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 SETUP Hero Selection (Black bubbles in the sample set up diagram)
This section is shown first so you can see what a fully set up game of Dragons Down Players now select the hero that they wish to play. Each combination of lineage
looks like. We recommend that you review the components section before actually and class cards produces a unique hero. The order of hero selection is determined
setting up a game for play. Refer to this page when you are ready to set up a game. randomly, but can most often be done simultaneously.

Building the Map (White bubbles in the sample set up diagram) 1. Each player places a hero board in front of them.

Players decide which terrain packs they will use during this game session. For
your first game, we recommend playing Scenario 1: Entering Dragons Down as an
introduction to the game. The image to the right shows a sample setup for a game
using both the Malevolent Mountains and Cruel Caves terrain packs.
1. Place the terrain setup cards in play near the play area within easy reach of
everyone. Place the matching civilization cards, with a random side up, below
the terrain setup cards.
2. Each player chooses one lineage card (dwarf, elf, halfing, or human) and
one class card (numerous choices). The two cards are placed side-by-side in
the lower left corner of the hero board to create their hero. The hero has the
capabilities shown on the combination of lineage and class cards. Take the
matching hero counter and targeting token for the selected class as well.
3. Health. The hero takes a number of pink cubes equal to the number of hearts
shown on both cards. Place these cubes in the healthy box on the hero board.

2. For each terrain pack in play, shuffle the wilderness tokens and place the tokens 4. Action cubes: Each player takes a number of action cubes that match the color
face down on the matching space on the terrain set up card. of the cubes shown on their lineage and class cards and places them in their
healthy box on their hero board. If a cube shows two or more colors, the player
3. Shuffle all of the civilization tokens for terrain packs in play together (white
has the option of taking any matching cube color shown. E.g. if the cube is
with the word “civilization” on the back) and place them in a face down pile
black and purple, the player may take either a black cube or a purple cube.
near the terrain setup cards.
5. Each player takes the equipment listed on their class card from the item cards
4. Shuffle all of the treasure site tokens for terrain packs in play together and place
and places them in the appropriate matching locations on their hero board
them in a face down pile near the terrain set up cards.
(Example: helmet in the head location).
5. Build a single mission deck by shuffling together all mission cards belonging
6. Each player takes their starting gold from the pool and places it in their
to terrain packs in play (there is a terrain pack icon on the front face of each
backpack.
mission card). Place the mission deck face down near the terrain setup cards.
7. If the hero has starting spells listed on the class card, the player selects any
6. Separately shuffle the spell (not the hero starting spells), treasure, and deep
spells they wish from the Hero Starting Spells card deck.
treasure cards and place them in face down piles near the terrain setup cards.
A. Players should select spells that they are able to cast (spells whose magic
7. Monsters: There should be no setup required for the monster counters. If
cube requirements match their starting magic cubes).
players wish, they can give each individual stack of monsters in the monster
insert a shuffle to ensure randomness. Place near the terrain setup cards. B. Once all players have selected their starting spells, place them on the known
spells location of the hero board and place all remaining hero starting spell
8. Place the legend, fame, and gold tokens in separate piles near the map. This is
cards back in the box. They will not be used in this game session.
referred to as the pool.
8. Once all heroes have their starting equipment, shuffle the remaining items
9. Shuffle all of the map tiles for the terrain packs in play. Then follow the
cards and place them in a single face-down pile near the setup cards.
instructions on building the map for the scenario being played. Shown in the
sample image to the right is an Open Realm scenario using only the Mountain
and Cave Terrain Packs. You are now ready to play Dragons Down.
10. When a civilization map tile is revealed, roll a d6 and place the corresponding
civilization location in the matching clearing. Reroll any 5s or 6s. Take the
natives listed on the terrain setup card and stack them on the civilization
location in any order.

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 IN T RODUCT ION
“I thought they were crazy, rebuilding civilization on the exact place where
the dragons had come down from the sky. Even if it had been over 200 years,
everyone knows a dragon’s lifetime can be far longer than that. Yet, here I am
like all the other fools. Driven by my thirst for fame and to fill my satchel with
coin. I arrived at the same time as other risk-takers, lured by a chance for
adventure and a desire to live a life that is more than normal. I have decided
to make my way in this dangerous world...”
Dragons Down is a board game set in a Western fantasy world. Players act as
adventurers seeking fame and wealth, in the hope of becoming a legend. They will
explore a devastated realm, search and loot hidden treasure sites looking for great
treasures and epic artifacts, fulfill quests, cast magic, enchant the land, trade with
the locals, and perform many heroic deeds. All of this while fighting or sneaking
past savage monsters... and perhaps other adventurers too.
The game is a giant sandbox that you can play in with your own goals in mind or
choose to play one of the included scenarios. Be warned, you are about to enter a
dangerous place, where riches and fame await the bold, but where one false step can
be your last. Welcome to the world of Dragons Down.
SCENARIOS
Dragons down is played via scenarios. Players should select one of the scenarios
listed below for their game session of Dragons Down.
Open Realm
Open Realm is the basic sandbox game mode of Dragons Down. Select any terrain
packs you wish to use in this game session.
Map
Players build the map before starting play. Dealing all tiles as evenly as possible
to each player and then build the map starting with a random player and moving
clockwise. Each player places one map tiles, either side up. The placed tile must
touch two other tiles, if possible and all paths that touch a tile must match existing
paths on those tiles.
Game Start
On their first turn of the game, heroes enter the map from any path extending off
the edge of the map.
Game Length
30 turns
Victory Conditions
The hero with the most legend points at game end wins the game (even if deceased).
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Ties are broken by most fame, most epic treasures, most treasures, and then gold. COMPONEN T S Loot Dice
Explore the Realm Dice Two dice are rolled whenever a hero attempts to loot a found treasure
site. Each facing shows a number 1 through 5 and one facing shows
Explore the Realm is identical to Open Realm except that the map is built during Dragons down uses custom dice to determine the outcome of some events.
a grabby hand (0 result). A hero that rolls two grabby hands may
game play rather than created prior to game start. Golden Rule: select a treasure using special rules explained later.
Map In Dragons Down players roll two dice and take the worse result of the two
Haggle Dice
die facings unless otherwise noted.
Place a random civilization tile belonging to a terrain pack in play in the center of Two dice are rolled when a hero attempts to lower the price to buy
Dice results are explained in the relevant sections of these rules and are listed here
the table. Then shuffle all remaining map tiles together to create a map tile stack. merchandise from a merchant. The base price of merchandise is 3x
for completeness.
Game Start the printed price. Each haggle die has a number 0 through 4 (various
Summoning Dice levels of success) and a red store closed symbol (failure).
On their first turn, players place their hero on any clearing in the civilization map
tile and then take their turn normally Four dice are rolled at the end of each action phase. The dice Mission Dice
come in two colors - White (wandering monster dice) and Black
Game Length (terrain dice). In each color, there are two dice; one with symbols
A number of dice equal to the number of matching attribute symbols
on a hero’s card are rolled as bonus rewards for completing missions.
30 turns that determine the type of monsters summoned, and one with
Each mission die facing shows a gold or fame reward that is earned
numbers that determine the number of summoned monsters that
Victory Conditions will appear.
by the hero in addition to the printed rewards on the mission card.
The hero with the most legend points at game end wins the game (even if deceased). Learn spells dice
The wandering monster dice summon monsters that are unique to a tile type
Ties are broken by most fame, most epic treasures, most treasures, and then gold. (Example: juvenile dragons in the mountains). Wandering monsters for each Two dice are rolled when attempting to learn a new spell. Unlucky
Additional Rules terrain are listed on the terrain setup cards. heroes may become cursed while attempting to learn spells. Each
The terrain dice summon the local monsters listed on each individual tile as well learn spells die has three book facings (success), one blank facing
Adds the Explore action, which is explained in the rules below.
as guardians of treasure sites. The faces of the terrain die show either a treasure site (no effect), and two curse facings (cursed).
Legendary (multi-player or solo play) symbol or the various symbols listed on the bottom of the map tiles.
Monster summoning is explained later in these rules.
Perfect for solo play or for players who would rather play in a competitive way Legend Points, Fame, and Gold
racing to a set number of LPs.
Search dice Legend Points
Map Two dice are rolled when a hero attempts to find a treasure site or
Unless specified in the scenario rules, legend points (LPs) are the
Use the rules for either Open Realm or Explore the Realm. hidden passage. Each die has 3 spyglass facings (success) and three
victory points of Dragons Down. LPs represent being
blank facings (failure)
Game Start remembered far beyond your lifetime. LPs are not limited by the
Hit dice quantiies provided.
Use the rules for either Open Realm or Explore the Realm.
Two dice are rolled during combat resolution when an attack Fame
Game Length speed is less than or equal to a maneuver speed (and thus, not an
Heroes also earn fame during game play. Fame represents the
Indefinite automatic hit). Each die has 3 hit facings (success), 1 hit if equal
more temporary aspects of being remembered. Being famous in
facing (possible success), and 2 blank facings (failure).
Victory Conditions your lifetime is different then being a legend. Some of a hero’s
20 legend points (or any number agreed to by the players). The player who first Ranged attack dice accumulated fame disappears if that hero dies. Fame is not
limited by the quantiies provided.
retires with 20 legend points wins the game. Two dice are rolled after a ranged attack hits (bow, crossbow, thrown
dagger or spear, spells such as fireball, thrown explosive potion, Gold
Additional Rules etc). The facings of each ranged die either increase or decrease the
Gold is the currency of the realm and is used to purchase various
If playing solo, the player loses if they die before retiring with 20 legend points. amount of damage delivered during a successful ranged attack.
equipment, spells, and cures used by heroes. Gold is not limited
Hide dice by the quantiies provided.
Additional Scenarios
Dragons Down ships with various additional scenarios to huge replayability. Two dice are rolled whenever a hero attempts to hide. Each die
Consult the scenario sheets included with Dragons Down and be sure to look for has 2 noise facings (failure) and 4 blank/silence facings (success).
fan-made scenarios available for free download on the boardgamegeek entry for Additionally, one hide die is rolled each round for each monster
Dragons Down. during combat to determine if a monster will change its tactics..
 Terrain Packs
Included with Dragons Down are a variety of terrain packs:
caves, mountains, and woods. Each terrain pack has its own
setup card, map tiles, map tokens, civilization location &
natives, monsters, treasure sites, guardians, merchants, and
missions. Addtional terrain packs are available to expand your
gaming experience.
Not all terrain packs are used in all game sessions, allowing
players to tailor their game experience for the depth and
length of game session they desire.
Terrain Setup Cards
Only use setup cards for terrain packs in play. Setup cards
show tokens, wandering monsters, natives, treasures sites,
guardians, and merchants associated with the terrain. Some
terrain setup cards have a red arrow poiting to the guardian
location, which indicates that the guardian can be summoned
to locations in more than one terrain setup card.
Civilization Locations
Civilization locations are randomly placed on the civilization map tiles after map
building is completed. They represent various places where humanity has repopulated
the realm. Roll a d6 and place the location in the indicated clearing or reroll if no match.
Natives
All civilization locations have a population of humanoids that live there which is shown
on the terrain setup cards. Natives are placed on their starting civilization locations
once the matching location is placed on the map.
Civilization Tokens
Civilization tokens are placed in civilized map tiles when they are explored by a hero.
They represent the various merchants of the realm and offer the heroes a place to buy
additional equipment, sell the treasures that they loot from treasure sites, and accept
valuable missions.
Civilization Cards and Titles
Gold does not directly contribute to victory in Dragons Down. Heroes may spend gold
and/or satisfy prequisites on civilization cards at civilization locations to claim titles to
earn legend points and fame.

Missions
Map Tiles Heroes may accept missions from merchants at civilization locations. This is a good
Each terrain pack has one civilization tile and five wilderness way to earn legend points, fame, and gold... as well as infamy or redemption.
tiles, which are used to create a unique map for each game.
Wilderness map tiles have six circular clearings while
civilization tiles have four clearings. Heroes, monsters,
treasure sites, etc. exist in clearings. Clearing types included
in the game are plains (white), caves (black), mountains
(red), woods (green), and swamps (yellow). Connecting these
clearings are paths and hidden passages. Wilderness Tokens
The components of each map pack have a common theme. Wilderness tokens are placed in wilderness tiles. The back of wilderness tokens shows
However, the clearings on map tiles are not all the same, and the terrain pack to which it belongs, which also determines what type of tile it is placed
will feature other terrain types. Example: the tile shown is in (example: cave wilderness tokens are placed in cave tiles).
from the caves terrain pack, but clearing 1 is a woods clearing On the front of wilderness tokens are either treasure site locations, magic gates to
and clearing 3 is a plains clearing. teleport around the realm, special locations, or tokens indicating an empty tile.
The color, name, and symbol on the map tile shows the terrain
pack it is from. Each map tile has summoning icons, which
determines which monsters are summoned to the tile. Treasure Site Tokens
Monsters Treasure site tokens have a map scroll with the word “Site” on the back. On the front of
the token is a symbol showing to which terrain pack the site belongs. When a wilderness
Monsters in Dragons Down can be regular monsters (example:
token is revealed with a treasure site location on it, it is discarded and a random treasure
Giant Spiders) and guardian of a treasure site (example: Great
site token is placed in the tile instead.
Drake)) Regular monsters are listed on map tiles (if a local
monster) and terrain setup cards (if a wandering monster).
Guardians are listed on the terrain setup cards next to the
treasure site they protect. All monsters should remain in the
plastic insert until summoned onto the map.
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 Hero Cards Spells
Players will play the role of a hero created by the combination of a Dragons Down is a world full of magic. Heroes can enchant the land,
lineage card and a class card. The hero has the combined characteristics cast spells, learn new spells, and buy spells from merchants. The layout
of both cards: of spell cards is very similar to the layout of item and treasure cards, but
• Two special advantages (one on each card) add some additional information like duration, targeting, and action
cube requirements. Spells are explained in detail later in these rules.
• Attributes: Intelligence, wisdom, and charisma (for interactions
with civilization such as haggling and completing missions)
• Health. How hard can this hero get his without dying.
• Attack speed boxes. How fast can this hero attack.
• Maneuver speed boxes. How fast can this hero doge attacks.
• Aim boxes (Only used if playing with the optional Player vs.
Player rules).
• Starting action cubes and equipment for the hero.

Item and Treasure Cards
Item and treasure cards are the principal equipment, and means of
survival, for heroes in Dragons Down.
• Items are indicated by a wooden plank for a banner on the
card (example: Plate Armor).
• Treasures are indicated by a brown cloth banner on the card
(examples: Warblade and Spell Scroll).
• Epic treasures, the most valuable treasures in the game, are
indicated by a red cloth banner on the card (example: Magical
Bowl of Mixing).
Additional information on the cards show the effects of the card and
where on the hero’s body the card is equipped when active. All of this
is explained in detail later in these rules.
Hero Board
The hero board is a representation of the hero, their status,
and their equipment. The player places their lineage and
class cards in the lower left to form their hero, their action
and health cubes in the healthy box, any spells they know
face-down in the known spells location, inactive cards
face-down in the backpack and active cards face-up in the
locations that match the location symbols on those cards.
Over the course of the game, a hero’s cubes may be moved
to the wounded box to show that those cubes and hearts
are wounded and not available to the hero.

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 Hero Counters and Outlaw Tokens
Heroes are represented by blue-ringed counters with the symbol of their hero class
in the middle of the token. In addition, each hero has a matching targeting token
that is used to determine player order and to mark the target that a hero is attacking
during combat.
Heroes receive outlaw tokens when they complete atrocity missions or assault other
heroes and natives of the realm.
Cubes
During combat, players will place action cubes on their lineage cards, class cards,
items, treasures, and spells in order to attack and survive attacks against them.
Action Cubes
Action Cubes come in 3 diferent types:
Might Cubes: Might cubes are red and signify how much strength a hero is using
in an attack. Most often, might cubes are placed on weapons in order to cause
damage to monsters in the game.
Speed Cubes: Speed cubes are brown and signify how much effort the hero is
putting into the speed of an attack or the speed of their maneuver to dodge an
attack made against them.
Spell Cubes: Spell cubes are black, blue, gray, green, purple, white, and yellow.
They represent specialized knowledge possessed by the hero and are only placed on
spells cards and some treasures in order to power them for use.
Status cubes
Status cubes are pink and are used for a variety of purposes in the game. The
number of pink cubes in a hero’s healthy box on their hero board represents their
current health. Pink cubes are used to track wounds on monsters. Pink cubes are
used to mark the status of heroes who have sneaked, made noise, alerted, and/or
successfully hidden this turn.
Reference Cards
Included with the game are reference cards that show how heroes earn legend
points (LPs) and fame in the game. The reverse side of the reference cards show the
curse table to be used whenever a hero receives a curse.
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GAME PLAY
Each round in the game is broken into an action phase and a battle phase.
Action Phase
1. Turn Start: All heroes clear their statuses.
2. Actions:
a. Determine the active hero.
b. Active hero performs all of their actions.
c. Repeat until all heroes have taken a turn.
Battle Phase
1. Monster Activation: Monsters may move and be summoned.
2. Combat: Players cast spells and/or participate in combat.
Action Phase
Turn Start
All heroes clear their hidden, alerted, sneak, and make noise statuses. Remove any
pink cubes from the status boxes in the upper left of all hero boards.
Actions
Mix the targeting tokens together randomly and draw one to determine a start
player for the turn. The start player performs all of their actions for the turn. Then
draw a new token to determine the next player to perform their actions until all
players have taken a turn.
Players may perform up to 4 actions during their turn. Actions can be taken in any
order and the same action may be taken any number of times.
Caves
If a hero begins their turn in a cave clearing, or enters a cave clearing
during their turn, the hero may perform one less action than normal that
turn (3 actions instead of 4). A hero may not use a 4th action to enter a
cave clearing.
Monster Block
Monsters block the active, unhidden, unblocked hero if they are in the
same clearing at the end of any action. The active hero may attempt to
hide to avoid being blocked (see Reactions below). Blocked heroes are
unhidden and lose all remaining actions and reactions for the turn. Flip
the hero token over to its blocked side to denote that the hero is blocked.
The actions:
Sneak - or- Make Noise
The Sneak action improves the odds of a hero successfully
hiding. Place a pink status cube in the Sneak box on the
hero board when a hero takes a Sneak action. Heroes
that sneak may ignore one failure die result (but, not two
failures) during all hide reactions this turn. See Reactions (Hide) below.
A hero may instead choose to Make Noise, but a hero may not Sneak and Make
Noise in the same turn. Place a pink status cube in the Make Noise box on the
hero board when a hero takes the Make Noise action. After monster activation, but
before combat, roll the summoning dice again for each clearing containing one or
more heroes that made noise this turn. Apply the results only to that clearing using
normal summoning rules, ignoring heroes in all other clearings in the tile.
Alert
The alert action allows a hero to rearrange all of their possessions in
any way they wish. Additionally, during combat this turn the hero
may use +1 action cube during each round of combat. Place a pink
status cube in the Alert box on the hero’s player board to indicate that
the hero alerted this turn.
Move
The Move action allows a hero to move to an adjacent clearing
connected to the current clearing by a path, a gate, or a discovered
hidden path. The move costs one action except as follows:
Mountains: Moving into a mountain clearing costs +1 action (as part
of the first action).
Gates: Once more than one gate is revealed, a hero may travel between any two
gates as if they were connected by a path. Pay the number of actions based on the
clearing into which the hero is moving.
Evading: Heroes that evaded during combat on a prior turn and are not in a
clearing, must spend their first action moving to an adjacent clearing.
Place Tokens:
When a hero enters a clearing in a map tile that does not contain any treasure
site, civilization, or wilderness tokens, place tokens in the tile. Exception: If a hero
enters a new tile due to a spell effect during combat, reveal tokens once all combat is
completed for the turn.
Civilization tiles:
• Select two random civilization tokens from the civilization token pile and
reveal them next to the civilization location on the map tile.
• Fill any newly revealed merchants with the number of treasures, items,
and missions indicated on the terrain setup card for that merchant. These
cards are taken from the piles shuffled during game setup. The order of
these cards does not matter.
Wilderness tiles:
• Select one random wilderness token from the matching terrain set up card
and reveal it.
• If the token shows a site symbol, discard it from the game and select a
random site token from the site token pile. Place the treasure site in the
clearing on the map tile indicated by site token.
 • If the token shows a gate, place the gate token in the clearing indicated on
the wilderness token.
• If the token shows an item, the hero selects an item from the top of the item
pile. They may equip the item immediately and unequip any card already
in that location and move it to the backpack.
• If the token shows a treasure, the hero selects a treasure from the top of the
treasure pile (not deep treasure pile). They may equip the card immediately
and unequip any card already in that location and move it to the backpack..
• If the token shows either the Forgotten City or the Dwarven Ruins, take one
additional token from each terrain setup card and reveal them, repeating
the above steps for each newly revealed token.
Search
When a hero searches, they select one of two options:
1. They may search for a treasure site in the clearing
2. They may search for a hidden path that is connected to the clearing
The player rolls the 2 search dice. If the result shows two spyglasses,
the hero has found the treasure site or hidden path. Any other result is a failure.
Rerolls: If the hero chooses to search for the same target using consecutive search
actions on the same turn, they only reroll search dice showing a blank result.
When a hidden path is discovered, that hero may use the path during a move action
as if it was a regular path for the rest of the game.
When a treasure site is discovered for the first time, two things occur.
1. The hero gains legend points (LPs) and fame for being the first to discover
the site as shown on the player reference cards.
2. Draw a number of treasures and deep treasures from the appropriate piles
as listed on the matching treasure site on the terrain setup card. Place the
treasure cards on the treasure site location on the terran setup card. Place
the deep treasures on top of the treasure cards.
Loot
Once a player has found a treasure site, they may loot it using a
loot action. A hero may not loot a treasure site that they have not
discovered, even if it has been discovered by other heroes.
Roll the two loot dice. If the player rolls two grabby hand icons, they
may look at the top 3 treasures and keep one of them, returning the other two to the
treasure pile in the original order.
Otherwise, use the highest numeric die result for the loot roll result.
Take the card from the treasure pile that is in the position of the loot roll result,
counting from the top, or take no card if their are fewer cards in the treasure pile
than the loot roll result.
When a hero loots a treasure card they look at it secretly and decide whether they
want to place it face-up in a valid equipment location, unequipping any previous
card in that location to their backpack face-down, or whether they want to place it
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face-down in their backpack. Exception: treasure cards with a red location symbol
must always be face-up regardless of their location.
A player may reveal cards in their backpack at any time. When an epic treasure card
(with a red banner) is revealed for the first time, the revealing player earns LPs
and fame as indicated on the player reference card. Rewards for epic treasures only
occur once per game per epic treasure.
Rest
A hero may become wounded for a variety of reasons. In order to
move cubes from the wounded box to the healthy box, the hero must
rest. A hero may take a quick rest, a short rest, or a long rest, moving
one, two, and three cubes from the wounded box to the healthy box
for a cost of two, three, and four actions respectively.
Trade
A hero may perform a trade action to swap with another hero, do
commerce, complete missions, claim titles, or remove curses and
spells. A single trade action may only do one of the following things:
1. Swap: Swap any number of item cards, treasure cards, gold, or the location of
treasure sites or hidden paths in the current clearing with one other unhidden,
unblocked hero that is in the clearing. Spells and missions may not be swapped.
2. Commerce: Buy cards, sell cards, and/or take missions from a merchant. Each
step below may be performed once in a single trade action and in any order.
• Look: Look at all cards on the terrain setup card for one merchant that is
in the clearing.
• Sell: The hero may sell any number of items or treasures from their hero
board for the listed price. Spells may not be sold unless attached to a spell
book or scroll. See the treasure manifest for the sale price of a spell book
or scroll. Place these sold items with the merchant. They are immediately
available for sale to any hero.
• Buy: Buy one item or spell for 3x the price shown on the card. See the
treasure manifest for the purchase price of a spell book or scroll.
• A hero may choose to haggle over the price. See Haggling under Other
Rules.
• When purchasing an item or treasure, the hero may equip it face-up
immediately, unequipping a card already in the location to the hero’s
backpack face-down.
• Take Missions: Take 0, 1, or 2 mission cards from the merchant and
place it face-down in the hero’s backpack. A hero may have a maximum
of 2 mission cards in their possession. Mission cards may be discarded
to the bottom of the mission card deck if the hero wishes to replace it
with another mission. Missions are then refreshed so all merchants have
their maximum number of listed missions available. If the mission deck is
empty, merchants do not restock missions.
3. Complete a mission: Some missions require that players perform a trade
action at a certain location to claim the mission reward. Remove completed
missions from the game. Missions are explained elsewhere in these rules.
4. Claim a title: A hero that meets the prerequisites on a civilization card, may
place one pink status cube on a title, pay the price listed, and receive the rewards
shown on the card. Small boxes may only be claimed once. Large boxes may be
claimed an unlimited number of times (one per trade action).
5. Remove Curses and Spells: If in a civilization location, a hero may remove all
curses and/or permanent spells for a cost of 5 gold using a trade action.
Learn
The learn action allows a hero to attempt to learn a spell attached to a
spell book or spell scroll they possess. A hero must possess an action
cube in their healthy box that matches the spell type of the spell.
Roll the two learn spell dice.
• If both sides show a spell book, the hero learns the spell and removes it from
the spell book or spell scroll and places it in the known spells location on their
hero board. They earn the LPs and fame shown on the player reference cards.
If the last spell is removed from a treasure card, remove the treasure card from
the game.
• If the dice show one or more curse symbols, the hero fails and receives one
curse. Roll on the curse table immediately and apply the effects until the curse
is removed. The curse table is shown in the appendix of these rules.
• In any other situation, the learn spells action has no effect.
On consecutive learn spell attempts taken on the same turn attempting to learn the
same spell, a hero only rerolls blanks and curse symbols.
Enchant Tile
If a hero has a colored magic action cube in their healthy box and
spends 3 consecutive actions enchanting in a single turn, the following
things happen:
• The tile in which they are located is flipped over to the opposite
side. The name of the tile should be placed so that it matches the previous
position. All counters and tokens are placed in the same clearings in which
they existed before the flip.
• The player places a magic cube from the pool matching a magic cube they
possess (even if in the wounded box) and places it on the tile. If a magic cube
was already on the tile, remove it and return it to the pool.
Any permanent spells that match the color of the cube in a tile are activated
immediately anytime the affected hero is in the tile. Additionally, casting a spell
that requires a color that matches the cube in the tile requires one less magic cube
to cast (See Spells below).
Explore
[Only used with the Exploration scenario rules] A hero that is in a
clearing connected to a path leading off the map may explore the
adjacent tile. When a hero performs an explore action, select a connected path
leading off the map and take a map tile from the BOTTOM of the map tile stack
and place it connected to the path. The player may choose any orientation and may
place either side of the tile face up. However, all existing paths on adjacent map tiles
must connect to paths on the placed tile. The tile must be placed, if possible. If there
is no legal placement, the action is forfeited and the tile is placed on the top of the
map tile stack.
Mountain exploration: If a player is in a mountain clearing, they may explore an
adjacent empty map tile location even if not connected to a path leading off the
map. The map tile must still be placed per the explore rules above and it must
connect to all existing adjacent paths, including at least one path.
Pass
The hero’s action phase ends.
Reactions
Reactions are special actions that can only be taken when certain circumstances
are met, and they can be taken out of turn or even out of the action phase. Every
reaction defines one or more trigger conditions, and every time a trigger condition
is met the player may carry out the reaction once.
Hide
Trigger: When a monster attempts to block a hero, the hero may
make a Hide reaction to prevent the block and gain the hide status.
The Hide reaction is free (not one of the 4 hero’s actions).
Roll the two hide dice.
If a sound icon is rolled on either of the dice, the Hide action fails and the block is
successful. If there are no sound icons in the roll result, the hero gains the hidden
status and the block has no effect. Place a pink cube on the hero’s hidden box on the
hero board. If the hero took the Sneak action during this turn they may change one
sound icon to a blank icon before determining success or failure. See also: Monster
block, hero block (optional rule), and hidden status.
Turn End
Once the hero has completed all of their desired actions for their turn, play passes
to the next player. Once all players have performed all their actions, the action
phase ends and the Battle phase begins.
Battle Phase
Monster Activation
The start player rolls all 4 summoning dice. One black die and one white die have
symbols matching the icons on the bottom of the map tiles. The other dice contain
numbers showing how many monsters arrive if monsters are summoned. Monsters
are only activated in map tiles containing one or more heroes.
Starting with the map tile containing the start player, and continuing in turn order,
compare the rolled symbols to the map tile. Each map tile will only activate once
regardless of the number of heroes in the map tile.
 Summoning symbol: First, if the symbol on either of the dice matches a summoning
symbol on the map tile, the following occurs in order:
1. Monsters move: Monsters in a clearing with a hero do not move. All other
monsters that are already on the map tile are moved to the hero’s clearing.
If more than one hero is in the tile, all of the monsters move to the clearing
of the player closest to the start player in turn order.
2. Monsters summon: The monster type shown on the map tile next to the
summoning symbol will summon from the monster tray to the hero’s
clearing. If more than one hero is in the tile, the summoning occurs at the
clearing of the player closest to the start player in turn order.
The number of monsters summoned to the map tile is equal to the number
shown on the die that matches the color of the symbol die. Randomly select
that many of the indicated monster type from the monster tray and place
them in the clearing with the hero. If there are not enough monsters in the
tray, summon what remains.
Exception: If the monster listed on the map tile has “x2” after its name,
then the number of monsters summoned to the tile is the sum of both
numbered summoning dice.
Treasure Site symbol: If the treasure site symbol is rolled on one of the dice and
the map tile contains one or more treasure sites then guardians summong. Move all
guardians on the terrain setup card or in the map tile to the clearing containing the
matching treasure site for that guardian, even if that causes the guardian to leave a
clearing containing a hero.
Monsters return: If the white arrow symbol is rolled on one of the dice, return all
monsters in map tiles containing no heroes to the monster tray.
Monster summoning
When a monster is moved or summoned in a map tile, the following occurs:
• Moved and summoned monsters are always placed name-side up.
• After monster activation, all monsters will attempt to block all unhidden,
unblocked heroes in the same clearing per the Monster Blocking rules.
Heroes may attempt to hide to avoid being blocked.
Making Noise:
Remember to reroll the summoning dice for any clearing containing one
or more heroes that are making noise.
Summoning: Monster Activation Example
After placing wilderness and site tokens, the map is as shown in the image on
the next column.
Monster Activation
The enchanter is the first player, followed by the sorceror, barbarian, cleric,
and druid. The enchanter rolls the summoning dice resulting in a claw symbol
for the terrain die, a mountain symbol for the wandering die, and a 1 for both
numbered dice.
9 10
Combat limit is +1 if the hero performed an alert action during the action
phase this turn.
During combat, heroes may fight monsters in their clearing and/or cast spells.
Heroes may cast spells even if alone in their clearing. • Might (red) cubes may only be placed on might (red) boxes on weapons.
This represents the strength that the hero is putting into attack.
Combat is completed for each clearing containing one or more heroes starting with
• Speed (brown) cubes may only be placed on attack speed and/or
the clearing of the start player and proceeding in turn order. Clearings without
maneuver speed boxes (both brown). This represents the speed of the
heroes are ignored. Most often, combat can be done simultaneously for all clearings.
hero’s attack and maneuver. An attack or maneuver speed of 0 or less is
The combat steps in each clearing are as follows. Should it matter, all steps are done
still an attack and/or maneuver.
in player turn order. Each circuit through these steps is called a combat round:
• Spell cubes (all other colors) may only be placed on a single spell card
1. Challenge: Hidden heroes may choose to become unhidden. Then,
that a hero wishes to cast or a treasure card they wish to activate.
each monster challenges a random unhidden hero in the clearing.
• A hero may only place action cubes on one card (typically a weapon
• Multiple monsters may challenge a single hero, even if other heroes are
or a spell), in addition to their lineage and class cards. Some treasure
not challenged by a monster.
cards are an exception to this rule as noted in the treasure manifest.
• Monsters challenge heroes that are shape shifted into monsters.
• A hero may not place cubes on possessions in their backpack.
2. Power Magic: A hero under the effects of an inactive permanent spell • If a hero is placing might cubes on a weapon, they must fill all dark red
may move a magic cube matching the color of the spell type from their
(mandatory) boxes on the weapon. They do not have to place might
Enchanter’s (and sorceror’s) map tile healthy box to their wounded box to power the spell and cause it to take
cubes in the light red (optional) boxes on a weapon.
effect immediately. Spells and wounds are explained later in these rules.
The terrain die matches the claw symbol on the Secret Dens
• If the hero is casting a spell, all boxes on the spell card must be filled
• If a hero is in a map tile that is enchanted with a magic cube matching
1. Monster Move: No movement since no monsters are present. with 1 cube of the matching color. Multi-color boxes may contain any
the color of a permanent spell, this happens automatically without
2. Monster Summon: Goblins are summoned to the clearing with the color of spell cube. If the map tile is enchanted, any one box matching
wounding a magic cube.
enchanter because the enchanter was before the sorceror in turn order. The the enchanting color does not need to be filled.
goblins have x2 next to their name, so the number of goblins summoned is • A hero may not wound a cube to power an inactive permanent spell
• Once all players have placed their action cubes, all placements are
equal to the sum of the two dice, two goblins. (red arrow) that is affecting another hero.
revealed.
3. Evade: In player order, challenged heroes may evade combat by placing 6. Monster Tactics: For each monster in the clearing, roll one hide die.
Barbarian’s map tile
more brown action cubes in their maneuver speed boxes than the highest
If it shows a monster symbol, flip the monster counter over. These are the
Both dice match the symbols on the Lonely Mountains map tile. single maneuver speed of all monsters that are challenging them.
new characteristics of the monster for this round of combat.
1. Monster Move: The griffon already in the Lonely Mountains map tile moves • If the player cannot place enough brown action cubes in the maneuver
to the barbarian’s clearing. (yellow arrow)
7. Resolution: Process all attacks in attack speed order and fully resolve
speed boxes, the hero may not evade combat.
one attack before proceeding to the next.
2. Monster Summon: The monsters for the Lonely Mountains are griffons • Heroes that evade are placed on a path leading out of the clearing of
A. Attack Order: Starting with the fastest unresolved attack speed,
and juvenile dragons. Neither has x2 next to their name, so one of each is the player’s choice. A hero may not evade through a gate.
regardless if it is a spell or a weapon, process the attack.
summoned to the barbarian’s clearing. (red arrow)
• Evaded monsters do not challenge other heroes this combat round.
• Ties for attack speed are broken by the attack length shown on
Cleric’s map tile 4. Target: Heroes and then monsters choose a target for this combat each weapon or spell card (the number on top of a sword icon).
The wandering die matches the mountain symbol on the Tri-Peak map tile. round.
• The attack length of monsters is shown as a red number above the
3. Monster Move: The juvenile dragon already in the Tri-Peak map tile moves • Monsters always target the hero they are challenging. attack speed on the counter. If there is no red number, the attack
to the clearing of the cleric. (yellow arrow) • In player order, each hero in the clearing selects a monster to target. length is 0.
4. Monster Summon: The mountain symbol summons juvenile dragons to Place the hero’s target token on the monster they are attacking. Multiple • Tied attack speeds and attack lengths strike simultaneously.
the Tri-Peak map tile. Since they do not have x2 next to their name, one heroes may attack the same monster.
B. Attack Resolution: For each attack in order, perform the following
juvenile dragon is summoned to the cleric’s clearing clearing. (red arrow) • If a monster was evaded by the hero they challenged, they attack no steps.
one, but may still be targeted by an attack from another hero.
Druid’s map tile • If the attacker’s attack speed is faster than the target’s maneuver
• A hero may target themselves or another hero if casting a spell. speed, the attack hits. Otherwise, roll the two hit dice.
There are no dice symbols that match the symbols in the druid’s map tile so no
monsters move or summon in the Black Caves . 5. Hero Tactics: In secret, each hero places their action cubes on the • If either die is blank: The attack misses. Skip to step d.
boxes for their might, spells, attack speed and/or maneuver speed.
• If both dice are hit symbols: The attack hits.
• A hero may place up to 5 action cubes on their boxes. The action cube
 • One or both dice are equal signs: The attack hits if the attacker’s
attack speed is equal to the maneuver speed of the target.
Otherwise, the attack misses.
C. Damage: If the attack misses, ignore this step and proceed to step d.
Golden Rule of Damage:
Any time a target is hit by an attack with an actual damage of at
least one, it will either be killed or take a wound. Attacks with an
actual damage of less than one have no effect and are ignored.
• If the attack is a spell, apply the effects of the spell as printed on
the card. Spells are explained in more detail in the spell section of
• If the actual damage is greater than zero, but less than the
number on the shield icon of the armor card, the armor is not
damaged or destroyed. The target takes a wound.
• The target is unarmored.
• If the actual damage is greater than or equal to the health of
the target, the target is killed.
• Hero health: A hero’s health is equal to the number of
pink cubes in the hero’s healthy box. Pink cubes in the
wounded box and action cubes anywhere have no impact
on health.
have already occurred are unaffected.
When removing cubes from an attack speed box, the order of attacks may change.
Use the new number of cubes in the attack speed box to determine the next
unresolved attack to occur. Attacks that have already been resolved are unaffected.
Monster Death
When a monster is killed, the hero who strikes the final blow (or any monster/spell
controlled by that hero) takes the monster counter and places it near their hero
board. The hero immediately receives the fame value printed on the counter.
Hero Death
• If both dice show blanks, there is no effect.
• Set the LPs and fame aside along with the lineage and class card for the
hero and remove the hero’s counter from the map.
The player may select another hero to begin play on the following turn if any turns
remain in the game. The set up for this new hero follows the rules for set up at the
beginning of the game. For their equipment search the item deck for the items
and then reshuffle. If their equipment is not available, they receive the base gold
equivalent instead. A spell caster may choose spells from the hero starting spell
cards set back in the box earlier. The new hero begins as per the rules of the scenario
being played.

these rules.
• If a weapon, count the number of cubes on the weapon card. Add
to this damage the number of sword icons covered by cubes on the
weapon card. Note: Monsters have a + sign to signify sharpness
instead of a sword icon. Each + sign adds 1 sharpness damage, This
is the base damage.
• A monster or native is armored if the counter has a shield icon on
the counter. A hero is armored if they have an armor card in the
head or torso slot on their hero board (if both head and torso slots
are equipped, the targeted hero chooses which armor to use). If
the hero has a shield in a weapon slot, they may choose to use the
shield or not. A hero must choose which armor to use prior to any
ranged attack dice rolls.
• If the attack is a ranged attack (arrow symbol on the monster,
weapon, or spell), the attacking hero rolls the two ranged attack
dice and increases or reduces the base damage by the worse result
rolled on the two dice.
• The target is armored
• If the attack has one or more sword icons on it (+ signs on
monster and native counters), reduce the damage by one. This
is the actual damage.
• If the actual damage is higher than the number in the shield
icon of the armor card, the armor is destroyed and removed
from the game.
• If the target is a monster or native, it is killed.
• If the target is a hero, they take a wound. See Wounds
below.
• If the actual damage is equal to the number in the shield icon
of the hit armor card, the armor is damaged. Place a pink
status cube on the armor card. If the armor already has a pink
cube on it, it is destroyed.
• If the target is a monster or native, it is killed.
• If the target is a hero, they take a wound.
• Monster and Native health: Health is equal to the printed
health value on top of a heart/shield/undead symbol on
the counter, minus any pink status cubes on the counter.
• If the actual damage is less than the health of the hero, monster,
or native, the target takes a wound.
D. Repeat step 7: Resolve the next attack in attack speed order until all
attacks have been resolved for the combat round.
8. Cleanup: A quick end of round clean-up step occurs.
• If a hero cast a spell with a wound symbol above a box containing a
cube of theirs, the cube in that box is placed in the wounded box for
that hero.
• All action cubes not in the hero’s wounded box are placed in the hero’s
healthy box.
• If two consecutive rounds of combat occur without any hero or
monster taking a wound or dying, combat ends in the clearing for the
turn. Otherwise, proceed to step 1 of combat and repeat these steps.
• When combat ends in a clearing, monsters discard all pink status
cubes. Monster counters are placed face-up in the clearing. All cubes
in a hero’s wounded box remain there.
Wounds
When a monster is wounded, place a pink status cube on the monster
counter to signify that its health is lower than its printed health.
A monster may have multiple pink status cubes to show multiple
wounds. Each wound cube lowers the monster’s health by one.
When a hero is wounded, the hero must immediately move a cube to the wounded
box from the healthy box, the attack speed boxes, the maneuver speed boxes, spell
boxes on a spell card, or might boxes on a weapon card.
If a wound forces a player to remove a cube on a spell card such that a box is
now empty, the spell is canceled if it has not already occurred. Exception: Spells
cast using the magic cube in enchanted tiles. Spells that have already occurred are
unaffected.
If a wound forces a player to remove a might cube leaving a dark red (mandatory)
box empty, the weapon attack is canceled if it has not already occurred. Attacks that
When a hero is killed, discard half of the hero’s fame (rounded down). Of the
remainder, for each 10 fame the hero can discard, they receive 1 LP. The hero’s See an example of combat on the next page.
lineage and class cards, along with their LPs and left-over fame, are set aside. A
dead hero is still eligible to win the game (depending on the scenario being played).
Discard all spells from the known spells location on the hero board (Return hero
starting spell cards to the box). Shuffle all of the hero’s possessions and place them,
face-down, in the clearing along with all of the hero’s gold (be careful to keep spell
cards assigned to spell books and scrolls with those items in case they are found
again). The hero’s possessions may be searched for and looted like a normal treasure
site. When the hero’s body is found, the finder immediately receives all gold on the
body. Possessions must be looted. Finding a dead hero’s body does not grant any
LPs or fame like a treasure site.
Ambush
Heroes armed with a ranged weapon, or casting a ranged attack spell, may do so
from hiding. All normal rules for combat occur except that the ambusher may not
be targeed in the combat round that they ambush.
At the end of the combat round, all heroes that ambushed that round must roll to
remain hidden using normal hide rules. Exception: Sneak does not allow a reroll
attempt after an ambush attack. Heroes that become unhidden after an ambush are
unhidden for all purposes for the next round of combat.
Retirement
If a hero is in a civilization location at the end of the battle phase, that hero may
choose to retire. When a hero retires, the following occurs:
• For each 10 fame the hero discards, they receive 1 LP. Remaining fame is
kept as a tie-breaker.
• If the hero is retiring on the last turn of the game, the hero receives one LP
for being a living legend.
• Roll two hide dice for each outlaw token the hero possesses (See Outlaw
Tokens in Other Rules).
• If both dice show a symbol, the outlaw gains 1 LP.
• If one die result is a symbol and the other is a blank, they discard one 1
LP. If they have no LPs, they lose all of their remaining fame.

11 12
 Combat Example Combat Example
6. Monster Tactics: One hide die is rolled for each monster. The roll for the
Juvenile Dragon and the Great Drake each show a symbol and so they are
flipped over to their back sides. The roll for the Giant shows a blank, so the
Giant does not flip over. The new combat values of the monsters are shown
below in order of attack from left to right (note that the two dragons attack
speeds and weapon length (0) are equal so their attacks hit simultaneously.
7. Resolution: The knight’s attack speed equals both the attack speed of both
dragons, but the weapon length of the long sword is higher than the length
The barbarian and knight are unhidden and blocked in a clearing with a of the dragon’s attacks (10 vs. 0). The knight will attack first.
Juvenile Dragon, a Giant, and the Great Drake. They are both fully healthy and
• The knight’s attack speed (2) is compared to the Juvenile Dragon’s
possess their original starting equipment as listed on the cards shown above.
maneuver speed (3). It is not an automatic hit because the attack speed
The barbarian alerted during the action phase and may play up to 6 action cubes
is not higher than the maneuver speed. The knight will have to roll the
per round. Alas, the knight did not alert and it limited to 5 cubes each combat
round this turn. The heroes’ equipped weapons are also shown above.
combat dice and get lucky. The knight rolls the dice and rolls two hit
symbols! This is an automatic hit regardless of the maneuver speed of
Combat Round 1 the monster. The damage done is equal to the number of cubes played
1. Challenge: The three monsters all challenge a random hero. After die rolls, on the knight’s weapon (2) + 1 for the sharpness of the weapon. Because
the Juvenile Dragon and Giant challenge the knight and the Great Drake the dragon is armored one sharpness is canceled resulting in two actual
challenges the barbarian. damage, which is just enough to kill the dragon. The knight places the
2. Power Magic: Neither hero is under the effects of a permanent spell so Juvenile Dragon counter and 10 fame near his hero board.
nothing happens during this step. • The Great Drake attacks next with an attack speed of two. The
3. Evade: Neither the knight, nor the barbarian, can play more maneuver barbarian’s maneuver speed is also two so the hit dice are rolled for the
cubes than the monsters challenging them so neither of them may evade Great Drake. The result is a hit symbol and a tied symbol and, following
combat this turn. the golden rule of Dragons Down, only the worse result applies - the
tied symbol. Unfortunately for the barbarian, this is enough for the
4. Target: The monsters each target the heroes they challenged. The barbarian
Great Drake to hit since the dragon’s attack speed and the barbarian’s
decides to target the Great Drake and the knight decides to target the
manever speed are equal. The barbarian’s helmet is destroyed (the
Juvenile Dragon since it is worth more fame than the Giant.
damage of the attack is 4 + 1 sharpness - 1 sharpness for the helmet =
5. Hero Tactics: Secretly each hero places their cubes on their cards. The greater than the 2 armor value of the helmet). In addition, the barbarian
barbarian and knight decide to place their cubes as shown below. must immediately wound a cube. The barbarian chooses to place their
unused brown action cube in the wounded box on his hero board.
• The Giant attacks next with an attack speed of one, which ties the
knight’s maneuver speed. The hit dice are rolled and two blanks are the
result. The Giant misses.
• The final attack is the barbarian’s attack with an attack speed of zero. All
of the barbarian’s effort was put into might since that is needed to kill
the Great Drake in one swing. The Great Drake has a maneuver speed
of 1, so the barbarian rolls the hit dice. One die shows a hit and one die
shows a blank symbol, which means the attack misses.
The end of combat round 1 is shown on the next page. The barbarian has lost his
helmet (not shown). Two monsters remain.
13
Combat Example
Combat Round 2
1. Challenge: Both monsters randomly challenge the knight in combat round
2. This means the barbarian will not be targeted this round and can put all
of her efforts into attacking her target without fear of being attacked.
2. Power Magic: Nothing happens.
3. Evade: Neither hero evades.
4. Target: Both monsters target the knight. The knight decides to attack the
Giant and the barbarian decides to target the Great Drake again.
5. Hero Tactics: Secretly each hero places their cubes on their cards. The
barbarian and knight decide to place all their brown cubes in attack speed.
6. Monster Tactics: One hide die is rolled for each monster and neither roll
shows a symbol so the monsters remain in their same tactics.
7. Resolution: The knight’s attack again goes first.
• The knight’s attack speed (3) is higher than the Giant’s maneuver speed
(1) and does 3 actual damage because the Giant is not armored. The
Giant is killed. The knight takes the Giant counter and 8 more fame.
• The barbarian’s attack is next and undercuts the Great Drake’s maneuver
speed (2 vs. 1). The damage done is 4 (4 + 1 sharpness - 1 for armor)
which just enough to kill the Great Drake. The barbarian takes the
Great Drake counter and 20 fame!
Combat round 2 ends with no more monsters in the clearing and combat ends.
OT HER RULES
Statuses
There are four status effects tracked on a player’s hero board; alert, sneak, make
noise, and hidden. Alert, sneak, and make noise are explained under their respective
sections in the Actionphase rules. Hidden status is explained below. All statuses are
reset at the beginning of each turn, remove all pink status cubes from the status
boxes during Turn Start.
Hidden Status
When a player makes a successful hide reaction, the player places a pink cube in the
hidden box on the hero’s lineage card to signify that the hero is hidden.
Action Phase:
Hidden heroes may take actions in the clearing as normal, including when a hide
attempt is successful in the middle of their turn. Heroes lose their hidden status if
they move to a new clearing (they may attempt to hide again if blocked). Heroes
may voluntarily reveal themselves at any time during the action phase.
Combat Phase:
During the combat phase, heroes may voluntarily reveal themselves only at the
beginning of the challenge step of a combat round. Hidden heroes do not participate
in combat and may not attack or be attacked.
Spells
Dragons Down is a world full of magic.
One way that heroes access this magic
is via spells.There are two decks of spell
cards. One deck, labeled “Hero Starting
Spell”, is used only when a player creates a
hero and selects their starting spells. This
deck should not be shuffled. Once heroes
have selected their start spells, this deck is
set aside and not used in this game session.
The setup of the other deck, labeled “Spell”,
is described in the setup procedures of
these rules. Players may cast spells using
the cards of either deck.
Spells are only cast during combat. Spells
may be cast each combat phase even if no monsters are present in a clearing.
How to cast a spell is explained in the combat section, but aspects of it will be
repeated here for clarity.
To cast a spell take magic cubes from your healthy area of the hero board, and
cover all boxes on the spell card with matching colors. If you cannot cover all the
boxes, then you cannot cast the spell. Exception: if the hero is in an enchanted tile,
they may ignore any one magic box on a spell card that matches the color of the
enchantment cube in the tile, but not a magic box with a wound symbol.
You may cast multiple spells in a combat phase as long as you have the appropriate
14
 cubes available. However, spells that have a duration longer than instantaneous
may not be cast again until the spell is broken or expires.
Note: Each color of magic box also has a corresponding symbol on it to
allow for play by individuals who are color-blind.
The tapestry on each spell card shows the spells characteristicsas follows:
Spell price: Merchants may have spells for sale. The value on the
gold coin is the base price used to calculate how much a merchant
will charge to sell this spell to a hero (the price to purchase from a
merchant is always base price x3).
Spells may never be sold individually to a merchant, but may be sold to merchants
if attached to a treasure card. The base price to sell the treasure card is the sum of
all spells attached to that treasure card and the cost to buy it is 3x the sell price.
Spells may not be sold individually from a treasure card. See the treasure manifest
in the appendix for more information.
Aimed: This spell must be aimed at a single target in the clearing with
the caster. If there is a number in the target symbol, the spell may
target up to that many targets of the caster’s choice. The spell only
takes effect if the spell hits using normal attack rules. When a targeted
spell is cast, a hero may voluntarily agree to accept a hit from this spell
(in the case of its effects being situationally beneficial).
Self or other: This spell may be cast on self, another hero, or a monster
in the same clearing as the caster. The spell does not need to hit to take
effect.
Self: This spell targets the caster and automatically takes effect when
cast.
Melee: This spell acts like a melee weapon. If it hits, treat it like a
melee weapon attack per the explanation on the card.
Ranged: This spell acts like a ranged weapon. If it hits, roll the ranged
attack dice to modify the effects of the attack as normal.
Instantaneous: The spell occurs instantly and then expires.
Combat: The spell lasts for the duration of combat, until the caster is
killed, or the caster evades. Then the spell expires.
Turn: The spell effects last from when cast through the end of the
action phase of the following turn, and then expires. These spells are
most commonly used to enhance a hero’s actions during the next turn.
Undead: Some spells are marked with an undead symbol. Undead are
immune to these spells in all ways.
15
Permanent: The spell is permanent and never expires. Permanent
spells can be in two states: active and inactive. When initially cast,
the spell is active until the end of the action phase on the following
turn and then becomes inactive. Place permanent spells face-up next
to the hero board for the targeted hero or monster counter as a reminder. Once the
spell becomes inactive, flip the card face down, but leave it next to the targeted hero
or monster. If the spell is broken the spell card is returned to the caster to be cast
again. Permanent spells may not be voluntarily broken nor revoked by the caster.
Permanent spells are broken in one of three ways:
• The target of the spell dies
• A Break Spells spell is cast on the target.
• A hero pays 5 gold via a trade action at a civilization location to remove all
spells and curses from the affected hero in the clearing.
Active: When a permanent spell is active, the effects of the spell as described on
the card apply.
Inactive: When a permanent spell is inactive, its effects do not apply. The spell is
inert. At any time, should the hero or monster under the effect of a permanent spell
be in a map tile enchanted with the color of the banner of the spell card, the spell
immediately becomes active again until the end of the next turn. Flip the spell card
face-up immediately.
Permanent spells can become active immediately in one of three ways:
• During the power magic step of combat.
• Being in a map tile enchanted with the matching magic color.
• Encountering another source of colored magic from a treasure.
Permanent Spell Example:
A wizard casts vapor form on herself during the game. Later, the wizard
moves into a clearing in a map tile that is enchanted with Gray magic. The
wizard instantly becomes vapor. The wizard will continue to be vapor until
the end of the turn in which they are not in the presence of Gray magic at
any point during their turn.
Treasures and Items
Dragons Down is a land full of treasure for the taking… once you get past the
guardians. These treasures are powerful relics that can enhance your hero greatly.
Treasures and items may be either inactive (face-down in the hero’s backpack on
their hero board) or active (face-up in any matching location on the hero’s hero
board). Heroes only receive the benefit of treasures that are active unless the effects
are permanent (see below). Inactive treasures have no impact on the game and are
kept face down in the backpack. Exception: Red backpack treasures are always face-
up - see below.
The abilities of each treasure or item are shown via iconography in the bottom half
of the card. Until you get to know the iconography, you can use the alphabetical
treasure manifest in the appendix of these rules to understand each treasure.
Items
Heroes begin the game with various
equipment specific to the hero’s class as
listed on the card. Item cards have the word
“Item” on the back of the card and have a
wooden banner on the front of the card.
The layout for item cards are identical to
treasure cards.
Deep Treasures vs. Treasures
Some treasures are found deeper in the treasure sites that heroes will loot and
are known as deep treasures. Deep treasures the same as treasures, but tend to be
more valuable, and contain a higher percentage of epic treasures (see below). Deep
treasures are more difficult to loot because of their location in the treasure piles.
Epic Treasures
Treasures that have a brown banner on
them are regular treasures. These are
the normal treasures one would find in
a treasure site. Treasures that have a red
banner are epic treasures. These are the
treasures about which legends and stories
are told. They are the best treasures in the
game and earn legend points and fame for
whomever reveals them.
Treasure and Item banners
The banners on treasures and items show information about the treasure as follows:
Base price: This is the price that a merchant will pay to purchase this
card from a hero. This is also the base price used to calculate how
much a merchant will charge to sell this card to a hero (the price is
always base price x3)
One-time use: This card is removed from the game after use.
Armor: This card is armor with an armor value as printed in the shield
symbol. Armor is explained in the combat section of these rules.
Weight: This card requires that a hero plays a number of might cubes
each combat round equal to the number shown. If there are not
enough might cube boxes on weapon cards to fulfill the requirement,
the hero may place might cubes directly on the armor card. The hero’s
maneuver speed is -99 if they play fewer might cubes than required.
Weapon Length: If two attacks have the same attack speed, weapons
and spells with higher numbers are resolved before lower numbers.
Some weapons have two numbers. See Melee or Ranged below.
Melee: This card is a melee weapon.
Ranged: This card is a ranged weapon. If it hits, roll the ranged attack
dice to modify the effects of the attack as described in the combat
section of these rules.
Melee or Ranged: This weapon may be used as a melee or a ranged
weapon. If used as a melee weapon, use the top weapon length. If used
as a ranged weapon (thrown), use the bottom weapon length during
this combat round and then remove the weapon from the game.
Permanent: The effects of this magic item last for the entire game.
Combat: The effects of this treasure last for the duration of the
combat. Once combat is over, the effects are terminated.
Position Neck: This card is placed on the hero’s neck when active
(and facedown in the backpack when inactive).
Position Waist: This card is placed on the hero’s waist when active
(and facedown in the backpack when inactive).
Position Feet: This card is placed on the hero’s feet when active (and
facedown in the backpack when inactive).
Position Head: This card is placed on the hero’s head when active
(and facedown in the backpack when inactive)
16

Position Chest: This card is placed on the hero’s chest when active
(and facedown in the backpack when inactive).
Position Head and Chest: This card is placed on the hero’s head and
chest when active (and facedown in the backpack when inactive).
Place the card on the white dotted lined area that covers both
locations. Neither location is available for other cards.
Position One-handed Weapon: This card is placed on one of the
hero’s weapon locations (does not matter which one) when active
(and facedown in the backpack when inactive).
Position Two-handed Weapon: This card is placed on both of the
hero’s weapon locations when active (and facedown in the backpack
when inactive). Place the card on the white dotted lined area that
covers both locations. Neither location is available for other cards.
Position Single Hand: This card is placed on one of the hero’s hand
locations (does not matter which one) when active (and facedown in
the backpack when inactive).
Position Two Hands: This card is placed on both of the hero’s hand
locations when active (and facedown in the backpack when inactive).
Place the card on the white dotted lined area that covers both locations.
Neither location is available for other cards.
Position Miscellaneous: This card is placed on one of the hero’s
miscellaneous locations (does not matter which one) when active
(and facedown in the backpack when inactive).
Position Backpack: Cards may always be placed in the backpack.
Cards placed in the backpack are face down, inactive, hidden from
other players, and need not be revealed.
Position Backpack Special: This card must be placed in the backpack,
but is placed face-up on top of the backpack pile. It is permanently
active. If sold to a merchant, abandoned, or its owner is killed, it is
placed face up in the clearing and remains active.
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Missions
Missions are a great way for heroes to earn gold, legend points, and fame. Heroes
may take missions from merchants during a trade action (See Trade action). A hero
may have up to two missions in their possession and may return missions to the
bottom of the mission deck at any time during their turn.
Mission Types
Missions are divided into 3 types: Atrocities, Expeditions, and Quests. Atrocities
are the most lucractive missions, but also make the hero an outlaw. Expeditions
are a good way for a hero short on gold to earn more. Quests are aligned to making
the world safe for civilization and redeeming a hero that has become and outlaw.
Completing a Mission
Missions are completed by accomplishing the listed tasks on the mission card.
Requirements to kill monsters and natives can be completed by a hero before
the quest is accepted - in this case, the mission represents recognition of past
achievements. When completing a mission, the hero receives the gold, legend
points, and fame shown on the bottom of the mission card.
In addition to the mission rewards, the hero may receive additional variable rewards
based on the bonus attribute of the mission. For each attribute symbol on the hero’s
lineage and class card that matches the bonus symbol in the lower right corner of
the mission card, the hero rolls one mission die. The mission dice show either fame
or gold as additional rewards. The hero immediately receives the sum of all die roll
results in addition to the listed rewards on the mission card.
When completing an atrocity, the hero receives an outlaw token (explained below).
When completing a quest, the hero may discard one outlaw token they already
possess. Quests do not allow a hero to discard an outlaw token they earn later.
Upon completion, mission cards are placed next to the hero board.
Completing a Mission Example
The human paladin completes the temple defiler atrocity shown above. The
bonus reward attribute for the temple defiler is intelligence and the human
paladin has one intelligence attribute (Red arrows).
The paladin will roll 1 mission die and add the resulting die roll to the one
legend point and 20 fame reward earned for the atrocity.
Subdual
If a hero has a mission card requiring subdual of a native, heroes may choose to
subdue natives rather than kill them with their attacks. To signify a subdual attack,
the player places might cubes above the might boxes on their melee weapon.
Neither spells nor ranged weapons may be used to subdue.
If the attack hits using normal rules, the target suffers one wound regardless of
armor or actual damage. Should the total number of pink wound cubes on the
target equal its total health (i.e. “kill the native”), the target is subdued.
Subdued natives are placed in the hero’s backpack like any other item or treasure
card. Subduing a native grants no fame to the subduing hero. Natives return
immediately to their civilization location if discarded or their subduer is killed.
Heroes and monsters may not be subdued.
Flying
Some game effects grant heroes the ability to fly (spells, shapeshifting into a flying
monster, etc). A hero that can fly does so as follows:
• During a move action, the hero may choose to fly. Each move costs 1 action
regardless of terrain. Heroes move to any non-cave clearing in the current
tile or a randomly determined non-cave clearing in an adjacent tile.
• Heroes may never enter or leave a cave clearing by flying.
• Flying heroes may not take a hide reaction upon entering a clearing already
containing monsters.
Natives
Natives represent the various civilized people that have moved back into the realm.
Natives are placed at the civilization location listed on the terrain setup card.
Natives do not block or attack heroes. Natives will fight if targeted. If any native is
targeted during combat, the following occurs:
• All natives in the clearing are treated as monsters for all purposes during
combat this turn.
• At the end of the targeting step, each native in the clearing that is not
already targeting a hero targets a random hero that is attacking a native.
Once combat is complete in the clearing, natives return to their prior behavior.
Haggling
The purchase price for a card during each trade action is always 3x the base price. A
hero may attempt to haggle with the merchant during a trade action.
Each merchant has an attribute icon that they respect printed next to their name
on the terrain setup cards. Exception: The Smuggler respects nothing and uses
whatever is the lowest attribute score of the haggling hero.
The haggling hero rolls two haggle dice:
• If either die shows a closed door, the haggle attempt fails and the merchant
closes their doors to the hero for the rest of the turn. No more trade attempts
may be made with that merchant by that hero until the following turn.
• If the highest number rolled is higher than the sum of the number of
matching attribute icons on the hero’s lineage and class cards, the haggle
attempt fails and the trade action is terminated. The hero may attempt to
trade and haggle with the merchant using additional actions, if they wish.
• If the highest number rolled is less than or equal to the sum of the number
of matching attribute icons on the hero’s lineage and class cards, the haggle
attempt is a success. The price to purchase the card during this trade action
is reduced by a factor of one (from 3x to 2x or from 2x to 1x). The hero may
continue haggling if they wish as part of the same trade action. The price of
a card will never be reduced below 1x.
Outlaw tokens
Outlaw tokens are the way that society marks the known bandits,
ruffians, and renegades in Dragons Down. Heroes gain and lose
outlaw tokens based upon whether they live within the laws of
civilized society or not. If a hero has one or more outlaw tokens
they are considered an outlaw. There is no limit to the number of
outlaw tokens a hero may possess.
Heroes receive one outlaw token as follows:
• For each native they kill or subdue in the game.
• Completing an atrocity mission (Red banner).
• If playing with the optional PvP rules, killing a hero that is not an outlaw.
Heroes may discard one outlaw tokens as follows:
• Completing a quest mission (white banner).
• If playing with the optional Player vs Player rules, killing a hero with one
or more outlaw tokens.
During end game scoring or retirement, outlaw tokens may reduce the LPs and/or
fame of a hero prior to scoring (See Retirement).
Undead
Some monsters are undead as indicated by a skull underneath
the health value on their monster token. Undead monsters have
invulnerability to some spells, and weaknesses towards other spells
(both are indicated on the individual spell cards either in text or by
a special symbol indicating that it does not affect the undead). In all other ways,
undead behave like normal monsters.
End of the Game
At the end of the game, a player may retire following the retirement rules explained
earlier if in a civilization location. Refer to the victory conditions for the scenario
being played to determine the winner of the game.
18
 OPT IONAL RULES
Luring
During the challenge step in player order, prior to monsters challenging heroes,
unhidden heroes may lure a single monster in the clearing. Monsters that are lured
will challenge the hero that lures them. Once a monster is lured, it may not be lured
by another hero. Monsters that are not lured will still challenge heroes randomly.
Tough Monsters
Monsters do not take wounds. If a single hit does not kill a monster, it does not
harm the monster. This optional rule makes for a much more difficult game.
Closing the Distance
During the first round of combat, attack length, not attack speed determines
the order of attacks. Attacks still hit based on the attack speed compared to the
maneuver speed and/or the results of rolling the hit dice.
On all other combat rounds, order of attack is determined using attack speed.
Enchantment Limit
An enchantment cube in a tile may not be used to ignore a magic box containing
a wound symbol when casting a spell. Heroes casting more powerful spells will be
more limited in how many times they may cast those spells.
Wits Only
All heroes begin the game with 0 gold. Note that this impacts some hero classes
more than others as all classes have different starting gold to account for the value
of starting equuipment and spells.
Shared Fame
The fame for killing monsters is shared by all heroes that wounded the monster.
Keep track of who placed which pink wound cubes on a monster. When the monster
is killed, heroes receive the amount of fame in proportion to the number of cubes
they placed up to the maximum health of the monster (including the death blow).
Round down the amount of fame received by each player. Excess fame remaining is
given to the hero that dealt the death blow.
Combat Readiness
A player that does not place any cubes on weapons or spells in a combat round may
move one card in a weapon slot to their backpack and replace it with one card from
their backpack.
Enchanted Paths
If a map tile is enchanted with a magic cube that matches the color of a hidden
path in the map tile, the hidden path is revealed and may be used freely as if it was
a normal path. A hero using the hidden path does not automatically discover it.
Hidden paths in enchanted map tiles may still be searched for by heroes.
19
Enchanted Realm
Whenever the wandering monster die shows a white arrow, in addition to returning
monsters that are alone in map tiles to the monster tray, flip over all tiles that match
the terrain symbol rolled and place a magic cube matching the color of any hidden
paths in the tile as if the tile had been enchanted by a hero normally. Remove any
magic cube if there is already one present.
Player vs Player
Combat
Heroes may challenge other heroes and attack them in the same way that heroes
target monsters. Heroes may only challenge and attack unhidden heroes.
Hero Block Reaction
Trigger: A hero has performed an action in the same clearing as the
blocking hero or the blocking hero is the active player.
Heroes may block other unhidden, unblocked heroes during the action phase as
a reaction (does not count as an action) following all rules for monster blocking.
Exception: An active hero may attempt to block any unhidden heroes in the
clearing, even if those heroes have not performed any actions yet. The hero being
blocked may choose to take a hide reaction as normal. Both blocking and blocked
heroes forfeit all remaining actions for the turn if the block is successful.
Aiming
When heroes target other heroes, players may choose to place one brown speed
cube in one of the head or torso aim boxes on their own lineage card (but not both).
This cube counts against the cube limit for the combat round. An aimed attack
ignores armor that is not in the targeted location. Shields may always be used to
block an aimed attack. Monsters do not aim and may not be aimed against.
Death Benefit
Should a hero kill another hero, the fame that normally would be discarded is
instead given to the hero that struck the death blow. Killing another hero may cause
a hero to either receive or discard one outlaw token per the regular outlaw rules.
APPENDIX
Lineage Advantages
Dwarf (Caver)
Dwarves are very comfortable in caves and do not lose an action when
performing an action in a cave clearing.
Elf (Magical)
Elves are raised around magic and begin the game with an extra spell
from the hero starting spells deck. The spell selected must match the
color of magic cube they select for their hero.
Halfling (Stealthy)
Halflings are easily overlooked due to their short stature and quiet
nature. Halflings may reroll one hide die per hide attempt.
Human (Adapted)
Humans are very comfortable in civilization locations and receive one
additional free action during any turn they are in a civilization location
Class Advantages
Archer (Aim)
Archers have spent a lifetime honing their aim. Archers may reroll one
ranged attack die per attack.
Barbarian (Mountain Lore)
Barbarians grew up in the mountains. Barbarians may reroll one die
during each search action performed in a mountain clearing.
Cleric (Divine Protection)
Clerics have the divine on their side. Clerics may reroll a treasure site
result when they are in a clearing containing the altar, shrine, or
monolith treasure sites. The new result applies only to the Cleric’s tile.
Conjuror (Mastery)
Conjurors can control the random aspects of magic. Conjurors may
reroll the die/dice one time when casting spells with the word “random”
on the spell card.
Druid (Natural Emanation)
Druids know the magic of nature. Druids do not wound green magic
cubes in a spell box containing a wound symbol when casting spells.
Enchanter (Aura)
Wizards are adept at enchanting the world. Wizards enchant a tile
using one enchant action less than normal.
Illusionist (Focus)
Illusionist are extremely focused on their targets. When casting a spell
with a “Target” or “Self or Other” symbol on it, the illusionist does not
wound a cube.
Knight (Health)
Knights are in excellent physical shape and skilled at dressing battlefield
wounds. A knight may rest +1 cube when performing a rest action.
Rogue (Elusive)
Rogues are quick on their feet and hard to catch. When evading, rogues
that tie the maneuver speed of the fastest challenger may roll the two
hit dice and successfully evade on a hit or equal sign result. The rogue
is blocked on a miss result. Rogues challenge other heroes normally.
Sorceror (Specialized)
Sorcerors are adept at casting magic using one discipline. If a sorceror
casts a spell using only one color of magic cube, the attack speed of the
spell is +1.
Warlock (Blood Lust)
Warlocks heal at the expense of others. Warlocks heal one cube or
heart each time the warlock hits an unarmored, non-undead enemy
with a non-spell attack.
Warrior (Adept)
Warriors have great hand-eye coordination. At the end of each round
of combat, warriors may move an item from a weapon location to their
backpack and then may optionally move an item from their backpack
to a weapon location.
Unique Treasure Sites
Secret Cache
The Secret Cache works slightly different than other treasure sites. When the secret
cache is found by a hero, it does not need to be looted. The hero that first finds
the secret cache immediately takes both the deep treasure and the gold as if they
had performed a successful loot action. The hero still receives the fame and legend
point reward for finding a treasure site.
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 Broche of Deflection Icon of the Dragon Robe of the Chanter
One-time use. Cancel one hit against the hero. Epic treasure. Valuable. Must always be face-up, even if with a merchant. Summons Epic treasure. The hero receives one yellow magic cube while the treasure is
Treasure Manifest adult dragons when a sound icon is rolled on the terrain die. Summons juvenile equipped.
Cape of Alteration dragons when a mountain icon is rolled on the wandering monster die. The
Adamantium Blade Epic treasure. Might cubes may only be placed in attack speed or maneuver speed Robust Ring
Melee weapon. The optional might cube box on this card is automatically filled and summoned dragons are in addition to any monsters summoned normally and
boxes. Brown action cubes may only be placed in might action boxes. The hero receives +1 health while the treasure is equipped.
does not count against the cube limit. appear in the clearing containing the Icon of the Dragon.
Clashing Ring Incanter’s Jewel Scepter of the Sorceror
Alchemist’s mixture Adds one additional attack speed box to the hero. Epic treasure. The hero receives one purple magic cube while the item is equipped.
One-time use. Permanently replace one color of magic cube with another color. Epic treasure. The hero receives one blue magic cube while the treasure is equipped.
Dagger of Bite Mace of Smiting Shadow Cloak
Artificer’s Concoction Melee and ranged weapon. Extra sharp. Epic treasure. Reroll any hide reaction once per turn. Must reroll all dice.
One-time use. Ranged weapon. Melee weapon. A required might box is automatically filled and does not count
Decimation against the hero’s cube limit. Shield of Defiance
Ascendant Ornament Epic treasure. A black magic cube may be placed on Decimation to increase the Epic treasure. The hero may block up to two attacks per combat round. Each attack
Epic treasure. A purple magic cube placed on this treasure counts as a might cube Magical Bowl of Mixing
damage delivered. occurs normally against the hero.
on any might box on an active card of this hero. This card can have cubes placed on Epic treasure. A blue magic cube placed on this treasure permanently converts a
it in addition to other cards. Digger’s Ruin single magic cube from one color to another color as shown. May be converted in Shield of Mercy
May reroll one search die once per action while in a cave clearing. either direction. Epic treasure. This treasure may be used as a normal shield. If a white magic cube is
Band of Sagacity placed on this treasure during a combat round, the hero takes no wounds from any
Epic treasure. A yellow magic cube placed on this treasure allows the hero to reroll Earthen Cincture Mithral Plate
hit that is blocked by this shield, even if the shield is destroyed. This card can have
a hit die roll by or against them one time per combat round. This card can have Epic treasure. The hero receives one green magic cube while the treasure is equipped. Epic treasure. Armor.
cubes placed on it in addition to other cards.
cubes placed on it in addition to other cards. Potion of Energy
Elven Amulet Spear of Piercing
Battle Staff May reroll one search die once per action while in a woods clearing. One-time use. One additional cube may be played each combat round until the end
Melee or ranged weapon. Extra sharp. If used two-handed, damage may be
Melee weapon. The required might box on this card is automatically filled and does of combat.
Elven Slippers optionally increased by one.
not count against the hero’s cube limit. Potion of Healing
Epic treasure. A green magic cube placed on this treasure increases the hero’s
One-time use. Move all cubes and hearts from the wounded box to the healthy box.
Spell Book and Spell Scroll
Bejeweled Breastplate maneuver speed by one. This card can have cubes placed on it in addition to other
Contains 1-3 spells. When a spell book or scroll is revealed draw the indicated
Armor. Valuable. cards.
Potion of Maneuver number of spell cards from the deck and place them face-down under the treasure
Bejeweled Helm Gage of the Thief One-time use. The hero receives one brown action cube permanently. card. A hero performing a trade action with a merchant may reveal the spell book
Armor. Valuable. May reroll one loot die once per loot action. to all players in order to draw and secretly look at the spells attached to the treasure
Potion of Might card. The base price of the treasure card is the sum of the spells remaining with the
Bejeweled Shield Garb of the Gate One-time use. The hero receives one red might cube permanently.
spell book or spell scroll.
Armor. Valuable. Epic treasure. The hero may move to any revealed gate clearing paying normal
Potion of Relief The hero possessing the spell book or spell scroll may freely look at the attached
movement costs as if connected by a path.
Belt of Expansion One-time use. The hero removes all curses and permanent spell effects. spells at any time. This spells are available for a spell caster to learn if the hero has
The hero gains two additional miscellaneous positions in which to carry cards. Gauntlets of Brawn Quick Ring
an action cube matching the spell type.
Counts as one might cube in an existing might box on a card. Does not add a might The treasure card is discarded if the last spell is removed from it, typically because
Belt of the Beast Placing a brown action cube here increases the maneuver speed of the hero by one.
box to the card. a spell caster learned the spell.
Epic treasure. The hero receives one might cube while the treasure is equipped. Ring of Malevolence
Gloves of Aggression Epic treasure. The hero receives one black magic cube while the treasure is equipped. Summoning Marcation
Bow of the Hunt Counts as one action cube in an existing attack speed box. Does not add an attack Epic treasure. Valuable. Must always be face-up, even if with a merchant. Summons
Epic treasure. Extra sharp. Ranged weapon. speed box. Ring of Strength as if all summoning icons printed on map tiles in adjacent tiles are also located in
Bracelets of Finesse The optional might box on one equipped weapon is automatically filled without the clearing containing the summoning marcation.
Golden Icon using a might cube.
The hero may place one red might cube in an attack speed or maneuver speed box. Epic treasure. Valuable. Symbol of Alertness
This cube must come from the hero’s healthy box and counts against the combat Ring of the Magi Hero may perform one alert action which does not count against the action limit
round limit. Guard Charm Enchanting a tile only requires one enchant action to take effect. for the turn.
One-time use. The hero may discard this treasure instead of taking one wound.
Bracers of Vigor Ring of Truth
Hamblen’s Pendant Symbol of Commerce
The hero may place one brown action cube in a might box. This cube must come Epic treasure. The hero receives one white magic cube while the treasure is equipped. Hero may perform one trade action which does not count against the action limit
from the hero’s healthy box and counts against the combat round limit. May reroll one search die once per action while in a mountain clearing.

21 22
 for the turn. Tome of Wizardry the combat round in which the spell takes effect, the caster decides if the monster’s Illusion
One-time use. The hero receives one magic cube of the hero’s choice permanently. attack is canceled or continues. The caster receives all rewards for kills made by the Self or other. Combat. Wound one Gray cube. All attackers targeting the hero or
Symbol of Greed controlled monster. monster suffer -1 to their attack speed. The effect is not cumulative with other
Hero may perform one loot action which does not count against the action limit Trickster’s Stone illusion spells.
for the turn. Epic treasure. The hero receives one grey magic cube while the treasure is equipped. Fiery Chasm
Symbol of Knowledge
Instantaneous. Wound one Black cube. All unhidden, non-evaded, non-flying Envenom
Tricky Ring heroes and monsters in the clearing that have a manuver speed lower than the Self or other. Combat. Wound one Gray cube. +1 sharpness to the next hit by the
Hero may perform one learn spells action which does not count against the action Epic treasure. A grey magic cube placed on this treasure increases the hero’s attack attack speed of the caster, are immediately killed. All possessions of killed heroes hero or monster if the hit target is not undead. If the hit target is not killed, it suffers
limit for the turn. speed by one. are removed from the game. +1 wound. Envenom on a hero is canceled if the hero changes weapons before
Symbol of Magic Vorpal Cutlass Blue Spells hitting a target.
Hero may perform one enchant action which does not count against the action Melee weapon. Extra sharp.
limit for the turn. Blue spells are from the realm of conjuring. Blue magic focuses on manifesting
Anti-Magic
Warblade and controlling things in the real world. Blue spells tend to break the rules of the
Self or other. Combat. Wound one Gray cube. The hero or monster may not be
Symbol of Motion Melee weapon. Requires that one brown action cube be placed on this treasure in physical world for the caster.
targeted by any spell with the target symbol on it. Indirect effects of spells without
Hero may perform one move action which does not count against the action limit lieu of a might cube. a target symbol may still affect the hero or monster. Does not affect the fireball of
for the turn. Floating Disk a dragon.
Spell Manifest Self or other. Turn. The targeted hero may have any number of active treasures in
Symbol of Rest their miscellanous locations. Vapor Form
Hero may perform one rest action which does not count against the action limit Universal Spells Targeted. Permanent. Wound one Gray cube. If the spell hits, the hero or monster,
for the turn. Open Gate and all their possessions, become vapor. The target may not attack or be attacked.
Universal spells are accessible to all magic users and represent magic that requires Targeted. Instantaneous. Wound one Blue cube. If the spell hits, the target is placed They may not block or be blocked. They may only perform the move action. They
Symbol of Stealth no specific discipline of study. in a random clearing containing a revealed gate. may use all secret passages, even if not found.
Hero may perform one sneak action which does not count against the action limit Break Spells
for the turn. Air Sword Green Spells
Targeted. Instantaneous. Use any color(s) of cubes. Wound one cube. Immediately
Melee Weapon. Combat. Wound one Blue cube. Beginning next combat round, the
Symbol of Vision cancels all curses and spells on the target. Green spells are from realm of nature. Green magic seeks to live harmoniously with
caster controls a sword with a might of 2 and 1 sharpness that attacks with a speed
Hero may perform one search action which does not count against the action limit Black Spells of 3. The Air Sword may not be targeted and is immediately removed if the caster the natural world. Green magic calls upon the wild to aid the caster’.
for the turn. is killed or evades. The caster receives all rewards for kills made by the air sword. Nature’s Help
Black spells are from the realm of death and evil. Black spells tend to bring
Talaria of the Gladiator Self or other. Turn. The targeted hero may reroll any number of dice during one
misfortune, curses, and death to those targeted by it. Black magic is not subtle. Tentacles
Counts as one action cube in an existing maneuver speed box. Does not add a search action.
Targeted. Melee Weapon. Combat. Wound one Blue cube. The caster places 4
maneuver box.
Affliction
Targeted. Instantaneous. If the spell hits, the target immediately suffers one wound
tentacles on any number of targets, then roll the hit dice for each tentacle. Each Trail Blaze
double hit result lowers the target’s maneuver speed by one. Each single hit result Self or other. Turn. Wound one Green cube. The hero may move one clearing for
Tome of Conjuration regardless of armor.
lowers the target’s attack speed by one. Misses have no effect. Tentacles placed on each move action, regardless of the clearing type being entered.
One-time use. The hero receives one blue magic cube permanently.
Curse dead targets may be placed elsewhere prior to the hero tactics step, otherwise they
Tome of Fay Targeted. Instantaneous. Would one Black cube. If the spell hits, the target receives remain in place and the effects continue until the target is dead or the caster dies or Move Earth
One-time use. The hero receives one yellow magic cube permanently. one random curse from the curse table. The curse is permanent unless removed evades. Roll for the effect of newly placed tentacles immediately, Instantaneous. Wound one Green cube. The caster may rotate the map tile they are
via the Break Spells spell or by paying to remove curses at a civilization location. in, or any adjacent map tile, to any orientation they wish. All paths on all tiles must
Tome of Nature Teleport always connect to other paths.
Curses are not-cumulative, but a hero can have multiple curses.
One-time use. The hero receives one green magic cube permanently. Targeted. Instantaneous. Wound one Blue cube. If the spell hits, the target moves to
Dark Matter a random clearing on a tile of the caster’s choice. Calm
Tome of Power Targeted. Combat. Wound one Black cube. If the spell hits, red cubes must be played Targeted. Instantaneous. Wound one Green cube. If the spell hits, the caster may
One-time use. The hero receives one purple magic cube permanently.
on brown boxes and brown cubes must be played on red boxes. For unresolved
Gray Spells return the monster to the top of the matching location in the monster tray. The spell
has no effect on heroes, guardians, or the undead.
Tome of Righteousness attacks this round, swap might and attack speed. This may result in attacks being Gray spells are from the realm of trickery. Gray spells often involve altering the
One-time use. The hero receives one white magic cube permanently. canceled if not enough cubes are played in might boxes. If the target’s attack has view of the world around the caster to confuse others, obfuscate reality, or makes Elemental
already occurred this combat round, the effect begins next combat round. things disappear completely. Combat. Wound one Green cube. Randomly select one of the elemental counters
Tome of the Black Arts
One-time use. The hero receives one black magic cube permanently. Raise Undead Divination and place it in the clearing. Starting next combat round, the elemental participates
Targeted. Combat. Wound one Black cube. If the spell hits, the targeted undead Self or other. Turn. The targeted hero may reroll any number of dice during one in combat under control of the caster.
Tome of Tricks monster is controlled by the caster for the rest of combat or until the caster or loot action.
Purple Spells
One-time use. The hero receives one grey magic cube permanently. monster is killed or evades. If the monster’s attack has not yet been resolved on

23 24
 Purple spells are from the realm of sorcery. Purple magic is about the raw power of
magic calling upon sorcery to create energy and control it in the real world. Purple
spells create, change, and destroy.
Strength
Self or other. Combat. If the target is a monster, +1 base damage. If the target is a
hero, starting next combat round, they may place one additional might cube from
the pool without it counting against their cube limit for the combat round. The
might cube must be placed in an open might box on an equipped card (or be used
to satisfy an armor weight requirement). Strength spells are not cumulative.
Iron Skin
Self or other. Combat. Wound one Purple cube. A hit against this target that does
not strike armor, follows the rules for armored monsters (removes one sharpness).
Shape Shift
Self. Permanent. Wound one Purple cube.
When this spell is cast the caster selects any non-undead, non-unique monster
counter (no guardians or leaders. e.g. Kobold Rex) from the top of one of the
monster stacks in the monster tray and replaces their hero with it. The caster
may choose either side of the monster counter to be face-up during hero tactics
each combat round and ignores monster tactics. The hero fights with the chosen
characteristics, ignoring their own weapons, armor, cubes, and health. Wounds are
tracked separately for each of the hero’s shapes.
While Shape Shift is active, the hero may perform actions normally, but all
possessions are considered inactive (as if they were in the backpack).
When inactive, place the monster counter near the hero board. If the spell is
canceled, return the monster to the top of the appropriate monster tray location.
Fly
Self or other. Turn. Wound one Purple cube. The hero can fly until the end of the
action phase next turn. See Flying in the other rules section.
Fireball
Targeted (up to 4 targets). Ranged Attack. Instantaneous. Wound one Purple cube.
Each target the spell individually hits, is attacked by a ranged attack with a base
damage of 2 + 1 sharpness.
Special: The dragons breathing fire follows the characteristics of the Fireball spell
(including targeting up to 4 heroes in the clearing). A dragons fireball is not a spell
and is treated as a non-magical, ranged attack. All other monsters that cast fireballs
are doing so via a spell.
White Spells
White spells are from the realm of life and good. White spells tend to heal, and
promote life, and bring peace. White magic targets the undead as an abomination.
Soul Save
Self or other. Combat. Undead that attack this hero or monster must reroll one hit
die of the target’s choice.
25
Heal
Self or other. Instantaneous. Wound one White cube. If the target is a hero, move
all wounded cubes to healthy. If a monster, remove all wound cubes (pink cubes).
Life Armor
Self or other. Combat. Wound one White cube. If the target is a hero, they are
protected by weightless armor of strength 2. The armor created by this spell must
always be hit first by attacks on this target. It can bedamaged and destroyed. It does
not prevent wounds. If the target is a monster, it gains armored status.
Turn Undead
Instantaneous. Wound one White cube. All undead in the clearing are killed.
Peace
Instantaneous. Wound one White cube. Combat immediately ends in the clearing.
Do not finish the combat round.
Yellow Spells
Yellow spells are from the realm of enchantment. Yellow spells tend to enchant,
befuddle, and mesmorize. Yellow magic is subtle, but powerul for the caster who
wields it well.
Hesitation
Targeted. Instantaneous. If the spell hits, the target suffers -1 to their maneuver
speed next round.
Confuse
Targeted. Combat. Wound one Yellow cube. If the spell hits, the target may not cast
spells. Spells already cast are unaffected. If the target is casting a spell that has not
yet been resolved this combat round, it is canceled.
Charm
Turn. Wound one Yellow cube. All attributes are +2 for all mission reward die rolls
and haggle attempts. If not playing with the optional haggle rules, the price to buy
an item, treasure, or spell from a merchant during this turn is 2x the price, not 3x
the price.
Disorient
Targeted. Combat. Wound one Yellow cube. If the spell hits, the target may not
attack in future combat rounds unless targeted or hit. Once targeted or hit, they
may choose a target normally. Any unresolved attacks of the target resolve normally.
The attack speed of the next attack performed by the target is at -2 speed, even if it
occurs in a future combat round.
Discord
Targeted (2 targets). Combat. Wound one Yellow cube. The spell must hit two
monsters in the same combat round to take effect. If the spells hits two monsters,
cancel their current attacks this combat round. On future combat rounds, both
monsters will challenge and target each other until one of them is dead or combat
ends in the clearing.
Credits and Acknowledgements
Game Design and Development: Scott DeMers
Additional Game Design Concepts: Samuel DeMers
Producer: Sean Brown
Artwork: Marco Morte
Graphic Design: Michael Smyjewski & Scott DeMers
Rules: Scott DeMers
Rules Editing: Ed Bryan, José Manuel Portela García-Estañ, and Samuel DeMers
Game Icons: Dragons Down uses icons from Game-Icons.net and the great work
done by Lorc, Delapouite & other contributors. In some cases, edits were made
to some icons.
(C) Copyright 2023 Active Magic Games and Mr. B Games, all rights reserved. No part
of this product may be reproduced without specific written permission. The Dragons
Down and Active Magic Games logos are a trademark of Active Magic Games. The
Mr. B Games logo is a trademark of Mr. B Games.
Actual components may vary from those shown. Made in China.
This is a hobby gaming product and not a toy. It is not intended for use by
anyone under 14 years of age.
Final Thoughts
Thank you for your support! In a game of this scope, there are bound to be
oversights, omissions, or errors. Please forgive me if I fell short of what you deserve
as my customer. If an unanswered question arises during game play, make a fair
judgment call and get back to the fun of the game. Later, check for an answer online
or share your question so everyone can benefit from it. Most importantly, have
FUN and make Dragons Down your own!
Like any great legend, the cards and counters in Dragons Down are meant to be laid
out in a row to tell a story about your hero. Your hero’s adventures can be told by
simply reading them out loud. “He was Boromin Longbow, human knight, redeemed
outlaw, wielder of Decimation, wearer of the Elven Slippers and the Symbol of Stealth,
Blood Offerer, slayer of the great drake and orcs too many to count, deliverer of Food
& Ale to the Keep, Spelunker, Bat Hawker, and Goblin Blight... May he rest in peace
since he became ogre food on the 29th day of his arrival”.
Have fun with this and be sure to record your final title in your adventure journal
at the end of your games so you can enjoy it even years from now. I look forward to
reading the fun titles your share on boardgamegeek.com!
This game is dedicated to Richard Hamblen, the greatest board game designer in
my view. He provided more joy to my childhood than he could possibly know.
26
TURN SEQUENCE LEGEND POIN T S AND FAME
Action Phase Reveal an Epic Treasure
• +1 LP + 5 fame
Turn Start
• Clear all hidden, alert, sneak, and make noise statuses. First to Find a Treasure Site
• +1 LP + 5 fame
Actions
• Determine the active hero. First to Find the Dwarven Ruins/Hidden City
• Active hero performs all of their actions. • +1 LP + 5 fame

• Repeat until all heroes have taken a turn. Learn a Castable Spell
• +1 LP + 5 fame
Battle Phase
Monster Activation Kill a Monster or Native
• Variable (shown on counter)
• Roll the summoning dice.
• Monsters may move and/or be summoned. Missions
• Variable (on mission card)
Combat
• Heroes cast spells and/or participate in combat. Titles
• Variable (on civilization cards)
MONSTER ACT IVAT OIN Kill a Hero (Optional Player vs. Player Rule)
First player rolls the summoning dice. • Half of the dead hero’s fame (rounded up)

Terrain dice Retirement

1. If die matches symbol on map tile, all monsters in tile move to heroes • +1 LP per 10 fame spent

2. If die matches symbol on map tile, monster listed on map tile is summoned
Wandering Monster Die
1. If an arrow, return all monsters in tiles without a hero to the monster tray.
2. Monsters do not move due to the wandering monster die
3. If die matches terrain type, wandering monster is summoned
• Roll the hide dice for each outlaw token.
• +1 LP for each double symbol rolled
• -1 LP/10 fame for each single symbol rolled
Living Legend
• +1 LP if the hero is on the map at game end

COMBAT SEQUENCE
1. Challenge
2. Power Magic
3. Evade
4. Target
5. Hero Tactics
6. Monster Tactics
7. Resolution
8. Cleanup
(C) Copyright 2024 Active Magic Games and Mr. B Games, all rights reserved. No part of this product may be reproduced without specific written permis-
sion. The Dragons Down logo and Active Magic Games logo are a trademark of Active Magic Games. Mr. B Games logo is a trademark of Mr. B Games.