TEXT: YOU’LL NEED
  • A standard deck of 52 playing cards
  • A few blank sheets of paper and a 
  pencil for each player
  • Poker chips (optional)
  • 3 to 5 players with avid minds
  ATTRIBUTES
  • Wealth (Diamonds)
  • Contacts (Hearts)
  • Relics (Spades)
  • Secrets (Clubs)
  NARRATIVE ELEMENTS
  • An Opportunity (a chance to gain 
  power or influence)
  • A Consequence (what happens if none 
  of the characters address the conflict)
  • A Complication (something unexpect-
  ed which makes things harder for one 
  or more characters)
  • A Resolution (the conflict’s end result)
  ACTIVE LEYLINES (SEE PAGE 2)
  • First Leyline: Trump (highest value suit)
  • Second Leyline: Resonance (spells of 
  the Resonance suit cast spells at +1 
  Attribute value).
  • Third Leyline: Warding (spells of the 
  Warding suit costs +1 Mana).
  • Fourth Leyline: Reward (2-10: +1 to 
  Attribute of Reward suit. Face card: 
  winner unlocks a Seal).
  S E V E N T H  S E A L
  A system to collectively tell stories about powerful magic-users in the modern world. 
  You and each other player takes on the role of a Magus, a member of an ancient family 
  of spell-casters, and heir to eons of conspiracy, conflict, and subterfuge.
  YOUR CHARACTER
  Each player plays a single Magus. That player controls all of the actions, motivations, 
  and thoughts of the Magus, and how that Magus interacts with the game world.
  A Magus is a member of one of many ancient and powerful magic-using families that 
  secretly control the modern world. Generations of mastery of the arcane arts has 
  given each family vast wealth, legions of servants, and incredible supernatural power.
  A Magus can do impossible feats by bringing the strength of their magic and their 
  family to bear, expressed by four Attributes. Each Attribute is tied to a specific suit 
  and starts with a value of 1. 
  Each Magus also starts with 5 points of Mana, the stored and stolen life-force which 
  powers their spells.
  While the families regularly squabble over petty concerns, the true goal of every Ma-
  gus is to achieve complete mastery of the supernatural and unlock the last hidden 
  mystery of magic, the Seventh Seal. To do this, your character will come into conflict 
  with powerful supernatural forces and his fellow Magi, with every victory bringing 
  them a step closer to unlocking the Seventh Seal and fulfilling the ancient right held 
  by their family from time immemorial.
  CONFLICT
  The game is played by talking. All players sit around a table, with the deck of cards in 
  the middle, and a way of recording their personal Attributes, Mana, and Seals in front 
  of them (for everyone to see).
  A conflict is a combination of two things: an episode of a story and a hand of poker. 
  AN EPISODE OF THE STORY
  A conflict is a scene or series of scenes that allows the characters to come into con-
  flict with each other and come one step closer to unlocking the Seventh Seal.
  Every conflict has four narrative elements that tell the story of the conflict.
  As the conflict develops, each player describes what actions their Magus takes, while 
  the Antagonist describes how those actions play out.
  A HAND OF POKER
  Each conflict is like a familiar card game, but with special rules. The character who 
  wins the hand of poker wins the conflict.
  
  To begin play, each player draws a card. The player who drew the highest card starts 
  as the Antagonist. The Antagonist takes the role of driving the conflict, describing an 
  Opportunity. An Opportunity could be anything; a newly uncovered reliquary, a violent 
  and rebellious Magus, the attempted interference of a worldly agency, or anything 
  that produces conflict in the story.
  After the Antagonist describes the Opportunity, she shuffles the deck and flips four 
  cards face-up in the middle of the table, discarding one card face-up first. These are 
  the Active Leylines (see page 1), each with a different gameplay effect based on the 
  card shown.
  After the Active Leylines are revealed, each Magus decides whether he wishes to ante 
  into the conflict, starting with the Magus to the left of the Antagonist. The ante is 
  Mana equal to the highest number of Leylines of a one suit, paid to the Antagonist. If 
  no characters choose to pay the ante to join the conflict, the conflict does not occur. 
  The first character to ante into the conflict describes the Consequence, the result if 
  the Magi ignore the conflict. The Consequence can be anything, as long as it is not 
  ‘nothing happens.’
  All characters that are participating in a conflict are dealt three cards facedown as 
  their Resources. Starting to the Antagonist’s left, each Magus takes a turn, going 
  counterclockwise around the table.
  On a Magus’s turn, he may do two things: cast a spell and use his resources.
  When casting a spell or using resources, the player describes what his Magus does, 
  and how it interacts with the conflict. It is up to the player to describe the narrative 
  of his part in the conflict. The Antagonist takes a turn as any other player would to 
  describe how the conflict changes and develops.
  At any time during any character’s turn, that character may declare that the conflict 
  is coming to a climax. Immediately, a single round of betting begins to determine the 
  Complication. Starting to the left of the character to declare the climax, each player 
  may bid Mana to determine the Complication. The first time that a player is unwilling 
  to bid more than the previous, the player with the highest bid wins, and describes a 
  sudden change in the conflict. The Mana of the winning bidder is discarded.
  Each player but the one that called for the climax takes one more turn. Then all play-
  ers reveal their hand and try to make the best five-card poker hand they can excluding 
  face cards. They may use the cards in their hand, the cards face-up in front of them 
  on the table, and the Active Leylines.
  The character with the highest hand wins the conflict, and decides on the Resolution, 
  or end result, of the conflict. She also gains a benefit as described by the Reward. 
  Win or lose, each player gains one Mana for each card of their Resources that he uses 
  to make his final five-card hand.
  Once one conflict has been completed, the next player becomes the Antagonist, starts 
  a new conflict by describing an Opportunity, and a new hand begins. Based on the 
  conflicts they participate in and the actions the characters take during these conflicts, 
  the players will collectively tell a story. 
  The game ends when one character acquires seven Seals, passing to a level of power 
  unknown to any other mortal. How the game concludes, and what happens to the 
  other characters, is decided by the player that first unlocks the Seventh Seal.
  CASTING A SPELL
  A Magus may cast one spell per turn by 
  picking one Attribute and spending one 
  Mana. He draws and reveals cards from 
  the deck, placing cards of the Attribute’s 
  suit on the table in front of him until he 
  has acquired cards equal to his Attribute 
  value. All other cards are discarded.
  If the deck runs out, the discard pile 
  is shuffled and placed face-down to 
  become the deck, and the Magus con-
  tinues. If it is impossible for the Magus 
  to acquire cards equal to his Attribute 
  value (by going through the entire deck 
  at least once), then the Magus gains no 
  further cards.
  If the Magus draws a face card at any 
  point during his spell, he may choose to 
  stop the spell (drawing no more cards) 
  and immediately use that face card as 
  if  he had cast it from his hand. He may 
  still play a single card from his hand as 
  normal if he has not used his resources 
  yet on his turn.
  USING RESOURCES
  A Magus may use his resources once per 
  turn by playing a card from his hand. 
  Whenever a Magus uses a resource (but 
  not if he uses a resource while casting a 
  spell), he gains one Mana.
  • Ranked card (2-10): Counterspell – if 
  the played card can be used with any 
  other face-up cards to form a suited 
  run of at least three, all cards in the 
  run are immediately discarded.
  • Jack:  Draw two cards face-down, 
  then discard one card.
  • Queen: Discard a Leyline and replace 
  it with a card drawn from the deck.
  • King: Draw three cards face-down, 
  then discard two cards.
  • Ace: switch a Leyline with a card in the 
  Magus’s hand.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Top Secret Games Two Page Tabletops/Seventh Seal.pdf