The Voyages of Marco Polo: The New Characters

Add four characters, contracts and one-use gifts.

Short tag: [Characters]

What it adds

This mini expansion adds four Character tiles, four Contract tiles, 15 Gifts, one City Bonus marker and a token for Fratre Nicolao. The printed rules say to shuffle the characters and contracts into their matching base supplies and use the extra marker as a possible City Bonus.

Setup changes

Shuffle the new Character and Contract tiles into their corresponding supplies. Shuffle the Gifts into a face-down pile. Add the new City Bonus marker to those eligible for the small-city setup.

New and changed rules

When you receive a Gift, draw one. If it has a lightning bolt, take its immediate reward or action and discard it. Otherwise keep it and use its effect during one of your turns, then discard it. Reshuffle the gift discard pile if the draw pile runs out.

Four characters: Khan Arghun begins with six City Cards and can use one per turn as a bonus action; Fratre Nicolao draws three Gifts each round, keeps one, and can use his token once to keep two instead; Gunj Kököchin has two personal action spaces; Altan Ord gains a growing bonus as posts are placed, up to the ninth post.

Scoring changes

The base game’s scoring stays the same. Character powers can change the resources or actions available while pursuing it. See Tips & Strategy.