Play Queens Lantern

A guided journey from Forgetting to Remembrance for one to six players sharing one device. New here? Learn by playing a few practice turns with fictional players, then begin your own journey.

Play Queens LanternLearn by playingRead the tutorial

Public beta 0.6.2. Save/Resume, private handoffs, full-card reading, result downloads and local playtest notes. Keyboard focus follows completed choices, and public Queen and counter changes have accessible status updates. Provisional V0.2 mechanics, not sealed canon. All 117 cards now have retained visuals: 56 existing images, 20 recovered source-art images and 41 clearly marked provisional designs. Final art remains open for those provisional designs. Separate-device online play is a later milestone.

Open the original card game material

These are source-preserved playtest files from the Queens Lantern project, not a finished automated video game.

• View all 117 prototype cards
• Card mechanics (117-card playtest overlay)
• Original full rulebook
• Player aids and Road tracks
• Fog and Light tracks

Some historical playtest-kit links reference materials that were not present in the recovered packet. Use the verified links above for the available source files.

What is the goal?

Help every player move from space 0, Forgetting, to space 7, Remembrance, before the shared Fog reaches its limit. Everyone wins together, while each player retains their own choices. No one is eliminated for falling behind.

What you need

• 52 Queens cards, 52 Lantern cards and 13 Symbol cards for the complete deck.
• One Road of Remembrance track, spaces 0–7, and player marker for each person.
• One shared Fog track and shared Light counters, coins or stones.

Choose First Light, Full Circle or the complete 117-card configuration. Use the matching prepared deck; the prototype rules do not specify the card identities in each shorter configuration.

Setup

1. Choose your deck configuration and separate and shuffle Queens, Lanterns and Symbols.
2. Put each player's Road marker at 0, Forgetting.
3. Deal three Lantern cards to each player, or four for solo play.
4. Set shared Light to 2 + number of players (maximum 8). For solo play, use 4.
5. Set Fog to 0. Its limit is 8 + number of players (10 in solo play).
6. Reveal one Symbol. Its effect stays active until another Symbol is revealed.
7. Choose a starting player and play clockwise.

Each turn

1. Reveal a Queen. Read its title or excerpt and the playtest mechanic.
2. Choose a response: play a matching Lantern, ask another willing player to contribute a matching Lantern, spend 2 shared Light as a basic match, or take a Quiet Choice.
3. Resolve. A successful match normally advances the active player one Road space; apply the printed Queen and Lantern effects.
4. Respect support limits. Each helper can provide one Lantern per other player's turn and gain helper progress only once per round.
5. Refill. Draw Lanterns back to the player's hand limit. If the deck is empty, reshuffle its discard pile.

Quiet Choice: Place the revealed Queen on the bottom of its deck, add 1 Fog and do not move.

At round's end: After each player has taken one turn, add 1 Fog, discard the old Symbol and reveal a new one.

Paths, Light and Guides

Four matching paths: Truth, Courage, Mercy and Restoration. A Lantern matches a Queen if their paths match, unless a printed card effect says otherwise.

Shared Light: It belongs to everyone. Get brief agreement before spending 2 Light for a basic match. Never exceed 12 Light.

Guides: On reaching Road space 7, a player remains involved as a Guide with a hand of three Lanterns and may still help.

Ending the game

Victory: All players reach Remembrance before Fog reaches the limit.

Fog limit reached: The session ends without victory. Do not assign blame. Record the card or rule that stalled the table, and change one item before the next test.

Player scaling

• Solo: 4-card hand, 4 Light, Fog limit 10; one free Lantern redraw per round.
• 2 players: 3-card hand, 4 Light, Fog limit 10.
• 3 players: 5 Light, Fog limit 11.
• 4 players: 6 Light, Fog limit 12.
• 5 players: 7 Light, Fog limit 13.
• 6 players: 8 Light, Fog limit 14.

Table rules

• Help must be offered, never demanded.
• A Quiet Choice is always permitted.
• Nobody is mocked, eliminated or diminished for falling behind.
• Pause a card if it is unclear or uncomfortable.
• The existing printed card text and art remain authoritative; these playtest mechanics are provisional.

Optional table tracker

Track the session while using your physical or approved digital card deck. This tracker does not draw or resolve cards. Values start at the documented setup for the selected player count.

Playtest notes

Early targets are a rules explanation under ten minutes, turns averaging under 90 seconds, meaningful help for each player, and no wait longer than five minutes between meaningful choices. At session's end, identify one rule to retain and at most three to revise.