RULEBOOK

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Object of the Game

Defeat your opponents Pantheon of Gods by: destroying all opposing gods destroying the Home Base of the opposing gods

Game Components
1 High Heavens Board 100 stackable chips 12 Norse gods, 12 Greek gods 24 stands for the gods 1 decks of Norse Pantheon cards, 1 deck of Greek Pantheon cards 3 Action Point tokens 2 Home Bases (Asgard and Olympus) 4 ten-sided dice

a game by Ryan Lesser

If you are reading this, it is already too late. The very fact that youre holding this manual in your hands means that you truly believe yourself capable of intervening in the matters of the gods, and nothing I can say to you could possibly change your mind. I know, because I was once like you. I too believed I could enter High Heavens and end their quarrel, and I would never have listened to the advice that I am giving you right now, which is to return this manual to its box immediately, seal it with chains, bury it in the deepest hole you can dig, cover the plot with heavy boulders, and flee to a remote island at the end of the earth. I know you will not heed this advice, and that is why I offer you these instructions on how to proceed. Because who knows? You may very well succeed where I have failed. You may emerge from this cosmic battle unscathed where I emerged less unscathed. You may enjoy the spoils of victory where I languish in the jaws of defeat. I assume you already know how the trickster god Loki slipped free from his bonds at the onset of Ragnarok and crossed over the borderlands that divide the mythic Norselands from the Greek Heavens to fool Ares into waging war against Odin. Why else would you be reading this, breathing your putrid warrior breath in anticipation of a battle you will most certainly lose? Your sympathies may lie with the Greek gods, who were led to believe that their domain was being threatened, or you may side with the Norse gods, for whom Ragnarok became decidedly more complicated once Zeus arrived, leading his mighty pantheon through the clouds toward Asgard. Which side you choose matters little to me. I am only interested in saving your hide. In that light, promise me that you will follow these instructions very closely and keep your wits about you at all times. Just because no mortal has ever come out of this alive doesnt mean that you cannot. It just means that your chances are extremely, desperately slim.

The High Heavens Board

The game board is made up of two main areas, the Heavens and the Sideboards.

the Heavens

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This is the central area represented by the hex grid. 1. There are 3 types of hexes on this grid: 1. Empty - Most of the hexes on the battlefield are 2. Empty hexes. These are the mostly clear hexes. 2. Invoking - There are 6 Invoking hexes on the battlefield, 3 per side. These are the golden rimmed hexes 3. at the very back ends of the battlefield. When gods are invoked into the fray, they must enter the battle on one of the players 3 Invoking hexes. (Invoking hexes are legal movement spaces, so be sure to keep opposing gods from taking hold of these hexes!) 3. Home Base - Each pantheon has a single Home Base hex. This is the hex that touches all three of the Invoking hexes. Place your home base game piece and its health counter on this hex. (The Home Base hex is not a legal space for gods to move to. It is off-limits to anything but the Home Bases.) High Heavens strictly obeys the empty grid. Gods do not need direct line of sight (unless specifically noted). Instead, if a god can move or attack through a string of connected, empty hexes - even if not in a straight line - the god may complete that move. 3

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Everything Else

Action Lane - On one side, you will see the Action Lane. This is where you place the 3 Action tokens to keep track of how many Action Points (AP) you have spent. Almost everything you do in High Heavens requires the spending of an AP. When spending an AP, move it from your side of the Action Lane to the opponents side as a way of paying for your action. Draw- Place your unused cards face down on this spot. Players never look at their Draw pile unless otherwise stated on a card or by a power. Discard - Place your used cards face up on this spot. The Discard pile is considered public information; any player may look through the pile of played cards. The order of the cards in the pile must not be rearranged unless a card or power requires it.

Pipes of Pan
Divine Power Cards
RACE: GREEK TYPE: ACTION
- Force up to 3 opponents gods to retreat 2 hexes in a straight line back to their temples side. FLAVOR TEXT FLAVOR TEXT FLAVOR TEXT FLAVOR TEXT FLAVOR TEXT FLAVOR TEXT

Pantheon Cards
There are 2 types of cards in High Heavens, Pantheon Cards and Divine Power Cards.

Divine Power cards must be played during the cardholders turn. Pantheon - Displays which pantheon this card belongs to Title - Title of the powerup Power Special power that may be used by spending APs. Mythos This text describes the mythology and how it relates to the cards abilities.

Divine Power Card

God Cards

These cards contain all critical information about each god, including: 1. Name, Pantheon and Title - While many gods in true mythology are the patron gods of multiple things, for the sake of simplicity they have been 1. CRONUS reduced to a single title. Greek This represents the amount of Health Points 2. Lord of the Titans 2. a god starts with. Gods cannot accrue more 12 than what is listed on the card. When a god en- 3. 3 MOVEMENT chips under the ters play, stack this number of 1 RANGE god. 4. 3 MELEE POWER 3. Movement A god may move up to this amount 0 RANGE POWER for each AP spent, and must land on an empty 5. hex at the end of each movement. SPECIAL: Consumption Consumes a fallen adjacent 4. Range This value represents a god can reach 6. god at a cost of 1 to with a ranged attack. A 0 means there is no increase 1 per consumed god. ranged attack. Gods with a range value of 2 7. Learning of a prophecy or higher may use ranged attacks (There is no that he would be overthrown by his child, 1 ranged attack because this is considered a Cronus ate all of his 8. children, the Olympians. melee attack). 5. Melee Power This represents the power of a Pantheon Card gods attack when targeting an adjacent gods. 6. Range Power - This represents a gods power when targeting an opponent in a ranged attack. 7. Special - Each god possesses unique abilities drawn from that gods mythology. 8. Mythos - This text describes the gods mythology and its relation to the specific abilities they possess.

Chips
High Heavens utilizes chips to show information directly on the battlefield. Chips always stack underneath the god figures in Stacks. It is recommended that you order your Stacks as listed below (from top to bottom): Green Disabled (Poisoned, Stunned, Trapped) Gray Armor +1. Armor chips absorb 1 HP damage per chip. Like real armor, it protects from multiple blows and does not simply disappear after a single blow. Any god may have up to a maximum of 2 armor total. (EXAMPLE: Athena has one armor chip and is at Health 6. Hodr hits her with a single 4HP ranged attack. Athenas armor absorbs 1HP while the other 3 pass through, reducing her Health to 3 . Next, Thor attacks Athena with a melee hit of 3 HP. Athenas armor absorbs 1HP and allows 2 through, reducing her Health to 1 ). Attack Power +1 to both melee and range. Health chips are similar to the Life Meter in a video game. At a glance, players can evaluate how their armies are doing by checking which gods red stacks are higher than other gods. When a god takes damage, remove Red chips from the gods stack. White Architecture. Use white chips when an ability or card calls for a wall, column, building, etc. One white chip Cronos is currently at 7 HEALTH represents 1 HP for the Architecture.
with +1 ATTACK, +! SHIELD and sadly, is currently POISENED.

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Game Setup
Each player takes one Pantheon deck, one Home Base and all of the god for that Pantheon. 1. Shuffle your pantheons deck of cards and place it on the DRAW space on the board. 2. Place your Pantheons Home Base on the Home Base Hex 3. Place your dice on the Home Base, setting them to a value of 30 to represent your Home Bases HP. 4. Each player draws 5 cards from their deck, into their hand 5. Use a coin, die, or another random element to determine who is the first player.

Phase 2: Clean Up After all Action Points have been spent, the board is cleaned. Remove any fallen gods from your Pantheon that remain on the board. Players may discard any number of cards from hand to allow for more cards to be drawn in the following phase.. Phase 3: Draw If you have fewer than 5 cards, draw back up to a 5 card hand. You may never go over 5 cards in High Heavens.

... Errata
Rule Contradictions If, during the course of the game, a card contradicts the rulebook, the cards win.

Turn Sequence
Players go through all 3 phases of their turn, finish, then pass the turn to the next player. Phase 1: Actions Almost everything in High Heavens requires the spending of an Action Point. To spend an AP, simply move the AP token from your reservoir to your opponents reservoir. This is a nice way to avoid missing an Action or overspending. You might even want to say aloud while playing, I will spend one Action to while moving the AP token from your reservoir to the reservoir of your opponent. Always pay for actions first. During the Actions phase, you may use your 3 Action Points to pay for the following Actions (except on Player 1s first turn, where Player 1 only gets 2 Actions): Invoke - Pay an AP to take a god card from your hand and convert it to a god on the board, invoking it on one of the three Invoking Hexes. Attack - Pay an AP to Attack based on the Melee or Range info on your card. Fallen gods: If a god has been reduced to 0 HP or lower, that god is now a Fallen god. Place the god on its side atop all of its modifier chips (Armor, Attack Power, etc.). Move - Pay an AP to move a god piece and its Stack based on its Movement and any modifiers. A god may not move through other gods or other obstacles. Stopping movement for any reason (ie. to Smite or Aquire) ends the Movement action. Smiting - If a god moves onto a hex containing a fallen god, the fallen god is removed from the board. Smiting does not cost any APs and is part of Moving. Acquire If a god ends its movement on a hex containing 1 or more dropped modifier chips, and has an extra AP to use for Aquire, those chips now belong to that god. Use Special Many gods have Special abilities that will require the spending of 1 or more APs. Follow the directions on the card for specifics. Use a Divine Power Card These are non god-based powers that can be activated by spending APs. Follow the directions on the card for specifics.

Alternate Rules Omnipotence: The Non-Random Version - To play High Heavens without the random element (the luck of the draw in the Pantheon Deck), hold ALL cards from the deck in hand and play the rest of the game as normal. This allows players to strategize without the element of luck. Players will still use 3 APs per turn, etc. Rollin Runes - If players prefer the extra element of chance or just love rolling dice, players may use any 6-sided die to determine whether an attack lands. 3 and up is a hit, 1 and 2 miss. This may add time to the length of the game but rolling dice is FUN! High Heavens Terminology Tips It is recommended that new players place their god cards to the side of the board, with the bottom of the cards towards the board. This will allow both players to read the stats of the active gods. In High Heavens, a turn means a single players turn and a round include both players turns. There are many strategies in High Heavens, but the two overarching ones are to either go for destruction of the entier opposing pantheon or an all out attack on the Home Base.

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