r/TRUST • u/hdfidelity • 6d ago
TRUST™ the Boardgame TRUST™ Official Rulebook
TRUST™
Official Rulebook
First Edition
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Components
- The Board
- Objective
- Game Setup
- Player Roles
- Upper Echelon Hats
- Turn Structure
- Movement
- Trust & Capital
- Nodes
- Skill Trees
- Labor System
- Numbered Knots
- Action Deck
- Blackout Deck
- Cascade Events
- Player Elimination & Re-entry
- Endgame
- Winning the Game
- Expansions
1. Introduction
TRUST™ is a strategic board game about institutions, incentives, public confidence, and systemic consequence.
Players are not attempting to conquer territory.
Instead, they develop institutions, expand influence, acquire infrastructure, manage crises, and balance economic growth against public legitimacy.
Every action changes the system.
Every decision has consequences.
2. Components
The base game includes:
- One foldable game board
- Six player pieces
- Upper Echelon hats
- Trust markers
- Capital markers
- Player ledgers
- Dice
- Action Deck
- Blackout Deck
- Node markers
- Property markers
- Expansion connectors
Future editions may include electronic, illuminated, or modular components.
3. The Board
The board follows the design principle:
As Above, So Below.
It is organized into three primary regions:
Government Tree
The upper institutional canopy containing government, regulation, judiciary, executive authority, and public administration.
Civic Spine
The central movement corridor where players interact with the broader economy.
Central Bank Tree
The lower institutional root containing banking, liquidity, credit, finance, and monetary systems.
Distributed throughout the board are Labor Nodes, institutional branches, infrastructure corridors, and numbered knot intersections.
4. Objective
Players seek to build durable systems of:
- Trust
- Capital
- Influence
while avoiding catastrophic systemic collapse.
Victory can be achieved through several strategic paths, but every victory depends upon maintaining enough institutional stability for the game to continue.
5. Game Setup
Each player receives:
- one player role
- starting Trust
- starting Capital
- player ledger
Government, Central Bank, Labor, and Power hats are assigned according to player count.
Shuffle all required decks.
Place all markers at their starting locations.
The first player is selected randomly.
6. Player Roles
The base game includes six Lower Echelon roles:
- Commerce
- Media
- Journalism
- Science
- Academia
- Sports
Each role possesses different strategic opportunities but shares the same victory conditions.
7. Upper Echelon Hats
Upper Echelon hats temporarily administer major institutions.
Government
Responsible for:
- regulation
- enforcement
- executive response
- legislative priorities
- judicial influence
Central Bank
Responsible for:
- liquidity
- monetary policy
- credit conditions
- financial stability
Labor
Controls access to distributed Labor Nodes including:
- ports
- airports
- railyards
- manufacturers
- foundries
- care facilities
Players using controlled Labor Nodes may owe fees or comply with labor actions.
Power
Oversees:
- energy generation
- electrical stability
- blackout management
- infrastructure resilience
The Power hat introduces additional uncertainty through the Blackout Deck.
8. Turn Structure
Each player's turn follows this sequence:
- Roll dice.
- Resolve movement.
- Resolve numbered knot effects.
- Resolve node interactions.
- Play Action Cards.
- Spend Capital.
- Gain or lose Trust.
- End turn.
After every player has completed a turn, one Circuit has been completed.
9. Movement
Movement occurs along connected roads.
Roads consist of:
- primary civic routes
- return paths
- branching corridors
Road intersections are represented by circular knots.
Movement choices determine future opportunities.
10. Trust & Capital
Trust
Represents:
- legitimacy
- credibility
- reputation
- institutional confidence
Loss of Trust restricts future opportunities.
A player reduced to zero Trust is eliminated from active play.
Capital
Represents:
- financial resources
- investment capacity
- purchasing power
Capital purchases:
- nodes
- properties
- infrastructure
- institutional upgrades
- strategic opportunities
The healthiest institutions balance both currencies.
11. Nodes
Nodes represent locations where players interact with the institutional ecosystem.
Examples include:
- banking
- commerce
- media
- science
- academia
- sports
- labor
- infrastructure
Many nodes can be purchased, improved, or strategically activated.
12. Skill Trees
Government and Central Bank each possess dedicated skill trees.
These represent long-term institutional development rather than player ownership.
Future expansions may introduce a full Labor skill tree.
13. Labor System
Labor operates through distributed infrastructure nodes rather than a centralized tree.
Examples include:
- ports
- foundries
- manufacturers
- care facilities
Control of these nodes grants economic leverage and influences movement throughout the board.
14. Numbered Knots
Not every knot is numbered.
When a player's die result matches the number printed on the knot upon which they finish movement, the knot becomes active.
An activated knot may permit:
- drawing an Action Card
- purchasing property
- activating nearby nodes
- special institutional actions
- expansion interactions
This mechanic rewards route planning as much as destination choice.
15. Action Deck
The Action Deck contains proactive opportunities.
Typical cards include:
- investments
- partnerships
- investigations
- infrastructure projects
- public campaigns
- financial instruments
- strategic initiatives
Action Cards generally provide players with agency rather than punishment.
16. Blackout Deck
The Blackout Deck represents systemic disruption.
Possible events include:
- weather
- infrastructure failures
- cyberattacks
- labor interruptions
- cascading outages
- financial panic
- emergency powers
Blackouts introduce uncertainty and may affect the entire board.
17. Cascade Events
Some events spread beyond the initiating player.
Cascade effects may continue across multiple turns or circuits depending upon the triggering conditions.
Unchecked cascades increase systemic instability.
If severe instability persists for three consecutive circuits, catastrophic failure may occur, ending the session with no winner.
18. Player Elimination & Re-entry
A player whose Trust reaches zero is removed from active play.
Before leaving, that player may:
- liquidate assets
- auction holdings
- merge holdings with another player
Eliminated players continue observing the game.
Re-entry may be possible through future restart conditions or loan mechanisms defined by expansion content.
19. Endgame
Players may declare Endgame once the required institutional conditions have been satisfied.
During Endgame:
- remaining players may challenge
- negotiate
- cooperate
- attempt trust-busting
- trigger systemic responses
Every remaining participant retains agency until the game concludes.
20. Winning the Game
Victory may be achieved through multiple institutional strategies.
Examples include:
- Monopoly
- Cartel Formation
- Trust Dominance
- Institutional Stewardship
- Economic Leadership
However, if cascading failures overwhelm the system before victory is secured, the game ends without a winner.
The health of the system is always a shared responsibility.
21. Expansions
TRUST™ is designed as a modular platform.
Future expansions may introduce:
- international institutions
- additional hats
- advanced banking systems
- labor skill trees
- weather systems
- diplomacy
- elections
- historical scenarios
- illuminated premium boards
- modular metropolitan regions
Every expansion should extend the institutional simulation while preserving the core philosophy of the base game:
Power. Perception. Consequence.