9-Bit Dungeon Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Aim of the Game
• Components
• Dungeon Cards
• Adventurer Card
• Monster Cards
• Shop/Events Cards
• The Shop
• Events
• Respawn
• Range and Sight
• Game Setup
• Playing 9-Bit Dungeon
• Adventurer Phase
• Monster Movement Phase
• Monster Attack Phase
• Completing The Dungeon Level

Aim of the Game

The game takes place over four descending levels of a dungeon, each increasing in difficulty. The player plays an Adventurer questing into the dungeon, defeating enemies, collecting gold and buying upgrades in the shop. The Adventurer must collect a Key before they are able to exit the dungeon to the next level. Each level has randomly generated enemies and events, and a separate set of items available in the shop.

Death is final - lose your health and you'll need to start again from level 1, but if you can complete all four levels you succeed in stealing the greatest treasure of all time - The Sceptre of M'Guf-Yn.

Components

The game primarily consists of 9 cards:

• 4 Dungeon Cards - These cards are two sided, and are used to randomly form the dungeon on which each level plays out.
• 1 Adventurer Card - Dice and Cubes are used on the Player Card to track the Adventurer's various Stats, which evolve over time.
• 2 Monster Cards - Double sided, each side shows the randomly generated monsters for each level of the dungeon.
• 2 Shop/Event Cards - Double sided, with unique events and shop items for each level of the dungeon.

Also required are:

• 1 Meeple/Pawn - to represent the Adventurer as she journeys through the dungeon.
• 3 small Cubes - to track Gold, Player and Monster Healths.
• 14 Dice (10-12mm are best)
  • 7 to represent Monsters in the Dungeon
  • 6 to track the Adventurer's Stats on the Adventurer Card
  • 1 for rolling!

Dungeon Cards

Each side of the Dungeon Cards consists of a 7x5 grid of tiles, depicting part of the dungeon to be explored. Various icons fill these squares, and have different gameplay effects:

• Floor - Both the Adventurer and Monsters may move and attack freely over floor tiles, though they may never move diagonally.
• Wall - Walls block movement and Sight for both the Adventurer and Monsters.
• Dungeon Entrance - The Dungeon Entrance marks the point the Adventurer starts in the Dungeon. It otherwise counts as a Floor tile.
• Exit - The Exit is where you complete each Level of the Dungeon, though you may not leave until you have collected the Key. It otherwise counts as a Floor tile.
• Key - The Adventurer must perform the Inventory Action on the Key tile to pick up the Key, which will allow her to leave the level at the Exit. It otherwise counts as a Floor tile.
• Monster Hatch - Hatches mark the points where Monsters begin in a Dungeon, and where they will Respawn from Events. They otherwise count as Floor tiles.
• Chest - Once per level the Adventurer may perform an Inventory Action on a Chest; she gets to roll for free on the Shop Card for the level, and either take the item rolled or half its value in gold. They otherwise count as Floor tiles.
• Water/Lava - Water and Lava tiles block movement, but do not block Sight, as described in Range and Sight. Monsters with the Fly Behaviour treat Water and Lava as Floor tiles.
• Shop - Each dungeon level contains a Shop, where the player can perform an Inventory action to spend gold to buy upgrades for the Adventurer, to improve her abilities.

Adventurer Card

The Adventurer Card shows the current Stats of the Adventurer. These are tracked with dice and cubes, and will change over the course of the game.

Skill, Armour, Damage, Health Potions and Mana Potions are tracked by a dice, with the value on top showing the current value.

Health and Gold are shown with a cube moved along the tracks at the top and bottom of the card.

Mana is tracked with a dice, but in two ways; the value on top shows the current Mana, but which box the dice is in shows the Maximum Mana the Adventurer may currently have.

• Health - Your Adventurer's Health is tracked with a Cube, and if it ever reaches zero your Adventurer has died. The four sets of Hearts at 8, 11, 13 and 16 show the maximum health of your Adventurer at each of the four levels of the Dungeon; 8 for level 1, 11 for level 2, 13 for level three and 16 for level 4. After each Level of the Dungeon, your health increases to your new maximum before the next Level begins.
• Skill - Skill is used to determine whether the Adventurer successfully hits Monsters when taking an Attack action, as well as whether she can avoid traps. A Dice is placed on the Skill space, with the value on top showing the Adventurer's current Skill level. To take a Skill Test you must roll a dice; if you roll equal to or below your Skill value, you succeed in the test, if you roll higher you fail.
• Damage - Damage represents the Adventurer's strength and the power of the weapon she carries. When taking an Attack action, it determines how much the health of a Monster is reduced by on a successful strike. A Dice is placed on the Damage space, with the value on top showing the Adventurer's current Damage level.
• Armour - Each point of Armour the Adventurer has reduces the Damage taken from Monster's attacks by 1, to a minimum of 1. For example, if an Adventurer with Armour 2 is hit by a Monster with Damage 5, she would lose 3 Health. A Dice is placed on the Armour space, with the value on top showing the Adventurer's current Armour level; the dice is removed if the Adventurer has no Armour.
• Mana - Mana shows the magical abilities of the Adventurer. The more Mana she has, the more likely her spells are to succeed, and the more powerful they will be. A Dice is used to track the Adventurer's current Mana, with the value on top showing the current Mana value. There are four separate Mana boxes on the Adventurer Card; which one the dice is currently in is used to track the Maximum Mana the Adventurer can currently have.
• Gold - Gold represents the treasure accumulated by the Adventurer throughout her quest, primarily gained through defeating Monsters, but also from Events and Chests. It can be spent in the Shop on each level for various items which improve the Adventurer's stats. It is tracked with a Cube, and has a maximum of 20 - Gold is heavy!

Monster Cards

The 2 Monster Cards are double sided; each side lists the name of the current Dungeon Level, and features six Monsters which can appear on the Level, along with their Stats and Behaviours.

Only one Monster Card is used at a time, that of the current Dungeon level, starting at Level 1 - The Goblin Caves.

The Monsters' Stats are as follows:

• Dice - Monsters are represented on the Dungeon Cards by Dice, with the number showing on top showing which Monster on the Monster Card they represent, e.g. a Monster Dice with a 2 on top in Level 1 would represent a Grublin.
• Skill - Skill works the same for Monsters as for the Adventurer; they must pass a Skill Test in order to successfully Attack the Adventurer, by rolling less than or equal to their Skill value.
• Damage - Damage again works the same for Monsters as for the Adventurer; if they successfully hit the Adventurer, it shows how much her health is reduced by, though this can be reduced by Armour.
• Range - Range shows how far away from the Adventurer the Monster is able to be while Attacking her. Monsters with a Range of 1 can only attack from adjacent Tiles, much like the Adventurer's Attack Action, but those with a longer Range may Attack from a distance, similar to the Adventurer's Fireball Spell. See Range and Sight for more information.
• Health - Health shows the amount of Health the Monster initially has. Monster Health is tracked with a Cube on the Monster Card. Only one Monster's Health can be tracked at once; if the Adventurer hurts a second Monster while one is already injured, only this new Monster's Health will be tracked, and the previous Monster will be considered to have recovered to full Health.
• Gold - Gold shows how much treasure the Monster is carrying, and so how much Gold the Adventurer can take if she kills that Monster.

Under the Monster's name is, in some cases, one or two Behaviours. This is a Special Rule applying to that Monster, which alters some aspect of how it behaves in the game. The possible Behaviours are:

• Flee (x) - When the Monster has x Health or less, it will attempt to flee from the Adventurer if in an adjacent tile during the Monster Movement Phase. It will attempt to move one Tile directly away from the Adventurer if possible, and if not possible it will move one Tile to any other adjacent Tile it can get to, of the Player's choice.
• Heal - If the Monster has less than its maximum Health, during the Monster Movement Phase it will not move but instead regain 1 point of Health.
• Arm (x) - The Monster counts as having x points of Armour; this works the same way as Adventurer Armour, reducing all damage taken by x points, to a minimum of 1.
• Fast - During the Monster Movement Phase, if the Monster has the Adventurer in Sight but not in Range it will move towards the Adventurer twice. See Monster Movement for more information.
• Fly - The Monster treats Water and Lava Tiles as Floor Tiles.

Level 1 - The Goblin Caves (Monster Card, side 1):

Dice	Monster	Behaviour	Skill	Damage	Range	Health	Gold
1	Goblin Snoak	Flee (1)	2	1	1	3	1
2	Grublin	Fast	2	2	1	4	2
3	Goblin Archer	Flee (2)	2	1	3	2	2

Shop/Events Cards

The 2 Shop/Events Cards are double sided; each side shows the items available in the shop, and random events for a single level of the Dungeon. Only one Shop/Event Card is used at a time, starting with the card for Level 1.

Level 1 Shop (cost in gold):

1. Posh Gloves (5 Gold) - Skill 3
2. Broad Axe (5 Gold) - Damage 2
3. Boiled Leather (5 Gold) - Armour 1
4. Mage's Cape (5 Gold) - Max Mana 3
5. Health Potion (2 Gold)
6. Mana Potion (2 Gold)

Level 1 Events (roll the dice shown on the card):

1. Pit Trap! - Pass Skill Test or Lose 2 Health.
2. Gas Trap! - Lose 1 Health.
3. Noisy Footsteps - Move All Monsters 1 Tile Towards You.
4. Tripwire! - Lose the Key if you have it; you must collect it again (Must Collect Again).
5. Squeals in the Dark - Respawn.
6. Secret Stash - Gain 1 Gold.

The Shop

The Shop side of the Card shows 6 items which can be bought in the Shop found in the Dungeon, which all upgrade the Adventurer's stats in some way.

To visit the Shop the Adventurer must be standing on the Shop Tile of the Dungeon, and perform an Inventory Action.

The Gold symbol shows how much the item costs when bought in the Shop; the player must have enough Gold and reduce it by that amount in order to acquire the item and gain its benefits. You may buy as many items as you can afford when performing an Inventory Action at the Shop.

When buying a Health or Mana Potion, you may increase the number of the relevant Health or Mana Potions on the Adventurer card, however you may never have more than 3 Potions of each type.

When buying an item, you may increase the relevant Stat to the value(s) shown. In the event that you already have a higher Stat value than the Item provides, you may keep the higher value.

For example, an Adventurer on Level 3 with Armour 3 and Max Mana 2 buys the Shadow Robes. This provides Armour 2 and Max Mana 4, however, since the Adventurer already has Armour 3 her Armour isn't reduced, so she ends up with Armour 3 and Max Mana 4.

The Shop section of the Card is also used when an Adventurer takes an Inventory Action on a Chest; the player rolls a dice to determine which item the Adventurer finds in the chest and is able to take for free. The number under the Dice symbol shows which item relates to which dice result. The Adventurer may choose to either take the item, or to gain half its Gold value, rounded up.

Events

The Events side of the Shop/Events Cards list 6 different possible random Events that can occur in the Dungeon Level, ranging from nasty to nice. A random Event must be rolled in two different scenarios:

• Every time the Adventurer Moves from one Dungeon Card to another, immediately roll an Event and apply its effects.
• When performing a Cast Action, if the player rolls a 6 for the Mana Test, immediately roll an Event and apply its effects.

The Dice symbol shows which Event occurs when rolled for. Each Event has a name, which has no game Effect, and underneath that a description of the game effect of the Event.

Some Events require a Skill Test; as described in the section Adventurer Card, this is passed by rolling equal to or under the Adventurer's Skill value, and if failed the effect of the Event is applied.

Some Events cause the Adventurer to lose Health; Armour can be used as usual to reduce the Health lost.

Some Events tell you to Move Monsters a number of tiles towards the Adventurer; they should move in as direct a line as possible while following the normal movement rules of not walking diagonally or through walls, etc. If a Monster cannot make a Move that puts it closer to the Adventurer, it will not Move.

Respawn

Some Events simply say Respawn as their effect; this means a new Monster can enter the Dungeon. This only has an effect if at least one Monster has been killed, it is otherwise ignored. The player must select one Monster Hatch that is currently not occupied by a Monster or the Adventurer, and roll a dice, placing the dice on it as a new Monster, much like in the Game Setup. If no Monster Hatches are free, the Respawn has no effect.

Range and Sight

Certain game Effects require the Adventurer to be in Range and/or Sight to Monsters in the Dungeon.

Range is calculated by working out the exact number of vertical and/or horizontal steps to get from the Adventurer to the Monster in Question. For example, a Monster on a tile horizontally adjacent to the Adventurer is at a Range of 1, and a Monster at a diagonal to the Adventurer would be at a Range of 2. One two up and one across, (like a knight move in chess) would be a Range of 3. Range ignores anything in the way that would block movement, such as Water or Lava tiles, or other Monsters.

Range is used for Monster Attacks and the Fireball spell; if the Adventurer is equal to or fewer tiles away than the Monster's Range Stat, she is in Range to be attacked. Likewise, if a Monster is within a number of tiles equal to less than the Adventurer's current Mana, the Monster is in Range for the Fireball spell to be used against it.

Sight is worked out by drawing an imaginary straight line from the centre of the Adventurer's Tile to the Centre of the Monster's tile. If the line passes through any Wall tiles or Tiles containing other Monsters, Sight is blocked. The Sight line can brush against the corner of a wall tile without blocking Sight, e.g. two tiles diagonally round a corner. Sight also has a maximum Range of 5; any Monsters more than 5 tiles Range away from the Adventurer cannot see her in the gloom of the dungeon.

Examples:

• The Monster (Yellow) has the Adventurer (Blue) in Sight around the corner. The Range is 2.
• The Yellow Monster is in Sight of the Blue Adventurer over the water, which doesn't block Sight. The Range is 4, 3 horizontal plus 1 vertical, even though the distance to actually move to the Adventurer is longer.
• The Purple Monster is not in Sight, because the direct path is blocked by the wall.
• The Orange Monster is not in Sight, because it is at a Range of 6, which is more than the maximum of 5 for Sight.

Game Setup

To Setup the game, first you must set up the stats on the Adventurer Sheet.

Your Adventurer starts with Skill 2, Damage 1, Max Mana 2, Mana 2, 1 Health Potion and 1 Mana Potion. The Adventurer starts with no Armour or Gold.

• Place a small cube on the first Heart symbol on the Health track, at Health 8.
• Place a dice on the Skill box with a 2 showing on top.
• Place a dice on the Damage box with a 1 showing on top.
• Place a dice on the Max Mana 2 box with a 2 showing on top.
• Keep a second cube and another dice near your Adventurer Card for tracking Gold and Armour once you get some.

Before you enter the first level of the Dungeon, you may select one item for free from the Level 1 Shop, and gain its benefit, upgrading your character. This bonus only applies to the start of Level 1, you will not get it on future levels.

Place the Level 1 Shop/Event Card and Level 1 Monster Card in a easily visible place for your reference. Place a cube on the Monster card for tracking Monster Health.

Once you've set up your Adventurer and the reference cards, you need to randomly generate a Dungeon. The process for this is the same for each Level of the Dungeon; take the four Dungeon Cards, and without looking, shuffle them, while turning and flipping cards at random. Once they are thoroughly shuffled, flipped and rotated, without looking, lay the four cards out in landscape 2x2 rows. Tidy the cards together (you're allowed to look now), and you have formed your Dungeon Level.

Place your Adventurer Meeple/Pawn on the Dungeon Entrance tile. Go through each of the Monster Hatches in turn, and roll a dice, placing it on the Monster Hatch with the rolled number showing on top to show which kind of Monster it is.

Your Dungeon is now ready to be explored!

Playing 9-Bit Dungeon

A Level of the Dungeon is played over a series of turns, each of which contains three phases, which are repeated until either the Adventurer performs the Inventory Action on the Exit tile while carrying the Level's Key, or the Adventurer runs out of Health. If the Adventurer successfully leaves the Dungeon Level, move on to the next Dungeon Level, but if the Adventurer runs out of Health the game is over and must be started again with a new Adventurer and a new Dungeon.

The turn phases are as follows:

• Adventurer Phase
• Monster Movement Phase
• Monster Attack Phase

Adventurer Phase

During the Adventurer Phase, the player may take two Actions for the Adventurer, one after the other. You may select the same Action twice, and may choose to only take one or no Actions.

The available Actions are below, and can be remembered by the Acronym MAGIC:

• Move
• Attack
• Guzzle
• Inventory
• Cast

Move - When taking the Move action you can move the Adventurer one space either vertically or horizontally. The Adventurer may never Move diagonally, nor onto a Wall, Lava or Water Tile, or a Tile occupied by a Monster.

If the Move Action is used to move the Adventurer from one Dungeon Card to another, you must roll an Event immediately after completing the Move Action. See Events for more details.

Attack - The Attack Action may be taken if the Adventurer is in a Tile adjacent horizontally or vertically to a Monster, and represents the Adventurer attempting to hit the Monster with her weapon.

To Attack, roll a Skill Test, attempting to roll equal to or under your Skill value on a dice. If you succeed, the Adventurer hits the Monster; reduce the Monster's Health by a value equal to the Adventurer's Damage stat. Track the Monster's Health on the Monster Card.

If the Monster's Health drops below 1, the Monster is immediately killed. Remove the Monster's dice from the Dungeon, and add the Monster's Gold value to your Gold.

If you fail the Skill Test, the Adventurer has not hit the Monster; the Action is over unsuccessfully.

Guzzle - The Adventurer may take the Guzzle Action to drink a Potion. Select whether you are drinking a Health or Mana Potion, and reduce the quantity on your Adventurer Card by one. If this reduces the quantity to zero, remove the dice. Obviously, if you don't have any of a Potion to begin with, you can't drink any.

If you Guzzle a Health Potion, this adds D6 to your Health; roll a dice and increase your health by the amount shown, not going over your Maximum Health for the Level.

If you Guzzle a Mana Potion, this increases your Mana by D3; roll a dice, and if the result is 1 or 2, add 1 to your Mana, if it's 3 or 4, add 2 to your Mana, and if it's 5 or 6, add 3 to your Mana. You may not go over your Maximum Mana.

Inventory - The Inventory Action is used to interact with Items in the Dungeon in various ways.

• If the Inventory Action is taken while standing on the Key Tile, the Adventurer is considered to have picked up the Key for the Level, which will allow her to escape the Level if she reaches the Exit Tile. There is no specific way this is tracked, you must remember that the Adventurer has picked up the Key.
• If the Inventory Action is taken while standing on a Chest Tile, the player may roll for free on the Shop table for an Item, as described in The Shop. The Chest may only be used this way once per Level, so you must remember whether or not you have opened it yet this level. Don't cheat!
• If the Inventory Action is taken while standing on the Shop Tile, the player may buy items from the Shop as described in The Shop. You may visit the Shop as many times as you like.
• If the Inventory Action is taken while standing on the Exit Tile, while carrying the Key, the Adventurer successfully escapes the Dungeon Level. See Completing The Dungeon Level for more information.

At any other time, the Inventory Action has no effect.

Cast - The Cast Action is used to cast Spells. The Adventurer selects one of her spells, then rolls a Mana Test to see if the Spell is successfully cast.

Roll a dice; if the result is equal to or less than the Adventurer's current Mana value, the spell is successfully cast. If the spell is successfully cast, you must reduce your Mana by 1, to a minimum of 1. The Strength of the Spell is your Mana value before it was cast, e.g. if you successfully cast a spell when you have Mana 3, the Strength of the spell will be 3, and your Mana will be reduced to 2.

If you roll over your Mana value, the spell is unsuccessful, but you do not need to reduce your Mana. If you roll a 6, however, an unexpected Event occurs; the spell fails and you must immediately roll on the Event table, as described under Events.

The Spells the Adventurer knows and can choose from are:

• Heal
• Fireball

Heal - The Heal spell, when successfully cast, increases your Health by the Strength of the Spell. For example, if your Mana is 3 before casting the Spell, you will gain 3 Health. You cannot go over the Maximum Health for the level.

Fireball - The Fireball spell, when successfully cast, allows the Adventurer to damage a Monster at a Range of up to the Strength of the Spell. The Monster must be in Sight; see Range and Sight for more details. If there is no Monster in Sight within a Range of the Strength of the Spell, the Spell has no effect.

The Monster targeted reduces its Health as if it had been hit by an Attack of Damage equal to the Strength of the Spell. This may kill the Monster like an Attack.

Monster Movement Phase

Once the Adventurer has taken two Actions, the Adventurer Phase is complete, and the Monster Movement Phase begins.

During the Monster Movement Phase, Monsters who have the Adventurer in Sight may move towards her. Monsters who already have the Adventurer in Range and Sight will not Move, as they are already in a position to Attack. Depending on the Monsters' Behaviours, they may move differently.

Like the Adventurer, Monsters cannot move diagonally, or onto Wall tiles, or tiles containing other Monsters, and unless they have the Fly Behaviour, cannot move onto Water or Lava Tiles.

Work out which Monsters have the Adventurer in Sight, and for each of them, move them as described below.

• If the Monster has the Flee (x) Behaviour, has x or less Health, and is in a horizontally or vertically adjacent tile to the Adventurer, the Monster will move one Tile directly away from the Adventurer if possible. If the Monster cannot move directly away, it will move to any other Tile it can reach with one Move. If there is a choice of Tiles, the Player may choose which way the Monster moves.
• If the Monster has not moved due to the Flee Behaviour rule above, move the Monster one space towards the Adventurer, along the shortest possible route to get to the Adventurer as quick as possible. If there are multiple possible shortest routes, you may choose which route the Monster takes. If the Monster is already in Range to the Adventurer, it will not move closer.
• If the Monster has the Fast Behaviour, it will move towards the Adventurer a second time, following the same rules.
• If the Monster has the Fly Behaviour, when moving it may go onto Lava or Water Tiles as if they were Floor tiles.
• If a Monster has the Heal Behaviour and less than its maximum Health, it will not move in the Monster Movement Phase, and instead will regain one point of Health.

If it's ever unclear which way a Monster should move, just decide what makes most sense - after all, it's only a game!

Any Monsters which do not have the Adventurer in Sight will not move in the Monster Movement Phase - Out of Sight, Out of Mind.

Monster Attack Phase

Once all Monsters who need to Move have Moved, the Monster Attack Phase begins.

All Monsters who have the Adventurer in Range and Sight will make a single Attack against the Adventurer. Find all those Monsters which need to Attack, and go through them each in turn.

Roll a Skill Test for the Attacking Monster. If it rolls equal to or under its Skill, it successfully hits the Adventurer; reduce the Adventurer's Health by the Monster's Damage (reduced by any Armour). If it rolls over its Skill, it misses and the Attack has no effect.

Once all Monsters in Range and Sight have Attacked, the turn ends, and a new turn begins with the Adventurer Phase. Play continues until either the Adventurer escapes the Dungeon Level or runs out of Health and dies.

Completing The Dungeon Level

If the Adventurer performs the Inventory Action on the Exit Tile while carrying the Key, the Adventurer has successfully escaped that level of the Dungeon.

If the Adventurer just escaped from Level 4 of the Dungeon, congratulations, the Adventurer has successfully stolen the Sceptre of M'Guf-Yn and can now use it to save her people or whatever. Otherwise, she will now move on to the next Dungeon level.

Replace the Shop/Event and Monster cards with the Cards for the next Dungeon Level. The Adventurer's Maximum Health now increases to the next set of Hearts, and recharges to this new maximum.

Remove any remaining Monsters from the Dungeon, and pick up and reshuffle the Dungeon Cards as described in Game Setup, and reform a new Dungeon per those rules ready to explore.

Good luck in the next level of your Quest, Adventurer!