Runes & Regulations: Nefarious Neighbors

The Nefarious Neighbor expansion opens the Runes & Regulations game up to 5-8 players, and it completely changes the dynamics. In this expansion, a dark sorcerer with horrifying powers (and intentions) moves into the neighborhood, forcing other players to decide whether to team up or continue to quibble. The Nefarious Neighbor steals Creatures from other players and performs dark rituals to mutate them into frightening beasts. That neighbor plays with their own standalone deck (included in the expansion pack) which includes Corrupted Creatures, Curses, and Dark Runes.

The Nefarious Neighbor’s powers are so immense that their Corrupted Creatures cannot be destroyed, hexed, or stolen; however, the expansion also includes cards to shuffle into the Main Deck to help other players fight back and thwart that neighbor’s villainous plans.

One of the most interesting parts of the Nefarious Neighbor expansion is the introduction of player role cards. In addition to the Nefarious Neighbor, other players will have the opportunity to take on a new role (in secret). These roles provide you with a second win condition that nobody else knows about, giving you the opportunity to surprise your neighbors with an unexpected victory. Since only the Nefarious Neighbor’s role is known, each other player around the table is left to wonder what role their opponents might secretly be playing. These roles include things like Mr. Griffin (who wins if they successfully summons 3 Griffins), the Henchman (who wins if the Nefarious Neighbor wins and Henchman has no creatures on their Lawn), and the Humane Sorcerer (who wins by successfully saving a Stray Dog or Alley Cat).

Runes & Regulations by itself is a super fun and interactive game, and we designed it to stand entirely alone. I say this because the game really works without the expansion, and we didn’t even start working on the expansion until we had the original game completely finished and play tested. Getting to add on this expansion was a dream, though, and getting the opportunity to actually make it a reality because of the support so far on this project is incredibly exciting. The introduction of this expansion just makes the game so much more dynamic (and really creates two different games).