52 Duels Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Aim of the Game
• Setup
• Game Concepts
  • Card Deck and Ranks
  • Discard and Wounds
• How to Play
  • Actions
  • 1. Play Cards to an Ability
    • Activating Abilities
  • 2. Level Up
  • 3. Use an Item
• Damage and Wounds
• End of Your Turn
• End of the Game
• Character Specific Terms
• Solo Rules
  • Setup
  • How to Play Solo
  • Choices for Nemesis
  • Increasing Nemesis Difficulty
  • Nemesis Specific Terms

Components

• 2 x Character Sheets
• 2 x Standard Deck of 52 Cards (no Jokers)

Aim of the Game

To defeat your opponent and leave them with no cards in their deck!

Setup

1. Each player chooses a character sheet and places it in front of them.
2. Each player takes a deck of cards, shuffles them, and places them face down above their sheet, just above where it says 'Deck'.
3. Each player draws 5 cards into their hand.
4. Choose which player goes first.

Game Concepts

Card Deck and Ranks

Jacks are considered to have a rank of 11, Queens a rank of 12, and Kings a rank of 13. Aces are considered to have a rank of 1.

Discard and Wounds

As you play, cards will be placed in two different face up piles next to your deck.

To the left is your discard pile. Cards go here after being used for an ability, or when you discard them from your hand. Whenever you would have to draw a card from your deck, but it is empty, shuffle your discard pile and place it face down as your deck.

To the right is your Wounds pile. Cards go here as a result of damage being dealt to you. The pile is face up and you can look through it at any time.

Diagram: from left to right — Discard, Draw Deck and Wounds.

How to Play

Players take alternating turns, and on your turn you perform up to 2 actions. The exception to this is on the very first turn of the game, the first player only takes 1 action.

At the end of your turn, you draw cards from your deck into your hand until you have 5 cards in hand.

Actions

1. Play cards to an ability
2. Level up
3. Use an item

You can perform the same action twice, or two different actions in any order.

1. Play Cards to an Ability

You have 4 abilities along the bottom edge of your sheet. As an action, you can play any number of cards from your hand to one ability, stacking them below the sheet under the corresponding ability. The number of cards stacked below an ability cannot exceed the maximum, shown by the number in the top right hand corner of the ability.

You can only play cards if they follow the requirement for the ability. Generally, you can always play any card as the first card.

• Same suit: All cards played here must have the same suit.
• Same rank: All cards played here must have the same rank.
• Run: All cards here must form a group of cards with sequential ranks, for example 6-7-8 or 10-J-Q-K. Aces can connect to either a King or a 2 (but not both). You can increase the size of the sequence in either direction, e.g. if you have 10-J-Q-K you can add a 9 or Ace. You can also increase it in both directions at the same time, e.g. You have 6-7, and then add a 5 and an 8.
• Full House: 5 cards, 3 with matching rank, and 2 others with a different matching rank. You can play these cards in any order.

Activating Abilities

After one or more cards are added to an ability for any reason, such as through playing cards as an action, using a Cloak of Deception, or any other effect, you may optionally then activate that ability if the number of cards there matches one of the possible effects.

Carry out the effect based on the number of cards there, and then place all cards used in your discard pile. You MUST activate the ability if you have the maximum number of cards at an ability, shown by the number in the top right hand corner of the ability.

Abilities can only be activated immediately after one or more cards are added to them. If you choose not to activate an ability, you will have to wait until the next time you add cards to it to activate it.

Some abilities have additional bonuses:

• Trigger bonus: If an ability has a box under it with an arrow, this is something that is added to any effect of that ability when it is activated, regardless of level.
• Passive bonus: If an ability has a box under it with an infinity symbol, this is something that is considered active while there are cards present at the ability.

2. Level Up

You can gain new effects by leveling up your character, as shown in the space on the left hand side of your sheet.

To level up your character, you may play any number of cards to the side of your board next to the lowest level not yet achieved. If the sum of the cards ranks is equal to or more than the threshold printed on the sheet then you level up!

Place all the cards you used to level up face down next to the new level you achieved. That effect is now considered active for the rest of the game.

The next time you take the Level up action, you start playing cards towards the next level.

3. Use an Item

Use an item by playing one card from your hand to take the matching item effect based on the suit of the card. Once you have used the effect, the card you used is placed in your discard pile.

The items are:

• Poison Bomb (Clubs): Choose: discard a card from an opponent's ability (your choice); or your opponent randomly discards a card from their hand. You cannot discard a card from an opponent's run if it would break the sequence of the cards there.
• Cloak of Deception (Spades): Play another card from your hand face down as a Wild to an ability. It is considered to be any rank and any suit you choose.
• Healing Potion (Hearts): Move the top card of your Wounds pile into your hand or an ability.
• Lucky Crystal (Diamonds): Discard any number of cards from your hand, placing them in your discard pile, and then draw cards from your deck until you have 5 cards in hand.

Damage and Wounds

Whenever you take damage for any reason, first you may defend against that damage.

Consult the Defend section of your sheet - it details what cards you may reveal and then discard from your hand to prevent some or all of the damage. You can only use your Defend ability once each time damage would be dealt to you (either from your opponent's abilities or other effects). You do not draw cards after you defend.

If you prevent all of the damage, then you take no wounds. However, if you cannot prevent all of the damage, then you take wounds equal to the amount of damage dealt to you, minus the amount you prevented. For each damage, draw the top card of your deck and place it face up in your Wounds pile. If there are not enough cards in your deck (even after reshuffling your discard pile) to cover all damage dealt, you immediately lose.

End of Your Turn

At the end of your turn, you draw cards from your deck into your hand until you have 5 cards in hand. Then your opponent takes their turn.

End of the Game

• You succumb to your wounds… you lose immediately if you suffer damage but both your deck and discard piles are empty.
• You collapse from exhaustion… you also lose if you ever need to draw a card from your deck and there are no cards left, and your discard pile is also empty.
• You emerge victorious… you win if your opponent loses!

Character Specific Terms

• Heal X cards (Priestess): Move the top X cards of your Wounds pile to your Discard pile.
• Blessed Shield (Priestess): The Priestess cannot inherently defend. She can only use Heart cards (including any wild cards) moved to the Blessed Shield ability after being used in the Blessed Strike ability.
• Store items (Merchant): Place a card next to your sheet face up (the ability tells you whether the card comes from your hand or deck). It is now a stored item. Any time in the future, you can use a stored item as an item, as if it were in your hand. It still takes an action to use a stored item.

Solo Rules

Setup

1. Setup your character and deck as for the 2 player game.
2. Choose another character to be your Nemesis, and flip their sheet over to the Corrupted side. Place it to the right of your sheet.
3. Shuffle a deck for your opponent, placing it in the spot for their deck, and then deal it a hand of 5 cards face down, placing them in the hand in the place for it on their sheet.
4. You always take the first turn.

How to Play Solo

You and the Nemesis take alternating turns, starting with you. You take 2 actions on each of your turns.

Whenever the Nemesis would be attacked, you first reveal its hand (if it is still face down) and then see if it defends according to its defence ability.

On the Nemesis' turn, first reveal its hand if it is still face down, then assign all cards in its hand to the corresponding places:

• Each face card (J, Q and K) is placed in current level up area (starting with the topmost level); and then
• Each remaining card is placed in the ability column matching its suit.

Diagram: how to assign cards for the Nemesis.

Then check to see if the Nemesis levels up - it does if the number of cards in the level up area equal or exceed the number of that ability. Take the face cards and place them face down showing the level that was just gained. Any cards in excess of what was needed to level up are moved down to the next level up area, and remain face up. If you reveal enough face cards it is possible for the Nemesis to gain two levels in a single turn.

In the rare case that the Nemesis draws a face card but is fully levelled, the face card is instead assigned to the ability of the matching suit.

Then resolve any abilities for the Nemesis, going left to right. If the number of cards placed at an ability matches a number of cards for one of the effects, immediately carry it out, and then place all cards at that ability in the Nemesis discard pile. If the number of cards exceeds the highest numbered ability, resolve that ability, and then place all the cards in the discard pile.

If the Nemesis ever draws cards as a result of an ability, they are immediately added to their sheet at the appropriate locations.

At the end of the Nemesis' turn, deal it a new hand of 5 cards face down.

Choices for Nemesis

If the Nemesis ever has to make a choice as to which cards it uses (such as for defending), it always chooses cards from low to high (ace is low) and in suit order matching the abilities, left to right.

The Nemesis also never discards more cards than it needs to in order to fully defend an attack.

Increasing Nemesis Difficulty

If you want to increase the Nemesis Difficulty, you can start the game with a number of face cards from the Nemesis' deck already assigned to the Level area. If you start with 2 or more cards there, the Nemesis will start with the first of its levels active, 5 or more cards there will start with the first two levels active, and so on.

Nemesis Specific Terms

• Heal (Priestess): When the Nemesis Priestess heals a number of cards, they are immediately assigned to abilities or the level up area. This could mean an ability is activated if it hasn't already been activated this turn.
• Use items (Merchant): The Nemesis Merchant only has one item that does 1 damage to you when it is used.