Philosophia: Floating World is live (Learn the Japanese art of persistence)
Update: Philosophia: Floating World has launched on Kickstarter and the campaign will run for 29 days. You may pledge for a copy of the game or get it together with Philosophia: Dare to be Wise.
Our preview post below was published on August 27.
Philosophia: Floating World is a 1-6 player action selection and hand management game about gaining ancient Japanese wisdom. This is the second Philosophia game after last year's release, Dare to be Wise. It will launch on Kickstarter on September 1.
In the solo mode, you will be competing against one (or multiple if you wish) AI, the Unmei. The Unmei receives a character card, a player board and a set of dice that will determine its actions. Each round is divided in 3 phases: the Draw phase, the Collect phase, and the Action phase.
In the Draw phase, you draw 6 cards from your deck, and discard the one that has the highest price. Then you shuffle and divide them in two piles of 3 and 2 cards respectively. You choose one of the piles to be your hand for the round.
In the Collect phase, you roll the Unmei dice 3 times, and give the AI the items shown on the dice. For yourself, you collect the items shown on your hand of cards.
In the Action phase, you roll the dice for the Unmei 3 times, and perform the actions shown on its behalf. On your turn, you take the actions shown on your hand of cards or your player board, if you have placed a time token on them. Some of these actions are: Move (your character on the main board), Study (gain a wisdom card), Build (pagodas and shrines by paying their cost), Battle a Monster (if you travel to a monster location and have the required items to beat it), Shop (purchase an item from the market), Search (a location, checking if it may be the opponent's secret location). There are also rules for challenging the Unmei, if you happen to want to buy the same item, or if it moves into your map location, or if it earns a wisdom card that you want.
Whoever first gains 4 Ganbaru* tokens, or 2 Ganbaru tokens and discovers the secret location of their opponent, wins the game.
*The rulebook informs us that it means 'to commit oneself fully and see a task through to the end'.