Shy Monsters Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• General Information
• Contents
• Object of the Game
• Setup
• How to Play a Round
• 1. Dungeon Master Phase
  • 1. Comfort Zone
  • 2. Fear of Others
• 2. Hero Phase
• 3. Storey Destruction Phase
• End of the Game
• Credits

General Information

• Age: 10+
• Playing time: 10 - 20 minutes
• Number of players: 2

Contents

• 11 Dungeon tiles (1 Entrance tile + 3 Corridor tiles + 1 Exit tile + 6 Monster tiles)
• 1 Hero token
• 2 Skill tiles (Attack and Jump)
• 2 Reference tiles

Object of the Game

The Dungeon Master must kill the Hero by using his Monster tiles. The Hero must escape from the dungeon by using cleverly his 2 Skill tiles.

Setup

Dungeon Master:

• Shuffle the 6 Monster tiles so as to create a face down pile.
• Take the 3 Corridor tiles and the Exit tile to create your hand.
• Place the Entrance tile in the centre of the table.
• Place a Reference tile in front of you.

Hero:

• Line up the 2 Skill tiles and a Reference tile in front of you.
• Place the Hero token on the Entrance.

How to Play a Round

1. Dungeon Master phase
2. Hero phase
3. Storey Destruction phase

Play phases 1 to 3 (in this order) 3 times, i.e. once per dungeon storey. By the end of the 3 storeys, if the Hero is still alive, he wins the game. If he has died, whatever the storey, the Dungeon Master is the winner.

1. Dungeon Master Phase

During this phase, the Dungeon Master's object is to place the current storey's tiles such that the Hero moves to a tile on which a Monster is hidden. To do so, he draws 2 Monster tiles, which he adds to his hand. Thus, he has a 6-Dungeon-tile hand (1 Exit + 3 Corridors + 2 Monsters), that will allow him to build the first storey of his dungeon.

The storey-building rules are as follows:

• The tiles must all be placed face down.
• The tiles must all be connected to each other, Entrance included (diagonally-placed tiles are not considered as connected).

The Dungeon Master can place the Monsters anywhere on the storey. But unfortunately, they are extremely shy... to get over it and attack the Hero, the 2 following requirements must be met:

1. Comfort Zone

To find the courage needed to attack the Hero, a Monster must be in the room of the dungeon where he feels comfortable.

The Reference tile diagrams show what tile arrangements each Monster prefers. If the Dungeon Master draws the opposite tiles, he can get the Monsters to be active by placing them in these rooms. The diagrams show:

• Location of the Monster.
• There must be a Dungeon tile on these spaces.
• There must be no Dungeon tile on these spaces.

Note that:

• The Entrance tile is a Dungeon tile, and can be used as such in the diagram's arrangement, similarly as the other Dungeon tiles (Corridor, Exit, and Monster).
• The diagram shown on the tile is always legal, whatever its orientation.
• The parts of the diagram showing no elements (neither a coloured square nor a cross) can be occupied by a Dungeon card or not, according to the Dungeon Master's will.

2. Fear of Others

The Monsters are afraid of each other. If 2 Monsters are placed next to each other, the first Monster revealed acts according to the normal rules, but the second one panics and does not attack the Hero. The Monsters are considered as next to each other when their tiles share a common border.

If a Monster is placed in a space that does not meet one of the two requirements above, he is considered as inactive.

It is important to note that a Monster can be placed, willingly or not, on a space that does not respect one or both of these 2 requirements. The only consequence for the Dungeon Master will be a lost chance to kill the Hero.

Apart from the storey-building rules, the Dungeon Master can freely arrange the tiles of his storey. Once he is happy with the arrangement, his phase ends, and the Hero's phase begins.

Notes:

• The Monsters are Dungeon tiles, and can thus be placed in another Monster's diagram.
• If the Hero kills a Monster, and if another Monster is then revealed next to him, the second Monster panics, horrified by the first Monster's body. (Example: the Hero attacks and kills the Monster. The second Monster panics because of the first Monster's body, which allows the Hero to escape.)

2. Hero Phase

During this phase, the Hero's object is to find the Exit without getting killed by a Monster.

The Hero does not have life points: only one attack by an active Monster kills him, putting immediately an end to the game.

Before his first move, the Hero must reveal a number of tiles corresponding to the storey where he currently is:

• 1st storey: 2 tiles
• 2nd storey: 1 tile
• Last storey: 0 tile

When he has revealed the tiles, he can start to move and try to reach the Exit.

To move through one storey, the Hero has 1 basic action and 2 skill actions. The basic action is Explore, and can be played as many times as the player wants to. However, skill actions are EACH limited to one use per storey.

Basic action:

• Explore: the Hero moves by one tile in one of the 4 cardinal directions (he cannot move diagonally), and reveals it if it is face down. If the Hero is in a space occupied by an active Monster, he dies. Do not forget to check that both activation requirements are met before announcing the end of the game.

Skill actions:

1. Attack: the Hero decides to launch an attack on the next tile he will move on. If the tile shows a Monster, the Hero kills him, clearing the way to exploring more tiles. If the tile is empty, nothing happens, and the Hero has lost his Attack skill action for this storey. To show that the Monster is dead, the Hero can leave his Attack tile on the Monster.
2. Jump: the Hero jumps over a Dungeon tile so as to land on the next one. If it shows an active Monster, the Hero dies. Otherwise, he reveals the tile over which he has jumped.

This phase ends when the Hero moves to the Exit tile of the storey.

Notes:

• The Hero can jump in any direction, as long as he jumps over a tile. The Hero can therefore reach, with a jump, a tile placed diagonally to his current tile.
• If an active Monster is revealed, but not killed with an Attack tile, he remains alive. The Hero will have to avoid him, or to kill him to move to his tile.
• The Hero cannot decide to stay on the same storey once he has reached the Exit tile. He must go to the next storey, and cannot discover other tiles.
• The Hero can use his 2 skills at the same time to perform a jump attack.

3. Storey Destruction Phase

As soon as the Hero passes the Exit tile, the storey is destroyed so that the Dungeon Master may start building the next storey.

The revealed Monsters are lined up face up next to the playing area. If 1 or 2 Monsters have not been revealed, the Dungeon Master takes all the unexplored tiles back in his hand, shuffles them, and arranges the non-revealed Monster(s) face down next to the playing area.

Then, the Dungeon Master replaces the Hero token on the Entrance tile, takes the Exit tile as well as the 3 Corridor tiles back in hand, and draws 2 new Monster tiles to start to build the next storey.

The Hero resets his Attack and Jump tiles, so as to get ready to escape from the next storey.

End of the Game

The game ends either when the Hero dies, whatever the storey, or when he escapes from the dungeon by the 3rd storey's exit.

Credits

• Game design: Sandro Dall'Aglio
• Illustrations & graphic design: Christine Alcouffe
• Publisher: Florian Corroyer
• Translator: Pauline Marcel

Thanks to Sonia Godoy, Fabrice Joly, Sébastien Pauchon, Bruno Cathala and all the testers. In memory of my grandmother.