Ninja Dice: Kage Masters Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Welcome, Mighty Ninjas
  • Introduction
  • Game Setup
  • Components
  • Round Setup
  • On Your Turn
  • Example
  • Playing without Location Cards
  • Ending the Game
  • Targeting Dice
• How to Beat the House
  • House Dice
  • Skill Dice
  • Threat Dice
  • Kage Dice
• Elite Training

Welcome, Mighty Ninjas

Introduction

You are an elite ninja called a kage ("Kah-geh"), leader of your clan and master of hidden techniques. You always roll your Kage Die. On your turn, you'll try to beat the House of the Samurai by rolling Skill Dice, while rival ninjas steal coins from you (and each other) and make you run out of time. Move quick to get that treasure!

Game Setup

1. Each player chooses a Kage Master, taking the die and character card for that Kage Master.
2. Sort the Location Cards into 3 decks for round 1, 2, and 3, as shown on the back of the card. Shuffle each deck.
3. Give each player 3 bronze coins. Set the rest of the coins and the Threat Dice aside.

Components

• 5 Kage Master Dice
• 5 Kage Master Cards
• 18 Location Cards
• 18 Tokens (9 Poison, 9 Fire)
• 1 This Rules Sheet
• You will need a copy of Ninja Dice to play.

Round Setup

The game has 3 rounds. In a round, each player takes one turn as the Active Ninja.

1. Determine who goes first this round. This can be the player with the fewest coins, or the winner of a Ninja Duel.
2. Take Location Cards from the deck for this round, one for each player in the game plus one, and place them face up.

Ninja Duel: Roll Kage Dice. Roll an Hourglass, and you're out! Or, come up with your own ninja challenge!

On Your Turn

1. Set up the House. Choose a Location Card from the ones face up on the table. Look at the number in the box in the lower left of the card. Roll that many House Dice. These dice, and the symbols and rules on the card, are the House. You can place them anywhere on the table.
2. Everyone rolls! You roll the Skill Dice and your Kage Die while Inactive Ninjas roll their Kage Dice. Don't touch anything! Remember: where the dice land is important.
3. Kage Dice Abilities. All ninjas use their Kage Dice abilities according to what they rolled. Be quick! If order matters, whoever acted first goes first! If you can't decide who goes first, go by turn order starting with the Ninja to the Active Ninja's left. Turn the page over to see what each die does!
4. Save Dice. Choose which dice you will reroll, if any. Dice not rerolled are "saved", and you can reposition them on the table any way you like. Saved dice can be rerolled later, and do not have to be paired with a particular House Die. Saved dice can be targeted in future rolls. Inactive Ninjas can't save dice.
5. Reroll! Go back to step 2. You can keep rerolling until...
6. End Turn. Your turn ends when one of 3 things happens:
   • a. You beat the House! If you are able to match one Skill icon per House icon, the House is beaten and you collect your coin reward. The coin reward is 1 bronze coin per House Die (not including Location Card symbols). Also, keep the Location Card.
   • b. 4 Hourglasses lock! As soon as 4 Hourglasses have been rolled, you've run out of time! You collect , even if you just rolled what you needed to beat the House.

Example

In the picture above, the Assassin is the Active Ninja.

• Spy: Facing the wrong way! This die targets nothing.
• Firebrand: His ability only affects House Dice. He places a Fire Token on the Double Resident so that die is worth nothing.
• Chain Specialist: She can't target the Active Ninja because he rolled a Block. She uses her Arrow ability to steal from Trickster.
• Trickster: Ouch! Since she's targeting the Firebrand she loses one coin. She copies the Chain Specialist and uses her die as an Arrow. She gets the full 180 degrees of targeting from her Kage Die, so she steals from the Firebrand. Payback!
• Assassin: Oh no, an Hourglass! He locks the red Threat Die from the bank. He loses one coin because his Fortune targets the Firebrand. He uses his Fortune to multiply his Wild by 4 to beat all 4 Guards and Residents, and then with his Lockpick he beats the House!

Playing without Location Cards

Keep it simple. Just roll the House Dice and collect a bonus reward if you beat the whole House!

• Round 1: 4 Dice, 1 coin bonus
• Round 2: 5 Dice, 2 coin bonus
• Round 3: 6 Dice, 3 coin bonus

Ending the Game

After 3 rounds, count up how much treasure you have, including the coin reward from any Location Cards you defeated (shown in the top right corner of the card). Whoever has the most treasure is the winner!

Targeting Dice

Some dice icons can target other dice. Look at the line on the die. Extend that line out forever, all the way across the table. Any die on the other side of that line can be targeted by that die. Choose one die to target. If the line intersects a die, it still counts.

The Fortune can target dice within the highlighted area.

How to Beat the House

Match one Skill icon per House icon. Use multipliers to beat many House icons at once! Once all the House icons have been matched with a Skill icon that can beat them, you beat the House and collect your coin reward!

House Dice

6 black dice, white icons (printed as "white cons."). The House of Samurai.

Coin values: 1, 5, and 10.

Difference between Guard and Resident? Imagine the Guards and Residents are in separate rooms. You can Sneak past them all, or you can Fight 'em all. You can Fight the Guards and Sneak past the Residents, or vice versa. BUT, you can't Sneak past some Guards and Fight others. They'll catch you! Same goes for Residents. You need to use the same Skill for the same group of people.

House Dice icons and what beats them:

• Lock: Beat with a Lockpick.
• Guard: Beat with a Sneak or a Fight.
• Resident: Beat with a Sneak or a Fight.
• 2x Guard/Resident: Requires 2 Skills to beat, still worth 1 coin.

Skill Dice

5 white dice, black icons. Ninja skills beat Samurai!

Skill Dice icons and what they beat:

• Lockpick: Beats a Lock.
• Fight: Beats a Guard or Resident.
• Sneak: Beats a Guard or Resident.
• Wild: Counts as either a Lockpick, Fight, OR Sneak. You can change what it counts as at any time.
• Fortune: Awesome. x4 Multiplier for a targeted die that you rolled. Can't be saved unless it's paired with a targeted die. If the targeted die is rerolled or moved, the Fortune must be rerolled. 2 Fortunes count as x8, 3 is x12, and so on.

Difference between Fight and Sneak? A bonus coin! Honorable ninjas, ones who don't kill anyone, are rewarded with one bronze coin for beating a House without using Fight. So choose Sneak if you have the choice!

Threat Dice

4 white dice, orange, dark blue, dark green, and red icons. Set these aside. You'll only use them to show locked Hourglasses. Their icons also appear on the Skill and Kage Dice.

Threat Dice icons:

• Block: Stops all opponent's dice from targeting any of your dice this roll. Can't be saved.
• Hourglass: Time is ticking! Take a Threat Die from the bank and place it next to the House. That Hourglass is locked!
• Arrow: Steal one coin from the roller of a targeted die. Can't be saved.

An arrow steals a bronze coin... but a sneaky ninja might get away with more. Don't get caught! If the owner of the coin catches you in the act of stealing more, you must give it back and you don't get anything. If you only steal a bronze coin you don't have to give it back.

Kage Dice

5 white dice with colored icons. Unique kage abilities! When it says "OR", you must choose one of the two abilities.

• Poison: Lock one Poison Token to a targeted House Die to Fight all Guards and Residents on that die. Immediately collect its reward. It has no reward after. OR Counts as an Arrow.
• Chain: Counts as a 2x multiplier when saved with a targeted Fight or Hourglass. OR Counts as an Arrow. The chain icon shown has only 90° targeting.
• Fire: Lock a Fire Token to one targeted House Die. That die has no reward. Fire Tokens count as one Wild on your turn. AND Anyone targeting this die returns one coin to the bank, even if they rolled a Block.
• Bribe: Lock a coin from the bank to count as a Bribe Token on targeted House Die. Double or halve that die's reward. You earn half that reward on other players' turns, if they beat the die. Round down. OR Counts as an Arrow.
• Mimic: Copy a targeted Kage Die's ability, using the targeting area of this die. OR Reroll targeted Hourglass. You use the effects of that die instead of its original roller.

Elite Training

Optional advanced rules for experienced ninjas.

Any spot on a Location Card or character card with a Skill or Kage icon is an elite training spot. Any time after everyone rolls, spend a coin to cover that spot on your card. Change one die you rolled to match the icon on the spot. The die must have that icon on it. You can only use each spot once per game. You can only use elite training on Location Cards after you beat them. You can't move the die, but you may rotate it.

The sheet's Ashikaga Armories (KM #11) diagram illustrates the PAY and CHANGE steps described above.