Quest Cards
Quest Cards Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Players and Goal
Conquer the challenges of a thrilling quest and complete a daring mission while developing skills and collecting magical items. One to eight players may either compete against each other or work cooperatively.
Set Up
To assemble the game, place 93 cards into plastic sleeves and tear apart the perforated card to create 8 player tokens.
STEP 1: Players must provide a die or counters to track their Health points and two six-sided dice for rolling.
STEP 2: Each player chooses a Character card (starting with 6 Health points) along with its associated Skill card (starting at Level 1) and token. See diagram below.
Component diagram labels: Token; Character; Associated Skill; Skill Card; Skill Level; Starting Health.
STEP 3: Players choose an adventure described below and place their tokens in a "Start" space.
Adventures
Mox's Mansion
Defeat Mox Darkdabbler & destroy his evil experiments.
Challenge Rating: 1.5
Story: The people of Hallowtown are being terrorized by evil beings, which are created, housed, and commanded from Mox's dark mansion abode. Can you rid the good town of this evil menace?
Winner: Most Quest Points wins.
Reward(s):
- 10 Quest Points (QPs) = a 14 Item
- 5 QPs = a 13 Item
- 3 QPs = a 12 Item
Cards: 25 with a purple brick background; 5 x 5 square.
Special: All Starts and Exits are adjacent.
Board diagram: 25 face-down cards in a 5 x 5 square, with a Start/Exit space at each of the four corners.
Hoot Spook Mountain
Reach the far side of the mountain pass and return.
Challenge Rating: 3.0
Story: Tressa the Gypsy, needs a special delivery from a friend living on the other side of Hoot Spook Mountain, and she will reward anyone who can help her. With instructions in hand, you begin a long trek across a high and narrow mountain pass.
Winner: First to move from Start to opposite end and back.
Reward: a 15 item for the first player to return from the other side of Hoot Spook Mountain.
Cards: 24 with a green forest background; 3 x 8 rectangle.
Special: If during gameplay the path is completely blocked by Dead Ends, simply remove the last Dead End revealed.
Board diagram: 24 face-down cards in a 3 x 8 rectangle, with Start/Exit spaces around the outside of the grid.
Player Turn Summary
Each player's turn has the following phases.
Organize Phase: If the player's Character possesses Items, he may choose one Enchanted Implement and one Enchanted Adornment to Wield this turn and may also use one Magical Utility Item (discard after use). See diagram.
Diagram labels: Wielded Item; Unwielded Magical Utility Item; Treasure Values.
Move Phase (optional): The player may attempt to move horizontally and vertically in any combination to an occupied space on the gameboard by turning that card face up.
- If the card is a Dead End or Quest Card, then follow the card's instructions and go to the End Turn Phase.
- If the card is a Foe, then make an Ambush Roll; if it's an Obstacle, make a Surprise Roll. Go to the Engage Phase.
Any number of unoccupied, adjacent spaces may be traversed freely to reach any space. Player's tokens may share the same space at any time.
Engage Phase: If the Ambush/Surprise Roll succeeds then the player may Bypass and end their turn; otherwise, he must Defeat the Foe/Obstacle on the card or Retreat/Escape from it. (See THE DICE ROLLS for details.)
End Turn Phase: The player moves his gameboard Token, as required (see THE DICE ROLLS). If he has Defeated a Foe or Obstacle, he makes a Treasure Check (see DEFEATING A FOE OR OBSTACLE). Play then passes to the next player.
The Dice Rolls
During the Engage Phase, all actions require a Roll of two dice. If the result is higher than the number printed on the symbols (Vigilance, Ferocity, Prowess, Concealment, Lethality, or Difficulty), then it Succeeds.
Symbol key: Vigilance (green square); Ferocity (grey shield); Prowess (brown shape); Concealment (red circle); Lethality (blue square); Difficulty (yellow diamond). Foe cards also print Morale and Obstacle cards print Stages, both shown as a white die; Level is the bottom number.
Rolls Against Foes (Creatures or Monsters)
Foe card labels: Title; Type; Vigilance; Ferocity; Prowess; Morale; Level.
Ambush Roll vs Vigilance: when a player turns a Foe face up, he immediately makes an Ambush Roll.
- Succeed (player's advantage): player chooses to either Bypass or reduce Foe's Morale by one point & Attack Roll.
- Fail (Foe's advantage): player makes a Defense Roll and then chooses to either Attack Roll or Retreat Roll.
- Tie (Foe engages player): player chooses to either Attack Roll or Retreat Roll.
Defense Roll vs Ferocity: perform only when required.
- Succeed (player avoids injury): Health is unaffected.
- Fail or Tie (player is wounded): reduce Health by one.
Attack Roll vs Prowess: try to defeat your Foe.
- Succeed (player daunts Foe): player reduces Morale by one and chooses to either Attack Roll again or Retreat Roll.
- Fail (Foe wins skirmish): player makes a Defense Roll and then chooses to either Attack Roll again or Retreat Roll.
- Tie (dangerous skirmish): player reduces Foe's Morale by one point, makes a Defense Roll, and then chooses to either Attack Roll again or Retreat Roll.
Retreat Roll vs Vigilance or Prowess: compare a Retreat Roll to the symbol that provides the best result.
- Succeed (player gets away): player returns the Foe card to a face down position and ends his turn.
- Fail (player can't get away): player makes a Defense Roll and then chooses to either Retreat Roll again or Attack Roll.
- Tie (dangerous Retreat): player makes a Defense Roll, returns the Foe card to face down, and ends his turn.
Rolls Against Obstacles (Hazards or Traps)
Obstacle card labels: Title; Type; Concealment; Lethality; Difficulty; Stages; Level.
Surprise Roll vs Concealment: when a player turns an Obstacle face up, he immediately makes a Surprise Roll.
- Succeed (player's advantage): player chooses to either Bypass or reduce Stages by one and Remove Roll.
- Fail (player is surprised): player makes a Saving Roll and then chooses to either Remove Roll or Escape Roll.
- Tie (Obstacle engaged): player chooses to either Remove Roll or Escape Roll.
Saving Roll vs Lethality: perform only when required.
- Succeed (player avoids injury): Health is unaffected.
- Fail or Tie (player is wounded): reduce Health by one.
Remove Roll vs Difficulty: try to remove the Obstacle.
- Succeed (player clears a Stage): player reduces Stages by one and chooses to Remove Roll again or Escape Roll.
- Fail (player has a mishap): player makes a Saving Roll and chooses to either Remove Roll again or Escape Roll.
- Tie (dangerous progress): player reduces Obstacle's Stages by one point, makes a Saving Roll, and then chooses to either Remove Roll again or Escape Roll.
Escape Roll vs Concealment or Difficulty: compare an Escape Roll to the symbol that provides the best result.
- Succeed (player gets away): player returns the Obstacle card to a face down position and ends his turn.
- Fail (player can't get away): player makes a Saving Roll and chooses to either Escape Roll again or Remove Roll.
- Tie (dangerous Escape): player makes a Saving Roll, returns the Obstacle card to face down, and ends his turn.
Modifying a Dice Roll
If a roll does not succeed on it's own, then a player's Skills and Wielded Items can affect the outcome. When a natural Roll lands in the range of white, italicized numbers, then the roll is interrupted; simply play-out the effect described. For Skills and Items, a player will either automatically Succeed (S) or be allowed a Reroll (R+x). For a Reroll, add only the R+x bonus to the result to determine Success. Rerolls cannot be interrupted.
If the natural Roll does not land in the range of white, italicized numbers, then simply add appropriate bonuses (i.e., +1 to Attack Rolls) from Skills and Wielded Items to improve the result. A Roll (or Reroll) of Double-ones always Fails and a Roll (or Reroll) of Double-sixes always Succeeds. Furthermore, when Double-sixes are Rolled (not Rerolled), once per turn an old wound feels better (increase Health by one), and once per game a Skill Level increases by one. A Skill Level increase is allowed only if the player is facing a Foe or Obstacle of a higher Level than the current Skill Level.
Note that some Foes or Obstacles have Special Abilities that can cause a failure, or worse. Whenever a natural Roll lands in the range of white, italicized numbers, then the roll is interrupted with one or more of the following effects:
- F: Failure: the Roll fails regardless of bonuses; Failure is often combined with other special abilities.
- H: Hindrance: cumulative -1 penalty to all Rolls and Rerolls for the rest of a player's turn.
- E: End Turn: make required Defense/Saving Rolls, and return card face down. The Foe/Obstacle isn't defeated, even if Morale/Stages had reached zero. Go to End Turn Phase.
- I: Discard an Item: count the number of items possessed; roll one die to determine which item is immediately discarded; if the result is higher than the number of items possessed, no items are discarded.
- *: Spell Resistance: all Rerolls incur the indicated penalty.
Bypass or Retreat/Escape
When Bypassing a Foe or Obstacle, a player places the card face down, puts his Token on top of it, and ends his turn. This Bypassed card is considered an Empty Space for only that player until he moves from that Space. After a successful Retreat/Escape, a player places the card face down and ends his turn -- he leaves his Token in the space from which he attempted to move. If this Foe or Obstacle is encountered again on a future turn, its Morale or Stages will always start at its maximum value.
Defeating a Foe or Obstacle
If Morale or Stages becomes zero, then a player removes the card from the gameboard and places his Token on the now empty space. In addition, the player makes a Treasure Check -- roll the dice and add the Level of the Foe/Obstacle to the result. If the result is 12 or higher, then a magical Item has been found. The player randomly picks an Item of the same value as the Treasure Check and places it with his Character. Only one side of the Item card is in use; the other side is out-of-play. A Character may possess a maximum of six Item cards at any time; any extra cards are discarded.
Ending the Game
If a player can trace a path of adjacent empty spaces to any Exit during his Move Phase, then he may remove his token from the gameboard and end his game. A player may choose his Rewards (if any) out of all available unclaimed Items; therefore, Reward Items are not randomly drawn (as they are for a Treasure Check). Once a player has Exited, his Character may retain all Skill Levels and Items; these may be used to begin another game. Alternately, if any player's Character reaches zero Health or less, then his game is over and his Character is eliminated.
Advanced Rules
For additional details or an example of play, visit www.questcards.us
Secondary Skills
Characters may develop two Skills: a Primary Skill (starts at Level 1) and a Secondary Skill (starts at Level 0). A player must declare his Secondary Skill when it reaches Level 1 by choosing a new skill card and placing it under his Character card. When Double-sixes are Rolled (not Rerolled), only one Skill (currently lower than the Foe or Obstacle Level) may increase per game. Furthermore, the Primary Skill Level must always be higher than or equal to the Secondary Skill Level.
Double-Sixes Abuse
Players might abuse the game by Bypassing (or Attacking and then Retreating from) the same Foe or Obstacle over and over again in the hopes of Rolling Double-sixes. When any player accuses another player of this type behavior, the benefits of rolling Double-sixes are denied.
Becoming Knocked Out
When a Character's Health reaches zero or less, that player becomes Knocked Out until Rescued. If the Foe/Obstacle was not Defeated, put the card face down and place the Knocked Out player's Token on top of the card (another player must Defeat the Foe/Obstacle before a Rescue can be made). If at any time another player's Token occupies that same space, then that player may elect to perform a Rescue by Dragging the Knocked Out Character with them when they move. A player incurs a cumulative -1 penalty to all Rolls and Rerolls for each Knocked Out Character he is Dragging. A Rescuer is the protector of the Knocked Out Character and acts as that player's advocate as needed.
A Knocked Out Character instantly loses one Skill Level, and for every additional turn that a Rescuer is not present, that player must discard one item or lose one more Skill Level. If a player's Character loses all Items and Skill Levels, then his game is over and his Character is eliminated. During the Organize Phase, a Rescuer may use one Magical Utility Item (of his or the Knocked Out Character's) to heal a Character they are Dragging (see SHARING MAGICAL UTILITY ITEMS). A Knocked Out Character is assumed to have zero Health; after healing, if a Character has one or more Health, then play proceeds as usual -- the Rescue was successful!
Trading Items
During the Organize Phase, a player may agree to trade any Items with any player who occupies the same space as his. Also, a player who's Character occupies the same Empty space as a Knocked Out Character may take or trade any Item from the Knocked Out Character at will (unless a Rescuer also occupies the same space and acts as an advocate).
Adventuring Groups
During a player's Organize Phase he may invite other players occupying the same space to join him in a Group and move together on that player's turn. All members in a group take their turns together by using Group Phases and Group Rolls described below.
Group Turn Summary
Group Organize Phase: Each member chooses one Implement and one Adornment to Wield this turn and may also use one Magical Utility Item. Players who form a Group always share the same space. When a player chooses to leave the Group, he will take his Turn after the remaining Group members (if any) take theirs. Leaving can occur during the Group Organize Phase or Group Engage Phase.
Group Move Phase (optional): The Group may attempt to move horizontally or vertically in any combination to an occupied space on the gameboard by turning that card face up. Any number of unoccupied, adjacent spaces may be traversed freely to reach any space. The Group's tokens should move together. Any Group member who turns a card over automatically forces the entire Group to move there.
- If the card is a Dead End or Quest Card, simply follow the directions printed on the card.
- If the card is a Foe or Obstacle, make a Group Ambush/Surprise Roll and go to the Group Engage Phase.
Group Engage Phase: If the Group Ambush/Surprise Roll Succeeds and the Group chooses to Bypass the Foe/Obstacle, then they end their turn; otherwise they must Group Attack/Remove, or Group Retreat/Escape.
Group End Turn Phase: The Group places their Tokens in the appropriate space. If the Group has Defeated a Foe or Obstacle, they make only one Treasure Check. Play passes to the next Group or player.
Group Rolls
Group Ambush/Surprise Rolls: All members make an Ambush/Surprise Roll. If any member Succeeds, he may Warn one other member. Warning a member whose result was a Tie, improves that member's result to a Success. Warning a member whose result was a Fail, improves that member's result to a Tie. Each member may only recieve one Warning. After Warnings, if all members Succeed, then the result is a Group Success. Else, treat the final result as a Group Tie where any member who Failed their Ambush/Surprise Roll must make a Defense/Saving Roll.
Group Attack Rolls: In a Group Attack each member makes an Attack Roll in turn, by any order the Group decides. The Group Attack is over when any one member's Attack Roll results in a Success or when all members have Tied or Failed (Defense Rolls required). Alternately, a member may make a Retreat Roll on their turn instead of an Attack Roll; unless the Retreat Roll Fails, he leaves the Group and ends his turn (see Group Organize Phase).
Group Remove Rolls: Group Removes are executed in a similar manner as Group Attacks.
Group Retreat/Escape Rolls: All members make a Retreat/Escape Roll. If any member Succeeds, he may Warn one other member. Warning a member whose result was a Tie, improves that member's result to a Success. Warning a member whose result was a Fail, improves that member's result to a Tie. Each member may only recieve one Warning. After Warnings, members who Tie or Fail their Retreat/Escape Roll must make a Defense/Saving Roll. Also, members who Fail their Retreat/Escape Roll are still Engaged and other members may choose to stay Engaged with them.
Sharing Magical Utility Items
During the Organize phase, when a player uses a Magical Utility Item, he may share healing or bonuses among any number of players whose Tokens occupy the same space as his. However, one point is spent each time the healing or bonuses are transferred. For example, if 6 points of healing are available, the player may use 1 point for themselves, give another player 3 points (1 for transfer and 2 points for healing), and give a third player the last 2 points (1 for transfer and 1 point for healing). This results in 2 points used for transfers and 4 points of total healing.
Optional Rules
For additional details or an example of play, visit www.questcards.us
Simultaneous Defense/Saving Rolls
To speed up the game, players may Roll two pairs of dice, with one pair designated as primary. If the result of the primary Roll (or Reroll) is a Failure or a Tie, then the second pair of dice will instantly determine the Defense/Saving Roll result. Otherwise, ignore the second pair of dice.
Dynamic Gameboard
If a player rolls a Treasure Check of natural 4 or less, then he may choose any one Foe or Obstacle that has been removed from the gameboard and place it any available empty space -- including the one just emptied.
Assaulting Other Players
If during the Move Phase, a player moves his Token so as to occupy the same space as another player, he may Assault the other player to cause injury or steal an Item.
To attempt injury, the Assailant makes an Attack Roll versus the Defender's Defense Roll. The Assault instantly Fails if the Defender Rolls an automatic Success (S) or Double-sixes; otherwise the Assault will Succeed if the Attack Roll is an automatic Success (S) or Double-sixes, or if the final value of the Attack Roll (or Reroll) is greater than the final value of the Defense Roll (or Reroll). If the Assault Succeeds, the Defender looses one Health, else nothing happens. Either way, the Assailing player ends his turn.
Following the same process, if the Assailant attempts to steal an Item, he makes a Remove Roll instead of an Attack Roll and the Defender makes a Saving Roll instead of a Defense Roll. If the Assault Succeeds, then the Assailant may take one of the Defender's Items and end his turn.
All specific bonuses (i.e., +3 Bonus to a Roll vs Hazards) are cut in half, round down. Neither the Defender nor Assailant receives the benefit of healing an old wound or increasing a Skill Level if they roll Double-sixes.
Custom Adventures
Multiple sets of Quest Cards can be combined. Furthermore, Quest Masters can design adventures by organizing or creating unique new cards and adventures. Visit the Quest Cards website (www.questcards.us) for more details.