1. Banner: Your foundational card. It acts like a Secret in some ways, but you start the game with it.
2. Secrets Vault: Your Secrets that have not been revealed. You start with five cards here, face-down, and choose up to two of them to reveal as the game progresses (when your foe completes Quests).
3. Deck: Your “main” Deck, where most of your cards start the game.
4. Discard Pile: A face-up pile that either player can examine, representing your cards that have been “used up” or “damaged.”
5. Invested Zone: A face-down pile that represents your Heroes’ progress towards their next Quest.
6. Revealed Secrets: These cards help you, but also keep track of your foe’s progress towards winning the game.
7. Active Heroes Area: The stars of the show, your “party” of Heroes who are trying to accomplish Quests.
8. Active Location: The rightmost card in your Scenery Area represents where your Heroes are located geographically.
9. Scenery Area - other cards: Places your Heroes have Visited. Note that your Scenery Area will always have at least one card in it, the Place you start the game at, which must have the Base keyword.
10. Reserve Area - face-up cards: Place or Pursuit cards you have not yet Moved to.
11. Reserve Area - face-down cards: Hazard cards you have played to hinder your foe’s Movements, which your foe’s Heroes have not yet faced.
12. (not pictured) Hand: Your Hand of cards that you are currently holding. Cards here can be played or use their SUPPORT effects.

To set up the game, place your eight starting cards: your Banner face-up, just above your Deck zone; your five Secrets in your Secrets Vault to the left of the Banner; a Hero with the Starter X keyword in the Active Heroes Area; and your Base Place in your Scenery Area, to the right of your Deck (leaving space for your Discard Pile).

Shuffle your remaining 42 cards and place them in your Deck zone. Draw cards for your initial Hand equal to X on your Hero’s Starter X keyword.

Determine which player will take the first turn. Normally, this is the player with the smaller Reload X value on their Banner. The player who is not taking the first turn starts the game by Investing 1 card.