Quest Calendar: The Voidspark Chronicles

Quest Calendar: The Voidspark Chronicles Rulebook

Table of Contents

Further Help

You can always ask questions on Board Game Geek, the Sundial Games Facebook page, the Sundial Games Discord channel, or by email to [email protected].

The Biggest & Most Important Rule

The Quest Calendar is meant to act as a guide (like a game master) for your single-player RPG adventure. This isn't a competitive game, so if a rule doesn't work for you, feel free to change it. Just have fun.

Heroes

You will play as a hero, making decisions for and acting as the main character of the story throughout the year.

Only 1 character will be available for the short prologue. After that, you will be presented with 6 heroes you can choose from.

You will find instructions for creating your own hero, if you choose to do so, at www.SundialGames.com.

Single-Player or Multiplayer

This game was designed as a single-player experience.

Multiple people can play on a single calendar if every player plays separately. By that, we mean your results and rolls do not affect another player. You all fight the same enemies, roll to get past the same guard, buy the same items, collect the same equipment, and hire the same followers, etc. However, we encourage you to alter the internal narrative to suit a party of players.

Character Stats

Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), Constitution (CON), Intellect (INT), Wisdom (WIS), and Charisma (CHA) are bonus modifiers used on various rolls throughout the year.

Your health indicates your hero's vitality. A low health means your hero is close to death. Defense, Attack, and Damage are primarily used in combat but may have other uses while adventuring.

Health (HP): The amount of damage you can take before dying.
Defense (DEF): How difficult it is to be hit by an enemy.
Attack (ATK): The bonus you receive when rolling to hit an enemy.
Damage (DMG): The dice you will roll to see how much damage to apply to enemies.

Heroes have various abilities. Some are skills that give you bonuses to specific rolls; others are used in combat.

Virtue

Virtue is a mechanic that reflects your hero's morality based on your decisions at certain points in the adventure.

Virtue ranges from a negative ten (-10) to positive ten (+10). Every hero will start at 0 (zero).

You may gain or lose Virtue Points with certain decisions. Your Virtue may also affect some heroes' abilities or even bonuses you may receive.

Dice

This Quest Calendar game is played with 7 polyhedral dice + a writing utensil. When asked to make a dice roll, you will see which die to roll indicated with a 'd' followed by the number indicating the sides of the die.

If you are rolling d10, use the single d10 (ranged 0-9). The 0 on a single d10 (ranged 0-9) means 10.

If you are rolling d100, use a d10 (ranged 0-9) and another d10 (range 00-90) and add both results (e.g. "60" + "5" = 65).

Here a 0 on a d10 means 0 (e.g. "70" + "0" = 70 and "00" + "4" = "4"), except when you roll both zeroes (e.g. "00" + "0" = 100).

Dice Rolls

Once you select a character, you will have various stats for that character. Subsequent days will have you make dice rolls and add a modifier based on your character. Example instructions:

Investigate the room. [roll d20 + Intellect]

If your character has a +2 for Intellect, roll the 20-sided die and add +2 to the result. If you get a 15 on the dice roll, add +2 and you will end with a result of 17. (Result total is the number on the d20 die + your Intellect modifier: 15 + 2 = 17.)

Choices

Each day may have a couple of possible options for how you deal with the situation.

If you are meant to choose just one option, you will see the options listed alphabetically such as A, B, C.

If you are meant to do each, they will be listed numerically such as 1, 2, 3.

For example:

A) / B) : Choose to do either A or B.
1. / 2) : Do action 1. Then do action 2.
1. / 2-A) / 2-B) : Do action 1. Then choose to do either 2-A or 2-B.

Resolving the Events of the Day

The resolution for the events of a given day will be on the BACK page of the PREVIOUS DAY.

Do not throw the previous day away until you have used that page to resolve the events of the current day.

Some days contain tokens for items or crew members. Don't cut them out until you resolved the following day.

Example: If on Wednesday, Feb 2, 2023 you are asked to roll an investigation check, you will find out the results of that roll on the back of Tuesday, Feb 1.

Abilities and Reminders

Many abilities can be used outside of combat. Each day will give "Reminders" for abilities that you can use. If you feel you should be able to use an ability but there is no reminder, use your best judgment.

All abilities can be applied after you see the result of your roll so that you can decide if you wish to use the ability to affect that roll.

Abilities can be used either in combat, outside of combat, or both. Look to the symbols next to the ability (in the hero book) to help discern when an ability can be used. There are symbols for: In Combat; Outside of Combat; Both In and Outside of Combat; In Ship Combat (Dogfight).

Per Rest

See the Rest topic below for more info on rests.

These abilities can be used a set number of times between "Rests." When you use one of these abilities, mark it as used. You will need to wait until your character takes a Rest before you can use it again. There are set days where your hero can Rest and you can reset these uses back to zero.

Per Page

When an ability says, "Once per Page," it refers to the "calendar page" such as Friday, January 20th. These abilities can only be used once per page.

Trait boosters, such as Strengthener Rx, affect a stat "per Page," meaning Strengthener Rx will add a d4 bonus to your Strength for all rolls on the calendar page. Remove that bonus on the following page.

You can use multiple trait boosters per page.

Surges & Charges

Some characters have abilities that use a limited resource pool of "surges" or "charges" depending on the hero. (In previous years, some characters used "Spells" and "Chi". These are equivalent and treated the same.)

To use an ability that consumes a Surge/Charge, you must have one available. Once used, mark that it is used on your hero sheet.

Example: The Mystic can use one of her 4 Surges to use the ability Foresight or Regenerate.

You may use any number of such abilities any number of times per page as long as you have the available Surges/Charges.

A Rest will allow you to restore all Surges/Charges.

As the hero grows in level, this resource pool may also grow.

Combat

In a Quest Calendar, you get a set number of rounds to fight.

In each round, you:

Roll Attack (d20 + your Attack modifier)
Roll Damage (Damage dice depends on the hero and level).

If you successfully hit with your Attack and then do enough Damage to the enemy, your hero avoids taking damage that round. If you do not hit or deal enough damage, then your Defense will help reduce incoming damage.

Combat is the same whether fighting multiple enemies or fighting a single enemy over multiple rounds.

When fighting against a single enemy over multiple rounds, when you hit and do enough damage, the text will instead say "the enemy is STUNNED" instead of "the enemy DIES" so it can't damage you on that round.

For abilities, you may decide to use them once you see the outcome of a round (see Combat Difficulty).

Healing in Combat

During combat, a Med Kit item can only be used at the beginning or end of the page, not in the middle of combat rounds. (Icon: Cannot be used in combat between rounds.)

Make sure you have enough health before starting your dice rolls on the page with combat. You can use other items in the middle of combat, such as a Solar Grenade or a Combat Tonic, but not a Med Kit. (Icon: This healing ability can be used in combat between rounds.)

However, you can use any abilities to heal in the middle of a combat page between enemies/rounds, just no items.

Doubling Damage

If you have an ability that allows you to double your Damage, roll twice (roll again and add the results to your first roll).

Damage Modifiers

If you have any modifiers to your Damage (for example +2 from equipment) apply this after your entire roll (and after doubling Damage).

Example A: Damage with a modifier. A single damage die roll (result 7) +2 = 9.

Example B: Doubling damage with a modifier. Two damage die rolls added together, +2 = 16.

Combat Difficulty

You may choose to play in 1 of 3 difficulties for combat:

Standard Mode

Roll dice for ONE entire round at a time before deciding where to use abilities to modify the results for that round. Then proceed to the next round.

Roll Attack and Damage for the round.
See the result for the round.
Decide to use an ability.

For example: Consider the ability Smite: "Once per Page: Add d4 to a Damage roll." Roll both Attack and Damage. You can decide to use Smite once you know your Attack was successful but Damage was not enough to kill the enemy. You can decide not to use this if your Attack was not successful.

If you use an ability that ………. (sentence unfinished in the source)

Easy Mode

Roll dice for ALL rounds before deciding where to use abilities to modify the results of the entire page of combat.

Roll Attack and Damage for all rounds.
See the outcome of all rounds.
Decide which abilities are more useful for any round.

This allows you to decide which rounds to use any of your abilities on to maximize their effectiveness and minimize the Damage you will receive.

Hard Mode

Make each roll in a round and decide whether or not to use an ability before making the next roll.

Roll Attack.
See if your attack hits.
Decide to boost the attack.
Roll Damage.
Decide to boost damage.

Example: After rolling Attack and upon seeing it does not hit, decide if you wish to boost that Attack before rolling Damage.

Conditions and Afflictions

There are several conditions that can be afflicted upon your hero. The calendar will indicate when this occurs.

INFECTED

If you are Infected: At the end of each calendar page, including the page you become Infected, roll d20 + Constitution. If the result is 10 or less, reduce your health by 1. If the result is 11 or more, you take no damage but are still Infected and must roll again on the next page.

You can cure Infected by an Antidote or by taking a Rest. If you die and are resurrected, you are no longer Infected.

Becoming Infected while you are already Infected has no effect; you remain Infected.

MALFUNCTION

If you are experiencing a Malfunction: When asked to roll for one of your hero's traits (example: d20 + Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Intellect, or Charisma), make this roll twice and take the lesser result among the two rolls.

This condition is removed during a Rest or if you consume a 'Repair Kit.' If you die and are resurrected, you will no longer be experiencing a Malfunction.

Becoming Malfunctioned while you are already Malfunctioned has no effect; you remain Malfunctioned.

FRIGHTENED

Getting Frightened can occur from specific enemies. The calendar will indicate when this occurs, and you will roll d20 + Wisdom to check against getting Frightened for that round.

If your Wisdom roll is less than the target number, you are Frightened for that round. You must then reroll your Attack and take the new result only if it is smaller. This effect will only last for the single round where you become Frightened.

RESTRAINED

Getting Restrained can occur from specific enemies. The calendar will indicate when this occurs and you will roll d20 + Dexterity to check against getting Restrained for that round.

If your Dexterity roll is less than the target number, you are Restrained for that round. You are then unable to make an Attack or Damage roll for that round. This effect will only last for the single round where you become Restrained.

WEAKENED

Getting Weakened can occur from specific enemies. The calendar will indicate when this occurs and you will roll d20 + Strength to check against getting Weakened for that round.

If your Strength roll is less than the target number, you are Weakened for that round. If you take Damage in that round, the Damage will be doubled. This effect will only last for the single round where you become Weakened.

CONFUSED

Getting Confused can occur from specific enemies. The calendar will indicate when this occurs, and you will roll d20 + Intellect to check against getting Confused for that round.

If your Intellect roll is less than the target number, you are Confused for that round. You must then reroll your Damage and take the result if it is smaller. Effectively, you must roll your Damage twice and take the smallest result between the two. This effect will only last for the single round where you become Confused.

Pickpocket

Throughout the calendar, there are some days where you can steal from a non-enemy character.

Reminders for the Pickpocket ability are noted by an icon. These icons may not always be easy to find as they will be hidden on the page. Keep an eye out for them.

If you spot this icon, roll d4 to gain that much in credits. On a result of 4, you also lose 1 Virtue Point. You can choose not to receive the 4 credits so you don't lose the Virtue.

No abilities, equipment, inventory item, or other roll bonus can affect the Pickpocket roll. The exception is the Smuggler's Pickpocket ability. This improves the amount of credits you can receive.

Extra Attack + Damage

If you have an ability that allows you to make an extra Attack and Damage roll (together), it allows you to repeat the round's attack and damage roll before your hero takes any damage.

If your second attack hits, add the extra damage to any damage you may have done in your first round. It is useful if your original attack didn't land, or if your first damage roll was not enough to kill the enemy.

Dealing with Death

Sometimes, the dice can be unforgiving with the fate of your hero. It is likely that at some point along your journey, your hero's health gets reduced to zero (0). The adventure must go on. You can be resurrected via a clone, but cloning comes at a price. Bring your current health to half of your max value, rounded up. Then roll a d4:

Result of 1: Cloning is expensive. Lose half (50%) your credits, rounded up. If you have none, reroll the d4 again.

Result of 2: Suffer a Physical Injury. Roll a d10:

1: Reduce your Strength by 1.
2: Reduce your Dexterity by 1.
3: Reduce your Constitution by 1.
4: Reduce your Intellect by 1.
5: Reduce your Wisdom by 1.
6: Reduce your Charisma by 1.
7: Reduce your Max Health by 2.
8: Reduce your Defense by 1.
9: Reduce your Attack by 1.
10: Take a -1 penalty to all Damage rolls.

Since these injuries can be restored, note the injury down on your hero sheet. Use the dot in each trait/stat to indicate an injury, or use the sticker in the hero book.

A single Physical Injury can be removed during a Rest. These may also be removed by an item called a Wound Sealant, or through certain hero abilities. Use a Wound Sealant item to restore the stats/traits from an injury.

Result of 3: Your body was looted while you were being cloned. Sacrifice one of your equipment items. If you do not have one, roll the d4 again.

Result of 4: A new experimental cloning procedure works well. You are cloned successfully, but it was done in haste and you aren't feeling well. Mark all "Use per Rest" abilities as used until your next Rest.

If you wish for a more difficult game, you may choose a new hero if you die and roll a result of 4 on the d4. Choose a new hero at the same level but without the equipment your previous hero had accumulated.

Once you have been resurrected, bring your current health to half of your max value, rounded up and remove any Infected or Malfunction conditions and resume the next encounter of the day with your modified character stats.

A single Physical Injury can be removed during a Rest. These may also be removed by an item called a Wound Sealant, or through certain hero abilities.

Rest

There will be designated days when your character will get to Rest and recover from their journey. On these days:

Restore your health to full.
Regain all expended uses of abilities.
Regain all Charges, Spell, Chi, and Surge points.
Remove the Infected condition and the Malfunction condition.
Change your equipment if you desire. You can't have 2 of the same item types (ring, gloves, etc.) equipped at the same time.
Remove a single negative modifier caused from a previous death. If you have a Physical Injury against both Strength and Attack, pick one to restore. If you died twice and got a Physical Injury to Strength both times, fully restore your Strength.

Level Up

There are certain days when your hero will have gained enough experience to improve their traits, abilities, health, etc. On these days, you will be instructed on how to adjust your hero.

In addition to new abilities, you will also have 2 points to allocate however you choose to your hero's traits: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intellect, Wisdom, or Charisma.

Example A: You could increase Strength by +2.

Example B: You could increase Strength by +1 and Dexterity by +1.

When you level up, you do NOT get a Rest.

Any additional uses of abilities you gain can be used but don't refresh any expended uses.

Increase your current health by the same amount of max health you gain for that level. For example, if your max health is 20 but you have taken 10 points of Damage, your current health will be 10. If you level up and gain 4 health for your new level, your max health will be 24 while your current health will be 14.

If you have the companion Hero Book, turn the page to the hero's next level to see the additional abilities you have acquired (make sure to copy over your current credits, injuries, stats and trait adjustments, per rest uses, and other notes).

Shops

Throughout the campaign, you will visit shops where you can make purchases of items that can help you on your journey. Use credits that you have accumulated to make these purchases.

You may sell items back to the shop ONLY if they are selling that same item. You must sell it for the same price the current shop sells it for. If you move on from the shop but regret that you did not purchase something, you must wait to make purchases until another day, when you visit another shop.

Debt

Throughout the campaign, you are sometimes required to pay credits to get past an obstacle (to gain entry to a city, receive information, etc.). If you do not have enough, you must go into debt (negative). When this happens, you also take an additional -2 credit penalty.

For example, if you must pay 5 credits for a bribe but you only have 3 credits remaining in your inventory, you must go into debt with a negative -4 (3 minus 5 minus an additional 2 credits for going into debt). You must pay your debt back as you acquire more gold.

Starting credits	Must pay	Result	Debt Penalty	Final Credits
3	5	= -2	-2	= -4

You cannot go into debt to make optional purchases, such as at a market to buy Meal Rations.

You do not go into debt if someone steals more credits from you than you have.

Equipment

You will come across items in your adventure which will give you great benefits. You can equip only one of each type (helmet, boots, shield, etc.) to your hero at a time.

You can switch these out when you take a Rest and on the days when you acquire a new piece of equipment. If you should die, one of these items will be taken from you if you roll a '3' on a d4 (see 'Dealing with Death'). We have a special Equipment Page available in the Hero Book and on our website (www.SundialGames.com) that you can use to keep track of these.

Meal Rations and Traveling

Meal Rations (sometimes referred to as Rations) are used to stave off starvation while traveling. If you ever need to consume one or more Meal Rations and do not have enough, reduce your health by 1 for each ration you do not have.

Sunday Lottery

After the prologue, you will have the option to partake in a lottery every Sunday. It is an optional roll where you could gain or lose credits. Each Sunday, you may roll d6:

1 - Lose 2 credits
2 - Lose 1 credit
3 - Gain 1 credit
4 - Gain 2 credits
5 - Gain 3 credits
6 - Gain 4 credits

Do not go into debt for losing credits for the Sunday lottery.

No abilities, equipment, inventory item, or other roll bonus can affect the Lottery roll.

Dogfight

Combat with a ship is called a dogfight. It operates similar to combat but with a few modifications. Ship stats: Aim, Evasion (EVA), Shield (SHD), and Damage.

AIM

Your Aim determines how accurate you are at firing on enemy targets. You will make an Aim roll (d100 + your Aim modifier) and have a chance to hit an enemy before they fire back at you. Unlike in combat, you will not make a separate Damage roll for dogfights. Aim also represents your ability to target a ship with a well-placed strike. A single hit is enough to take out most ships or cause others to go on the defensive.

The Karnack/Fang (ship) has a starting Aim modifier value of +10. This can change with any upgrades and hero abilities you may have.

EVASION (EVA)

Your Evasion determines how skilled you are at avoiding an enemy attack should you miss your Aim roll. Similar to Defense, if your Evasion is higher than the enemy's Aim, you can reduce incoming Damage. If it is lower than the enemy's Aim, you take maximum Damage. Unlike Defense, you will get to roll (d100 + your Evasion modifier) to determine your final Evasion score each round.

The Karnack/Fang (ship) has a starting Evasion modifier value of +10. This can change with any upgrades and hero abilities you may have.

SHIELD (SHD)

Your Shield helps you avoid incoming Damage. When you take Damage in ship combat, you can subtract your Shield value from the Damage. For example, if you are told to take 3 Damage and your Shield value is 1, you will take 2 Damage (3 - 1 = 2).

The Karnack/Fang (ship) has a starting Shield value of 1. This can change with any upgrades and hero abilities you may have.

Ship Damage

The Karnack/Fang ship contains 6 major compartments (1- Engine Room, 2- Bridge, 3- Labs, 4- Weapons, 5- Crew Quarters, and 6- Cargo).

Each of these have an Integrity value that starts at 3. This can change with any upgrades, crew, and hero abilities you may have.

For each point of Damage the ship takes (after subtracting your Shield value), you will roll a d6 to determine which compartment gets hit. Each time a compartment gets hit, reduce the compartment's Integrity by 1. If the Integrity of a compartment ever falls to 0, remove any crew and ship upgrades attached to that compartment as they are destroyed. If further Damage is dealt to a compartment with an Integrity of 0, reduce your hero's health by that much Damage instead.

For example, the ship's current status is:

Engine Room - Integrity = 2
Bridge - Integrity = 3
Labs - Integrity = 2
Weapons - Integrity = 1
Crew Quarters - Integrity = 3
Cargo - Integrity = 2

The ship takes 4 Damage (minus a Shield value of 1) for a total of 3 Damage.

Roll d6 = 1. The Engine Room Integrity gets reduced from 2 to 1.
Roll d6 = 4. The Weapons Integrity gets reduced from 1 to 0. Any crew or upgrades attached to the Weapons room are destroyed. Remove them.
Roll d6 = 4. The Weapons Integrity is at 0. Your hero will take 1 Damage and reduce their health by 1.

Repairing the Ship

The way to restore lost Integrity on a compartment of the Karnack/Fang ship is to use "Ship Parts" or a hero ability.

You can purchase these at various shops in your adventure, and you may find these along your journey as well. Each one is consumed on use. You can't use Ship Parts in the middle of a combat page to restore the ship's Integrity. Make sure you use them before starting your dice rolls on each page.

Crew

There are days when you can hire a crew member to accompany you. Crew members provide your hero with access to abilities your hero might not know, and improved Integrity. You will have to pay an initial fee to hire the crew member. Then assign the crew to a compartment on the ship without a current crew member and with an Integrity value of 1 or higher. Crew members can not move once they are assigned to a compartment. Once the Integrity of the compartment is reduced to 0, the crew member dies and is removed from the ship.

Ship Upgrades

You will come across ship upgrades in your adventure which can give your ship great benefits. You can equip only one upgrade to a compartment. The upgrades will dictate which compartment they can be attached to. You can switch these out when you acquire a new ship upgrade. You can also equip a ship upgrade if you restore the Integrity of a destroyed compartment (one with an Integrity of 0). You may also resell your ship upgrades at full price back to another shop that also sells ship upgrades.