Grand Tribunal Errata

Under "Setup", page 1, paragraph 5, sentence 1 and 2: The top three cards drawn from the Spells deck at the start of the game should be placed in a line face UP next to the Spells deck. The same applies for the top three Items cards.

Under "Gather Vis", page 3, paragraph 3, sentence 3: players who roll to collect Contested Source Vis must pay TWO Vis to the initiating player, as it notes on the game board, rather than one Vis as given here.

Under "Beginning a New Tribunal", page 4, paragraph 2, sentence 2: Players should NOT receive Vis tokens from the communal Regio pile at the beginning of each new Tribunal; this sentence should be removed, so that the only Vis awarded for "free" is at the beginning of the game.

Rules Clarifications

The five cards you start the game with are placed in your hand of cards.
Any number of cards from your hand can be placed face down on the table in front of you (in your Sanctum) on your turn; this does not take an action. Cards from your Sanctum cannot be put back into your hand, however. You can look at your own face-down cards at any time.

Should you run out of Vis tokens, extra Voting tokens can be used as 5-point Vis tokens.

Card Clarifications

Fool's Gold (Elemental): The face-up item you draw is considered active. (Note you have to burn the item that Fool's Gold is on, though!)

Longevity Potion (Alchemical): The actions you gain are played as if you received an entirely new turn, so you could take an action again that you already did earlier. You can't use both of your two new actions to do the same thing, as always.

Item's Transmutation (Alchemical): The Vis tokens from the old Item go on the new Item you just drew.

Chirurgeon's Touch (Alchemical): Discard along with any number of cards from your Sanctum *or* hand. Cards that you draw to replace those cards discarded from your hand will go into your hand, and cards that you draw to replace those cards discarded from your Sanctum will go into your Sanctum, face down.

Strategy

The start of the game is the only time you'll ever put cards in your hand (as opposed to the Sanctum) unless you're affected by a card in some way. Although it may be tempting to simply put out all of your cards into your Sanctum on the very first turn, remember that if a card is in the Sanctum then it is possibly vulnerable to certain nasty Spells. You may want to use the hand as a special, protected reserve that will help you plan strategy. You can move any number of cards from your hand to your Sanctum, but you many want to do so at a slow pace, remembering that as you choose new items and spells from the Vault and Grimoire, they will go directly to your Sanctum. The discard rule is only in place if ever you find yourself with more than five cards in your hand (which may happen rarely).

Rules Variants

Double Advance Action: To encourage players to get more Items out before Tribunals, try allowing them to use the "Advance Items or Spells" action twice on each turn, instead of limiting it to just once.

Cheap Resources: To increase the use of Resources in the game, turn the "Play a Resource Card" standard action into a free action.

Hand/Sanctum Choice: When drawing Items, Spells, or Resources, allow each player to *choose* to place it in either his hand OR directly into his Sanctum. Having it the hand protects a card, at least for a while, until you decide to place it in your Sanctum. But of course there's a limit of 5 cards in the hand, which comes into play more often in this variant.

Secret Cards: If a card goes directly to the Sanctum, place it there face down, no matter if the card chosen was a face-up card next to the draw pile or the topmost face-down card from the draw pile. Only turn over Items and Spells when their Vis cost has been met. This variant plays well when combined with the Hand/Sanctum Choice variant.

Free Vis Variants: "Free" Vis can be allocated at different times in the game, in various amounts, to encourage a variety of play styles. Here are just a few ideas ...

Spring Covenant: Distribute 8 Vis at the beginning of the game, and none thereafter (since Spring covenants are very new and not well-established with Vis sources).

Summer Covenant (Standard): Use the full 12 Vis at the beginning of the game, and none thereafter (since Summer covenants are generally healthy and robust).

Autumn Covenant: Give out 4 Vis at the beginning of the game, followed by 5 at the start of the second Tribunal, and then 6 Vis at the beginning of the final Grand Tribunal. This means that players get 15 free Vis, but it is spread out over time (since Autumn covenants typically have a regimented hierarchy and need to control their stores of Vis, with the older magi allowed more access).

Winter Covenant: Pass out 6 + die starting Vis per player at the beginning of the game, and none thereafter (reflecting the randomly-decaying nature of the covenant).

Fast Turnover: When you reach the advancement cost in Vis for a Spell or Item, immediately turn it face up and return its Vis to the Regio. This frees up more Vis tokens in games with a larger number of players.