Reach 30 points
The instant someone reaches 30 victory points, they win. Every faction earns most points in its own way.
The Law of Root · October 2025
without the fog.
The shortest useful path from opening the box to understanding what everyone is trying to do.
01
Start here
The whole game in four ideas
Control clearings
You rule a clearing when your warriors plus buildings outnumber every other player there. A tie means nobody rules.
Take your three phases
Every turn is Birdsong, Daylight, then Evening. Your faction board tells you exactly what happens in each.
Play your faction's game
Root is intentionally uneven. Cats build. Birds follow a decree. The Alliance spreads sympathy. Follow your board.
02
Standard setup
Seven things, in order
- 01
Choose factions and first player
Pick factions, then randomly choose seating order and the starting player.
- 02
Scores start at zero
Put every score marker on 0.
- 03
Deal three cards each
Shuffle and draw 3 each. In a 2-player game, remove all four dominance cards first.
- 04
Place the four ruins
Cover every map slot marked R.
- 05
Fill the item supply
Place the items shown by the map: 2 bags, 2 boots, 1 crossbow, 1 hammer, 2 swords, 2 tea, and 2 coins.
- 06
Put out dice and reference cards
Keep both battle dice near the map. Hand out overview cards if helpful.
- 07
Set up each faction
In printed setup order — A, B, C, and so on — follow the back of each faction board.
03
Every turn
Morning. Day. Night.
Birdsong
Your opening steps
Resolve your faction's start-of-turn effects in the order printed on your board.
Daylight
Your main actions
Move, battle, build, craft, or do the unique work that makes your faction score.
Evening
Score, draw, clean up
Resolve Evening in order, draw cards, then usually discard down to five.
“At the start” happens before anything else in that phase. “At the end” happens after everything else.
04
Shared actions
The moves everyone should know
Craft
Activate the crafting pieces shown on the card. Each crafting piece works once per turn. Take the effect; if it makes an item, also take that item and score its printed points.
Move
Move any positive number of your warriors and pawns along one path. You must rule the clearing you leave, the one you enter, or both.
Battle
Choose a clearing containing your warriors or pawn, then choose one enemy there as defender. Roll after any ambush.
Rule
Count only warriors and buildings. Tokens and pawns do not help. More than every opponent rules; a tie rules nothing.
05
Battle, simplified
Roll high. Remove pieces.
1
Ambush?
The defender may play one matching ambush. The attacker can cancel it with a matching ambush.
2
Roll both dice
The attacker gets the higher roll. The defender gets the lower roll.
3
Limit rolled hits
Your rolled hits cannot exceed your warriors in that clearing. Extra hits from effects can exceed this.
4
Deal hits together
Each side removes its own pieces: warriors first, then buildings or tokens. Removing enemy cardboard scores 1 point each.
06
Pick your faction
What everyone is really doing
These are orientation cards, not replacement player boards. Tap a faction to see the short version.
07
When rules collide
The golden rules
Card beats Law
If a card conflicts with the Law, follow the card.
Faction beats general
If both cannot be followed, the faction or hireling rule wins.
“Cannot” is absolute
It only changes when something explicitly says it can.
Be literal
Do exactly what the rule says. Move is not place. Similar words are not interchangeable.
Turn player breaks ambiguity
If simultaneous order or a decision is unclear, the current player chooses.
Finish one thing first
Do not interrupt an action or effect unless a rule explicitly allows it.
08
Rules helper
Ask the full Law.
The answer is grounded in the complete October 2025 rulebook and points you back to the relevant section.
Answer
The access code and DeepSeek key are never placed in this page. Your phone remembers the group code only on this device.
Need the exact wording?
Keep the official Law close.
Download the original 32-page PDF for edge cases, advanced setup, hirelings, landmarks, maps, and the full glossary.