City of Chaos is a story-driven fantasy adventure board game set in the city of Byronitar, whose inhabitants are threatened by forces of entropy. Originally published in 1996, the game combines tile-based exploration, paragraph-book storytelling, card-based combat, and puzzle-solving. Players explore a randomly generated city, encounter characters, fight monsters, collect treasures, and seek clues to uncover and defeat the source of chaos afflicting the city.
Components
City tiles (randomly placed during exploration)
Tome of Chaos (paragraph book with numbered encounters)
Encounter cards (monsters, treasures, characters)
Combat cards
Character sheets
Dice
Clue tokens
Various tokens and markers
Setup
Place the starting city tile in the center.
Each player selects a character and takes the corresponding character sheet.
Set starting equipment and stats as indicated.
Place the encounter card decks and tile stacks within reach.
Keep the Tome of Chaos accessible to all players.
Place character tokens on the starting tile.
Turn Structure
On your turn:
Move your character to an adjacent tile or explore a new area.
Explore — if moving to an unexplored edge, draw and place a new city tile.
Encounter — draw encounter cards for the new area and resolve them using the Tome of Chaos.
Combat (if triggered) — resolve using the card-based combat system.
Collect clues, treasure, or other rewards.
Actions
Explore
When approaching the edge of a placed tile, draw a new city tile and place it adjacent.
Draw encounter cards that represent the monsters, treasures, and characters inhabiting that area.
Story Encounters
The Tome of Chaos provides numbered paragraphs keyed to each location.
Read the paragraph and make choices that affect your character’s progress.
Solve puzzles that provide clues to the greater mystery.
Combat
Combat is resolved using a card-based system rather than simple dice rolls.
Players play combat cards from their hand against the monster’s combat values.
Different cards represent attacks, defenses, and special maneuvers.
Level Up
Accumulating experience from encounters allows characters to grow stronger.
Leveling up improves stats and grants access to better equipment and abilities.
Scoring / Victory Conditions
The primary goal is to find and defeat the source of chaos afflicting the city.
Players can also accumulate points from finding clues, defeating monsters, and collecting treasure.
The game can be played cooperatively (working together to save the city) or semi-cooperatively (competing for the most points while advancing the shared goal).
Special Rules & Edge Cases
Randomly generated city: The tile-laying system means the city layout is different every game, providing high replayability.
Branching narrative: Choices in the Tome of Chaos lead to different outcomes and story paths.
Solo play: The game can be played solo as a one-character adventure.
Limited print run: The original 1996 edition had approximately 1,000 copies. A new edition was later published by Ares Games.
Campaign play: The game supports extended campaign play across multiple sessions.
The game draws comparisons to Tales of the Arabian Nights, Talisman, and Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective.