Dungeon Time Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• The Game
• Game Components
• Setup
• How to Play
  • 1. Adventure Phase
  • Mission Cards
  • Example of Play
  • 2. Resolution Phase
    • If an Item Card is Revealed:
    • If a Mission Card is Revealed:
  • Mission Card Revealed (Success!)
  • Mission Card Revealed (Failure!)
• End of the Game
  • The Backpack Breaks Apart:
  • The Backpack Doesn't Break Apart:
• Scenarios
  • The Campaign
  • Bonus Scenarios
  • One-Shot Scenarios
• Variant - Adventures
  • Adventure Cards and Scrolls
• Other Variants
  • Solo Play
  • Extended Play
• Heroes
• Credits

The Game

Dungeon Time is a real time, cooperative card game of exciting dungeon adventures and catastrophic failures for 1 (yes, you can play solo!) to 5 players. In Dungeon Time, you will enter a fantasy realm with only 5 minutes to complete your missions. As the sand falls in the sandtimer, you must race through the deck to achieve as many missions as you can. Simultaneously, you and your friends draw, play, draw, frantically looking for all the Items you need to complete your Missions.

Get the Items in play as fast as you can, then complete a Mission by playing it on the Story deck at the right time, when your equipment is correct. You must try to beat the clock, going through the Missions as fast as you can; but you must also avoid being over-burdened by your equipment — miss the right Items and your Mission fails; bring too much unnecessary equipment in your Backpack and you lose the game.

When time is out, go through the Story deck, to find out if you fail or if you win... and level up to higher challenges if you do!

Game Components

• 48 Item Cards (4 cards per item)
• 48 Mission Cards (divide into 4 decks of 12 cards)
• 10 Hero Cards
• 4 Adventure Cards
• 4 Adventure Scrolls
• 1 Backpack Board
• 24 Reward Tokens (2 tokens per item)
• 1 Sand Clock (5 minutes)
• 1 Rulebook

Setup

• Set aside the Reward tokens (sorted in piles by Item type). You don't need them now.

• Place the Backpack board in the middle of the table.

• Choose the scenario to play (see Scenarios on page 9), then take the 12 Mission cards for that scenario. Place the remaining Mission cards back into the box. Shuffle the Mission cards and randomly draw 2 cards.

  Note: In your first game, we recommend you play the one-shot scenario Training Grounds, or the first level of the Campaign (see Scenarios on page 9).

• Shuffle the Item cards and draw a number of Item cards based on the number of players (see table below). Shuffle these cards with the 2 Mission cards previously drawn. Deal these cards to the players, so that every player has the same number of cards in hand.

Players	Initial Items	Starting Hand
1 Player	13 Item cards	15 cards
2 Players	12 Item cards	7 cards
3 Players	13 Item cards	5 cards
4 Players	14 Item cards	4 cards
5 Players	13 Item cards	3 cards

Note: One or two players will have both Mission and Item cards in hand.

• Shuffle the remaining Item cards and 10 Mission cards to build the Draw deck. The back of the top card will indicate what type of card will be drawn — This is deliberate, and important information to have when you play the game!
• The Draw deck is then placed in the middle of the table, close to the Backpack board, so all players can easily reach it during the game.
• Place the sandtimer on the table, within reach of at least one player.

How to Play

The game is played in 2 phases:

1. Adventure phase (in real time)
2. Resolution phase (not in real time)

1. Adventure Phase

Players take a look at their initial cards. When everybody is ready, one player turns the sandtimer upside down and the Adventure phase starts.

There are no game turns. Each player can play cards from his hand, in any order, even more than one card at a time.

Cards must be played face-up, one on top of the other, on top of the Backpack board in the middle of the table, to form a common Story deck.

The players can freely talk to each other (in fact, not talking is a sure way to lose the game!), asking the other players for the Items they need to complete the Mission cards they have in hand, and telling the other players about the Items they have in hand, which can be used to complete the Mission cards their friends have in hand.

When a player thinks the Story deck has the right Item cards to fulfill a Mission card he has in hand, he should play it on top of the Story deck.

Be careful, though! Once a card is played to the Story deck, it cannot be taken back, and the contents of the Story deck cannot be checked during this phase.

As soon as a player plays one card (Item or Mission), he should immediately draw another card from the Draw deck, to bring his hand back to the initial number of cards he had. In case a player forgets to draw, he may still refill his hand as soon as he remembers to!

If the players don't have the right Item cards to complete Mission cards, any player can, at any time, discard one or more cards (Mission and Item) he has in his hand, and then refill his hand with the same amount of cards from the Story deck.

Important! Keep the discarded cards in a separate pile from the Story deck (forming a Discard pile), not on the Backpack board.

Players should take into account that discarded Items could be useful later on for upcoming Missions. As an alternative to discarding, players can play some Item cards in the Story deck, hoping that they'll be useful later.

Mission Cards

Mission cards have a title, a short text explaining what the Mission is about, and some essential game information:

• The Items required for a Mission are shown in the upper half of the card. You should try to remember if these Items are in the Story deck before you play the Mission.

  The upper half of the card shows the Items Required; the lower half shows the Reward Received.

• The lower half of the card shows the Reward the players receive during the Resolution phase, if the Mission is complete, according to the following rules:

  • If an Item is shown, players must take the appropriate Reward token, and add it to the Backpack. They cannot normally refuse to take a Reward, unless there is a question mark beside the Item, or there are no more Items of that type available among the Rewards.
  • If there is a small question mark next to the Item, the players can decide, during the Resolution phase, if they want to take it or not.
  • If there are two Items separated by a slash, then the players must choose — during the Resolution phase — which Item they will take.
  • If, instead of the items, there is a big question mark, the players can decide (during the resolution phase) which item they can take.

Example of Play

As soon as the sandtimer is turned upside down, players begin to talk.

Charles says he needs 1 Map and 1 Potion.

Alfred says he has nothing and asks for 2 Swords.

Daniel plays a Potion on the Backpack board, starting the Story deck; then, he draws 1 card.

Charles says he has 1 Sword and plays it, he draws a card and it's another Sword so he plays it immediately; he draws another card.

Alfred plays 1 Bow and since his Mission requires 1 Bow and 2 Swords, he also plays the Mission; then he draws 2 cards. The Reward of the Mission is 1 Shield, with a "question mark."

Daniel says he needs that Shield for his own Mission and asks all the other players to help him remember, during the Resolution phase, the team should accept the Shield as Reward.

Daniel asks for a Torch; also stating that he has the third missing Item, the Keys.

Charles plays the Torch and draws one card.

Daniel plays the Keys and his Mission, which can give a Sword; he draws 2 cards.

It seems that nobody is interested in the Sword, at the moment. Nevertheless players should remember that it will be available for the next Missions.

Play continues in this way, until five minutes have passed, or the players go through the entire Draw deck and play all the Missions they have in hand to play.

2. Resolution Phase

When five minutes have passed — or the Draw deck is empty and the players don't want to play anything more — the Resolution phase begins. The Story deck is turned upside down and the cards are drawn and revealed, one by one.

If an Item Card is Revealed:

When an Item is revealed, it is placed around the Backpack board, following these rules:

• The Backpack board has eight sides, each side representing one slot.
• Each of the 8 slots can hold only one type of Item at a time.
• Item cards and Reward tokens featuring the same object can be in the same slot.
  • Each slot can hold a maximum of three Items of the same kind (including both Item cards and Reward tokens). If you have more than three copies of one Item, the excess must be allocated to a new slot.
  • If there is not an available slot when players must place an Item in the Backpack, the Backpack breaks apart, and you lose the game — see End of the Game, below.

If a Mission Card is Revealed:

When a Mission card is revealed, one of these 2 situations can occur:

The Mission Succeeds:

A Mission succeeds when all the Items listed in the top half of the Mission card are present in the Backpack. In this case:

• The matching Items are removed from the Backpack and discarded to the Discard pile.
• The Mission is set aside and considered successful.
• If the Mission gives a Reward, then that Item must be taken from the Reward tokens (if still available) and added to the Backpack (following the rules previously explained for Item cards).

The Mission Fails:

A Mission fails when at least one of the Items listed in the top half of the Mission card is not in the Backpack. In this case:

• The Mission card is discarded to the Discard pile.
• Players can decide which of the Items listed in the Mission card, and present in the Backpack, to discard from the Backpack, and which ones to keep in the Backpack.

Item Card Revealed example: A Shield Item card is drawn from the Story deck. The Backpack has two slots hosting different Items (Bag of Gold and Grapnel) and they cannot be used. However, there are 6 empty slots, and the Shield card is added to one of them.

Mission Card Revealed (Success!)

The "Important Absence" Mission is drawn from the Story deck. The Mission requires two items: a Grapnel and a Shield. Both Items are present in the backpack, so the Mission is successful...

...As the Mission is successful, the two Items matching its requirements are discarded from the Backpack into the Discard pile. The Reward of the Mission is a Phial, and taking it is mandatory. There is not already any Phial in the Backpack, so a Phial Reward token is added to an empty slot.

Mission Card Revealed (Failure!)

The "Visit the Black Market" Mission is drawn from the Story deck. The Mission requires three items: a Torch, a Bag of Gold, and a Phial. Two Items (Bag of Gold and Phial) are present in the backpack, but the Torch is missing, so the Mission fails...

...As the Mission fails, it is discarded. The players can choose to discard one or both of the Items required by the Mission from the Backpack. They choose to discard one of the two Bag of Golds, and to keep the Phial.

End of the Game

The Resolution phase ends when players have revealed all cards in the Story deck, or when the Backpack breaks apart because there are too many Items in it!

The Backpack Breaks Apart:

If, during the Resolution phase, players need a Backpack slot to place a new Item (either a Item card or a Reward token), but there are no slots available, the backpack breaks apart! The resolution phase ends immediately and you lose the game.

The Backpack is very full, and a Bow Item card is drawn from the Story deck. There are no empty slots: the Backpack breaks apart, and the game is lost.

Drawing a Cup or Keyring would also break the Backpack (there are three of these Items in their slot). However, if the Item drawn were a Shield, or a Torch, the Backpack would not break.

The Backpack Doesn't Break Apart:

If the Backpack does not break apart, players simply continue to draw Items and Missions from the Story deck until it's empty. Then, count how many Missions you have succesfully completed.

If you completed the number of Missions requested by the scenario (indicated as "Goal" in the table on page 9), you win the game. If you are playing in Campaign mode (see page 9), you also level up to the next Scenario.

If you did not complete enough Missions, you lose the game. If you are playing in Campaign mode (see page 9), you don't level up.

Scenarios

You can play either a one-shot scenario or Campaign mode. Pick the one-shot scenario of your choice (we recommend the Training Grounds for your first game), or start at the first level of the Campaign.

When you play in Campaign mode, if you complete a scenario successfully, you level up. You are ready for a higher challenge! The Campaign is structured in increasingly difficult levels. Between levels (for example, between level 1 and level 2) there is one bonus scenario, that you can decide to play or not, depending on whether you want to play a shorter or longer campaign. In the table you can find all the info for playing the Campaign, with different choices available when you win or lose a given level of the Campaign.

A full Campaign can be easily completed in one evening of play, but it is very easy to "save" your level, and start next time from where you stopped. Of course, it is also possible to play each level of the Campaign as a one shot scenario.

The Campaign

Level	Mission Cards	Goal	Results
1	6x Green (Forest), 6x Teal	10	Win: Play the bonus level "My First Dungeon" or advance to level 2. Fail: Play level 1 again
2	12x Teal	10	Win: Play the bonus level "The Darkest Dungeon" or advance to level 3. Fail: Play level 2 again
3	12x Purple	8	Win: Play the bonus level "Unnatural Foes" or advance to level 4. Fail: Play level 3 again
4	12x Red (Dragon)	6	Win: YOU WIN! Play the Full Campaign again in Extended Mode. Fail: Play again or return to level 2

Bonus Scenarios

Level	Mission Cards	Goal	Results
Bonus Level: My First Dungeon	6x Green, 6x Teal	10	Win: Advance to level 2. Fail: Play again or advance to level 2
Bonus Level: The Darkest Dungeon	6x Teal, 6x Purple	8	Win: Advance to level 3. Fail: Play again or advance to level 3
Bonus Level: Unnatural Foes	6x Purple, 6x Red	7	Win: Advance to level 4. Fail: Play again or advance to level 4

One-Shot Scenarios

Level	Mission Cards	Goal
Training Grounds	12x Green	10
Good Luck!	12 random (mix of Green, Teal, Purple, Red)	8
The Book of Fate	3x Green, 3x Teal, 3x Purple, 3x Red	7

Variant - Adventures

Instead of playing a normal scenario, you can decide to play an Adventure. Four different Adventures are included in the game.

Each Adventure is represented by an Adventure scroll and Adventure card, and it adds a unique theme, background, and rules to the game. Different adventures make the gameplay experience completely new, enhancing replayability and extending the longevity of the game.

The set up is the same as in a normal game, except that:

• The Mission cards to use are indicated by the Adventure scroll, not randomly chosen.
• The Adventure card is combined with the 2 starting Mission cards and placed into the Starting deck, so players will have one Item less in hand at the start of the game.

Adventure Cards and Scrolls

Adventures are special Missions that, to be completed, must meet special requirements. They also have special effects when completed, forcing the player to choose a different game strategy from the standard ones.

An Adventure card can be played only after players have completed a certain number of Missions cards, as indicated by the "Reputation" value on the matching Adventure scroll.

Each Adventure scroll includes information about:

• Mission Setup: List of the Mission cards to use to create the Draw deck.
• Reputation: Number of Mission cards to play into the Story deck before you can play the Adventure card.
• Missions to Accomplish and Victory Conditions: Conditions for the Adventure to succeed. You win the game if both these conditions are achieved.

Each Adventure card shows:

• The Items required for the Adventure to succeed (just like in a normal Mission).
• The effect when the Adventure is successfully completed.

Other Variants

Solo Play

Dungeon Time can be easily played solitaire. When you do, you start with 15 cards (13 Item cards and 2 Mission cards). Lay them face up in front of you, forming 3 rows of 5 cards; then play normally as described above.

Extended Play

When you complete a scenario, you may play it again in Extended play mode. In this variant for experienced players, you play normally, except now your Backpack only has seven slots, rather than eight.

Heroes

If you want to make the game even more fun and thematic, you can decide to play using Hero cards. These cards represent Heroes who, with their skills, can help the players accomplish their Missions.

During setup, each player draws 2 Hero cards and chooses one to keep, placing it face-up in front of him, discarding the other one.

Once per Resolution phase, each player can use the skill of his Hero card. A skill must be used before a new card is drawn and revealed from the Story deck.

You can find all the Heroes and their skills in the table below.

Hero	Skill
Ro's Thanir	Remove 1 Potion to use an unused skill of another hero in game.
Nintrabash	You can examine the top 5 cards of the story deck and choose how many to discard. Note: You can't change the order of the cards.
Tonk Redbeer	Remove 1 Torch and extend the backpack limit to 9 until a mission is solved. Note: you can put your hero card on the board to remember it.
Arvedui Miriel	Remove 1 Gold to put last the failed mission on the bottom of the story deck.
Tragurk	Remove 1 or 2 Items from the backpack. The next mission requires that many fewer items.
Zigarat Ho	Examine the top 5 cards of the story deck and rearrange them as you wish.
Garynor the Belly	Choose 1 to 3 items and exchange them for a single reward.
Zaria Tearleaf	Guess 1 item of the next mission; if you succeed, that mission is solved. Note: Do not discard the Items required by the mission card from the Backpack, but you still get the reward.
Fylee Stepshadow	Remove 1 to 5 rewards. These are removed from the game. Note: the rewards removed will not be available again.
Alan Ironstar	Remove 2 Swords to solve the next mission. Note: Do not discard the Items required by the mission card from the Backpack, but you still get the reward.

Credits

A Game by Carlo A. Rossi

Game Design: Carlo A. Rossi Development: Daniele Pompetti Correale Additional Development: Alfredo Berni Artwork: Denis Martynets Art Direction: Daniele Pompetti Correale Graphic Design & Layout: Fabio Maiorana and Laura Neri Production: Roberto Di Meglio and Fabrizio Rolla English Edition Editing: Jim Long

A Game Created, Produced, and Distributed Worldwide by Ares Games Srl

Via dei Metalmeccanici 16, 55041, Capezzano Pianore (LU), Italy www.aresgames.eu

©2016 Ares Games Srl. Dungeon Time™ is a trademark of Ares Games Srl. All rights reserved. Made in China.