Bloodsport Gambler Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Initial Set Up
• Round Phases
  • Phase 1: Set Up
    • Gain Action & Time
    • Arena Announces Fights
    • Bookie Announces Odds
  • Phase 2: Take Action
    • Types of Action Cards
    • Risk of Action Cards
    • Ratting to the Guards
  • Phase 3: Place Bets
  • Phase 4: Watch Fights
    • Fight Example
  • Phase 5: Settle Up
    • Settle Up with Bookie
    • Settle Up with Moneylenders
  • Phase 6: Reset
• Ending the Game
  • Threads of Fate
• Single Player Options

Components

• 28 Action cards
• 18 Fighter cards
• 18 Weapon cards
• 12 Secret cards
• 4 Loan cards
• 1 Guard Level card
• 66 Coin tokens (yellow)
• 10 Wound tokens (red)
• 12 Time tokens (purple)
• 6 Chance tokens (green)
• 1 Guard token (orange)
• 2 Dice
• 1 Notepad

Initial Set Up

1. Shuffle each of the Fighter, Weapon, Secret, and Action decks separately and place them facedown on the table.

2. Distribute 16 Coin tokens (yellow) and 3 Chance tokens (green) to each player.

3. Place the Wound (red), Time (purple), and remaining Coin tokens (yellow) to the side.

4. Place 2 different Loan cards (numbered 3,4,5 and 6,7,8) faceup in front of each player.

5. Place the Guard Level card faceup on the table with a Guard token (orange) on it, marking the range at its lowest value of 1.

Fights are set up later.

Player 1 and Player 2 (optional) are shown in the printed set up diagram.

Round Phases

Each game consists of a series of game rounds, repeated until all players have won or lost. Each round is a sequence of 'phases', resolved in the following order.

1. Set Up a. Gain up to 6 Action & 6 Time b. Arena Announces Fights c. Bookie Announces Odds

2. Take Action

3. Place Bets

4. Watch Fights

5. Settle Up a. Settle Up with Bookie b. Settle Up with Moneylenders

6. Reset

Phase 1: Set Up

Gain Action & Time

To start the round, deal Action cards to each player until they have 6 cards in their hand, then distribute Time tokens to each player until every player has 6.

If any deck ever runs out of cards, reshuffle its discard pile before continuing to draw or deal from the newly shuffled deck.

Arena Announces Fights

Each game round, three Fights will be announced.

Follow these steps to set up each Fight:

1. Place 2 Fighter cards faceup, side-by-side.

2. Without revealing them, place a Weapon card facedown next to each Fighter card.

3. Without revealing it, place a Secret card between each pair of Fighter cards.

Fighter cards:

• Rank: Used to calculate the betting odds.
• Strength (STR): Indicates how well the Fighter battles with certain Weapons.
• Dexterity (DEX): Indicates how well the Fighter battles with certain Weapons.
• Life: Indicates how many Wounds a Fighter can withstand.

Fighter card example: the card shows Rank, Strength, Dexterity and Life.

Weapon cards:

• Type: Indicates which of the Fighter's stats will be used while the Fighter wields this Weapon.
  • STR: Use the Fighter's Strength.
  • DEX: Use the Fighter's Dexterity.
  • BEST: Use the Fighter's highest stat between DEX & STR.
  • WORST: Use the Fighter's lowest stat between DEX & STR.
• Damage: Indicates how many Wounds are inflicted when the Fighter wins a Fight round.

Weapon card example: the card shows Type and Damage.

Bookie Announces Odds

Once the Fights are set up, betting odds are announced. For each Fight, follow these steps to determine the betting odds:

1. Compare Rank of Fighters.
2. Determine if there is a Favorite Fighter (higher Rank) or Underdog Fighter (lower Rank).
3. Determine difference in Rank and consult the following table:

Betting Odds Table

Difference in Rank	Favorite Fighter	Underdog Fighter
Equal	1:1 (No Favorite)	1:1 (No Underdog)
1	2:1	1:2
2	3:1	1:3

Betting Odds Examples:

• 1:2 odds: a Rank 2 Blade Freak (Underdog) against a Rank 3 Insect (Favorite).
• 1:1 odds: a Rank 2 Blade Freak against a Rank 2 Putrid Snake-Beast.
• 3:1 odds: a Rank 3 Insect (Favorite) against a Rank 1 Deceased Mantrasuly (Underdog).

(The examples are shown as fighter card illustrations in the printed rulebook.)

Phase 2: Take Action

After Fights have been announced and the odds determined, players can play Action cards to gain insights and opportunities, or directly impact Fights. Players take turns playing one Action card at a time or passing until both have passed. To determine who goes first, roll a die for each player, with the highest rolling player acting first. This player will act second in the Watch Fights phase if both players use React Action cards on the same Fight.

Action cards:

• Type: Indicates how and when the card can be played. The four types are Discover, React, Special, and Sabotage.
• Risk: Indicates the chances of getting caught while the card is being resolved. If the card has "No Risk" instead of a number, no Risk roll is needed (see below).
• Impact: Indicates the effects of the card when resolved.

Action card example: the card shows Type, Risk and Impact.

Types of Action Cards

An Action card's Type determines how and when that card can be played and resolved, as described below.

Discover

These Actions are revealed and resolved immediately when played, allowing the player to look at hidden (facedown) cards.

Before playing a Discover card, if the player wishes to reveal the hidden (facedown) cards to the other player, increase the Risk of the Action by 1 for each card they choose to reveal. Otherwise, it is forbidden for players to share information or hints about hidden cards.

Special

These Actions are revealed and resolved immediately when played.

React

These Actions can only be played during the Watch Fights phase; they are resolved immediately when played. These are played on a specific Fight or Fighter, as indicated on the card. The target must be specified before rolling for Risk.

Sabotage

These Actions are played facedown next to any Fighter and will be revealed and resolved during the Watch Fights phase, in the order in which they were played. They will affect the Fighter they are placed next to, or that Fighter's Weapon, as indicated on the card. If played on a Weapon, the Action applies only to that specific Weapon (which may be replaced or transferred to another Fighter by the effects of other cards).

Before playing a Sabotage card, if the player wishes to reveal the hidden (facedown) card to the other player prior to the Watch Fights phase, increase the Risk of the Action by 1. Otherwise, it is forbidden for players to share information or hints about the hidden card.

Action order example: three Sabotage Actions have been stacked to indicate the order in which the Actions will be revealed and resolved (the order in which they were played). Time and Coin are also placed on each Action to reduce the chances of getting caught, as described below. The first Action played is revealed and resolved first.

Risk of Action Cards

When playing an Action card, the player may spend any amount of Time and/or Coin to reduce the chances of getting caught when resolving the Action. Each Time or Coin spent reduces the Risk of the card by 1, to a minimum of 0. For Action cards that are placed facedown on the table, these tokens are placed on top of the card until it is resolved.

When resolving an Action card, calculate the chances of getting caught by adding the remaining Risk to the current Guard Level. Roll one die against this number and if the roll is higher, the Action is successful. If equal or lower, they have been caught in the act, and must face the following consequences:

Consequences for being caught by Guards:

1. Discard an Action card at random from hand.
2. Lose all Coin wagered on the Fight targeted by the Action card, regardless of the victor.
3. Increase the Guard Level by 1 (to a maximum of 3).

If the Action card has "No Risk" instead of a Risk value, no Risk roll is needed.

Ratting to the Guards

At any point, a player may voluntarily rat to the guards about their moneylender syndicate connections. Doing so resets the Guard Level to 1, but that player loses 1 Chance token. Players unable to spend a Chance token lack the credibility to deal with the guards in this way.

Phase 3: Place Bets

During this phase, each player may note down a wager on one Fighter in each Fight, by writing their chosen Fighter's name and the quantity of Coin wagered on a betting slip or piece of paper. Players may wager up to 3 Coin on each Fight.

To bet on a Favorite Fighter, there is a required wager as shown on the table below. This amount of Coin (no more, no less) must be wagered in order to bet on a Favorite. Note that a player may always choose to not bet on a Fight and they are not required to place any bets.

Favorite Fighter Wager Table

Fight Odds	Required Wager on Favorite Fighter
2:1	2 Coin
3:1	3 Coin

Wager example: a betting slip from the Ghoulmorrah Gambling Den lists the winners, the wagers and notes for the chosen Fights.

In this example, a player has written down the victorious Fighters, their wagers, and various notes on their betting slip for both the first and third Fight of this game round. For the first Fight, they have indicated (with initials) that they are betting on Demon Spawn, a favored Rank 3 Fighter (against a Rank 1), and have included the required wager of 3 Coin. For the third Fight, the player has indicated that they are betting on Grave Filler, a Rank 2 Fighter (against a Rank 2), and have the option to wager 1, 2, or 3 Coin, but have chosen 2.

They have also skipped the second row to indicate that they have not bet on the second Fight. When the following game round begins, they may use the next three rows between the bold, horizontal lines for the three upcoming Fights.

Phase 4: Watch Fights

Once all bets have been placed, each Fight is resolved, one at a time, using these steps:

1. Reveal Weapon and Secret cards.
2. Reveal & resolve Sabotage Action cards (in the order they were played).
3. Resolve Secret cards.
4. Roll 1 die for each Fighter.
5. Players may play React Action cards (reverse the play order from the Take Action phase).
6. Determine each Fighter's total score by adding that Fighter's Dexterity or Strength to their roll, as determined by their Weapon; a Fighter's total score cannot be lower than 1.
7. If a Fighter scores higher than their opponent, they inflict Wounds equal to their Weapon's Damage on the opponent (place Wound tokens on the victim to denote this).
8. If a Fighter has accumulated Wounds equal to or greater than their Life, they lose and their opponent is the victor. If both Fighters still have more Life than Wounds, repeat steps 3 through 8 until there is a victor.

Fight Example

In this fight example, Weapon and Secret cards have just been revealed. Putrid Snake-Beast, on the left, has the Scimitar, while Grave Filler, on the right, wields the Triple Axe. The revealed Secret, Mutated by the Mirage, will affect Putrid Snake-Beast.

Sabotage Action cards are now revealed & resolved in the order they were played, starting with Sorcerous Succor.

Player A makes a Risk roll to use Sorcerous Succor. The Risk of this card is 2, but Player A has spent 2 Time to mitigate this Risk, and will only need to roll higher than the Guard Level of 1 to pull off their Action. Rolling a 3, they are successful and affect Putrid Snake-Beast's stats.

Player B has played the next Action, Bedchamber Scorpion, targeting Putrid Snake-Beast. Here, the Risk is 5, but reduced by 4 Time spent, for a total of 1. Added to the Guard Level, this means player B must roll higher than 2 or be caught in the act. With a roll of 2, their Risk roll fails, and they are caught by the guards! As a result, they must discard a random Action card, lose all Coin wagered on this Fight, and the Guard Level is increased to 2!

The Secret card, Mutated by the Mirage, is now applied to the fight, empowering the Left Fighter, Putrid Snake-Beast, to roll their attack twice and use the higher result.

One dice is now rolled for each Fighter. The roll for Grave Filler is a 5 and Putrid Snake-Beast's is a 2. However, since Putrid Snake-Beast is Mutated by the Mirage, their attack roll is rolled again, resulting in a 3, which is used because it is higher than the original roll of 2.

Before determining each Fighter's total score for the Fight round, both players have the opportunity to play React cards, starting with player B, who acted second in the Take Action phase. While player B passes on playing a React card, player A uses Hurl Flagon from Stands, targeting Grave Filler. Having spent 1 Time and 1 Coin to reduce the Risk from 3 to 1, their Risk roll must exceed 3, after adding the current Guard Level of 2. With a roll of 5, their Risk roll succeeds.

With Hurl Flagon from Stands successfully targeting Grave Filler, their initial attack roll of 5 is rerolled, resulting in a 3.

Now that all Sabotage, Secret, and React cards have been resolved, each Fighter's total score for the Fight round can be determined. Grave Filler's attack roll of 3 is added to their Strength of 4, as determined by their Weapon, for a total of 7. Putrid Snake-Beast's attack roll of 3 is added to their Dexterity of 5 (modified by Sorcerous Succor), as determined by their Weapon, which utilizes the higher stat between Dexterity & Strength, for a total of 8. With Putrid Snake-Beast's score being highest, they inflict 2 Wounds, determined by their Weapon, on Grave Filler. After placing 2 Wound tokens on Grave Filler, it is determined the Fight continues since these accumulated Wounds are less than their Life of 3.

One dice is now rolled for each Fighter for their attack. The attack roll for Grave Filler is a 6 and Putrid Snake-Beast's is a 2. Since Putrid Snake-Beast is the target of Mutated by the Mirage, their attack roll is rolled twice, resulting in a 4.

Grave Filler's attack roll of 6 is added to their Strength of 4 for a total of 10. Putrid Snake-Beast's attack roll of 4 is added to their Dexterity of 5 (modified by Sorcerous Succor) for a total of 9. With Grave Filler's score being highest, they inflict 4 Wounds on Putrid Snake-Beast. After placing 4 Wound tokens on Putrid Snake-Beast, it is determined the Fight is concluded since these accumulated Wounds are equal or greater than their Life of 2. Grave Filler is victorious!

Phase 5: Settle Up

Settle Up with Bookie

Once all three Fights have been resolved, bets are settled with the bookie.

All Coin wagered on losing Fighters is forfeited and returned to the pool of spare Coin tokens.

Each bet placed on a winning Fighter returns to the wagering player in addition to a payout based on the odds of the Fight, as shown in the following table.

Payout Table

Difference in Rank	Favorite Payout	Underdog Payout
Equal	Wager (No Favorite)	Wager (No Underdog)
1	1 Coin	Double Wager
2	1 Coin	Triple Wager

Payout example: if a player bets 3 Coin on a victorious Underdog Rank 2 Fighter (against a Rank 3), that player would receive 6 Coin and keep the initial wager of 3 Coin.

Settle Up with Moneylenders

After the Fights have been concluded and winnings distributed, the moneylenders syndicate will inevitably come calling for their payment.

During this phase, each player must make one or more Loan payments. Each Loan has three payments to be made of varying amounts (3, 4, & 5 or 6, 7, & 8). Loan payments are made by forfeiting Coin equal to one of the unpaid payments shown on a Loan card. Place one Coin on the Loan card to denote that this payment has been completed, and return the rest of the payment to the pool of spare Coin tokens on the table.

A player may skip paying the Syndicate for the round by losing 1 Chance.

If a player has no Chance tokens and is unable to make a payment, they lose the game.

If all three payments for a Loan are made, it is considered paid off. Once a player pays off both Loans (all 6 payments), they have won the game.

Loan payment example: four payments have been made, with two more to go. A payment of 6 Coin and a payment of 8 Coin must still be made to complete the game.

Phase 6: Reset

Before starting the next round:

1. Players may discard any unwanted Action cards from their hand.
2. Return any Wound tokens on Fighters to the pool of spare Wound tokens.
3. Discard all Action, Fighter, Secret, and Weapon cards used during the round to their respective discard piles.
4. Lower the Guard Level by 1 if no Action cards were caught by guards during this round.

Ending the Game

The game concludes once all players have either won or lost, as determined within the Settle Up phase of each round.

In games with more than one player, winning and losing can be simultaneous and shared between players. If one player has won or lost before the other player, they can always continue gambling (if they have won), or start over. To start over, clear any paid Loan payments and take a new starting allotment of Coin and Chance tokens, as defined in Set Up.

When a player has won or lost, consult the Threads of Fate section below to determine what the future holds in store for them.

Threads of Fate

Now that you have wagered your future and won or lost, you must consult the all-seeing hag for one last premonition.

If you have successfully paid off the moneylender syndicate:

Upon delivering your final payment to the moneylender syndicate, you notice wonderment amongst the council's half-shrouded faces despite their smug tone. You leave their lavish lair with a new spring in your step, released from the shackles of debt at last! As you look to your coin purse to see what remains, their wry invitation to visit them again echoes in your mind....

To determine your fate, roll one die and add your remaining Coin, consulting the table below. If one player has finished first in a two-player game, roll twice, keeping the higher result.

Victory Table

Remaining Coin	Fate
1-10	You scrape together enough earnings to pay off the vile moneylender syndicate just in the nick of time. While you don't have much to show for it, other than your life, maybe one or two more bets could fix that...
11-20	Faring better than expected, you find yourself with enough coin to start a new life. You could also spend it all to seek vengeance against the moneylender syndicate... the choice is yours.
21+	Your plan has worked out just like you thought it would - rightfully finding your name uttered with great admiration or jealousy within the gambling dens of Ghoulmorrah. With this much coin, you could lend it out to other gamblers - with interest of course...

If you were unable to make good on your payments and no Chance tokens remain:

While certain you weren't being followed home, you awaken to two tall shadows looming above you before your waning consciousness drifts into darkness...

Your fate is now in the incensed hands of the council of the moneylender syndicate! To determine their decision, roll one die and consult the table below.

Defeat Table

Dice Roll Results	Fate
1	You are never seen or heard from again...
2-3	You are exiled to the Labyrinth of The Jungle
4-5	Your reputation is tarnished, your home taken, and you are banned from all gambling within the city walls
6	You must now work for them - collecting payments and punishing those who refuse

Single Player Options

If only one person is playing, there are a few options for tracking bets and revealing information that can streamline gameplay now that players don't need to withhold information from each other.

1. When betting on Fights, the quantity of Coin wagered can be placed next to the chosen Fighter, instead of writing it on a betting slip or piece of paper.
2. Cards revealed by Discover Actions can simply be turned faceup, and Sabotage Action cards can be played faceup.