Discover your hero’s journey...

— a solitaire card adventure —

Barbarian Vince: Rules

v1.5 (Mar 2018)

 Barbarian Vince
— a solitaire card adventure —
A game by Rocco Privetera (v1.5)
Mighty Fist Games: www.mightyfistgames.com
Art by Cinnamon Curtis: www.originalcinn.co.uk
As your father rides off into the sunset, you, Vincent the
Barbarian, look upon the city of Ulendi, with which you
used to trade with under your father’s stern eye. Now
you are of age and must seek your fortune alone. What
sort of adventures will you have? How many wolves will
you kill? There are a lot of wolves.
Introduction
Barbarian Vince is a solitaire card-driven adventure
game. The only components required are the deck of
cards and places to hold/store the cards when in play.
Main Types of Cards
Quest Cards make up the majority of the deck, and
tell your adventurer’s story: (X3) The Goblin Mines X3

List of Terrain Types

You follow a passage deep into the mines. You are
discovered by the watch and brought before the O
Goblin King. He appears distraught, for his only

the card contains

beautiful daughter, Slobberina, was kidnapped by
a troll and taken north.
◆ If you offer to find the Princess, the King gives you the
Mushroom of Recovery (this card), and tells you to head
to the “Big Tree.” You must move to Hardscrabble Plains

Encounter Listings,
(map 5) on your next turn.
◆ To flee, you must win a Hide 7+ check and then play a
Z1 encounter as you try to escape the mines.
Fail, and you must fight to get out.

grouped by terrain type First the guards:

Combat check: 2@ 7+ (Round Speed: 2, Damage: 1)
Then the King:

and difficulty number Combat check: 1@ 8+ (Round Speed: 3, Damage: 1)

Success: Keep this card as an item and you may move
through here with no Encounters from now on.
Either Failure: Discard a card, and you are moved to
Goblin Pass.

Item Information, with item (O) Outdoors: Peaceful Travel

You walk through manageable weather. No encounters.

classes, name, and description

Right now you could use some company, maybe even your
friend, the wizard X’Argex. He’s probably locked himself
away in that spire of his along the eastern shore.
Recovery +1

10
Random Number
Mushroom of Recovery
Unique
Map Cards display an area map:
Map Number
Map Name and Skill Bonus
2
Map Key
showing the
Map 2: Gob Mountains

Travel
Skill: +1 Survival 5
1

Paths Goblin Mines directions of

adjoining maps
Irontree City — X3

(dotted
8+ G+2,C
Goblin Pass
7+ M,O

red lines) Eastshore

8+ U,V
Map Locations,
Felgrim Swamp with Lay Low
Area info
11+ A,O

Value (in square

Spire of X’Argex
— X2 brackets), and
Random Terrain Types (in
3 round brackets)
The southeast part of the Land, by the shore,

Number
with swamps and goblin infested mountains.

Key Concepts
Decks: You must manage 3 sets of cards during play:
Draw Deck: The main deck of cards that you draw
encounters, items and random numbers from.
Ready Hand: Cards you have in-hand, ready to play.
Exhausted Hand: Cards you have in-hand but that
have been used (exhausted) during play.
Discarding Cards: If you are instructed to discard a
card, move it to the bottom of the draw deck.
Exhausting Cards: To exhaust a card, move it from
your ready hand to your exhausted hand.
Restoring Cards: To restore a card, move it from your
exhausted hand to your ready hand.
Random Draws: To make a random draw, take the
top card from the draw deck. The result is the random
number found at the bottom-left of the card. This card
is never considered part of any hand. Discard the card
once the draw result has served its purpose.
One Year Has Passed: When this special card is
drawn in-game, follow its instructions immediately.
Setup
▶ Remove the Player Card, Map 1, One Year Has
Passed, and X0 Encounter cards from the deck.
▶ Shuffle the remaining cards, face down, to form the
draw deck. Place the One Year Has Passed card on
the bottom of this deck.
▶ Draw cards from the Draw Deck until you find an
item marked as Common. Discard any others.
▶ Take this item card, Player Card, and Map 1 card as
your starting ready hand.
▶ You begin the game in Ulendi, on Map 1.
▶ Play the X0 Encounter card on your first turn.
Turn Order
Each turn has the following sequence:
Lay Low ▶ Travel ▶ Encounter ▶ Rest
1. Lay Low
If you had an encounter at your current location last
turn (and aren’t currently involved in an ongoing
encounter), you may attempt to Lay Low to avoid any
encounters and rest. Make a random draw. If the result
is equal to, or greater than, your location’s Lay Low
Value, you successfully Lay Low—proceed straight to
the Rest phase (i.e. skip the Travel and Encounter
phases). If you fail, continue the turn as normal.
2. Travel
You may travel to an adjacent map location following
the travel paths, shown as dotted lines on the maps.
When you travel off the edge of a map, search the
draw deck for the relevant new map card, as indicated
on the current map’s Map Key, and add it to your
ready hand. Follow the travel path from one card’s
location to the next.
Skill Bonuses: The experience of travel is beneficial,
and rewards you with a Skill Bonus, as noted at the top
of the map card. As long as that card is in the your
ready hand, your base skill is altered as indicated. If
you exhaust the map card as part of a skill check, the
modifier counts towards that check. A card’s bonus
modifier is ignored while it is in your exhausted hand.
3. Encounter
You must have an Encounter every turn unless you
successfully Lay Low. To determine the encounter,
make a random draw to get a difficulty number for the
encounter. Then draw from the draw deck until you
get a card with a terrain type that matches your
current location. Discard any cards that do not not
match. Resolve the encounter on the matching card
that corresponds to the terrain type and difficulty
number. This card is not considered part of any hand.
Example: Vince is currently in Spraymere (U, G).
First, he makes a random draw; it is a 4. Next, he
draws one card at a time until he finds a U or G card.
He eventually draws a U card. He plays the encounter
listed under the number “4” on this card this turn.
Most encounters have a challenge that needs to be
overcome. If multiple options are listed, you may
choose which option to take. Discard the card once
the encounter is resolved unless specified otherwise.
X-Encounters: Several map locations have “X” class
encounter types (X<number>; e.g. X12) – these are
specific story encounters. When you have an
encounter in one of these locations, search the draw
deck for the specific story encounter card.
Z-Encounters: There are several numbered types of
“Z” encounters (Z1, Z2, etc). These are all separate
terrain types. (i.e. If you are instructed to attempt a Z2
encounter, you must draw a Z2 card, not a Z1 card.)
Encounter Modifiers: Some locations on the map list
a terrain type with a modifier (e.g. F+2). Add the
modifier to the random draw if playing an encounter
for that terrain type. For example, “F+2” means that if
an F encounter is drawn in this location, you must
add +2 to the encounter’s difficulty number. This
generally means an encounter is more difficult.
Running Out of Encounters: Should the draw deck
no longer contain any cards that match a location
because you have all of the relevant quest cards
in-hand, you must choose a card from one of your
hands with an appropriate terrain type to play an
encounter from. During the encounter, the chosen
card is temporarily considered part of the exhausted
hand. Afterwards, the card is moved back to
whichever hand it started in. If the chosen card is
currently held as an item, you are still considered to
be carrying the item.
3a. Checks
Random Checks: To perform a random check, make a
random draw and follow the instructions listed.
Skill Checks: Usually listed as “<Skill> check:” (e.g.
“Combat check:”), these are tests of skill required to
perform a particular feat, such as fighting an ogre.
To perform a skill check, you must exhaust at least one
card from your ready hand, then make a random
draw. Compare this against the encounter’s target
number or list of outcomes.
Modifiers: Some cards provide a modifier to a specific
skill. If these are exhausted for a check, any modifiers
relevant to the check are added to the random draw.
Skills/Curses: If you have an item card with a modifier
listsed as a “Skill” or a “Curse”, it adjusts your base skill
as per a map Skill Bonus. Therefore, if you have a “+1
Charm” Skill card, every card played is one higher for
charm checks, even if that card is not exhausted for
the check itself. Skills (but not Curses) are ignored
whilst the card is in your exhausted hand.
Outcome: Follow the instructions listed for the check
result. Checks versus a number (e.g. “Make a Hide
check: 9+ to hide”) have only a success/failure result.
If you exhaust all of your cards without successfully
passing the check, or fail any of the conditions of the
challenge, immediately follow any failure directions.
Multiple Skill Checks: Challenges may involve
having to pass a check several times. These are worded
as “<Skill> <number of checks>@ <target number>”,
sometimes followed by Round Speed and Damage.
You must perform the relevant skill check (as above)
the number of times listed, each time getting a result
of equal to, or greater than, the target number listed.
Example: “Combat check: 2@ 6+” means Vince must
make two combat checks, each with a target of 6+.
Each attempt at an individual check is called a round.
Round Speed: If specified, you may only play as many
cards as the Round Speed listed for each round.
Damage: If you failed the check attempt for a round,
and the skill check lists a Damage, you must exhaust a
number of cards equal to the Damage listed and try
again. You have the option of which cards to exhaust
as damage, unless the encounter states otherwise.
Reusable cards: If you finish a round and still have
cards in your ready hand, you may restore one
“Reusable” class item. Note that some Reusable items
specify conditions for their reuse.
Discarding Cards: You may never discard a Map card
or the Player Card. These remain in your exhausted
hand until restored. You may not discard a “Curse”
card, until the stated conditions are met.
If you are unable to discard a card, ignore the result.
If you ever have to discard a “Unique” item, it returns
to its original location (listed on the card). If you
return there, you may skip any related encounters,
retrieve the item, and place it in your ready hand.
Item Draws: If you are instructed to draw one or
more items of a certain class (Common, Uncommon),
draw cards from the draw deck until you find an item
of that class. Discard any cards of the wrong item class.
Rotate the new item card so that the item text is the
right way up to read, and add it to your ready hand.
Hand Limit: There is no hand limit in the game—you
may have as many cards in your hand as you wish.
4. Rest
During the Rest phase, you may recover, trade, and
discard, as outlined below.
Recover: You may restore up to your current Recovery
skill worth of cards back to your ready hand. If you
successfully Laid Low this turn, you may perform this
action twice.
Trade: When in a Village (V), City (C, G) or Port (U),
you may discard two or more cards to draw a random
Common item in trade.
When in a City (C, G), you may discard four or more
cards to draw a random Uncommon item in trade.
Discard: You may also deliberately discard as many
cards as you wish. This may be performed anywhere.
Winning (and losing)
You win a Victory when you successfully complete
any of the major X-encounter Quests in the game (the
card encounter outcome will state that you “win the
Quest”). These will be revealed as you adventure.
You win a Major Victory if all three of the Major
X-encounter Quests are completed successfully.
You lose the game if your character dies, or is
permanently removed from the game. Most
encounters will not lead to this, but some will—so
pick your battles carefully.