Pendulum

When the gods created the world, Dünya (Deun-ya), they did not establish any order. Violence imposed its reign and only the strong managed to survive in despair. This was the Age of Chaos.

The dragons amassed terrifying power and eventually rose unopposed and claimed dominion over Dünya. They established an order in the world, although it was one of suffering and misery. This was the Age of Darkness.

At last, one man, Surcil, gained favor with Gahael, god of the changing seasons and guardian of time. Gahael conferred a portion of his power on Surcil, granting him immortality, and Surcil ended the oppressive rule of the dragons. He became the Eternal King and ruled Dünya for centuries, keeping the peace. This was the Age of Order.

Now, the Eternal King has disappeared and his empire has plunged into anarchy. No one knows why he left or what fate befell him, although certain mysterious rumors have circulated. The political threads that he pulled so subtly over the years have begun to unravel into an unstable power vacuum. This marks the beginning of the Age of Change.

When Gahael gave the Eternal King his power, he too forged a huge iron clock that was installed in the Great Plaza de Montbrielle. Gahael declared that the clock would keep ticking as long as the Eternal King ruled. With his disappearance, the clock has stopped and the iron pendulum hangs perfectly still under the engraved crystal of its dial. No hand has been able to get it moving again. Legends claim that when a true leader succeeds the Eternal King, he will visit the Great Plaza and the pendulum will swing again, resetting the iron clock and ushering in a new era.

In Pendulum, each player is a powerful nobleman competing to succeed the Eternal King as the rightful ruler of Dünya. Each noble is unique. Players command their Workers, execute Stratagems, and expand the Provinces of their domain in real time to gain resources and Votes, and move up the four victory gauges: Power, Prestige, Popularity, and Legendary Achievements. Use your time wisely, as the player who proves most apt to rule during the Final Council will be proclaimed the new Eternal King!

Pendulum is a turnless real-time strategy game for 1-5 players. Players must use real time as a resource in managing their strategy to get ahead of their opponents, investing that time in different types of actions and balancing it with time spent planning and analyzing. Acting faster will not always be the best! The winner will be the player who manages and invests his time most effectively, not the player who acts the fastest.

Base game components

    1 regulation
    1 central board
    5 player boards
    10 tokens of 10 votes
    1 time board
    5 Advanced Character Reference Cards
    5 action summary cards
    1 Council summary tile
    56 Province cards
    10 Achievement cards
    40 Stratagem Cards
    1 Large Worker Council Reward Card
    25 Council reward cards
    5 final council reward cards
    15 Common Workers
    10 Big Workers
    20 VP markers
    5 Privilege markers
    5 octagonal Achievement markers
    150 resource cubes
    50 Vote Tokens
    3 purple Time markers
    1 Legendary Achievement marker
    1 Time marker
    1 purple clock (3 minutes)
    1 green clock (2 minutes)
    1 black clock (45 seconds)


Authors: Travis Jones