2022 BGG rank #451

Pagan: Fate of Roanoke

2 players 30–60 min Ages 12+ 3.0/5 complexity 7.0/10 rating

About this game

Pagan: Fate of Roanoke is an expandable deduction card game set in the colonial America of 1587. The essence of this asymmetrical game is a witch's struggle against a witch hunter. As the witch strives to complete a ritual of renaturation, the hunter tries to discover her true identity among nine villagers. Each turn, the two players use their action pawns on active villagers to draw cards, play cards, and gain influence. Each player has their own variable card deck of fifty cards; with these cards, the witch can brew powerful potions, improve their familiar, and cast enchantments and charms, while the witch hunter enlists allies, claim strategic locations, and ruthlessly investigates the villagers. As the witch, your objective is to collect enough secrets to perform a ritual so potent that the entire region will fall under your spell and Mother Nature will reclaim the island. As the hunter, you gather all the allies and support you can muster to bring the witch to justice before her fatal ritual comes to fruition. The prototype won the Danish design award Otto at the Fastaval for best game of show in 2018. -description from publisher

What it feels like

Hand Management Variable Player Powers Area Majority / Influence Worker Placement Action Points Turn Order: Claim Action Deck Construction Deduction Adventure Fantasy Card Game Deduction Bluffing Witches

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Setup

1. Decide who plays as the Witch and who plays as the Hunter. 2. The Witch receives 2 regular Action pawns (¨) and 1 Familiar Action pawn (≈), the Witch player board, and the green Influence disc. 3. The Hunter receives 3 Action pawns (®), the Hunter player board, and the red Influence disc. 4. Assemble the 3-part village board at the center of the table and place the Enchantment board to one side of it. 5. Place the 9 villager cards on the village board in their corresponding positions by color and symbol (red, blue, green). 6. Shuffle the 9 Suspect cards to form the Suspect deck. 7. The Witch secretly draws the top card of the Suspect deck — this Suspect is the true Witch for the game. Keep this card hidden from the Hunter. 8. Both players shuffle their 50 cards to form their respective decks. 9. Place all remaining tokens (Clues, Evidence, Secrets, Favors) in the general supply. 10. Both players draw 3 hand cards from their respective decks. 11. Both players set their Influence disc to 2. 12. (Optional) Place a player aid card next to your board if playing for the first time.

Turn flow

The Witch takes the first turn. Players alternate turns. Each turn has two phases: UPKEEP PHASE (in order): 1. Return all your Action pawns to your supply. 2. Perform any "at the start of Upkeep" effects on cards in play. 3. Perform obligatory ("must") "during Upkeep" effects first, then any voluntary ("may") "during Upkeep" effects in any order. 4. Hunter only: Pay Influence equal to the total Upkeep cost of all Allies in play. Discard any Ally whose Upkeep you do not pay. 5. Perform any "at the end of Upkeep" effects on cards in play. 6. Discard down to 7 cards if you have more than 7 cards in hand. ACTION PHASE: Place 3 Action pawns (one at a time) on available action spots to carry out the corresponding action. There are two types: A. Villager Action — Place a pawn on a ready (unoccupied) villager to visit it. B. Player Board Action — Place a pawn on an action spot on your player board or on a ready Location card. Special first-turn rule for the Witch: On the very first turn, the Witch only has 2 regular Action pawns and must use them to visit villagers of the same faction.