Xia: Embers of a Forsaken Star rules summary

Object: Players fly their ships to explore, deliver goods, battle, complete missions, gain titles,
and gather wealth to gain Fame Points (FP). The first player to reach a preset goal of FP wins.

Setup:
1. Place the Nyr tile in the center of the play area. Shuffle the Sector Tiles and deal one per
player, face up, one at a time, lining up the edge symbols with the Nyr tile as per the setup
depicted in the rulebook. Reshuffle any tiles that don’t have a Spawn Point (white swirl
with a number) and draw another tile.
2. Shuffle the Relic tokens into a face down pile. Shuffle the new (only) Exploration Tokens
into a face down pile and place one face down on each matching Exploration Space on the
setup tiles.
3. Shuffle the Mission, Title, and Event cards.
4. Give each player a How to Win card and 4,000 credits (four silver coins).
5. Place The Kiln’s NPC card in the play area and its miniature on the Orbit space on Nyr.
6. Shuffle the three NPC cards and deal one face up to each player (not everyone will get one
in a 4- or 5-player game). Place the corresponding miniature on each card.
7. The players decide the number of FP needed to win the game (5, 10, 15, or 20). Place the
Victory marker on the number on the new Fame Point Track.
8. Roll a d6 for each space on the Economy Board and place that number of matching cubes.
9. Each player rolls a d20. Starting with the highest roller and continuing counter-clockwise,
each player chooses a Tier 1 Ship Mat and takes the matching miniature and Ability card.
10. All players place their miniatures on the Spawn Point of the sector tile closest to them.
11. Each player takes an Impulse token and places it face up (yellow side) on the Impulse space
of their Ship Mat. Each player takes a set of six markers, places one on the Fame Point
track at 0, one on the highest number of their Ship Mat’s Energy Meter, and the rest in their
Ship Mat’s Armed spaces.
12. Each player places the flight stand token onto their miniature that matches their markers.
13. In the same order as ship selection, each player may spend some or all of their credits to
purchase Outfits to place into their ship’s hold.
14. The player who picked their ship last takes the First Player token.

Player Turns: Your turn consists of three phases: Action, Business (while on a planet), and
Status. Play continues clockwise to the next player.
Credits can be given to other players for bribes and alliances but these are not binding.
Luck – once per turn, you can gain a FP by rolling an unmodified 20.

Action Phase: You may take actions until you cannot or do not wish to take more.
To spend Energy, move your marker down the Energy Meter track.
No more than one ship can occupy a single space. Ships may move through occupied spaces.
Occupied Spaces – if you spend two movement, you may take one or more actions in an
adjacent space currently occupied by another ship. You still have to roll for any Borders
 passed through when using the occupied space. Note that spaces separated by a Planetary
Shield or Entrance are not adjacent.
Minor actions “(Minor)” – can be taken during another action (e.g., start a Move action, move,
take a Minor action, move some more).
Impulse – declare a Move action, exhaust the Impulse token (flip it face down), and move.
Buy, Sell, Mine, Salvage, Harvest, or Quarry Cargo Cube actions are done at the
corresponding marked spaces.
Sell Cargo Cubes – if you sell all of the cubes in your Hold that the location will buy, with a
minimum of two, you also gain one FP.
Mining and Harvest – cause damage or Energy loss equal to the roll if 1-10. Shield Outfits and
Abilities may be used immediately to lessen this loss. If you don’t have Energy to lose
when Harvesting, you must disarm Armed markers (one per Energy lost).
You may attempt Mining, Salvage, and Harvest actions multiple times on your turn.
Cargo Cubes can be jettisoned (placed in the ship’s space) and collected from that space by any
player – in both cases as a Minor action.

Business Phase: This phase only occurs if you end your Action Phase on a planet space.
The listed options on the player aid can be taken in any order.
Repair Damage – pay the cost to remove all damage to your ship.
Sell Outfits – you cannot sell a damaged Outfit.
Rearrange Hold – cannot be used on Damage markers or damaged Outfits.
Buy New Ship – purchase a ship one Tier higher. Replace the miniature and Ship Mat. Retain
the Ability cards from previously owned ships, along with your Outfits, Cargo Cubes, and
Credits. Damage and Bounty are discarded.
Buying Fame for $5,000 cannot be used to purchase the final FP needed for victory.

Status Phase:
Claim Fame – claim any unclaimed Titles.
Draw Titles – the first time any player’s FP marker reaches or passes a yellow Title space, a
new Title card is drawn and displayed for any player to claim at the start of their Status
phase (above) for bonus FP and an ability.
Draw Events – the first time any player’s FP marker reaches or passes a pink Event space, a
new Event card is drawn and resolved. An Event that lasts a number of rounds is placed to
the right of the First Player and any “round” rules activate before his turn. There are eight
“EV” Event tokens that can be used to track rounds and/or as reminders about the Event.
Refresh (flip face up) your exhausted Ability cards and Impulse token.
Arm Markers – pay one Energy each to move used or Disarmed markers to the Armed spaces.
If not Armed, any used markers on Outfits must be moved to Disarmed spaces.
If your ship is on a planet, you don’t have to spend Energy to Arm markers.

Ability Cards: Each ship has a card. Spend the energy and then follow the card’s directions.
Most cards require a d20 roll. After use, the card is flipped face down to show it is exhausted.

Outfits: Each type of Outfit comes in three tiers.

Outfits are double-sided, allowing them to be placed in either position.
To use, move an Armed marker to an available, undamaged Use space (gold hexagon) on the
Outfit. Roll the depicted die on the Outfit. Reduce the roll by 1 for each Damage marker on
the Outfit.
Engines – as a Move action, you can move up to the number spaces equal to your roll. Any
unused movement is lost when the action ends.
Ramming – an Attack action against an adjacent ship. Line of sight is required. The
Engine roll equals the amount of damage applied to the target ship and to the ramming
ship. The target ship follows normal combat rules for using Shields and defensive
abilities against the damage but the damage to the ramming ship is unblockable.
Impulse cannot be used for Ramming.
Blasters – as an Attack action, you inflict damage equal to your roll against an adjacent ship in
line of sight.
Missiles – as an Attack action, you inflict damage equal to your roll against a ship in line of
sight at a range of 2-6 spaces.
Shields – after rolling damage or Energy loss from terrain or activities related to terrain, you
can declare you are Arming a number of Shield Outfits to prevent an amount of
damage/loss equal to the roll(s).
Shields cannot be used against Planetary Shields, Debris Fields, Stars, or Unblockable
Damage.
Shields can also be used during another player’s Action phase (see Combat).
The Cargo Pod and Armor Plating Outfits only occupy one space of your Hold (the green
Outfit space with a white arrow) – the rest sits outside the Hold, adding spaces to your ship.
These Outfits may not overlap each other.
Cargo Pod – all four spaces can only hold Cargo Cubes and Relics. Only the space connected
to the Hold may be damaged. If the connecting space is damaged, the other three are
considered to be damaged as well. Relic tokens cannot be stored half in the hold and half
in the Cargo Pod.
Armor Plating – adds spaces for regular and Ice damage.
Mods are 1x1 sized Outfits that work like regular Outfits:
Piercer – placed over a Use space on a Blaster or Missile Outfit. When attacking with it,
subtract 4 from the defender’s total Shields rolled against the attack (but not to a value
less than 0). Multiple Piercers used each reduce by -4.
GTS – each GTS orthogonally adjacent to an Engine Outfit adds +2 to its rolls (but does
not allow the roll to exceed the maximum die roll).
M-Comp – each M-Comp allows you to carry two more Active Missions. If damaged,
discard cards appropriately.
Enviro-Shield – placed over a Use space on a Shield Outfit. When used, the Outfit
automatically rolls its maximum value against non-combat damage or Energy loss (i.e.,
no effect against combat damage).

Line of Sight: Determined by drawing a straight line from the center of the attacking ship’s
space to the center of the target’s space. Line of sight is blocked by Impenetrable Borders
(Asteroids, Debris Fields, Stars, and Planetary Shields/Entrances) and any unexplored spaces
(i.e., no Sector Tile).
Combat: Combat is an Attack action.
1. The attacker declares his target(s) and which Outfits and/or Abilities he is using (spending
Armed markers, Energy, and exhausting cards as needed). He can combine everything into
one attack or make separate attacks (e.g., spending two Armed markers to attack two
different ships).
2. The defender(s) declare which Shield Outfits and/or Abilities he is using (spending Armed
markers, Energy, and exhausting cards as needed).
3. The attacker, then the defender, each rolls their dice.
4. Subtract the defender’s total from the attacker total to determine the damage to the
defender.
5. Defenders that have spent Armed markers on Shield Outfits may immediately re-arm any
of those markers at a cost of 1 Energy per marker. This cannot be used on markers spent in
previous attacks.

Damage: When a ship takes damage, the owning player places Damage markers into his ship’s
Hold, one marker per space. A damaged Hold space is unusable until repaired.
If the space is occupied by a Cargo cube, the cube is jettisoned into the ship’s space.
If the space is occupied by marker, the marker is moved to a Disarmed space.

Death and Respawn: If damage equals or exceeds the number of Hold spaces, the ship is
destroyed.
1. Return your miniature to your Ship Mat.
2. Discard all Missions and jettison all Cargo cubes to the ship’s former space.
3. Discard all Bounty (unless collected by the destroyer).
4. If it was your turn, the turn ends immediately.
5. Reset the ship to full Energy, all markers are Armed, all damage removed, and Ability
cards are refreshed.
6. Your ship will Respawn with the following unavoidable damage: one damage if your ship
was Tier 1, two damage if Tier 2, or three damage if Tier 3.
7. You do not lose your Ship, Outfits, Credits, Fame, etc.
8. If both the attacker and the defender are destroyed during a ramming attack, the attacker
doesn’t receive any Bounty or FP.
9. At the start of your next non-skipped turn, roll a d20 and place the ship on the unoccupied
Spawn Point closest to the number rolled (using the higher-numbered one if tied). If you
roll a 20, choose the Spawn Point (in addition to getting a FP for Luck).

Stranded: You are Stranded if you have no Energy and no Armed markers. If Stranded while
moving (e.g., Nebulae), your Move action immediately ends. You may only use Impulse and
may take no other normal actions. You may still take Minor actions.
A player may Rescue your Stranded ship (as an action) by being adjacent and having at least
three Energy. As a Rescue action, he transfers two Energy to your ship. You cannot refuse
this help. He receives one FP. You may immediately Arm markers with the new Energy.
Bounty: The following illegal acts will place credits in the Bounty box on your Ship Mat:
 Crossing through a Planetary Shield instead of the Entrance has a chance to add Bounty.
 Illegal Missions may specify a Bounty for completion or failure.
 Destroying an Innocent ship (a ship without a Bounty) will increase Bounty by $1,000.
 An Innocent ship that passes through the Planetary Entrance of an Outlaw (red) planet
receives a $1,000 Bounty.
Ships with Bounty are considered Outlaw ships. They may not enter Lawful planets via their
Entrance.
When a ship destroys another ship with Bounty, the Bounty credits are claimed by the victor
(unless both ships are destroyed which results in discarding the Bounty).
Bounty is removed if the ship is destroyed or the player buys a new ship.
Add an Outlaw token to your miniature’s flight stand.

Exploration: To add a new Sector tile, your ship needs to be on an unexplored edge.
Scan Sector – as an action, spend one Energy to draw the next tile and line it up by matching
the symbols on the tile edges.
Blind Jump – as a Minor action, declare the adjacent, unexplored space you will enter, draw
and place the new tile, and then you must move into that space.
Exploration Tokens – as new tiles are placed, any with an Exploration space get a face down
Exploration token. The first player to move into the space flips the token, places it on his
Ship Mat, and immediately gets the reward:
 Cargo Cube – place the cube in your Hold or in your ship’s space (as if jettisoned).
 Energy – refill your Energy meter to its maximum (making a Stranded ship no longer
Stranded).
 Ice Damage – take one Ice damage.
 Movement – gain up to +5 Movement. This could be used by a Stranded ship.
 Captain in Need – draw a Mission card. You may make the card your Active Mission
(discarding your current mission) or discard it. If kept, the only thing that applies on the
card is the Deliver To mission point. If you complete the mission, gain 1,000 and one
FP.
Whenever you have two Exploration tokens, you may discard them both for either one FP or
2,000.

Borders and Gates: Asteroids, Planetary Shields, and Nebulae cause damage or Energy loss
equal to the roll if 1-10 when entered (not exited). Shield Outfits and Abilities may be used
immediately to lessen this loss from Asteroids and Nebulae (but not from Planetary Shields).
If you don’t have enough Energy to lose from a Nebulae, you must disarm Armed markers
(one per Energy lost).
Planetary Shield – on a roll of 1-10, the one movement point is lost and entry fails, although
the ship may continue moving.
Nebulae – once inside, players can move around and exit without penalty.
A Debris Field is only rolled upon entry, not exit.
Gates – spend one movement point when on any of a Gate’s three spaces to travel to any space
of another Gate.
Tigris Gate – does not connect to other Gates. Roll a d20 and arrive at the Spawn Point closest
to the roll (choosing the higher-numbered space if tied for closest). On a roll of 20, choose
any Spawn Point (and gain one FP for Luck).

Planets:
Lawful (blue) – an Outlaw ship cannot enter (but may exit) through the Planetary Entrance.
An Outlaw ship may try to enter illegally through the Planetary Shield.
Outlaw (red) – an Innocent ship (a ship without a Bounty) that passes through the Planetary
Entrance receives a $1,000 Bounty.
Ships separated by a Planetary Shield or Planetary Entrance are not considered adjacent.

Missions:
Draw Missions – draw three cards and place them face down in front of you without looking at
them. After your turn ends, look at them and choose one before starting your next turn, and
discard the rest. This Minor action may only be taken once per Mission Point per turn. The
chosen card is placed face down in your play area as your Active Mission. You may not
Draw Missions if you have a current Active Mission.
You may discard your Active Mission at any time.
As an action, immediately after completing a Mission’s Objective(s), flip the card face up to
reveal the Mission and place the Payment on the card. Once Delivered at the specified Deliver
Mission Point, the Payment (and one FP) is claimed with a Complete a Mission action.
A completed Mission is flipped face down and remains in your play area although it is no
longer Active.
After taking a Mission Objectives action that requires a d20 roll, you may discard a previously
completed Mission of the same type (title) to re-roll the d20.
Reshuffle the Mission deck if it runs out.
If a Mission requires calculating the shortest flyable distance, do not count unexplored Sector
tiles or the use of Gates.
Mission cargo/passengers do not take up Hold spaces.
Lawful Missions – may still be taken by Outlaws.
Arms Dealer – the delivered Outfit must be undamaged.

NPC Ships: They are placed on the Spawn Point when their stated Sector tile is placed. If that
space is occupied, place the NPC in an adjacent, unoccupied space.
You take a turn for the NPC you control directly after your turn, following the card from top to
bottom (e.g., move, then attack).
If attacked, an NPC will defend as per its Defense box. If it takes damage, add damage
markers to its card. If destroyed, place its ship on its card and award the credits and FP as
per its On Kill box (placing credits on the attacking card if a NPC killed a NPC). NPC’s
“forget” their most recent attacker when destroyed. The NPC Respawns at a random
Spawn Point just like a player ship.
NPCs will avoid Asteroids, Debris, Planetary Shields, and Stars. If they must cross a regularly
avoided border, their safest path is in this order: Asteroids, Debris, then, as a last resort,
Planetary Shields. They are affected by these borders like player ships.
 They are unaffected by Nebulae. They can use Gates. They cannot Scan or Blind Jump.
They must take the most direct route to their target – if routes are equal, the controlling
player decides the path.
Merchant – if a trade route planet is discovered during the Merchant’s trip, it is ignored. The
Merchant continues to its current target and determines its next target when it “sells”.

Economy Board:
Buy Cargo Cubes – the cubes must come from the Economy Board (if available).
Sell Cargo Cubes – the cubes are returned to the supply. Then the planet (except for Loath)
produces an equal number of new cubes of its Buy type that are placed on the Economy
Board. Each resource section of the Economy Board can only hold six cubes at a time –
any additional cubes that are produced remain in the supply.
During any player’s Status phase, place 1,000 on every resource section that has no cubes or
credits (making it “in demand”). The first player to generate that resource through Sell Cargo
Cubes above gains the 1,000 bonus.
The outlaw planet Kei allows you to exchange cubes from your Hold with cubes on the
Economy Board. If you place a cube on an “in demand” section, you gain the 1,000 bonus.

The Kiln: You may dock with this space station from any adjacent space at a cost of one
movement, placing your ship on any space on The Kiln card. Immediately roll a d6 and move
The Kiln along its path, stopping short of ending in an occupied space.
Players outside cannot interact with players inside The Kiln. NPCs can enter The Kiln.
You may move inside The Kiln normally.
Exiting The Kiln costs one movement and is done into any adjacent space.
The Kiln acts like a planet for Business phase actions.
The Kiln cannot be affected, attacked, or damaged by other ships.

Dead Worlds: When discovered, place the listed number of face down Relic tokens on its
space. Spaces with a Relic token(s) are considered occupied for movement purposes.
Excavate – you must have two orthogonally adjacent, empty Hold spaces to take this action. If
unsuccessful, take Ice Damage. If successful, move the top Relic token (without looking at
it) into your Hold, face down.
You cannot take a Business phase on a dead world.

Relic Tokens: While in your Hold they act like Cargo Cubes and can be jettisoned voluntarily
or via damage. If jettisoned, the token is destroyed.
Sift – while docked at The Kiln, as an action you may remove the token from your Hold, reveal
it, and choose to receive one FP or the depicted reward. Any rewards that will not fit in
your Hold (cubes/mods) are ignored.

Anomalies: Whenever a player (not a NPC) enters any space of the Gravity path, they roll the
specified die and move along the path that number of spaces. After moving, you may continue
to move normally including along the path (if still on it) in either direction, or exit the path.
Once off the path, you need to roll again if you re-enter it.
If the roll pushes you off the path, any excess “push movement” is ignored. Apply any effects
of the space you land on normally.
You may not take any actions (including Minor) while resolving gravity movement.

Ice Asteroids and Comets: When an Ice Asteroid tile is revealed, place a comet on its rules
space.
Whenever a player (not a NPC) enters any space of a Comet path, they roll a d6 and move the
Comet along the path that number of spaces.
If a ship enters the Comet’s space or if the Comet enters a space with a ship/cube, that
ship/cube is destroyed.
After moving the Comet, you may move normally including along the path in either direction,
or exit the path. Once off the path, you need to roll again if you re-enter it.
You may not take any actions (including Minor) while resolving the Comet movement.

Ice Damage: Ice damage can be blocked with Shields and Abilities just like regular damage.
You may remove all Ice damage for free during your Business phase.
Freezing – during your Strategy phase, place one Ice damage in every Hold space orthogonally
adjacent to Ice damage (EXC: Ice damage will not spread into spaces with regular damage).
Your ship is destroyed if your Hold is ever full of Ice and/or regular damage.

2-Player Rules: NPC’s count as players for mission target purposes with the exception of The
Kiln.
Lone Drifter Auto-Pilot Ability – add +2 movement to successful rolls.

Game End: Players can earn FP through Exploration, Missions, Trade, Combat, Wealth,
Ships, Kindness, Titles, and Luck.
The game ends when a player reaches the Victory marker on the Fame Point track. He then
reads aloud the Victory Story on the back of his Ship Mat.

FAQ:
Lone Drifter Auto-Pilot Ability – you will trigger movement for The Kiln, Comets, and
Gravity Paths while drifting.
Occam’s Razor Pyrion Railgun Ability – can be used to give regular damage to a target with
no undamaged Outfit spaces available.
Derelict Hulk Event – as you move, the Hulk ends up in the space your ship last occupied. It
won’t remain adjacent if you trigger a Gravity Path or use a Gate.
Infestation Event – only triggered when you roll a 1 for yourself (Outfits, Abilities, Missions,
Borders, Tigris Gate, etc.) but not for Gravity Paths, Comets, moving Nyr, NPCs, etc.
Veteran Mission card – you still have to roll for failure when using the card’s ability.
Cold As Ice Title – when calculating the size of your hold, each Armor Plating adds three but
the Cargo Pods do not.