength by the specified amount. If a Threat would lose more Strength than it has left, the excess is ignored and doesn't transfer to another target unless stated explicitly. Some effects Weaken several Threats at once. Resolve each target separately, in any order you choose.

Threats on the Threshold and revealed Threats Beyond the Veil can both be confronted unless stated otherwise.

If a Threat is Banished while an effect is resolving, complete any Reward effects before you continue resolving the remaining effects.

Banishing cards#

To Banish a card is to remove it from the current game and return it to the Archive (the game box). A card may be Banished from the Threshold, from the Astral Planes, or from a player's hand, deck or discard pile when a rule or card effect says so. A Manifestation reduced to 0 Strength is automatically Banished. Banished cards are not discarded and are considered out of play.

Banishing as a trigger#

Reward effects always trigger when the card is Banished, regardless of what caused it. If several cards are Banished at the same time, resolve their Reward effects one at a time.

The order of Reward effects does not matter. When a Reward says "one player", the players decide together which player receives it.

Banishing as an activator#

Some cards, such as many Charms, have effects that begin with "You may Banish this card to...". These effects only trigger when you voluntarily Banish the card to activate its effect. If the card is forced to be Banished, its activation effect doesn't trigger. Any Reward effects on the card still resolve.

The Archive#

The Archive is the game box. It holds every card that is not in a deck, in play or in the Astral Planes. Banished cards return to the Archive, including Charms after they resolve.

Some rules and card effects let you take a specific card from the Archive, for example a Citrine Shard or an Exhaustion card. Take the card and put it where the effect says.

When the Archive runs out. If a rule or card effect tells you to take a card from the Archive and no copy of that card is left there, you do not get that card and nothing takes its place. The rest of the effect still resolves. This can happen if more copies of a card are in the decks and in play than the game holds. The Exhaustion rule under Shuffling the discard pile works the same way: if the Archive holds no Exhaustion cards, none are added.

Support actions#

The Support action lets the players help each other. It is unlocked in the prologue of Scenario 2.

Once per player and Player Phase, you may perform a Support action by discarding one of your cards. It gives the other player a benefit. Some cards benefit from being supported. For example, "Weaken +1 if supported" means the card gets stronger if the other player discards a card to support it.

A Support action has one effect, which you choose when you perform it: the other player gains 1 Energy, or a card the other player is playing gets its "If supported" bonus.

To support a card, you perform the Support action while the other player is playing it, before it resolves.

Focus, chakras and character abilities#

Focus on the game board#

The game board has Focus boxes next to the card positions, the Exploration Deck, the Angel's Offering and Support. A box that holds a Focus token is focused. Only focused positions receive cards. Position 1 is always focused. The Angel's Offering and Support stay locked until a scenario unlocks them. Each scenario's setup says which boxes start focused. Spare Focus tokens wait in the Focus reserve. When you focus a chakra, you take the token either from the reserve, which leaves the board as it is, or from a focused box on the board. You choose which box gives up its token, and that box becomes unfocused. Taking Focus off the board has a cost: fewer positions hold cards and fewer board features are open. When Focus tokens return to the board (Crown, Full Focus), the player puts each one on an unfocused box of their choice. A box that becomes focused this way stays empty until the next Astral Phase, when the Planes are refilled. Nothing is refilled or shifted straight away. If every box is already focused, the returned token goes to the Focus reserve.

The Exploration Deck has a Focus box too. If it is not focused, a player's effect can't look at the Exploration Deck, reorder it, put cards on it or take cards from it. This covers Scout (Peek) and the cards Foresight and Stagger, and Prophecy skips the Exploration Deck. The Exploration Deck still works as a board mechanic: the refill in the Astral Phase and anything a scenario or an Event tells you to do don't need Focus.

Losing Focus. If a position that loses its Focus token holds a card, nothing moves at once. The card stays there until a shift or a closing gap moves it toward the Veil. No card can move into an unfocused position, so cards skip it. Keep track of which positions are focused.

Chakras#

Each character board has five chakras: Crown, Third Eye, Heart, Sacral and Root. Once per Player Phase, pay 2 Energy to focus one of your chakras by moving 1 Focus token from the Focus reserve or from a focused box on the main board onto that chakra. Chakras and Focus are introduced in Scenario 1, in Event 4. Chakra abilities use two wordings. "When focused" means the effect happens once, when you place the Focus token. "While focused" means the ability is available for as long as the chakra holds a Focus token. Each player may move a Focus token onto a chakra or off a chakra (including Crown) once per Player Phase.

The chakra abilities are:

Third Eye is still "??" on both boards. Jolene: look at the top card of your draw deck, and you may move it to the bottom. Rosi: place 1 card from your discard pile on top of your draw deck. These effects are placeholders and have not been playtested.

Full Focus#

When all five chakras on your board hold a Focus token, you have reached Full Focus. You may then return all five Focus tokens to use your character's Full Focus ability. Using Full Focus doesn't count as this move, so you may place a token and use Full Focus in the same Player Phase.

Jolene's Prophecy. Return all 5 Focus tokens. You may:

Rosi's Catharsis. Return all 5 Focus tokens. You may:

Rosi's board says "Deal X damage". The rules use "Weaken ... by X in total" to match the rest of the game, so the board needs the same change.

Angels and offerings#

When an Angel is revealed in the Astral Planes, immediately draw 2 Charms and 1 Talisman and place them face-up below the Angel's Offering card. This is the Angel's Offering. Then flip the Angel's Offering card over to its open side.

While the Offering is open, each player may, once per Player Phase, do one of the following:

When a player retrieves a card from the Offering, immediately fill the empty slot with the top card of the matching deck (Charm or Talisman).

The Offering stays open as long as an Angel is revealed. An Angel that crosses the Veil is Banished. When no revealed Angels remain, put all unretrieved cards from the Offering on the bottom of their respective decks without shuffling, then flip the Angel's Offering card back over.

Another Angel: when an Angel is revealed while the Offering is already open, the players may replace any cards in the Offering, up to all of them. Each replaced card goes to the bottom of its deck and is replaced by the top card of the matching deck (Charm or Talisman). This applies every time a further Angel is revealed.

In the prototype, Angels are plain. They have no individual abilities or special rules, and all Angels work the same way through the Offering.

Stability#

Stability is a character's mental health and fortitude. It represents how strong their silver cord tether is, their psychic connection to their body. If a character finds themselves in the Astral Planes with a severed silver cord, they can no longer find their way back to their physical body. Stability can't go below 0.

Stability can't go above the top of your character board's track (8 for Jolene, 9 for Rosi). The tracks stop there, and Catharsis counts Stability you are missing from that maximum.

Negating loss#

When your character is about to lose Stability, you can negate some or all of the loss by discarding cards from your hand. Only the player whose character is losing Stability can do this. Each discarded card negates 1 point of the loss.

Unconscious characters#

If a character drops to 0 Stability, that character falls unconscious. This means:

Bringing back an unconscious character#

If an unconscious character gains Stability, they automatically regain consciousness. Stability can come from the other player's actions or from a triggered Sigil, such as Respite. As soon as an unconscious character gains Stability, they are no longer unconscious. They don't draw a new hand at once. They draw up to their hand limit at the next end of a Player Phase, which is the current Player Phase if they were brought back during one. Until then they may act as usual in every other way.

If both characters are unconscious at the same time, the scenario is lost.

Symbols and icons#

Glossary#

Short definitions of the terms used on the cards and in this rule reference.

Adjacent. Cards in neighboring positions. Cards on the Threshold are adjacent to the Player Areas, to each other and to the card in position 1.

Apex Manifestation. A boss Threat. The Watcher cards are Apex Manifestations.

Archive. The game box. Banished cards go back there.

Banish. Remove a card from the current game and return it to the Archive.

Beyond the Veil. Positions 1 to 5 of the Astral Planes.

Charm. A consumable, one-use Item. Most Charms work when you Banish them.

Cooldown. A Talisman you have used is turned 90° clockwise each Player Phase. It is ready again at the start of the third Player Phase after the one in which you used it.

Defeated. How an Apex Manifestation is overcome instead of being Banished. The card says what happens next.

Dice. The six-sided die, used from Scenario 3. Roll it when a card says so. See Dice.

Echo. A Threat Manifestation tied to the Watcher of the Veil. The Watcher and some Events place Echoes on the Threshold. Each Echo resolves in the Astral Phase and costs more the more Echoes have already resolved that phase. The Watcher's second stage is overcome by Banishing six Echoes. Echoes count toward the limit of 7 Threats on the Threshold.

Energy. Kept per player. You have none at the start of a Player Phase. Gain it by converting cards and from card effects. Unused Energy is returned at the end of the Player Phase.

Equipped. A Talisman in your Player Area is equipped. Each player can have 2 equipped.

Focus, focused. A game board box or a chakra that holds a Focus token is focused.

Manifestation. A Threat that is a feeling or idea given form. Its presence is measured in Strength.

Move. Take a card out of its position Beyond the Veil and insert it at another focused position. The cards in between shift one step to close the gap and make room. See Moving a card. Back means away from the Veil, toward position 5.

Peek. Look at a face-down card or deck without turning it face-up.

Player Area. Your personal area for your hand, Charms, Talismans and Sigils. It is adjacent to the Threshold only.

Range. How far from the Threshold an effect can reach.

Retrieve. Pay a card's retrieve cost in Energy to take a revealed card from the Astral Planes into your discard pile.

Reveal. Turn a face-down card face-up.

Reward. An effect that resolves when a Threat is Banished.

Scout. An action that lets you Reveal a face-down card Beyond the Veil or Peek at a card or deck.

Severance. A subtype of cards that Weaken Manifestations and Threats.

Sigil. A card placed in a Player Area or on a card in the Astral Planes. It gives ongoing effects or triggers when its conditions are met. You can have 3 Sigils in play.

Strength. How tough a Threat is, shown by Strength tokens on the card. A Threat at 0 Strength is Banished.

Support. An action, once per player and Player Phase: discard a card to give the other player 1 Energy or an "If supported" bonus on a card they are playing.

Talisman. An Item that provides lasting bonuses once equipped, often with cooldown.

Threshold. The part of the Astral Planes where Threats that crossed the Veil wait and resolve their effects each Astral Phase. It holds at most 7 Threats.

Veil Surge. A Threat crossing the Veil is followed across by the next Threat, up to three in a row.

Weaken. Reduce a Threat's Strength by removing Strength tokens from it.