Dragon Keeper: The Dungeon
Dragon Keeper: The Dungeon Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Equipment
- 3 boards representing the 3 levels of the dungeon: the inner board, the bottom of the box, and the lid of the box.
- 75 "adventurer" tiles: 15 red rooms including 2 staircases, 15 yellow rooms, 15 green rooms, 15 blue rooms, 15 purple rooms with different values and sometimes a special action.
These tiles represent the adventurers who come to plunder the dragon's gold. You are in charge of eliminating them from the dungeon.
- 4 "Original guild" tiles.
These guilds indicate the "adventurer" tiles that the players will try not to collect during the game. A room color (and tiling) corresponds to each guild. Although you are now on the side of the dragon, you prefer not to capture adventurers from your own guild.
- 1 "dragon" figurine.
- 8 Column cylinders to place the boards on top of each other.
- 24 "Treasure" tokens.
Object of the Game
The players collect "adventurer" tiles that will allow them to win or lose points, according to their original guilds. At the end of the 3rd level, the players must give a tribute to the dragon, and the one with the most points after this tribute will earn the dragon's esteem.
Set Up
Put the board of the bottom level of the "Dungeon" (the lid of the box) in the middle of the table. Then, place randomly 25 "Adventurer" tiles on this board on the spaces provided (square of 5x5 tiles).
Add the second level board (the bottom of the box) on top of it (*). Place a "Staircase" tile in the center and 24 randomly chosen "Adventurer" tiles on the remaining spaces of the board.
Finally, place the upper level board on top of the others (*). Arrange a "Staircase" tile in the center and place the 24 last "Adventurer" tiles on the remaining spaces of the board.
Put the dragon on the "Staircase" tile of the upper level.
Deal an "Original guild" tile to each player. They look at it secretly and lay it face down in front of them.
Each player gets 4 Treasures. The remaining "Treasure" tokens make up the stock.
Choose the first player.
(*) To put a board on top of another, you must previously place 4 cylinders in the corners of the board below.
Game Turn
The players take turns clockwise. During his turn, a player will be called the "active player".
The active player moves the "Dragon" figurine in the direction indicated as "1" on the board, and places it on one of the available "Adventurer" tiles of the row. He gets this tile and keeps it face up in front of him. If he already has an "Adventurer" tile of the same guild, he covers it with this new tile, so as to form one stack per guild (tile color).
Then, the same player moves the "Dragon" figurine in the direction indicated as "2" on the board, and places it on one of the available "Adventurer" tiles of the row. He gives this tile to the player to his right, who keeps it face up in front of him. If he already has an "Adventurer" tile of the same guild, he covers it with this new tile.
If the value of the "Adventurer" tile given is strictly higher than 2 (i.e. 3, 4, 5, or 6), the active player wins a "Treasure" token from the stock.
The players can discreetly look at the "Adventurer" tiles of their stacks anytime, but they cannot change the order of the tiles.
As soon as a player cannot take or give a tile because none is left on the row where he should take it, the level is over. If it is the 3rd and last board, the game ends.
Then, the turn passes to the following player.
Switching to the Level Below
When a level is over, the players count the "Adventurer" tiles remaining on the board. Based on the number of tiles, the players must put back "Treasure" tokens in the stock as follows:
- 0 if no adventurer is left,
- 1 if there are 5 or less adventurers left,
- 2 if there are 8 or less adventurers left,
- 3 if there are more than 8 adventurers (9 and more) left.
The player who take the last tile of the level must discard one additional "Treasure" token to the stock.
If a player has to pay more "Treasure" tokens than he owns, he is eliminated and he will not take part to the final calculation.
The "Dragon" figurine is placed on the tile in the middle of the following level and the board of the completed level is set aside.
The first player of the new level is the player who got the "Staircase" tile of the previous level. If the "Staircase" tile was not collected, the player who take the last tile of the previous level plays first.
Tiles with a Special Action
Some tiles let the players perform an action. This action is always optional. Therefore, an "Action" tile can be collected only to get the indicated points, and the player may ignore its action.
However, the "Staircase" tiles have an automatic bonus effect. It indicates who will be the first player for the following level.
Secret Passage (value 1): If the active player takes a "Secret Passage" tile for himself — after the first move of the dragon, he can activate it right after he gave an "Adventurer" tile as usual to the player to his right, after the second move of the dragon.
To activate it, he discards his secret passage, and moves the Dragon again in direction 1 so as to capture another adventurer that he adds to the appropriate stack.
If the tile chosen by the player has a special action, the player can perform the action except if it is a secret passage again.
Example:
- The active player takes the "Secret Passage" tile.
- The active player gives the tile to the previous player.
- The active player discards the secret passage and takes a new "Adventurer" tile. He can perform its action.
Prisoner Exchange (value 3): If the active player takes a "Prisoner Exchange" tile, he can exchange it for an "Adventurer" tile from the top of one of his opponents' stack. This action is not performed if the tile was given by the active player.
The exchanged "Adventurer" tiles are placed on the stacks corresponding to their guilds. If the exchanged tile is an Action tile, the action is not performed.
Remote Trap (value 4): If the active player takes a "Remote Trap" tile, he can discard it and take any other "Adventurer" tile still available on the board. This action is not performed if the tile was given by the active player.
If the chosen tile is an action tile, the action is not executed.
Release (value 2): At the end of the game, after the tribute was given to the dragon, and before counting the points, the player can discard one of his original guild tiles per "Release" tile he rejects. A "Release" tile which was given to the dragon cannot be used.
End of Game and Scoring
At the end of the 3rd level, the game ends.
First, the tribute must be paid to the dragon.
- Each player discards all the tiles from his highest stack. If this stack is his original guild, he must discard a second stack (the second highest). The player releases the adventurers from his original guild (1st highest stack), and then pays the tribute (2nd highest stack). If several stacks are equally high, the player chooses which one(s) he wants to discard.
- Each player can then use the power of his "Release" tiles if he still has some after the tribute to the dragon.
- He then counts the value of each of his remaining tiles: the tiles in his "original guild" colors are negative points and the other "Adventurer" tiles are positive points.
Example 1
- The highest stacks are the purple and green ones; the player chooses to discard the purple stack.
- The blue tiles are negative points but the player has a "Release" tile, which allows him to also discard his tile with a value of 4, and only keep his tile with a value of 1.
- The blue player's final score is: Σ (red + green + yellow) − Σ (blue).
Score: 9 + 11 + 7 − 1 = 26
Example 2
- The highest stack is the purple, he discards it.
- Since it corresponds to the color of his original guild, he must give his second highest stack to the dragon as a tribute; he chooses the green one.
- Thus, the final score is Σ (red + blue + yellow).
The player who has kept the most treasures gets a 2-point bonus.
The player with the most points wins the game. In case of a draw, there are several winners.