In City of Outcasts players take a darker path and travel to Rym, the infamous City of Outcasts, a city outside the control of the Empire. Once a peaceful settlement of hopeful pilgrims looking to green the desert, the city was disastrously buried by the desert sands and eventually became a destination for all sorts of neer-do-wells looking to escape the eyes of the authorities - and to set up a little empire of their own. In City of Outcasts players are looking to secure the support of the various characters and factions in the city and build up enough support to reclaim Rym for its down-trodden people. In the micro game tradition of games like Love Letter, but with a little more going on, City of Outcasts looks to provide players with a quick, but in-depth micro game experience.
OVERALL GAMEPLAY: Each player is attempting to play the various powers off each other to assemble allies in a cunning bid to take control of Rym, the City of Outcasts. There are 13 ally cards in the game as well as an Eyes of the People card. One card is dealt to each player face down at the beginning of the game and an equal number of cards are dealt face up on the table as there are players plus one. Each ally cards has an influence number, special ability and a point value. Each player will draw one card from the table clockwise until each player has 2 cards in hand with 1 card remaining. The ally card on the table is the character players are trying to influence. Each player will then simultaneously choose a card from their hand and place it on the table face down. Going clockwise, cards are revealed and if there is an ability with a choice, it must be made upon the reveal. Whoever has the highest revealed influence number after all cards are revealed wins the face up card for the points on the card and takes the Eye of the People card. The Eyes of the People is for the start player of the next round as well as a bonus point at the end of the game. The game ends when there are not enough cards to place on the table and the player with the most points wins and more importantly, usher in a period of justice, peace and prosperity for its down-trodden people.
There is also included in the game 9 Location Cards and 16 Identity Tokens that can be used for a more epic version of the game. Players assign allies that they have influenced to locations for dominance in Rym. These cards have location points which are used to determine who has the most control within the city. Three location cards are used for each game and the winner is determined after 3 games.