Hollowed Edition

Version 1.3

by
Santuric
Leveling Cost
Quick Reference Actions

Base to Tier 1 costs: 2 souls Major actions

Tier 1 to 2 costs: 4 souls Attack
Tier 2 to 3 costs: 6 souls Rest
Tier 3 to 4 costs: 8 souls Minor actions
Run
Tier 3 and 4 restricted during Early Game Estus
phase. Free actions
Walk
Shop Cost Swap

Buy from the shop when at the Bonfire. Gain 1 stamina passively on turn start.

Three available decks, the Weapon Deck, Out of Combat

the Armor Deck, and the Magic Deck.
Restore all stamina and health.
Buying an item costs 1 soul.
Respawn dead players, with all tokens
In the Late Game phase, transposed items, recharged.
and legendary items become available.
May recharge tokens.
Encounter rewards
Coin token 1 soul
X+1 individual souls to each player, Pendant token 1 soul
where X is the level of the encounter. Estus token 2 souls

Completing more than one encounter in a Conditions

row without returning to The Bonfire,
rewards players with shared souls. Does
not reset in the case of death, unless the
entire party wipes. Bosses do not count for
streaks.
x2 +1 shared soul per player
x3 +2 shared souls per player
x4 +3 shared souls per player
Bleed. At 2x stack, consume all for
3 damage.
Poison. ∞ stack, consume all on
turn end for 1 damage each.
Stagger. Lowers player success on
attack rolls. Lowers enemy attack.

Boss rewards Frostbite. Player attacks and

movement costs more. Enemy dodge and
Mini - 10 shared souls + 2 per player movement lowered.
Main - 10 shared souls + 4 per player
Mega - 10 shared souls + 6 per player Phantoms

Bosses also reward their respective boss Invaders trigger whenever a player is
items, and 1 spark for the spark dial. embered. Once per floor.

Death Summons can be summoned once per

Respawn with hollowing, represented by
black cubes on health bar. 2 cubes first
death, then 1 more. May be reversed by
becoming embered.
floor, for each tombstone found on that
floor. Halves soul rewards.
A floor is the series of encounters leading
up to and including a boss.

Drop souls on death, regain by surviving

an encounter.
 Introduction
Table of contents Welcome to Hollowed Edition. This is an
• Introduction 1
overhaul for Dark Souls: The Boardgame,
which aims to improve the game by
• Setup 2 changing rules related to exploration,
rewards, shopping, death, and combat, in
• The Bonfire 3 order to give players a more challenging,
• Resting 3 less grindy, and more rewarding dungeon
• The Firekeeper 3
crawling experience.
• Sparks 3 It is aimed at players who are already
• Blacksmith Andre 3 familiar with reading tokens and cards,
general rules for enemy behavior, and
• Exploration 4
using the character sheets. All other
• Encounter Rewards 4 changes and rules are explained in detail.
• Vanquishing 4
This overhaul seeks to improve upon the
• Out of Combat 4 game without radically overhauling the
• Dungeon Layout 4 structure of the vanilla rules. The aim is
• Hollowing 5
to create an experience closer to the
actual video games, that is more focused
• Death 5 on player decision making and resource
• Embers and Sparks 5 management, instead of random chance
• Dropped Souls 5
and grinding, and allows for more time
fighting bosses.
• Obstacles 6
• Terrain 6
• Summons 6 Have fun.
• Invaders 6 Don’t you dare go hollow.
• Mimics 6

• Combat 7
• Activations 7
• Actions 7
• Block and Dodge 7
• Enemy behavior 7
• Conditions 8
• Errata 8

1
 Setup
Each player chooses a starting class, with the
appropriate starting gear. Place the estus, coin, and
pendant tokens on the character board face up, but not the
ember token. Place a white cube on the base level of each
stat.

Players start unembered, and without any points of

hollowing.

Shuffle the treasure cards into three piles, according to

the rules listed on page 3.

Choose which bosses will be encountered during the

campaign. Set aside their boss items, and keep all
remaining unused boss treasures at hand.

Choose whether or not to use mimics and phantoms

during this campaign, and prepare the necessary models
and tokens.

Turn the spark dial according to the amount of players.

Solo players begin with 6 souls.

The game has two phases: Early Game and Late Game.
Players begin in the Early Game phase, and go to the Late
Game phase after defeating the first boss.

Set up the dungeon tiles for the current floor, and place
face down encounter cards according to the difficulty
shown on the data card of the current active boss.
Alternatively, set up the dungeon procedurally according
to the rules on page 4.

Choose a player to receive the first activation token.

Prepare to die.

By u/tettix

2
 The Bonfire
Resting
The Bonfire is your home base, where you
rest and spend your hard-earned souls. The
Bonfire tile also stores your souls, sparks,
and inventory.
Players may choose to return to The Bonfire
at any time when not in combat, in order to
rest, purchase items, and level up.
Resting heals all stamina and health for all
players. Hollowed players remain hollowed
when resting. Resting also recharges the
estus, luck, and heroic action tokens.
Returning to The Bonfire resets the bonus
soul streak.
The Firekeeper
The Firekeeper is available when resting at
The Bonfire, and allows players to level up
their stats in exchange for souls.
The cost of leveling up depends on the tier
in question. Players may not level a stat to
Tier 3 or 4 during the Early Game phase.
• Tier 0 to 1 costs: 2 souls
• Tier 1 to 2 costs: 4 souls
• Tier 2 to 3 costs: 6 souls
• Tier 3 to 4 costs: 8 souls
Tier 4 is an additional tier players can
achieve in the Late Game phase. Upgrading
a stat to tier 4 sets the attribute to
40 stat-points, i.e. the maximum. Indicate
tier 4 by replacing the white cube with a red
cube.
Sparks
Sparks may be used to reverse hollowing
when resting at The Bonfire. One spark
grants the embered status to a single
player.
The amount of sparks scale with the
amount of players, and can only be
increased by beating a boss or consuming
an ember item.
Sparks are counted using the spark dial.
Note that the amount of sparks cannot go
above 5.
3
Blacksmith Andre
Blacksmith Andre allows players to
purchase items, and upgrade weapons and
armor when resting at The Bonfire.
Andre has three item decks to purchase
from. These decks are sorted before the
game begins, and each contain specific
types of items.
The Weapon Deck contains all weapons,
both one- and two-handed, as well as
ranged and throwable.
The Armor Deck contains all armors and
shields.
The Magic Deck contains all sorceries,
miracles, pyromancies, weapon upgrades,
and armor upgrades.
When the game begins, shuffle all active
basic class items into their respective
decks. When the party reaches the Late
Game phase, shuffle all active transposed
class items, and all legendary items into
their respective decks.
Separate all available embers equally into
three piles, and shuffle these into each deck
before the game begins. In case of uneven
distribution, the Magic Deck gets priority.
Purchasing an item from any of the decks
costs 1 soul.
Andre can upgrade weapons for free, if you
have the necessary materials and stats.
However, weapon upgrades cannot be
removed, only replaced. Discard any
replaced upgrades.
Armor can also be upgraded for free, using
armor upgrades like rings. These can be
removed and swapped freely when resting
at The Bonfire, or when exploring and out of
combat.
Concept art
 Exploration
Encounter Rewards
When an encounter has been defeated,
players receive souls according to the
difficulty of the encounter. Souls can be
either individual or shared. Individual souls
can only be used by the respective player,
but can be used for shared goals like buying
items. Shared souls can be used in
combination with individual souls by any
player.
Encounter rewards
• X+1 individual souls to each player
where X is the level of the encounter.
Soul Streak
Completing more than one encounter in a
row without returning to The Bonfire,
rewards players with shared souls. This
resets if any player dies. Bosses do not
count for streaks, and streaks are reset
after beating a boss.
• 2x streak +1 shared soul per player
• 3x streak +2 shared souls per player
• 4x streak +3 shared souls per player
Boss rewards
• Mini 10 shared souls +2 per player
• Main 10 shared souls +4 per player
• Mega 10 shared souls +6 per player
Bosses also reward their respective boss
items, and 1 spark for the spark dial.
After defeating a boss, players return to The
Bonfire and gain all resting benefits. They
do not become embered.
Vanquishing
After defeating an encounter, keep all
terrain and trap tokens on the tile, and keep
the encounter card face up. Opened chests
and broken barrels remain as such.
If all players die in an encounter, the latest
room to be defeated respawns. This room
grants normal rewards, and terrain is reset.
Otherwise, encounters remain cleared, even
when returning to the Bonfire.
4
Out of Combat
After defeating an encounter, all surviving
players recover all health and stamina.
The players may choose to continue
exploring, or return to The Bonfire.
Returning resets the Soul Streak.
Dead players respawn after the encounter
has been cleared, with an additional stage
of hollowing.
While exploring and out of combat, tokens
on the character board may be recharged
for souls, without returning to The Bonfire.
Recharging Coin tokens costs 1 soul.
Recharging Pendant tokens costs 1 soul.
Recharging Estus tokens costs 2 souls.
Dungeon Layout
The term ‘floor’ refers to the rooms between
a bonfire and a boss, the boss room
included. Several effects in the game are
limited to use within a given floor.
The Dungeon may be laid out as normal, or
laid out using an alternate, procedural
mode.
In the procedural mode, only lay out the
Bonfire Tile at first. New tiles are laid out as
the party explores through any available
exit. The further into the dungeon the party
ventures, the more likely they are to find the
fog door to the boss. The fog door can be
entered if the adjoining room is clear.
When entering each new room, the party
rolls 4 dodge dice to perform a check by
counting the face-up icons on the dice. If
the check succeeds, a fog door appears.
Place a revealed fog door on any free exit
from the given tile. The chance for this
increases with each room. You can keep
exploring if the fog door is found early, up
to 4 rooms total.
Encounter cards for the new rooms are
chosen from the 4 cards listed on the
upcoming boss’ data card, and are placed
from easiest to hardest.
• First room - Requires 4 icons
• Second room - Requires 3 icons
• Third room - Requires 2 icons
• Fourth room - Guaranteed
 Hollowing
Death
When a player dies, they lose any embered
status and begin to hollow. Hollowing
decreases the capabilities of the player,
which is indicated by placing black cubes
on the right side of the health/stamina bar.
This lowers max health and stamina, and
cannot be removed by normal means.
After the first death, place 2 black cubes on
the right side of the bar.
After the next death while hollowed, place 1
additional black cube on the right side of
the bar for a total of three.
If any player dies while on the second stage
of hollowing, they are permanently removed
from the game. If all players are removed, or
they concede, the game is over.
Hollowing can be reversed by becoming
embered. Players can become embered by
consuming a spark while resting at The
Bonfire.
A player does not die from having a full
health/stamina bar. They only die if they
take damage in excess of empty slots.
Players cannot use moves that require more
stamina than they have empty slots.
If a player dies, the remaining players
continue fighting. Only if all players die is
the encounter lost. Dead players do get
souls from the encounter.
Once an encounter has been defeated, any
dead players respawn. Dead players gain an
additional stage of hollowing, lose their
embered status, and recharge their coin,
pendant and estus tokens.
Concept art
5
Embers and Sparks
Embers can be found when buying items at
the shop. They can be consumed while
resting at the bonfire to increase the spark
dial by one. The dial cannot go above 5, but
embers do not have to be consumed right
away.
A spark may be consumed from the spark
dial to grant the embered status to one
player.
Becoming embered removes all stages of
hollowing, and gives you the embered buff,
which is indicated by the ember token.
While embered, when taking 3 or more
damage in a single hit, you may reduce that
damage by 1.
Keep in mind that sparks are the only way
to reverse hollowing, so use them wisely.
Dropped Souls
When a player dies, they drop their
individual souls. If all players die, the
shared souls are dropped too.
Dropped souls can only be regained by
defeating another encounter without dying.
If a player with dropped souls die again
before recovery, those souls are lost for
good. All dropped souls are recovered if a
boss is defeated, even if that player died
during the boss encounter.
 Obstacles
Terrain
Some encounters contain terrain obstacles.
Terrain only respawns after being broken or
opened, if the encounter repopulates after a
party wipe.
Barrels are impassable to regular
movement, but can be broken by spending
one stamina while moving, or while dodge-
rolling or getting pushed into them. After
ending the encounter, roll one black die for
each intact barrel, and receive shared souls
equal to the amount of symbols.
Tombstones are impassable. They also
block line of sight for ranged attacks. For
each tombstone encountered on a floor, the
party may summon a white phantom once
on that floor.
Chests are impassable. After ending the
encounter, the party may open it and
receive one random boss treasure, amongst
the unused boss treasures of any tier of
boss. Beware of mimics.
Crystal Lizards are optional chances for
treasure. Players must defeat lizards before
ending the encounter to receive their items.
Lizards do not come back if the encounter
is reset, even if not killed.
Traps are hazards that occur if the
encounter is trapped, as shown on the
encounter card. Place trap tokens face
down on all yellow nodes, excluding edges
with a connected doorway. Resolve traps
when a player moves onto that node.
Summons
If the party has survived an encounter with
a tombstone, they gain the option of
summoning a white phantom. This can be
done one time for each tombstone found on
the current floor. Summoning charges do
not have to be used right away, but go away
when reaching the next floor.
Before entering a new room, a white
phantom can be summoned. This can be
done for both normal encounters and
bosses. Summons are chosen at random. In
the Early Game phase, use standard
phantoms. In the Late Game phase, use the
advanced phantoms.
If the players defeat the encounter, they
gain only half the amount of souls rounded
down, regardless of whether the phantom
lives or dies.
6
Invaders
Invaders are attracted to embers, and will
try to take them from you by force.
Whenever any player becomes embered,
place invader tokens on all undefeated
encounters. All but one token must be
empty. The remaining token is chosen at
random, and indicates which phantom will
invade. In the Early Game phase, use
standard invaders. In the Late Game phase,
use advanced invaders.
Invaders spawn on the middle node of the
board, and fight you alongside normal
enemies. They always activate after normal
enemies.
Defeating an invader immediately rewards
players with their specific items, as well as
souls.
• Standard 1 shared soul/player
• Advanced 2 shared souls/player
If any players are defeated during an
invasion, the invader leaves. The invader
does not come back, even when re-entering
that encounter or becoming embered again.
Mimics
If mimics are enabled for the current game,
place a face down mimic card next to each
game tile when setting up the dungeon.
If an encounter contains a chest, players
may risk awakening a mimic when opening
it.
After defeating all enemies in an encounter,
choose whether to open or forgo the chest.
Players heal as normal, but do not have the
opportunity to change equipment, recharge
tokens, or move before opening. Dead
players respawn on the same node they
entered from, now hollowed.
Flip the mimic card to see whether the chest
is actually a mimic. If so, begin the mimic
fight immediately. Mimic rewards count as
opening two chests.
If players forgo opening the chest, it can
only be opened again if the encounter is
repopulated.
 Combat
Activations
Turns are divided into activations.
Enemies always activate first when entering
an encounter.
Invaders activate after enemies, if present.
One player then activates, according to turn
order, followed by a white phantom, if
present.
At the beginning of a player’s activation,
that player gains the aggro token. They also
passively recover 1 stamina.
Actions
During their activation, a player can
perform a major and a minor action, or two
minor actions. Actions can be done in any
order. Free actions can be done at any time
during the activation, but only once each.
Attack - Major action
Perform an attack with one or both
equipped items. Pay the relevant stamina
costs for all attacks.
Rest - Major action
Recover all of your stamina.

Then, repeat from monster activation. The Run - Minor action

player to the left of the active player is next
to activate. Move any number of nodes at the cost of
one stamina for each node moved.
When first entering an encounter, the first Estus - Minor action
player to activate is the one who holds the
first activation token. No player holds the Drink your estus to recover all health,
aggro token before the first player activates. and cure all conditions. Flip estus token to
the empty side.
After finishing an encounter, give the first
activation token to the player on the left Walk - Free action
form the current holder.
Move one node in any direction, at no
stamina cost.
Block and Dodge Swap - Free action
Block and dodge are not always equal Swap equipment between your hand
options in combat, and are receiving and your back.
changes to alleviate this.

When blocking, roll all dice available

according to your equipment. Choose any
two rolled dice. These two dice represent the
blocked damage.

Dodging works as normal, but on a failed

dodge roll a player may block damage from
the attack using only the dice listed on their
armor, and not weapons and shields.

Enemy Behavior
If monster behaviour would cause it to move
into a node with three models already on it,
it must push another monster. If no
monsters are on the node, the player with
the lowest threat score is pushed.

When a model is pushed, it must move in a

logical direction away from the source of the
push. If the push originates on the same By OneSpeechless
node, such as a leap or expel, the player
may choose freely.

7
 Conditions
Certain attacks inflict conditions. These
conditions have a negative effect, which are
slightly different depending on whether they
afflict a player or a monster.
Most conditions are removed at the end of
an activation. They may also be removed by
consuming an estus flask.
Weapons that naturally inflict conditions
cannot be infused with upgrades that add
the same condition.
Bleed stacks up to 2 times, and is not
removed at the end of activations. When a
model reaches 2 stacks of bleed, the stack
is consumed and the model takes 3 damage
unaffected by armor.
Poison can stack indefinitely. At the end
of a poisoned models activation, it
consumes all poison tokens, and takes
damage equal to the amount, unaffected by
armor.
Stagger does not stack, and is removed
at the end of an activation. A player with
stagger suffers -1 success on all attack
rolls. An enemy with stagger has damage
values lowered by one.
Errata
The Titanite Demon Titanite Shard boss
treasure is now a Titanite Chunk, and
grants +2 damage.
The Stray Demon Titanite Shard boss
treasure is now a Titanite Slab, and grants
+3 damage.
Tiny Beings Ring now grants 1 health gain
at the beginning of the activation, in
addition to any passive stamina gain.
Chloranthy Ring increases the passive
stamina gain to 2 instead of 1 at the
beginning of activation for all players on
that node.
Covetous Silver Serpent Ring now grants 1
additional shared soul per player, when
clearing an encounter.
Mon Ring can now be used once per floor.
Old Leo Ring effect now counts since the last
activation of the player wearing it.
Players only receive boss items from the last
of Ornstein and Smough to fall.

Frostbite does not stack, and is removed

at the end of an activation. A player with
frostbite must spend 1 additional stamina
to attack, and for each node moved. An
enemy with frostbite has their dodge and
movement values lowered by 1.

Calamity does not stack, and is not

removable. A player with calamity suffers -1
success on all block, resist and dodge rolls,
and all damage taken is increased by 1.
Calamity is inflicted by Kalameet.

Corrosion does not stack, and is

removed upon taking damage. It corrupts
equipment, and causes players to suffer
-1 success on both attack, block and resist
rolls. Corrosion is inflicted by the Gaping
Dragon.

All conditions are removed upon ending an

encounter or dying.

By Unknown