Agent Decker
Agent Decker Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 Alarm Card
- 8 Starting Cards
- 22 Cards in the Obstacle Deck
- 23 Cards in the Mission Deck
- Total: 54 cards
You'll have to provide two tokens to keep track of the alarm. Small coins or buttons will do.
Video Tutorial
I know learning from the rulebook can be hard, so I made a five minute intro video to show you the setup and how it plays!
You can see it at gamesbymanuel.com/portfolio/agent-decker/
Types of Cards
Alarm Card
As you move around the complex you'll raise suspicion. At first the guards will think it's just their imagination, but if it reaches the top (50) they'll go after you. Game over.
Initial Cards
These cards give you resources - Stealth and Fighting - which you can use to interact with the obstacles.
Obstacle Cards
These cards have two parts. The bottom half represents the obstacle and the top part is what you'll get if you disarm it.
- A1: Obstacle Name
- A2: Obstacle Type
- A3: The required Resources to interact with this obstacle.
- A4: How much the Alarm will go up if this card leaves the line.
You can interact with any of the obstacles!
To do so, first you spend the cost that's indicated on the card. It can be Stealth, Fighting or any combination of the two.
No matter which resource you used, when you interact you get to choose if you want to disarm or knock out the obstacle:
- Disarm: Take the obstacle card out of the line and add it to your play area. It's a good way to get some gear or better moves.
- Knock Out: Turn the card face down and leave it where it was in the line. The good thing about knocking cards out is that they won't raise the alarm during the Line Scroll, which will give you additional time to complete the mission. When a card is knocked out, ignore its Type and Effect.
Some Obstacle cards have effects that activate throughout the turn. They can cause themselves (or other cards) to slide, which forces other cards in the line to adapt to that change.
Example: Patrolling Guard moves faster than the other cards, which means that in the Line Scroll it swaps places with the card to its right.
Item Card
They look just like regular Obstacle cards, but there's a difference, the KEEP icon on the top.
When you disarm an obstacle that has an item, instead of going to the Play Area you can equip it. This means you place it on the Equip Area.
Some items give you bonuses that work every turn, others can be discarded for an effect. They're not gone, though! You can equip them when you draw them again.
Mission Card
There are two kinds of Mission Cards. Mission Goals, which set your goal for the current missions and Mission Obstacles, which work just like regular Obstacles.
Mission Goals also have a reward on their top half, which you can get when you complete that mission.
The Line
The line represents what you see as you walk through the enemy complex. They see you too, so you need to deal with them before they leave and raise the alarm.
- B1: Obstacles Deck
- B2: The Line
- B3: Obstacles Discard
At the end of the turn you take a step forward, which lets you see more of the complex.
Think of it as a conveyor belt. Cards will leave the line through the right side and new ones will refill it from the left.
Some Obstacle cards have effects which can change the layout of the line or the behavior of other cards, so be sure to read them as they appear.
Setup
- C1: Take the Mission cards (goals and objectives) and order them alphabetically using the letter on the bottom right corner. This forms the Mission Deck.
- C2: Place the two tokens on the zero (0) spaces on the Alarm Counter.
- C3: Shuffle the Obstacles deck and draw six cards. Place them in a line, starting from the right. Read the cards as you draw them, because some effects may take place. This forms the Line.
- C4: Shuffle your deck and draw four cards. This is your starting hand.
Board Areas
- D1: Obstacles Discard
- D2: Your Deck
- D3: Your Discard
- D4: Play Area
- D5: Equip Area
The Goal of the Game
The goal of the game is to complete a sequence of missions without alerting the enemy complex. To do so you'll improve your deck, adding new weapons and skills, while removing unnecessary cards.
How to Play
1 - Use Cards
Use the cards in your hand to deal with the obstacles on the line. Don't worry about saving any cards for the next turn because they will be discarded in the Card Refresh phase.
When you play cards you'll get resources which can be used to interact with the obstacles. Then you have a choice: do you disarm it or knock it out?
When you use or discard a card, it doesn't go straight to your discard. Instead, it's placed in the Play Area.
Initially you can only interact with one obstacle card per turn, but that will change as you progress through the game and your skill set gets better.
When you've reached the limit of your interactions per turn, or you don't want to do anything else this turn, advance to the next phase.
2 - Mission Check
Check if you can fulfill/afford the necessary goal to complete the mission. If so, you've completed it! See the Mission Progression section for the instructions to set up the next one.
If not, advance to the next step.
3 - Line Scroll
Add the last card in the line to the obstacles discard, and raise the alarm counter accordingly.
Scroll all the cards in the Line to the right.
4 - Card Refresh
Draw new obstacle cards and place them to the left of the current obstacles. There should be six cards on the line.
Read and, if necessary, activate the cards as you put them down. This might make you rearrange them.
If you run out of cards to draw, shuffle all of the cards in the discard and use that as the new deck. This is valid both for the obstacles and for your deck.
If there aren't enough obstacles to fill the line, you ran out of time, and it's Game Over.
Place all the unused cards from your hand and the cards from the Play Area in your discard.
Draw four new cards for your next turn.
Mission Progression
1 - Reward
When you complete a mission, you get a reward! The reward is in the Mission card itself. Rotate it so you can read the top half and place it on the Equip Area. It's yours agent, you've earned it.
These can be permanent resources (which can used once a turn) - or even new rules!
2 - Move Forward
Add the next Mission Obstacles cards to the Obstacles discard. If you've completed Mission 1 (A), then add the next Mission Obstacles (B).
3 - New Line
Shuffle the Obstacles discard, Line and Obstacles deck together to form the deck for the next mission. Draw six new cards to form the Line, and apply any obstacle effects as they appear.
4 - Reset the Alarm
Put the two tokens back at zero (0).
5 - Shuffle
Shuffle all cards in the Play Area, your discard and your deck together to form a new deck. The equipped item cards and New Rules stay on the table for the next mission.
6 - Draw
Draw four cards from your deck to form your new hand, and you're ready to go!
High Score
Write down the Alarm you had when you finished each mission and add them up when you finish the campaign to get your total score. Keep in mind it represents the total alarm you raised during your campaign, so you want as little as possible!
| Alarm | |
|---|---|
| Mission 1 | |
| Mission 2 | |
| Mission 3 | |
| Mission 4 | |
| Mission 5 | |
| Total |
Did you like it? Is there something unclear in the rulebook? Want to ask what my highscore is? Want to say hello? [email protected]
License
Agent Decker by Manuel Correia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. This means it's free to remix and redistribute, as long as you don't make money from it and give credit to the original creator.