Those Pesky Humans! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
• Components
• Setting Up
  • Constructing the Lair (Monster Setup)
    • Building the Layout
    • Placing the Lair's Contents
    • Outfitting the Monster Lord
  • The Humans Arrive (Human Setup)
  • Final Setup
  • Understanding Your Avatar Card
  • Tokens, Hits, Bonuses and Penalties
• The Turn Sequence
• Phase 1 – Draw Cards
  • Playing Cards
  • The Avatar Ability Cards
  • Avatar Innate Abilities
• Phase 2 – Movement
  • Movement and Avatars
  • The Rooms
  • Moving Between Rooms
  • Doors
  • Dead Ends
  • The Starting Hexes
  • Resource Tokens
  • The Monsters and Resource Tokens
  • Secret Passages
  • Treasure Tokens
  • Trading, Dropping, and Picking Up Treasure Tokens
• Phase 3 – Combat
  • Attack!
  • Attacking and Doors
  • Playing Cards and Combat
  • Removing Hits
  • Human Avatars and Death
  • Reviving Human Avatars
  • Monster Lord Death
  • Minions Death
  • Tokens and Dying
• Winning
• More than Two Players
  • Setup
  • All Phases
  • Draw Phase
  • Movement Phase
  • Avatar Death and Escape
• Quick Play
• Example of Play

Goal of the Game

One Player, as those pesky Humans, wants to delve into the depths of the Monster Lair and achieve fame, acclaim, and lots of cold, hard gold pieces by retrieving the Three Legendary Gem Stones…but at least one of them must make it out alive.

The other Player, as the Monster LORD and his minions, wants very much to keep this from happening. The Monsters win the game if all of the Human Avatars are killed, protecting the hard-attained hoard...at least until the next batch of pesky humans arrive!

Components

• 16 Room Tiles
• 2 Starting Hex Tokens
• 12 Doors
• 74 Resource/Room/Hit Tokens
• 5 Avatar Figures
• 23 Monster Minion Figures
• 2 Six-Sided Dice
• 1 Rulebook
• 40 Human Draw Cards
• 40 Monster Draw Cards
• 4 Encounter Cards
• 6 Paladin Ability Cards
• 6 Wizard Ability Cards
• 6 Priestess Ability Cards
• 6 Thief Ability Cards
• 6 Ogre Ability Cards

Setting Up

First, decide who will play the Humans and who will play the Monsters. If you have more than two players, see the "More than Two Players" section towards the end of this rulebook. Once this is settled, the Monster Lord must construct his lair!

Constructing the Lair (Monster Setup)

The following steps are for the Monster Player only. Human Players may skip ahead to The Humans Arrive section and perform their own setup at the same time.

Building the Layout

Shuffle the Room Tiles (the large hexagon shapes) and choose 10 randomly. These make the building blocks for your dungeon.

Arrange them to create your Lair while following this rule: Line up the exits (the openings leading to the edge of each Room Tile) so that there is at least one path to every room. The Secret Passage – described later in the rules – does not count! It's okay to leave exits leading nowhere, as these simply become dead ends.

Once you are done, place the Human Starting Hex Token and the Monster Starting Hex Token at opposite ends of your Lair, preferably in the general vicinity of where both players are seated. Make sure these, and all other Tokens, clearly occupy one hex only.

Placing the Lair's Contents

Find the Three Legendary Gem Tokens and the two Secret Passage Resource Tokens and set them aside. Now, shuffle the remaining Resource Tokens (with the treasure chest backs) and randomly select five.

Place exactly one Resource Token in each room of your Lair, face down. Any hex will do, and you may arrange them as you see fit. However, making the gems harder for the Humans to reach and placing the secret passages to benefit you more than them are noteworthy considerations. Most importantly, don't let the Humans see what is where!

Take up to ten door figures and place them on any exit between two Room Tiles. These will impede the Humans progress, but do nothing to stand in the way of your own Minions! Some of the Door Standees are marked with special descriptors, Locked or Trapped, that make things even more difficult for the Humans. Once again, keep this secret from the Human Player.

Place any Treasure Tokens as indicated by the Room Instructions.

Outfitting the Monster Lord

Choose three, and only three, of the Monster Lord's Special Ability cards to play with during this game. Choose carefully – you can only use each of them once!

Place your imposing Monster Lord figure on the Monster Starting Hex and set your Monster Lord Avatar Card where it can be easily referenced.

The Humans Arrive (Human Setup)

The Human Player must pick three Human Avatars to venture into the Lair. Once chosen, you may pick three, and only three, of each Avatar's Ability cards.

Place the three appropriate figures on your Human Starting Hex and the matching Avatar Cards within easy reach.

Final Setup

The Players take their matching Draw Decks and shuffle them. Make sure that the 4 Encounter Cards are not shuffled into either deck. After shuffling, each player draws 5 cards. If playing with more than two players, remember that the number of cards drawn is different. Reference the More than Two Players Rules at the end of this book.

The Human Player will always start the game by going first.

Understanding Your Avatar Card

Avatar Cards are made up of several important parts. Each of these will be further explained later on, but here's what everything is called so you know what is what.

Tokens, Hits, Bonuses and Penalties

Various Draw Cards, Avatar Ability Cards, Treasure Tokens, and Attacks can modify Avatars by granting new Abilities, increasing or decreasing one of an Avatar's three Ratings, or benefitting or harming the Avatar in some other way. To mark these things, place the appropriate Token or Draw Card on top of the Avatar's Card.

If you take a HIT, then place a Hit Token on one of the hearts on the bottom of your Avatar's Card. If you're carrying something, like a Treasure or Gem, place it anywhere on the Avatar Card so that it doesn't block the view of your Ratings. Treasures, Curses, and other Tokens that affect your Ratings should be placed near what they modify for easy reference. No Rating may ever be reduced below one.

The Turn Sequence

Game play proceeds with Players taking turns. Each of these turns is made up of separate Phases that allow you to do different things, but they must be completed in the following order.

• Phase 1 – Draw Cards: Add cards to your hand.
• Phase 2 – Movement: Move Avatars around the Lair. (Don't forget the Room Descriptions!)
• Phase 3 – Combat: Attack nearby foes and attempt to kill them!

Again, the Human Player always takes the first turn.

Phase 1 – Draw Cards

Players draw from their appropriate deck and add it to their hand. The Human Player can draw one card on his or her turn, while the Monster Player gets to draw two. There is no limit to the number of cards in your hand.

If your draw deck runs empty, shuffle the discard pile to create a new one.

Playing Cards

At any time anyone may play cards from their hand. These cards may improve your Avatars' abilities, alter your surroundings, summon Minions, limit your opponent's options, or otherwise affect the normal course of the game. To play a card, place it face up next to the Avatar, room, or other card you want it to affect and then carry out the instructions on that card. Unless otherwise specified, the card you played will be discarded at the end of your turn into the Discard Pile. There is no limit to the number of cards you can play during your turn.

The Monster Player possesses a special card type: the Minion Cards. These allow the Monster Player to summon new beasties to aid in dispatching the Pesky Humans from the lair. After playing a Minion Card, place the card next to the Monster Lord Card. Then take the appropriate figure and place it in any available adjacent (touching) hex to the Monster Lord. Minion Cards, labeled as such and red in color, can only be played on the Monster Player's turn.

The Avatar Ability Cards

Each Avatar has the three Ability cards chosen for them at the beginning of the game. Like other cards, these may be used at any time. However, they are not sent to the discard pile and are never shuffled into the draw deck. Simply turn them over or set them aside once they have been used. Certain Rooms in the Monster Lair may allow you to recover these cards and make them usable again.

Avatar Innate Abilities

An Avatar's innate Abilities are like Ability Cards and can be used at any time. They can be used again and again, even in the same Phase, unless specifically forbidden by the Innate Ability in question.

Phase 2 – Movement

Each Avatar and each Minion may move a number of hexes equal to their Move Rating, as indicated by the number inside the Move icon, once per Movement Phase. You may enter any hex you can see, even if it is partially obscured by a wall, furniture, or other details. You do not have to move your full Move or move at all. However, picking something up, such as a Resource Token, immediately ends your Movement Phase for that Avatar. Opening doors costs Move but does not end your Movement Phase. Draw Cards and Abilities must be played before or after moving an Avatar.

Movement and Avatars

All Avatars and Minions may move through hexes occupied by each other but can never end the Movement Phase in a hex with another Token, Avatar, or Minion except for the Secret Passage Tokens and the Rogue Trap Token, all detailed later.

The Rooms

The Lair is split into ten separate rooms, each with their own special characteristics. When Human Avatars enter a room for the first time, read the description written on the Room Tile and follow any instructions that it gives. All Rooms will have one Resource Token, and many also contain one or more Treasure Tokens. Both are described later. The Monster Lord and his Minions never follow any special instructions on the Room Tiles unless the Description specifically states that they do.

Moving Between Rooms

Unless using an Ability or Draw Card that states otherwise, you may only move between rooms through the marked exits.

Doors

Doors are found throughout the Monster Lord's Lair at various exits to impede the Humans' progress. The Monster Lord and his Minions can move freely through these doors, but Humans must remove them from play before being able to use the exit.

When a Human Avatar is adjacent to a door, they may check the door to see what type of door it is by looking at the bottom of the door figure inside the standee.

Regular Doors require 1 Move to remove from play.

Locked and Trapped Doors require 2 Move to remove unless:

• You are a Thief Avatar
• You have played an Ability or Draw Card that opens a door

Then it requires only 1 Move to remove and traps are not triggered.

If an Avatar other than a Thief removes the Trapped Door, a trap is triggered and will give the Avatar 1 HIT Token. Hits are described in more detail under Combat.

If an Avatar has only 1 Move left after reaching a Locked or Trapped Door, they may "spend" this remaining move on the Door. This reduces the cost to 1 Move in the next Movement Phase, but the first Move spent next turn must be to finish removing the door.

Dead Ends

Exits that lead to no other rooms or into walls cannot be used. They are dead ends.

The Starting Hexes

The Starting Hex Tokens are special Tokens that mark where the Avatars enter or leave the dungeon.

Humans enter the dungeon through their Starting Hex at the beginning of the game and may return to it if they wish to escape the Monster Lord's Lair. Human Avatars that move into the Starting Hex and choose to exit are removed from play, taking with them any Abilities, Treasures, or Resource Tokens they possessed. To win the game, one or more of the Human Avatars must exit the Lair with all three Legendary Gems in tow. Whether this task is accomplished with one, two, or all of the Human Avatars makes no difference. The Monster Lord and Minions may pass through this hex freely but may never end their movement occupying this hex.

The Monster Lord enters its Starting Hex at the beginning of the game, and will only return here if killed. Human Avatars treat this hex as a normal one but may never end their movement on top of it.

Resource Tokens

At the beginning of the game, each Room Tile will have a Resource Token in it, the Tokens with the Treasure Chests on the back. These can be many things: surprise encounters, dangerous traps, and most importantly one of the Three Legendary Gems. You may never enter a Hex containing an unflipped Resource Token, but if Human Avatars end their Movement Phase next to one, they may choose to flip it over, revealing what it is. After a Resource Token has been revealed, one of two things may happen. If it is a Gem, the Token is "picked up" and placed on or near the Avatar that activated it. Otherwise, curses, traps, and encounters have an immediate effect based on what Token's type. If a token is revealed in some other manner, as through the Divination Ability, the user may choose to discard the Resource Token instead of following its effects. Resource Tokens can never be picked up through Divination.

Gems are one of the three Legendary Gems required for Humans to win the game. Place the Token on that Avatar's Card and treat it like a Treasure Token. Once you have all three, you must make it out of the Lair with them to win!

Curses are placed on Avatars too, but always inflict something bad! They are removed by a Priestess Avatar's Remove Curse Ability (when adjacent to that Avatar) or a Remove Curse Draw Card.

Traps are nasty things that immediately affect the Avatar that finds it, and maybe others nearby! They may cause physical harm, trap you in place, or otherwise foul your day. After inflicting their misfortune, which may last multiple turns, Traps are removed from play.

Encounters behave as if a Minion Card was played, but instead of placing the appropriate figure adjacent to the Monster Lord, immediately place it in the hex occupied by the Resource Token. Encounters can attack and be attacked as normal. In addition, encounters make an attack as soon as they enter play against whoever uncovered the Resource Token. See the COMBAT section for more information.

The Monsters and Resource Tokens

The Monster Lord and Minions may never pick up Resource Tokens, nor can they end their movement in the hex it occupies unless it is the Secret Passage or the Thief's Trap. However, the Monster Player may look at a Resource Token at any time and does not have to reveal it to the Human Player. The Dark Elf Rogue Minion may steal Gems from Human Avatars but cannot drop or trade them.

Secret Passages

In the Monster's Lair, there are two special Resource Tokens called Secret Passages. These are entrances to a shortcut leading from one Room of the Lair to another. They are different from other Resource Tokens in two important ways. First, Avatars and Minions may move into the hex the Resource Token occupies. Doing so immediately transports the Avatar to the hex holding the other Secret Passage Token. Secondly, once flipped, the Token remains in that hex for the rest of the game.

When a Human Avatar reveals one of the Secret Passage Tokens, or the Monster Player makes use of it, the Monster Player must reveal both Tokens.

Treasure Tokens

Also scattered throughout the Lair, Treasure Tokens are beneficial items that can improve an Avatar or Minion, grant new abilities, or otherwise benefit the receiver. To pick up a Treasure Token, simply end your Movement next to it and place the Treasure Token on your card. If you have two Treasures that increase the same Rating, you may only choose to use one of them. Unlike Resource Tokens, the Monster Lord and his Minions may freely pick up Treasures.

Trading, Dropping, and Picking Up Treasure Tokens

Two adjacent Avatars or Minions may exchange any Treasures they are carrying. A Wizard may also use his innate Ability Zip Object to give any Treasure Token he is carrying to another Human Avatar. Avatars may also drop a Treasure into any unoccupied adjacent hex. Likewise, anyone may also pick up a Treasure as long as he or she is adjacent to it at the end of the Movement Phase. This costs no Move points.

Phase 3 – Combat

After the Movement Phase is over, any Avatar adjacent to an Avatar or Minion belonging to the opposing Player may enter Combat. Monsters will want to remove Humans from the Lair, and Humans will want to forge their way to new rooms or protect their companions. You accomplish this by attacking.

Attack!

Each Avatar or Minion may make one attack per turn against any adjacent foe. Take your Avatar's Attack Rating and add any Bonus or Penalty Tokens carried to it. Then roll one six-sided die and add it to the number above. This is your Attack Result.

The target of your attack adds its Defense Rating, any Bonuses or Penalties, and a die roll of its own, making a Defense Result.

If your Attack Result is greater than or equal to your opponent's Defense Result, your attack succeeded! Place a Hit Token into your target's Hits Box, blocking out one of the hearts there. If all the hearts in the Hits Box are covered by Hit Tokens, that Avatar or Minion is killed.

If your Attack Result is less than the Defense Result, you have missed.

Attack Rating + Bonus + Die VS Defense Rating + Bonus + Die

Example: If Esper attacked the Monster Lord, he'd compare his Attack Rating of 5 to the Ogre's Defense Rating of 4. They both roll one die. Esper rolls a six! The poor Ogre only rolls a 2. Esper's Result is 11 (5+6) while the Ogre's is 6 (4+2). Esper's attack easily wins, causing the Ogre to place a Hit Token on his Avatar Card.

Remember, each Avatar or Minion may only make one attack per turn unless an Ability or Draw Card indicates otherwise. However, you may defend against as many attacks as you are dealt, even if asleep, trapped, or otherwise encumbered.

Attacking and Doors

Avatars and Minions may never attack each other through doors, even if they are otherwise adjacent.

Playing Cards and Combat

Some cards may affect the Attack or Defense Result, force a reroll, allow combatants to attack from afar, or even avoid the results of Combat entirely. Draw Cards and Avatar Abilities may be played any time during Combat, even after rolls have been made. Once all cards have been played by both sides, calculate the results as normal.

Removing Hits

Some Draw Cards and Avatar Abilities may remove Hits. When played, simply remove the number of Hit Tokens indicated by the card. This may be done to remove Hits as soon as they are received, thus preventing...

Human Avatars and Death

If an Avatar has a number of Hits equal to the number of Hearts in his or her Hits Box and cannot play an Ability or Draw Card to remove at least 1 Hit, the Avatar is killed. Turn the Figure over on its side in the hex. The Humans Player may no longer move the felled Avatar or use any of that Avatar's Abilities. If all Humans are killed, it's game over and the Monster Lord wins.

Reviving Human Avatars

Human Avatars can only be revived and returned to play through Draw Cards and Avatar Abilities that indicate they can do so. Otherwise, dead is dead!

Monster Lord Death

Unlike the Humans, if the Monster Lord receives its maximum number of Hits, it does not truly die. Instead, remove the Monster Lord from the game. After the Monster Player's next Discard Phase, return the Monster Lord to his Starting Hex with all Hit Tokens removed. There is no change to the Monster Player's hand, but while the Monster Lord is not in the Lair, no Draw Cards can be played. Minions may be moved as normal even when the Monster Lord is not in play.

Minions Death

When Minions receive their maximum number of Hits, they are removed from play.

Tokens and Dying

Discard Curse Tokens, but any Treasures carried are given to the Avatar or Minion that dealt the final blow. If you want these Tokens back, you must defeat whoever has them! Monsters, except for the Dark Elf Rogue, may never carry Gems, so they are dropped in the nearest unoccupied hex instead.

Winning

The Human Player wins the game by returning to the Humans Starting Hex with all three Legendary Gems. Whether this is accomplished by one, two, or all of the Avatars does not matter.

The Monsters Player wins the game by defeating all Human Avatars. If a Human Avatar has escaped the Lair, it does not need to be defeated. It is only necessary to prevent the Humans from escaping with all three Gems.

More than Two Players

When playing with more than two players, The Humans form a team against the Monster Player. The goal and much of game remains the same, but there are a few differences during setup and play:

Setup

Each additional player is assigned a Human Avatar to play. They make all the choices for that avatar during setup, as in choosing Ability Cards, and play, for movement, playing cards, attacking, etc. When playing this way, the number of cards each Player draws at the beginning of the game differs.

In a 3 player game, one Human player must choose 2 Human Avatars to control. Each Human player draws only 4 cards initially. The Monster Player draws 6 cards.

In a 4 player game, each Human player controls a single Human Avatar. Each Human Player draws only 3 cards to start. The Monster Player draws 7 cards.

All Phases

During each phase of play the Human Players may take their turns in any order or simultaneously. They may talk together to play their turn, strategize, and discuss their hands.

Draw Phase

In the Draw Phase, the Humans Players decide as a team who will draw a card. No more than one player should draw this card in any Draw Phase.

Movement Phase

During movement each player moves only the Avatar they were assigned in the setup.

Avatar Death and Escape

If the Human Avatar a Player controls dies, and another Player is currently controlling two Avatars, the Player may take control of one of those Avatars. If no Human Avatar remains that the Player can control, he or she must discard any Draw Cards held and is unable to further affect the game except through cheers and boos. Likewise, once an Avatar escapes through the Human Starting Hex, the Player follows the same rules.

Quick Play

If you're crunched for time or would simply like a faster playing game, modify set up as follows: Only draw seven room tiles, and only place two of the Legendary Gems. Obviously, only two Gems will be required for the Humans to win. Also, if the Monster's Player's initial hand contains no Minions, discard all cards and draw a new hand until it does.

Example of Play

The Game begins with the Monster Player choosing 10 random Room tiles and arranging them on the table so that each room is accessible. The three Gems, the two Secret Passages, and five random Resource Tokens are next, strategically placed one per room. Lastly, the starting hexes are placed at opposite ends of the dungeon and doors placed at exits of his choosing.

While this dungeon building is going on, the Human Player chooses three Avatars, the Thief, the Paladin, and the Priestess, and the three Ability cards to go with each. The Monster player has chosen three of his own. Finally, each player shuffles and draws 5 cards from their matching Draw Decks. As always, the Human Player goes first.

She begins with the Draw Phase, and draws a single card to add to her hand, a Potion of Speed. Next up is the Movement Phase, and the Human Player moves each of her avatars as far as their Move Rating allows, starting from the Human Start Hex. Deciding this isn't enough, the Human Player declares she is using the Potion card, placing it next to her Paladin. He can now move a total of eight hexes this turn instead of four. This is enough to reach the nearest door with 2 Move to spare. Using 1 Move, she checks the door to find it locked. With the Paladin's last remaining move, the Human Player removes that door from play.

Next the Thief moves up to different door and removes it from the game. Due to her innate ability, a Thief never needs to check a door, as it always costs 1 Move. Finally the Priestess moves next to the Resource Token in the room and flips it over. It's a "Stone Golem Encounter!" So, the Monster Player places the Stone Golem figure on the Resource Token's Hex, and then he finds the Minion card for the Stone Golem and places it next to his Ogre Avatar card. Movement is done and the Stone Golem gets to make an immediate attack since it was an Encounter.

Combat Phase! The Monster Player rolls a 4 on his die for the attack of the Stone Golem and the Human Player rolls a 3 for the Priestess's defense. The Stone Golem has an Attack Rating of 3 so he has a 7 Attack Result. The Priestess Avatar has a Defense Rating of 3 so she has a Defense Result of 6. Since 7 > 6, the Stone Golem successfully strikes the Priestess and the Priestess Avatar puts one Hit Token on one of the Hearts at the bottom of her Avatar card. Since it is still the Human Player's turn, she will attempt to attack the Stone Golem for her combat phase. She rolls a 4 and the Stone Golem also rolls a 4. Priestess's Attack Rating is 3 and the Stone Golem's Defense is 3. 4+3 = 4+3, a tie, which means the Attacker wins the combat. The Monster Player puts a Hit Token on the Stone Golem's Minion card. No one else is adjacent to the Stone Golem so no other attacks are made.

Now it's the Monster Player's turn. He draws two cards and places the Ogre on the Monster Starting Hex. He then moves his Ogre 2 hexes (his Move Rating) towards the Human Avatars. His hand contains two Minion Cards (an "Orc" and an "Imp") so he plays them by placing them next to his Ogre Card, finding their matching Figures, and placing them adjacent to his Ogre. Then he moves his Orc 5 hexes and the Imp 6 hexes. A door is in the way, but Minions may move through these without spending extra Move or removing the Door. He then plays a "Lights Out" Card, which will reduce the Human Avatars Move Rating by 3 next turn, and places the card in his Discard Pile.

Since the Stone Golem is still alive (it hasn't taken 2 hits yet) and it's adjacent to a Human Avatar, the Monster Player can attack with it during his Combat Phase. He rolls a 2 which with its Attack Rating of 3 gives him an Attack Result of 5. The Priestess rolls a 5 and has a Defense of 3. 5 < 8 and the Stone Golem therefore misses.

That ends two turns in the game with each player having taken one turn.