Dragonfire: Adventures – Sword Mountains Crypt

Dragonfire: Adventures – Sword Mountains Crypt Rulebook

Table of Contents

Alternate Card Art

Additional cards with alternate art will be included in various releases. For example, the Glory in Sword Mountains. Except for the alternate art, these cards are identical to the versions from the base game.

Adventure Environment and Adventure Setting Cards

This Adventure Pack includes several variations on existing card types.

The Demilich Lair is an Adventure Environment card and uses all the rules for that type of card. However, it also includes text for several Lair Effects that apply to this Adventure. As it includes the X icon, it cannot be used in any future Adventure unless the Adventure in question specifically calls for it.

Passageway, Stairway, Weapons Room, Apothecary Room, Arcane Library Room and Shrine Room are Adventure Setting cards; they do not have any rules text or icons beyond the number of players allowed in the room (i.e., no Attack Strength, Damage Track, and so on). The rules of the Adventure cover how these new Adventure Setting cards are used. As with the Demilich Lair, these include the X icon, which limits their future use, as normal.

Ally Encounter

An Ally is an encounter card with the Encounter Type "Ally"; the Ally in this Adventure is Gray Render. Allies follow all the standard rules for encounters: they are placed facing a player; a Scene cannot end unless they've been defeated; and so on. While an Ally is in play, the Ally ability can be used, as directed by the card.

Running Out of the Market

If the Market Deck is reshuffled because all cards were purchased or discarded, for the rest of the game, use the Primary Encounter Deck for any rules requiring players to "discard" or "reveal" a card from the Market Deck to determine an effect.

Market Cards

The following rules govern the new Market cards:

Players can add Headbutt to any Adventure using the Building the Market rules (see p. 28, Dragonfire Rulebook), provided a Barbarian is included in that game (as indicated on the card).

Unless specifically stated otherwise, colorless cards do not count as any color for Skill Checks.

Training Regimen

Training Regimen Features introduce a new style of play for Martial characters. The rules from the Training Regimen Features are included here, allowing players to review the rules at a glance.

Basic Regimen is not a primary Subclass Feature (see Features, p. 24, Dragonfire Rulebook).

Training Tokens may be traded in at any time for crossed-weapons icons during a round.

Barbarian Class characters trade in Training Tokens as though they were gold, but only toward Market cards with Requires Barbarian Class or Must Include Barbarian Class in the text.

All Training Tokens are discarded at the end of every Scene and at the end of the game.

The three Training Regimen Features are:

Basic Regimen (Requires Martial Class; 20 XP). Continuous: Start the game with one Training Token. At any time, trade one Training Token for crossed-weapons icons, Barbarian Class: Each token is 1 gold toward purchase of any Requires or Must Include Barbarian Class cards.
Daily Regimen (Requires Martial Class & Basic Regimen; 30 XP). Continuous: After every Short Rest, gain one Training Token. (Does not require a Feature slot.)
Advanced Regimen (Requires Martial Class & Daily Regimen; 30 XP). Continuous: After every Short Rest, instead gain two Training Tokens. (Does not require a Feature slot.)

Party Marker

Sword Mountains include a punch-out Party marker—similar to the Class Type markers from the base game—that tracks party movement throughout the Adventure.

Dragonfire Cards

When playing the Sword Mountains Crypt Adventure, after shuffling the Dragonfire Deck, take the top twelve cards of the deck, shuffle in the five new Dragonfire cards, and then place them back on top of the Dragonfire Deck.

When playing other Adventures, players can include any of the non-X Dragonfire cards in the full Dragonfire Deck.

Milestones

Not all Adventures will be a part of the An Ancient Evil Arises campaign from the base game. Nevertheless, all Adventures you play are intrinsically linked by the passage of time. Experience Points do not arise in a vacuum. Instead they represent hard-earned knowledge as your fortunes wax and wane and the seasons change.

To help this immersion there are Milestone Dragonfire cards, which include the ampersand icon (&). For this pack, that card is Echoes of Unbinding. Once a character has completed the Sword Mountains Crypt Adventure, that player must always include this Dragonfire card in the Dragonfire Deck for any Adventure they play, even if other players in the party have not yet completed that Adventure.

Magic Item Cards

Shuffle the nine new Magic Item cards into their respective rarity decks, to be awarded per the standard rules (see p. 26, Dragonfire Rulebook).

Don't Read the Fiction!

The fiction in Sword Mountains Crypt assumes players have completed the An Ancient Evil Arises campaign from the base game, all the previous Adventure Packs, and the Moonshae Storms Campaign Box, so it contains spoilers for those Adventures. You are free to play the Sword Mountains Adventure once you've reached Party Level 4, even if you've not completed the campaign or the other Adventures, but if you want to avoid spoilers, wait to read the Sword Mountains Crypt fiction until after you've completed the An Ancient Evil Arises campaign and other Adventures.

Modifying Adventure Levels: If your Party Level is different than this Adventure Level, you can adjust them using the following rules:

Party Level Is Below Adventure Level: For every Party Level below the recommended Adventure Level, apply a −1 Dragonfire level. (Max −3 Dragonfire levels.)

Party Level Is Above Adventure Level: For every Party Level above the recommended Adventure Level, apply a +1 Dragonfire level. (Max +3 Dragonfire levels.)

Sword Mountains Crypt: Prologue

The prologue fiction is omitted. The boxed rule printed with it is reproduced below.

The player in the party with the highest Campaign Score, of 3 or more, may draw one card at any time during Scene Four. (If there is a tie, the party must determine who will receive this benefit.)

START ADVENTURE

Adventure: Sword Mountains Crypt

The following is the printed text of the "Sword Mountains Crypt" Adventure booklet (Adventure Level 4), transcribed from the scans. The flavour text under the Adventure title is omitted.

The party faces off against encounters in four Scenes. The first three Scenes end when you have defeated all encounters facing characters and move to the next deeper level of the dungeon. The final Scene ends when the players have defeated all encounters. This completes the Adventure!

Adventure Setup

Combine Dungeon 1 from the base game and Dungeon 1 from Sword Mountains Crypt to form the Primary Encounter Deck, and combine Dungeon 2 from the base game and Dungeon 2 from Sword Mountains Crypt to form the Secondary Encounter Deck. Then, use the Dungeon 3 encounters from Sword Mountains Crypt as a third Encounter Deck; place it next to the other two decks.

The Dungeon (Scenes 1–3)

Place two Adventure Environment cards together (the one from the base game, and the extra from Sword Mountains Crypt), short ends touching, representing a Dungeon Corridor.

Place all Rod of Unbinding Market cards into a deck next to the Market deck. These are not in the Market and can only be acquired through Investigation Checks (see below).

Dungeon Corridor Setup: Take the Staircase card and place it face up at one short end of the Dungeon Corridor. Then, take the following cards from Sword Mountains Crypt and shuffle them together: Passageway, Weapons Room, Apothecary Room, Arcane Library Room, and Shrine Room. Then place the five cards face down, two touching each long side and the last touching the other short side. The four face-down cards represent rooms in the dungeon, while Passageway and Staircase (the fifth face-down card) each represent the path to the next level of the Dungeon (Adventure Setting cards are referred to as "Dungeon Rooms" in the rules below).

Place the Party marker on the Staircase card.

This setup, of five randomly placed Dungeon Rooms, along with a face-up Passageway or Staircase (and the other face-down), will be repeated at the start of Scene Two and Scene Three, with the Staircase and Passageway serving as alternating exit points for each Scene. This represents players moving down into a deeper level of the dungeon, and the face-down cards represent all-new rooms to explore in each Scene.

Demilich Lair (Scene 4)

After completing Scene Three, players will replace the previous Adventure Environment cards and all Dungeon Rooms with the Demilich Lair Adventure Environment—place the Party marker there—with the Demilich encounter card next to it.

Encounters

At the start of each Scene, reveal encounters as indicated in the chart below. First reveal encounters from the Secondary Deck equal to the Dragonfire level. Then, if you still need to draw more encounters, reveal remaining encounters from the Primary Deck. Place the first revealed encounter facing the character whose Class Type color matches the encounter's color, and distribute the rest to the left from that character.

Locations: Any Locations revealed at the start of a Scene or due to a Summon from an encounter or Dragonfire card are buried, and the next encounter is revealed. (A Location may only be revealed from an Encounter Deck and is then put into play if it occurs during Entering a Dungeon Room, see below.)

Scene	Reveal encounters equal to
1	Number of characters
2	Number of characters + 1
3	Number of characters + 2
4	Number of characters times 3

Shadowfell Encounters

For this Adventure, all Shadowfell Encounters include the following keywords on their cards:

Reduction Immunity: This encounter is immune to any reduction to colorless levels on the damage track.
Attrition Damage: Players may deal two colorless or two damage of any color to defeat any one colored damage icon.

Adventure Setting Cards: Dungeon Rooms

Scenes 1–3: Entering a Dungeon Room

Movement between Dungeon Rooms is always done together as a party. At the start of every turn, the active player may choose for the party to enter any unrevealed room. The party moves straight from either the Staircase/Passageway card to a Dungeon Room and vice versa, and also from one Dungeon Room to another; they do not move to the Dungeon Corridor and then into a Dungeon Room. Encounters always move with the player they are facing.

Investigation Checks

Investigation Checks allow players to acquire Rod of Unbinding cards which are vital to the success of this Adventure. The Investigation Checks are only made when revealing a Dungeon Room.

When entering a Dungeon Room, the active player immediately reveals the Dungeon Room card. This card will stay face up for the remainder of the Scene, to mark that the room has been investigated.

All players then make two Skill Checks (Investigation Check); add up the party's total successes and apply the result to the Investigation Check Successes table below.

Once a Dungeon Room has been investigated, it cannot be investigated again during that Scene.

Investigation Check Successes

2 Players	3 Players	4 Players	5 Players	6 Players
0–2 = B	0–4 = B	0 = A	0–1 = A	0–3 = A
3 = C	5 = C	1–5 = B	2–6 = B	4–8 = B
4 = D	6 = D	6–7 = C	7–9 = C	9–11 = C
		8 = D	10 = D	12 = D

Results

Result	Effect
A	Summon any from the third Encounter Deck.
B	Summon any from the Secondary Encounter Deck.
C	Summon any from the Secondary Encounter Deck, and place a Rod of Unbinding into play.
D	Summon any from Primary Encounter Deck, and place a Rod of Unbinding into play.

Placing of Encounters and Rods: Any encounters Summoned by entering a Dungeon Room are placed facing the character whose primary Class Type color matches the revealed Dungeon Room card. For gray Dungeon Rooms, the encounter faces the active player. Rods are also placed with that player.

Locations Revealed by Investigation Checks

If an Investigation Check reveals a Location, the character whose primary Class Type color matches the revealed Dungeon Room (or the active player, if a gray Dungeon Room) has fallen into a Location hidden within the Dungeon Room.

Players on the Dungeon Room card interact with this new Location using all standard Location rules, with the following modifications:

Players may move as individuals between their current Dungeon Room and the Location (treat the Dungeon Room as though it is the Adventure Environment card). The Party marker cannot move into the Location.
Unrevealed Dungeon Rooms cannot be investigated, nor can the Party marker leave the current Dungeon Room, until the Location is defeated.

Rod of Unbinding (Scenes 1–3)

At any time during their turn, the active player may use one Rod of Unbinding in their play area. If the player chooses to use a Rod of Unbinding during Scenes 1–3, the card is discarded back to the deck of Rod of Unbinding cards.

Ending Scenes 1–3

Scene One: The first Scene ends when all of the following conditions have been met:

The Passageway has been revealed.
All encounters facing characters—including any Locations within the Dungeon Rooms—are defeated (or discarded).
At the end of a player's turn, the party agrees to move the Party marker to the Passageway (if it's not already there) and agrees to end the Scene.

Even if the first two conditions are met, the party may decide to continue investigating unrevealed Dungeon Rooms and/or continue taking further turns to draw additional cards. Of course, lingering too long means the rising Dragonfire level will punish the party for delaying.

Scenes Two and Three: Scene Two begins with the party on the Passageway; ending Scene Two requires revealing the Staircase and using it to exit the second level of the Dungeon, while Scene Three uses the Passageway as the exit point from the third level of the dungeon.

Short Rest: The standard rules apply for the Short Rest after each Scene.

Scene Four

In Scene Four, the players face the might of the Demilich and its dreaded guardians!

Dragonfire Deck: Move the Dragonfire deck to the right of the player that will start Scene Four; that player is now the party leader.

Reveal Encounters: Encounters are revealed, per usual, before the first Demilich Dragonfire phase occurs.

Demilich Dragonfire Phase: Every single round, use the following Demilich Dragonfire phase:

Gather all of the players' Rod of Unbinding cards next to the Demilich Lair Adventure Environment card.
The party places Rod of Unbinding cards to negate Lair Effects; for every three cards placed, the players may cover and negate one Lair Effect. For example, if the party has six cards, they can negate two Lair Effects. Rod of Unbinding cards that are not used to negate a Lair Effect are set next to the Demilich Lair: Negating Lair Effects does not cause Rod of Unbinding cards to be discarded.
Activate any Lair Effects that the players have not negated; players choose the order of activation.
Demilich Attack Phase:
- The Demilich does not attack during the first Demilich Dragonfire Phase.
- On subsequent turns, discard the top card of the Market deck. If the Lair Effect whose color matches the discarded Market card has been negated, the Demilich skips its attack this round. If it does not, then it attacks the player(s) whose Class Type color matches that discarded card.
No Dragonfire cards are revealed during Scene Four! The Dragonfire level will remain unchanged throughout Scene Four.

Rod of Unbinding: The following applies to Rods of Unbinding in Scene Four:

These cards are no longer considered to be in any player's play area.

Every Demilich Dragonfire Phase, players may change which Lair Effects to negate, provided they have at least three Rod of Unbinding cards per effect they wish to negate.

As with Scenes 1–3, the active player may use one Rod of Unbinding ability during their turn; this card may be one of the cards currently covering a Lair Effect. Any spent Rod of Unbinding card is discarded from the game. (There is no way to reacquire spent Rod of Unbinding cards during Scene Four.)

If a player's use of Rod of Unbinding reduces the number of cards covering a Lair Effect to fewer than three, that covered effect immediately applies. For example, in the case of Summoning from the third Encounter Deck, that occurs immediately.

Demilich: The following applies to the Demilich:

Surrounded: Though the Demilich may attack only a single player each round, any player may attack the Demilich on their turn as though it were facing them, regardless of other encounters that are facing the player.
Saves: All Saves for the Demilich are made using the Primary Encounter Deck.

Ending Scene Four

To end Scene Four and complete the Adventure, players must defeat the Demilich and all encounters facing the party, which allows them to destroy the phylactery that lets the Demilich revive.

Guardians Remain (Phylactery Not Destroyed): If the Demilich is defeated but the players still have any other encounter(s) facing them, which represent the various creatures that serve as the Demilich's guardians, then pay out the Demilich's gold as normal, but do not discard the Demilich. Instead, flip the Demilich and the Demilich Lair over.

While the Demilich and Demilich Lair are face down, the following additional rules immediately apply:

Lair Effects are immediately inactive, meaning the effects can stop mid-turn, allowing a player to potentially take actions they could not take before. (Remember the phase you are in so you do not accidentally backtrack to previous phase actions.)
Rod of Unbinding cards cannot be used for any effect.

Following the Demilich's defeat, during the next Demilich Dragonfire phase no Lair Effects are applied nor does the Demilich attack any player. The players have until the start of the second Demilich Dragonfire phase to defeat any remaining encounters facing players before the Demilich and the Demilich Lair return to play.

If there are still encounters facing any players at the start of the second Demilich Dragonfire phase, turn the Demilich Lair face up and perform the Demilich Dragonfire Phase as described above. On the third step of the Demilich Dragonfire Phase, turn the Demilich face up, heal it three levels, and then proceed with the remainder of the Demilich Dragonfire Phase.

Final Defeat (Phylactery Destroyed): As soon as the players have defeated all revealed encounters and the Demilich, its phylactery has been destroyed, and you end Scene Four!

Completing the Adventure

After Scene Four, the party has completed the Adventure!

Awarding XP & Magic Items

For each Scene that you start, each player receives 1 XP. If the party completes the entire Adventure, the players each receive a bonus of 6 XP, for a total of 10 XP.

The standard rules apply for awarding Magic Items.

Optional Scenarios

Corruption Rises: The total number of Skill Checks the party makes upon entering each Dungeon Room is −1 (for example, a four-player party would make a total of 7 Skill Checks instead of 8): +2 XP upon Adventure completion.
Ferocious Monsters: When revealing encounters at the start of a Scene, for every three Dragonfire levels, first reveal a card from the third Encounter Deck. Then finish the remaining Dragonfire level count as normal: +3 XP upon Adventure completion.

Upon completion of either Optional Scenario, in addition to the standard Magic Item awards, the party finds Ring of Free Action. One person may attune to it, regardless of Character Level; Character Magic Item Limitations still apply.

Sword Mountains Crypt: Epilogue

The epilogue fiction is omitted. The boxed rule printed with it is reproduced below.

One player must take the Galen's Key Trophy Feature and affix it to the back of their Character screen. That player's Campaign Score increases by +1.

FIN