The recommended play area for this game is at least 3’ x 4’ (90cm x 120cm).

Follow this procedure to set up the game as it appears in the setup diagram.

1. Choose a province: Select a province for your session. Each province is represented by an overland map and gazetteer If you are continuing a campaign, you must select the province determined by your previous session.

Note: If this is your first session of your first campaign, it is strongly recommended that you select Black Marsh as your starting province.

► Overland Map: Place the province’s overland map to one side of the play area. Your party’s overland movement is tracked here.

► Gazetteer: Set aside the province’s gazetteer. You will need to refer to this book during play for its province effect, dungeon map, town entries, and quest steps.

2. Set up dice, chips, tokens, and pegs: Set the dice storage trays and chip storage trays near the play area so they are easily accessible. Sort the circular attribute tokens, square stat tokens, and circular overland tokens by type. Set the pegs aside for now until they are ready to be placed into an adventurer mat. Place all skill line tokens in the trainer bag.

Note: If you are playing a solo game, it is recommended that you remove duplicate copies of each skill line’s circular token. Skill lines are used during adventurer creation.

► Enemy Chips: Gather the black double-sided enemy chips and separate them into stacks by level, which is the number printed in the center of the chip Note that level 1 and level 5 enemies share opposite sides of the same chip, and the same for level 10 and level 20 enemies. Enemies with two-letter codes under their names can only appear in the province with those initials and are only included in a stack if you are playing in the associated province. Place the separated stacks of enemy chips into the enemy bags; then place the bags near the overland map.

Note: Keep these bags in a consistent order so you can draw from the correct bag later.

• Level 1 (black border)/Level 5 (green border) enemies are placed in the level 1/5 bag.

• Level 10 (purple border)/Level 20 (red border) enemies are placed in the level 10/20 bag.

► For your first game, it is strongly recommended you play the Jailbreak Introduction encounter to determine your adventurers’ class choices and to learn the battle rules. If you choose to play it, place only the level 1 enemy chips listed in the instructions at the Jailbreak Introduction Encounter, into the level 1/5 enemy bag and set aside all other enemy chips.

3. Set up card decks: Place all skill line reference sheets in the card tray as shown in the diagram . Then, prepare each of the following card decks as described and place them in the card tray as shown. Place the card tray near the overland map. Return cards not used in a deck or set aside for later use to the game box.

► Side Quest Deck: Shuffle all side quest cards together.

► Overland Decks: There are 2 overland decks: Peaceful () and Conflict (). Each overland card is marked with the icon for its type and has a code with either the province’s initials or “GE” for general. To set up each deck, shuffle all 10 general cards of that type and draw 4. Then, take the 8 cards of that type from the province you’re playing in and shuffle them together with the 4 general cards you drew so that all cards’ story sides are faceup.

► Delve Deck: Each delve card is either marked with the province’s initials or “GE” for general. Remove all the special cards marked with “SP” from the delve cards associated with your chosen province. Then, shuffle the remaining province delve cards with all of the general delve cards. Refer to the Delve Feature section of the relevant province’s gazetteer for any additional province-specific setup instructions, including instructions on what to do with special cards—such as Black Marsh’s special Submerged Chamber card, which is set aside.

► Item Decks: There are 2 item decks in the game: the Common () and the Legendary () Deck. Shuffle each deck separately.

4. Set up map tiles, journal, and dials: Take the neoprene map tiles and sort them by shape. Set aside the large, double-sided clash tile and the 5-hex, light green entrance tile. The remaining tiles are delve tiles; shuffle each stack facedown and place them together as shown. These tiles are used to build the map during different types of battles. Also set up the campaign journal and dial.

► Campaign Journal: If this is your first session, choose a party leader. They will be responsible for recording party progress in the party’s campaign journal. If players wish to name their adventurers, the party leader records them in the journal.

► XP and Day Dials: The XP Dial tracks the party’s gained XP and determines the strength of the enemies drawn in battle. The Day Dial is used to track the quest days that have passed during the game. Place the XP and Day Dial chips into the sockets of the magnetic chip holder (either left or right).

Note: If you choose to play the Jailbreak Introduction encounter, rotate the party’s XP Dial so the pointer is at 1. If you choose not to play the Jailbreak Introduction encounter, set it to 2. Regardless, the Day Dial will remain unset until later.

5. Choose game difficulty: Difficulty level affects several parts of the game. Select a difficulty level.

6. Set up adventurers: Each player takes an adventurer mat and sets up their adventurer.

► First Session of a Campaign: If this is your first session of a campaign, each player creates an adventurer.

Note: If this is your first game, it is strongly recommended that you also play the Jailbreak Introduction encounter to help acclimate you to battle mechanics and the overall story of The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era. Then, return here to proceed to the next step.

► Continuing a Campaign: Set up your adventurer as they were at the end of the previous session.

7. Set up guild quest: To set up your quest, refer to its first quest step in the gazetteer. Set aside any quest unit chips described there. Place the party token (which features the icon) in the starting location on the overland map. Also place any overland tokens in their starting locations. Guild quests are chosen as described below:

► First Session of a Campaign: Shuffle the Guild Deck and draw 3 cards from it. Then, choose 1 of those cards. This card determines the guild you are contracted with; each guild has 1 quest in each province of the game. Each guild card contains a brief description of the guild and includes a special town action that can be taken by visiting a town’s guild kiosk. Return the unchosen guild cards to the box and place the chosen guild card with its guild kiosk effect faceup near the overland map.

► Later Sessions of a Campaign: Your next guild quest is determined at the end of the previous session, as described in Successfully Completing a Session.

After completing setup, proceed to the first day and begin playing your session!