The Solitary Year, step by step

1. Income, season by season

At the start of each season every noble is paid for the season just worked. The payment arrives once, in full, before the first turn of that season.

• Spring1,600 Crowns

  The lightest purse of the year. Save early if you want a Vault Token in hand before the first heavy Ordeal, and remember a gift only ever costs 500 Crowns.

• Summer1,800 Crowns

  Two hundred more than Spring, and the second tier of Market goods opens. This is the season most Houses buy the help that will carry them through Autumn.

• Autumn2,000 Crowns

  The harvest purse. Every Market tier is now open, and Decrees begin asking more of a full treasury.

• Winter2,200 Crowns

  The fullest purse and the last chance to convert Crowns into score. Nothing carries past the Gala, so unspent Crowns are worth nothing at all.

A deposit to the Vault costs 500 Crowns for one token; a gift to a House costs 500 Crowns for one hidden House Gem, unless a Virtue or a card changes the price. A token may be spent as 500 Crowns, but only when something forces you to pay, and only one token per payment.

2. The board

The passage of time is a loop of 32 spaces around the castle. Each turn you roll one die on your Journey, walk clockwise, and the space you land on gives you your Path.

• Proving - 16 spaces
• Ordeal - 8 spaces
• Decree - 8 spaces

1. Journey. Roll one die and move. You may reroll once in a turn, and only once.
2. Path. Resolve the card the space calls for.
3. Duty. Choose exactly one: Save, Give, Invest or Wait.

The exact space order on the printed board is a provisional layout

3. What each card does

• 

  Proving

  A moment of family life with two printed choices. One is usually the plain cost in Crowns, the other asks more but gives more back. You must be able to pay what you choose. Your Virtue is applied before the card is paid.

• 

  Ordeal

  A trouble that falls on the whole realm. You resolve it first, then every other noble clockwise. Fail one and you surrender your next turn entirely - no Journey, no Path, no Duty.

• 

  Decree

  A proclamation from the Crown that changes the rules for a while. Read it before you choose your Duty: a Decree can change what a gift or a deposit is worth this turn.

• 

  Market

  Goods you may buy on your Duty. Purchases are public, they never score by themselves, and they only help by changing what later cards cost you.

The Market currently offers 3 goods in play: Ledger of Wisdom, Estate Butler, Reinforced Vault Door. Older items from development notes are shown but withheld from play until their printed values are confirmed.

4. Planning for the next season

1. Count what is coming. You know the next payment exactly, so you can safely spend down to the point where the new season's income covers what you have promised yourself.
2. Keep one payment in reserve. A Vault Token can answer a forced payment worth 500 Crowns, and it still counts a full point at the Gala. It is the only saving that is also a score.
3. Give steadily rather than late. Gems are hidden, so steady giving hides your standing and protects you from a bad final season.
4. Buy for the season after. Market goods pay you back only through later cards, so a purchase in Summer earns its keep in Autumn and Winter, not the turn you make it.
5. Spend the last purse. Winter Crowns left unspent score nothing. Convert them into gems and tokens before the Gala.