Jagged Earth

Errata / Updates

Effect Rules
  • Jagged Earth - 1st and 2nd printings
    Update for Badlands tokens -- Instead of "the first time an action damages Invaders", each Badlands token boosts damage "one time an action damages Invaders". (So it could be the 2nd time, 3rd time, etc.)
    This is relevant only rarely – e.g., on "Pyroclastic Bombardment" (which deals damage to Invaders multiple times with different restrictions on which Invaders can take Damage), or "Voice of Command" (which causes a Ravage to deal damage to Invaders multiple times with different restrictions).
    (Badlands works the same way for Dahan - boosting damage one time, rather than the first time – but there are no actions where that makes much of a practical difference.)
    Tags: Badlands, Voice of Command, Pyroclastic Bombardment (Volcano Looming High)
  • Core game, Branch & Claw, Promo, Jagged Earth - all printings
    Errata / Clarification on which items are triggered actions -- Jagged Earth formalized how triggered actions work. The following earlier items are triggered actions ("after X, do Y") even though their wording doesn't use "after":
    • Vengeance of the Dead (Major Power, core game);
    • Ocean In Play (Ocean's Hungry Grasp special rule, core game);
    • Sworn to Victory1 (Thunderspeaker special rule, core game);
    • Blazing Presence2 (Heart of the Wildfire special rule, promo 1);
    • Constant Raiding (Dahan Insurrection Scenario rule, core game);
    • Military Response (Dahan Insurrection Scenario rule, core game).
    The following items are also triggered actions ("after X, do Y") even though their wording doesn't use "after" (but practically speaking it doesn't matter much):
    • Portents of Disaster (Minor Power - Branch & Claw);
    • Forbidden Ground3 (Keeper of the Forbidden Wilds special rule - Branch & Claw);
    • Deep Layers Exposed to the Surface (Stone's Unyielding Defiance special rule - Jagged Earth)
    1 = The trigger is "After a Ravage destroys 1 or more Dahan..." and does not involve Blight; see this FAQ entry for elaboration.
    2 = This rule used to say "When you add or move Presence...". More recent printings of the Spirit correctly say "After you add or move [Presence] after Setup...".
    3 = Read as, "After one or more lands become a Sacred Site for you, Push all Dahan from those lands."
    See Summary of Action rules for more details on how triggered actions work in general.
    Adversary instructions saying "After Setup:" are not triggered actions, but just a specification of when that rule applies ("not during Setup"). We apologize for the wording overlap, and will be using "During Play:" or "Post-Setup:" moving forward.
    Tags: Triggered Actions, Vengeance of the Dead, Portents of Disaster, Sworn to Victory (Thunderspeaker), 5 more...
Setup

Frequently Asked Questions

Adversaries
Aspects
Blighted Island cards
Definitions
Effect Rules
Elements and Elemental Thresholds
Event Cards
Fear and Fear Cards
General Play
Invader Actions
Play Options
Power Cards
Presence and Sacred Sites
Range and Targeting
Scenarios
Setup
Spirit Phase
Spirits and Innate Powers
~ Expansions, Promos, and Publishing
  • How many Presence tokens should I have?
    You should have 13 Presence tokens of each color.
    Some printings of the core game and Jagged Earth came with an extra token of each color. Use these as a spare. For the scenario Guard the Isle's Heart, the extra Presence at the start of the game comes from your Presence tracks, not this extra token.
    If you have too few tokens, contact the publisher for a replacement.
    (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Presence, Guard the Isle's Heart
  • Can you post an electronic PDF of the rulebook?
    Here are links that Greater than Games provided to the core rulebook, the Branch & Claw rulebook, the Jagged Earth rulebook, and the Nature Incarnate rulebook.
    (Discussion elsewhere) (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Rulebook
  • What game items have been retired or replaced in expansions?
    Replaced with new cards:
    • Sea Monsters (Major Power in B&C) – new version in JE (capping Fear)
    • Draw Towards a Consuming Void (Major Power in JE) – new version in NI (wording – no functional changes)
    • Growth Through Sacrifice (Minor Power in B&C) – replacement Minor in NI (Roiling Bog and Snagging Thorn)
    Retired:
    • Outpaced (Event in B&C) – retired as of NI
    • War Touches the Island's Shores (Event in B&C) – retired as of NI (which has a new Event with similar theme)
    • A Strange Madness Among the Beasts (Event in B&C) – retired as of JE/NI
    • Tipping Point (Blighted Island Card in B&C) – retired as of NI
    Farmers Seek the Dahan for Aid has not yet been replaced, because that replacement would best be done as part of a Dahan-centric expansion.
    It's fine – but not required – to retire game items "early" (i.e., without buying the expansion which officially says they're retired). That's awkward for replacing game items - since you need the replacement - though some players opt to omit Growth Through Sacrifice, finding the elemental distortion from its absence to be less impactful than it seeing use in play.
    Outpaced, War Touches, Strange Madness, and Tipping Point were all retired for an overly swingy play experience. Original Sea Monsters was so good with Many Minds that it trivialized the game. Growth Through Sacrifice was nearly always game-warpingly good. Draw Towards a Consuming Void was one of the very few things that moves other Spirits' Presence without explicitly stating so, and Nature Incarnate had space on the card sheet, so we printed a replacement.
    Tags: Retired or Replaced Game Items, Expansions, Sea Monsters, Draw Towards a Consuming Void, 6 more...
  • When is a good time to add expansion materials from Branch & Claw or Jagged Earth to the core game?
    The only firm recommendation is "not right away!" - they add extra complexity while you're learning the core rules, make some core Invader dynamics more variable (and thus harder to learn), and the awesome variety they offer isn't nearly so awesome without understanding the core game. That said, some players disagree, and you should play however you like!
    As a rough gauge, the more of the below questions you'd say "yes" to, the more natural it'd be to start using the expansion:
    • Are you comfortable with the core game's mechanics? (No longer need to use the player aid cards / look up basic rules in the rulebook while playing, though you might consult the FAQ for edge cases. This question is the most important of the lot.)
    • Have you seen much of the core game's diversity? (Played many of the Spirits / played alongside all of them; taken or considered-taking all of the Minor Powers and many of the Major Powers.)
    • Are you winning games with Difficulty higher than 0? (Playing against Adversaries, or the more difficult Scenarios.)
    • Have you played some of the Medium/High-complexity Spirits?
    • Do you REALLY REALLY like new stuff and want to add the expansion materials as soon as possible?
    • Are there more-experienced players in the game with you? (Particularly if they're already familiar with the expansion materials.)
    • Are you able to predict victory more than a turn in advance? (With the only Invader randomness being the new Explore card, seasoned players can reach a point where they foresee victory multiple turns ahead of time, even when playing on a good difficulty level for them. If you've hit this point, I actively recommend breaking out the expansion, as its Event deck returns an edge of uncertainty - and thus, tension - to such situations.)
    If you can say "yes" to at least 2-3 of these - definitely including the first one - then it's a fine time to add expansion materials. If you can say "yes" to 4 or more of them, no need to keep waiting! You don't need to play through literally everything in the core game's box first. (Though of course if you want to, great, do that!)
    Another reasonable POV someone expressed: "Events - added in the expansion - are best when you have enough of the game system internalized that it's easy to predict what the Invaders will do. The Event Deck combats this by adding some randomness. But if you're not yet at the stage where you feel like you can picture the board 1 or 2 turns in advance, adding Events will just make it harder to do that. So waiting on the expansion until then isn't a bad idea." Though some folks like the Events more for their theme and occasional hard choices than their effects on the Invaders per se, so this may not be universal.
    (Discussion elsewhere) (Discussion elsewhere) (Discussion elsewhere) (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Learning, Expansions
  • What Spirit Island games / expansions exist? Is there any required order to the expansions?
    The Spirit Island Wiki has this information in both list and graphical form, along with recommendations for frequently asked purchasing questions at the bottom. You can also click through to see the contents of different expansions.
    Retail and crowdfunding versions of Spirit Island products are equivalent; there is no exclusive content.
    Tags: Printings and Editions, Expansions