20 Strong: Tainted Grail Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
• Game Overview
  • Winning and Losing
• Heroes & Stats
• Unit Dice & Stat Dice
  • Unit Dice
  • Stat Dice
• Enemies
• Combat Cards
  • Upgraded Combat Cards
• Round Overview
• Activation
• Engagement
  • Strategy Phase
    • Strike Step
    • Enemy Effects
    • Combat Card Nodes & Abilities Example
    • Commit Dice Step
    • Roll Dice Step
    • Apply Dice Step
    • Restrictions When Applying Dice
    • Repeating the Strategy Phase
  • Resolve Phase
    • Suffer Damage Step
    • After Effects Step
• Endgame
• Dice States
• Additional Rules
• Choosing Enemies
• Reshuffling Decks
• Items
• Banishing
• Applied Dice
• Universal Heroes
• Difficulty Rankings

Contents

Tainted Grail contains 6 hero cards, 3 boss cards, 40 enemy cards, 32 combat cards, a play reference, and this rulebook. To play, you also need the core 20 Strong dice, chip, and chip holder.

The Tainted Grail folded play reference labels the elements of each card type and recommends a convenient table layout for play.

Setup

0. Dized. The first time you play, consider the interactive Dized tutorial. It walks you through Tainted Grail's setup and rules while you play. Scan the code on the rulebook's second page.
1. Create the dice pool. Set the 17 unit dice in the dice pool.
2. Choose a boss. Select a boss to face and return the rest to the box.
3. Choose your hero. Select a hero and set your three stat dice to match its stats. Take the hero combat card associated with your hero and set it aside. Return the rest of the heroes and their hero combat cards to the box, as well as the hero combat card for universal heroes.
4. Prepare the cards. Shuffle the nine basic combat cards along with your hero's combat card into a face-down combat deck. Then, separate the enemy cards by color and shuffle them into four enemy decks. Place these face-up as shown in the setup diagram on the play reference. Set aside the upgraded combat cards. Some of them may be added to the Combat Deck throughout play.
5. Prepare to fight. Set the dial on your chip to yellow. Then, draw a number of cards from the Combat Deck equal to your Strategy to form your starting hand.

Game Overview

Tainted Grail is a solo adventure that blends Arthurian legend and Celtic mythology. It challenges you to defeat strange enemies from a reality beyond this one, upgrading your hero and resources as the Menhirs fail one by one. Finally, you'll test your strength in the endgame against one of Avalon's ultimate enemies.

Winning and Losing

To win Tainted Grail, you must defeat your chosen boss and all active enemies. To face the boss, there must be at least eight enemies in the menhir stack.

If your Health [health] is ever reduced below 1, you lose.

Heroes & Stats

You play as a hero. Your hero defines your starting stats and grants a unique ability. Three of the 20 Strong dice are gray stat dice. They track your stats' values as they increase and decrease throughout play.

• Health tracks how much damage you can take before you lose.
• Strategy indicates:
  • how many items you can have in your inventory.
  • how many times you can go through the Strategy phase each round.
  • In Tainted Grail, your Strategy also indicates your hand limit.
• Recovery indicates how many exhausted dice you can get back each round.

Unit Dice & Stat Dice

Unit Dice

The 17 unit dice come in red, purple, blue, green, and yellow. Each color has a mix of hit sides (basic hits and crits) and misses (except red, which has no misses).

A basic hit deals 1 damage. A crit deals 2 damage (though it is still considered to be one hit). One hit side on each die is a crit.

• Miss: [miss]
• Basic Hit: [basic hit]
• Crit: [crit]

The number of pips on each icon's ring shows how many hit sides that die has.

Color	Yellow	Green	Blue	Purple	Red
Hits	2	3	4	5	6
Power	Weaker				Stronger

Stat Dice

Stat dice are never rolled. They cannot go below 1 (except Health [health], which results in game loss) or above 6.

Enemies

Enemies are your primary antagonists in 20 Strong. They have Health [health] to defeat and Damage [damage] to avoid. Many provide rewards when you defeat them.

Each enemy that activates may cause additional enemies to activate (see Activation below). Some have enemy effects to consider in the Strategy and Resolve phases (see Enemy Effects below).

Most enemies have nodes [nodes]. They restrict which combat cards can be played on them. Combat cards cannot be played on an enemy without nodes.

Combat Cards

Combat cards are played to the right of enemies to activate effects and deal damage. Combat cards are not considered part of your inventory.

Upgraded Combat Cards

When an effect tells you to gain an upgraded combat card, you must choose to place it in your hand, on top of the Combat Deck, or in the combat discard, as long as there is at least one card already in that location.

When placing the new card, you must banish a different card from the same location. You may choose which card to banish from your hand or the combat discard, but you must banish the top card of the Combat Deck.

Round Overview

20 Strong is played in rounds. Each round has two parts: activation and engagement. Each part has a series of phases or steps. Rounds continue until the endgame begins (see Endgame below).

The round sequence is summarized as follows:

• Activation
  • Activate one enemy
    • Resolve additional enemies [additional enemies]
• Engagement
  • Strategy Phase (repeat as your Strategy allows)
    • Strike
    • Commit Dice
    • Roll Dice
    • Apply Dice
  • Resolve Phase
    • Suffer Damage
    • After Effects
    • Exhaust Dice
    • Recover Dice
    • Gain Item Rewards
    • Cleanup
      • Discard all active cards
      • Discard combat cards in excess of your Strategy
      • Discard the top enemy from one enemy deck to the Menhir Stack
      • Advance the dial by one position

Activation

Begin Activation by activating one enemy. To activate an enemy, take one enemy card from the top of any enemy deck and place it in the active area. If the activated enemy has the additional enemies icon [additional enemies], repeat this process, activating one enemy at a time.

If any of the additional enemies also have [additional enemies] icons, those must be resolved as well.

In Tainted Grail, when you place an activated enemy in the active area, leave space to its right for additional cards. This is where you will place combat cards.

You cannot activate enemies from the Menhir Stack.

If the Menhir Stack contains eight or more enemies at the start of Activation, you must activate the boss instead of an enemy from an enemy deck (see "Endgame" below).

Engagement

Engagement consists of two phases: the strategy phase, where you commit, roll, and apply dice to active enemies; and the resolve phase, where you suffer damage and negative effects, exhaust and recover dice, gain item rewards, and clean up before the next round.

Strategy Phase

Strike Step

In this step, you may strike by either drawing or playing a combat card. If instructed to "strike again," you may repeat this step.

You can strike every time you perform the Strategy phase. Striking is a crucial way for you to influence how you roll dice and apply hits by creating card chains and combos.

• Draw a Combat Card. To draw, add the top card of the Combat Deck to your hand. This may exceed your hand limit.
• Play a Combat Card. A combat card must be played from your hand to the right of an active enemy or combat card with one or more matching nodes [nodes]. This immediately activates strike effects on the new card that line up with a node on the card to the left.
  • You cannot play a combat card next to a card with no nodes.
  • Effects that do not match a node on the previous card are not activated.
  • Never resolve an effect more than once, even if it matches several nodes.
  • You can chain any number of combat cards to the same enemy.

Enemy Effects

• During [during] effects have an ongoing impact that applies from the time the enemy becomes active until it is defeated.
• After [after] effects trigger in the Resolve phase. They trigger even if the enemy is defeated.
• Special [special] effects have unique timing and length of impact, as specified in the effect's text. They trigger even if the enemy is defeated.

Combat Card Nodes & Abilities Example

The rulebook's example shows the Knight Errant combat card, whose ability reads "At the start of Engagement, discard a card from your hand," next to a second card, Gather Thoughts, whose strike effects read "Draw two cards." and "Strike again." The example is labeled with the following terms, as printed:

• Matching Nodes
• Active Strike Effect
• Inactive Strike Effect

Commit Dice Step

Select any number and combination of dice from the dice pool, and place them in the active area. All dice in the active area, applied or not, are considered to be committed.

Roll Dice Step

Roll all of the dice in the active area at once. Items cannot be used in this step.

Apply Dice Step

Apply hits to active enemies to deal damage to them.

• Apply hits one at a time, in any order, by placing the die on the enemy.
• Each time you apply a die, check to see if that enemy is defeated, which happens when the hits assigned to it meet or exceed its Health [health]. Any During effects on an enemy end immediately when it is defeated.
• When an enemy is defeated, rotate it 90° to track its state.
• Instant rewards on an enemy are gained immediately when it is defeated. Gaining the reward is optional.
• Item rewards, whether Single-use or Ongoing, are not gained at this time (see "Items" below).
• You may continue to apply hits to enemies even after they have been defeated if you wish.
• You are not required to apply all rolled hits.
• Misses cannot be applied.

Restrictions When Applying Dice

In Tainted Grail, you can only apply dice that are the same color as the dial's current color. Dice that do not match the dial color can still be committed and rolled, but they cannot be applied. Combat cards, enemy effects, and items frequently alter this rule.

Repeating the Strategy Phase

After the Apply Dice step, you may repeat the Strategy phase. The total number of times you may go through the phase (including the first) cannot exceed your Strategy [strategy].

When you repeat the Strategy phase, you may commit additional dice from the dice pool, adding them to any unapplied dice still in your active area. Then, roll all unapplied dice and apply any hit results you wish.

Keep in mind that all committed dice, applied or not, will be exhausted in the Resolve phase.

In Tainted Grail, you cannot repeat the Strategy phase if all enemies are defeated.

Resolve Phase

Suffer Damage Step

Add the Damage [damage] of all undefeated enemies in your active area and reduce your Health [health] by the total.

After Effects Step

All After effects in the active area (including those on defeated enemies) are resolved one at a time, in the order of your choice.

Exhaust Dice Step

Move all committed dice, applied or not, to your exhausted area.

Recover Dice Step

Choose a number of exhausted dice up to your current Recovery [recovery]. Move them from your exhausted area to your dice pool.

Gain Item Rewards Step

If any enemies you defeated this round have an item reward, either Single-use or Ongoing, you may place the enemy card in your inventory (see "Items" below). It is now considered to be an item card.

Cleanup Step

First, discard all active enemy and combat cards.

Then, if your hand size exceeds your Strategy [strategy], discard the excess.

Next, take the top enemy from one enemy deck and place it in the Menhir Stack.

Finally, advance the dial by rotating it to the next clockwise color, for example from red to yellow.

After the Resolve phase, begin another round with Activation.

Endgame

At the start of Activation, if at least eight enemies are in the Menhir Stack, the endgame begins. Activate the boss instead of an enemy from an enemy deck.

Endgame rounds are played like normal rounds, with the following exceptions:

• Skip Activation. After the first round of the endgame, skip Activation for all subsequent rounds.
• Undefeated Cards Remain. In the Cleanup step, undefeated cards remain in the active area. They remain active and must be faced again in the next round. Dice applied to these undefeated enemies are exhausted in the Exhaust Dice step as normal.

If a boss has additional enemies [additional enemies], shuffle the Menhir Stack and activate them from that stack rather than from an enemy deck. Any [additional enemies] icons on non-boss enemies are ignored in the endgame.

Bosses are enemies in 20 Strong, which means they can be affected by other enemy effects, combat cards, and items.

Active combat cards are still discarded in each Cleanup step as normal, even those played on undefeated enemies. Only the undefeated enemies themselves remain active.

In the endgame, you repeat Engagements until one of the following happens:

• You win by defeating the boss and all other active enemies.
• You lose because your Health [health] is reduced below 1.

Dice States

• Ready: Dice in the dice pool available to be used.
• Exhausted: Dice removed from the dice pool or active area. These can be recovered.
• Banished: Dice removed by an in-game effect. These cannot be recovered.
• Committed: Dice in the active area, whether applied or not.
• Applied: Dice placed on cards in the active area.
• Returned: Dice moved from the active area to the dice pool.
• Recovered: Dice moved from the exhausted area to the dice pool.

Additional Rules

The following sections feature rules that are important but exist outside the normal flow of gameplay.

Choosing Enemies

After an enemy's defeat, it offers a benefit based on its color. Use this to your advantage as you choose which deck to activate from next.

• Purple: Upgraded combat cards
• Gray: Stat upgrades
• Green: Instant rewards
• Blue: Item rewards

Reshuffling Decks

If you need to draw from the Combat Deck while it is empty, shuffle its discard and make a new deck before drawing. The enemy decks are not replenished after they are emptied.

Items

In 20 Strong, items are used either for one-time effects or as ongoing abilities. Your current Strategy [strategy] indicates how many items you can have in your inventory at one time.

• Single-use items can be used once and are then discarded.
• Ongoing items have a persistent effect that lasts until the end of the game or until the item is discarded.

Unless they specify timing, items can be used at any time except in the Roll Dice step.

You may discard items at any time.

Items are gained one at a time. You cannot gain an item if you do not have room in your inventory. However, you may use or discard items you already have at this time to make room in your inventory. You cannot use items you have yet to gain.

Banishing

When banished, dice and cards are removed from the game and can no longer be used, unless returned to the game by specific effects. Unless stated otherwise, banished dice can be taken from any area.

Applied Dice

Applied dice are exhausted when the cards they are applied to are discarded, banished, or otherwise removed.

Effects that change the damage a die deals also impact dice already applied. Defeated enemies remain defeated regardless of changing damage effects.

Universal Heroes

Heroes marked with [universal] are universal heroes and can be used in any 20 Strong deck for a new gameplay experience. The gameplay of 20 Strong varies significantly from deck to deck, so universal heroes may not always be as finely tuned to a different deck's play style. Have fun with them and discover the toughest or most rewarding pairings across the line!

When playing Tainted Grail with a universal hero from another deck, use the hero combat card labeled "Universal."

Difficulty Rankings

You can increase the challenge of Tainted Grail using these difficulty rankings.

• Rank 1: Default difficulty. Set up as normal.
• Rank 2: Reduce your hand limit by the number of cards in your inventory.
• Rank 3: The boss activates when there are seven or more enemies in the Menhir Stack.
• Rank 4: In setup, −1 to a stat of your choice.
• Rank 5: In setup, banish one die of each color.

These modifiers are cumulative, so each rank includes the modifiers of the ranks before it. For example, Rank 5 has all modifiers active.