Shadow Moon Syndicates

1 / 47 ~24 min
Welcome to Shadow Moon

A Cyberpunk Trading Hub

Welcome to Shadow Moon Syndicates -- a game of area control and criminal influence set on a lawless cyberpunk trading hub orbiting a distant gas giant. You are a syndicate crime boss, deploying agents across 15 Sectors to seize territory, run operations, and amass power.

The hub known as Shadow Moon is a contested frontier. Multiple syndicates vie for dominance over its districts, and only the most cunning boss will come out on top.

The game is played over exactly 3 rounds, with each player taking 6 turns per round. Your agents carry out your orders on the ground, your Influence tokens mark your territorial grip, and the Operation Tokens you claim represent the illicit enterprises fueling your rise to power.

Tutorial Overview

Glossary

Above the Line

The top section of an agent card containing 1-2 effects. These are always resolved (top to bottom) when the card is played faceup. Each sentence is a separate effect.

See also: ,
Agent Card

A character card aligned to a specific syndicate. Agent cards fuel your actions, act as a round timer (6 per round), and drive strategy. Each card has Above the Line effects (always resolved when played faceup), a Below the Line effect (conditional), a syndicate icon, and a reference number.

See also: , , ,
Agent Stack

Your personal stack of played agent cards. Cards are added on top throughout a round. You must keep all previous card icons visible. Only the top card can be interacted with by opponents. At end of round, the entire stack returns to your hand for banking.

See also: ,
Below the Line

The bottom section of an agent card containing 1 conditional effect. It is only resolved if: the Agent Stack was empty (this is the first card), the previous top card was facedown, or the top two cards share the same syndicate icon. If the top two cards are different syndicates, the Below the Line effect is skipped.

See also: , ,
Burn Pile

A faceup discard stack. Only the top card (the Burned Card) is visible and can be interacted with. Cards that enter the {{glossary:burn_pile}} never return to the deck, except through the Reanimate effect. Cards always enter faceup on top, and only the top card (the {{glossary:burned_card}}) can be seen or interacted with.

See also:
Burned Card

The top card of the Burn Pile. It is the only card in the Burn Pile that can be seen or referenced by card effects such as Reanimate and Sacrifice.

See also:
Card Row

A display of 5 faceup agent cards from the deck. During the Manipulate step (Rounds 1 and 2 only), you can swap a card from your hand with one in the Card Row. The Card Row is not available in Round 3.

See also: ,
Control

A player controls a sector if they have at least 2 influence there AND strictly more influence than every other player. Ties mean no one controls the sector. Control is required to claim operation tokens and is scored at end of round and final scoring.

See also: , ,
Crime Type

A category on operation tokens and objective cards. The six standard types are Fraud, Violence, Heist, Smuggling, Espionage, and Illicit. Petty Crime and Wild are special types. Wild counts as any crime type but only counts as one type per token.

See also: , , ,
Deploy Agent

The mandatory Step 2 of your turn. Play one agent card from your hand either facedown (add 1 influence anywhere, no card effects) or faceup (resolve Above the Line effects, then check Below the Line eligibility).

See also: , , ,
Displace

A status token that allows the owner to push any influence (including opponents') entering that sector to an adjacent sector instead. Removed at the end of each round.

See also: ,
Focus Pile

A temporary holding area during your turn. When you play a card faceup, it forms the Focus Pile while resolving Above the Line effects. Afterward, the card is moved from the Focus Pile to the top of your Agent Stack.

See also: , ,
Hustle

An optional action in Step 1 of your turn. Exhaust (flip to inactive) one active operation token you own to perform its printed hustle effect. Limited to one hustle per turn.

See also:
Influence

Colored tokens representing your syndicate's presence in a sector. Each player has 16 influence tokens. They can be on the board in sectors or in your personal supply. When removed from the board, they return to your supply. If your supply is empty and you need to place influence, you must move it from a sector instead.

See also: ,
Kredits

The currency of Shadow Moon. Earned through sector control scoring, objective card rewards, and surplus influence when fulfilling operations. Kredits are added to your operation token values to determine your final score.

See also: , ,
Lockdown

A status token that protects the owner's influence in that sector from all opponent interaction, including Eliminate, Push, Pull, Replace, Swap, and similar effects. Removed at the end of each round.

See also: ,
Manipulate

The optional Step 4 of your turn, available only in Rounds 1 and 2 (skipped in Round 3). Either swap 1 card from your hand with 1 card in the Card Row, or place 1 card from your hand on the bottom of the deck to draw the top card. Hand size remains the same.

See also: ,
Objective Card

A secret card with two scoring conditions: an Objective (earn 1K per matching crime type on your operation tokens) and a Control condition (earn 3K if you control the indicated sector). If either condition is unmet, you refresh 1 inactive token instead. One objective is revealed per round at end of round.

See also: , ,
Operation Token

A double-sided token (active/inactive) placed on the border between two named sectors. Each token has a value (Kredits worth and influence required to claim), a crime type, and a hustle effect. Claimed tokens contribute their value to your final score.

See also: , ,
Petty Crime

A special operation token given to each player at the start of the game. It has the Petty Crime crime type and functions like other operation tokens with a value, hustle effect, and two sectors.

See also: ,
Score Sector

Sectors marked with major or minor score tokens during setup. At final scoring, controlling a minor score sector earns 3K and controlling a major score sector earns 6K, in addition to normal sector control scoring.

See also: ,
Sector

One of 15 named areas on the game board, divided by borders. Influence tokens are placed within sectors. Operation tokens sit on borders between two sectors. Adjacent sectors share a border.

See also: , ,
Status Token

A special token placed in a sector. There are two types: Lockdown (protects the owner's influence from opponent interaction) and Displace (lets the owner push incoming influence to an adjacent sector). All status tokens are removed at the end of each round.

See also: ,
The Spire

A special sector on the board. Controlling The Spire earns 3 Kredits during sector control scoring (compared to 1K for other sectors). The Spire also serves as the tiebreaker -- the player with the most influence there wins ties.

See also: , ,
Wild

A special crime type that can match any other crime type. However, each Wild token only counts as one type per scoring check. Useful for fulfilling objective card conditions.

See also: ,