Lord of Loot Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective of the game
  • Bosses and Quests
  • Victory
• Unboxing and preparing the game
• Contents of the game
• Game setup
• The Gameplay
• Hero Phase
  • Hunger
  • Actions
    • A. Move to an adjacent field
    • B. Explore your field
    • C. Exploit your field
    • D. Collect items from your field
    • E. Trade items or weapons
    • F. Fight a Monster or a Boss
  • Other activities which don't require an action
    • Cast a spell
    • Use an item
    • Change weapon
• Monster Phase
  • Monster Card Symbols
    • Bosses move and attack
    • Bosses move twice and attack
    • Bosses move, drop two items and attack
    • Monsters move and attack
    • Proceed the daytime marker
    • Spawn a Monster
    • If there is no Monster on the board, spawn a Monster
  • Advanced rule for the extra challenge
    • Spawn Imps instead of Monsters on occupied fields
• Types of Monsters
  • Levels
• Imps
• Guards
• Hero Character Sheet and Weapons
  • Special character features
• Fights
  • Determine damage
• Outcome of the fight
  • Monster/Boss wounded
  • Monster/Boss/Guard defeated
  • Hero wounded
  • Hero knocked out
  • Monster retreat
  • Boss retreat
• Bosses and their Quests
  • Choose Bosses
  • Setup
  • Quests
  • The Petnapper (Difficulty: medium)
  • Narcia (Difficulty: medium)
  • Dracorax, The Treasure Tallymaster (Difficulty: hard)
  • Stumplestick, the Grouchwood Guardian (Difficulty: easy)
  • Gilliam the Freed Fin (Difficulty: medium)
  • Volcanus the Brooding (Difficulty: easy)
  • Aurifalcon the Gilded Tyrant (Difficulty: hard)
  • The Souls of the Sea (Difficulty: hard)
• Example
  • Setup
  • Turn 1: Knight
  • Turn 2: Witch
  • Turn 3: Knight
  • Turn 4: Witch
  • Turn 5: Knight
  • Turn 6: Witch
• Appendix
  • Weapons
    • Examples
  • Land Icons
  • Items
  • Magic Spells
  • The Heroes

Objective of the game

Your party of Heroes must defeat the evil end Bosses before they grow too powerful. The time you have is represented by the Monster card deck running out. But it's not as simple as charging in swords blazing! To face the end Bosses, you'll first need to complete their unique quests.

Along the way, you'll explore the land, gather powerful items and weapons, master magic spells, and Level up. Only by preparing wisely and working together will you stand a chance against the Bosses when the time comes.

Bosses and Quests

The different Bosses are explained on page 7 of this rule book. You will select two Bosses to play against.

Bosses usually come with one or more quests. The Boss cannot suffer any damage before its quest is complete, so focus on completing the quests first and then start fighting the Boss.

Victory

The Heroes win once they have defeated all Bosses.

The Heroes lose if you run out of Monster cards or if Heroes get knocked out more than two times.

Unboxing and preparing the game

When you are playing for the first time, punch out the tokens from the 7 cardboard punchboards and put them in the enclosed cloth and plastic bags according to the instructions on the punchboards. Add the plastic standees to all Monsters.

Contents of the game

Note: Some of the cardboard items will be stored in the plastic tray for shipping. Lift the black plastic tray and take them out.

• Game box with insert tray
• Game board
• Rule book
• 5 Character mats
• 7 Punchboards with cardboard tokens
• 1 12-sided die
• 12 6-sided dice (4x blue, 4x orange, 4x violet)
• 3 Cloth bags (red, yellow, black)
• 5 Plastic miniatures
• 30+ Plastic standees
• 30+ Wooden hearts
• 17 Cards (6 brown Monster cards, 6 red Monster cards, 5 player aids)

Game setup

1. Shuffled stack of large round land tiles upside down
2. Yellow bag with all magic spells inside
3. Red bag with all items inside
4. Black bag with all weapons inside
5. Pick a number of brown Monster cards (per table below) and shuffle them upside down to build the Monster Deck.
6. Reserve a spot to discard the Monster cards.
7. Pick a number of red Monster cards (per table below) and stack them with the frontside visible.
8. Set aside all Monsters on standees.
9. Set the dice aside (4x orange, 4x blue, 4x violet, 1x 12-sided Monster dice).
10. Each player chooses a character and puts the according character mat in front of him. In this example there are 3 players.
11. Each player gets 3 heart tokens to fill the rightmost of their yellow heart slots (stamina) and 3 for their red heart slots (health). Exception: The Druid player gets 4 each.
12. Each player gets the player-aid card that shows their character on the backside.
13. Place Guards equal to the number of players (max. 4) on any of the 4 fields on the game board that show a daytime symbol. Place only 1 Guard per field. In this example with 3 players, place 3 Guards.
14. Place the miniatures (or standees, if you prefer) for the players' characters on the castle field.
15. Place the circular daytime marker on the left daytime symbol (sunrise).
16. Choose 2 Bosses you want to play against and place them and their game components according to their setup instructions in the "Bosses" section of this rule book (page 7).

The youngest player starts and takes their first turn.

The number of brown and red Monster cards depends on the number of players according to the below table. For example, for a game with 2 players, pick random 5 brown Monster cards and random 3 red Monster cards and put the remaining ones back into the game box.

Players	Brown Monster cards	Red Monster cards
1	4	3
2	5	3
3	6	3
4	5	2
5	4	3

In the game with 1-3 players, there is a Monster phase after every player's turn. However, with 4 or 5 players, the Monsters only take every other turn. To track that, put the tracker token with the red cross up on the Monster card deck. We will explain how this works later.

The Gameplay

The game is played clockwise. The active player plays their turn (Hero Phase) and then starts the Monster Phase. Then it is the next players turn.

Example: First player plays their turn, then comes the Monster Phase. Then the second player plays their turn, then comes the Monster Phase.

Hero Phase

Hunger

The active player starts their turn becoming hungry. If the player is in one of blue circled buildings on the map, food is provided. Otherwise, the player either eats food by removing one green food token from their backpack or loses one heart. When you lose a heart, always remove the leftmost heart token first.

Actions

Then the player can play up to 4 actions they can freely select from the following six options:

• A. Move to an adjacent field
• B. Explore your field
• C. Exploit your field
• D. Collect items from your field
• E. Trade items or weapons with other players on your field
• F. Fight a Monster or a Boss

Tip: You can choose to perform the same action multiple times, for example you can move up to four fields or you can fight a Monster on your field four times, or you move one field, then exploit your field twice and move another field.

A. Move to an adjacent field

Move your Hero to an adjacent field connected by a pathway on the map. You can move on or over any field, even fields with Monsters, Bosses, discovered or undiscovered fields. If you move to a field with a Monster or a Boss, they do not automatically attack you. Monsters and Bosses only attack during the Monster Phase when an according card is drawn.

B. Explore your field

If your Hero is on an undiscovered field, so a field where no map tile is placed yet, they can choose to explore the land. The player draws one of the well-shuffled face-down round map tiles and places it on his field on the map. The symbols on the tile get activated immediately. We will explain all symbols later in the rule book.

C. Exploit your field

When your Hero is on a discovered field with a land tile including the symbol ↻ then you can use an action to activate the symbols on the tile.

D. Collect items from your field

If there are item tokens on your field, you can use an action to pick up the items and place them into your backpack. You can pick up all items at once or just selected ones and leave the others on the field.

E. Trade items or weapons

You can exchange as many items and weapons as you want with any number of players on your field. You can also just give or take items or weapons; it does not have to be a trade. However, the exchange can only happen if the affected player agrees to it.

Note: You can only exchange items or weapons. You cannot exchange spells, hearts, Level markers, etc.

F. Fight a Monster or a Boss

You can choose to fight a Monster or a Boss on your field. How fights work will be explained later in the rule book.

Other activities which don't require an action

Players can also do the following activities anytime, so also during other players turns. These activities do not require an action.

Cast a spell

Players can use a spell in their spell book. Spells require items from your backpack as ingredients to trigger an effect. The ingredients are shown on the spell tile on the left side of the arrow and the effect on the right side. All spell icons will be explained on page 15 of this rule book.

Example: For the below spell, remove a wood item or an iron item from your backpack to get a coin item (which you take from the red bag) to put in your backpack. Note that you can also use weapons as respective ingredients. You can use wood weapons as wood, iron weapons as iron and gold weapons as gold.

Use an item

You can use an item to activate the symbols on them anytime. For example, you can eat food to restore a heart, drink a potion during a fight to land additional hits or exchange a jewel for two coins.

Attention: You cannot eat during the Monster Phase! You must decide before the Monster Phase if you want to eat to restore your hearts.

Change weapon

You can change weapons between your backpack and your hands in any players Hero Phase, but not during a Monster Phase. You must decide before which weapons you want to hold in your hands to be ready for a potential Monster or Boss attack.

Discard an item, spell or weapon

You can discard items, spells or weapons at any time to make room in your backpack. You can choose to either put the item, spell or weapon back into the respective bag, or put it into the game box and therewith remove it from the game.

Tip: If you put them back into the bag, you have a chance to draw them again, when you draw from this bag. So, you might want to put things you want to draw again back into the bag.

Monster Phase

After a player took his turn, the Monster Phase starts.

Attention: You cannot eat food or change your weapons during the Monster Phase. So, make sure to eat before and equip the weapons you need for the Monster Phase.

If you play with 4 or 5 players the Monsters Cards are only drawn every other turn. To help you remember, put the according token on the Monster Deck during setup. If the token shows the red cross facing up, turn the token around to the side with the green checkmark and end the Monster phase and proceed with the next player's turn. Otherwise, if the green checkmark is on the top, flip the token and proceed with the Monster phase.

Draw a card from the Monster Deck. If there are no more cards on the Monster Deck because all cards are on the discard pile already, take the top one of the Red Monster Cards and put it on the discard pile. Then shuffle the discard pile face down and use it as the new Monster Deck and draw the card from there.

Attention: If you need to draw a card but there are no more cards on the Monster Deck and also no new Red Monster Cards left, the Heroes lose the game immediately.

Then execute the actions noted on the drawn Monster Card from top to bottom and then put the card face up to the discard pile. If there are multiple equal options how to execute the Monster action (for example which Boss to move first or which of different equal paths towards the closest Hero a Monster should take), the last active player makes the choice.

Tip: You will play through the Monster Deck multiple times. If you memorize what cards have already been drawn (you can look through the discard pile at any time), you can estimate which Monster Card might come next and can prepare accordingly.

Monster Card Symbols

Bosses move and attack

Move all Bosses, one after the other. Each Boss moves one field towards its closest Hero. If it is already on a field with a Hero, the Boss stays there. The two bosses can move to the same field, but they try to avoid doing so. If there are different movement options that bring a boss on or equally close to the field with a hero, the two bosses will try to move to different fields.

After all Bosses have moved, each Boss who ended on a field with a Hero attacks the Hero. The Bosses attack one after the other, not at the same time. We will explain how fights work later in the rule book.

Bosses move twice and attack

Same as above, but each Boss can move up to two fields (instead of one) towards the Hero.

Bosses move, drop two items and attack

Move all Bosses and then draw 2 items from the red bag for each Boss and put them on the field where the Boss ended their movement. Then the Bosses attack.

Monsters move and attack

Move all Monsters, one after the other. Monsters move the same way as Bosses. After moving, all Monsters attack, one after the other.

Proceed the daytime marker

Move the daytime marker one step clockwise.

Spawn a Monster

Roll the 12-sided Monster die to determine what kind of Monster will spawn. Pick a Monster of the Level and color of the die roll and place it on the field with the current daytime symbol. If you rolled the gray Guard symbol, place a guard instead.

Example: The die shows a green 3. A green creature with Level 3 will spawn. That is the Troll. The daytime is "night". Put the Troll on the field with the "night" icon.

If there are no Monsters of that Level left in the game box, because all these Monsters have already been placed on the map, place a Monster of the next lower Level.

Example: You roll a green 3, but the Troll is already on the map. So, pick a green Level 2 creature instead (an Orc). If all Orcs are already on the map as well, place a green Level 1 creature (a Goblin). If these are also all placed, do not place a Monster.

Note that the "dusk/dawn" symbol is on the map twice, that means two Monsters will spawn (one on each of the fields marked with the "dusk/dawn" symbol). Roll the Monster die again and repeat the process to place the second Monster on the second "dusk/dawn" field.

If there is no Monster on the board, spawn a Monster

If there are no Monsters on the game board, spawn a Monster as mentioned above.

Advanced rule for the extra challenge

If you find the game too challenging, feel free to ignore the below rule.

Spawn Imps instead of Monsters on occupied fields

If a Monster spawns and there is already a Monster on the spawn field with the current daytime icon, do not spawn a Monster, but instead spawn an Imp on the adjacent field towards the middle of the game board.

If there is also a Monster on this adjacent field, spawn up to two Imps: The first Imp is placed on the next free field towards the middle of the map. The second Imp is placed on next free adjacent field towards the outside of map. If there are already Monster on both fields towards the outside of the map, do not place a second Imp.

Types of Monsters

There are three types of regular Monsters, indicated by the colored background on the bottom of the Monster tile:

• Green: Hordes (Goblins, Orcs, Trolls)
• Purple: Magic creatures (Ghosts, Vampires, Witch-King)
• Beige: Undead creatures (Skeleton, Zombie, Necromant)

Tip: There are specialized weapons against each type of Monster. Make sure to equip the right weapon before engaging in a fight.

Levels

Each Monster (and Boss) has a Level that is indicated by the number sign above it. The Level indicates how many lives a Monster or Boss has and how many dice it rolls for an attack.

Example: A Troll with Level 3 has 3 lives and may roll 3 violet Monster dice during a fight.

Imps

Imps are a particularly nasty kind of Monster. They can attack over a wider range thanks to their bow and arrow. They can attack Heroes on their field or an adjacent field. When they move, they will still try to get as close to the next Hero as possible, ideally ending their move on a field with a Hero. When Imps attack a Hero, they shoot an arrow. There is no fight, and the Hero loses 1 life.

When Heroes attack an Imp on their field, this is treated like a normal Monster fight. The Imp fights as a Level 1 Monster with 1 Life and rolls 1 violet Monster die.

Guards

Guards are not Monsters. They never move and never attack you. However, you can engage them in a training fight. Guards have Level 1. They have 1 life and fight with 1 orange die (they use a Hero Attack die). When they are defeated, they will give you loot as indicated on the token and are removed from the game.

Tip: Fight the (useless) guards early to get their weapons!

Hero Character Sheet and Weapons

Level: Heroes start at Level 1 and can Level-up during the game by defeating enemies. A higher Level unlocks new slots on the Character Sheet. These slots can only be used if the indicated Level is reached. Levels also unlock weapons. At Level 1 (wood) you can only equip wooden weapons. Iron weapons (indicated by a silver frame around the weapon token) can only be equipped in Level 2 (iron) and gold weapons (with a golden frame) can only be equipped in Level 3 (gold). Note that you can still carry any weapon in the backpack, even if you are a lower Level and don't know how to use it.

Health Bar: The Heroes have health points indicated by hearts. The brown hearts on the left side indicate stamina and can be filled up with eating food. The red hearts on the right side indicate injuries and can be filled up with first-aid kits. If the Hero loses health points due to hunger or a damage from a fight, they lose hearts, starting from the left side, so remove the stamina hearts first and then the injury hearts.

Note: The locked hearts can only be filled once you have reached the indicated Level.

Equipped weapons: You can equip attack weapons in your right hand and defense weapons (shields) in your left hand. You can exchange weapons between your hands and your backpack anytime during a Hero phase and this does not cost an action.

Spell Book: You can use your spell book to collect magic spells you learned during the game. You can use spells any time in the game, and this does not cost an action. Spells usually use items or weapons from your backpack (or your hand) as ingredients. Note that you can use wooden weapons as "wood" ingredients, iron weapons as "iron" ingredients and gold weapons as "gold" ingredients for spells.

Backpack: Use your backpack to carry items and weapons. You can only carry as many items and weapons in your backpack as physically fit into the backpack cutout. You cannot stack items or weapons over each other. You can discard items or weapons from your backpack at any time. Choose if you want to remove these from the game or put them back into their respective bags.

Note: You can only use items out of your backpack for food or as ingredients for spells, not items that lay on the map on your field.

Special character features

• Witch: Whenever the Witch is to draw a spell, she can draw two spells instead.
• Wyrmkin: The Wyrmkin has 5 actions per turn instead of 4. She cannot eat any food item that shows a mushroom. She can still carry these in her backpack, though.

Fights

When a Monster, Boss or Guard fight a Hero, they roll their dice as follows:

Orange attack dice: Without any weapon the Hero rolls 1 orange attack die as indicated on the character sheet. If the Hero has a weapon in his hand, roll the number of orange dice noted on the weapon. If dice icons on the weapon have a green, violet or beige colored outline, you can use these dice additionally when fighting a Monster of that type (color).

Blue defense dice: Without any weapon most characters cannot roll any defense dice as indicated on the character sheet. If the Hero has a weapon in his hand, roll the number of blue dice noted on the weapon. Again, the green, violet or beige outlined dice can be used additionally when fighting a Monster of that type (color).

Violet Monster dice: The Monster or Boss rolls the number of violet Monster dice corresponding to his Level. E.g., a Monster with Level 2 rolls 2 violet dice. A Boss with Level 4 rolls 4 violet dice. Guards roll 1 orange Hero attack die (just like a Level 1 Hero without weapons).

Determine damage

Compare the rolled dice result. Each rolled Monster sword icon that is not defended by a Hero shield icon deals one damage to the Hero. Each rolled Hero sword icon that is not defended by a Monster shield icon deals one damage to the Monster or Boss.

Example 1: Hero with 2 Attack Dice and 1 Defense Die attacks a Level 2 Monster. Neither the Hero nor the Monster receive damage.

Example 2: A Boss (Level 4) attacks a Hero who has 2 Attack Dice and 1 Defense Die. The Hero receives 1 damage.

Example 3: A Boss (Level 4) attacks a Hero who has 2 Attack Dice and 3 Defense Dice. The Hero receives 2 damage, and the Boss receives 1 damage.

Heroes can use magic potions from their backpack, spells or special weapons to increase the number of Hero sword icons or Hero shield icons. They can decide this after they see the dice roll result.

Example 4: Hero with 2 Attack Dice and 1 Defense Die attacks a Level 2 Monster. The Hero chooses to use a magic potion for an additional shield icon. Neither the Hero nor the Monster receive damage.

Example 5: A Boss (Level 4) attacks a Hero who has 2 Attack Dice and 1 Defense Die. The Hero chooses to use a magic potion for an additional sword icon. The Hero receives 1 damage, and the Boss receives 1 damage. Note that the Hero could have chosen to use the magic potion for an additional shield instead but in this case, he prioritized giving additional damage to the Boss.

Outcome of the fight

Monster/Boss wounded

For each hit a Monster or Boss suffers, add a wound marker to its standee.

Note: The figures have little notches to hold the markers nicely.

Reminder: Bosses can only suffer damage, once all their quests are completed.

Monster/Boss/Guard defeated

If a Monster, Boss or Guard accumulated damage equal to its Level, they are defeated and flee. Collect the loot indicated on the standee and then remove it from the game. If the Monster (or Boss) had a higher Level than your Hero, level-up your Hero one Level.

Example: A Level 3 troll already had one damage marker and now receives 2 damage in a fight. The troll is defeated and removed from the game. The Hero who defeated it collects the loot and draws one weapon from the black bag and one item from the red bag. Since the Troll was Level 3 and the Hero was Level 1, the Hero levels-up one Level to Level 2.

Note: Bosses do not give you any loot when they are defeated, but you can still Level-up.

Hero wounded

If a Hero suffers hits, the Hero loses the according number of hearts starting from left on his character sheet (so brown stamina hearts are removed first, then red health hearts).

Hero knocked out

If the Hero has lost all his hearts, that's it for our poor Hero. Remove the Hero miniature and character card including all items, spells and weapons from the game. The player starts with a new Hero of his choice with Level 1 and no equipment at the castle.

Add a gravestone marker to the map where the clouds are on the right side of the castle. If there is already a gravestone marker, turn it around to show two gravestones. If there are already two gravestones, the Heroes lose the game. That means, only two Hero knockouts are allowed, without losing the game.

Playing with kids: Do not use the graveyard trackers to limit the allowed knock-outs. Luckily, our Heroes never die. There is a powerful wizard in the castle who can revive the Heroes when they are knocked out. Move the knocked-out Hero to the castle without losing any of their equipment and add 2 hearts each to his stamina and health.

Monster retreat

If a Monster has attacked a Hero (not vice versa) and has wounded the Hero, the Hero can choose to move this Monster to any of the 4 spawn points (indicated with the daytime symbols) on the map (even if there is already a Monster on that field).

Boss retreat

If a Boss has attacked a Hero (not vice versa) and has wounded the Hero, the Hero can choose to move this Boss back to its home base where it started the game.

Bosses and their Quests

Choose Bosses

When setting up the game, choose 2 out of the following 7 Bosses to play against and place them and their game components according to their setup instructions.

For the most balanced gameplay we recommend to always play against the "Petnapper" and add one further Boss of your choice.

Setup

Each Boss has a homebase token. Put the homebase and the Boss on the numbered field on the gameboard as noted in the Boss setup instructions (#). Then follow the setup instructions of the Boss and potentially add further components to the game board.

Example: Setup of the Petnapper (shown on a board illustration).

Quests

You need to complete all their quests before you can damage a Boss. If it comes to a fight before (for example because the Boss attacks a Hero), the Boss will not receive any damage, independently of the dice roll result (unlike the Hero, who can receive damage from the Boss).

When you complete a quest, you can draw one time from a cloth bag of your choice.

Note: Some Bosses have more than one quest. For example, for the Boss Volcanus each gnome is a separate quest. So, if you defeat one gnome you can draw from a bag of your choice. However, Narcia only has one quest, so you can only draw once from a bag if you drop all three mirror shards.

The Petnapper (Difficulty: medium)

Setup: Place the below game elements on the according numbered field on the game board.

• End-Boss and homebase: #10
• Little girl: #11
• Rascal: #4
• Cat Lady: #1
• Chubby Cat: #8
• Doggy: #9
• Beardgie: #6

Quest 1: Return the Chubby Cat to the Cat Lady. You can pick up the Chubby Cat and put it in your backpack just like an item using the action "Collect items from your field". If there are other items on this field you can pick all of them up in the same action. Once you enter the field with the Cat Lady with the Chubby Cat in your backpack, remove the Chubby Cat and the Cat Lady from the game and the quest is completed.

Quest 2: Return the Doggy to the Rascal. The Doggy is afraid of fire. When you enter the field with the Doggy and have a fire item in your backpack, you can move the Doggy to an adjacent field. Alternatively, you can fight the Doggy. The Doggy fights like a Level 1 Monster with 1 violet Monster die. If you would deal one or more damage to the Doggy in a fight, the Doggy flees, and you move it to an adjacent field instead of dealing damage. Once the Doggy has reached the field with the Rascal, remove both from the game and the quest is completed.

Quest 3: Return the Beardgie to the Little Girl. As you probably know, a Beardgie is a cross between a bear and a budgerigar. They are as dangerous as they are voracious. When you move from the field with the Beardgie to another field and have a food item in your backpack, the Beardgie will follow you. Once it has reached the field with the Little Girl, remove both from the game and the quest is completed.

Narcia (Difficulty: medium)

Setup: Place the End-Boss and her homebase on field #6 on the game board.

Add 3 mirror shard tokens to the red bag.

At any time during play, a Hero may add one or more of the remaining mirror shard to the red bag.

Quest: Whenever you stand on the field with Narcia's homebase, you can choose to drop one or more mirror shard items from your backpack on the homebase. The quest is complete when there are 3 shard items on the homebase.

Dracorax, The Treasure Tallymaster (Difficulty: hard)

Setup: Place the End-Boss and his homebase on field #2 on the game board.

If Dracorax can get equally close to multiple heroes during his movement, he will move towards and aim to attack the player with the highest number of precious objects (gold weapons, gold items, coins, jewels).

Quest: Whenever you stand on the field with Dracorax' homebase, you can choose to drop one or more precious objects (golden weapons, gold items, coins, jewels) from your backpack on the homebase. Once you have dropped a precious object on the homebase, it stays on the tile and cannot be picked up again. The quest is complete when there are 5 precious objects on the homebase.

Stumplestick, the Grouchwood Guardian (Difficulty: easy)

Setup: Place the End-Boss and his homebase on field #5 on the game board.

Stumplestick will always move towards and aim to attack the player with the most objects made of wood (weapons or wood items).

Stumplestick has no quests, but you can only damage it if you have nothing made of wood with you - neither a wooden weapon nor a wooden item.

Gilliam the Freed Fin (Difficulty: medium)

Setup: Place the End-Boss and his homebase on field #7 on the game board.

Quest: Explore the land to find a fish-pond. When you stand on a round pond land tile, you can choose to drop one or more fish items from your backpack there. Once you have dropped a fish item, it stays on the pond land tile and cannot be picked up again. The quest is complete when there are 2 fish items on the pond tile.

Volcanus the Brooding (Difficulty: easy)

Setup: Place the below game elements on the according numbered field on the game board.

• End-Boss and homebase: #3
• Lunch Gnome: #5
• Breakfast and Supper Gnome: #7
• Midnight snack Gnome: #12

At the beginning of the Monster Phase before you draw a Monster Card, move the Gnome with the daytime symbol that the daytime marker currently shows one field closer to the volcano field (#3).

Tip: Put the reminder marker on the Monster Cards deck so you don't forget to move a Gnome before drawing a card.

Important: Once any Gnome reaches the Volcano, the Heroes have lost the game immediately.

Quests 1-3: Defeat a Gnome. Gnomes will never attack you, but you can attack them. They fight like a Level 1 Monster.

Aurifalcon the Gilded Tyrant (Difficulty: hard)

Setup: Place the End-Boss and its homebase on field #13 on the game board.

Spawn the Necromant on the field with the moon symbol.

Aurifalcon has no quests, but you can only damage it with golden weapons. So, you need to reach Level 3 and collect a golden weapon to defeat it.

The Souls of the Sea (Difficulty: hard)

Setup: Place the Knight's Soul and its homebase on field #9 on the game board, and the Siren and her homebase on #12.

In the Boss Movement the Knight's Soul will walk towards the closest male hero. The Siren towards the closest female. However, both can attack any hero who ends up on their field. Wompy's gender is the one of its player.

Quest: Have the Knight's Soul and the Siren meet on the same field.

Whenever one of the two suffers damage, the other one gets the same damage. Track the damage on the Knight's Soul only.

Note: This endboss is an exclusive expansion. It might not be included in your game.

Example

The following example guides you through the first turns of the game. We are playing with 2 players, one playing the Knight and one the Witch. We are playing against one End-Boss only: The Petnapper. The illustration on the left-hand side of the pages shows the gameboard and character mats at the end of the turn.

Setup

We place the Hero miniatures (the Knight and the Witch) on the castle.

Since we are playing with 2 players, we place 2 Guards on fields with a daytime symbol of our choice.

We pick an End-Boss and place its setup materials following the instruction in the Boss section of this rulebook.

Note: To make this example simple, we have placed the materials of the Petnapper on slightly different position. The Chubby Cat should actually be placed on field #8 (instead of #11) and the Cat Lady on field #1 (instead of #6). Don't forget to place the other game elements as well (the Rascal, Little Girl, Doggy and Beardgie)!

Now the game begins. The Knight is the youngest player and takes the first turn.

Turn 1: Knight

The Knight starts his turn hungry. In blue-circled buildings, food is provided, so all good here.

The Knight can take 4 actions per turn choosing from the following actions: (1) move one field, (2) discover land, (3) exploit land, (4) pick up items, (5) trade items, (6) fight. The Knight takes the following actions:

• Action 1: Move one field.
• Action 2: Discover Land: The Knight takes the top land tile from the land stack and puts it on his field on the game board. The icons on the land are executed and the Knight can choose to draw from the red or yellow bag. He decides for the red bag and gets a "food" item into his backpack.
• Action 3: Exploit the land: Since the land has the icon ↻ it can be activated again (exploited). The player draws from the red bag again. He receives a "potion" item for his backpack.
• Action 4: Exploit the land: He exploits the land again and this time draws a spell from the yellow bag and puts it into his magic book.

Now comes the Monster Phase. Draw the top Monster card and execute it. It is a Spawn Card: Move the daytime marker on the bottom right of the game board one further clockwise. Let's say it is now on the moon symbol. Then roll the Monster die. It shows a green 2, so a green Monster of Level 2 will spawn. Put the Monster on the field that shows the moon daytime symbol.

Turn 2: Witch

Now the second player takes her turn with the Witch. Again, food is provided.

• Action 1-3: Move
• Action 4: Attack the guard

Fight: The Guard is Level 1, so it has 1 life and fights with 1 die (an orange die, as illustrated on the standee). The Hero attacks with the number of orange dice indicated on her right hand of the character mat (here: 1 die) and defends with the blue dice on her left hand (here: none). Now they roll the dice. A sword icon deals 1 damage, and a shield icon would prevent one damage. The Guard rolls a blank and the Witch a sword. The Guard receives 1 damage and hence is defeated.

Loot: The Witch collects the loot of the defeated enemy. In this case, she may draw a weapon from the black bag and a spell from the yellow bag. Due to her special ability indicated on her character mat, she may draw 2 spells instead.

Weapons: She draws a wooden spear and puts it into her hand. She was lucky to draw a wood weapon (indicated by the brown frame), because she is only Level 1. Iron weapons can only be equipped as of Level 2 and golden weapons as of Level 3.

Monster Phase: The drawn card makes all Bosses move towards the closest Hero. Then they would attack, but there is no Hero on its field. Then move all Monsters one by one and attack if there is a Hero on their field.

Turn 3: Knight

The Knight starts his turn hungry and eats the food item from the backpack to avoid losing a heart.

• Action 1-3: The Knight moves 3 fields (following the pathway).
• Action 4: Pick up items: The Knight picks up the chubby cat and puts it into his backpack to bring it back to its owner later.

Now comes the Monster Phase. The drawn card makes all Bosses move towards the closest Hero, drop 2 items drawn from the red bag (in this example a bone and fire item) and then attack.

Fight: The Boss is Level 4 hence has 4 lives and rolls 4 dice. Bosses and Monsters always roll violet dice. The Knight rolls his 1 attack die showing a sword. His blue defense die unfortunately shows a blank. The Boss rolls 2 Swords and 2 Shields. The Knight chooses to use the "potion" item to get 1 additional shield to block one of the Swords. He removes the potion from the game after use. The Knight suffers 1 damage and removes one heart from the character mat (starting from the most left heart). The Monster blocked the Hero Sword with a shield. Note that the Boss couldn't have gotten damage anyways until their quests are complete.

Boss Retreat: When a Boss has damaged a Hero, the Hero can choose to move the Boss back to their home base. The Knight chooses to do that.

Turn 4: Witch

The Witch starts her turn hungry. She has no food, so she loses 1 heart.

• Action 1-2: The Witch moves 2 fields to the Orc.
• Action 3: The Witch fights the Orc. The Orc (Level 2) rolls 1 Sword and 1 Shield. The Witch has the spear which gives her 2 attack dice plus an additional one when fighting green creatures like the Orc. She rolls 2 Swords and a Blank. The Witch loses 1 heart. The Orc suffers 1 damage and gets an according marker.
• Action 4: The Witch fights the Orc again. The Orc rolls 2 Shields. The Witch rolls 3 Swords. The Orc suffers 1 damage and is defeated.

Loot: The Witch gets the loot indicated on the Orc standee. She draws an item from the red bag and then searches the red bag for a Coin. She draws an item that allows her to draw a weapon from the black bag. She decides to use this item right away. Using an item does not cost an action. Used items are discarded either back into their bag or removed from the game. She decides to throw the item back into the red bag to have a chance to draw this item again later. She now draws a weapon from the black bag. It is an iron shield. Level 1 Heroes cannot equip iron weapons yet and must put them into their backpack. But luckily, ...

Level-up: Since the Hero has defeated a Level 2 Monster, the Witch Levels-up to Level 2. She puts the according Level marker on her character board. She can now use iron weapons and puts the iron shield from her backpack into her left hand.

Monster Phase: The drawn card makes all Monsters move towards the closest Hero and then attack. Since there are no Monsters on the board after the Orc was defeated, nothing happens.

Turn 5: Knight

The Knight starts his turn hungry and loses a heart.

• Action 1: The Knight picks up the items on his field (the bone and fire item)
• Action 2-3: The Knight moves 2 fields towards the Witch.
• Action 4: Trade: The Knight takes the wooden spear weapon from the Witch (who agrees) and puts it in his right hand.
• Magic (no action): The Knight now uses his magic spell. He removes the "fire" item from the game to teleport to the field with the cat lady.

Complete a Quest: Once the Knight has reached the Cat Lady's field with the Chubby Cat, this quest is completed (as indicated on the according Boss instructions in the rule book). The Cat and the Cat Lady are removed from the game. As reward for completing a quest, the Knight may draw from a bag of his choice. He draws from the black bag an received a golden sword. Since he is not Level 3 yet, he cannot use golden weapons yet and stores the sword in his backpack.

Monster Phase: The Boss moves towards the closest Hero and attacks if he ends up on a field with a Hero (which is not the case in our example).

Turn 6: Witch

Now is the Witch's turn. She thinks what to do now. She has 1 Coin and could use an action to spend it in the tavern to restore up to 4 of her stamina hearts. Or she could move up to the blacksmith to spend 1 coin to upgrade her iron shield. Upgrading turns a weapon to its blue-shining side. So many options!

Appendix

Weapons

Heroes can equip weapons to increase their chances in fights. Attack weapons show orange attack dice and go into the right hand. Defense weapons show blue defense dice and go into the left hand.

In a fight, roll the number of orange and blue dice that your equipped weapons show.

If your weapon shows a sword or shield icon, add these to the dice roll result, as if you had rolled an additional die showing such an icon. This is very powerful - just like an additional die that always lands a hit.

If a die, sword or shield icon are outlined with a green, purple or beige outline, you can add these dice or icons when fighting a Monster of that type (see page 5 for Monster types).

Note: These are incremental to the non-outlined dice/icons. So, the weapon gets stronger against these specific Monster types.

Note: Bosses, Guards and Imps do not have any of these colors, so you cannot use the outlined bonus dice/icons against these.

Weapons are made of three different materials, as indicated by the frame of the weapon token: wood, iron or gold. To equip an iron weapon, your Hero needs to be at least Level 2 and to equip a gold weapon Level 3. However, you can always carry any weapon in your backpack.

Note: Respective Weapons can also be used as ingredients for magic spells that require wood, iron or gold.

Weapon tokens have two sides. Always start with the standard side facing up. When you get to upgrade your weapon (for example through a spell or the blacksmith), turn your weapon around so it shows the side with the blue glow around the weapon illustration. The weapon stays upgraded until the end of the game (unless you choose to discard it into the black bag).

Note: You can upgrade weapons in your hands or in your backpack. You can also give an upgraded weapon to another Hero using the trade action and it will stay upgraded.

Examples

This weapon (wooden spear) is made of wood, as indicated by the brown frame. That means a Hero can equip the weapon even at Level 1.

Note: The Hero could also use it as a wooden item for a spell.

This is an attack weapon that you can equip to carry in your right hand. It will give you 2 orange Hero Attack Dice in a fight. If you fight Goblins, Orcs or Trolls (Monsters with green color at the bottom of their standee) you get 1 additional Hero Attack Dice, so you can attack these creatures (e.g., an Orc) with a total of 3 orange Hero Attack Dice.

This weapon (golden shield) is made of gold, as indicated by the golden frame. That means a Hero can only equip the weapon at Level 3. Heroes with lower Levels could still carry the weapon in their backpacks, though, but they could not use them in a fight.

Note: A Hero could also use this weapon as a golden item for a spell (independently of their Level).

This shield is upgraded, as indicated by the blue shine around the shield illustration.

This is a defense weapon that you can equip to carry in your left hand. It will give you 3 blue Hero Defense Dice in a fight. On top of the rolled dice result you will get 1 additional shield icon.

If you fight magical creatures (Monsters with purple color at the bottom of their standee) you get 2 additional Hero Defense Dice, so you can defend against magical creatures (e.g., a Vampire) with a total of 5 blue Hero Defense Dice (plus you get the one extra shield icon).

Further weapon examples:

• Upgraded wooden axe: 1 orange Hero Attack Die plus one sword symbol in any fight. If you fight a magical creature, you get a second sword symbol.
• Upgraded wooden shield: 1 blue Hero Defense Die. If you fight a green (e.g., a Goblin) or a beige (e.g., a Skeleton) creature, you can add a second die and a shield symbol.
• Upgraded metal flail: 2 orange Hero Attack Dice plus one sword symbol in any fight. If you fight a green creature, you get an additional orange Hero Attack Die.
• Wooden club: 3 orange Hero Attack Dice if you fight a green (e.g., a Goblin) or a beige (e.g., a Skeleton) creature. Note: If you fight any other creature (e.g., a Boss or a magical creature) you don't get any dice at all, so then it is better not to equip this weapon.

Land Icons

• Food provided: If a Hero starts his turn on one of the blue circled buildings, food is provided, and he doesn't lose a heart at the beginning of his turn due to hunger.
• Tavern: You can pay 1 coin in the tavern to either fill up to four hearts in your stamina or visit the medic to fill up to four hearts of your injuries. You cannot combine both.
• Blacksmith: Pay 1 coin to the blacksmith to draw from the black weapons bag or to upgrade one of your existing weapons (upgrading means turning the weapon tile around to the side with the blue shine around the weapon). Or pay 3 coins to search the black weapons bag for a weapon of your choice. Reminder: Whenever you receive a weapon from the black bag, the standard side without the blue shine is always facing up.
• Draw an item from the red bag when you explore the field or when you exploit the land.
• Draw a spell from the yellow bag when you explore the field or when you exploit the land.
• Choose to draw an item from the red bag or a spell from the yellow bag when you explore the field or when you exploit the land.
• Draw from the red bag until you receive a green food item. Keep the food item and put all other items drawn this way back into the bag.
• Draw a weapon from the black bag when you explore the field. Note that you cannot exploit the land again, since it does not have the ↻ icon. Reminder: Whenever you receive a weapon from the black bag, the standard side without the blue shine is always facing up.
• Spawn a Monster on your field. Roll the Monster die to determine the kind of Monster. The Monster will even spawn if there is already another Monster on your field. The Monster that just spawned will attack you immediately.

Items

If you receive any items (from drawing from the red bag; from picking them up from your field from the map; from loot from defeated Monsters; from trades with your fellow Heroes; etc.) they first need to go to your backpack. This means you need enough room in the backpack to store the items.

If an item has icons on it, you can use the item at any time to execute the according effect. The only exception is that you cannot eat food during the Monster phase. Using an icon does not cost an action. Discard the item afterwards.

You can discard items at any time. When discarding, you choose whether to remove them from the game or put them back into the red bag.

When you are told to draw a specific item from the bag, for example a food item from a fishpond or a coin from the loot of a defeated Monster, pull items from the red bag until you receive the respective item. Keep this item and put the other items drawn this way back into the bag.

• Food: You can eat such an item to restore one of your hearts in the stamina section (brown hearts) of your health bar. You cannot refill red hearts (injuries) this way.
• Magic mushroom: This is a cursed gift. If you choose to eat this mushroom it will restore up to 3 hearts in your stamina section (brown hearts) of your health bar, but you lose 1 red heart from your injuries section.
• First aid kit: If you use this item, it will restore one of your hearts in the injuries section (red hearts) of your health bar. You cannot refill brown hearts (stamina) this way. Reminder: You cannot fill heart slots that are locked for a higher Level than you are.
• Magic potion: Use this item during a fight after rolling the dice to either add one sword icon or one shield icon to your dice roll result.
• Draw a weapon: Use this item, to draw a weapon from the black bag. As always, turn the weapon's standard side up (without the blue shine).
• Coin: Use the coin for spells or to pay the blacksmith or the innkeeper.
• Jewel: Exchange at any time for 2 coins (that you take from the red bag).
• Wood/ Iron/ Gold/ Bones/ Fire: Use these items as ingredients for magic spells or for quests.

Magic Spells

Heroes can use spells at any time (also during another player's turn or the Monster Phase). Casting a spell does not require an action. Spells require the items on the left side of the spell as ingredients for the effect on the right side of the spell. For ingredients separated with a slash ("/") you can use either the one or the other item as ingredient ("/" means "or"). You can use weapons which are made of wood, iron or gold instead the respective item wood, iron or gold. The spells remain in your spell book and you can use them multiple times if you have enough of the necessary ingredients.

Note: Coins are not made of gold but copper, so you cannot use a coin as a gold ingredient.

Spells (ingredients, then effect):

• Food and bones: Use food and bones to roll 3 additional dice (any combination of orange or blue) for attack or defense.
• Food and bones: Use food and bones to add 2 sword icons or 2 shield icons to the dice roll result in a fight.
• Food and bones: Use food and bones to draw two spells.
• Gold or fire: Use gold or fire to draw two items. Note that the gold can also come from a golden weapon.
• Gold or iron: Use gold or iron to draw a weapon. Note that the gold or iron can also come from a golden or iron weapon.
• Gold or jewel: Use gold or jewel to fill up to 3 brown stamina hearts and up to 3 red injury hearts. Note that the gold can also come from a golden weapon.
• Gold or fire: Use gold or fire to fill up to 2 brown stamina hearts or up to 2 red injury hearts. Note that the gold can also come from a golden weapon.
• Gold or jewel: Use gold or jewel to upgrade one of your weapons. Note that the gold can also come from a golden weapon.
• Wood and iron: Use wood and iron to teleport to any other field on the map. Note that the wood or iron can also come from a wooden or iron weapon.
• Gold or fire: Use gold or fire to defeat a Monster on your field. Note that the gold can also come from a golden weapon. Collect the respective loot and potentially level-up.
• Gold: Use gold to draw 3 coins from the red bag. Note that the gold can also come from a golden weapon.
• Food or bones: Use food or bones to roll 1 additional die (orange or blue) for attack or defense.
• Fire or bones: Use fire or bones to add 1 sword icon or 1 shield icon to the dice roll result in a fight.
• Fire or bones: Use fire or bones to draw a spell.
• Food or bones: Use food or bones to draw an item.
• Wood and bones: Use wood and bones to draw a weapon. Note that the wood can also come from a wooden weapon.

The Heroes

• Aurenna, the Witch: Thanks to her deep knowledge of magic, she can draw twice as many spells as other Heroes. However, she prefers to travel light, carrying only a small suitcase, which limits the amount of equipment she can carry.
• Sir Aldric, the unyielding Knight: Wearing a strong armor gives him excellent defense against enemies.
• Wompy, the... creature?: This creature is a natural-born warrior, boasting formidable attack power even without wielding a weapon.
• Ashlyn, the Wyrmkin: An agile sprinter and graceful flier, no other Hero matches her speed. She is, however, a bit particular when it comes to food - Don't even think about offering her mushrooms.
• Branok, the Druid: Thanks to his life-link with nature, the Druid has more stamina and vitality than any other Hero.