House Rules

The Circle asks little of you on the way in. Only what you're willing to lose on the way out.

The Minimum — Play Anywhere

A standard 52-card deck with 2 Jokers is all that stands between you and the descent. Everything else can be improvised from whatever the room provides.

  • Blood Stones — coins, pebbles, dried beans, torn paper squares. Anything that can be stolen from another person's pile counts. A scrap of paper or phone notepad works too.
  • Sword Tokens — toothpicks, matches, small sticks, paperclips. Anything you can clutch like a relic or spend like a threat. Can also be tracked on paper.
  • HP Tracking — pen and paper, a phone notepad, up to 5d6 per player, scratches on a beermat. The Circle doesn't care how you count. Only what the number is when it hits zero.

The game was designed to be played anywhere. A campsite, a kitchen table, a pub corner, a tailgate. If you have a deck of cards and something to count with, the gate is already open.

The Full Kit
  • 1 standard 52-card deck + 2 distinct Jokers
  • 25 Blood Stone Gems — 17 in play per Standard game, extras for house rules and choosing favourites
  • 20 Sword Tokens — 14 maximum in Standard / 12 in Knife Fight, extras for choosing favourites
  • 4d6 or 5d6 per player for HP tracking
  • 1 tin, box, or bag to keep the Circle contained between sessions

For those who want to go deeper... The Circle respects ambition. It just charges extra for it.

Two Deck Descent
Extended Mode

Combine two standard 52-card decks with two Jokers of each Sovereign — Death and the Demon both appearing twice. Shuffle together and descend as normal.

The Looming Pile becomes enormous. The final phase becomes a reckoning that genuinely earns the name.

Recommended only for players who have already survived at least one standard Descent and want to know what's below the bottom.

Extra Swords in the Stash

Before the game begins, both players may agree to start with additional Sword Tokens beyond the standard distribution. Agree on a number before the first card is dealt. The ceiling rises accordingly.

This rewards aggression early and makes the Butcher archetype genuinely dangerous rather than merely reckless.

Extra Blood Stones in the Stash

Both players may agree to begin with additional Blood Stones beyond the standard distribution — placing the extras in each player's pile, on the Altar, or split between both.

More stones in the system means longer survival windows, slower economic drain, and a game that rewards patience over panic. The Hoarder archetype becomes genuinely formidable. The Convert has more to burn.

Combined Generosity

Extra Swords and extra Stones together creates a slower, richer, more tactical game where the final reckoning is genuinely competitive rather than decided by attrition.

Recommended for experienced players who want the Circle to hurt in a more considered way.

House rules are just the Circle's way of asking how deep you actually want to go.