HERO versus GUARDIAN: A Game of Dungeon Craft Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Overview
• Objective
• Components
• Setup
  • Guardian Setup
  • Hero Setup
• Round Overview
• Hero Actions
  • Scout
  • Venture (Mapping a Location)
  • Retreat (During a Venture)
  • Play a Card
  • Draw a Card
• Guardian Actions
  • Rebuild
  • Restock
  • Play a Card
  • Draw a Card
• Final Scoring
• Powers
• Die Roll Modifiers
  • Vacant Rooms
  • Treasure Vault
• Timing
• Frozen
• Multiplayer (3 or 4 players)

Game Overview

The game is played over several rounds. Players take turns to progress toward their goal. Each player's actions and objectives depend on his/her role. There are two roles to select from: the Guardian and the Hero.

Objective

The Guardian defends a Dungeon from the Hero. The Guardian scores points by capturing Adventurers and Treasures, and by protecting the Treasure Vault.

The Hero sends Adventurers through the Dungeon to fight beasts, remove traps, and conquer rooms. The Hero scores points by exploring and defeating rooms.

Components

• 80 Cards: 38 Dungeon, 16 Adventurer, 22 Treasure, 4 Reference
• 27 Tokens: 4 Level (blue), 2 Entry (brown), 4 Order (green), 16 Map/Scout (beige/black), 1 Altar (gray)
• 15 Glass Stones: Action Stones [use coins or markers]
• 2 Custom Dice: 6-sided [use standard 6-sided]

Setup

Decide who will be the Guardian and who will be the Hero. The Guardian will set up first, then the Hero. For 3 or 4 players see the Multiplayer rules.

Guardian Setup

1. Dungeon Design: Secretly place the 16 yellow bordered Dungeon Room Cards in a 4 by 4 grid face down. Each spot a card lies upon is called a location. The Hero can move only to adjacent locations in your Dungeon—not diagonally. Design your Dungeon to guard the Treasure Vault Dungeon Card.

[Diagram: a 4 by 4 grid of face-down Dungeon Room Cards with a row of "1st Entry options" squares on the left and "2nd Entry options" squares on the right, one for each row of cards, with dotted paths showing the Entry options on opposite sides.]

2. Entry: Place an Entry Token on the outside edge of any exterior Dungeon Card. Now place the second Entry Token on any of the four cards located on the opposite side—see diagram above. The Hero can enter the Dungeon at either of these locations.

3. Dungeon Deck: Shuffle the remaining Dungeon Cards, draw the top 5 cards, select 2 of them and shuffle the remaining 3 back into the deck. This is the starting hand for the Guardian. Keep them secret.

4. Get Ready: Take 2 Action Stones and a Reference Card.

Hero Setup

1. Adventurers: There are two methods to select your starting Adventurers; either shuffle the deck of Adventurer Cards and draw 3 cards from the top, or pick 3 cards from the deck with a 2 point value, then shuffle the remaining Adventurer cards. Starting Adventurers will remain face up in front of you until they are captured or Frozen. Below is a sample Adventurer Card:

[Sample Adventurer Card, labelled in the rules: Class (Cleric, Adventurer); Point Value, if captured (2); Power (Sacrifice, see Powers); Die Roll Modifiers, see Scout or Venture (Trap +0, Magic +2, Brute +3, Evil +4).]

2. Treasure: Shuffle the Treasure Cards. Draw 2 Treasure Cards from the top of the deck. This is the starting hand for the Hero. Keep them secret.

3. Tavern: Set the Adventurer Cards deck aside. Draw the top 3 cards and place them face up next to the Adventurer deck. This is the Tavern.

4. Market: Set the Treasure Cards deck aside. Draw the top 3 cards and place them face up next to the Treasure deck. This is the Market.

5. Get Ready: Sort the Level, Order, and Map/Scout Tokens into 3 distinct piles. As the Hero, you will use these as the game progresses. Next, take 6 Action Stones and a Reference Card.

Round Overview

A round starts and ends a sequence of turns as follows. First the Hero takes an action or passes, then the Guardian may take an action or pass. This option of acting or passing goes back and forth until both players have exhausted their Action Stones. Action Stones are used to keep track of how many actions a player has remaining. Some rules govern this process:

First Action Option: The Hero has the option to either take the first action or pass at the start of each round.

Final Action Option: The Guardian has the option to take the final action at the end of a round. Therefore, if the Guardian chooses to keep passing, the Hero must either end his/her turn or take action.

Example of Taking Turns: The Hero just used the first action option, now the Guardian must act or pass. Next, the Hero must either act or pass. If a player passes his/her turn, this decision can't be reversed. Passing allows an opponent to take 1 turn, not 2 or more in a row.

Combat Actions: Playing a Spell or Dungeon Effect Card with the label Timing: Combat is the only action that can be taken during a player's action.

Reset: Once all stones are used, start a new round. Give 6 Action Stones to the Hero and 2 to the Guardian. Replenish the Market and Tavern face up cards to 3 each using the corresponding face down decks.

Hero Actions

Over the course of a round, the Hero's 6 Action Stones can be spent on any combination of actions listed below. A Hero can carry over 1 unspent Action Stone to the next turn. Hero actions are:

Scout

This action costs two stones. The Hero selects a Dungeon location adjacent to an Entry Token, or adjacent to any Mapped location—not diagonal. The Hero cannot select an isolated location. Target locations must be directly connected to the entrance by other Mapped locations.

Now the Hero places 1 to 4 Order Tokens on his/her Adventurers (one per Adventurer) to show the order they enter the location. The Hero must include at least as many Adventurers as there are rooms at the target location. Each Adventurer with an Order Token gets one roll to Scout a room at this location.

The Guardian now reveals the cards at the target location. If there are 2 rooms at this location, the Hero can select which room to Scout first.

The Adventurer with the 1st Order Token must attempt a successful Scout roll resulting in 5 or higher after Die Roll Modifiers are applied. For example; a Cleric Scouting an Evil Room will add 4 to the roll. Other modifiers to the roll may come from Powers, Treasure Items, Level Tokens, Spells, Dungeon Effects, and Dungeon Room Cards.

A failed roll means the 2nd Adventurer must attempt a successful roll on this room. The Hero continues until either this room is Scouted, or each Adventurer with an Order Token has rolled. When Scouting, an Adventurer (and any attached Items) are captured by the Guardian ONLY if a failed roll is a natural 1. If a modified natural 1 would create a success, the roll is still considered a failure, but the Adventurer and its Items are not captured.

A successful roll means that room is Scouted. If there is another room at this location, the next Adventurer in the order must attempt to Scout it. If the Hero is able to Scout all rooms on the location, leave the room cards face up and place a Scout Token there. Otherwise all rooms are placed face down.

The reasons to Scout are: it is a safer method to see the room(s) at that location; the Hero can choose the best Adventurers to Venture into a Scouted room(s); and when Venturing a Scouted location with 2 rooms, the Hero can decide which room to confront first.

Venture (Mapping a Location)

This action costs three stones. The Hero selects a Dungeon location adjacent to an Entry Token, or adjacent to any Mapped location—not diagonal. The Hero cannot select an isolated location. Target locations must be directly connected to the entrance by other Mapped locations.

Now the Hero places 1 to 4 Order Tokens on his/her Adventurers (one per Adventurer) to show the order they enter the location. Each Adventurer with an Order Token gets one roll to Venture a room at this location.

If the location has a Scout Token and multiple rooms at this location, the Hero will decide which room to Venture first. If the rooms are not Scouted at this location, the Guardian reveals the Dungeon Room Cards and decides which room is Ventured first.

The Adventurer with the 1st Order Token must attempt a successful Venture roll resulting in 6 or higher after Die Roll Modifiers are applied. For example; a Cleric Venturing a Magic Room will add 2 to the roll. Other modifiers to the roll may come from Powers, Treasure Items, Level Tokens, Spells, Dungeon Effects, and Dungeon Room Cards.

When Venturing, a failed roll means the Adventurer (and any attached Items) are captured by the Guardian. Place captured cards in a pile next to the Guardian. A failed roll means the 2nd Adventurer must attempt a successful roll on this room. Continue until either a Venture roll succeeds, each Adventurer with an Order Token has rolled, or an Adventurer Retreats. Any unscouted rooms remaining at the end of a Venture are placed face down.

Note: A natural 1 is always considered a failed roll. If a modified natural 1 would create a success, the roll is still a failure, but the Adventurer and its Items avoid capture.

A successful roll means that room is Ventured. Place Ventured cards in a pile next to the Hero. If there is another room at this location, the next Adventurer in the order must roll to Venture it, or roll to Retreat. If the Hero Ventures all rooms on the location, place a Map Token there. This location is now Mapped.

The reasons to Venture are: the Hero gains access to the locations adjacent to it—not diagonal; Ventured rooms score points for the Hero; and if the Treasure Vault is Ventured, the game ends.

Retreat (During a Venture)

• This option costs NO Action Stones. Only after the 1st Adventurer in the order has completed his/her Venture roll, can the next Adventurer opt to Retreat. This Adventurer must make a successful Retreat roll resulting in 4 or higher after Die Roll Modifiers are applied. If successful, this Venture ends, and any remaining Adventurers are part of this successful Retreat. If the roll fails, that Adventurer (and attached Items) are captured by the Guardian. The next Adventurer must now attempt a Retreat or Venture roll.
• Note: A natural 1 in a Retreat is treated like a natural 1 in a Venture.

Play a Card

This action costs one stone. The Hero can play one card from his/her hand if the Timing is correct.

• Spells: Follow all instructions on the Spell Card. Once a Spell is played, remove it from the game. For the Heroism Spell, a Level Token remains on an Adventurer. The Level Token grants +1 to all Scout and Venture rolls made by that Adventurer.
• Items: Treasure Item Cards are placed on Adventurer Cards already in play. Each Adventurer may have up to 2 Items. Items grant a Power or modifier to that Adventurer. These add to all other Powers and modifiers. Treasure Items may be returned to the Hero's hand for 1 Action Stone, see Draw a Card.
• Adventurer: Place Adventurer face up in front of you. This card is now eligible to join a Venture or Scout, use a Power, and/or receive Treasure Items.

Draw a Card

This action costs one stone. The Hero may draw a Treasure Card from the Market or an Adventurer Card from the Tavern and place it in his/her hand. There is no hand size limit. The Hero can pick one of the face up cards or draw the top card from a face down deck. Face up cards replenish during the Round: Reset. The Hero may also use the Draw a Card action to pick up a Treasure Item Card from one of his/her eligible Adventurers. Drawing a card is a Timing: Non-Combat action.

Guardian Actions

Over the course of a round, the Guardian's 2 Action Stones can be spent on any combination of actions listed below. The Guardian cannot carry over Action Stones to the next round. Guardian actions are:

Rebuild

This costs one stone. The Guardian may rearrange the Room Cards in half the unmapped and unscouted locations (round up). At least 3 locations may be rearranged, if half results in less than 3.

Restock

This costs one stone. The Guardian may place any number of Room Cards from his/her hand into locations without Map/Scout Tokens. The Guardian may also move the Room Cards already on those locations to adjacent locations which have no Map/Scout Tokens.

Some rules govern the Restock and Rebuild actions:

• Locations with a Map or Scout Token cannot be affected by a Restock or Rebuild action.
• No more than 2 Dungeon Room Cards are allowed in a location, and at least 1 Room Card must remain in a location without a Map Token.
• Room Cards cannot go back into the Guardian's hand from the Dungeon.
• The Guardian may remove Room Cards from the Dungeon as a strategic choice, or to allow space for new Rooms. Cards removed from the Dungeon by the Guardian are placed in a pile visible to all players. These cards score 1/2 of their point value for the Hero.
• The Treasure Vault Card cannot be removed from the Dungeon by the Guardian.

Play a Card

This costs one stone. A Dungeon Effect Card can be played if the Timing is correct. Follow all instructions on the Dungeon Effect Card. Once a Dungeon Effect Card is played, remove it from the game.

Draw a Card

This costs one stone. The Guardian draws one card from the top of the Dungeon Cards deck. The game ends if the Guardian attempts to draw a Dungeon Card but none remain. There is no hand size limit. Drawing a card is a Timing: Non-Combat action.

Final Scoring

When the Hero removes the Treasure Vault, or when the Guardian attempts to draw a Dungeon Card but no cards remain, the game ends. Stop play, and score the game. The winner is the player with the most points. Use the following point system:

Guardian

• 1 point for every 2 locations without a Map/Scout Token. There are no half points.
• 8 points if the Treasure Vault is in the Dungeon.
• The point value of all captured Treasure Items and Adventurer Cards. The point value is located in the top right corner of each of these cards.

Hero

• Dungeon Rooms removed by the Guardian score 1/2 of their point value (round up). The point value is located in the top left corner of each room card.
• Dungeon Rooms removed by the Hero score their full point value. Note: The Treasure Vault has a point value of 8.

No Points are awarded for:

• Adventurer Cards that are Frozen
• Cursed Item Cards placed on an Adventurer Card

Powers

Some cards have Powers listed on the bottom of the card. Using these Powers doesn't cost Action Stones. These powers are:

• Sacrifice: This card can be captured in place of an Adventurer who is about to be captured. Note: Armor can only save the Adventurer wearing that Armor. A Cleric can be captured in place of another Adventurer, and if that Cleric has Armor, you can use the Armor to save that Cleric.
• Scouting: Add 1 to this Adventurer's Scout rolls.
• Venturing: Add 1 to this Adventurer's Venture rolls.
• Spell Casting: Once per round, this Adventurer may reduce the cost of playing a Spell Card to 0 stones.
• Cursed Item: All rolls on this card are at -1. If a Cursed Item is Scouted or Ventured successfully, treat it like any other Dungeon Room Card. However, if an Adventurer fails any roll versus a Cursed Item, place it on that Adventurer as an attached Item. From now on, factor in the Die Roll Modifiers shown on the Cursed Item. If the Adventurer is already holding the 2 Item maximum, the Hero selects 1 and places it in his/her hand as a free action. A Hero can't pick up a Cursed Item from an Adventurer. If an Adventurer with a Cursed Item is Frozen or captured, place the Cursed Item in the Guardian's hand.

Die Roll Modifiers

All Adventurers have room modifiers for Scouting and Venturing a Trap, Magic, Brute and Evil Room. Each Adventurer has a different set of modifiers. For example; a Cleric is excellent versus Evil Rooms (+4) and poor versus Trap Rooms (+0). Additional modifiers may be found in the description on each Room Card.

Vacant Rooms

Vacant Rooms provide a modifier which is applied to rolls on the other room in that location. Apply this modifier only if the Vacant Room has not been removed from the Dungeon. Each modifier applies to a specific condition. For example: WARRIOR +1 means a Warrior Adventurer adds 1 to die rolls in this location, -1 VS. BRUTE ROOM means all Adventurers subtract 1 from the die rolls against a Brute Room in this location, and -1 SCOUTING means all Adventurers subtract 1 from the die rolls when Scouting in this location.

Treasure Vault

This room is like other Vacant Rooms. However, when the Treasure Vault is being Ventured, and another Dungeon Room Card is on the same location, the Hero cannot Venture the Treasure Vault first.

Timing

For Spell or Dungeon Effect Cards, note the Timing label. These cards can only be played when the Timing label matches the situation. All cards without a Timing label are played during NON-COMBAT Timing.

• Non-Combat: Anytime before a Hero announces a Scout/Venture action and anytime after a Scout/Venture action ends.
• Combat: Anytime after the Hero declares a Scout/Venture action and anytime before it ends.

Frozen

If an Adventurer is Frozen by a Spell or Dungeon Effect Card, place that Adventurer face up to one side of play. Any Treasure Items on that Adventurer are shuffled into the Market deck. The Adventurer remains out of play until a Heroism Spell Card returns the Frozen Adventurer to his/her previous location, or a Dreadful Feeling Card captures it for the Guardian. A Frozen Adventurer is not eligible to use a Power, join a Venture/Scout, or be equipped with Treasure Item Cards.

Multiplayer (3 or 4 players)

In a multiplayer game there are 2 or 3 Hero players against 1 Guardian. At the start of each round, a new Hero (in clockwise order) will play a round vs. the Guardian. In this version each Hero starts his/her round with 7 (rather than 6) Action Stones.

Note: During a Hero's turn, he/she is allowed to play Treasure Items and Heroism Spells on another Hero's Adventurer.

At the end of the game, the Heroes' point totals are combined and compared to the Guardian's point total to determine the winner. The Heroes either win as a team or the Guardian wins.