Deck Delver

Age: 8 and up. Players: 1. Play Time: 60mins

Components: 87 Cards

Card Layout: (Common Dungeon Card)

Explanations:
Name: Represents what card is encountered during the dungeon.

Image: Gives you a visual representation of the encountered card.

Base Stats: These are the stats that are used to define de base stats of a monster and are used in various tests. The red
square represents strength (STR), the blue circle represents intelligence (INT), and the yellow triangle represents agility
(AGI).

Monster’s Skill: The text contained here will add a special rule to the encounter.

Player Battle Value: The stats you will use to fight a monster. They represent the same stats as the monster’s (See later
Fights)

Rest Symbol: A “Zzz” may be found in the top right of a card. It’s used when you rest.

Item Image and Name: Represents the items you will loot and gives a representation of the item. A letter can be found
near the item image, those represent their type; (W)eapon, (I)tem, (A)rmor, (M)agic, (S)hield, (G)love, (B)oots, (R)ing and
(H)elmet

Item Description: The text contained here it explains how to use the item. (See later Items)

Gold Value of Item: How much gold the item is worth to buy or to sell. This also determines your score at the end of the
game.
 Mini Boss: There are also 8 different dragon cards which are shuffled apart from the main deck they represent
mini bosses. There is only one mini boss included in each dungeon.

Boss: They’re also 8 Bosses which are also shuffled apart from the rest. They may look different but work the
same way as the other cards except they have no item attached to them. Once the Boss Monster is defeated the
dungeon is cleared and you may draw an artefact card to play with a follow up run with a more difficult dungeon.

Artefacts: These are items that you receive only by defeating the boss monster of each dungeon you play
through. You carry all of the artefacts you have collected over to the next dungeon. They do not count for as items in
your inventory. They may be used like a normal item.

Difficulty cards: These are drawn at the end of every dungeon to keep the dungeon difficulty rising to keep
challenging you.

What you have when beginning: You have a maximum hand size of 5 at the start of the game unless some other
cards increase this amount. You may equip only one item of each type at one time. You may also carry up to 4 other
item cards in your inventory for later use. You may only have 2 spells in your inventory (they don’t take up one of the
four items in your inventory.)

Terms used in the game:

Fate: This term is used to designate the drawing pile. If a card asks to impair fate it refers to impairing a card from the
top of this drawing deck. Any card drawn from this pile to resolve any card resolution is discarded after this.

Test your fate: This is when a card asks you to reveal the top card of the fate deck and to compare a certain stat in order
to resolve a random action. When a card that asks to check for 3+ means that if the base stat of the top card of the deck
indicates 3 or more the action takes place. If it is less than 3 then simply ignore it.

Impair: This means removing a card from the game facedown for the duration of a dungeon. It doesn’t go to the discard
pile it goes to the impaired pile. You may not look at the cards in the impaired pile. When you run out of cards to draw,
shuffle the discard pile and test your fate for what malicious event happens to you (see later Reshuffle). If you can’t
draw from the fate deck and can’t reshuffle then you die and the game is over.

Poison: This is a status effect that makes you suffer until it is either removed or you rest. This effect prevents you from
drawing any cards from the fate deck to your hand until it is cured. You may discard an Antidote potion from your
inventory or activate the cure spell ability; you may also rest by discarding your hand and impairing an additional card to
rest (See later Rest). While being poisoned any effect that makes you draw cards is ignored. Ex: You can’t use food and if
you meet a nightmare while you are poisoned then you simply discard your hand without drawing new cards. If you are
poisoned during a rest action then you simply impair 1 fate.

Regenerate: A monster with this ability has a possibility of surviving when you win the fight. You test your fate after you
defeat it, if it regenerates then it remains in play. You may then fight it again or explore a new card.

Loot: When you are asked to loot you take the top card of the deck and add it to your inventory.
Setup: To setup the game, shuffle all the card types separately in their own decks. You will need room to place
different piles during gameplay; a draw pile, a discard pile, a defeated pile and an impaired pile.

Select the difficulty: Choose up to two difficulty cards you begin the game with (0=Easy, 1=Medium, 2=Hard). Each card
you choose to draw will increase the difficulty of the monsters you will encounter. After each consequent dungeon you
will draw a new card continually increasing the difficulty of the game.

Select the layout: Select a layout and count the needed cards to setup the chosen layout. (Layout catalogue found at the
end of the rulebook).
Example: Solitaire Pyramid Layout
Contains (28 cards) 26 Common, 1 mini boss, 1 Boss

Boss

Select a random Boss: Select a random boss from the boss pile and place it face down without looking at it. When this
card is defeated the dungeon is cleared.

Select a random mini boss: Select a random mini boss from the mini boss pile and shuffle it into the rest of the common
cards that will be dealt.

Deal out the Common cards: Deal out face down all the remaining dungeon cards that include the mini boss.

Draw initial hand: Draw 5 cards from the remaining dungeon cards (this deck will represent your life and stamina for the
duration of the dungeon and the deck is referred to as the fate deck.)
While a card is in your hand only the player’s battle value stats are used any other information on the cards is
not being taken into account. On later dungeons you may have an increased hand size in that occasion you may draw
more cards for your initial hand.

On the first dungeon of each new game before you start, you reveal the top 5 cards of the fate deck and select
two items that you begin with in your inventory. Shuffle the remaining cards into the deck.
How to play:

Phases of a turn: Each turn you may do various actions in a certain order. Each action is described in detail below.

1) Use an Item and/or Rest

2) Explore and Resolve the cards.

Here are the detailed actions may take each turn.

Rest: You may impair 2 fate cards to draw cards up to your maximum hand size to regain some stamina. If you are
poisoned then you must impair an additional card to remove your poison status (impair 3 cards to rest). With each card
you draw check to see if the card has a “Zzz” in the top right corner, if it doesn’t have one then you must encounter this
wandering monster immediately and stop drawing cards. Resolve the fight normally with the cards you have in your
hand at that moment. If you haven’t defeated the monster then it hits you and you must discard it. After the fight is
resolved you may stop the rest action or continue to draw up to your maximum hand size and continue checking for
“Zzz” on each card repeat an encounter if another card without the “Zzz” is drawn. If you defeat a monster with one of
its highest stat you may replace the cards as normal (see later fights)

Items: Items are cards that stay into your inventory. When a card is in the inventory then only the item part of the card
is to be considered. To use an item you must have the item card in your inventory. Each card has a keyword written in its
item description either equip or discard. Items with the discard keyword must be discarded after use. Equip items may
be used at any time and must be considered equipped to be used. Some have static abilities which are always “on”
others, may require an additional condition to activate its ability. You may only have 1 item of each type equipped at
once and 4 other items in your inventory. Ex: 1 Helmet equipped, 1 Weapon equipped, 1 Shield equipped, Armor
equipped, 1 Glove equipped, 1 Boot equipped, 1 Ring equipped and an additional 4 other non-equipped items. You may
switch equip items any time except when a fight is resolving (See later Fight). Artefact cards don’t count in the inventory
but are played as any other equip item. Every item also has a gold value which counts towards your final score at the
end of the game or may be used to be exchange other items with a merchant. Items may not be used during the
resolution of a fight. While resting you may use items when not are you fighting a wandering monster. You may discard
items to the discard pile if it is unwanted.

Spells: These cards give you options by using a charge. Spells are the only type of card that may be used during a fight
but, each spell may be used only once each fight. Each spell has two charges. The first time you use a charge turn the
spell card 90 degrees on its side and the second time turn it face down. When a spell is turned face down it may not be
used again until it has been recharged by resting. When you rest return all spell cards upright in your inventory. You may
only have 2 spells in your inventory and equipped to you. Spells may be discarded to the discard pile if unwanted. They
are 4 different spells in this game;

Fire Spell: This spell allows you to increase all your stats by 1 for the duration of the battle.

Ice Spell: This spell allows you to reduce one of the encountered monster’s stat by 3.

Heal Spell: This spell allows you to draw 3 cards or discard a card from your hand to cure a poison status
Shock Spell: This spell allows you to impair any encountered monster card and 2 fates except for the mini bosses and
bosses. You do not resolve the fight as you would normally. The encountered monster goes to the impaired pile not the
defeated pile.

Explore: You reveal a (free) facedown card from the dungeon layout that is not covered by any other card or any free
face up card. You must then follow the card’s skill if it is an enemy monster then you fight it or flee from it (See later
Fights). When a card is resolved it is put into the discard pile.

Fight:
Here is a structured fight layout:
1) You encounter the Monster (You must decide here if your change weapons(W) or flee)
2) Apply any “When you encounter” monster skills
3) Reveal the monster’s additional card and combine the stats of both cards.
4) Play a card from your hand by looking at the player’s stats
5) Verify your stats with those of the monster’s and follow any skills that may modify resolution
6) Apply any hits of blocks that have happened during the fight.
7) Resolve any “When defeated” skills
8) Draw your replacement card if you have beaten the monster’s strongest stat.
9) Move all cards to their respective piles; defeated monster to the defeated pile and discard any other cards.
10) You may loot a card from a monster have just defeated if you are not in another fight.

When you explore and encounter an enemy monster you must fight it (or flee). The top information on the cards
refers to the monster’s stats and additional information, when fighting a monster do not take into account the rest of
the information on the bottom of the card. Before you fight a monster you are allowed to exchange weapon and shield
type equipped items then you go to fight a monster. Follow the encountered monster’s skill. (Skills that mention when
you encounter is done before you reveal the monster’s stat card and are done every time you try to fight it.) When all
possible monster skills have been followed, the fight begins to resolve you may not flee or exchange equipment while a
fight resolves. Reveal the top card of the fate deck and add (only) the base stats of the revealed card to the encountered
monster’s base stats. You must play a card from your hand considering at the player battle value stats and adding any
bonus from items in your inventory that adds a bonus to your stats.

If the card you played that have at least 2 of the 3 stats greater value of the monster’s stats then the monster is
defeated. If you have defeated the monster’s greatest stat then you may draw a card from the fate deck and add it to
your hand, place the monster card in the defeated pile and all other played and revealed cards are discarded. (See later
Looting). You are not hit if the monster as 1 skill greater than yours. A monster’s “If you take a hit” Skill activates only if
you don’t defeat it and if you can’t block all of its hits.

If the monster has 2 of the 3 stats equal or greater than you then you take a hit and must impair fate equal to the
number of stats that the monster has that are greater than yours. (In case of a tie it is considered as a block) If a monster
has a skill that mentions “if you take a hit” it is applied at this moment unless you block all of the monster’s stats.
Ex: The Monster’s stats are 5,3,3 and your stats are 3,3,5 since at least 2 of the 3 stats are greater than your stats then
you take a hit and you impair 1 card since one of the monster’s stats is greater than yours
This is a different illustrated fight example.

If you haven’t defeated the monster after the fight is resolved then you may explore another card and leaving the
undefeated monster revealed or you may encounter it again by revealing new card and plays another card from your
hand.

Fleeing: To be able to flee a fight, it is done when you encounter a monster before revealing its additional card by
impairing 1 fate. If you flee a monster that has “When you encounter it” It still resolves unless you impair an additional 2
fate (total of 3). If you flee the revealed monster then it remains face up where you have encountered it.

Reshuffle: If at any time you would need to draw a card or test your fate from the fate deck then you reshuffle the
discard pile into a new draw pile. If only one card remains in the deck then you may ignore the reshuffle rule. When you
have shuffled the deck, test your fate.
If one of the highest stat on the card is Strength then you set a trap off and are hit you must impair 2 fates from
the fate deck.
If one of the highest stat on the card is Intelligence, then you feel exhausted of going deep in the dungeon and
must impair a card from your hand.
If one of the highest stat on the card is Agility, then you barely feel anything when a shadowy thief robs you
while you wander the corridors. You must impair a random item from your inventory.

Looting: You may loot once after defeating a monster. To loot an item, reveal the top card of the deck and select and
discard any number of your defeated monster cards. Total each of these cards’ respective stats to get new combined
totals. If the combined stats are equal or greater than all of the player’s battle value of the revealed card then you may
add the revealed card to your inventory, if not discard it. If a monster’s skill tells you to loot a card you may add it
directly to your inventory and then the monster goes to the defeated pile when it is defeated.
Merchant: If you encounter a Merchant when exploring you reveal the top 5 cards of the deck. You may exchange cards
from your inventory of equal or greater value. Discard any remaining cards after the exchange. You don’t receive extra
gold for excess value when trading.

Mini Bosses: Mini bosses are rare monster cards that appear only once each dungeon. They’re fought just like any other
monsters except they are immune to impairing effects (Shock Spell). When you defeat the monster goes into the
defeated pile. When a mini boss has been beaten it “unlocks” powerful items that are part of a set of 4 items which gain
in power for each equipped item of the same set either the Dragon Scale set or the Archmage set. If during the dungeon
you didn’t defeat the mini boss it returns to the mini boss pile after the dungeon is completed. If you have defeated the
mini boss it will remain in the fate deck (not in the dungeon’s layout) until you restart a new game from scratch.

Bosses: As soon as you remove a card that covers part of the boss card the boss is considered to be a free card to
explore. When you encounter the boss it begins the boss fight which is done like any other fights except that once
defeated you don’t loot from the deck instead you draw a card from the artefact pile. Bosses are immune to impairing
effects (Shock Spell). Once the boss is defeated, you setup for a new dungeon with a new boss and mini boss.

Ending the game: The game ends when you have completed all 8 dungeons, or when you have been defeated by
having no more cards to impair from the deck. (Variant: You may decide to play fewer dungeons for a shorter game)

Setting up a new Game: Once you have defeated the boss monster you may set a new dungeon with a new layout.
Before setting a new game:
Return to the mini boss pile any undefeated mini boss.
Draw a difficulty card to increase a stat of all monsters you will encounter in the next dungeon.
Select two items from your inventory that you may carry over to the next dungeon return the rest to the deck.
Select a new layout; be sure not to include previously defeated mini bosses in the layout.
Draw a new hand of 5 cards.

Scoring: To score simply add the gold value of all item cards in your inventory and equipped item cards, any beaten
bosses worth’s 20 gold. Scoring is done after each dungeon before selecting the items you want to carry on with you.
Dungeon Layout Catalogue

Here are a couple of official layouts you may setup for different runs

Name: Pyramid
Creator: Alexandre Grenier
Contains: 1 Boss, 1 Mini Boss, 26 Common
Description: This is the first layout that was for
The development of the game the
Boss card is placed at the top of the layout. Then each row
contains one additional card covering a small portion of
those above them.

Name: Cavern
Creator: Alexandre Grenier
Contains: 1 Boss, 1 Mini Boss, 29 Common
Description: In this layout start by setting the
Boss card in the middle and then place 4 cards of each of its
corners. Then place 3 cards on each of sides going out to the
outer ring. And complete the circle with the remaining cards
having 3 cards in each quadrant.
Name: The Grinder
Creator: Alexandre Grenier
Contains: 1 Boss, 1 Mini Boss, 25 Common
Description: In this layout start by setting the
Boss card in the middle and then place 4 cards of each of its
corners. Then place 3 cards on each of those corners. Then
have 2 cards on top of the first outgoing cards on each side.
Place the remaining 10 cards in two piles on top and bottom
sections of the layout. These two piles are a good place to
grind to try and loot equipment.

Name: The Hourglass

Creator: Alexandre Grenier
Contains: 1 Boss, 1 Mini Boss, 27 Common
Description: In this layout start by setting the
Boss card in the middle build a 5 layer pyramid bellow the
boss then build another 5 layer pyramid but reversed to the
top of the boss.
Name: The Minesweeper
Creator: Alexandre Grenier
Contains: 1 Boss, 1 Mini Boss, 27 Common
Description: In this layout start by setting the
Boss card in the middle and then place 4 cards of each of its
corners on their small side in 45 degrees. Then place 2 cards
on each of those cards on their long side covering a half
each. Then have a card on each corner covering up a card
from 2 quadrants at the same time. Then place a card
covering 2 cards of the same quadrant and then add 2 more
cards covering that one.

Name: The Diamond

Creator: Alexandre Grenier
Contains: 1 Boss, 1 Mini Boss, 27 Common
Description: In this layout start by setting the
Boss card in the middle and then place 4 cards of each of its
corners then place another 4 cards covering two cards each.
Keep going as the layout covering with each card a corner.
Name: The Skull
Creator: Alexandre Grenier
Contains: 1 Boss, 1 Mini Boss, 27 Common
Description: In this layout start by setting the
Boss card in the middle and then place a card on top of it.
Then place two cards sideways on the top and then another
two on top of them. Then continue placing cards as shown
on the layout.

Name: The Line

Creator: Alexandre Grenier
Contains: 1 Boss, 1 Mini Boss, 27 Common
Description: Lay the boss and add cards as
shown on the layout respecting the number of cards in each
pile. Place in between each pile a card sideways to link each
pile to each other.