You asked
How do I set up the game?
Answered counted as answeredAsked with: The Lord of the Rings: The Card Gamebg-77423-en-1e
To set up a general game of The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game: 1. Shuffle the encounter deck and each player deck separately, ensuring hero cards are not shuffled into player decks and quest cards are not shuffled into the encounter deck [1]. 2. Each player places their heroes in their own play area [1]. 3. Each player adds together the threat cost of their heroes and sets their threat dial to that value (the "Starting Threat") [1]. 4. Place damage, progress, and resource tokens in separate piles next to the encounter deck [1]. 5. Each player draws six cards from the top of their deck; if they do not wish to keep this hand, they may shuffle it back and draw a second set of six, which must be kept [1]. 6. Select a first player and have them place the first player token in their play area [1]. To set up the "Passage Through Mirkwood" intro scenario: 1. Arrange the quest cards “Flies and Spiders” (119), “A Fork in the Road” (120), “A Chosen Path” (121), and the other “A Chosen Path” (122) as a four-card deck with Stage A sides faceup [2][3]. 2. Gather all encounter cards containing the specified set icons (cards 74–80 and 89–100) to create the encounter deck [2][3]. 3. Search the encounter deck for 1 copy of the Forest Spider and 1 copy of the Old Forest Road and add them to the staging area [2][4][3]. 4. Shuffle the encounter deck [2][4][3]. 5. Perform any "Setup" instructions presented on the stage “1A” quest card [4][5]. 6. Flip the top card to its Stage 1B side [4][5]. When setting up a game for a campaign: 1. Check that each player is using the heroes listed in the Campaign Log and ensure no heroes are listed as fallen [6]. 2. If a hero is fallen, the player must select a new hero, remove any permanent boons or burdens attached to the fallen hero from the Campaign Pool, and apply any necessary threat penalties [6]. 3. Attach any boons or burdens with the Permanent keyword from the Campaign Pool to their specified hero [6][7]. 4. Put any boon or burden cards with the 'Setup' keyword into the play area [6]. 5. Shuffle any boon or burden player cards listed in the Campaign Pool into the appropriate player decks [6]. 6. Shuffle any boon or burden encounter cards listed in the Campaign Pool into the encounter deck [6][8]. 7. If a campaign card is being used, place it next to the quest deck and follow any additional setup instructions on the card [7]. 8. For subsequent scenarios, if players are playing in Expert Campaign Mode, place damage tokens on each hero control equal to the number listed in the 'Notes' section of the Campaign Log (unless players choose to heal at a cost of +1 threat penalty per hero) [6].
🔧 debug — where this ruling came from
- outcome
- ANSWERED — Answered
- corpus profile
- live
- answerer pin (deploy-frozen, attribution only)
- gemma4:26b think:false 5571076f3d70
- timings
- search 263 ms · ask 20115 ms · total 1069306 ms
- single-flight (PR-5)
- queued 1048920 ms · generation 20386 ms
- retrieval refs (raw)
- [{"page": 6, "score": 0.04918, "snippet": "To set up a game of The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game , perform the following steps in order. For the first game, use the decks and scenario described on page 5. 2 Shuffle Decks: Shuffle the encounter deck and each player deck separately. Do not shuffle the hero cards into the player decks, and d", "headingPath": "Game Setup", "sharpsignalDocId": 328}, {"page": 7, "score": 0.048387, "snippet": "Place Quest Cards: Place the quest cards for the scenario near the encounter deck. The quest cards are arranged as described in the 'Intro Scenario' section, with the stage '1A' side on top and each subsequent card beneath it increasing in sequence. 7 Perform Scenario Setup Instructions: Perform the", "headingPath": "Game Setup", "sharpsignalDocId": 328}, {"page": 30, "score": 0.046239, "snippet": "When setting up a game for a campaign, use this list to ensure that all campaign elements are accounted for in the game: Check that each player is using the heroes listed in the Campaign Log. (If this is the first game of the campaign, each player lists their name and heroes in the Campaign Log.) En", "headingPath": "Campaign Setup Checklist · Ending a Campaign", "sharpsignalDocId": 328}, {"page": 26, "score": 0.04374, "snippet": "Much of the depth and fun of The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game comes when players conceive and construct their own decks, using the cards of this core set and those found in additional The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game products. When constructing a deck, players must obey the following rules: ", "headingPath": "Deckbuilding", "sharpsignalDocId": 328}, {"page": 28, "score": 0.042925, "snippet": "Campaign mode is an exciting alternative way to play The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game that combines all of the scenarios from the core set into one epic adventure! To play Campaign Mode, the players play through each scenario in order. Players only advance to the next scenario after they have de", "headingPath": "Campaign Mode · Campaign Log", "sharpsignalDocId": 328}, {"page": 8, "score": 0.03125, "snippet": "The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is played over a series of rounds. Each round consists of seven phases that players resolve in the following order: Resource, Planning, Quest, Travel, Encounter, Combat, and Refresh. After all seven phases have resolved, a new game round begins, starting with the", "headingPath": "Playing the Game · Phase 1: Resource · Step One: Gain Resources · Step Two: Draw Cards · Phase 2: Planning", "sharpsignalDocId": 328}, {"page": 8, "score": 0.030769, "snippet": "88 Playing the Game The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is played over a series of rounds. Each round consists of seven phases that players resolve in the following order: Resource, Planning, Quest, Travel, Encounter, Combat, and Refresh. After all seven phases have resolved, a new game round begin", "headingPath": "", "sharpsignalDocId": 328}, {"page": 14, "score": 0.030303, "snippet": "In turn order, each player has an opportunity to engage one enemy in the staging area. To engage an enemy, a player takes an enemy card from the staging area and places it in their play area, facing off against their characters. After each player has had an opportunity to engage an enemy, players ta", "headingPath": "Step One: Optional Engagement", "sharpsignalDocId": 328}]
- citations (raw)
- [{"page": 6, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Game Setup", "sharpsignalDocId": 328}, {"page": 5, "quote": null, "headingPath": "", "sharpsignalDocId": 328}, {"page": 5, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Intro Scenario", "sharpsignalDocId": 328}, {"page": 7, "quote": null, "headingPath": "", "sharpsignalDocId": 328}, {"page": 7, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Game Setup", "sharpsignalDocId": 328}, {"page": 30, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Campaign Setup Checklist · Ending a Campaign", "sharpsignalDocId": 328}, {"page": 29, "quote": null, "headingPath": "", "sharpsignalDocId": 328}, {"page": 29, "quote": null, "headingPath": "", "sharpsignalDocId": 328}]
- boost provenance — errata + base rulebook (E2/E3)
-
no registered errata card matched this query; base rulebook doc 328 boosted; rulesage.errata.boost-enabled=true, rulesage.errata.supersedence-enabled=true
base rulebook doc 328 boosted
- answered-before recall
-
this ruling was answered, so past rulings were not offered
similarity threshold in force: 0.55 (rulesage.answered-before.similarity-threshold; the exact-question tier is not gated by it)
- debug row retained until
- Nov 6, 2026 14:26
retrieval — what the search arm returned
score = the fused retrieval score (reciprocal-rank fusion over the search arms) — NOT a cosine similarity. This ruling ran the THREE-ARM fuse (full-text + vector + the doc-priority boost arm, which carried the base rulebook and/or the errata corrections this query matched), whose arithmetic ceiling is 0.04918 — all three arms ranking the same chunk #1 (ceiling = arms/(k+1) at k=60). The measured healthy band 0.016–0.033 was measured on TWO-arm asks and does not bound this one: its high end is the two-arm ceiling, and a third arm has room above it. A chunk only one arm ranked highly lands near 0.016 (that one arm's #1 vote), so 0.03 here is an excellent hit, not a 3% match.
per-arm ranks (the rank each search arm gave a chunk): NOT DISCLOSED by the gateway. Fusion happens gateway-side and only the FUSED score crosses the wire, so rulesage cannot show them without a gateway change. The rank column below is the FUSED rank (position in the returned list), which is real.
token count per chunk: NOT DISCLOSED — chunk token counts are not reported on the ask path. The character counts below are of the bounded snippet/quote rulesage actually received — a real measurement of what we hold, never an estimate of the chunk.
| fused rank | document | heading | page | fused RRF score | snippet chars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | RULEBOOK The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game — Rulebook (corpus doc 328) | Game Setup | p.6 | 0.04918 (at the 3-arm ceiling (0.04918) — every arm ranked it #1) | 300 |
| #2 | RULEBOOK The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game — Rulebook (corpus doc 328) | Game Setup | p.7 | 0.048387 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) | 300 |
| #3 | RULEBOOK The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game — Rulebook (corpus doc 328) | Campaign Setup Checklist · Ending a Campaign | p.30 | 0.046239 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) | 300 |
| #4 | RULEBOOK The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game — Rulebook (corpus doc 328) | Deckbuilding | p.26 | 0.04374 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) | 300 |
| #5 | RULEBOOK The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game — Rulebook (corpus doc 328) | Campaign Mode · Campaign Log | p.28 | 0.042925 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) | 300 |
| #6 | RULEBOOK The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game — Rulebook (corpus doc 328) | Playing the Game · Phase 1: Resource · Step One: Gain Resources · Step Two: Draw Cards · Phase 2: Planning | p.8 | 0.03125 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) | 300 |
| #7 | RULEBOOK The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game — Rulebook (corpus doc 328) | p.8 | 0.030769 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) | 300 | |
| #8 | RULEBOOK The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game — Rulebook (corpus doc 328) | Step One: Optional Engagement | p.14 | 0.030303 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) | 300 |
chosen chunks — what the answer actually cited
token count per chunk: NOT DISCLOSED — chunk token counts are not reported on the ask path. The character counts below are of the bounded snippet/quote rulesage actually received — a real measurement of what we hold, never an estimate of the chunk.
| # | document | heading | page | quote chars |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [1] | RULEBOOK The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game — Rulebook (corpus doc 328) | Game Setup | p.6 | no quote on the wire |
| [2] | RULEBOOK The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game — Rulebook (corpus doc 328) | p.5 | no quote on the wire | |
| [3] | RULEBOOK The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game — Rulebook (corpus doc 328) | Intro Scenario | p.5 | no quote on the wire |
| [4] | RULEBOOK The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game — Rulebook (corpus doc 328) | p.7 | no quote on the wire | |
| [5] | RULEBOOK The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game — Rulebook (corpus doc 328) | Game Setup | p.7 | no quote on the wire |
| [6] | RULEBOOK The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game — Rulebook (corpus doc 328) | Campaign Setup Checklist · Ending a Campaign | p.30 | no quote on the wire |
| [7] | RULEBOOK The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game — Rulebook (corpus doc 328) | p.29 | no quote on the wire | |
| [8] | RULEBOOK The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game — Rulebook (corpus doc 328) | p.29 | no quote on the wire |
generation — timing and the path taken
- timing split
- retrieval 263 ms · first delta 15335 ms · total 1069306 ms (retrieval and first-delta both measured from the START of gateway work, so first-delta INCLUDES retrieval — do not subtract)
- full breakdown
- queued 1048920 ms · retrieval 263 ms · ask 20115 ms · gateway work 20386 ms · total 1069306 ms
- tokens in (the prompt the answerer read)
- 3972
- tokens out (what the answerer generated)
- 682
- tok/sec
- 136.9 tok/sec — 682 output tokens in 4.983 s of generation
- live seat (read from the running child)
- answering — gemma4:26b think:false · num_ctx 32768 (live-verified 46s ago)
- stream path
- streamed — the gateway pushed at least one accumulated draft
- watchdog
- first-token watchdog: 30s per arming window (rulesage.table.first-token-watchdog-seconds), re-armed once by the passages frame — so the worst case before a reader falls back to polling is 60s. Whether it actually fired is a BROWSER-side decision that never reaches the server, so it is not recorded here. The stream path above is the server's half of that story: whether a delta was emitted at all.
- num_ctx · think posture
- both are the CHILD's settings, not rulesage's, and no ask reply carries them — an answer never states which context window or think posture produced it. The live-seat line above reads them from the running child instead, where the gateway can answer for itself; it describes the child NOW, not this ask.
disposition
- outcome
- ANSWERED — Answered
- abstain rationale (n/a — this ruling answered)
- answered — no abstain rationale applies
setup-shape — why the checklist band did or didn't render
- decision
- NO_APPROVED_CHECKLIST — setup-shaped, but no approved setup checklist exists for this game
- pattern that matched
- SETUP — "setup" / "set up"
- matched words (in the normalized question)
-
set up
errata registry — what the gate above had to match against
this game registers NO errata cards (edition 256), so "no registered errata card matched" above could never have matched one
Errata scope: the gate above matched this ruling's own edition only. When an ask also reads an expansion, that expansion's own registered errata cards stay outside the match — a stated phase-1 limitation, not a failed lookup.