Game Rules

Introduction

Swamp Monsters TCG is a turn-based strategy trading card game where players choose a Champion, deploy Heroes, Operatives, and Traps in their swamp, and vie to defeat their adversaries. By strategically clearing enemy front-row cards, you expose their Champion for direct attacks. Victory is achieved by reducing an enemy Champion's political power to zero.

Objective

Each player starts with a 69-card deck and 1 pre-selected Champion. Your Champion card is placed face-up at the bottom of your swamp, displaying Political Power (PP) in the lower right corner. The objectives are twofold:

1. Strategically deploy Persona cards, Utility, Traps, Capitol, and Resources cards to reduce your opponent's Political Power to zero and be the last player standing.
2. Reducing all of a player's resources to zero will induce 2 debuff effects on the player's Champion. If debuff effects are left uncleansed the afflicted Champion will lose PP and become vulnerable to attacks.
3. After the last player with cards remaining to draw finishes their deck (on that end turn phase), the player with the highest Champion PP emerges victorious. Gameplay stops after the final card is drawn from the last available deck and that player finishes their turn. No other turns follow.

Pre-Game Setup

Deciding turn order

If a player selects a Champion that's currently holding the US Presidency, they choose the starting player; otherwise roll 1D20 and highest roll goes first. Turn order is clockwise. Players take turns through their 5 phases until the end phase. Gameplay is last man standing — continue until all other players are eliminated or all available draw cards have been pulled. A player's turn is the five phases; a round is every player's turn, starting from and ending on the same player.

Layout — The Swamp

• Front Row: Deploy Hero, Operative, and Utility cards (4 open spaces). Traps cannot occupy front-row spaces.
• Back Row: Place Trap, Operative, and Hero cards (3 open spaces, face-down).
• Champion Space: Home to your Champion.
• Deck Space: Location for your deck.
• Discard / Jail Space: Reserved for discarded cards.
• Utility / Event Space: For Gambit Utility and Event cards.
• Capitol Space: For Capitol cards.

Resources

Three core resource systems:

• CFC (Crumbling Fiat Currency)— The swamp's primary deployment currency. Use CFC to meet card play costs found in the bottom left corner.
• Morale (MC) — Amplify healing from abilities by the amount spent ×100. Also increase outgoing and decrease incoming damage by the amount spent ×100. If using Morale to attack, spend prior to attack. Defender may spend Morale to mitigate after the attacker chooses targets. Once per Persona card per turn.
• Influence (INF) — Empowers card abilities. Use INF for abilities listed in the lower right corner. Costs vary by ability strength.

MAX Resource — If a player gains 10 of any resource at any time, they may convert any amount of that resource into the other resources whenever they wish. Announce the conversion before converting.

Gameplay

Players place their Champions and allocate starting resources based on values indicated on Champion cards. In the initial turn, all Champions have invincibility — they and their Swamp are immune to everything. This lasts only during their initial turn and disappears after that first turn ends.

Draw Phase

Draw 7 cards on the first turn. Subsequent draw phases: draw until your hand holds 5 cards. If exceeding 5 cards, only draw 1. No maximum hand size applies.

Resource Phase

Play up to 2 resource cards from your hand to the Bank space per turn. Adjust your resource tracking D10s accordingly. Optionally, convert up to 2 resources to another; if you play a single resource card you may convert 1 resource to another.

Deployment Phase

Play cards to your Swamp adhering to respective card costs.

Deploying cards

• Persona Cards: Position Heroes and Operatives in the front row if spaces are available. CFC covers deployment cost.
• Promotion Cards:Placed atop 1st stage cards. Require meeting a deployment cost and having the initial card in play for a complete turn. Once promoted, Political Power resets to the promoted card's value.
• Utility Cards:Play "Control" Utility cards to the Utility space (a new Control discards the previous). Attach "Equip" Utility under Persona cards — only one Equip at a time; a new Equip discards the prior. Play "Gambit" Utility to augment the flow of gameplay.
• Capitol Cards: Play to the Capitol space at no cost. These modify/amplify deck capabilities.
• Trap Cards: Deploy face-down in the back row. Interrupt traps must be in the Swamp to play; instant-use traps do not.
• Event Cards: Play face up in the Utility/Event space. They remain until the event ends.

Hero deployment perks

• Without a Hero in the front row: only 1 Persona card can be placed in the front row per turn.
• With a Hero in the front row: deploy as many Persona cards to the front row as spaces available.

Action Phase

Use Persona cards' standard attacks and/or abilities to remove opponent cards and expose their Champion. All Persona cards can attack unless under specific status effects. Some cards permit concurrent ability and standard attack — look for the concurrent use icon.

Attacking

• Standard Attack: Attack power is bottom-left. Subtract this amount from the Political Power of the card being attacked.
• Abilities: Special actions that require paying the INF cost. Concurrent-use cards may ability + attack in one Action Phase.
• Defeating Persona Cards: Gain Influence per Persona sent to jail/discard — Operatives yield 1 INF, Heroes 2 INF, Champions 5 INF.
• Target Selection:Select the target card. In multiplayer you may attack multiple opponents during a turn's Action Phase if the phase end is not reached. To attack an opponent Champion, they must have no active front-row Persona cards.

Discard / End Turn Phase

End your turn by discarding 1 card if no cards were introduced during any previous phase. Discarding from your Swamp or hand requires paying $1B CFC.

During your end turn phase, if all front row spaces are filled with Persona cards gain 1 Morale. If all front row spaces are filled with Hero cards gain 3 Morale.

Also: no takesy backsies.

Appendix — Miscellaneous Terms

• Factions: Alignment is top-left. Other Persona cards must share faction to utilize MC to amplify or reduce incoming attacks.
• Classes: Civilian, Military, LEO (law enforcement officer), Political, Media, and Business.
• Alternative Icons: CFC, Capitol, Event, Influence, Morale, Political Power, Trap, and Utility icons.
• Status Effects: Active, Sleep, Silence, Deactivated, Confusion (plus Obscurity / Vulnerable on Champions).

Status Effects & Orientation

Active

Default status. Active Persona cards prevent incoming damage from being inflicted on the Champion. Orientation: name plate to the top.

Confusion

Roll a D20: 10+ succeeds on standard attacks; 7+ succeeds on abilities (cost paid even if the ability fails). Lasts two rounds unless stated otherwise. Card ability takes priority over standard effect. Orientation: name plate to the left.

Deactivated

Can neither attack nor defend; continues to occupy the front row space but operates as though it isn't there. Orientation: face down, showing the card back.

Obscurity

A Champion is afflicted with Obscurity if the player has ALL resources at zero at their end turn phase. Applies −1000 PP at the start of the player's next Draw phase, continuing until they generate at least 1 resource before their End turn phase. No special orientation.

Silence

Unable to use abilities. Persistent until removed. Orientation: name plate to the right.

Sleep

Cannot attack or use abilities. Can still be targeted; being attacked removes Sleep. Orientation: name plate toward the bottom.

Vulnerable

If a Champion has Obscurity, it also gains Vulnerable — all incoming damage to that Champion is increased 2×. No special orientation.