Skull Tales Rulebook

Table of Contents

How to Play
Components
Adventure Phase
Voyage phase
Port Phase
Credits

How to Play

Skull Tales is played through a campaign made up of 10 adventures. Over the course of the campaign, our pirates will explore different islands and towns, they'll sail the Caribbean seas in search of fortunes and treasure, and finally they'll invest their booty in improving their skills and in buying more gear to face new challenges.

Each adventure can be divided into three phases, which represent the different stages that can be found in this pirate universe: Port Phase, Voyage Phase and Adventure Phase.

So the first thing to do is to look in the Adventures Book and find out the starting phase and the instructions you must follow.

The goal of the game group is to successfully complete the campaign across its different adventures. When the group fails on an adventure, it must be repeated from the beginning of the Adventure Phase.

On the other hand, every character's personal goal is to achieve the captaincy. The captain is awarded with numerous and valuable assests before the rest of the group are.

Before starting the campaign, each player must pick a character of his choice. If two or more players pick the same character, resolve this randomly.

Skull Tales can also be played in Solitaire mode. Most of the rules are still applicable to this playing mode. Sometimes will you find a text box, like the one shown below, to emphasize some rules related to Solitaire mode.

Box text like this emphasises some rules related to Solitaire mode.

In Solitaire mode the player must pick a character for the Captain role and three Allies (see page 20, Allied Mode). The first adventure is "The Secret of Captain Jones". It goes straight into the Adventure Phase, therefore this rulebook will start by explaining this phase so it breaks you immediately into Skull Tales.

Components

1 Rulebook
1 Adventure Book
6x Character Sheets (double sided, 6'2" x 3'9")
9x Enemy Sheets (double sided, 6'2" x 3'9")
4x Quick Reference Sheets (double sided, 6'2" x 3'9")
1x Adventure Track (double-sided board, 12" x 7'8")
4x Tiles (double-sided, 10 inch)
16x Tiles (double-sided, 5 inch)
46x Miniatures (plastic resin): Sea Dog, Cutthroat, Lookout, Gunner, Surgeon, Voodoo Shaman; 8x Royal Marines, 2x Officers, 6x Cannibals; 6x Skeletons, 6x Damned, 2x Mummies; 4x Bootbiters, 4x Longshades, 2x Darkclaws
110x Cards: 43x Gear, 5x Legendary items, 25x Exploration, 28x Voyage Event, 9x Magic
127x Tokens: 36x Map tokens, 10x Fallen-Foe, 4x Poison, 11x Door, 10x "No exit", 5x Goal, 8x Throwing weapon, 1x Difficulty Track/Compass, 10x Impact, 1x Morale Track, 1x Zombie, 6x Pirate Squad, 5x Cannon
102x Plastic components: 25x Goods, 8x Sea, 4x Prestige Markers, 12x Destiny, 16x Prestige, 30x Wound, 10x Six-sided dice, 40x plastic Coins

Adventure Phase

Pirates and Enemies

Each character and enemy in the game is represented by a miniature.

Adventure Track

This a numbered track that indicates the progression of the adventure. The more advanced the Adventure Track's counter (Pirate Flag), the less possibilities the players will have to successfully complete the adventure. This board also includes a Difficulty Track for rolls on the adventure's Enemy chart, and a Magic Card Reactivation Countdown (see page 9, Magic Cards).

Tiles

This is the board where characters and enemies perform their actions and movement during the adventure phase.

Map Tokens

These are placed facedown, so players can turn them over to find out the corresponding tile whenever they decide to open up a new path. Tile types include: Island, Cave, Temple, Village, Town, Special.

Destiny Points Markers (DP)

By using these markers, players will be allowed to reroll any dice roll, discard a wound or carry out an extra action of up to 3 Action Points (AP).

Prestige Track clips

These clips are clamped on the right side of the Character sheet to indicate the Prestige Points achieved.

Prestige markers

A Prestige Marker is equivalent to 10 Prestige Points (10PP).

Wound Marker

These must be placed on the character sheet every time they receive a wound, or on the enemies miniatures in order to keep track of how many wounds they've received. These counters can also be used in the Voyage Phase to show the impacts received from other ships and enemies.

Coins

These are used to quantify the character's booty when searching a "Fallen-Foe" token during the adventure.

Copper 1
Silver 5
Gold 10

Fallen-Foe tokens

These tokens must be placed right on the square where an enemy fell in battle, so the enemy can be searched by any characters looking for booty. At the end of the game turn, if there are no characters in a tile with Fallen-Foe tokens, these tokens must be removed. Although you are allowed to cross over a square with this token on it, you are not allowed to end your movement on it. If by any chance the game runs out of these tokens, just don't place any more.

Goal Tokens

For each adventure you must attain several goals. These Tokens are given to the characters as they accomplish these goals. At the end of the Adventure Phase swap the goals achieved for the corresponding Prestige Points value. These points will be indicated on each adventure.

Pirate Flag Token

This is the counter used on the Adventure Track, and also on the Morale Track of the Ship Board.

Door Tokens

11 Open/Closed door tokens (double sided). Only the characters are allowed to open doors.

"Throwing Weapon" Tokens

Place these upon the tile in order to mark the position hit by your weapon.

Difficulty Track/Compass

This marker indicates the difficulty level of the Adventure Phase, and also represents the Compass during the Voyage Phase.

"No exit" token

These must be placed on the exit of a tile when another tile cannot be fitted, in or when it is indicated in the Adventure Book.

Zombie Token

This token represents the zombie that can be raised by the "Voodoo Shaman" when using his zombie spell.

Poison tokens

These must be placed on the character sheet when a character has been poisoned, so it indicates their condition.

Character Sheets

These sheets represent the player's characters. Each sheet includes a pirate archetype with their stats and skills.

Enemy Sheets

These sheets represent the values and skills of the enemies.

Character Sheet reference

Type: Defines the type of character you're playing.
Action Points (AP): These are the points that the character holds to perform actions and movement. Check on the available actions chart on page 11. When a character is injured he loses 1 AP until he completely recovers. Characters can only lose 1 action point due to effects. Ignore any effect indicating you must lose additional AP, if you've already lost one.

Example: The Cutthroat is wounded and loses 1AP. Now she only has 5AP on each turn. During an exploration she finds the "Tormenting Vision" card indicating the loss of 1AP. The Cutthroat will ignore this effect, as she's already lost 1AP previously. Likewise, had the Cutthroat received more wounds, she still would not lose more AP, as the limit of AP loss for a character is one.
Wounds: It is the amount of injures that a character endures before falling KO (see page 18). When being injured, the character will lose 1 AP per turn until all wounds are discarded.
Destiny: These points are one-use Wild Cards. They can be used to reroll a dice roll, discard a wound or gain an extra action of up to 3 AP. These can be used at any moment of the players' turn without AP cost, but the player is only allowed to use 1 DP per turn. Characters cannot exceed the number of DP indicated on their sheet.
Prestige: The Prestige Indicator is placed on position "0" on the right side of the character sheet. When defeating an enemy move upward on the Prestige track as many positions as the enemy sheet indicates. When the track surpasses position "9", set it back on position "0" and gain a Prestige Marker. Once the adventure phase is finished, the player will add the Prestige Points achieved this way to the points gained from other goals fulfilled. This final amount of Prestige Points, in addition to the Charisma obtained, will allow the character to run for the Captaincy of the Ship in the case of a mutiny. Moreover, these points will help you to acquire new skills for your character, as we will see.
CQC (Close Quarter Combat): These are the dice rolled by a character on a Hand to Hand Combat with weapons.
RC (Ranged Combat): These are the dice rolled by a character using firearms or a throwing weapon.
Agility (AG): These are dice rolls used as defence against an enemy attack. It is also used for actions related to the character's Agility stats, such as "Break away" or "Leap".
Strength (ST): These are dice rolls used in weaponless combat (WC). It is also used in actions related to the character's Strength stat, such as "Shove".

Enemy Sheet reference

Movement: How many squares they can move.
Agility, Strength and Intelligence: Just like characters, enemies have these skills to perform their confrontations with characters.
Wounds: Indicates the number of wounds an enemy can endure. When an enemy has received as many wounds as indicated on its sheet, the miniature must be removed and, instead, a Fallen-Foe token should be placed right on the same square where it was defeated.
Prestige: This icon represents the prestige gained by the character defeating this enemy. The player that defeated the enemy should move upward on the Prestige Track as many positions as indicated on this icon.
Initiative: When different types of enemies meet together on the same turn, they should proceed according to the order of initiative indicated on their sheet.
CQC and RC: These are the values used by the enemy when participating in a combat. Some enemies can perform two types of combat actions: Ranged Combat (RC), and Close Quarters Combat (CQC). The rules will determine which one must be used on each occasion.
Skill: Enemies possess one or more skills to be performed during their actions.

6-Sided Dice

Dice will represent the rolls related to skills, combats and events. During the game you will find two types of rolls: Difficulty Roll and Confronted Roll.

Difficulty Roll: On this roll, players will be given a value and a stat to be used to surpass that value.

Example: In an Agility "4" Difficulty Roll we will roll as many dice as indicated on the character's Agility stat; a result of 5 or 6 must be obtained to succeed on the Difficulty roll.

Confronted Roll: In a confronted roll, we will use our indicated stat to beat the opponent's indicated value; at the same time, the opponent must beat our value. Finally, both results are compared and, if the character performing the action scores more successes than his opponent, the action can be carried out. In case of a tie or defeat, the action fails.

Example: The Sea Dog wants to "Shove" the Surgeon. To do so, they carry out a Confronted Roll of Strength vs. Strength against the Surgeon. The Sea Dog's Strength is "3", while the Surgeon's is "2". Therefore, The Sea Dog can roll 3 dice and must surpass "2" (Surgeon strength) to succeed. And the Surgeon can roll 2 dice and must surpass "3" (Sea Dog's strength) to succeed.

Sea Dog: 2, 3 and 5 — Strength: 3 Surgeon: 2 and 4 — Strength: 2

With these rolls, the Sea Dog achieves 2 successes, while the Surgeon only achieves 1 success. Therefore, the Sea Dog can Shove the Surgeon.

Gear Cards

These cards represent the gear and weapons that you can put into play, and their possible effects. Characters will start every mission with their assigned initial gear, and they will be able to improve it during the game session.

Gear cost: This is the price that must be paid when acquiring extra gear that is not included as your initial gear. Some cards show a character icon instead of a coin cost. These cards can only be used by that specific character and cannot be sold out.
Equipped: These cards do not count when calculating the number of cards that your character is allowed to hold during the Adventure Phase.
Gear items.
Hands: Any gear card with one or two hands by the item name indicates that, if you want to use the item, you must hold it with at least one of your hands. For two-handed gear, place it on your primary hand and use the combat stat on the sheet, to be considered as primary hand.
Firearms: This icon indicates that this is a firearm. Once it's been used you must place it facedown to indicate that it's been shot and needs to be reloaded before the next use.
Combat values: All weapons include one or two combat values.
- CQC: This icon indicates that this is a Close Quarter Combat weapon. To use this weapon, characters must be adjacent to the enemy. (See Attack, page 14).
- RC: This icon indicates that this is a Ranged Combat weapon. To use this weapon, characters must have a sight line to the enemy. (See Sight Line, page 14-15)
- Wounds: This stat represents the wounds received by the enemy when the attack succeeds.
- Range: This value indicates the square range of your weapon. For some weapons you will find a Strength icon instead of a numeric value, indicating you must apply for your character strength stat in order to know the range of your weapon.

Exploration Cards

Every time a character succeeds on an "Explore Action", he will draw a card from the Exploration deck, keeping whatever he obtains, or performing an event. Any used Exploration card must be discarded for the rest of the adventure.

Keep the coin cards found until the end of the Adventure Phase. If you get to complete the adventure, then note down on your Record Sheet the amount of coins obtained from these cards.

Any item card not used by the end of the adventure (rum, potion, rope...), will be discarded and returned to the Exploration deck for the next adventure.

Among the Exploration Cards, you'll find 5 Legendary Item Cards that you should set aside from the deck, to be used when indicated in the Adventure Book.

Legendary Items cards

These cards contain powerful legendary items that characters will find along the adventure.

When a character loses a legendary card due to any effect, or because it is indicated on the adventure ("Escaping Death" or "Shipwreck"), this card will go then to the Exploration Deck, and it can then be found by any other character when exploring.

Magic cards

Some characters have magic skills represented as cards. There is an AP cost when applying these magic effects. Each card shows a Cost (AP), Name, Level, Description and Reactivation Turns.

Once the effect has been performed, the spell must be recharged. To do so, place your card on the Adventure Board, specifically at the Reactivation Countdown for Magic Cards, in the slot corresponding to the number shown in the Magic Card. During the Event Phase move the card once in the direction of the slot numbered with "0". This card will be returned to the characters deck if at the beginning of the Event Phase it is still on the "0" slot.

Special Note: Clairvoyance does not have an AP cost. The Voodoo Doll won't be placed on the slots for magic cards, but it cannot be used again until the zombie has been defeated.

Setting up the adventure (First Game)

First of all you need to check in the adventure book for the preparations required for each adventure.

As an example, we're going to explain the preparation required for the first adventure; "The Secret of Captain Jones". In the description of the adventure you can find the type and number of tiles to set aside and which of these you must use along the turn.

Take the tokens corresponding to each tile and place them facedown in a pile as described in the adventure.

Place the indicated starting tiles and the miniatures representing the players in the starting area, which will be marked by a rowboat on the beach tile.

Then, on the Adventure Track, set the Pirate Flag token at position 20.

Now shuffle the Exploration deck and place it facedown on a side of the table; within the reach of all players so they can easily draw cards.

On another side of the table place the markers, wound tokens, fallen-foe tokens, coins and prestige points.

Select the enemy sheets listed by the adventure and place them on the table within reach of all players to check.

Players will take their character sheet together with their initial gear. Each character is allowed to hold a weapon or item in each hand; except for the gear cards that indicate "two hands". In order to indicate which items are you holding in each hand, you must place the item card on the corresponding side of the character sheet (player's right-hand side and left-hand side). The rest of the initial gear goes above the character sheet. Any extra gear acquired after these initial ones must be placed next, bearing in mind that characters can only hold up to a maximum of 3 additional gear cards to their initial gear.

Turn sequence

Each turn has three different steps: Events, Characters Turn and Enemy Turn.

Events

At the beginning of the turn you must check any possible effects in play, such as Stunned, Poisoned, or whether there are pending rolls related to the Adventure Track. Once this is done, move to the next stage: Characters Turn.

Characters Turn

The player with the most Prestige Points will decide the play sequence. This player will have the Initiative. At the beginning of the adventure the character holding Captaincy is granted the Initiative. If there is no captain, this will fall on the player with the highest Charisma. In case of a tie, take a random die roll to decide who holds the Initiative. The moment any character scores more Prestige Points than the current character holding the Initiative, the action sequence changes. This character's player then becomes the one to control the new sequence, and is also able to change this sequence on every game turn.

When a character moves into any of the tile's exits, they will be allowed to reveal a new tile as long as they have enough movement left to enter the new tile. Draw a Map Token and place the corresponding tile as you consider appropriate; it must link the start-line of this tile with any other start-line of the Map Token you're about to place. If it is not possible to set the tile due to space or tile design limitations, a "No exit" token should be placed instead. In this case the Pirate Flag will move forward 1 position on the Adventure Track and the Map Token will be returned to the rest.

If the number corresponds to a goal-tile, read the instructions given in the adventure book and follow the instructions. For a tile with no enemies, make a roll on the adventure's Enemy Track. These must be placed according to the rules for "Putting Enemies Into Play". For each tile revealed, the Pirate Flag will move 1 position forward on the Adventure Track.

Actions

What can characters do during the Adventure Phase?

Characters spend their AP (Action Points) to move along the board, explore, fight... Each character can perform as many actions as their Action Points (AP) allow.

Movement (1AP)

With a few skill-related exceptions, all characters must stick to the general rules of movement.

Characters can move horizontally and vertically. Moving diagonally is possible only if the squares the character crosses over are not occupied by other miniatures nor by lines blocking their movement.
Water zones (dotted line) slow down movement, requiring spending 2AP to be spent to move from a water square.
When a character moves into a square with an adjacent enemy, they must stop immediately.
You are not allowed to cross over a square occupied by enemies; or other characters without asking their permission. If this character refuses, keeping all the fame and treasure for themselves, you can try a "shove" action against this selfish pirate.

Example: The Cutthroat decides to run towards the goal. She cannot cross over diagonally as the squares are occupied, and her movement slows down when crossing over water squares, so she ends up spending 12 movements (6AP) to place herself beside the goal. The diagonals that the Gunner can not cross are shown in red, as indicated in the movement rules.

Shove (1AP)

Shoving other characters is permitted when succeeding at a Confronted Strength roll. The character shoving will push the victim to a free adjacent square the shover's choice. If the shoving character fails the Confronted roll, they aren't allowed to try again on the same victim until the next turn.

Run

Characters can double their AP during this turn, but can only spend them on the following actions: Moving, Shoving and Leaping. Running is considered a single action, so characters won't be able to do anything else unless they spend 1 DP (Destiny Point).

Leap (2AP)

Sometimes it is possible to interact with the board, either by the different heights or by cut areas, like a chasm over which characters can leap to continue on an alternative path. Leaping requires an Agility roll. The difficulty is indicated by an Agility icon with a number. If you succeed, place the character on the other side across the chasm.

Crossing lines representing a chasm which must either be Leaped directly or by using an item, such as a rope to hang over it. A character failing to Leap remains KO in the same square from which they Leaped.

Example: The Cutthroat is right in front of a difficulty "4" chasm that she decides to leap over. She counts on her 4 Agility dice to beat a difficulty 4 roll. She obtains 1,3,4,5, hitting 1 success and therefore leaping over the chasm.

Crossing lines on Town tiles representing roof-tops. Getting up or down rooftops doesn't require a roll. When Leaping between the town rooftops, check an Agility "2" Roll, and for each success achieved you will be able to Leap one square. If you don't get enough successes to reach the next roof, your character receives 1 wound and will remain "Stunned" on the square adjacent to the one from which they leaped.

Search (1AP)

Any character can search an adjacent Fallen-Foe token to obtain the reward indicated on that same token. Once it's been searched, the token will be returned to the rest.

Note: if a character turns the Map Token over revealing an exploration card, they'll have to draw a card from the exploration deck and keep the booty found or apply the effect indicated.

Switch Gear (1AP)

This action allows characters to re-equip items and weapons from their gear, or to swap them with other adjacent characters. This AP cost only applies to the character whose turn this is. The initial gear or weapons swapped with other characters will return to their original owners at the end of the adventure (unless otherwise indicated).

Pick / Use / Drop (1AP)

Sometimes you may need to Pick, Use or Drop items. When picking Up a weapon or an item, a character can also use this action to re-equip themselves.

Open Door (1AP)

This is the AP cost for an ordinary door. To do this, characters must be placed in the square right in front of the door. A door cannot be opened from a diagonal square. In the case of a Town Building door, remove the door-token. For a door joining two different tiles, turn the door-token to the "open door" face.

Break Away (2AP)

Any character is able to Break Away from one or more adjacent enemies. To do so, they need to spend 2AP on a confronted Agility vs Strength roll.

If the character succeeds, they will Break Away 1 square from the enemy; otherwise, they will remain on the same square with the possibility of trying again if they have enough AP. If there is more than one adjacent enemy, the confronted roll is made against the enemy with the highest Strength stat. Once the character has Broken Away from the enemy, they are able to move freely along any of the squares adjacent to the enemies that they broke away from this turn.

Catch Breath

If you let a turn pass without spending any AP you can regain 1 DP. This action will advance 1 position on the Adventure Track.

If two or more players Catch Breath on the same turn, the Adventure Track will only advance 1 position in total.

Revive (2AP)

Any character can stand up the miniature of a KO character, but only if they are adjacent to the KO character. (Check: when characters get Knocked Out, page 18)

Reload Firearms (3AP)

Firearms must be reloaded before every time they are fired. When shooting with a gun, you must leave the card facedown to indicate it's been fired and needs reloading before it is fired again.

Explore (2AP)

Each character is able to Explore tiles once per turn. To do so, there must be no enemies on this tile, nor in an adjacent square on another tile. The character then has to beat a Difficulty "4" Intelligence Roll to draw a card from the Exploration Deck, and follows its instructions.

For the Explore action, treat Town building rooms as if they were tiles too.

If the character doesn't succeed, advance 1 position on the Adventure Track. A result of 1 on any of the unsuccessful rolls will grant 1DP.

Cuss (1AP)

As the last action of their turn, characters can "Cuss" one or more adjacent enemies. Doing this, characters gain 1D6 for their defence against adjacent enemies on the next turn (In order to make the session funnier, it is recommended to play your role realistically by throwing a pirate cuss to your playmates).

Sight-line

On the tile where the Lookout is positioned, we can check the rules applying to Sight-line for a RC. Red circles indicate the corners of the obstacles blocking the sight-line. The green-shaded squares are the ones that could be range-attacked by the Lookout.

Attack (2AP)

There are three types of Attack in this game: Close Quarter Combat with weapons (CQC), Ranged Combat (RC) and Weaponless Combat (WLC).

Close Quarter Combat (CQC): For Close Quarter Combat with weapons, the character must wield a weapon at least in one hand and also must have an adjacent enemy, as shown on the graphic. The character will roll as many dice as indicated by their CQC stat. Those rolls higher than the enemy Agility are considered a success. The enemy will then repeat the same process, comparing his CQC roll results with your character's Agility. Finally, the number of successes from both rolls must be compared and, if the character beats the enemy's successes, apply that weapon's Damage stat to the enemy. In case the defender ties or beats the number of successes of your character, and unless any skill says differently, nothing will happen, as they managed to block your attack. Two-handed weapons will allow you to defend yourself with a CQC roll as usual, even with two-handed firearms.

Example: The Surgeon Attacks a Royal Marine with Agility "2" with his sword. To do this, he rolls his 3 CQC dice, obtaining 2,4,5. Because the Royal Marine's Agility is "2", the Surgeon has achieved 2 successes with 4 and 5. After that, the Royal Marine defends himself by rolling his 2 CQC dice, and obtaining 3 and 4. Considering the Surgeon's Agility is 3, and the Royal Marine only got to beat it with a 4, the Royal Marine only registers 1 success. When comparing the number of successes from the Surgeon (2) with the number of successes from the Royal Marine (1), we see that the Surgeon has won this roll, therefore he will have to apply the damage indicated on the weapon card: the Sword, which is equivalent to 2 wounds. The Royal Marine then receives two wounds and becomes KO, replace the miniature with a Fallen-Foe token.

Two-handed weapons allow you to defend yourself with your usual CQC roll, even if it is a firearm.

A character confronting an enemy attack without a proper CQC weapon on hand can only defend with 1D6.

Stunned: Any Stunned character or enemy will lose his turn if unable to beat a Strength "4" roll at the beginning of his turn. He will remain stunned until next turn. Leave the character miniature lying down on the board to represent its condition.

Example: The Sea Dog has thrown his axe and he's not equipped with any CQC weapon, so he decides to punch a Royal Marine placed on an adjacent square. After his confronted Strength vs. CQC roll, the Sea Dog leaves the Royal Marine Stunned. At the beginning of the enemies' turn, the Royal Marine rolls as many dice as his Strength to come out of his Stunned condition. The Royal Marine has Strength "2", so he can roll 2 dice to obtain the required 5 or 6. Finally, he rolls and obtains 2 and 4, remaining Stunned for the rest of this turn and recovering for the next one.

Repeat an attack with the same hand: Any character equipped with only one weapon is able to launch another attack in the same turn by spending 3AP but, in exchange, he will lose 1D6 on his combat stat for his attack. If the character performs any other action between the two attacks, ignore this penalty.

Enemies Turn

When in doubt, any decision relating to enemies' movement, attacks or putting them into play, will be undertaken by the player holding the Captaincy, or by the player holding the initiative if there is no Captain in the group.

Putting Enemies into play

On every adventure you will find an Enemy Chart that indicates the type and amount of enemies you should place on a revealed tile or on a recently opened room.

To do so, you should roll 1D6 and check the result on the chart.

For tiles or rooms including a goal, the number and type of enemies will be indicated in the Adventure Book. Ignore the chart in these cases.

As a general rule, when different types of enemies appear, you must place them in descending Initiative order.

Example: We have to set two Royal Marines with Initiative I, and an Officer with Initiative II. We first set the Officer and, right after, the Royal Marines.

Place the first enemy on the furthest square from the exit containing an exit.

The next enemy must be placed on another exit square of the same tile and following the distance order.

In case there are no exits left, place the enemy on a square adjacent to the exit square where you placed the first enemy.

When a tile or a room has no exits, you must place the enemies on the furthest squares from the exit with the character that revealed the tile or opened the room.

If you don't have enough miniatures to place the enemies from a roll on the chart, advance the Adventure Track 1 position per each enemy type you cannot place.

Example: A distracted player decides to reveal a tile without noticing that all the Officers and Royal Marines are in play. He rolls the die for the enemies and checks the result: 2 Royal Marines and 1 Officer. Being two different types of enemy, advance the Adventure Track 2 positions forward.

Enemies' Movement and Attack

Enemies abide by the following priority order:

Initiative: When facing different types of enemies, their Initiative establishes the order of activation. The order by enemy type is:
1. Humans: Royal Marine, Officer and Cannibal.
2. Supernatural Beings: Skeleton, Damned and Mummy.
3. Sea Abominations: LongShade, Bootbiter and Darkclaw.
Movement and Combat: Enemies are allowed to perform one Movement and one Attack action, in any order, but following the rules described below:
1. All those enemies with Ranged Attacks, starting with the enemy closest to a character, will carry out a RC against the nearest character within range of their RC attack. If the enemy doesn't have enough range or doesn't have a sight line, they have to move as many squares as their movement allows, and enough to reach the necessary Sight-line and Range.
  
  Any enemy with a RC stat adjacent to a character must always attack the adjacent character by using a CQC action.
  
  Enemies' firearms weapons do not need to be reloaded to be used again.
2. Those enemies that attack in CQC must carry out a CQC action against the nearest character within their movement range, so that they make room for other enemies.

Once an enemy becomes engaged in CQC they have to remain in that square until the character is defeated.

If an enemy has different characters to attack from the same square, the Captain will decide who receives the attack.

Enemies can cross squares adjacent to characters without the need for a Break Away roll.

When an enemy reaches its total wounds capacity its miniature is replaced by a Fallen-Foe token on the same square. When ending the game turn, remove all the Fallen-Foe tokens from squares without characters on them.

Enemies ignore the type of terrain, but they cannot finish their turn on a Chasm square nor upon a Fallen-Foe token. Neither can they walk over other enemies, unless their sheet says the opposite.

End of the adventure phase

Each adventure has a countdown to determine the end of the Adventure Phase: the Pirate Flag of the Adventure Track.

If players don't achieve the adventure's goals before the Pirate Flag reaches its last position, the group will have failed.

The Pirate Flag will move forward on the Adventure Track for several reasons:

When a Map Token is revealed, you advance the Adventure Track 1 position forward.
For each KO character with a result of 1 or 2 on a 1D6 during the Event Phase, advance the Adventure Track 1 position forward.
For a failed Exploration, advance the Adventure Track 1 position forward.
On Town Tiles, in addition to moving the Adventure Track 1 position forward when revealing any of the 4 Map Tokens, you will also have to advance 1 additional position the first time a character goes into a building (Church, Barracks, Canteen, Company of the West Indies, Merchant's House and Shop) or onto a special tile (cemetery, Cellar, Crypt or Dungeon).
Making use of the "Catch Breath" action will advance 1 position on the Adventure Track.

The track will only advance one position, even when several characters perform this action on the same turn.

Any special rules about moving forward or backward on the Adventure Track will be indicated by the adventure.

Character conditions

Poisoned

When a character receives a Poison Wound he must place a Poison Token upon his Character Sheet.

During the Events he must beat a Strength 4 roll; otherwise he'll receive a Wound. The character will remain Poisoned until he discards a Wound or beats the Strength 4 roll.

When the character gets knocked out

A character is knocked out when the wounds received match his Wounds Stat. Then lay down the miniature and follow these steps:

At the beginning of each turn with the character knocked out, roll 1D6 and advance 1 position on the Adventure Track if the result is 1 or 2.
Withdraw all Prestige Points accumulated by the character along the adventure.
The character will also lose all the coins accumulated during this adventure. Any goal token that doesn't represent an item will be discarded. Any character will be able to search the knocked out character in order to rob him from any goal or gear card achieved.
The character won't be able to get up until another character Revives him. Next, the KO character has to roll 2D6 and check for his condition on the Knocked Out Chart. Add +1 to his roll for each DP not used by the KO character.

Example: The character has 2DP when he was knocked out. After being revived by another character, he rolls 2D6 on the Knocked out chart with a result of 3, and must add to this his 2 DP, making a total of "5" to check on the KO chart.

KO chart

Roll	Result
11-12	The character discards all wounds and recuperates his DP.
9-10	The character discards all wounds.
6-9	The character discards half of his wounds, rounding up.
3-5	The character discards half of his wounds, rounding up, and also loses 1AP for the rest of the adventure.
2	The character gets a Permanent Wound.
1	The character gets a serious wound, and that forces him to drop out of the campaign.

*When a character gets the Mummy Curse, subtract 1 from the roll.

When a character gets to finish off an adventure, discard all wounds on his Character Sheet.

Permanent wounds

When a character suffers a Permanent Wound, he must roll 1D6 on the Permanent Wound Chart to find out what limb he's lost and how this will affect him. If the roll matches with a previously lost, ignore the result.

Permanent wounds' chart

Roll	Result
6	Left eye: The character subtracts 1 from his intelligence stat.
5	Left hand: The character won't be able to equip his left hand.
4	Right hand: The character won't be able to equip his right hand.
3	Left leg: The character loses 1AP permanently and also subtracts 1 from his Agility stat.
2	Right leg: The character loses 1AP permanently and also subtracts 1 from his Agility stat.
1	Right eye: The character subtracts 1 from his Intelligence stat.

Any character with a value of "2" in Strength, Intelligence or Agility will ignore such effect.

Any character with two lost equal limbs (both hands, both legs, both eyes) will be retired to an appropriate lifestyle according to his new condition, and he will also get a high reward from the crew's booty in appreciation for his services. This situation will drop the Crew's Morale as many points as the Character's Morale indicates.

Supplementary Rules

Town rules

All Town building doors are closed (place a door token to represent this). Do not place interior doors inside a building until the building is opened. Some of the adventures will specify if a building or a room has its doors already open, as well as if any special item or action are required to get the door open.
Town roofs are considered as only one square for the purposes of sight-line and movement.

To go up and down a roof, you'll need to perform a Leap Action (2AP) without a roll.

When a character wants to Leap from one roof to another, the difficulty will be Agility "2", and for each success achieved he will be able to move 1 square up to the other roof. In case the character won't achieve enough successes, then he will become Stunned and his miniature will remain laid down on the floor square adjacent to the square where he leaped from. He also takes 1 Wound.

Any character or enemy on the floor won't be able to perform a RC action against a target placed on a roof. However, any character or enemy on a roof will be able to perform RC against targets on the floor or on other roofs.

The maximum of miniatures on the same roof is 4.

Enemies are allowed to go up and down the roofs as if in an ordinary terrain, but they won't go up a roof if there is not a character on it.
For the purpose of putting enemies into play, roll on the adventure's enemy chart every time you reveal a town tile or open a door. In some of the adventures, the enemies contained on a tile or room will be indicated, in these cases ignore the rules of putting enemies into play.

When a tile or a room has one only exit, place the enemies at the squares furthest to the exit where the character is placed.
When revealing a Town Tile or coming into a building for the first time (Church, Barracks, Canteen, West Indies Company, Merchant House and Shop), you must advance the Adventure Track 1 position forward.

Rules for non-playable characters (NPC)

In some of the adventures, or due to some effects such as the Voodoo Doll card, players will be able to control NPC. The player can do this along his own turn, either at the beginning or the end.

NPC's movement follows the same rules as ordinary enemies', ignoring differences in terrain (chasm, water…) but they can pass over other miniatures by asking for permission.

Unless indicated otherwise in the adventure, or on the Voodoo Doll, NPC cannot be attacked by characters or enemies.

Optional Play modes

The following rules are optional and add a higher difficulty especially in the event of advanced enemies, or as a support characters on Allied mode.

It will be up to the players to decide if they want to include these game modes to their campaign, adding a Replay Value to their game experience.

Advanced enemies mode (optional)

Enemy sheets are divided into two difficulty levels: basic and advanced.

Usually, the campaign is played on the basic mode, but in Skull Tales we've included a riskier challenge for those brave pirates, or for those groups wanting to replay a complete campaign adding a higher difficulty.

If you include the Allied Mode into your group's campaign it is highly recommended that you also play with the advanced enemies' mode.

When playing an enemy on the advanced mode you must use the right side of the Enemy Sheet for stats, but use the skills from both sides of the sheet.

Allied mode (optional)

Characters can obtain an ally by paying the ally's cost in Prestige Points plus his recruitment wage. If two or more characters want to choose the same ally, it will be decided on a Confronted Charisma roll.
The ally will stay with the character along the adventures, and will have to pay for his wages during the Port Phase.
Either at the beginning or at the end of the player's turn, an ally can move and carry out one action in any order, or move twice.

For the purpose of movement, the ally will abide to the same rules as characters do.

The actions allies can perform are: Attack, Shove, Cuss, Search, Pick/use/drop/change gear (an ally can pick weapons but cannot use them), Open Door, Leap, Explore, Revive.

Allies cannot be healed by another ally or character, but can use cards to heal themselves.

An ally defeating a mummy will not become cursed, but will get a wound instead.
When an ally explores or searches, the resultant benefit or harm will affect him directly. In the case he finds gear or coins, he will place it by his ally sheet. An ally is only allowed to hold three cards at a time.

NOTE: an ally receives 1 wound when he draws the exploration card "Tormenting Visions". At the end of the adventure, the character that recruited the ally will add half of the ally's coins (rounding up) to his own booty, in addition to all the gear achieved by the ally.
Characters are only allowed 1 ally per adventure.
When an ally is defeated, it cannot be revived. Place the miniature laid down to define his location. If there are no characters or allies on the same tile as the ally by the end of the turn, the ally's miniature must be removed. Any character or ally that searches the Fallen Ally will gain all the ally's cards.
When an ally defeats an enemy, the corresponding Prestige Points must be ignored.
If an ally achieves a goal representing an item, the corresponding Prestige Points will be added at the end of the adventure to the character that recruited him.
When an ally finishes an adventure he discards all wounds on his sheet.

For the solitaire mode, the character will start the campaign with three allies. He will also have to pay the allies' wage every time he reaches port.

As a captain, he will be allowed to recruit new allies for his crew by spending the cost in coins and Prestige Points indicated on their sheet.

Although during the adventure phase the maximum allies allowed for the captain is 3, he can recruit more allies for the crew.

The captain will use the crew's booty to pay for the allies.

The captain whose ship sinks or is captured, will be able to choose 3 allies to play the corresponding adventure.

Character's Record Sheet

The Character's Record Sheet tracks: Personal Booty, Prestige, Curse, Permanent wounds, Crew's Booty, Hidden Treasure, Sails, Pirate Squad, Morale, Provisions, Rum, Hold, Cannons.

Voyage phase

Introduction

As in every good pirate adventure, we cannot forget about journeys, naval combats, boardings, mutinies... All along the Voyage Phase you will find this and much more.

During the Voyage Phase, the players' individual goals will most likely differ.

The Captain must reach the Goal Island trying to loot what he can along the crossing, keeping the crew's Morale high and avoiding being seized or sunken.

The rest of the players will try to fulfill a series of secret goals, by means of Event cards, in order to increase their PP, lowering the crew's Morale for a mutiny to erupt, and bid to be the next captain of the ship.

Components

Hexagonal Sea Boards: They represent the seas we will sail during the Voyage Phase. To move your ship along the boards it is compulsory to avoid the squares occupied by islands. To dock on an island you must reach the square that contains a scroll with a letter, representing the entry/exit port of that island.

Sea Enemies' tokens: Use these tokens whenever there is a Sea enemy Event (see page 28).

Six-sided dice: Use them for rolls on the Voyage Phase.

Voyage Event Cards: Whenever your Speed Roll scores 1 or 2 in any dice, you must face a Sea Event (See Sea Events, page 28).

Sea Tokens: Throughout the Voyage, apart from your pirate ship, you will find sea enemies and events symbolized by these tokens: Pirate Ship, Galleon, Coastguard Brigantine, Merchant Cog, Whale, Sea Monster, Whirlpool, Ghost Ship.

Pirate Squad (PS) tokens: They represent your crew and their (your) Fighting Capacity.

"Goods" tokens: The "Goods" are booty and resources as cargo in your ship's Hold, or those in the enemy ships' holds: Gold, Metals, Clothes, Tobacco, Rum, Slaves, Provisions.

Cannons: These tokens are placed on your Hold, and they indicate your Firepower. For every cannon on your hold, you roll one dice.

Wound markers: During the Voyage Phase they are used to count the impacts on your ship and on the enemies.

Impact tokens: For every hit on your ship or on an enemy, a random token must be drawn to check where the impact goes: Hold, Deck, Sails.

Prestige marker: They come into use when bidding for the ship's captaincy during a mutiny (See Mutiny, page 26)

Compass / Difficulty track: To indicate the facing of a possible encounter in the high seas. It will also serve as a Turn Track and to tell day and night.

Pirate Flag token: In the adventure phase it counted turns on the Adventure Track, but during the Voyage Phase you will use it to track the crew's Morale.

Ship/Crew board

This board is placed by the Sea board as shown in the example. It is divided into 5 sections: Morale, Sails, Deck, Hold and Compass.

Morale: Add up the total Morale from the crew and each character or ally in play. Set the Pirate Flag in the position corresponding to the total Morale resulting from the addition. If you win or lose Morale you must move forward/backwards the Pirate Flag token (See crew's Morale, page 26).
Sails: It's your ship's Speed, the number of dice you can roll to sail and the score to beat by an enemy trying to impact you on a naval combat. Place a Wound marker on the position with the number that coincides with your Sails stat (See Movement, page 28).
Deck: Place here your PS. Whenever you receive a Deck Impact, discard a PS token. The number of PS on your deck represents your Fighting Capacity either on Attack or Defense.
Hold: It's where you keep your Cannons, Provisions, Rum and any Goods you collect from any boarding. Moreover, it tracks your ship's Cargo Indicator (See Cargo Indicator, Page 28). When your ship gets hit on the Hold for the first time, place a Wound marker on space number "10" of the Hold. Every time your Hold gets hit, move the marker one space backwards, losing all Goods in that column. If the Wound marker ever reaches space "1", the ship is considered "sunken" (See sunken ship, page 29).
Compass: (See page 27).

When the Compass completes a full circle means a Voyage journey has been completed.

If the Compass points to the black-shaded boxes means the night has descended.

Setting up the voyage

Before you begin the Voyage Phase, the Captain must check in the adventures' book which voyage they are committed to fulfill. Only when you have successfully completed your first adventure and there is a captain available for your crew, will you be fitted for your first journey back to Tortuga Island.

In order to do so, you can count on our loyal ship, "The Southern Belle":

Hold: 10
Speed/Sails: 3D6
Firepower: 3 Cannons
Fighting Capacity: 4 PS

For this initial voyage you count on a crew of 4 PS that must be placed on the Deck of the Ship board; 3 Cannons, 2 Rum casks and 3 Provisions that you will place on the ship's Hold; and the Specialists (the characters in play).

Take the Sea board, the Compass counter and the Ship board.

Place the ship token on the sea square with the letter indicated by the adventure book for this voyage.

Place your PS in the Deck box, and the character/Specialist sheets at captain's sight so that he can check their Sailing skills. Cannons, Provisions, Rum and any other acquisition/Goods you may have found go into the Hold, occupying one space each (occupy first the green spaces of the Hold). The rest of "Goods" tokens are stacked facedown on a different pile, to be drawn every time booty is achieved during a boarding.

Place the Compass counter on the Ship Board and point the Compass needle to number 1.

Place a Wound marker on Sails position number "3". Had you managed to improve your ship with extra sails, move it one position upward for every additional sail. For every impact suffered by your sails, move the counter one position downwards. A ship with no sails left only moves with 1D6.

Add up all crew's Morale and place the Pirate Flag token on the corresponding position. Every PS adds 5 Morale, and every character or ally in play adds his individual Morale to the total.

Example: we have 4 PS that contribute 20 Morale, plus two characters who add up a total of 5 Morale. All this adds up to 25 Morale so that is the position at which we will place the Morale Track.

Voyage Goals

At the beginning of our Voyage, all players except the Captain draw two Island tokens numbered 1 to 16, and check their goals on the following chart (but will remain secret to the rest of the players).

Voyage Phase Goals

#	Goal	PP
1	A mutiny starts off among the crew.	10PP
2	The Sails of the pirate ship receive 1 impact.	10PP
3	The Hold of the pirate ship receives 2 impacts.	5PP
4	The crew loses all Provisions.	10PP
5	The crew loses 5 Morale.	5PP
6	The crew gets 2 more Provisions during the Voyage.	5PP
7	All spaces up to column number 6 in the pirate ship's Hold are occupied.	10PP
8	The pirate ship engages in 2 naval combats.	10PP
9	The pirate ship is sunken or the captain surrenders.	20PP
10	The Pirate ship's Hold receives 4 impacts.	10PP
11	The pirate ship repairs some impacts during the Voyage.	10PP
12	The crew loses 2 Pirate Squads.	5PP
13	The crew adds 1 PS during the Voyage.	5PP
14	The crew loses all the Rum.	5PP
15	Two Weather Events happen during the Voyage.	5PP
16	The crew loots booty from an enemy ship.	15PP

Whenever a player meets any of the character's goals, it will be declared out loud to the rest of the players, adding the corresponding Prestige Points to the character's Record sheet.

Goals can be achieved by other players' actions.

Players can make use of Event cards to achieve their goals.

Each player, except the Captain, must draw Event cards in order to achieve goals and reduce the crew's Morale. Check in the following chart the number of Event cards each player must draw:

	2 Players	3 Players	4 Players
1st Player	3 Cards	3 Cards	2 Cards
2nd Player	—	2 Cards	2 Cards
3rd Player	—	—	2 Cards

On the Solitaire Mode, Captain will draw cards directly from the Events Deck.

The first player will be the one with less PP, and the last player the one with the most PP. In ties, take a confronted Charisma roll to see who wins.

A player can still keep playing cards to lower the crew's Morale and start a mutiny, after all his or her goals have been achieved.

The crew

A crew is made up of PS (Pirate Squads) and Specialists (the Characters and Allies).

After your first adventure has been a success, you are rewarded with 4 PS, and as many Specialists as Characters in play.

PS represent the sailors on board in your ship. They have a recruitment cost (Wage), and provide their Morale and Fighting Capacity in Naval Combat when boarding another ship or defending yours.

Pirate Squad (PS):

Wage 30 coins
Morale +5
Fighting Capacity +1D6 (4-6)
Ability: When you reach an island, and just before playing the Adventure Phase, your PS can perform any of these two actions:
1. Collect Provisions. You obtain 1 "Provisions" token per PS for your ship.
2. Repair the ship. Your ship recovers 1 Hold or Sails (at your choice) per PS.
You must decide to which of these two tasks you assign your PS.

Specialists bring their skills as part of the crew, to the captain. A Gunner may improve the ship's FirePower, or a seasoned sailor may grant the ship a higher speed.

The crew's Morale

In the ship board you must track the crew's total Morale, adding up PS and Specialists. This serves defining the degree of commitment of your pirate crew to their captain, and the chances that a mutiny is raised if Morale lowers too deep. The maximum Morale your crew can reach is 30. Any exceeding points are ignored.

There are several ways to lower the crew's Morale. All through the journeys, events can happen that could lower the crew's Morale, or fights on the high seas in which your crew may suffer casualties.

Another Morale-lowering source would be lack of Wage or Hunger.

For every PS or Specialist not receiving their Wage, subtract their Morale score from the crew's total Morale.

Subtract 1 Morale from the crew's whenever you lose a PS.

Hunger is another factor that can affect your crew's Morale. Every voyage day you must spend 1 "Provisions" token to feed your crew. No Provisions? Roll a D6 for every Voyage day with no Provisions, and deduct it from the crew's Morale. Don't forget to feed your pirates, or else...

Rum can help you raise your crew's Morale. A captain could use up a cask of Rum per day at any time. This will increase the total Morale in 1D6.

Mutiny

A Morale under 10 is a source of mutiny, and a new captain must be elected right then.

The former captain will then become part of the crew and can only use Charisma from now on to submit his candidacy.

The rest of the players must bid for captaincy by their Charisma (individually), plus any Prestige markers they want to add up to the secret bidding, bearing in mind that the maximum amount of dice is 5.

A Prestige marker is equivalent to 10PP. Each Prestige marker hidden in a player's hand means a dice you add to your character's Charisma stat.

All players show their hand on the count of three to prove how many Prestige markers they will turn into dice. Next, they roll (remember, maximum 5 dice).

A player bidding with Prestige markers can reroll any dice by spending a Prestige marker from his bid for every roll to be rerolled. Deduct all Prestige spent from your Record sheet.

The player who scores higher will be proclaimed the new captain.

Players using their Prestige Points to attain the captaincy, but not attaining it, will lose 10PP.

Example: The Sea Dog has bid with 2 Prestige markers (20PP). Adding up his Charisma 3, he obtains 5 dice for his candidature. After rolling, dice score: 1, 2, 4, 5, 5. He decides then to spend 2 of his Prestige markers from his bid to reroll the 1 and 2. On the reroll he makes 3 and 4, for a final score of 21 on his bid for captaincy.

Restore the crew's Morale after a mutiny, by adding all Morale from the crew at that moment (start counting from the bottom limit of "10").

If the mutiny was originated out of any Event card that has not ended in Surrender or Shipwreck, discard the Event.

Example: after a mutiny, the Sea Dog achieves captaincy. Adding his PS Morale (10) and the rest of the characters' (6), he gets 16 Morale. Counting from the 10 mutiny limit, he must place the Morale track to position 26.

After a mutiny in which a captain change has occurred, the former captain must draw as many Event cards as corresponded to the player that robbed his captaincy, and the new captain will withdraw all his cards.

In Solitaire Mode, after a mutiny, the player must complete the adventure "Shipwreck", as he has been abandoned by his crew on a desert island.

Game turn

The Voyage Phase is played on the Sea Board. On it there are a series of islands with a letter on a scroll, which serves as entry/exit square to that specific goal island.

A navigation turn consists of: Events, Captain's turn and Enemy's turn.

Events

The captain will be in charge of the Compass and will spin the needle clockwise one step per turn.

If the Compass is pointing to a black space, the night has descended, and any menace will be placed at a 2-square distance instead of the usual 3. If the Compass has completed a full circle, a whole day has passed by and a Provisions token must be spent to feed the crew and prevent their Morale going down.

During the Events, any player but the captain can discard one card and draw another.

If a player puts any card into play, there is no obligation to discard until the number of cards in his hand equals the number of cards at the beginning of the Voyage Phase.

Any other effect happening between turns must be applied now.

Starting at the player with less PP the first time, and switching the turn to the following player with less PP in every successive Event.

If the card put into play is some kind of enemy, the same player who played it will take any rolls and decisions required by that specific Event.

If nobody plays any Event card, the captain will draw one from the Event cards' deck.

Any Event drawn from this deck requiring taking rolls or decisions will fall on the side of the player with higher Prestige.

If there's a tie, solve it with a confronted Charisma roll.

The Compass will not turn during a sea enemy Event, neither will any sea events be played. The captain is not allowed to reach the goal square during an event.

In Solitaire Mode, the captain draws a card from the Events deck with any 1 or 2 in his Speed roll.

On some occasions, your ship may be pushed to other squares by a voyage Event's effect. If by this effect the ship would cross over a square containing any island section on the last sea square, stop the ship on the last sea square, and inflict 2 impacts to the ship's Hold.

Captain's turn

During this turn, the captain will decide on the ship's course, fire the cannons, command a boarding, etc... trying to reach his destiny and some booty to keep the crew's Morale high.

A ship or enemy can perform a movement, or part of it, a naval combat and a boarding on the same turn, with the option to split its Speed roll score among the different actions.

Movement

It's indicated by the ship's Speed. Throw as many dice as your Sails stat.

This roll must exceed the Cargo Indicator (CI), printed in color by the Hold in the board. For every dice scoring over the CI, the ship moves 1 square.

The ship can move only in the three directions in its bow (front), port side (left) or starboard side (right), having to tack the bow towards the square the ship is going to move into.

A ship can make a turn in the same square for each success rolled, to change the direction its facing.

Calculating the CI: Each number of the CI conveys a color in the Hold. When you arrange your Goods, Provisions or Cannons, load the green boxes in the Hold first, and proceed from there towards the other side of the Hold. When you place a token at a different color, the CI will match the corresponding color. During the Voyage, you can discard any number of tokens from your Hold, in order to release the load, and reducing accordingly your CI.

Events

Once you end your ship's movement action, an Event card must be played if any 1 or 2 has been rolled.

Ask the rest of the players whether they want to play an Event card from their hand.

Naval combat

Among the sea events you will face, more than a combat awaits you. To resolve it you use the ship's Firepower, equal to the number of cannons.

As seen in the previous example, a ship can use its Firepower if the target is 2 or less squares away from our ship's side.

Roll as many dice as your Firepower. For every success over your opponent's Speed you cause 1 impact.

Draw one impact token for every success rolled, and discount one Hold, Deck (Fighting Capacity) or Sails, as indicated by the token. Return the Impact token facedown with the rest.

Sunken ship

When the captain's ship results in being sunk, the captain loses all his booty, the whole crew and the ship.

The PCs must immediately take the adventure: "The Shipwreck" that can be found in the adventure book's annex.

During the Port Phase, the new captain will have a chance to gather a new crew to sail the seas again.

An enemy losing all its Hold is considered sunken and defeated.

Boarding or Defense (Fighting Capacity)

To carry out a boarding both your ship token and the enemy's must be on the same square.

During a boarding or defense action between your ship and another ship no movement rolls can be taken, except for the Whale and the Sea Monster.

Each PS on board means 1D6 in Fighting Capacity. Any Specialist on board that can improve your FC must be added too.

Your FC range of success is 4-6, as indicated on the board ship's Deck, meaning that any roll within that range is a success. Both attacker and defender roll their FC.

For every attacking success exceeding the defender's result, the defender loses 1FC.

Example: We are boarding a Merchant Cog. We have 3 PS and no Specialist that would add any extra FC. So, our FC is 3D6. The Merchant has a crew of 3 on its deck, which equals our 3 dice, but its Range is lower than ours, needing a 5 or 6 to succeed. Both parts take their rolls; the pirates score 3, 5 and 6; the Merchant's crew 2, 4 and 5. The pirates have 2 successes, which must be subtracted from the opponent's FC, with a result of 1 in the Deck; the pirates, on the other hand, suffer one loss, remaining with 2PS.

Should the enemy lose all its Deck points, it's a surrender; the pirate captain will be awarded any benefits from this enemy.

When it's the pirate crew losing all its PS, surrender is on our side.

Surrender

The captain can surrender during a boarding; it's time then for the adventure "Escaping death".

Enemy's Turn

An enemy put into play by means of an Event card will be activated in this turn.

In Multiplayer Mode, an enemy is controlled by the player who put it into play, or the player with highest Prestige, in the case of a card drawn from the Event deck.

The player can take advantage of the enemies actions to achieve any of his secret goals, being able to attack or flee to achieve his particular interests and ignoring specific rules to do so. (Specific rules to be used only in Solitaire Mode).

In Solitaire Mode, apply specific rules for each enemy.

Putting enemies into play

As a general rule, enemies are put into play 3 squares away from our position, lined up with the Compass' needle.

An event with a sea enemy cannot occupy an island square; if so, discard that event.

To know the enemy's facing roll a D6 and check its result in the Compass, tacking the enemy's bow towards the hexagon side corresponding to the number rolled.

Enemies' Attack and Movement

Similar to the Captain's, a player is allowed to move and take combat and boarding actions with the enemy being played, as long as the enemy stats allow those.

There are three different types of enemy, according to their role: Aggressive (Coast Guard Brigantine, Galleon, Ghost Ship and Sea Monster), Passive (Merchant Cog) and Neutral (Whale).

Aggressive Enemies: They will try by all means to chase, sink or board your ship.

In Solitaire Mode, you must do an Enemy Speed Roll and move the enemy until there is a chance to make use of its Firepower. Were there any movement left after firing, the enemy must try to get closer and try a boarding.

Just like in the Captain's turn, the player representing the enemy must draw as many Impact tokens as score obtained, applying the corresponding damage to the pirate ship.

Now the Captain faces two options: He either fights these enemies, or tries to flee from them, what will be attained as soon as there's a 5-square distance (straight line) between both tokens.
Passive Enemies: They always try to flee, by all means. A Merchant Cog (the only passive enemy type in the basic game) will successfully flee from an enemy as soon as there's a 5-square distance (straight line) between both tokens, or leaves the gameboard by any side.

In Solitaire Mode you must move the enemy away, as much as you are allowed by its Speed during its turn.

Whenever there is a chance to use its cannons, it must be done before moving.

Passive enemies never board other ships; its Fighting Capacity is used only for defense.
Neutral Enemies: This type of enemy will not perform any action or movement, unless you attack them somehow, which will turn them into an aggressive enemy type.

As soon as there is five (5) or more squares between the enemies and your ship, the enemies' corresponding tokens are withdrawn, and the event is discarded.

The enemies

The characteristics of sea enemies usually are:

Sea Enemy Sheet reference

Enemy Type
Speed: It indicates the number of dice to roll, and the range to be obtained to succeed. For every success, the enemy could move a square abiding to the same movement rules as your pirate ship.
Firepower: It represents the dice to be rolled at naval ranged combat. To obtain one Impact it must score higher than the pirate ship's Speed. The usual range is 2 squares from the enemy's side, similar to the pirate ship's. An enemy with no Firepower icon cannot perform ranged combat.
Fighting Capacity (FC): The number of dice to roll when boarding or defending your ship, and the range to be rolled to succeed. When an enemy reduces its Fighting Capacity to zero (0), it surrenders and is eliminated, and any possible Morale or loot rewards indicated in its card are applied.
Hold: The Impact points an enemy can take before being defeated or sunken. Some enemies carry goods in their holds; try not to damage them if you ever want to obtain any booty!
Morale: Morale points you can win or lose, depending on the enemy and how the encounter turns out.

Special Rules for enemies and special events in the high seas

Whenever an enemy card appears on your voyage, use its enemy sheet and token to represent it.

Next, check its stats for Speed, Hold and Fighting Capacity, if any. Assign a Wound marker in every corresponding box in the sheet for each stat. Every time that enemy is hit, the Captain will withdraw that many Impact tokens, and the Wound marker from the corresponding area will step back as many positions as impacts assigned.

When a box reaches "1", that stat will be lost:

If it's the enemy's Hold lowered to "1", the enemy is defeated. You will benefit from any Morale bonus deriving from defeating it.
If it's the enemy's Speed reduced to "1", it will only move with 1D6.
If it's the enemy's Fighting Capacity box that lowers to "1", as a consequence that enemy has been captured or surrendered.

The Whale does not have a Fighting Capacity as such, therefore any deck impacts will be assigned to its Hold stat. For each success, it draws one impact token, applying the corresponding damage to the pirate vessel.

Should you attack the Sea Monster with your Fighting Capacity, draw an impact token for every success and apply its effect in the usual way.

The sea monster will not cease attacking until your ship sinks down into the abyssal depths. Whether you defeat it or flee from it, you get +3 Morale Points.

Sea enemies types

Merchant Cog: With these enemies you should be very careful not to shoot the Hold, as any impact point will make you lose one piece of goods.

If you manage to reduce its Fighting Capacity to "1" plus being at the same square as the Merchant, you could draw as many "Goods" tokens as indicated on its Hold points at that very moment, and add them to your Hold (as long as you have space enough on it).

A captured or sunken Merchant Cog adds up 3 Morale points; A Merchant Cog that manages to flee will force you to deduct 3 from your crew's Morale Points.

Galleon: A sunken or captured Galleon adds up 8 Morale Points to your crew, although we must advise that it is a somewhat suicidal mission... If you manage to flee from it, your crew loses 3 Morale Points.

If you reduce its Fighting Capacity to "1", you can draw as many "Goods" tokens as Hold Points the Galleon had at the moment of being captured.

Coastguard Brigantine: A Pirate Captain who succeeds in fleeing from a Coast Guard Brigantine loses 2 Morale Points for its crew. On the other hand, sinking or capturing it will bring your crew 5 Morale Points.

Reducing its Fighting Capacity to "1" will allow you to draw as many "Goods" tokens as Hold Points the Brigantine has at the moment of being seized.

Sea Monster: The Sea Monster has no "Facing", so it can move to any of the six sides of the hexagonal square directly. It will use its full movement to clash into the same square as your ship is; in that moment, it will use its Fighting Capacity with 4 tentacles (Fighting Capacity for each tentacle 1D6).

Whale: The whale will remain unmoving unless attacked, making use of its only weapon (Charge) moving towards your ship. If it manages to coincide in the same square as your ship, it will automatically deduct 2 Hold Points from your vessel. To repeat its charge after the attack, the Whale must leave your square into a different one.

To hit the Whale there are two options: Through your Firepower, or through your Fighting Capacity whenever the Whale is placed on the same square as your ship; draw an impact token for every success and apply its effect in the usual way.

If the Whale reaches 0 Hold Points, you can call it "defeated"; add up 2 "Provisions" tokens to your Hold, and also draw +1 "Goods" token and add +3 to your crew's Morale.

If you decide not to confront the Whale or you flee from combat, your crew loses 3 Morale.

Whirlpool: The Whirlpool places itself under your ship token, and stays on the gameboard until you manage to flee away from it a 5-square (straight line) distance.

At the beginning of the enemies' turn, if your ship happens to be in the same square or any square adjacent to the Whirlpool token, it infringes 1 impact to your Hold.

As long as you stay inside its effect area (a 5-square straight line), deduct -1 from your Speed Rolls. In the enemies' turn, roll 1D6 for the Whirlpool; if it overtakes your ship's Speed, your ship will be pulled in 1 square towards the Whirlpool token.

Ghost Ship: The Ghost Ship cannot be attacked in any way. All you can do is flee from it. At the beginning of its turn, it will steal 1 Morale Point out of your crew if your ship is 5 or less squares away from the Ghost Ship token.

Remove the Ghost Ship from the boardgame as soon as you manage to flee away from it a 5-square (straight line) distance.

Island: (Spend 1 Provisions when you are done with the island)

A desert island is an excellent opportunity to stock up on provisions or repair your ship in the middle of your voyage.

If you decided to explore the island, place your ship on the island closest to your ship (no need to roll Speed), on the square with a lettered scroll. Split your PS up between the two columns on the Desert Island chart: Explore and Repair, according to your needs.

To Explore, for every PS in this column, roll 2D6 and check its result in this chart.

Exploring Chart

Roll	Result
12	You find a 100-coin loot.
10-11	You rescue some castaways, who join your crew. +1PS and +1 Provisions.
8-9	You get +2 Provisions.
5-7	You get +1 Rum and +1 Provisions.
3-4	You find nothing.
2	2 Cannibals have captured your explorers (-1PS).

To Repair, take one single 1D6 roll and check the following chart.

Repairing Chart

Roll	Result
6	Remains from a shipwreck allow us to repair 2 impacts per PS.
5	You can repair 1 impact per PS.
3-4	You can only repair 1 Hold Impact per PS.
1-2	You don't find any materials on this island that can help you repair your ship.

End of the voyage phase

If the ship is captured, sinks, or navigates to its goal square as stated in the adventure book, the Voyage Phase is over.

What shall we do with the TREASURE?

All riches you may obtain by and large, whether it's coins or other treasures, are due to be taken on board at the risk of losing it all in a naval fight, by sinking or surrender. To avoid this you can store any amount of your choice in any of the seaboard islands. The Captain will keep a record of this island on his logbook. Whenever you need your treasure, or want to add more riches to keep them safe, all you will have to do is sailing to that island.

Voyage phase skills

Artillery: Add +1 to your Firepower Rolls.

Carpentry: Mend 1 impact per Voyage day.

Cartography: Once per Voyage, the captain can switch an Event card for a desert island one.

Clairvoyance: Allows the Captain to ignore one Event card per Voyage.

Deck Officer: Increase Fighting Capacity in 1D6.

Fight Instructor: Add +1 to your Fighting Capacity.

Freedman: Slaves cannot be discarded during a voyage; neither can you make money by trading with them; but any Slave token you have can become a PS (with the maximum PS in the ship being 6). Once on port, you can choose to discard (not trade) those Slaves tokens on your Hold that didn't become PS.

Hunter: Add 1D6 to your Firepower rolls or Fighting Capacity when fighting the Whale or the Sea monster.

Lookout: When an enemy appears, the Lookout can place it one square further from your ship.

Mistress of the Winds: You can reroll one dice every time you roll for Speed during a Sea Event.

Pantry Cook: For every Provision token you achieve during the Voyage, add another one extra.

Sailing: Increase your Speed Rolls in +1D6.

Strategist: Once per Sea Event, you can cancel one enemy's turn.

Surgeon: A crew losing any PS in combat after a Voyage event has finished, can have the Surgeon rolling for INT and recovering 1 only PS on any "6". He can also bring down the effects of illness-related events.

Merchants' Chart

Product	Value
Gold and jewels	300
Metals	200
Fabrics and Spice	100
Tobacco	75
Slaves	50
Rum	10
Provisions	10

Port Phase

Tortuga Island

The crew is established in this island and from here they sail in search of adventures. Once the enterprise is accomplished, they return to their island using the same route.

What to do on Tortuga Island?

On this island the captain will be able to recruit new members for the crew, improve the ship, pay debts, and negotiate goods subtracted from boardings…

Furthermore, the crew will take the opportunity to waste their wages enjoying a real pirate life, buying gear with their personal booty or acquiring new skills… welcome to the Port Phase.

The Booty

There are two types of Booty in Skull Tales: the pirate's personal booty, and the crew's booty.

The personal booty is the one achieved by each player, it refers to all the coins gained by a character when exploring, searching or achieving goals. Add to this booty the salary received when reaching port, which is equal to the wage stat indicated on its character sheet.

The crew's booty is the one achieved by the Captain during the Voyage Phase in the form of goods resulting from boardings, plus, any possible booty achieved by captain's goals along the adventures.

Merchants

There are a number of merchants on the island who like to trade with pirates as their goods are much cheaper than any other providers'.

Check on the Merchants' Chart for the sum of the values obtained from goods along your voyages. Write down the total amount on the Captain's record sheet; on the "BOOTY" section. With these earnings you should pay your crew, recruit new members or improve your ship.

Remember that this is the perfect place to resupply provisions and rum for the next voyage. Before you proceed to sea as a captain, don't forget to calculate carefully all you'll need on the next adventure.

The Canteen

The perfect place for recruiting. Here, the captain will select new members for his team by paying the recruitment cost, which will be indicated on each character sheet. The canteen is also the place to pay wages to the crew (players and PS) when coming back from the adventures.

Pirate Squads (PS) have a 30 coins wage. Every extra PS that you wish to add to your ship will cost you 30 extra coins. The limit of PS on your ship is 6.

Pirates Squads (PS)

Wage: 30 coins.
Add 1D6 to Fighting Capacity.
Range of success: 4-6
Morale: Add 5 to the crew's Morale when recruiting a new PS. Subtract 1 of Morale when you lose 1 PS.
Special skill: When you reach an island, and just before starting the Adventure Phase, your PS can perform any of these two actions:
1. Collect Provisions. You obtain 1 "Provisions" token per PS for your ship.
2. Repair the Ship. The ship recovers 1 "Hold" or "Sails" tokens at your choice per PS.
You must decide which of these two tasks you assign to your PS.

Salary

The captain will get a 50 coins wage when making port after a successful adventure. These 50 coins will be subtracted from the crew's booty.

The rest of the characters and PS will earn the usual wage indicated on each character sheet. These gains will be subtracted from the crew's booty.

Furthermore, players will be able to hire the services of an ally who will accompany them along the adventures. When making port from any adventure, players must pay the ally's wages if he wants to keep him for the next adventure.

Shipyards

Every ship needs improvements and fixes to rule the seas. This is the right place for such needs. Check the following chart to know about the costs and possible improvements that, as a Captain, you can add to your ship.

Fixes and improvements

Fix	Cost
Fully HOLD REPAIR	25 coins
Fully SAILS REPAIR	25 coins
Auxiliary SAIL. Add +1D6 SPEED (Maximum 2)	50 coins
CANNONS add one token +1D6 (Maximum 5)	50 coins

If you've lost your ship, you can also buy a new one for a fair price.

Shiptypes

Type	Speed	Hold	Cannons	Value
Sloop	4D	6	2	150
Brigantine	3D	8	3	200
Schooner	2D	10	3	200

Blacksmith/Gunsmith

Here characters can acquire new weapons or the necessary gear for the next adventure. They could also sell their non-initial gear for half its price (rounding down).

Check the gear cards deck to acquire your gear by paying the cost indicated on the card.

If two or more players want the same card and there are no cards left of this gear item, resolve it with a Charisma confronted roll.

Some cards include a stat icon (Strength, Intelligence or Agility) or a character icon. They indicate that characters should comply with this requirement to use the card.

In addition to gear cards, any character could acquire a hook or a standard wooden leg for any permanent wound received. Write down your acquisitions on the record sheet:

Special Gear

Team	Value	Description
Hook	10	CQC weapon; causes 1 wound. It can be wielded in a hand with a Permanent Wound.
Wooden leg	10	Recuperate 1 AP on a leg with a Permanent Wound.

Characters are only allowed to carry up to 3 non-initial gear cards.

Madame Claudie's House

Here you'll find any Masters of Arms; mad geniuses or deeply experienced pirates who will teach you new techniques and skills upon payment of coins and Prestige Points. This lesson will serve you well along your pirate career.

The character will subtract the cost of the skill from his personal booty, which will since then be reflected on his record sheet. Some skills must comply with specific requirements for the character to be allowed to acquire them.

Skills

Ambidextrous — Cost: 100 Coins, Prestige: 50. Requirements: CQC 3+. The character won't get a penalty for using his secondary hand in CQC.

Charge — Cost: 100 Coins, Prestige: 50. During a running action, the character is allowed to execute a CQC attack without spending AP.

Chicken Leap — Cost: 50 Coins, Prestige: 30. Requirements: Agility 4. The character only spends 1AP to leap.

Dirty Fight — Cost: 75 Coins, Prestige: 40. Requirements: Intelligence 3. When being in a CQC attack, the character can force the enemy to re-roll.

Eloquence — Cost: 75 Coins, Prestige: 50. The character can spend 1AP to cuss one or more adjacent enemies, gaining one dice on his next CQC Attack against this or these enemies.

Endurance — Cost: 75 Coins, Prestige: 50. Requirements: Strength 4. The character will not lose AP when wounded.

Feline Reflexes — Cost: 100 Coins, Prestige: 50. Requirements: Agility 4. Once per turn, the character can force an enemy to reroll any RC dice of his choice.

Fencing — Cost: 100 Coins, Prestige: 50. Requirements: Intelligence 3. The character adds +1 to each of his CQC rolls.

Fighter — Cost: 100 Coins, Prestige: 30. Requirements: Strength 4. Your weaponless and successful CQC attacks cause 1 wound and will also stun the enemy. You can roll 2D6 when defending yourself without weapons.

Fortunate — Cost: 75 Coins, Prestige: 40. When a character successfully explores, he will draw two exploration cards and discard one on his choice. Add +1 to exploration rolls.

Grog Producer — Cost: 50 Coins, Prestige: 30. Regain 2 Destiny points when Catching your Breath.

Healing — Cost: 100 Coins, Prestige: 50. The character can discard one wound by spending a full turn.

Keen Aim — Cost: 100 Coins, Prestige: 50. The character can reroll one dice on RC. Moreover, he will have an unlimited range if he uses a musket.

Master of Poisons — Cost: 100 Coins, Prestige: 70. At the beginning of an adventure the character will choose a weapon from his gear that will be considered "poisoned" from that moment on. This weapon will cause an extra wound. The character ignores the "Poisoned" condition by spending 2AP.

Point-Blank Range — Cost: 100 Coins, Prestige: 50. The character can perform an RC Action against an adjacent enemy by subtracting one dice from his RC stat roll.

Quick Reload — Cost: 75 Coins, Prestige: 50. The character will only spend 2AP to reload Firearms.

Seasoned Veteran — Cost: 100 Coins, Prestige: 60. Requirements: Intelligence 3. The character wins the ties on his confronted rolls.

Shoot on the Move — Cost: 100 Coins, Prestige: 50. During a running action, the character can perform a single RC Attack without spending AP.

Stealth — Cost: 100 Coins, Prestige: 50. Requirements: Agility 4. The character can spend 2AP to move in Stealth mode along squares with adjacent enemies. When starting to perform Stealth the character cannot have adjacent enemies.

The character must surpass an Agility "4" roll. If he succeeds the enemy will ignore the character until the end of the adventure.

An enemy or character can cross over a square occupied by a character in Stealth, but won't be allowed to finish movement on this square.

Any character performing Stealth won't block the sight line.

Surgeon — Cost: 150 Coins, Prestige: 50. Requirements: Intelligence 4. Once per turn, the character can discard one wound from himself or from an adjacent character by spending 3 AP. When discarding a wound from another character, rise one position on your Prestige Track, while lowering the same amount on the healed character's Prestige Track.

Thick Bullets — Cost: 100 Coins, Prestige: 50. Your firearms cause one extra wound.

Trickster — Cost: 75 Coins, Prestige: 50. Requirements: Intelligence 4. The character will pay half of the cost -rounding up- for any gear or ally card.

Unstoppable — Cost: 70 Coins, Prestige: 30. Requirements: Strength 4. The character can push an enemy by spending 1AP and scoring higher than this enemy on a confronted Strength roll. If you succeed, move the enemy 1 square on the direction you wish.

Usurer — Cost: 50 Coins, Prestige: 50. Requirements: Intelligence 3. Multiply by 2 the coins you get when searching someone.

Verbiage — Cost: 100 Coins, Prestige: 50. Gain 1 Charisma permanent point and multiply by 2 the Prestige Points achieved when defeating an enemy.

Voodoo Shaman Level II — Cost: 100 Coins, Prestige: 50. Requirements: Voodoo Shaman. You can add all level-2 Cards to your deck and take up to 5 cards per adventure.

Other Skills

The following skills are specific for some characters and cannot be bought:

Totem Magic: The character has 4 totems and 4 totem spells (8 cards) to perform his magic. The specific totem to be equipped must be selected at the beginning of the adventure, being nevertheless likely to be switched within the magic character's turn.

Once the character is equipped with a totem, the values on the card will replace those of the character sheet.

The character will only be able to use the spell card of the corresponding totem.

Some totem spells require an AP cost to be used, except for the "The Wolf Hunt" spell that costs nothing.

The character can switch the equipped totem by spending the AP cost indicated on the card and by applying its effects immediately. The discarded totem will be placed on the Reactivation Countdown Slots for magic cards, on the Adventure Board, just like a spell. It won't be ready to be used again until it is completely reloaded.

Voodoo Shaman: At the beginning of the adventure, you will be able to select 4 voodoo cards and use them according to the instructions on its description.

Some voodoo cards require an AP cost to be used. Once used, voodoo cards have to be placed to reload on the Adventure Track, so the spell can be used again.

Credits

Game Designer: David Illescas

Illustrators: Eugenio Delgado, Francisco Arenas

Graphic and Web designers: Yesica Caré, Santiago Jiménez

Translation: Marina Martínez, Fran Sáez

Layout: Santiago Jiménez, Yesica Caré

It's been more than two years of constant work and effort to get to this point. The fulfillment of a dream come true thanks to your continuous support.

This board game is a chance to relive all those pirates adventures that we dreamed about when we were kids.

My deep gratitude to my family, especially to Naty for her endless patience, to all those external partners than joined me along the way and, of course, to the backers, without them none of this would have been possible.

We very much appreciate the support given from the social networks, forums, blogs and Youtube.

We would especially like to thank: Darkstone, Funnatic Channel, ALC Nosolodados.