Court of the Dead: Mourners Call

Place the game board in the center of the play area. Place a number of Unity tokens on the Unity supply space based on the player count (35 for 4 players, 30 for 3, 25 for 2). Place all Etherea pieces on their designated spot. Shuffle the Wallows cards and place them face down on their space. Shuffle the Court cards and place them face down on their space. Place a track token on the '0' space of the Dreadsgrip Threat track and the Celestial Suspicion track. Place the Malavestros and Raker figures, dice, and Dreadsbane token near the board. Each player takes a player board, 10 Guild rings and 6 Guild track tokens of their chosen faction color, 2 Etherea (stored on their board), and 3 track tokens on the starting Influence spaces of their player board. Players draft an Ulterior Motive card and a Mourner card, keeping their chosen Ulterior Motive card secret and placing its matching faction token on their player board. The oldest player takes the All-Taker figure and becomes the first player.

Players take on the role of Mourners, Death's agents, working to unite the three Death factions (Bone, Flesh, and Spirit) to end the celestial battle between good and evil. The ultimate goal is to become Death's Champion by earning the most victory points at the end of the game.

Each round consists of eight phases: 1. Ethereal Distribution: The first player rolls dice equal to the number of players, takes Etherea from the supply equal to the roll, divides it into (players + 1) piles, and players draft piles or pass for Influence. 2. Wallows Cards: Each player is dealt one Wallows card, which is a quest to complete by the end of the round. 3. Court Card Drafting: Court cards are dealt based on player count, and players draft cards by picking one and passing the rest, repeating until all cards are drafted. 4. Action Phase: Players take turns performing one of four actions (Play a Court Card, Recruit, Relocate Guild Figures, Activate Mourner Card abilities) or passing, until all players pass in a row. 5. Dreadsgrip Threat: Check the Dreadsgrip Threat track; if it's at 8 or higher, players with figures at locations exceeding the limit roll dice, potentially returning figures to their crypts. 6. Pay Celestial Tithe: Players contribute Etherea to meet a quota based on the Celestial Suspicion track; those who contribute the most gain Unity, while those who contribute the least lose Unity or Influence. 7. Resolve Locations & Guilds: Locations are resolved in numerical order, granting benefits to the player with the most figures there. Then, Guild tracks are resolved from left to right, granting bonuses to the player furthest on each track. 8. Clean-Up: Mourner cards are reset, special faction figures are returned to the supply, and Wallows cards are discarded.

At the end of the game, players calculate their final score. This includes the total number of Unity tokens collected, Influence points from their player board trackers (6 points for Bone, 0 for Flesh, 10 for Spirit in the example), and any additional points earned from their secret Ulterior Motive card. The player with the highest total score wins. In case of a tie, the tied player with the most Etherea wins. If there's still a tie, the tied player with the most Mourner cards in play wins. If a tie persists, the tied players share the victory.

The game ends immediately if the Unity token supply on the main board runs out during the Action Phase. In this scenario, every player, including the current one, takes just one more action, and then the Action Phase ends. All subsequent phases of the round (Dreadsgrip Threat, Pay Celestial Tithe, Resolve Locations & Guilds, Clean-Up) are still resolved. Alternatively, if the Unity token supply on the main board is empty at the beginning of the Ethereal Distribution phase (Phase 1), the game proceeds directly to final scoring.