Fire Tower: Rising Flames — Rules Manual

RISING FLAMES
TM

Rapid crown fires, heavy winds, and tumultuous weather threaten the forest. Defend your tower with a powerful new deck and a flock of legendary firehawks. Beware the growing influence of the Shadow of the Wood, as burned towers can claim victory with a host of new abilities. Rising Flames expands the game to 1-5 players and includes new variants for two and three players.

WARNING: If this is your first time in the forest, learn the base game before proceeding.

Artwork by Kevin Ruelle
©2020-2023 Runaway Parade Games LLC. All rights reserved.
For a video on how to play Fire Tower and more, visit www.runawayparade.com

WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD—Small parts. Not for children under 3 years.
WARNING: Do not imitate game play elements in real life. Fire is dangerous. Do not play with fire.

15 - 30 min. 1 - 5 Players 14+

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Orthogonally Adjacent: This means touching along one of the four sides (up, down, left, or right, but never diagonal).
Image (right): Only the blue spaces are orthogonally adjacent to the fire gem shown.

Quadrant: Your quadrant is the quarter of the board that contains your tower. It is an 8x8 square grid. The compass directions point at the borders of your quadrant. Every space on the board belongs to only one player’s quadrant. No space belongs to more than one quadrant.
Image (above): The blue area marks the quadrant of the player with the blue tower.

Empty Spaces: In the base game, fire gems can only be placed on empty spaces, and this is referred to as:

Shadow Power / Ghost Tower Card
5 Event Cards (starred)
13 Solo Challenge Cards
4 Lightning Tokens
18 Firehawks
Shadow Die
Printed Bag
Flame Centerpiece (Placed on eternal flame, pointed in wind direction)
28 Action Cards (colored border)
4 Oak Cards (for 5 players)
10 Specialty Cards
4 Seasonal Cards (sun in bottom left)

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few times in the rules and cards. In the expansion, you can additionally place fire gems on spaces occupied by firehawks (p. 3), lightning tokens (p. 10) and water gems (p. 20), even when directed to place the fire gem on an empty space. You still cannot place fire gems on spaces with firebreaks or other fire gems, and fire gem placement rules still apply. All other components, such as firebreaks and firehawks, must be placed on actual empty spaces.

Burned Tower: Burn a fire tower by placing a fire gem on its back corner, outlined in orange.

Rising Flames is a multilayered expansion. For your first game, play with the Core Expansion only, then add Extreme Weather (p. 9).

Core Expansion setup is the same as the base game, with the following changes:

1. Before dealing out cards, shuffle together the Action cards from the base deck and the expansion. Remove new Event cards, Specialty cards (Heavy Winds, Lookout), Solo Challenge cards, Seasonal cards, Oak cards, and the four lighting tokens from the game.
2. Deal six Action cards to each player. The starting hand size is now six cards instead of five.
3. Place the firehawks in a shared pile next to the board.
4. Before rolling for the starting wind direction, give each player one firehawk that they must immediately place on an empty space in their quadrant of the board. You cannot place firehawks in a Fire Tower Area or on the Eternal Flame.
5. Set the Shadow die and Shadow Power card aside (see Shadow of the Wood for details on p. 6).

Play is the same as the base game, but adds firehawks (below) and new Action cards (p. 5). Also, if your tower is burned, you continue to play as a Shadow (p. 6).

Firehawks carry burning branches to unburnt areas and set fires to flush out prey. Harness the power of these magnificent (and real!) birds with firehawk cards and place them in your quadrant. When fire enters a space they occupy, they will fly it to another part of the forest.

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Firehawk cards allow you to place either two or three firehawks in your quadrant at a time. Place each firehawk on an empty space of your choice in your quadrant, except in your Fire Tower Area or on the Eternal Flame. Unlike firebreaks, there are no other placement rules regarding firehawks.

There is no limit to the number of firehawks you may have in your quadrant. If the supply of firehawks runs out during the game, you may remove them from opponents’ quadrants to place in yours.

Firehawks love to flock! Whenever someone plays a firehawk card, all players (including the one playing the card) may rearrange firehawks in their quadrant, moving them from the spaces they occupy to other empty spaces in their quadrant.

A firehawk is activated any time a fire gem is placed on the space it occupies. This could be caused by other players, Event cards, other firehawks, and even your own actions. When a firehawk in your quadrant is activated, take the following actions (this may happen at any time, even during an opponent’s turn):

1. Move the gem that activated the hawk to a space on the board, orthogonally adjacent to a preexisting fire gem.
2. Remove the firehawk from the board.

Unlike firebreaks, firehawks do not block fire. When you or your opponent places a fire pattern that activates one or more of your firehawks, wait until the full pattern is placed before taking your action with the firehawk(s).

Example (above): Player A places two firehawks (red) near some fire gems (gray) in their quadrant. Player B places a line of three gems with a Flare Up (orange), activating Player A’s firehawks. Player A moves the gems to other spaces on the board, orthogonally adjacent to fire gems, and removes the firehawks from the board (returning them to the shared supply). The other fire gem from the Flare Up remains.

A few other rules regarding firehawks:
• When firehawks are activated by a Firestorm, complete the Firestorm before resolving the hawks’ gem placement in turn order (place a gem on each hawk to show it has been activated).
• Players continue to control the firehawks in their quadrant, even after their tower has been burned.

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• In the Team Variant, you may also place firehawks in your teammate’s quadrant.
• Remember, you can activate your own firehawks if you are able to place fire gems on the spaces they occupy.

Rising Flames adds several new Action cards. See below for details.

Backburns are intentionally set fires that consume fuel to create a burned out area that blocks approaching flames. Replace a fire gem on the board with a firebreak token. It must follow all firebreak placement rules (it can’t be placed orthogonally adjacent to preexisting firebreaks).

Helitack crews use helicopters to quickly reach fires. Extinguish a pattern of two orthogonally adjacent fire gems and then one other gem. The pair can be adjacent or separate from the single gem.
Image (right): Three gems are removed with a Helitack. The pair of two gems does not have to be adjacent to the single gem.

A Rolling Firebrand is a rolling, flaming log. Choose two orthogonally adjacent fire gems on the board and move them, as a pair, two spaces horizontally or vertically. Use Rolling Firebrand to move fire towards your opponents or away from yourself. Rolling Firebrand can’t push gems out of a Fire Tower Area.
Image (above): Two ways to move fire gems using the Rolling Firebrand.
The two gems can’t move if they are obstructed by other fire gems or firebreaks. A Rolling Firebrand activates firehawks if it either moves through or ends up in spaces occupied by firehawks.
Image (right): A Rolling Firebrand moves right and activates two firehawks.

Creeping Fires have a low flame and burn slowly across the forest floor. Place three fire gems on the board. Each gem must be orthogonally adjacent to a preexisting fire gem, but the three gems added by Creeping Fires can’t be orthogonally adjacent to each other.

BEFORE AFTER
BEFORE AFTER

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Image (right): The orange gems are added with Creeping Fires. They must be orthogonally adjacent to the preexisting gems (gray) but not to each other.
Crown Fires occur when fire spreads from treetop to treetop. Place a pattern of up to two fire gems in a line, orthogonally adjacent to a preexisting fire gem. Unlike other Action cards, you may play two Crown Fire cards on your turn to place four gems. These two patterns of two gems MUST be orthogonally adjacent to each other, and can connect to form various patterns (see below).
Images (above): Crown Fires are orange, preexisting fire gems are gray.
Northwest, Northeast, Southwest, and Southeast wind cards allow you to take one of the following actions:
1. Change the wind direction to either of the cardinal directions on the card (e.g. a Northwest card can change the wind to north or west). You may not change the wind direction to NW, NE, SW, or SE.
2. Roll for a new wind direction (same as base game).
3. Place one fire gem in the direction on the card (e.g. one gem northwest of another gem). This is a rare instance where you may place a gem diagonally adjacent to another.
The Shadow of the Wood is the vengeful spirit of burned towers. Rising Flames expands the power of the Shadows with the Shadow die. This replaces the original Shadow of the Wood card (remove it from the base game).
As in the base game, when your tower is burned, you become a Shadow. Your new objective is to win by burning all remaining active (unburned) towers. Work as a team with other Shadows to take down your opponents.
How to Incorporate the Shadow
If your tower is burned, take all actions from “Burning a Tower” (see p. 4 of the base game rulebook). Starting on your next turn after your tower has been burned, you gain access to the Shadow die. On each turn as a Shadow, roll the Shadow die once and take the corresponding action on the Shadow Power card (p. 8). This replaces Steps 1 and 2 of your turn (you do not place a gem in the wind direction at the start of your turn and you

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don’t have a hand of Action Cards). If you burn a tower, you are rewarded with a bonus roll, allowing you to roll again after the first die roll is resolved.

In a three-player game, only the first tower burned can become a Shadow. The Shadow must burn both active towers during their turn to win.

In a four-player game, only the first two towers burned can become Shadows and they will work together as a team. To win, the Shadow(s) must either burn all of the active towers in one turn, OR a team of two Shadows must burn all active towers during their consecutive turns. A five-player game is the same, except that up to three players can become Shadows (including the Guardian).

If a player is the only active tower at any time during their turn, they immediately win the game and you (a Shadow) do not get to take another turn. However, if they become the last active tower and it is not their turn, their tower must remain active until the start of their next turn to claim victory. If you burn their tower before their next turn begins, the Shadows win!

Below are two examples. Turns are in clockwise order.

In Figure 1, A and B are active, C and D are Shadows.
• If A burns B, A immediately wins. If B burns A, B wins.
• If C and D burn both A and B during their consecutive turns, they (the Shadows) win.
• If C and D burn A but not B, B wins at the end of D’s turn.

In Figure 2, A and C are both Shadows.
• If B burns D, B immediately wins. If D burns B, D wins.
• If A burns B and then C burns D on their next turn, the Shadows win.
• If A burns D but not B, B immediately wins at the start of their turn, before C has a chance to do anything.

Figure 1
Figure 2

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If you (a Shadow) burn an active tower, the player with that tower discards their hand. All players with active towers increase their hand size by one and a partial Firestorm takes place as usual. Then, roll the Shadow die again for your bonus turn.

Shadow Die Rolls
1. Take one of two actions:
• Command a firehawk: Remove one firehawk from any part of the board. That hawk will move one fire gem from anywhere on the board to a different space. You choose which gem to move and where to place it. The gem must be placed orthogonally adjacent to a preexisting fire gem.
• Remove one firebreak token from the board.
2. Place one fire gem in the space of your choice (orthogonally adjacent to a preexisting fire gem). Then roll again.
3. Draw three cards. Immediately play up to two of them and take their actions. Discard any remaining cards. If you draw an Event card, draw a new card to replace it, and set it aside to resolve after you’ve played your cards.
4. Place one fire gem in the direction of the current wind, orthogonally adjacent to a preexisting fire gem. Then choose a new wind direction (you cannot choose the current wind direction).
5. Push your luck! Place one fire gem on top of the Shadow Power card. Now, roll the die as many times as you want. For each roll 1-4 place one more gem on top of the Shadow Power card. However, if you ever roll either of the flame icons (5 or 6), you must remove all these gems and end your turn. You may stop at any time before a roll. If you stop before you roll a flame icon, you may place all the gems on the Shadow Power card on the board. These gems need to be orthogonally adjacent to other gems and can build off each other, if you want.
6. This roll is the same as Creeping Fires. Place three fire gems. They must be orthogonally adjacent to preexisting gems, but they must NOT be orthogonally adjacent to each other.

A few other rules regarding Shadows:
• As a Shadow, continue to control your firehawks.
• Shadows take part in Kettle Flight, Mobilization, and Full Moon. They do not have access to their Specialty cards or Bucket.

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After playing the Core Expansion, add Extreme Weather.
Add the following steps during setup:
1. Place one of each Specialty card (Heavy Winds and Lookout) face up in front of each player, next to their Bucket (the side with the flip symbol should face up).
2. After dealing six cards to each player, choose which new Event cards (starred, black border) to add to your game (see p. 10) and shuffle them into the deck. Then cut the Firestorm into the center.
See p. 10-12 for extra setup when using Dry Storm or Seasonal Cards.

Access new abilities with Specialty cards. The front of each Specialty card (flip symbol, bottom left) has a one-time-use ability that may be used instead of playing a card or discarding cards on your turn. Once you’ve used the front ability, flip the card to reveal another ability you may now use as many times as you want, but only once each turn. You must take the action on the front of the card to gain access to the ability on the back.

Heavy Winds: For your turn, play as many wind cards from your hand as you want. Place one fire gem in the direction shown on each card (as if using the third option on each wind card). Then discard any wind cards used, draw back up to your hand size, and flip Heavy Winds.
Gems placed by Heavy Winds can build off each other or preexisting fire gems (see example below).
Example (right): The player plays two South cards to place two fire gems to the south (1 and 2), a Southeast card to place a gem to the southeast (3), and an East card to place a gem to the east (4).

Light Breeze (back of Heavy Winds): If you play a wind card on your turn, you may play one more wind card and use the third option to place a fire gem in the direction shown. Draw back up to your hand size.

Lookout: For your turn, draw three cards and play one of them. Discard the other two. Flip Lookout.

Patrol (back of Lookout): For your turn, discard a card from your hand without taking its action. Draw two cards. Play one and keep the other.

If you draw an Event card during Lookout or Patrol, draw a new card to replace it, and set it aside to resolve after you’ve played your card.
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Event cards function the same as in the base game. Feel free to experiment with Event cards, but we recommend that you play with the Firestorm and two other Events.

When Mobilization is drawn, immediately draw one more card than the number of players. Play one of them. Then, pass the remaining cards to your left. The player to your left will play a card, and pass the remaining cards to their left. Continue until each player has played one card and then discard the remaining card. In a two player game, draw five cards. Play and pass until each player has played two, and then discard the remaining card.

When Full Moon is drawn, each player will roll the Shadow die and take the corresponding action, starting with the player who drew the card and proceeding in turn order. (For die roll details see p. 8.)

When Kettle Flight is drawn, a group of hawks (known as a kettle) takes flight! Immediately take the following actions in turn order, starting with the player who drew the card.

Players with two or more firehawks:
• You must command two firehawks: Remove two firehawks from your quadrant. Then move two fire gems from your quadrant to spaces orthogonally adjacent to fire gems.
• Rearrange any hawks left in your quadrant (optional).

Players with less than two firehawks:
• Add two firehawks to your quadrant.
• Rearrange any firehawks in your quadrant (optional).

When Dry Storm is drawn, lightning strikes the board! Dry storms feature thunder and lightning, but no rain. During set up, add the four lightning tokens to the board on the spaces diagonal to each space of the Eternal Flame (see right).

During the game, lightning tokens will move around the board. If you place a pattern of fire gems or firebreak tokens on the same space as a lightning token, you must move the lightning token to an empty space orthogonally adjacent to the fire gems or tokens you just placed. In this way, you can move lighting tokens towards your opponents and away from yourself.

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Example (above): A lightning token is near preexisting fire gems (gray).
You place an Explosion (orange), and one of the gems covers the
lightning token. You must now move the lightning token to one of the
blue spaces (orthogonally adjacent to the newly placed fire gems).
Lightning tokens may not enter Fire Tower Areas or the
Eternal Flame. If a lightning token is displaced and there are
no empty spaces to place it, remove it from the game.
Firehawks can’t be placed on lightning tokens. Water cards do not
affect lightning tokens. During Firestorms, lightning tokens block fire
(like firebreaks).
When Dry Storm is drawn, immediately take the
following actions:
1. Roll the wind die.
2. Place a fire gem in the direction shown on the
wind die, orthogonally adjacent to each lightning
token (e.g. if the direction is north, place a fire
gem to the north of each lightning token). If there is a fire
gem or another lightning token in that space, continue north
until there is an empty space, and place a gem there. If you
run into a firebreak token or the edge of the board before
an empty space, do not place a fire gem. If you run into a
firehawk before an empty space, activate the firehawk, who
will pick up and move the gem.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 three more times.
4. If this is the first time Dry Storm is played, cut it back into
the draw deck. Otherwise, place it in the discard pile.
Examples (below): Each image shows where the fire gem should be
placed if that direction is rolled. Preexisting gems are gray and the gem
placed with the Dry Storm is orange.

North: Place the gem on the first empty space to the north.
East: Do not place a gem because it is blocked by a firebreak.
South: Place a gem directly south of the lightning token.
West: Place a gem to the west and activate the firehawk.

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When Coyote Tactics is drawn, each player must immediately choose two cards from their hand. For the next two turns, you must play these cards as your action. Place them face down in front of you from left to right in the order that they will be played. (You can still use your Bucket during these turns, but not your Specialty cards.)

Seasonal cards trigger changes in the game that will continue until the next Seasonal card is drawn. These changes effect all players, not just the player who drew the card.

Choose three to four Seasonal cards (black border, sun on bottom left). After shuffling in Event cards and before cutting in the Firestorm, break the deck into three to four equal parts and shuffle one Seasonal card into each part. Stack the parts to reform the deck. If you deplete the deck during the game, shuffle all Seasonal cards back into the deck.

Seasonal cards must be played as soon as they are drawn. Place the Seasonal card aside as a reminder, and place it in the discard pile when the next Seasonal card is drawn. Draw back up to your hand size. If multiple Seasonal cards are drawn at once, play the one drawn first and shuffle the other(s) back into the draw deck.

During Dry Season, water cards only remove two fire gems in the pattern shown.

Lightning Fires use the same lightning tokens as Dry Storm. Set up, movement, and function are the same. At the start of each player’s turn during Lightning Fires, they can choose to let the lightning strike. If you choose to let lightning strike, roll the wind die once, and place a fire gem in that direction off each lightning token (see Dry Storm on p. 10 for details).

During Windstorm, place two fire gems in the direction of the wind each turn instead of one. The two gems placed cannot be orthogonally adjacent to each other but must be orthogonally adjacent to existing gems.

During Migration, place one additional firehawk with any firehawk card (e.g. you can place four firehawks with Trio of Hawks). Don’t forget to steal if the firehawk supply is empty! (optional)

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In addition to the Team Variant in the base game rulebook, there are two more variants—one for two players and one for three players. Plus, check out solo and fifth player modes below.

Double Tower Variant (two players)
This variant plays the same as a two player game, except that each player defends the two adjacent towers on their half of the board (e.g. one player defends the Northeast and Northwest towers while the other player defends the Southeast and Southwest towers). The first player to burn both of their opponent’s towers wins the game.
As usual, each player receives six Action cards, one firehawk, one of each Specialty card and one Bucket, which they can use in either tower. When placing firehawks, you can place them on your half of the board (the two quadrants combined). When a tower is burned, it does not trigger a Firestorm and the hand size does not increase.

Ghost Tower Variant (three players)
In this variant, we introduce the Ghost Tower (not to be confused with the Shadow of the Wood). If your tower is burned first, you take control of the fourth (unoccupied) tower. Remove any gems on that tower and place the Ghost Tower card over it. Take all actions from “Burning a Tower” in the base game rulebook (p. 4) and draw a new hand of seven cards. Take your normal turn when the Ghost Tower comes up in turn order.
After the first tower is burned, either of the two remaining original towers can immediately win the game by burning one more tower, either the Ghost Tower or the other remaining tower. The player responsible for burning one more tower wins the game.
The Ghost Tower, however, must burn both other towers to win the game.
If the Ghost Tower burns one of the other towers, the player whose tower was burned may play as a Shadow and only needs to burn one tower to win the game.
The Guardian (fifth player) must protect the Ancient Oaks of the forest and burn their opponents’ towers. If the other players burn three of their four Oaks, the Guardian becomes a Shadow of the Wood (like players with burned towers) and their path to victory is the same as any other Shadow. If two or more Oaks remain after all four towers are burned, the Guardian wins.
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The game plays as usual, with the following changes:
During setup, place all four Oak cards on the board so that the top of each Oak (purple background) occupies the two spaces touching the N, E, S, and W markers (see above image). Make sure that the Oaks are pristine, not fire side up.
The Guardian receives six Action cards, both Specialty cards, and two starting firehawks to place on the board, but no Bucket. Like all other players, they will take their turn based on where they are seated at the table.
The four Oak cards represent four Ancient Oaks. Here is what you need to know about Oaks:
• You may not build firebreaks on an Oak card (Explosions are the only exception).
• You can place firehawks on and remove fire gems from the bottom two spaces of the Oak card (but not the top) using firehawk and water cards, respectively.
• Once an Oak card is ablaze (see below), all the spaces it occupies are permanently on fire (like the Eternal Flame). You can build patterns of fire off a burning Oak.
As the Guardian, you may place your firehawks in any quadrant on the board. Place your firehawks laying flat to signify that they are yours. If one of your firehawks is activated, you decide where to move the gem.
If a fire gem is placed on either of the top two spaces of an Oak card (purple background), that Oak is burned immediately. Take the following actions:
1. Flip the Oak card to its “ablaze” side (fire side up). Any firehawks on the bottom spaces are instantly activated (use fire gems from the supply).
2. Add a firehawk to the board. Rearrange the rest of your firehawks.
When the third oak has burned, take the actions above and then flip over the fourth Oak card to its “ablaze” side. Then, take the same steps as when a tower burns (p. 4 of the base game rulebook).

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The other towers have joined in an alliance against you.
You must withstand the onslaught of the Inferno deck and
destroy their towers. There are many levels of solo mode
with increasing difficulty. In each level, you must defend
your tower and burn the three other towers to win.
Before proceeding, learn the base game and p. 1-9 of the expansion
(you may omit the Shadow of the Wood section).
You must occupy the northwest (red) tower. We suggest
that you start with Level One and work your way through the
levels. The following rules explain Level One (see p. 18 for
other Levels).

SET UP
1. Set up the board, fire gems, firebreaks, weathervane and
firehawks as usual.
2. Separate all Solo Challenge cards. Shuffle them to form
the Challenge deck and place it face down within reach.
3. Create the Inferno deck with one Burning Snag, one
Flareup, one Explosion, one North Wind, and one West Wind.
Shuffle the deck and place it face down within reach.
4. Create the Player deck by shuffling together the Action
cards from the base game and expansion and removing all
firebreak cards except the De/Reforest cards.
5. Deal yourself six cards from the Player deck, and cut the
Firestorm into the deck. Place it face down within reach.
6. Place one Bucket, one Heavy Winds, and one Lookout
face up in front of you and one Bucket face up near each of
the three enemy towers.
7. Remove any remaining cards (Event cards, Specialty
cards, etc.) and lightning tokens from the game.
8. Place a firehawk on an empty space in your quadrant.
9. Roll the wind die to determine the starting wind direction.

PLAY
Each turn consists of two phases:
Phase One—The Inferno: Draw the top card of the Inferno
deck and take its action (see below). Then, discard the card
into a discard pile next to the Inferno deck. You must take
the Inferno action in your quadrant of the board.
If you draw a fire card, add patterns of fire gems inside your
quadrant.
• Burning Snag and Flare Up: Place the full pattern of fire
gems shown on the card inside your quadrant (a square of

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four for Burning Snag, a line of three for Flare Up). At least one gem must be orthogonally adjacent to a preexisting fire gem or the Eternal Flame.
• Explosion: Choose a fire gem in your quadrant and replace it with a firebreak token. Then place fire gems on all the available spaces surrounding it. You must place at least four fire gems inside your quadrant to successfully place an Explosion.
Very Important: Fire gems that activate firehawks in your quadrant still count as placed gems.
If you cannot place the required pattern inside your quadrant, take the following actions as a penalty:
1. Discard the card in the Inferno discard pile.
2. Trigger a Firestorm to the north or west (your choice) that only affects gems in your quadrant (this works in the same way as wind cards, explained below).
3. Draw the next card in the Inferno deck and take its action. If you cannot take its action, you lose the game.
An Explosion on your first turn will automatically trigger the penalty, since you can’t place it.
If you draw a wind card, trigger a Firestorm in the direction shown that only affects gems in your quadrant. For example, if you draw North, place a fire gem on any space in your quadrant that is directly north of a preexisting fire gem. This will not affect the overall wind direction.
Phase Two—Your Play: This is the same as the multiplayer game. Place one fire gem in the direction of the current wind, then take action by either playing a card, discarding and redrawing, or using one of your Specialty cards. Draw back up to your hand size.
Continue taking turns (Phases One and Two) until the round ends.
ROUND END
The round ends when the Inferno deck has been depleted and you’ve finished Phase Two. Shuffle and reform the Inferno deck. Draw two Solo Challenge cards and choose one to complete. Discard the other. If you deplete the Challenge deck, shuffle the discard pile to reform the deck.
SOLO CHALLENGE CARDS
Each Solo Challenge card contains a task you must complete that round. If you fail to complete a challenge you immediately lose the game. In Level One, you may skip two challenges of your choice (draw the challenges before deciding to skip).

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BUCKETS
As in the multiplayer game, you can use your Bucket to remove a line of three gems from your tower in addition to taking an action on your turn. You also gain access to Reckless Abandon once your Bucket has been used.
Unfortunately, the enemy towers also have Buckets. Unlike the multiplayer game, each enemy immediately uses their Bucket when fire enters their Fire Tower Area. This could happen after placing a fire gem in the wind direction or with a firehawk, after playing a card, or after a Firestorm. Their Bucket removes a line of up to three fire gems. You choose which gems to remove, but must follow these guidelines:
• First, prioritize removing gems in their Fire Tower Area.
• Second, prioritize removing as many gems as possible.
Example (right): There are two fire gems in the enemy tower, but you could remove three by removing one inside the tower and two outside the tower. You must remove the two gems inside the tower instead.
You can avoid triggering a Bucket by placing a fire pattern that hits the back corner in a single action. This is only possible with a Flare Up, two Crown Fires, or Heavy Winds.

FIREBREAKS & FIREHAWKS
In higher levels of the game, the enemy will start with firebreaks and/or firehawks in their quadrants. If you ever activate an enemy’s firehawk, remove the hawk and the gem that activated it, then place the gem in your quadrant, orthogonally adjacent to a preexisting fire gem.

BURNING ENEMY TOWERS & FIRESTORMS
When you burn an enemy tower, trigger a partial Firestorm as usual. Draw a card to increase your hand size by one. Firestorms caused by burned towers or the Firestorm Event card function the same as a multiplayer game. They will affect the entire board, not just your quadrant.
In solo mode, however, you may discard a wind card to reroll the wind die once during a Firestorm. Draw back up to your hand size.

GAME END
If you are forced to place a fire gem on the back corner of your tower (outlined in orange) you immediately lose. You also lose if you fail to complete a challenge or fail to play two consecutive fire cards from the Inferno deck.
When you burn all enemy towers, you immediately win the

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game! Count the number of spaces that remain unburned in your tower. This is your score. Now, move on to the next level or try to beat your score!

LEVELS
Each level is more difficult than the last. Decrease your hand size, place enemy defenses, and more. The images on the right show how the firehawks and firebreaks must be placed in front of each enemy tower during setup.

Level One
Starting Hand Size: 6
Set Up: Clear Board
Challenges: You may skip two challenges.

Level Two
Starting Hand Size: 6
Set Up: Two firebreaks per enemy tower
Challenges: You may skip one challenge.

Level Three
Starting Hand Size: 5
Set Up: Two firebreaks and two firehawks per enemy tower
Challenges: You may not skip any challenges.

Level Four
Starting Hand Size: 5
Set Up: Four firebreaks and two firehawks per enemy tower
Challenges: Before you start the game, draw two challenges and choose one to complete. This will be in addition to drawing challenges at the end of each round. You may not skip any challenges.

Level Five
Starting Hand Size: 4
Set Up: Four firebreaks and three firehawks per enemy tower
Challenges: Same as Level Four

Level Six
Starting Hand Size: 4
Set Up: Four firebreaks and four firehawks per enemy tower
Challenges: Same as Level Four
Bucket: You do not get a Bucket. The

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enemy towers still have Buckets. However, if you manage to burn an enemy tower without them using their Bucket you may take and use their Bucket. This can happen once per game.

Level Seven
Starting Hand Size: 4
Set Up: Six firebreaks and four firehawks per enemy tower
Challenges: Same as Level Four
Bucket: Same as Level Six

CHALLENGES, EXPLAINED
Follow the directions on the card to complete the challenge.
Further clarifications below:
Heavy Smoke: You cannot use Specialty cards or discard and redraw instead of playing an Action card.
Implementation Plan: In placing your three turns, you can place an Action card from your hand, a Specialty card, or a set of cards that can be played at once (Reckless Abandon, Crown Fires, etc.).

SOLO VARIANTS
Try one of the following variants on any level!
Lightning: Add two lightning tokens to your quadrant (see right) at the beginning of the game. Lightning functions the same as Dry Storm (p. 10), except the tokens cannot be moved outside your quadrant (they can still be removed). At the end of each round, roll the wind die once and place a fire gem in that direction off each lightning token (see Dry Storm for details). This can add gems outside or inside your quadrant.

The Ancient Oaks: Place the Oak cards on the board as in Fifth Player Mode. You can place 2-4 Oak cards. You must burn all Oaks on the board as well as the towers (see Fifth Player on p. 14 for details on burning Oaks) to win the game.
At the beginning of the game, roll the wind die. You must burn the Oak in that direction first (e.g. if you roll west, burn the Oak on the west side of the board before any other Oaks). Each time you burn an Oak, roll the wind die again to determine the next Oak you must burn (reroll if it is an Oak that is already burned or a direction with no Oak). If you burn an Oak out of order, you immediately lose the game. The enemy towers can still be burned in any order. Burned Oaks do not trigger Firestorms.

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If you have the Megahawk or Buckets & Gems Mini
Expansions, see rules below.
The Megahawk Mini Expansion includes four megahawks,
a more powerful species of firehawk. Give one megahawk
meeple to each player. If you are playing with two sets, give
two to each player. During setup, each player must place
a megahawk in their quadrant instead of a firehawk. (See
below for details for five players.)
Megahawks function exactly like firehawks, but have two
additional abilities. At the start of your turn, you may take one
of the following actions with one of your megahawks:
• Move one space: Move your megahawk to an empty
space, orthogonally adjacent to the space it occupies.
• Activate your megahawk: Pick up a fire gem that is
orthogonally adjacent to your megahawk. Move this gem
to a space orthogonally adjacent to another fire gem on
the board. Then remove the hawk and place it in your
supply.
Unlike firehawks, megahawks are not shared (each player
has their own). If you have megahawks in your supply,
you may place them instead of firehawks when playing a
firehawk card or during Kettle Flight (e.g. you could place
one megahawk and two firehawks with Trio of Hawks.)
A few other rules regarding megahawks:
• Megahawks may not pick up fire gems from inside a Fire
Tower Area.
• You may not take megahawks from your opponents
unless you are the Guardian (in a five player game).
• With five players, the Guardian does not start with
megahawks. When playing firehawk cards, the Guardian
can steal a megahawk from someone’s supply and play it
as one of the hawks on the card (remember to lay it flat).
They retain control of this megahawk until it is activated,
at which point it will return to the supply of its original
owner. The Guardian can only control one megahawk at a
time (or up to two, if playing with two sets).
The Buckets & Gems Mini Expansion includes four buckets
(one for each player) and twelve water gems. During setup,
place your Bucket next to your tower and fill it with your water
gems (each player receives four water gems in a two or three
player game, and three water gems with four players).
Water gems are used to build wet lines, areas of the forest
that provide temporary barriers to the fire. With this mini

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expansion, water cards may be used to remove patterns of fire, place patterns of water gems, or a combination of both. When you play a water card, you may place water gems in any empty part of the pattern that does NOT remove a fire gem.
Example (right): A Fire Engine (square of four) removes two fire gems and adds two water gems on the other spaces in the pattern.
Water gems can occupy any empty spaces in your quadrant, except in a Fire Tower Area or on the Eternal Flame. Unlike firebreaks, water gems have no other placement rules.
If a fire gem is played on the same space as a water gem, both gems are removed from the board. Return any removed water gems to their owner’s bucket for later use.
Water gems do not block patterns of fire. Fire can move through spaces containing water gems, and water gems only remove the fire gems that land on the space they occupy.
Example (above): A water gem (blue) is near some firebreaks (purple) and preexisting fire gems (gray). A line of three fire gems is placed with a Flare Up (orange). The water gem and fire gem placed on its space are removed. The water gem returns to its owner’s bucket.
If you are out of water gems and play a water card, you may move water gems from inside your quadrant and add them as part of the new water pattern you are playing.
When your Bucket card is used, flip over your bucket at the same time as your Bucket card. From now on, you may not add any more water gems to the board. Preexisting water gems will remain, but cannot be moved.
A few other rules regarding water gems:
• You may place water gems in your teammate’s quadrant during the Team Variant. In the Double Tower Variant, you may place water gems anywhere in your half of the board.
• Water gems cannot be placed during Dry Season.
• With five players, the Guardian does not receive a bucket or water gems, but they can move water gems within a quadrant by playing a water card and adding them as part of the water pattern. These water gems must remain in the same quadrant, and still belong to the original owner.
Water gems cannot be placed on Oak cards.
In the rulebooks and cards, you may see a reference to “gems.” This is always referring to fire gems, never water gems.

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Can I place firehawks next to each other? Yes! Firehawks can be placed on any empty space in your quadrant and can be next to fire gems, firebreaks, lightning tokens, water gems, or other firehawks.

Can I place a partial pattern of fire gems to avoid activating a firehawk? No. You must always place as many fire gems in the pattern as you can, and can only place a partial pattern if there isn’t appropriate space. So if a firehawk is in the pattern you want to place, you must activate it.

Can I put firebreak tokens, firehawks, lightning tokens, or water gems on spaces occupied by firehawks? No. Only fire gems can be placed on spaces occupied by firehawks. Firebreaks, lightning tokens, firehawks, and water gems must always be placed on empty spaces.

Is the word “gem” on its own always referring to fire gems? Or does it sometimes refer to water gems? The only references to water gems are on pages 20-21. So any other time gems are mentioned, they are fire gems.

If you need help clarifying the rules, please contact us at runawayparade@gmail.com. And we want to see your victories! Post your photos and tag us on social media @ Runaway Parade

Credits:

GAME DESIGN: Gwen Ruelle & Sam Bryant
ARTWORK: Kevin Ruelle
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Gwen Ruelle
RULES: Gwen Ruelle & Sam Bryant, edited by Mike Belsole
3D MODELING: Firescale Studios
MEEPLE DESIGN: Hillary Giacomelli
EARLY PLAYTESTERS: Thank you to the hundreds of people who playtested Rising Flames at conventions, playtesting groups and elsewhere! Special thanks to Grace Kendall, Mike Belsole, Justin Oslyn, Hana Fruchtenicht, Roque Nonini, Kyle, Kris, Eric Cookson, and Alex Cookson for their help with playtesting.

©2021 Runaway Parade Games LLC. All rights reserved.

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Thank you to everyone who helped make this game possible!
Below we’d like to honor our Wall of Flame inductees for their generous contributions.

A. Marie Price • Aaron & Emilynne Antonio • Aaron & Sarah Still • Aaron Best • Aaron Maser • Al Banks • Alex and Bill Gurski • Alexander Law • Allen Brandt • Anastasia Senko • Anch • Andrea Pedrini • Andrew Toth • Arianna Swink • Ash • Ash & The Family Gamers • Bad Dave • Bernardo Rodriguez • Bill Brown • BladeWolf • Bo Floyd • Bob Schaffer • Brad D. Kane • Brandon & Alissa Petty • Brandon Fox • Brendon Chick • Bryan Whalen • Burton Wong • C Gosselin • C. Miller • C&C&C Dangler • Caden Campbell • Cameron Davis • Castle • Cercy Dylan Bailey • Chris Chin • Chris Hoiberg • Chris Malinowski • Chris Mitchell • Chris Van Vlack • Christopher Berry • Chuck Savoy • Cody Wishman • Cristian Reyes • Daniel Barcus • Daniel E Roberts • Danny Sullivan • Danosaur Sanchez Jr • David Kuntz • David Talaga • Dean Winkelspecht • Devitt Upkins • Dillon & Bailey Gingerich • Dirk Healy • DoltishPanda • Dumke • Dylan Collins • Dylan Schoon • E. Alexander Beardall • Eden Buenaventura • Elizabeth Reed • Esmeralda Sutton • Ethan Storeng • Evan Kraus • Evandro Congionti • Fenton Family • Fire Chief Mary Anderson • Forrest Carithers • Francisco Ferrer • Frank Hunt • Fred Parrow • Friday Knight Games • Garrett Ballard • Gene Bendico • Geneva Gasper • Geoff Kaufman • Gerardo Contreras • Gibran Graham • Greg Cogan • Griffin Moran • Guoccamolé • Harold Large IV • Heather Erickson • Henry So, Jr. • Ian B. Duncan • Iron Tran • J. Michael Salkovick • Jack Ryan • Jacob Boulay • Jaime Jester Garcia • James L Sullivan Jr. • James Roberts • Janette Hernandez • Jared Runes • Jason B Guyan • Jason Graves • Jason Maya Logan • Jason S. Tyler • Jason Wnek • Jean Munnerlyn • Jeff Bryant • Jeff Hunter • Jeff Johnston • Jeff Weaver • Jeffrey M. Cavanaugh • Jeremy “Jerfish” Lux • Jesse Schlattmann • Jesse Turner • Jimbo Harris • JJ Keeling • Joey & Veronica Cantu • John D. Berg • John L. Vogt • John Thayer • Jonathan Bourland • Jonathan Louie • Jonathan Sanchez • Joseph Wileman •

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RISING FLAMES
2
Josh Oplinger • Joshua Maestas • Joshua Summers • Julia and Jason Hartsock • Julius Trundle • Justin ‘J’ Wearne • Justin and Shelby • Justin Guerra • Justin Hannigan • Justin Singer • Justin-Lee Morrison • Justin, a fellow Duke of Douglas • Kat and Ian Salipante • Kaya Seiman • Kelly Conroy • Kepler Davis-Cousins • Kevin Durrenberger • Kevin Snow • Kri O’Kellas • Kristof Dufraing • Kyle Culley • Kyle Kowalchuk • Kyle S.C. Vogel • Lance Holman • Lee Alburger • Lee Cobb • Lee Pacheco • Legacy of Play • Lena Fan and Scott Wiggins • Lia Horner • Lindsay and Nate LaFave • Luca Poggesi • Lucas Angelo • Luke Kaldahl • Madeline & Tyler Kraha • Marc Cohen • Marcel “Fiery” Franjieh • Matthew Anthony • Matthew Rafferty • Matthew Taylor, LPC • Max Pike • Melissa Edwards • Michael & Sarah Vinyard • Michael A. Invernale • Michael Buonagurio • Michael G Huefner • Michał W Sterzycki • Mick Bell • Mike Belsole & Grace Kendall • Mike Rief • Mikel Bauer • MollyJo Tighe • Morgan Ruelle & Dana Weiss • NAKAGAWA Kozi, Ph.D. • Natalie Reposa • Nate Brothers • Nate & Diana Godin • Nic Dalton • Nicholas Andrew • Nicholas Briones • Noah MilkSock • Orion Kennedy • Owen Williams • Pamela Jenkins • Party Tails • Patrick Granneman • Patrick & Kristin Hampton • Paul A. Schneible • Paul M Goforth • Paul Singleton • Peter Klosowski • Puggeroni • Quackalope • Rachel Matney • Rami & Bleu • Richard Bissell Jr. • Richard Sanders • RJ Askoff • Robert E. Mason • Robert L Vaughn • Rodney Somerstein • In memory of Ron Maxen • Ryan Kingery • Samuel W. Bailey • Scott Bates • Shawn Smick • Sidney Straub • Steve & Laura Butler • Steve Mongeau and Janice Ruell • Steven Clary • Steven Rogge • Stuart & Marchele Roskelley • T. Sugiura • Thomas Pape • Tim • Tim Lewis • Timothy O’Donnell • Todd & Angel Caron • Tony Triguero • Tory Morales • Travis Price • Trevor Barrus • Trey Evan Miller • Tyler Bawden • Tyler Rhodes • Tzu-Wei (Franco) Chan • Vince Rostkowski • Wes and Anna Ruelle • Weston • Will Cooper • Zachary Farmer • Zack Fissel • Zakk Wilkins

Special thanks to Justin Oslyn, Grace Kendall, Mike Belsole, Zach Farmer, Hillary Giacomelli, Hana Fruchtenict, Roque Nonini, Firescale Studios, and our families and friends for all their help along the way.

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