Dark World: Dragon's Gate Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Assembly
• Heroes
• Monsters
• For 2-5 Players
• Object of the Game
• To Start
• The Playing Tokens
• Rules
  • Turn Order
  • A Hero's Turn
  • Movement
  • Moving Across the Chasm
  • Combat
  • Fighting
  • Combat Dice
  • Bout of Combat Sequence
  • Golgoroth's Attack
  • Gold Coins
  • Golgoroth's Turn
  • Golgoroth, the Dragon King
  • Golgoroth Awoken
• Contents

Game Assembly

Figures are supplied unpainted.

Monster assembly

• Hit point discs: 4 red (Trolls) and 4 green (Zombies). The figure is push fitted into its base, and the hit point disc is fitted into the base.

Hero assembly

• Weapons push fit into the hands of the Hero figure.
• Make sure the top of the base turns freely.
• Hit points ring: locate it to prevent the top turning. Heroes may have any colour ring.

Dragon's Gate assembly (parts as printed)

• Arch
• Card platform
• Dragon's Gate platform
• Rope bridge
• Skull of No Return
• Wall clips
• Monolith
• Cliff top

Heroes

Hero descriptions as printed:

• Trapper: An expert hunter and master of camouflage, he is dedicated to the destruction of chaos.
• Buccaneer: Daring and nimble, he is a quick witted fighter, and has travelled far to join the battle against Korak.
• Samurai: Highly skilled, fighting with lightning speed and without anger, he shows no fear in his struggle against evil.
• Gladiator: Made a freeman, after countless victories in the arena, the Gladiator now fights to keep all men free of tyranny.

Monsters

Monster descriptions as printed:

• Zombies: Vile reanimations of the dead. These are the rotten corpses given life by powerful magic.
• Trolls: There is nothing as base, vile, witless, or cruel as a Troll. In combat they combine their immense strength with animal cunning.
• Golgoroth: The Dragon King is a dreaded killer. The yellow serrated fangs and razor sharp talons rip and tear at his luckless foes, while deadly, fiery breath roars from his jaws.

Dragon assembly: Assemble wings, head and arms into Dragon. Note: Wings and Arms must be removed to replace Dragon in box. The head and arms are poseable.

Basic weapons: Obsidian Sword, Military Flail, Cutlass, Kontos.

Golden weapons: Naginata, Shield & Sword, Lance, Trident.

For 2-5 Players

• One player plays Golgoroth, the Dragon King.
• The other players play the Heroes. A player may play 1, 2, 3 or 4 Heroes. (This depends on the number of players in a game.)

Object of the Game

• The Heroes fight their way through to the Dragon's Gate to defeat Golgoroth. At the same time, they try to gain the most points by killing Monsters and collecting Gold Coins.
• Golgoroth wins by using his Monsters to defeat the Heroes.

To Start

1. Each player takes a Hero, and a Basic Weapon.
2. The Heroes start at the entrance to the Chasm, next to the Monolith. Their bases should show 8 Hit Points.
3. Golgoroth starts on the Dragon's Gate platform. The four Trolls are placed inside the Troll Cave and the four Zombies placed to one side of the game board.
4. The four Golden Weapons, along with the eight Healing Potions and four Speed Boots, are placed inside the Troll Cave. The Gold Coins are placed alongside the game board, within easy reach.

The Playing Tokens

5. Golgoroth takes the six Attack tokens, the ten Troll Bag tokens, the four Regeneration tokens and the four Eye tokens and places them, each in their own pile, in front of him.
6. Golgoroth takes the four Scale tokens and places them to one side of the gameboard.

Tokens (as printed): Attack x6; Scale x4; Eye x4; Troll Bag x10; Regeneration x4.

Rules

Turn Order

The Dragon Scales. Hero characters go first. The order in which they take their turn is determined by the Dragon Scales. Golgoroth shuffles the four Scale tokens and then turns them over one at a time. As each token is revealed, the corresponding Hero player should take his turn.

• The Scale tokens are re-shuffled after each round.
• A round is a turn for each Hero, followed by a turn for Golgoroth.

A Hero's Turn

For each Hero, a turn consists of 3 ACTIONS.

An ACTION is: a move of 1 space, or 1 bout of combat (in any order). Therefore: a Hero may move a maximum of:

• (a) 3 spaces in 1 turn, or

• (b) move 2 spaces and play 1 bout of combat, or

• (c) move 1 space and play 2 bouts of combat, or

• (d) no moves and play 3 bouts of combat.

• 1 move is to any adjacent space.

Movement

1. A Hero may walk through spaces containing other Heroes, but may not stop on the same space (with the exception of the Starting space and the Cliff Top space).
2. A Hero may never move through a space containing a Monster. He must either take another route, or stop and fight.
3. Monsters may walk through spaces containing other Monsters, but may not stop on the same space.
4. Monsters may never move onto, or through, the Start space or the Cliff Top space.
5. A Monster may never walk through a space containing a Hero. He must either take another route, or stop and fight.

Moving Across the Chasm

There are three Bridges at which the Chasm may be crossed. Both Heroes and Monsters may finish their turn on the Bridge spaces. Each Bridge counts as 1 space.

Diagram labels: Stone Needle, Bridge, Tree.

Combat

Fighting

• Opponents must be on adjacent spaces.
• A Hero or Monster may attack more than 1 opponent in a turn. He must have enough Actions to do so. He attacks them 1 at a time.
• A bout of combat is an attempted blow (a roll of the dice) by 1 player, followed by a return blow from his opponent (assuming the opponent survived the first player's attack).

Combat Dice

• Each Hero rolls 2 dice for combat, until they find a Golden Weapon, and then they roll 3 dice for the rest of the game.
• Golgoroth rolls only 2 dice for his Monsters.

Combat die faces (as printed): 2 Hit Points; 1 Hit Point; 0 Hit Points.

Bout of Combat Sequence

A Hero's attack:

1. Hero rolls 2 dice (3 if he has a Golden Weapon).
2. Secretly checks base of Monster to see Hit strength.
3. If dice roll is the same or greater, Monster is dead. Hero takes the Monster's Magic Item, and a Gold Coin and the combat ends.
4. If you don't need the Magic Item, leave it on the dead Monster's space, but ...
5. If the dice roll is less, the Monster survives intact, and may now attack the Hero!

All Monsters are killed outright. They do not reduce in strength as do Heroes. Dead Zombies are returned to Golgoroth, dead Trolls are kept by the Hero.

Golgoroth's Attack

1. Golgoroth rolls 2 dice for a Monster that survives an attack.
2. Hero records Hits on his base. If he is knocked unconscious (0 or less Hit Points left) he goes to the Chasm entrance. If not unconscious...
3. Hero continues with a second bout of combat, or moves away (if he has any Action points left).

Gold Coins

Gold Coins are drawn randomly (without looking at their value) from Golgoroth's pile. All coins have a value on one side. Heroes should keep their Gold Coins in front of them.

Golgoroth's Turn

After all the Heroes have had a turn, then Golgoroth has his turn. In his turn Golgoroth...

1. Checks to see if the Dragon King has awoken. (See pg. 12)
2. May take 3 Actions (any combination of moves and combat) with each of his visible Monsters. A visible Monster is any Monster that is on the game. Combat follows the same sequence as before, except Golgoroth attacks with the Monster first.
3. He checks to see if any of his dead Trolls regenerate. (See pg. 14)

Golgoroth, the Dragon King

At the start of his turn Golgoroth must check to see if the Dragon King awakes. He takes the four Dragon Eye tokens and shuffles them. Then he checks the game board; for each Hero who is standing on a Dragon Stone, he draws one token.

• If one of the tokens shows an open eye, then Golgoroth has awoken; if not, he sleeps on.

Token faces as printed: Eye token backs; Golgoroth sleeps on; Golgoroth awakes!

Golgoroth Awoken

If Golgoroth is awake, he may attack any 1 Hero on the board; unless they are on the Chasm entrance space. He rolls 2 dice, breathing fire on the hapless Hero. The Hero must lose the number of Hit points rolled. If this takes the Hero to 0 or less, he is unconscious and must return to the Chasm entrance.

Once this is done, Golgoroth returns to sleep.

Zombies

At the beginning of any of his turns, Golgoroth may choose to summon one or more Zombies. When a Zombie is summoned it may be placed on any vacant Dragon Stone on the board. The Zombie may still then use its 3 Action points for that turn. When a Zombie is placed onto the board, it must be given a Magic Item from the Troll Cave. If there are no Magic Items left, then no more Zombies may be brought into play.

Note printed beside the Zombie figure: ALL ZOMBIES MUST BE GIVEN A MAGIC ITEM WHEN BROUGHT INTO PLAY.

Trolls

• The four Trolls begin the game in the Troll Cave.
• Trolls are never given Magic Items.
• Trolls may not remain in the Troll Cave but must move out onto the gameboard.
• When a Troll is killed, the Hero player may randomly pick one of the Troll Bag tokens:-

Troll Bag Tokens

Troll Bag tokens are kept by the Heroes and count toward their score at the end of the game.

• When a Hero defeats a Troll, he keeps the Troll and takes a Troll Bag token. If it shows a Golden Weapon, he may take the appropriate weapon and exchange it for his Hero's existing Basic Weapon. Keep the token.
• If it shows a Gold Coin, he may take an additional Gold Coin at random. Keep the token.
• If a Hero draws a Gold Weapon token, but already has one, then he should take another token and then replace the Gold Weapon token first chosen.
• If it shows an empty bag the Hero takes nothing but keeps the token.

Token faces as printed: Troll Bag (token backs); Empty bag; Gold Coin (take one); Golden Weapon (take Naginata).

Regenerating Trolls

At the end of his turn, Golgoroth takes the four Regeneration tokens and shuffles them. He then turns over 1 token for each Troll that is dead. If he turns over the token showing a live Troll, he may reclaim a Troll from any player and return him to the Troll Cave.

• This Troll has regenerated and may move and fight as normal next turn.
• Golgoroth may NOT attempt to regenerate his Trolls if all the Troll Bag tokens have been claimed by the Heroes.

Card faces as printed: Backs of all cards; Front of some cards; 1 Troll regenerates card.

The Troll Cave

• Trolls may not remain in the Troll Cave. They must move out onto the game board.
• If a Hero moves into the Troll Cave, he may look at all the remaining Troll Bag tokens and choose one. His turn is now over and the Hero is teleported back to the Chasm entrance space.
• A Hero may not move into the Troll Cave if a Troll is present, but may fight him if the Hero is standing on a space adjacent to the cave.

Unconscious Hero

On his next turn, an unconscious Hero is automatically restored to just 1 Hit Point. He may now take a normal turn with the usual options. Alternatively, he may visit the Monolith. His turn now ends.

The Monolith

• Using it costs 3 Action points (one whole turn).
• The Monolith restores all of a Hero's Hit Points (8).
• More than 1 Hero may use the Monolith at the same time.

Magic Items

Healing Potions and Speed Boots

• Heroes may own up to 2 Magic Items at a time.
• Using a Magic Item does not count as an action - it is in addition to the 3 actions allowed.
• All Magic Items may only be used once. They are then discarded and play no further part in the game. They are not returned to the Troll Cave.
• It may be used at any time in a Hero's turn, but never during Golgoroth's turn.
• Any Magic Item left on a space may be picked up by any Hero moving onto that space, provided the space is unoccupied.

Healing Potion: When drunk, it restores a Hero's Hit Points to full strength. A Potion may not be drunk if you are already at full strength (8 points).

Speed Boots: When used, the Hero takes one extra turn of 3 actions. These are added to any part of the current turn you might still have left.

The Cliff Top, Rope Bridge and Dragon's Gate

Cliff Top

• The 2 steps leading to the Cliff Top count as normal spaces. However, once a Hero has passed the Skull of No Return and moved onto the Cliff Top, there is no going back.
• Monsters may not move onto the Cliff Top, nor may they attack Heroes standing on it.
• A Hero may not fight a Monster whilst on the Cliff Top.
• More than 1 Hero may stand on the Cliff Top.

The Rope Bridge

• The Rope Bridge counts as a single space.

Diagram labels: Skull of No Return; Heroes fight Golgoroth here; Rope Bridge; Cliff Top.

The Dragon's Gate

• There is only enough space on the Dragon's Gate for 1 Hero.
• A Hero may move onto the Dragon's Gate during his turn. It costs 1 Action point to move across the Rope Bridge and 1 Action point to land on the Dragon's Gate. The Hero may now spend his last Action point to attack Golgoroth. However, at the end of his turn, he MUST move back onto the Cliff Top. This does not cost an Action point.

Fighting Golgoroth

A Hero who in his turn moves onto the Dragon's Gate may use his third Action point to attack Golgoroth as follows:

• The Hero rolls 2 Combat dice (3 if he has a Golden Weapon).
• The Hero must roll over 2 to injure Golgoroth. Each point over 2 he rolls allows him to take one of Golgoroth's Attack tokens. Therefore, if a Hero rolled 5 he would be able to take 3 of Golgoroth's Attack tokens.
• Golgoroth's Attack tokens are taken at random. A Hero may not choose which token to take. These are then kept by the Hero, as they count towards his points total at the end of the game.
• When all of Golgoroth's Attack tokens have been taken, the mighty Dragon King is slain and the Heroes win. If Golgoroth still has 1 or more tokens left, he may now attack the Hero.

Golgoroth's Attack Tokens

When Golgoroth attacks, the Dragon Attack tokens are shuffled and the top one turned over. There are two types of token:-

• Tooth and Claw attacks. Golgoroth rolls the number of Combat dice indicated and the Hero on the Dragon's Gate must lose the number of Hit Points rolled.
• Fire attacks. Golgoroth rolls 3 Combat dice and attacks the Hero on the Dragon's Gate, who loses the total number of Hit Points rolled. Each Hero on the Cliff Top then loses the number of Hit Points on the highest of the 3 dice rolled.
• If a Hero is knocked unconscious whilst on the Cliff Top or Dragon's Gate, then that Hero is out of the game.

Token faces as printed: Tooth & Claw; Fire attack.

Winning

1. If all 4 Heroes are eliminated by Golgoroth, then Golgoroth, the Dragon King wins.
2. If Golgoroth is slain, the game ends immediately.
3. The Heroes count up their scores as follows:
   • Each Troll held by a Hero is worth the number of Hit Points under its base.
   • Each Troll Bag token held is worth 1 point.
   • Each Gold Coin is worth the number on it.
   • Each Dragon Attack token held is worth the number on it.
   • The Hero who finally slew Golgoroth the Dragon King scores an extra 5 points.
   • The Hero with the most points is the winner.

Note: Unused Magic Items do not have a point value.

Contents

13 finely detailed miniature figures

• 4 Heroes: Gladiator, Buccaneer, Trapper and Samurai
• 8 Monsters: 4 Zombies, 4 Trolls
• Golgoroth The Dragon King
• 8 Weapons: 4 Basic Weapons: Military Flail, Cutlass, Kontos and Obsidian Sword; 4 Golden Weapons: Dragon Shield and Sword, Lance, Trident and Naginata
• 1 Dragon's Gate Arch
• 1 Dragon's Gate platform
• 1 Rope Bridge
• 8 Monster Hit Point Discs (card): 2x(2) Red, 2x(3) Red, 2x(1) Green, 2x(2) Green
• 1 Adventurer's Rule Book

Other components

• 3 Combat Dice
• 1 Cliff top; 1 Skull of No Return
• 3 Wall clips
• 4 Heroes bases; 8 Monster Bases
• 4 Speed Boots; 8 Healing Potions
• 10 Troll Bag tokens; 4 Troll Regeneration tokens
• 6 Dragon Attack tokens; 4 Dragon Eye tokens; 4 Scale tokens
• 29 Gold Coins: 6x(1), 6x(2), 6x(3), 6x(4), 5x(5)
• Monolith (card)
• Gameboard
• Cliff Top Wall (card); Dragon's Gate Walls (card - 2 pieces)
• 4 Hero Hit Point Rings

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