Baldrick's Tomb Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Contents
• Object of the Game
• Game Setup
• Floor Setup
• Gameplay
• Rubble Tokens
  • The Exit
  • Baldrick's Gem
• Scroll Cards
• Trap Cards
• Monster Cards and Combat
  • Combat Symbols
• Getting Knocked Out
• Poison
• Skill Cards
• End of Floor
• End of Game
• Variants
  • Solo Play
  • Game Length
  • Round Length
  • Custom Characters
  • Persistent Poison
  • Persistent HP

Overview

1 - 4 players, 30-45 minutes, Ages 8+

Contents

1 game board, 5 decks of cards, 4 character tableaus, 4 player HP markers, 4 poison markers, 3 monster damage markers, 4 character pawns, 4 plastic stands, 60 gold tokens, 2 eight-sided dice, 1 First to Land token, 1 Impending Doom token, 1 depth indicator token, 18 rubble tokens, this rulebook

Object of the Game

While your mission is to retrieve Baldrick's Gem, the goal of Baldrick's Tomb is to be the player to make it all the way to the bottom of the tomb with as much gold as possible. The person with the most gold at the end of the game wins!

Game Setup

• Place the board in the center of the table in easy reach of every player.
• Each player chooses a character pawn, and takes the matching character tableau, an HP marker, and a poison marker. Place the HP marker on 6 and the poison marker on 0.
• Separate out the monster cards based on level and shuffle each level into its own deck. Place the level one monster deck onto its matching spot on the board and set aside the other two for later use.
• Shuffle the skill deck and deal each player three skill cards. Place the remaining skill cards back into the box; they will not be used.
• Shuffle the remaining three decks and place each on its corresponding spot on the board.
• Place the gold tokens on the indicated space of the game board.
• Deal each player two scroll cards.
• Place Baldrick's Gem face-up on level two of the depth track.
• Place the depth marker on level one of the depth track with the arrow pointing downward.
• Place the Impending Doom token on the 1 space of the Impending Doom track.
• Place the Exit rubble token faceup on the board. Shuffle the remaining rubble tokens facedown and set them aside.
• Randomly determine who goes first and give her the First to Land token.

Floor Setup

• The player with the First to Land token draws 10 rubble tokens and mixes the Exit rubble token in facedown. She then places each rubble token in a different space leaving at least one open space between every rubble token.
• Starting with the player with the First to Land token, each player rolls the two eight-sided dice and places her character pawn lining up with the coordinates given by the dice roll.
• Each space can only have one character pawn. If a space is rolled that contains a character pawn, reroll for a new space.
• A character pawn can start on a space with a rubble token.

Gameplay

• The player with the First to Land token goes first.
• Each floor is played over five rounds which are tracked by the Impending Doom track. Except for the first turn each floor, whenever the player holding the First to Land token starts a turn, the Impending Doom track advances one space.
• Each turn, the active player can move up to four spaces. Movement can only be orthogonal; diagonal movement is not allowed.
• A player can move through other character pawns, but cannot stop on a space with another character pawn.
• Whenever a player moves onto a rubble token, it is resolved based on what the rubble token is. If the rubble token is facedown, turn it faceup first. Once the rubble token is resolved, set it aside. A player can resolve more than one rubble token each turn.
• A player can move extra spaces by spending two gold per extra space moved.
• Once a player is finished moving OR has been knocked out, place all resolved rubble tokens back onto the board. Roll the eight-sided dice and place each rubble token faceup on the coordinates rolled. If a space rolled is occupied by another rubble token or a character pawn, the active player chooses an adjacent space to place the rubble token. Rubble tokens can be placed next to each other at the end of a turn.
• If the player was knocked out, she rolls the eight-sided dice and places her character pawn on the coordinates rolled. If the space rolled contains a character pawn, reroll for a new space.
• Once the resolved rubble tokens have been relocated (and character pawn, if necessary), play passes to the next player.
• If every player leaves the floor through the Exit rubble token OR at the end of the 5th round, the floor ends.

Rubble Tokens

Each rubble token has a different effect when resolved.

• Monster tokens require the active player to draw a monster card and fight it or run away. Should the active player fight and win, she'll get gold from defeating the monster.
• Treasure tokens require the active player to draw a treasure card. She then takes the amount of gold listed on the card and discards the card.
• Scroll tokens require the active player to draw a scroll card. Scroll cards can be saved until needed.
• Healing fountain tokens fully heal any character that lands on it. A player moving onto healing fountains resets her HP marker to its maximum value. The poison marker is NOT moved to 0.
• Trap tokens require the active player to draw a trap card. Traps do all sorts of mean things, from dealing damage to forcing a player to drop gold.

The Exit

The Exit is how players leave the current floor of Baldrick's Tomb. To exit, a player must simply move her pawn on top of the Exit token and move her pawn to the next floor on the level indicator. Any player who exits the current floor gets no further turns until the next floor begins.

Whoever reveals the Exit receives 1 gold. Additionally, the first player to leave the level via the Exit receives 1 gold and receives the First to Land token on the next floor.

A player revealing the Exit does not have to use it immediately. The Exit is NEVER removed from the board as part of resolving rubble tokens.

Baldrick's Gem

Baldrick's Gem is worth 5 gold to whoever is holding it at the end of the game. It can be discovered starting on floor two. If it is not found by the time everyone exits or the current floor collapses, it is set aside with the exit to be mixed into the next floor's rubble tokens.

The player who first reveals Baldrick's Gem takes it and adds it to her gold stash. If the player holding Baldrick's Gem is knocked out, she gives it to the player with the lowest amount of gold besides herself. If there is a tie for lowest amount of gold, the tied players each roll an eight sided die, and the player who rolls highest gets Baldrick's Gem.

Once per turn, a player whose character pawn is adjacent to the character pawn of who is holding Baldrick's Gem can attempt to steal it. The stealing player and the player holding Baldrick's Gem each roll an eight sided die, adding any modifiers from spells. If the player holding Baldrick's Gem rolls higher, the would-be thief loses one HP. If the player holding Baldrick's Gem rolls lower, she gives Baldrick's Gem to the stealing player.

Scroll Cards

Scroll cards provide various benefits to whoever plays it, from combat bonuses to extra movement. The active player can play as many scroll cards as she wishes on her turn, and at any time, unless otherwise indicated on the scroll card. Once the effect of the scroll is resolved, it is discarded.

If the scroll deck is ever empty, reshuffle the scroll discard pile to form a new scroll deck. If both the scroll deck and scroll discard piles are ever both empty, every player discards down to two scroll cards.

Trap Cards

Trap cards do a variety of nasty things to whoever happens to draw them.

When drawn, the active player resolves the trap's effects and discards the trap card to the trap discard pile unless otherwise noted on the card.

If the trap deck is ever empty, reshuffle the trap discard pile to form a new trap deck.

Monster Cards and Combat

When a monster card is drawn, the active player must fight the monster or run away.

• To fight, the active player rolls an eight sided die and checks the result on the swing gauge on the bottom of the card. She then does what the range rolled says to. For example: if the active player rolls a 1, 2, 3, or 4, the monster attacks. On a roll of 5, both the monster AND the active player attack. On a roll of 6, 7, or 8, active player attacks.
• Whenever the active player attacks, place a monster damage marker on the monster card. If the number of monster damage markers equals the monster's HP, the monster is knocked out.
• Combat continues until either the monster is knocked out, the active player is knocked out, the active player runs away, or the monster runs away.
• The active players can play as many scroll cards as she wishes during combat before each die roll.
• If the monster is knocked out, the active player gets the amount of gold listed on the monster card. The monster card is then discarded.
• To run away, the active player discards gold equal to the Monster's level. The monster is then discarded and the active player gets no gold for defeating the monster. The active player can run away at any time provided she can discard the gold to do so.
• If both the monster and the active player are knocked out simultaneously, the active player still collects gold from the monster before being knocked out.
• If the monster deck is ever empty, shuffle the monster discard pile to form a new monster deck.

Combat Symbols

• RUN: The monster runs away. Discard the monster card. The active player gets no gold.
• MONSTER ATTACK: The active player loses one HP.
• PLAYER ATTACK: Place one monster damage token onto the monster card.
• TREASURE: Place one gold token on the monster card. If the monster is defeated, the active player receives all gold tokens on the monster in addition to any the monster normally gives.
• POISON: The active player increases her poison marker one space.

Getting Knocked Out

If a player is reduced to 0 hit points OR has her poison marker on the same space as her HP marker, she is knocked out. When a player is knocked out, she loses half her gold (round down). If she is holding Baldrick's Gem, she passes it to the player with the least gold not counting herself. If there is a tie for least gold, the tied players each roll an eight sided die and the player that rolls highest gets Baldrick's Gem.

The knocked out player resets her HP marker to its maximum value and her poison marker to 0. She then places any resolved rubble tokens back onto the board as normal. Lastly, she rolls the eight sided dice to determine where to place her character pawn back on the board. If a space containing another character pawn is rolled, reroll for a new location.

If a player is knocked out when it is not her turn, the character gets placed on the board as normal at the end of the current turn.

Poison

There are effects that can poison a character, causing her poison level to slowly rise and eventually knock out the character. Whenever a character is poisoned, she moves her poison marker up one space on her HP track. If the poison marker is ever on the same space as the HP marker, the character is knocked out.

Skill Cards

Skill cards give each player a unique set of abilities that change from game to game. The skills range from an extra move per turn to drawing extra scroll cards and a lot of stuff in between. Skill cards are always active unless otherwise noted on the skill card.

End of Floor

• When every player leaves the floor through the Exit rubble token OR at the end of the round where the Impending Doom track reaches 5, the floor ends.
• Any player that still has her character pawn in play loses half her gold, rounded down. If every player exits the floor, nobody loses gold.
• Advance the depth track one space. If the depth track was already on the fourth floor, the game is now over.
• Every player resets her character's health marker to its maximum, her poison marker to 0, and discards all 'until end of floor' effects.
• Set the Exit rubble token faceup on the board. Mix the other rubble tokens facedown and set them aside.
• If it is the second floor OR nobody has found Baldrick's Gem yet, set it faceup next to the Exit rubble token.
• Shuffle the next level monster deck into the current monster deck and place it back on its space on the board.
• The player with the First to Land token sets up the next floor, including Baldrick's Gem while placing the rubble tokens.

End of Game

• Once the fourth floor has been explored and either everyone exits OR the Impending Doom track runs out, the game is over.
• Each player counts how much gold she has, with Baldrick's Gem being worth 5 gold.
• The player with the most gold is top explorer and wins the game! If there is a tie, players share in their victory.

Variants

Solo Play

To explore Baldrick's Tomb solo, make the following changes to the rules:

• Only use nine rubble tokens when setting up each floor.
• Take 5 moves each turn instead of four.
• Each floor ends after round 6.

Go for as much gold as you can!

Game Length

Want more dungeon crawling in a single game? Perhaps not quite as much? Make the following changes to setup:

• Three floors (SHORTER): Set up the game as normal. After floor two is complete, players now have to get back out instead. Move the depth indicator back to floor one and play one final floor as normal.
• Five floors (LONGER): Place Baldrick's Gem on floor three of the depth indicator instead. When players reach floor three, mix in Baldrick's Gem as normal. Once the third floor is finished, players now have to get back out instead. Move the depth indicator upward toward the entrance for the rest of the game.
• Seven floors (LONGEST): Five floors: Place Baldrick's Gem on floor four of the depth indicator instead. When players reach floor four, mix in Baldrick's Gem as normal. Once the fourth floor is finished, players now have to get back out. Move the depth indicator upward toward the entrance for the rest of the game.

Round Length

Want to feel the pressure while exploring Baldrick's Tomb? Have the floor collapse at the end of round 4 or 3. Better hurry; that floor looks really unstable...

Alternately, to make exploring easier, have the floor collapse at the end of round 6.

Custom Characters

At setup, deal each player five skill cards. Each player then chooses three and returns the other two back to the box.

Persistent Poison

For a tougher challenge, don't reset poison markers to 0 at the end of a floor.

Persistent HP

For a tougher challenge, don't reset HP markers to maximum at the end of a floor.