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HOW TO PLAY ON THE EDGE©
An article written by Paul Nurnberger, ©1995 Trident Inc.

This article is here to tell you how to play On the Edge, the collectable trading-card game of weird conspiracies and subtle intrigue. What's the basic idea of the game? Imagine yourself on Al Amarja -- a small island off the Italian coast hidden from view from the rest of the world, and for good reason. All the action takes place here in the Edge, the main city of Al Amarja. You'll find the Edge is home to some very odd people, psychics and mutants and sentient animals among them. Everything you can imagine can be bought or stolen here, from weird scientific equipment to paranormal devices, even extraterrestrial artifacts. And there are powerful forces at work behind the scenes, subtle conspiracies fighting each other for power and control of the Edge. That's why you're here -- to recruit and organize the inhabitants of the Edge, to build your own power structure and hold it fast against all comers, to win and establish secret control over the Edge.

This little article does not replace the Rules of Play; it's just meant to help get you started. A copy of the rules comes with every starter deck. It's not very long, so read it when you get the chance. Keep the booklet handy when you play, and refer to it if any questions arise.

So how do you play the game? Take the deck of cards you've built. If you haven't yet built a deck, check out the other side of this flyer. Shuffle the deck, and deal yourself eleven cards. This is an opening hand you'd start your first turn of the game with (ten cards, plus your first turn's draw). The first thing to do is sort your hand of cards by type, just like you did while building your deck. Sort out your Characters and Resources, and set all the other cards -- any Whammies, Gear, Conditions, Environmentals or Secrets -- aside. If you don't have at least one Character and one Resource, deal yourself another starting hand.

Check out the Resources now. As explained in the Rules of Play, cards have four numbers or statistics. The number in the upper right-hand corner of the card is it Cost. On your Resources, the Cost is most likely "0". That means you can play the card for free, but you'll be limited to playing one 0-Cost card per turn. Also check out the number in the far lower-left corner, which is the card's Pull. Again, the usual Pull on Resources is "1*". You'll notice the asterisk after the number. Asterisks in statistics are important, because they require you to look to the rules text on the card to find the special instructions for playing the card. In this case, if you read the rules text you'll probably find something like, "Non-Influence Pull only. +1 to call Burger cards." Let's see what this means.

"Non-Influence Pull only" is simply a reminder of the rules for winning the game. You cannot use the Pull generated from a Resource to win the game; that's what Characters with Pull are for (more on this later). "+1 to call Burger cards" means that in addition to the 1 generic Pull used to call any card, this Resource (Al Amarjan Friends) gives 1 bonus Pull applicable to cards with the trait Burger. Again, from the rules, traits are the bold-faced text under the card illustration. Check your hand now for any other cards that match the traits and bonus Pull of your Resources. If you've focused your deck's traits beforehand, you should have a few matches like this. If not, that's fine, too -- it will just take a little longer to get your cards into play. With all that in mind, let's go on to playing some Characters.

Take a card from your deck, and play a Resource. For every Resource you can play, draw another card (we're pretending you're taking your turns in a game). Once you've played all your Resources, take a look at the Pull they have. Now look at the Costs on your Characters, keeping in mind the possibility of using your bonus Pull to help call the Characters. You should have at least one Character whose Cost can be paid for with your Resources. Again, if not, keep drawing cards until you have enough Pull to go forward. Got a Character? You might have a 1-Cost Character, such as Break-Bones (who has the traits Human and Glorious Lord). In this case, you can crank (or turn sideways) any Resource with 1 generic Pull, or one with Bonus Pull for either of his traits. Having generated the Pull, put your Character in play, apart from your Resources. With this first Character, you start building the Conspiracy which (with hope) will win the game for you.

Your Character probably looks pretty lonely out there. The next thing to do is to call another. Let's go on to your next "turn" by uncranking (or turning upright again) any cranked Resources and drawing another card. Make sure you have another Character you can pay for, and generate the Pull you'll need. Now, Characters in the game fit into a rank and file structure -- take a look at pages 28 and 29 of your Rules of Play to see what's meant here. Every new Character has to enter play in a rank and file adjacent to a Character already in play. For example, from the Character you already have in play, there are eight options for where to play the next one (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally adjacent). Each additional Character fits into this structure when played, with the only additional restriction being the limit of three ranks front-to-back.

Ranks and files matter because they bear on attacking and defending, which we'll explain shortly. For now, check to see if the Character you're about to call has any Pull. If so, put it directly behind the Character you already have out. It's fine if both your Characters have Pull, at least for now. The reason you want to play your Characters with Pull behind others is because, if your Pull Character is attacked and popped, you'll lose Influence equal to their Pull. Influence is your tally towards winning the game, which you add to each turn by cranking your Pull Characters. Again, just like Resources, Characters crank to do things like generate Pull or use some other ability, such as attacking. Now in attacks, any Character in the first or forwardmost rank is open to attack or being attacked from the outside. Characters in the second or third rank can be protected from outside attack, but only as long as a Character in the same file and a lower rank stands uncranked. Again, look to pages 31 and 32 of your Rules of Play to see some examples of legal targets. You'll have to place your Pullers behind blocking Characters, in order to keep them safe and sound turn after turn. The Characters you'll be attacking with yourself, your hitters, should be in the front-most rank, or in an entirely different file.

Let's make this clearer, by explaining how attacks work. In combat, an attacker cranks to initiate combat with a legal target, who becomes a defender. To understand what happens, we have to go over the two other statistics cards have in addition to Cost and Pull -- their Attack Power and Defense Power (more simply, AP and DP). AP is the first number in the lower-left hand corner of the card, and DP is the second (both above the Pull). Combat is resolved through a simple comparison of the attacker's AP and the defender's DP. If the attacker wins, the defender is popped, or discarded from play. If the two tie, both Characters are discarded. If the DP is greater than the AP the attacker is popped and the defender is unaffected. Finally, just like the rules limit you to one 0-Cost card per turn, they likewise limit you to one attack against each Conspiracy in play per turn -- that does include attacks within your own Conspiracy.

To see how combat works, grab a few Characters from your deck and place them opposite you on the table (as if they were in your opponent's Conspiracy). See what would happen if each of them attacked each of the Characters in your Conspiracy, and vice versa -- who would get popped and who would survive? Try rearranging your Characters to make them more likely to survive longer to get a good idea of how you want to build your Conspiracy in the first place.

Experiment like this for a while, and then look for someone real to play with!

There's a lot more to the game than character attacks and cranking for Influence. For instance, there are Gear and Condition cards, which may modify statistics and provide special abilities; Whammies that can have immediate and sometimes bizarre effects on play; Environmentals that can effectively change the rules of the game, and the Secrets that reveal more of the story behind the game.

For now, you have a basic overview of On the Edge and how it plays. The best way to learn more is to get an opponent or two and sit down and start playing. Keep your Rules of Play handy, and when questions arise, look through it to find the answer.

Keep in mind, this game is ultimately a social diversion; enjoy the story you and your opponents are telling with your cards, and (especially when you're just learning the game!) don't let an obsession for winning overshadow the pleasure of playing. Sometimes a fresh and stylish combo scores more fun than a boring but effective repetition of old strategies.

Happy conspiring!

© On the Edge is a trademark of Trident Inc. Over the Edge, Al Amarja, Charting New Realms of Imagination, and the Atlas Games logo are trademarks of John Nephew. The use of these trademarks here is without permission, and does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of those properties.

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