Altered Glossary

1.1.3 Collectible card Game

1.1.3.a Altered is a collectible card game: players do not play with cards from a common pool, but from their own collection.

1.1.3.b In order to play a game of Altered, each player needs a deck of Altered cards (not to be confused with the Deck zone during play).

1.1.3.c For the purpose of the rules, a player is the owner of the cards in their deck, regardless of legal ownership. Nothing in the game can change the owner of a card.

1.2.2 Objects

1.2.2.a Objects are the game pieces of Altered.

1.2.2.b Most things in a game of Altered are either objects, properties of objects or sets of objects.

1.2.2.c Objects have characteristics:

• Type (Character, Emblem, Hero, Permanent, Region, Spell)
• Sub-type
• Name
• Rarity (common , rare , unique )
• Version
• Hand Cost
• Reserve cost
• Faction (Axiom , Bravos , Lyra , Muna , Ordis , Yzmir )
• Statistics (one number for each of , , )
• Abilities
• Reserve limit (only for Heroes)
• Landmark limit (only for Heroes)
• Duration (only for Emblems)

1.3 Game Progress

1.3.1 Starting the game

1.3.1.a The players build a common Adventure with the Hero Region card on one end, the Companion Region card on the other, and three face-down Tumult cards in random positions and orientations between the Hero Region and the Companion Region.

1.3.1.b Each player's hero expedition counter is put on the Hero Region, and each player's companion expedition counter is put on the Companion Region.

1.3.1.c Each player puts their Hero (if they have one) in their Hero zone, shuffles the rest of their cards and puts it in their Deck.

1.3.1.d In the Morning of the first day, instead of the normal daily effects, players draw six cards and put three of them in their Mana zone.

1.4 Golden rules

1.4.1 Can't beats can
1.4.1.a If a rule or a passive ability says that it is impossible to do something, and a cost or an effect tries to do that thing, then the thing cannot be done.
1.4.1.b An impossible cost cannot be paid.
1.4.1.c An impossible effect cannot be performed. If other parts of the effect can happen, the rest of the effect resolves normally.
1.4.1.d If it impossible to modify an impossible event, even if the modified event would itself be possible.

1.4.2 Specific beats general
1.4.2.a If a card allows a player to do something that they cannot normally do, or to do it in a different way, the card takes priority.

1.4.3 My cards, my zones
1.4.3.a If a card ownered by a player would move to a zone belonging to another player, it goes to its owner's corresponding zone instead.

1.4.4 New zone, new object
1.4.4.a Objects do not change Zones, the items that represent them does. Most effects that relate to an object in a zone will not be able to follow it to another zone, a common exception being the event which moves an object.

1.4.5 Initiative order
1.4.5.a If both players need to take decisions simultaneously, the player with initiative (the player who is currently taking their turn, or the first player during non-Afternoon phases) must decide first. If that choice involves an object from a visible zone, their opponent knows which object they have chosen. If the choice involves a card from a hidden zone, they must make their choice explicit, but they do not need to reveal the chosen card.

++Example. Ninette plays a game against Lithium. During her turn, Ninette plays Kitsune from her Hand. Kitsune has the reaction " Each player may Resupply". She must let Lithium know whether or not she chooses to Resupply before he takes his decision. However, if she chooses to Resupply, Lithium will not see Ninette's top card until after he decides whether to Resupply or not.
In his turn, Lithium plays Anubis , which has the reaction " Each player sacrifices a Character". Lithium must choose which Character to sacrifice before Ninette, and Ninette knows which Character he chose to sacrifice when she makes her choice. Both Characters are sacrificed simultaneously.++

1.4.6 Nothing is forever
1.4.6.a The interaction of some cards may lead to seemingly endless loops. In order to resolve these situations, there are limits to the number of times things can happen in a single day.
1.4.6.b A given quick action may only be played a hundred times per day.
1.4.6.c A given reaction may only activate a hundred times per day.

2.2.4 Rarity

2.2.4.a The rarity of an object is one of the following: common, rare, or unique.

2.2.4.b The rarity of a card is indicated by a gem just above the card's name. A gray gem $cmomon indicates a common card; a blue gem indicates a rare card; an orange gem indicates a unique card. It is also written as a letter (C, R, or U) on the legal line at the bottom of the card.

2.2.4.c Heroes, regions, tokens, and emblems have no rarity.

2.2.5 Version

2.2.5.a The version of an object is a code of the form: LLL-NNN-L(-NNNN), where the L's are letters and the N's are numbers.

2.2.5.b The first three letter correspond to the set release. The list of sets and their code is: Beyond the Gates (BTG).

2.2.5.c The next three numbers are the number of the card in the set.

2.2.5.d The single letter is the rarity of the card, which can be C for commom (
), R for rare (), F for faction-shifted (), or U for unique ().

2.2.5.e Unique cards have four extra numbers.

2.2.5.f Each unique card has a different version number.

2.2.5.g In the Beyond the Gates set, different cards may share the same number if one comes from the Kickstarter release and the other one from the Retail release. They may be distinguished by a stylized A on the bottom left of the card.

7.3.3 Create

7.3.3.a To create a token is to put a new character token in the Expedition zone.

7.3.3.b Costs and effects that create tokens use the following template: "create a [name] [x/y/z] [sub-types] token with [abilitys] in [expedition]".

Example. Open the Gates (common) has the effect "Create two Ordis Recruit 1/1/1 Soldier token in each of your Expeditions". When Open the Games resolves, four tokens are created. They all have the name "Ordis Recruit", the type "Character", the sub-type "Soldier", all three statistics equal to 1, and no abilitys.