Legends of the New YearBy Mark Stamp

04/01/2016

Introduction

Legends of the New Year is a board game set in the depths ofChina’s past, in an age where myth and history blurred. Once a year,for one night, the dreaded spirit lord Nian emerges from theShadow Realm to devour entire villages and their livestock.

One night, four mysterious travellers arrived in one of the villagesliving in fear of Nian. The travellers promised to rid the villagers ofthe beast and promised that with their wisdom, Nian would neverterrorise their village again.

The game itself is the night these travellers made good on theirpromise. And it will be up to the players to use the knowledge ofthese mysterious travellers to protect the village from Nian’s terror.

The Mysterious Traveller

The Mysterious Traveller

Coming from parts unknown, the traveller is an outsider to the village. He is known towander the valleys and mountains of China, protecting villagers hunting Nian whereverit appears. Why he does this is unknown, as he rarely speaks about anything beyondprotecting people from becoming Nian’s quarry.

Despite his human appearance, the traveller has an in-depth knowledge of Nian andhis weaknesses. Which he uses to drive the beast away wherever it emerges. He is aman of few words, and disappears as abruptly as he arrives once he has driven off hisquarry.

The traveller can be recognised by the red cloth draped over his body, a colour that inChinese culture symbolises luck and health, and is a colour that Nian fears due to itsvibrance and association with life. The traveller’s signature weapon, a large metalhammer, is used primarily as a walking aid and a means of defence against lesssupernatural opponents such as animals and bandits.

The Mysterious Traveller

The Mysterious Traveller

The Mysterious Traveller

Nian, Shadow Lord of Winter’s End

Nian, Shadow Lord of the Winter’s End

Nian is an ancient spirit of the wilderness. Every spring marks his brief emergence from theshadow realm, where for one night he descends upon the people of China. Starving and eager forthe taste of living flesh. He is not particular towards either animals or humans, he hungers for both.

Nian is an embodiment of all things ending. Of life and of time. Things that represent tiem runningout or death empower him. Implements of death and tragedy such as knives, blades and spearsmerely shatter upon his body and for this reason he has been considered unstoppable. Whileconsidered this, even he has his vulnerabilities. Tings that embody life and continuation frightenhim and drive him away.

As a spirit beast, Nian relies on his own body to defend himself. Mortal weapons cannot hurt himand when he has to fight, he has large, sharp claws on each foot and a bountiful set of large teeth.His smoky mane can serve to aid him in hunting, either obscuring him or providing an environmentthat renders his prey completely helpless as he closes in.

Nian, Shadow Lord of the Winter’s End

Nian, Shadow Lord of the Winter’s End

The Sha

The Sha

The Sha are inhabitants of the shadow realm, a twisted negative mirror of thephysical world. To most people, the Sha are invisible, their primary interaction withthe physical world being ther involvement in the manifestation of misfortune ornegativity.

As spirits of negativity, Sha are drawn and emboldened by negative or forebodingfeelings such as anger, sadness, misery, fear and envy. They are repulsed by positivityand life. Lesser Sha will be desperate to counteract this positivity, but all Sha arerepulsed by powerful presences of positive nergy and their own appearances. Thisdissatisfaction of their own appearance stems from their grotesque nature as creaturesof sorrow and despair, but they cannot stand to see themselves as the twisted figuresthey are.

The sha that terrorise the village act in fear of Nian, a greater spirit whose ancientpower commands an authority for them to follow. They act as his heralds on the nighthe emerges, soaring across the world looking for villages ripe for his appetite.

The Sha

The Sha

The Village

How to Play

The goal of the game is to trap and capture Nian beast whileensuring as few villagers die as possible. This is done by herdingNian using a mix of good and bad fortune items that will either drawhim somewhere or drive him away, leading him though the villageinto a trap zone.

Players will have five rounds to search the village for fortune cardsbefore Nian shows up. When Nian does appear he will run aroundthe village eating villagers.

The game is considered lost when Nian eats all of the villagers onthe board. And considered won when no set of moves made by Niancan threaten any of the surviving villagers.

Fortune Cards

The travellers protect the villageusing various items imbued withgood or bad fortune. Thesetrinkets are represented byvarious cards that are divided intotwo broad categories based onwhat they are.

Good fortune cards would includered items, precious stones andedible treats. Things that indicateprosperity and life.

Bad fortune cards would includeblack items, blades and clocks.Things that represent cutting ofties, death or things drawing to aclose.

The clear distinction betweenthe two card types will allow foreasy identification duringgameplay. Each item has a fortunescore between -4 and +4, whichrepresents how powerful it is.These cards can be utilised byidentifying their area of effect onthe board with a set of tokens thatcan be stacked.

Game rules

• Players pick up to four hero characters

• Players gain fortune cards by visiting houses and combating the Sha within them using dice rolls.

• Discovered Sha are given a strength score (between 1 and 5, determined by a dice). A player must roll a higher score to defeat the Sha

• If a player fails to defeat a Sha they cannot re-enter that house for three turns

• When a Sha is defeated, the player must draw from a ‘gift’ deck. Pulling out a card at random.

Gift Cards

• Gift cards are gained from defeating Sha

• Each gift will have a fortune score between -4 and +4, but not 0.

• Fortune cards can be placed on the board using a token.

• A card’s fortune score represents the effect radius of a card on the board, the positive or negative status represents the effect the card will have on Nian.

• ‘bad fortune’ cards will attract Nian while ‘good fortune’ cards will repel him.

• Nian will be under the effects of a card when he is in a square adjacent to one occupied by the radius of the fortune card.

• Cards can be placed adjacent to each other to combine their fortune score.

• Combined cards can never have a fortune score greater than +/-4