How to Play Rylio

These six ideas drive everything in Rylio. Learn them and the rest follows naturally.

1. Light Pushes Back Darkness

Each quest has terrain you must illuminate. Heroes and allies commit to a Light Test, comparing total Influence to the terrain's Light Threshold. Success earns Light tokens. Enough Light tokens flip the terrain from Dark to Light, advancing the quest. Failure raises Darkness.

2. Darkness Is a Clock

Darkness accumulates throughout the quest. Failed tests, dark-tagged cards in play, unlit terrain, and enemy attacks all raise it. At thresholds (5, 10, 15), the quest card triggers scripted events. At 20, the world falls and the quest is lost.

3. The Dies Tell the Story of Each Round

Attacks in dark terrain roll the Darkness Die — unpredictable, with a chance of complete failure. Attacks in lit terrain roll the Light Die — better outcomes on average, with a chance of devastating multiplier strikes. Both dies have a Terrain symbol that triggers unique effects on the active terrain. The choice between fighting in dark or light terrain shapes every round.

4. Enemies Learn

An enemy that survives a full round gains a Learn ability — a permanent enhancement printed on the card. The goblin that lives to round 2 is more dangerous than the one you killed in round 1. Kill what you can cleanly, or they become legends in your defeat.

5. Heroes Commit to Phases

Each round, you assign your heroes and allies to phases: Light, Combat, Defense, or Scout. A hero committed to Combat cannot also defend that round. This triage is the strategic core of Rylio.

6. Light Engages Enemies

Enemies are drawn to the light. When you place a Light token on the active terrain, one enemy in the zone (your choice) is drawn out to investigate — it engages. Progress on Light comes at a combat cost. You can't quietly illuminate the world; the darkness notices.

For your first game, use the recommended starter quest and pre-built decks.

1. Place the Quest Card in the center of the table. Read its setup text aloud.
2. Place the first Terrain Card with its Dark side face-up. Note its Light Threshold and Flip Value.
3. Each player chooses a Hero. Place the Hero Card in front of you.
4. Take your 30-card deck. Place your 2 Starting Allies face-up beside your hero — they begin in play. Shuffle the remaining 28 cards.
5. Each player draws 6 cards as their starting hand. You may mulligan once — discard any number and draw replacements.
6. Place the Encounter Deck face-down with a discard pile beside it.
7. Each player takes 3 Action Point tokens.
8. Set the Darkness Counter at 0.
9. Place both Darkness Die and Light Die within reach.
10. Determine the First Player.

A round of Rylio has five phases. After the Refresh Phase, begin a new round.

Phase 1 — Resource

Each hero gains 3 Action Points (AP). Add to any unspent APs from prior rounds. No AP cap.

Why this matters: AP carries over. Saving for a big future play is a real strategy.

Phase 2 — Planning

Starting with the First Player, clockwise, take turns playing cards from your hand by paying their AP cost.

Card Types:

• Allies — Summoned characters with their own stats. Played allies have summoning sickness (can't commit this round).
• Enhancements — Persistent effects attached to a character. Last until the bearer is defeated.
• Events — One-time effects. Resolve immediately, then discard.

Play continues until all players pass consecutively.

Phase 3 — Light

The signature phase. Heroes push back the darkness.

1. Commit: Choose which heroes and allies to commit to Light, Scout, or neither. Exhaust committed characters — they can't also fight or defend this round.
2. Calculate threshold: Start with the terrain's Light Threshold. Add 1 for each Dark-tagged card in play. Subtract total Scout (Scout values stack). The threshold can never go below the terrain's printed base.
3. Tally Influence: Sum the Influence of all committed Light characters. No die is rolled in this phase.
4. Resolve:
   • Success (Influence ≥ Threshold): Place Light tokens equal to (Influence − Threshold + 1), minimum 1.
   • Failure (Influence < Threshold): Darkness increases by (Threshold − Influence), minimum 1.
5. Engagement: If any Light tokens were placed this round, one enemy in zone (players' choice) engages. This trigger occurs at most once per round regardless of how many Light tokens were placed.
6. Flip check: If terrain's total Light tokens equal or exceed its Flip Value, flip it to Light side.

Phase 4 — Shadow

The longest phase. The world pushes back.

1. Encounter pulls: Each hero (not allies, not Fallen heroes) pulls 1 card from the Encounter Deck and resolves it.
2. Engagement triggers: Check remaining engagement triggers (see Combat section).
3. Enemy attacks: Engaged enemies attack their assigned heroes. Enemies do not roll dies. Damage = Enemy Attack − Defender Defend (Pierce ignores Defend).
4. Hero/Ally attacks: Players choose Group Attack or Individual Attacks for this round. Roll the Darkness Die (dark terrain) or Light Die (lit terrain).
5. Learn: Any non-Boss enemy that survived the round gains its Learn ability. L1/L2 learn once. L3 learns twice. Bosses Transform instead.

Phase 5 — Refresh

End-of-round cleanup, in order:

1. Ready (un-exhaust) all committed characters.
2. If active terrain is still unlit: +1 Darkness.
3. Each non-Fallen player draws 1 card.
4. If any player has more than 8 cards: discard down to 8.
5. Check Darkness thresholds (5, 10, 15) and resolve newly crossed events.
6. Check loss (Darkness 20+) and win conditions.
7. Pass First Player Token clockwise.

The Shadow Phase combat is where the game lives. Two key decisions shape every round.

Engagement Triggers

An enemy in the active zone becomes engaged when:

• A hero or ally attacks it (only that enemy engages)
• A Light token is placed on the active terrain this round (one enemy of choice engages — once per round only)
• Any darkness-tagged card is played this round (all enemies engage)
• Darkness reaches a quest-specific threshold
• The enemy's own behavior triggers engagement

Group Attack vs. Individual Attacks

Before hero/ally attacks resolve, players choose:

This decision is made fresh each round.

The Two Dies

Both dies are six-sided with custom faces. They are rolled only in the Shadow Phase, only for hero and ally attacks — never for enemy attacks, never in the Light Phase.

Darkness Die — rolled in unlit terrain

Light Die — rolled in lit terrain

The Terrain Symbol: Each terrain has two unique die-trigger effects printed on it — one for its dark side, one for its light side. When TERRAIN is rolled, that effect fires. A forest might heal. A swamp might add Darkness. A ruin might reveal a hidden enemy. The terrain is alive.

The Multiplier: When Light Die rolls 5, the Multiplier applies last — after modifiers and Defend subtraction. A 5-damage hit becomes 10. A 0-damage hit stays at 0; you cannot multiply zero.

Enemies come in four tiers.

L1 — Basic Foes

Low HP (2–4), low Attack (1–2). Single Learn ability after surviving one round. Typically populate the first terrain.

L2 — Mid Threats

Medium HP (5–8), medium Attack (2–3). Single Learn + one printed passive or triggered ability. Typically appear in the second terrain.

L3 — Advanced

High HP (9–14), high Attack (3–5). Can Learn TWICE. Often have behavior patterns (“Targets lowest-HP hero”). Typically appear in the third terrain.

Boss — Named Threats

Very high HP (15+). Unique mechanics. Bosses do NOT Learn. Instead, they have a Transformation:

• Survival Flip — Boss flips to second form after surviving a round. New stats and abilities. Damage does not carry over.
• Death Flip — When killed, boss flips and returns at partial HP in a new form. Must be killed again to be permanently slain.

Some major bosses use both. Read the boss card carefully.

Enemy Attributes Table

Decks Are 30 Cards + 2 Starting Allies

Your deck has exactly 30 cards. You also designate 2 Starting Allies that begin in play — these are not part of the 30-card deck.

Power Points

Each card has a Power Point cost (typically 1–4 PP). Standard budget is 30 PP for the 30-card deck. Starting Allies have a separate ~6 PP budget.

Tags — 10 Total

Hero Primary Tags (4) — Fixed by your Hero

• Nature — Wilderness, beasts, growth, scouting (Ranger)
• Order — Discipline, defense, leadership, structure (Knight)
• Spirit — Healing, purification, faith, resilience (Shaman)
• Arcane — Knowledge, spellcraft, untamed power (Mage)

Trade Tags (6) — One Chosen at Campaign Start

• Blacksmith — Weapons, armor, durable equipment
• Healer — Restoration, removing damage, revival
• Scholar — Knowledge, scouting cards, planning effects
• Ranger — Ranged attacks, tracking, exploration
• Tactician — Combat coordination, party buffs
• Mystic — Spell-like events, Light manipulation

A second Trade is earned at the milestone quest (typically Q10), dramatically expanding your card pool.

Tag Access

You may include a card in your deck if either its Primary or Secondary tag matches one of your tag accesses (Hero tag, Trade tag, or earned additional Trade tags).

Dark-Tagged Cards

Some cards have a Dark tag modifier. Each Dark-tagged card in your deck adds +1 to starting Darkness. Dark cards are typically more powerful — the question is how much darker you're willing to start.

Quests Have Multiple Objectives

Most quests are not won simply by reaching the last terrain. You may need to defeat a specific Boss, rescue a faction NPC, place a target number of Light tokens, survive a target number of rounds, or clear all terrains AND complete a final objective.

Read the Quest Card's Win Condition carefully.

Fallen Heroes

When a Hero reaches 0 HP, they are Fallen — not dead. A Fallen hero:

• Cannot commit to any phase
• Cannot pull Encounter cards
• Cannot attack, defend, or generate APs
• Their Enhancements remain attached but inactive

Fallen heroes can be revived by Healer trade signatures, Spirit-tagged Events, or faction NPCs.

Loss Conditions

You lose the quest if:

• Darkness reaches its cap (20 at 2 players; scales by player count)
• ALL heroes are Fallen at the same time
• The quest's specific loss condition is met

Quest Reset

If you lose, you may retry the quest immediately. There is no permanent campaign penalty for failure — only time spent.

Each hero pulls 1 Encounter card per Shadow Phase regardless of count. More players = more pulls. Darkness cap scales sub-linearly (+0.5× baseline per added player) so the world fights harder but not impossibly.