Introduction
Paper Kingdoms is a two-player strategy game designed to live entirely inside this book. There are no cards to lose, no pieces to count and no board to unfold. Open to a battleground, choose who will play X and who will play O, place a pencil between you and begin.
The game is about territory, but territory alone is not enough. In the Standard Realm rules, every province must remain supplied by a chain leading back to your capital. A single captured crossroads can cut an entire wing of the map away from the crown. Strongholds make stubborn anchors. Crown provinces tempt both players into expensive fights. The best move is often not the largest move. It is the move that makes the other player's next move smaller.
The book contains three complete ways to play. Quick Skirmish teaches the map in about fifteen minutes. Standard Realm adds sieges, supply and capital pressure. Long Campaign links several battlegrounds together and gives both players a small set of Royal Orders to spend at exactly the wrong moment for the other person.
Every battleground is deliberately symmetrical in overall opportunity, although the terrain may feel very different depending on the route you choose. Some maps are open and greedy. Others are narrow and cruel. A few look generous until both players discover that the same bridge matters to everyone.
The rules use only orthogonal movement. Up, down, left and right count as adjacent. Diagonals do not, unless a Royal Order specifically says otherwise. Printed letters and symbols remain visible beneath your pencil marks and continue to matter after a province changes hands.
