Gamehelpcosmicritual

Goal

Each player is committed to both an Omniscient One and a Form of Essence. Players will place essence on ritual sites corresponding to either the Omniscient Ones or Forms of Essence that were drafted during setup.

When committing to an Omniscient One, you gain an ability unique to that Omniscient One that can be used every cycle. When committing to a Form of Essence, you may pay costs in that colour with a nearby colour (or vice versa).

Phase Structure

A cycle consists of three phases:

1) Ritual Sacrifice

Players manage their cultists in this phase, thus dictating their income and actions for the cycle. Turn order for the next cycle is determined here.

2) Scheming

Players place their cultists on action cards to perform actions, thus executing their strategy.

3) End of a Cycle

Clean-up phase in which you set up for the next cycle. Move the cycle marker to the next cycle space shown on the tracker. If this would move past the VI space, the game ends.

Ritual Sacrifice

Simultaneously bid the number of cultists you wish to sacrifice for the cycle. You place a bidding card from your hand faceup onto your bidding card stack. In turn order, you transfer cultists from your pool to your pyre equal to your bid to gain that much essence. Next cycle’s turn order is then determined as follows: the player with the highest bid goes first. If two or more players are tied, the player who is earliest in the current cycle’s turn order goes first. The remaining player positions are determined using the same rules.

Scheming

In turn order, place your remaining cultists on revealed action cards one at a time. You must be able to pay the cost of the space you place your cultist on; otherwise, you sacrifice that cultist and skip your action. Every cultist you place must be connected to the ritual site board or action cards you occupy. To reach an outer action card, you may bypass an inner action card adjacent to it by paying 1 essence matching that inner action card. When a player’s action is skipped, they may convert 1 essence in their pool to a nearby colour or a colour with a star you've unlocked.

End of a Cycle

For cycles 1-5: Advance the current cycle token (clockwise) to the next action card in the inner ring and regain your cultists to your pool. If there are three bidding cards in your stack, draw all of those bidding cards into your hand.

Scoring

Commitment tokens indicate the row and column of the ritual site board you use to count tribute to the Omniscient Ones. After the sixth cycle, count your tribute as follows:

- For each colour, SUM your essence (including prophecies), unlocked leaves, and unlocked stars

- Count a colour IF you have essence in its ritual site along the column of your committed Omniscient One (count it twice IF you have 2 essence there)

- For each counted colour, count the sum UP TO the number of essence in ritual sites along the row of your committed Form of Essence

The player with the most tribute is crowned the winner. If there is a tie, tiebreakers are:

1. Player with the most colours that count towards their tribute

2. Player with the most essence on their ritual sites

3. Earliest player in the next cycle’s turn order

If no player has offered any tribute, then the Omniscient Ones fail to answer your plea and all players lose.