Chronicles of Drunagor: Age of Darkness Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
  • Hero Board Fields
• The Game Structure
  • Status, Auras, and Outcomes
• Knowing Your Hero
  • Your Hero Board
  • Starting Equipment Cards
  • Your Initiative Card
  • Hero Skill Cards
  • Dungeon Roles
  • Your Class Ability Cards
  • Your Bag
  • Pets
• Setting Up an Adventure
• The Game Basics
  • The Initiative Track
  • Hero Turns
    • The Basics of Combat
  • Engagement Restrictions
  • Advantage and Disadvantage
  • Reactions
  • Applying Damage to Heroes
  • Knocking Out a Hero
  • Companions
    • Understanding a Companion Card
  • Pet Turns
  • Monster Turns
  • Applying Damage to Monsters
  • Darkness Turns (Rune Card)
  • Board Setups
  • Doors
    • Special Features
  • Summoning Monsters
  • Interactions
  • Chests
  • Skill Challenges
  • Winning or Losing an Adventure
    • Concluding the Adventure
    • Failing the Adventure
  • The Camp Phase
• Action Cubes, Status Cubes, and Recall Actions
  • Expending Action Cubes
  • Status Cubes
  • Recall Action
• Conditions, Immediate Effects, and Resource Tokens
  • Conditions
  • Immediate Effects
  • Resource Tokens
  • Conditions and Effects as Collateral Damage from Attacks
• Hero Actions
  • Movement
    • Squares and Areas
    • Shoving and Crushing
    • Movement Across Different Levels
  • Skills
  • Skill Types and Their Ranges
  • Targeting
  • Passive Skills
  • Attacks
  • Weapon Attacks
  • Critical Hits and Double Damage
  • Spell Attacks
  • Minor Actions
    • Exchange Items
    • Use a Consumable Item
    • Interact
    • Open a Door
    • Search a Chest
    • Use Focus Ability
• Class Abilities
  • Learning Class Abilities
  • Using Class Abilities
  • Multiclassing
• Dungeon Roles
  • Initiative and Party Leadership
• Equipment
  • Equipping New Equipment
  • The Equipment Card
  • Interacting with Equipment (Cards and Effects)
  • Double-Sided Items
• Monsters
  • Overview
  • Understanding a Monster Card
  • Monster Sizes
  • Monster Turns
  • Conditions and Triggered Abilities
  • Preparation, Move, and Attack
  • Monster Movement
  • Resolving Monster Attacks
  • The Crux of the Matter
  • Monster Attacks: Melee
  • Monster Attacks: Ranged
  • Monster Attacks: Magical Attacks
  • The Armies of Darkness
  • Standard and Alternate Monster Versions
  • Complex Behavior Monster Versions
• Commanders
  • Calculating a Commander's Health
  • Commander Attack Cards
• Overlords
  • Customizing Your Commanders and Overlords
• Generals (Bosses)
• Darkness
  • Darkness Tiles
  • Darkness Spawning
  • Darkness General Effects
• Terrain
  • Types of Harmful Terrain
• Tridimensional Terrain
  • Bridges
• The Camp
  • Stashing Items
  • Sequential Adventures
  • Restarting Sequential Adventures
• Other Playing Modes
  • One-Shot Adventures
  • Player versus Player Games
• Conditions, Keywords, and Terms Dictionary
• Tokens Sorted By Type
• Quick Rules and Tips Chart
  • Hero Turn Flowchart
  • Attack Rolls
  • Recall Action
  • Using Focus Abilities
  • Using a Consumable Item
  • Exchanging Items
  • Interact
  • Open a Door
  • Searching a Chest
  • Companion and Pet Turns
  • Knocking Out a Hero
  • Darkness Spawning
  • Darkness Effects
  • Setups
  • Summoning Monsters
  • Summoning Commanders and Overlords
  • Losing an Adventure

Game Components

• 1 Undead King Boss miniature
• 5 Hero miniatures
• 4 Skeleton Archer miniatures
• 4 Rotten Flesh miniatures
• 4 Dark Vampire miniatures
• 4 Shadow Cultist miniatures
• 4 Executioner miniatures
• 3 Abomination miniatures
• 3 Shadow Knight miniatures
• 7 Big Tokens (6 Pet Tokens and 1 Initiative Marker)
• 256 tokens
• 1 Campaign Log pad
• 2 Bridge tiles
• 1 Rulebook, 1 Adventure Book, and 1 Interactions Book
• 5 Hero boards
• 1 Boss and Monster Status board and 1 Camp and Monster Status Board
• 1 Initiative Track
• 13 Starting Gear cards
• 20 Hero Skill cards
• 20 Class Ability cards
• 5 Undead King Attack cards
• 4 Rune and Scenario cards
• 6 Initiative Cards
• 19 Special Event Cards
• 39 Adventure Item cards
• 20 Chest cards
• 72 Camp Item cards
• 15 Dungeon Role cards
• 40 Monster cards
• 10 Commander Attack cards
• 6 Pet cards
• 23 Special Character Cards
• 1 Commander Card
• 1 D6 (Trap Dice)
• 16 snap-on Monster color bases
• 1 D20
• 36 Rune tokens: 7 grey, 7 red, 7 green, 7 orange, and 8 blue
• 36 large Darkness tiles + 24 small Darkness tiles
• 1 Rune token bag
• 48 folding Door cards
• 5 plastic Dungeon Trayz
• 64 Map tiles (32 pieces)
• 225 cubes: 30 yellow, 30 blue, 30 red, 30 green, 6 purple, 66 white, 5 pink, and 28 black

Hero Board Fields

Each Hero's board is a character sheet with fields for: Player and Hero name, Melee and Ranged skill slots, Off Hand and Weapon slots, Class 1/Class 2 Trees and their Class Abilities, Agility, Wisdom, and Level (Level 1 and Level 2 Skills for each), Armor, Trinket, Dungeon Role, and two Bag Item slots. It also tracks Curse Cubes, Trauma Cubes, Runes, and Resources, and has notes areas for:

• Sequential Adventure Status — a Level 1 / Level 2 tracker.
• Status — statuses are removed during the next Camp Phase.
• Cube Auras — auras are removed when you receive a Trauma Cube or another Aura.
• Campaign Outcomes — outcomes remain in effect for the entire Campaign unless some other effect changes them.
• Adventure Notes — free space for notes during the current Adventure.
• Class Abilities — a checklist of learned Class Abilities.

The Game Structure

Chronicles of Drunagor: Age of Darkness is intended to be played over a series of Adventures, called a "Campaign," using the same group of adventurers for all eighteen Chapters.

Note: You can also enjoy Chronicles of Drunagor as a single, stand-alone game called a "One-shot Adventure" or as a competitive "Player versus Player" game. The instructions presented in this section assume that you are playing a Campaign. See the sections for the other game modes to see how setup and gameplay changes.

A Campaign is a story that is told Chapter by Chapter, each one being one Adventure. In each of them, players will take turns exploring the dungeon, interacting with events, and fighting Monsters along the way, unraveling the main plot of the Hero of Daren's saga against the otherworldly force known as "Darkness."

When exploring a dungeon, if even just one of the Heroes succumbs to their wounds or the Darkness' corruption, the adventure is a failure. There's no real downside to losing, but you'll have to reset the adventure and try again from the beginning.

Between Adventures, the Heroes will return to Camp for what is called a "Camp Phase." There, they will heal their wounds, receive their reward for completing the Adventure, and prepare themselves for the next challenge.

A Campaign is too extensive to be completed in just one or a few sessions, and since there is a lot of information regarding the characters that are updated in their records as they progress and complete their adventures, it would be very difficult for players to keep track of it all. To help with this task, each player receives a Campaign Log when starting a Campaign.

The Campaign Log is a sheet where you can record all of a character's progression and the Campaign's game status, as the consequences of the choices your Party makes. These consequences are reflected through a "Status," "Aura," or "Outcome" you are instructed to record on your Campaign Log.

A Campaign is long and challenging, and your Hero will unlock many new Skills, Class Abilities, and acquire lots of new Equipment! The special Campaign Trayz were made for each player to store and save all the new things you unlock during your Campaign. You can store your Hero miniature, cards, and cubes inside to make it easier to set up your Hero the next time around.

Status, Auras, and Outcomes

• Status indicates a choice that can change something on a short-term basis. Statuses are erased when you visit the Camp and thus, they have influence only during the Adventure you are currently playing (as well as any chained Adventures). A Status can also be a temporary morale increase or magical blessing the character received. A Hero can have any number of Statuses noted on their Campaign Log.

  Note: Some Adventures might skip the Camp Phase. When this is the case, Statuses you acquire linger for the next Chapter. They are erased only during the Camp Phase, not always after an Adventure ends.

• Auras are persistent blessings that remain with the Hero until removed, which happens when the Hero receives a Trauma Cube, or receives a new Aura (which must then replace the old one). Other special effects in the game may remove an Aura, but these cases are special and each effect will be self-explanatory.

• Outcomes, on the other hand, linger until the end of the Campaign and their consequences can be felt throughout the story.

By keeping their Campaign Log updated, your party will be able to easily pause and restart the Campaign exactly where they left off in their respective game sessions, creating an idea of continuity.

The Campaign Log records: Player Name, Hero, Melee Skill, Ranged Skill, Agility Skill, Wisdom Skill, Weapon, Off Hand, Armor, Trinket, Dungeon Role, Bag Item 1, Bag Item 2, Class 1 Tree and Class 2 Tree with their Level 1 and Level 2 Class Abilities, Sequential Adventure Status (Level 1 / Level 2), Curse Cubes, Trauma Cubes, Runes, Resources, Stashed Items, Status, Auras, Campaign Outcomes, Adventure Notes, and Class Abilities checklists.

Knowing Your Hero

Your Hero Board

Each Hero has a unique Hero board that shows their abilities and helps you keep track of their status during the game. A Hero board shows the following information:

1. Health Track: You will keep track of your Hero's current Health here. At the beginning of the adventure, your Hero has the number of Health points shown in the dark red space on the Health Track—place a Pink Cube on this space. As your Hero loses and regains Health, you will move your Pink Cube along this track.

   Important: Your Maximum Health cannot exceed 16, which is the maximum number displayed on this track. Any additional Health bonus your character has that exceeds this value is considered lost.

2. Hero Portrait: This painting shows your Hero in all their glory! Use it to help you find the matching cards and miniature for your Hero.

3. Focus Abilities: These are special abilities that your Hero can use by discarding Focus Tokens instead of using Action Cubes, and only if they have collected enough Focus to pay for them (see page 31).

4. Available Action Cube Pool: Action Cubes allow your Hero to take up to two Cube Actions during your turn (see page 13). Keep your unused cubes here until you use them.

5. Expended Action Cubes: Some actions require you to "Expend" Action Cubes in order to use them. Place your expended Action Cubes here. They can be recalled as normal.

6. Starting Skills: Each Hero begins the campaign with eight Skills, divided into four categories: Melee (yellow), Ranged (red), Agility (green), and Wisdom (blue). The Skill colors match the colors of the Action Cubes. They also start the game with one Passive Skill (gray) which is always active.

7. Equipment: Your Hero will acquire and use Equipment during the Campaign, including two Starting Gear cards (see next page). The Hero board has slots for all of the Equipment your Hero can use at one time.

8. Dungeon Role: You can customize your Hero's abilities by choosing a Dungeon Role, which will provide you with new Skill options and determine your place on the Initiative Track.

9. Additional Hero Skills: As your Hero advances through the Campaign, you will be able to learn and unlock new Skills (see next page). Skills are usually additional Cube Actions your Hero can perform.

10. Hero proficiencies: Each piece of Equipment has a Type and a Subtype. Your proficiencies determine which Subtype of each Equipment Type your Hero may equip.

11. Your bag: This is where you can store your Consumable or unused items.

12. Class Abilities: As your Hero concludes some adventures, you will be able to learn and unlock unique Class Abilities (see page 9). Class Abilities are usually new powers and Abilities that your Hero can develop.

13. Hero's Path: Each Hero belongs to a certain path based on their background. This will influence the outcome of some Skill Challenges along the way.

Note: If you would like an easier (and much cooler!) way to organize your components, custom-designed Hero Trayz are also available separately!

Starting Equipment Cards

Each Hero begins the game with two pieces of Starting Gear based on their proficiencies. Pick up a Starting Armor and a Starting Weapon appropriate for your Hero and place them next to the matching icons on the right side of your Hero board. As the Campaign goes by, your Hero will acquire new Equipment. You can learn all about Equipment and Proficiencies on page 34.

Selecting Starting Gear: As your Hero advances through the story, they will stumble across new Equipment and they will probably discard their Starting Gear in order to clear space in their inventory, but this is no problem. Whenever they wish to, during the Camp Phase, a Hero may retrieve any of their Starting Gear they wish to, taking the cards from the game box.

Your Initiative Card

Each Hero has a matching Initiative card, which is used to mark their turn order position on the Initiative Track (see page 12). Your Initiative card also shows the Action Cubes you begin with. Additional Action Cubes are received whenever the Hero learns and unlocks a new Hero Skill (not Class Abilities or Equipments).

Fallen Heroes: The backs of all Core Box Heroes' Initiative cards show a corrupted version of their Hero, which may be needed during the Campaign. When that is the case, the Adventure you are playing will provide the instructions for using this card. Until that moment, make sure to use the right side of your Initiative card.

Hero Skill Cards

Over the course of the Campaign, your Hero can learn and unlock additional Hero Skills, shown on your Skill cards. In this Core Box, every Hero has access to 4 double-sided Skill cards. Each side has a number that indicates their level. You can only learn a Level 2 Skill if you already have its respective Level 1 learned.

A Hero does not possess any of those cards when they start a Campaign, you receive them as long as you advance through the Adventures as a reward.

Dungeon Roles

Dungeon Roles are used to further customize your Hero and on this Core Box there are five of them to choose from: Controller, Defender, Leader, Striker, and Support.

This choice is important to set when each Hero will act on the Initiative Track, as well as determine who is the Party Leader, a role who makes some gameplay decisions.

Choose your Dungeon Role and take the matching set of Dungeon Role cards. Your Hero begins their career with access to four of your chosen Dungeon Role's Skills, shown on the two starting Dungeon Role cards (I and II). Place those cards in your playing area.

You can set your third (III) Dungeon Role card aside for now: you can learn and unlock those Skills later in the Campaign just like any other Skill. You can learn all about Dungeon Roles on page 33.

Your Class Ability Cards

Each Hero has a set of Class Ability cards. You will use these cards to show which Class Abilities your Hero has learned.

A Hero does not start with any Class Abilities at the beginning of a Campaign, but you also will learn and unlock them as you advance through the Adventures.

You can learn all about Class Abilities on page 32. This Core Box comes with 5 classes: Assassin, Cleric, Ranger, Mage, and Warrior.

Your Bag

Each Hero has a bag that can store up to two items. Your bag is where you keep Consumable Items and unused Equipment cards.

You can access items in your bag by taking the Use a Consumable Item Minor Action or the Exchange Items Minor Action. Either way, to better understand how to interact with Equipment, you can find all about them on page 29.

At the beginning of a Campaign, your bag is empty. As you gain items and store them in your bag, place them near your Hero board. Any Equipment (Consumable or otherwise) that you leave in your bag is carried with you to your next Adventure.

Also, you may store Camp Items and Adventure Items (not Chest cards) you find during your Adventures in a Stash (see page 51).

Pets

Some Heroes have the ability to summon allies to assist them in the fight against Darkness. These allies are called Pets.

When summoned, a Pet arrives in an unoccupied square chosen by the Hero who summoned it and adjacent to them. Pets are represented by a card of their own which is not added to the Initiative Track, but is kept by their summoner's Hero board.

Pets have only 1 HP and they are affected by Darkness or any harmful terrain in the same way as a Hero. However, they can hold SHIELD tokens, Conditions, and receive PREVENT effects like any Character. When a pet loses its single HP, it is dispelled. A Pet that has been dispelled can be summoned again by using a Skill that activates it.

A Pet acts immediately after the Hero who summoned it and its turn is specifically in this order: Move Action and Attack. A Pet cannot attack and then move, in the same way as a Monster.

Whenever an effect allows a Hero to activate a Pet they may choose to summon a Pet instead of activating one. Also, effects that activate a Pet come with instructions to activate a specific Pet or just a general command. Whenever the effect specifies which Pet must be activated, you must follow its instructions. Otherwise, if the effect just instructs you to "Activate one of your Pets," it means that you can activate any Pet of your choice.

Each Hero can only have one Pet summoned at a time. If by chance they summon a second Pet, the first is immediately dispelled. Note that some effects may allow a Hero to have more than one Pet summoned at the same time.

Some effects will allow extra activations for a Pet (even outside their turn). Whenever this is the case, an activation for a Pet means being able to move and then attack, or just attack; or to summon a Pet, as normal.

Example Pets in the Core Box include Luma, the wolf, and Jinx, the eagle — each represented on the board by a round token with a matching illustration.

Setting Up an Adventure

Once you have learned the basic aspects of your Hero, it is time for you to learn how to prepare an Adventure! Whenever you are going to start a game session, follow these steps to begin:

1. Set the Interactions Book in easy reach.

2. Shuffle the Chest cards and create a face-down deck near the playing area. Chest cards represent treasures (mainly Consumable Items) that Heroes can find throughout their journey and store in their backpacks for use in times of greatest need.

   Important: Consumable Items that were discarded during the Adventure must be kept in a discard pile beside the Chest deck. They must be shuffled back only during the preparation for your next Adventure.

   Important: Leave the Trap Die near the Chest deck. Whenever a Hero searches a Chest (see page 31), they must roll the Trap Die to see which hazard they have stumbled into this time in order to acquire the treasure.

3. Place the D20, the Condition tokens, Darkness tiles, and Action Cubes nearby.

4. Place all Rune tokens in the Rune bag.

5. Set the Initiative Track along the Initiative Marker beside the playing area.

6. Place the Monster Status board on the table. Set 6 White Cubes next to it. Assign a player to keep track of the Monsters' Health and Conditions on the board.

7. Open the Adventure Book to the first page of the adventure you are playing and follow the setup steps described there. Each Adventure has a set of Standard Mechanics (displayed on its first page) and a set of Special Mechanics for that specific scenario (displayed on the next page).

8. Take the Monster cards and sort them by color and rank into separate small decks. At some point during the adventure, a setup will instruct you to pick a Monster card from these decks, place it on the Initiative Track, and then find its miniature and put it on the board to fight the Heroes. Each Monster card shows a colored Rune below the portrait. Place the card above or below the matching Rune on the Initiative Track, as instructed by its card.

   The first adventure, "Chapter 1: The Road to Black River," has (White Monster) Skeleton Archer - Rookie on the very first map setup, and thus you will need to fetch and place its card on the Initiative Track as shown in the example.

9. Place the Rune card for the adventure, listed in the Adventure Book, on the Rune slot at the end of the Initiative Track (bottom). In this Core Box, the Darkness Hunting Rune card will be used in all Adventures from Chapter 02 onwards. Some Adventures, however, might instruct you to place a second card above the end of the Initiative Track.

10. Now, based on the Dungeon Role each Hero chose to play, place that Hero's Initiative card in its respective position on the Initiative Track.

After you have made these preparations, build the First Setup by placing the Trays, Maps, Heroes, Monsters and any other objects displayed on them as described in the Adventure Book. Carefully read the grey box that provides the instructions for the Adventure, then you are ready to play!

The following spread illustrates "How to Setup and Play" with numbered picture callouts matching the ten steps above.

The Game Basics

In this chapter we'll work through the basics of AoD, introducing the sequence of turns, how Heroes and Monsters act, the principles of combat, and how the board is built. In-depth details of each of these fundamentals can be found in their respective chapters.

The game is played over a series of rounds, until either you complete the Adventure or a single Hero is slain or corrupted by the Darkness, or the last Rune is drawn from the bag and your time is up.

During each round, every Hero and Monster takes a turn. The order of turns is determined by the cards on the Initiative Track. Once the last card has been resolved, the round ends and a new round begins at the top of the Initiative Track.

The Initiative Track

The Initiative Track determines the order in which the Heroes, Monsters, and other events will activate and take their actions during the game. At the beginning of each Adventure, place the Heroes' Initiative cards, Monster cards, and Rune cards next to the Initiative Track. During the game, the Initiative token will move from card to card, indicating which character will act next.

1. Dungeon Roles Initiative—from left to right, top to bottom. Based on their strategic importance, each Dungeon Role has its specific position to act during a Round.
2. Rune Slots—determine where Monsters and Boss Attacks are placed.
3. Initiative Marker—indicates which character is the next to act.
4. Monster Card—next to the matching Rune Slot. Monster cards are placed above or below (as indicated on their card by a little arrow beside their Rune) the matching Rune symbols on the Initiative Track.
5. Hero Initiative Card—placed based on their chosen Dungeon Role.
6. Rune Card—Starting from Chapter 2, all Adventures will instruct you to place the Darkness Hunting card at the bottom of this slot. Some Adventures may also instruct you to place a Special Rune card above this slot.

Example: Heroes and Monsters will take turns in this order: Jaheen, Elros, Skeleton Archers, Vorn, Shadow Knights, Monster Raid, Maya, Lorelai, Rotten Fleshes, and finally, the Darkness Hunting.

After all of the cards have been added to the track, place the Initiative Marker on the first card. Once that character has finished their turn, move the Marker to the next card on the track, and so on, in order: left to right, top to bottom. Once all cards (including the Rune card) have taken a turn, the round ends and a new one begins by moving the Marker to the top once again.

Important: If there are two or more cards in the same Rune slot on the Initiative Track, the Party Leader chooses in which order they will be activated.

If there are two miniatures of the same type of Monster acting at the same time, follow the color order shown on the Monster board: A yellow Skeleton Archer would activate before a blue Skeleton Archer and so on. There are two Monster Status boards and the first one is the one that starts with yellow and ends with black.

Hero Turns

Your Hero turn is divided into these four steps:

1. Conditions: First, any Conditions that are affecting your Hero (such as POISON, BURN, SLOW and so on) must be resolved.

   Important: A Hero that is Knocked Out at this step during their turn immediately regains their breath (see page 15) and acts normally.

2. Abilities Trigger: Then, if you have any Passive Skills that trigger at the beginning of your turn (such as the Cleric's Guardian Angel), they take effect at this time.

3. Take Hero Actions: You may do the following in any order you choose:

   • Take a Free Move Action. A Move Action allows a Hero to move up to 3 squares. However, if you wish to, you can take additional Move Actions. You can find all details regarding movement on page 22.

   • Take up to 2 Cube Actions. A "Cube Action" is the use of a Skill or special action that requires you to spend Action Cubes. You may spend up to 2 Action Cubes in this way per turn. If you run out of Action Cubes, you regain them by taking a Recall Action (see page 20).

     Important: You can take your Free Move Action before, after, or between your Cube Actions. However, whenever you take a Cube Action, you lose any remaining movement points you have.

     Example: Vorn chooses to take his Free Move Action. After he moves 2 squares, he decides to use one of his Cube Actions. By doing this, he loses his remaining movement point.

   • If not engaged in combat (see below), perform any number of Minor Actions (see page 29), including: Exchange Items; Interact; Open a Door; Search a Chest; Use Focus Ability*; Use a Consumable Item*.

     Important: You may only perform each type of Minor Action once per turn. Also, taking Minor Actions does not make you lose any remaining movement points.

     *The Use Focus Ability and Use a Consumable Item Minor Actions can be taken even if you are engaged in combat.

4. End of Turn: After you have taken all of the actions you want to take, you may also take a Recall Action to recover your Action Cubes (see page 20).

You are never required to take any Actions on your turn. You can choose to take your Free Move Action or not, to take 0, 1, or 2 Cube Actions, and perform Minor Actions or not.

The Basics of Combat

The vast majority of Skills in AoD show a Symbol right after their title. Those Symbols are used to identify three kinds of combat-oriented effects that you will use very often: the Attacks, which can be Weapon Attacks or Spell Attacks, and the Reactions, the defensive Skills your Hero has.

• Weapon Attack: Among this Skill's effects is an Attack using your Weapon. Weapon attacks require an accuracy check to hit and deal damage, but they tend to be stronger (for more details, see page 27).
• Spell Attack: This Skill includes an Attack using magic or a special ability in its effects. This type of Attack is always a success, so no accuracy check is needed—the target simply suffers the described effect (for more details, see page 29).
• Reaction: This Skill can only be used in response to a threat. You can even use your Reactions in response to threats against an ally, unless the effect you are using says "SELF."

Engagement Restrictions

Battles in AoD can quickly get physical and fights under those circumstances can be very challenging, especially for Heroes who are ranged combatants. Whenever a character is adjacent to an enemy, they are considered engaged in combat and have some restrictions:

• A Hero cannot make Weapon Attacks that are Ranged while engaged (You can find details about Ranged Weapon Attacks on page 27-28).
• A Hero cannot take Minor Actions while engaged (except for Use Focus Ability or Use a Consumable Item).

A character may freely move away from an adjacent enemy using any type of Move Action without any consequences, disengaging from combat.

Example: Lorelai and Elros are adjacent to the Rotten Flesh, so they are engaged in combat. Thus, they cannot make Weapon Attacks that are Ranged, but they still can make Melee Weapon Attacks. Maya is not engaged. Thus, she can make Weapon Attacks that are Ranged.

Important: Weapon Attacks made through Focus Abilities or commanded by allies use the base Range provided by your Weapon Type. Thus, you can't make these attacks while you are engaged if your Weapon has the Ranged Type (Ranged and Implement Weapons have the Ranged Type).

Advantage and Disadvantage

The three-dimensional nature of the map allows you to use height to get an edge in combat. It is easier to harm an enemy if you are able to attack them from an elevated position, and harder to harm them if they are above you. This is called advantage and disadvantage.

Important: If an attack, such as CLEAVE or MULTISHOT, affects multiple targets that are on different levels, after you roll the D20, you must check separately for each opponent if your attack roll was enough to hit it.

• Advantage: If an attacker is at a higher level than its target, it adds +2 HIT to its attack rolls.

  Example: Both Elros and Lorelai have advantage over the Abomination. You can have advantage as a melee or ranged attacker. In this example, they will both gain a +2 HIT on their attack rolls, since they are above their target.

• Disadvantage: If an attacker is at a lower level than its target, it must subtract -2 HIT from its attack rolls.

  Example: Vorn uses his Arcing Swing, which has CLEAVE, when adjacent to 2 Monsters—1 on his level and 1 that is above him giving him disadvantage against it. He rolls a 7 on the d20. This is enough to hit the Abomination that is on his same level, but not enough to hit the Skeleton Archer above him since it receives a -2 Penalty for a result of 5, which is lower than his Weapon Accuracy (7). So, Vorn does damage to the first Monster, but misses the second.

Reactions

Reactions are a special type of Action that can only be taken in response to a threat, which is to say when any Hero would take preventable damage, even outside their turn. Thus, a Hero cannot respond to non-preventable damage, for example.

Also, although they require a Hero to spend an appropriate AC to use them, Reactions do not count as Cube Actions, even if they are taken during your turn.

A Reaction is represented by the lightning bolt icon.

Many Reactions can be used in response to damage that would be dealt to an ally, but you cannot do so if the Keyword "SELF" appears in its effect. "SELF" Reactions can only target the Hero themselves, and thus, the Hero must be threatened in order to use them. The same applies to "RETALIATE" effects, which can only be used if the Hero is among the targets of the Attack whose they wish to retaliate against.

Each Hero can use only one Reaction per threat, which does not exclude, for example, two Heroes using their single Reaction in combination to help a character in distress.

Example: Maya would take 3 damage from a Skeleton Archer's attack. She uses her Leather Armor's "TUMBLE" Skill to PREVENT 2 of this incoming damage, while her ally, Jaheen, chooses to use his "Preventing Light" Dungeon Role Skill to PREVENT an additional 2 points, making a total of 4.

Applying Damage to Heroes

Fighting Monsters isn't always easy and from time to time, Heroes will trade punches and take damage. Whenever a Hero takes damage and does not prevent it, reduce that Hero's Health by that amount. Many effects, however, allow you to avoid part of this incoming damage in two ways: PREVENT effects and SHIELD tokens.

PREVENT effects are Reactions with immediate effects and thus, you cannot use them at just any moment and save the protection until the next time you take damage. They must always be used immediately in response to taking damage, not before nor after it.

This is an example of a PREVENT Skill, Divert.

SHIELD Tokens work like some kind of barrier: They are discarded to reduce incoming damage. Each one you discard reduces the amount of damage you would take by 1. Unlike PREVENT effects, SHIELD Tokens can be obtained and kept on your board until they are used. You can hold a maximum of 4 at a time.

This is an example of a Skill with a SHIELD effect. Assign the amount of tokens to the character who received it.

The use of SHIELD tokens is mandatory: You must always use them when your Hero takes preventable damage if you have any available. You cannot choose to save them for later.

Also, SHIELD Tokens and PREVENT effects can be used together to avoid a stronger attack.

For example, a Shadow Knight attacked Vorn for 5 damage and he currently has only 2 SHIELD, he (or an ally) could use a Reaction to PREVENT the remaining damage, or even use multiple Reactions combined to overcome these 3 points—but always respecting that each Hero can use only one Reaction per triggering effect.

Either way, keep in mind that there is an order for using these resources: SHIELDS are always expended before PREVENT. So, even if you are getting hit by an attack that would deal 3 damage and you have a PREVENT 3 Reaction and 2 SHIELD on your board, you can't use your Reaction to avoid the damage and save your SHIELD tokens that way.

Thus, following the same example, the first thing you must do is discard your 2 SHIELD tokens and avoid 2 damage. Then, if you want to, you may use your PREVENT 3 Reaction to reduce the remaining 1 damage or just take it and reduce your Health.

Note: Even if a Hero reduces all incoming damage with their SHIELD tokens, they can still use Reactions as normal, for the Threat has been made either way.

Knocking Out a Hero

As long as the Hero still has Health, they continue to act as normal.

If a Hero is reduced to 0 Health, they are knocked out. Lay that Hero's miniature down as a reminder and do the following:

• Remove all Conditions affecting the Hero.
• The Hero takes a Free Recall Action.
• The Hero takes 1 Trauma Cube and assigns it to one of their Hero or Dungeon Role Skills.

As long as they are down, the Hero cannot use any Actions or Reactions, be the target of any attack or Skill (even from their allies), and is immune to damage, Conditions, and effects. Their Passive Abilities, however, continue to take effect.

At the beginning of the Hero's next turn (or the same turn if the Hero was knocked out by Condition damage), the Hero Catches their Breath: stand their miniature up and return them to full Health.

Companions

In addition to Pets, the Heroes may also encounter valuable allies during their journey, called Companions. Endowed with special abilities, they use Pet-like mechanics for their turns and activations. Despite the similarities, Companions have their own mechanics as well:

• Companions do not have Health. Instead, they have a value called "Sturdiness." You can find more details about this in the Conditions, Keywords, and Terms Dictionary (page 54) of this Rulebook. In short, Companions are only defeated if they take damage that exceeds this value all at once.

  Example: Tharmagar has Sturdiness 4 and was unlucky enough to be in the same area as Vorn at the moment a Shadow Knight struck the Dwarf warrior for 5 points. If the Heroes do not PREVENT some of the damage threatening Tharmagar, he will be defeated.

• Companions are seen as Pets in the eyes of the Monsters (they will be targeted as their last priority, only when the Monster cannot attack a Hero in their place). If a Monster could attack either a Pet or a Companion, the Party Leader chooses which one of them will be the target (as long as this decision won't make the Monster change its primary target, see page 39).

• Companions can hold SHIELD tokens and receive PREVENT effects like any character.

• Companions are activated after the turn of the Hero they are following and their turn consists of a Move Action and an Attack Action, in that order, in the same way as a Monster.

• A Hero can have as many Companions as they can find, even simultaneously with their Pets. Their abilities that interact with a Pet, however, do not affect their Companions.

• Companions are discharged during the Camp Phase. Note that there is no Camp Phase between sequential Adventures (see page 51), which means that you can carry a Companion recruited in an Adventure to the next one in those cases.

Understanding a Companion Card

1. Card Type: Indicates which set of rules this card follows.
2. Companion Name and Class: Indicates its name and class.
3. Sturdiness: Indicates its Sturdiness value.
4. Companion Attack Type: Melee, Ranged, or Magical.
5. Illustration: Character's art.
6. Movement: Indicates how many movement points it has when it takes its Move Action.
7. Attack's Damage: Indicates how much damage the Companion inflicts when it attacks another character.
8. Special Effects: Passive abilities, Triggered abilities, and collateral damage. Written just like on a Monster card.

Note: If a card lacks any of these elements, it means that it is not relevant to that Companion's abilities.

Pet Turns

As described before, a Pet acts immediately after the Hero who summoned it and its turn is always Move Action and Attack Action in that order. A Pet cannot attack and then move, in the same way that a Monster can't.

Some effects give extra activations to Pets. Whenever this is the case, an activation means commanding the Pet to move and then attack or just attack if it is already on the board; or to summon (or resummon) a new Pet.

You can find details about Pets on page 09.

Monster Turns

During a Monster turn, all Monster miniatures that match the type shown on the current Monster card get to act, moving if needed and attacking the Heroes if possible.

Some Monsters have triggered abilities that take effect at the beginning of their turn (like the SHIELD ability of the Shadow Knights) and they might be affected by some Conditions. Whenever this is the case, just as a Hero does on their turn, Conditions are resolved before triggered abilities.

Afterwards, when they are ready to act, Monsters usually behave like this:

• First, the Monster will check if it has multiple-target Attacks (CLEAVE, MULTISHOT, and STRIKE are examples, but ATTACK TWICE is not). If it does, then it will try to reach as many Heroes as it can to take advantage of this feature.

• Second, the Monster will target its Primary Target (Standard Monsters always seek the Strongest Hero, which is the Hero with more Health at the moment). If a Monster is in reach of more Heroes than its attack can hit, it will always choose to hit its Primary Targets among them.

  Example: If a Monster (Standard) has Multishot 2, but it is in range to attack three or more Heroes, it will target the two strongest ones among them.

• Then, the monster will take its Move Action (if needed) and attack its targets.

  Important: If a Monster is already in reach of its targets, it won't move at all unless it can end its movement on top of Darkness (to get the damage bonus) and still attack the same targets.

  Important: Monsters have more hatred towards the Heroes than regard for their lives and thus, if they have to cross harmful terrain to reach their targets or take advantage of Darkness, they will do so even if it causes their death. However, they will avoid this if possible.

Do not worry too much about tracking a Monster's behavior exactly right for your first Adventures. As time goes by, it will become increasingly easier.

You can find more clarifications about Monsters in the "Monsters" section (page 38), or if you are in doubt about the effects of a Keyword or effect, check the Conditions, Keywords, and Terms Dictionary (page 54).

Applying Damage to Monsters

When you hit a Monster with an attack, apply the damage by moving the white cube on the Monster Status board down that many spaces on the same line as that Monster's color base.

If the Monster's Health is reduced to 0 (or less), the Monster is defeated and its miniature must be removed from the board. If this was the last monster of a specific type and rank, you must also remove its card from the Initiative Track.

Darkness Turns (Rune Card)

Whenever the Initiative Marker reaches the Rune card at the end of the Initiative Track, it's time for Darkness to act. Draw the indicated number of Runes from the bag and place their respective Darkness tiles on the board, then flip the card over. The details of the Darkness placement can be found on page 44.

Some Adventures may have Special Mechanics that will instruct you to add a second Rune card above the end of the Initiative Track. In this case, when the Initiative Marker reaches this card, you must resolve the effects described (unless it is just a "reminder" card). Each Adventure will tell you if this card has rules or reminders in the grey box—there is no general rule for these cards.

Important: The moment you draw the last Rune from the bag, the Adventure immediately ends in failure.

Board Setups

Each Adventure will show on its first pages a Setup called the First Setup. This Setup is the board you have to make before starting the game. From then on, for each new Door you open, a new Setup will be revealed. Some details are important to keep in mind in order to set up the board properly:

• When you are making a Setup, the game is paused until that Setup is completed.
• The Setup must be prepared following the same position and orientation as indicated by its illustration.
• There is no turn change or delay after a Setup is made.

Important: If you opened a Door during your turn and its Setup instructed you to summon a Monster right after your Hero on the Initiative Track, when you finish your turn, the Initiative Marker will move to that Monster's card and it will be activated as normal. If that Monster appeared before your Hero, then it won't act this round.

Doors

Each Door contains the instructions you need to make the next room's Setup hidden within its folds, upon which the players may find another path to explore, or the Endgame Trigger.

In addition to the orientation when dealing with a new Setup, there are some important details about the Doors:

• Watch for the yellow arrow: It shows where the Setup you are about to make connects to the Door you just opened and thus, with the previous Setup.
• Before you add a Door's Setup, remember that its orientation must be the same as the First Setup. Since the Hero who opened the Door might not be the one who made the First Setup, keep an eye on the perspective from which new Setups should be made before adding them. Do not make any 90º turns while adding a Setup.

Special Features

Many Doors will have a surprise effect, an ongoing rule, new Adventure Mechanics to enhance the game experience, and so on.

When that is the case, the Door will have a section in a gray box containing detailed information about these special features and they must be read before you resume the Adventure.

• Special Rules are changes to general game rules. They will last for as long as described on the Door that added them.
• Special Events are effects, usually instantaneous, that take place when a specified trigger occurs. Some Doors will state that simply opening them is enough to trigger a Special Event, as with some traps.
• Special Mechanics are additional challenges discovered along the way that the Heroes must resolve (sometimes they are optional) during the Adventure.
• Interaction Triggers are triggers that lead the Heroes immediately to an Interaction after some game state is reached (usually defeating all revealed Monsters).
• Endgame Triggers are one type of trigger that leads the Heroes to the Adventure's conclusion when a game state is reached (usually defeating all revealed Monsters).

Example: The Example Door #01 was opened. Following the same orientation as illustrated on its Door card, and connecting the yellow arrow to its position, its placement would be like this.

Summoning Monsters

Setups will usually instruct you to place Monsters on the board through one of the two following ways: It will be either a Set Monster of a specific type and rank; or a random Monster of a specific type and rank.

• "P+:" WM: Shadow Cultist - Rookie — In this example, the Setup is instructing you to place the miniature of a Shadow Cultist Monster on the map and use its Rookie rank card. The "P" stands for the number of players in this Adventure.
• "P+:" GM - Rookie — In this second example, the Setup is instructing you to place a random Gray Monster with the Rookie rank. To do so, shuffle your Gray Monster (Rookie) deck and draw a card as randomly as you can. This will be your Gray Monster - Rookie for this Setup. As above, the "P" stands for the number of players in this Adventure.

Important: If there are two or more random Monsters of the same type and rank in a Setup, use the same card drawn for all of these Monsters.

All Setups will present instructions for summoning Monsters from solo mode to up to five players, but you should only summon the Monsters appropriate to your Party size. So, if your Party has three Heroes, you need to summon only the Monsters indicated by the basic Setup (above the dotted line), plus the ones listed for 2 players and 3 players.

Example: If you are playing in solo mode, you only need to assemble the components that are described above the dotted line. If your Party has three Heroes, however, you would also need to summon another WM - Rookie and GM - Rookie, as indicated for two and three players.

Once you have placed their card on the Initiative Track and summoned the Monsters to the map, the next step is to set their Health on the Monster Status Board. Each Monster has a snap-on colored base that matches one of the colors on this board for this purpose.

Finally, the Setup will not specify the behavior of the Monsters it summons (see page 41 for details), but that doesn't mean you are obligated to summon a Monster with the Standard behavior. If you want to add variety and complexity to your game, you can always summon Alternate versions or Multi-Behavior Monsters.

However, this procedure is not recommended for beginning players, as Monsters that do not follow Standard behavior tend to follow more complex behaviors which can result in an increase in difficulty at first.

Interactions

Age of Darkness isn't just about exploring dungeons, defeating Monsters, collecting treasure, and progressing your character. A very important part of gameplay is related to the events that the Heroes witness and how they choose to react to them. These moments where the narrative mixes with the game mechanics are called "Interactions."

Interactions can be found on the board represented by Interaction tokens, or they can be stipulated by a Setup (as stated above). Interaction tokens often have two "charges," meaning that up to two Interactions can be made for the scene they represent while stipulated Interactions are usually one-shots.

This is an example of an Interaction token, front and back.

Regardless of its origin, whenever an Interaction is presented, a page number referring to an illustration that can be found in the Interactions Book will be shown next to it. Analyzing the scene presented, the player can choose one of the options and proceed to the respective resolution, which is listed in numerical order at the end of the Adventure Book, in the appropriate section.

This is an example of an Interaction scene.

When represented on the board by an Interaction token, a Hero can interact with a scene only when adjacent to the token by using the Interact Minor Action. As usual, the Hero cannot do so if there are any Monsters adjacent to them (whether or not a Monster is adjacent to the Interaction token).

You can find details about the Interact Minor Action and its consequences on page 30.

Finally, Interaction tokens are considered Solid Objects and, therefore, no character can occupy spaces they are in. So, a Hero or a Monster cannot move on top of an Interaction, for example, but a Darkness tile can be placed under one if necessary.

Chests

Adventures are not only filled with dangers: many lost treasures are waiting to be rediscovered. In AoD, they are represented by Chests and Chest tokens (or miniatures found in some expansion boxes such as the "Spoils of War" box).

To loot a Chest, a Hero must be adjacent to it and use the "Search a Chest" Minor Action. This action, however, cannot be taken if there is a Monster adjacent to the Hero (even if the Monster is not adjacent to the Chest).

When looting a Chest, the player draws a card randomly from the Chest deck and adds it to their Bag. However, beware: Chests are not always safe and some may have a trap! Whenever a Hero loots a Chest, they must also roll the Trap Die to see whether or not they are hit by one.

You can find details about the Search a Chest Minor Action and its consequences on page 31.

Chest tokens are considered Solid Objects and, therefore, no character can occupy spaces they are in. So, a Hero or a Monster cannot move on top of a Chest, for example, but a Darkness tile can be placed under one if necessary.

However, a Large Monster can occupy a space with a Chest, but when it does, it crushes the Chest under its feet and its contents are lost. Nevertheless, something positive for the Heroes can still result from this action: when destroying a Chest, the Large Monster triggers its trap, rolling the Trap Die (see page 31) and applying the effects to itself.

Finally, Chest Items are categorized by rarity, both to help you realize their strategic relevance, as well as to understand how often they will be found in a Chest:

• Common Items are found in 4 copies;
• Uncommon Items are found in 3 copies;
• Rare Items are found in 2 copies;
• Epic Items are found in a single copy.

Skill Challenges

At some point during your adventure, you may stumble across some stuck door; a rolling boulder from an old catacomb shaft; or any other "unimagined dangers." To determine whether you will be smashed by the rock or avoid its rolling path, your Hero will be instructed to perform a Skill Challenge using some associated ability.

Usually, they will be written like this: "Make a Strength (yellow) Skill Challenge of Difficulty 12. Each Melee cube you have gives you a +2 bonus to your roll."

Skill Challenges do not spend or expend any Action Cubes when performed and the cubes add their bonus to your roll regardless if they are available or not. To make a Skill Challenge, you must roll the d20, apply your bonus and check your result. If it matches or exceeds the difficulty, you are successful! Otherwise, you have failed.

Note: Some abilities allow a Hero to reroll even a missed Skill Challenge, like Lorelai's "Fast Learner" Passive Skill. Keep an eye on them.

Winning or Losing an Adventure

There are two possible outcomes for an adventure: either the Heroes succeed in completing the goal; or, they fail by getting more Trauma Cubes or Curse Cubes than they can hold, or by drawing the last Rune from the bag.

A Hero, normally, can hold up to 5 Curse Cubes and 1 Trauma Cube on their board without failing. At the moment a Hero gets their 6th Curse Cube, they fall victim to their own corruption; and if they get their 2nd Trauma Cube, they fall due to their wounds.

Important: Keep in mind that some Class Abilities, Skills, Equipment, Statuses, Auras, and so on, can grant a Hero the ability to hold a greater number of those cubes.

Important: Some Adventures might have special goals that, if not fulfilled, also cause the Adventure to end in failure.

Concluding the Adventure

At some point during the game, an effect (either coming from the Endgame Trigger or as a resolution from an Interaction) will instruct you to read an entry called "End of the Adventure." After a brief and exciting narrative ending, this entry will state that the Adventure has ended, giving the Heroes a window to breathe—They have succeeded!

The players should use this moment to return all miniatures and Setups to the game box, but keep their Hero board and the Initiative Track as it is.

Failing the Adventure

If the Adventure ended in failure, the Heroes must undo their current progress and restart it from the beginning.

Return any benefits they might have obtained along the way, such as Equipment cards they acquired and Consumable Items they did not use, and so on. Check the Consumable discard pile for any Consumable Items the Party started the scenario with and return them.

After completing this "reset" process, the players are ready to start over the Chapter they just failed.

The Camp Phase

To carry out the Camp Phase, take the Camp board and place it in the center of the game area. At this point, choose a player to read the narrative prepared to give this Chapter closure while all Heroes take turns executing the Camp Actions listed. This includes receiving their reward.

Apart from preparing their Hero board, saving the game state, and healing themselves, the Heroes will also have the chance to stash or retrieve their spare treasures.

Important: Some Adventures are sequential, meaning that they are linked to each other and do not proceed to a Camp Phase, having their own preparations instead.

When all Heroes have finished their actions at the Camp and received their reward, they are ready to begin the next Adventure.

Action Cubes, Status Cubes, and Recall Actions

The heart of Age of Darkness is using your Action Cubes. Action Cubes allow you to perform attacks, prevent damage, cast magic spells, move, and many other actions.

Action Cubes are divided into four types by color:

• Melee — Yellow
• Ranged — Red
• Agility — Green
• Wisdom — Blue

Each Hero begins the campaign with the five Action Cubes shown on their Initiative card. You can gain more Action Cubes as your Hero learns new Hero Skills (see page 50).

In addition, there are four types of Status Cubes:

• Trauma — Purple
• Curse — Black
• Class Ability — White
• Life Tracker — Pink

Melee, Ranged, Agility, and Wisdom Action Cubes can be spent to activate your Skills. You cannot spend Status Cubes: they represent damage—physical or spiritual—that your character has suffered during an adventure.

Expending Action Cubes

Some actions or abilities require you to Expend an available Action Cube when you use them, for example, taking an additional Move Action. Expended cubes can be recalled as normal. Expend is not a permanent loss, it is just the representation of spent effort.

When you are instructed to Expend an Action Cube, take a cube (of any color) from your pool and place it in your Expended Action Cubes box (on your Hero board).

Status Cubes

• Trauma Cubes: When your Hero is knocked out (page 15) they must take one of these cubes that represents an injury and assign it to one of their available Hero or Dungeon Role Skills (it can't be an Equipment Skill or Class Ability). For as long as this Trauma Cube remains there, that Skill is blocked and you cannot use it. Trauma Cubes are harder to heal and they cannot be removed unless an ability specifically says so or you visit the Camp during the Camp Phase.

  Important: As mentioned before, a Hero can hold only one Trauma Cube at a time. If they would receive their second Trauma Cube, they are defeated and the Adventure ends in failure (some abilities, however, allow a Hero to hold more Trauma Cubes).

• Curse Cubes: The Darkness seeks to corrupt the Heroes. As you are exposed to the Darkness, this corruption will cause you to lose access to your Skills. Like Trauma Cubes, each Curse Cube you gain must be assigned to an available Hero Skill or Dungeon Role Skill (it can't be an Equipment Skill or Class Ability). For as long as the Curse Cube remains there, that Skill is blocked and you cannot use it.

  Important: Also, a Hero can hold only five Curse Cubes at a time. When a Hero would receive their sixth Curse Cube, they are defeated and the Adventure ends in failure (some abilities, however, allow a Hero to hold more Curse Cubes).

  Fortunately, Curse Cubes can be removed (and your Skills restored) through the effect of CLEANSE (see page 54).

  Important: You may assign a Curse Cube or a Trauma Cube to a Passive Ability, but if you do so you lose the use of that ability as long as that cube is there. For example, if you have a Passive Ability that grants you +2 HP and you cover it with a Curse Cube, your Hero immediately loses 2 Health. You'll get that Health back if you later CLEANSE the Curse Cube.

• Class Skill Cubes: The white cubes are used to mark which Class Abilities your character has learned and to track the Monsters' health on the Monster Status board.

• Life Tracker: The pink cubes are used only to track the Heroes' Health on their boards, nothing else.

Recall Action

As you take actions, your pool of Action Cubes will be depleted. This represents the combined effects of time, fatigue, and the corruption of the Darkness on your Hero.

When you take a Recall action, regardless of which type, take all of your spent and expended Action Cubes (from your Skills and Expended Action Cube box) and return them to your Available Action Cubes pool. But, you must also take 1 Curse Cube, and assign it to one of your Hero or Dungeon Role Skills.

The stronger you become, the stronger will be the temptation upon you and the last Chapters will give you extra Curse penalties for taking a Recall Action.

Willing Recall and Unwilling Recall

You can choose to take a Recall Action during your turn if you have only two or less colors of Action Cubes available (also called a Willing Recall). This might be useful if you feel that you have already spent all the colors of cubes you want to spend and have only the ones for Skills you don't want to use.

Taking a Willing Recall Action, however, immediately ends your turn.

If you run out of Action Cubes at any point in the game (even outside your turn), you must immediately take a Recall Action (also called an Unwilling Recall).

This Recall must be resolved as soon as possible, but without interrupting any other action that is currently being resolved. For example, if you would suffer FATIGUE 2 as collateral damage, but you have spent your last Action Cube to use a Reaction, you take the damage before taking the Unwilling Recall Action, so you do not suffer the FATIGUE with your replenished AC pool.

Taking an Unwilling Recall Action, on the other hand, doesn't end your turn (if it happens during your turn).

Conditions, Immediate Effects, and Resource Tokens

During the game, your Hero may face a variety of effects—some good and some bad. Some might take place and be resolved immediately while others may linger for a while, applying their effects during subsequent turns. On the other hand, there are some that can be beneficial and last until used, representing some temporary resource the Hero acquires along the way. This section explains the particulars of each of these effects.

Conditions

Those effects that usually take a while to kick in and may linger are called Conditions. When you are told to gain some Condition, find its matching token and place it on your Hero board. Later on, when that effect ends, return the token to the supply.

Conditions are divided into two subgroups based on whether the effects are cumulative or not. As a general rule, you may have any number of Condition tokens on your Hero board, as long as they don't exceed the maximum number of tokens of the same kind that you can have for each Condition.

Stackable Conditions can have increased effects, and you can hold up to four tokens of the same type at the same time. If you should gain a fifth Condition token of the same stackable type, simply ignore it.

Stackable Condition tokens are usually two-sided. If a token displays the face with the number 1 or 2, it must always be treated as if it were that many individual tokens. So, if you have 4 FOCUS tokens displaying the number 1, or 2 displaying the number 2, you are considered to have 4 FOCUS tokens either way and will not be able to receive a fifth one.

Redundant Conditions are any which you can hold only one token of the same type at the same time. If you should gain a second Condition token of a redundant effect, simply ignore it.

Interacting With Immunities

Many characters may have immunities against certain types of effects or Conditions. Whenever this is the case, that character can be exposed to their protected effect as normal, but they won't suffer any harm from it.

Thus, if a character has immunity to a certain type of Condition, they don't have to take the matching tokens when they are exposed to it, they just simply ignore it.

Examples of Condition tokens: SLOW, POISON, STEALTH, BLEED, and BURN.

Immediate Effects

Immediate Effects, on the other hand, are those effects which are entirely resolved the moment they take place, not having (or needing) a matching token to represent them.

Whenever you are instructed to resolve an Immediate Effect, you must do it right away. If a Multi-Part Skill (page 25) has two effects to be resolved, you have to follow the order they are written, always beginning from left to right: the first effect that is written will be the first effect to be resolved. Only then will the second effect take place, and so on.

CLEANSE, DRAIN, FATIGUE, HEAL... are examples of Immediate Effects. If a statement dictates that you are immune to all Effects (such as when your Hero is knocked out and you become immune to all effects and Conditions until you regain your breath), you can be exposed to them, but they won't have any effect.

Resource Tokens

Some tokens are tied to a particular effect and are kept on your Hero board just as a reminder of a temporary resource you received. These effects are called Resource tokens and just like Conditions, some of them might be stackable (to the limit of 4) while others are just redundant.

Examples of Resource tokens: FOCUS, SHIELD, and KI.

Conditions and Effects as Collateral Damage from Attacks

Sometimes (or almost always for a Monster), a Condition or Effect is tied to an attack as collateral damage. Whenever this is the case, they are only applied if their attack manages to reduce at least 1 Health from its target.

If a Condition from an attack Skill (Weapon or Spell, see ahead) is written so that it appears after the attack's HIT bonus with a comma ","; or the damage entry with the word "AND"; it means that it is collateral damage.

Thus, a "+2 HIT, BLEED 2" Skill; or a "2 DMG AND BLEED 2" Skill would apply their BLEED Conditions only if their attack manages to reduce at least 1 Health from its target. If you miss with the attack (Weapon Attacks can be missed) or the target manages to prevent the whole damage, the Condition is not inflicted.

Every Condition or Immediate Effect has its own rules and particularities and, if you are not already familiar with one you come across, you may consult its details in the Conditions, Keywords, and Terms Dictionary on page 54.

Hero Actions

Movement

Movement is one of the basic actions in any game and in Age of Darkness, this would be no different. Although, for rules purposes, one clarification is needed: being able to move is the result of an effect, not an action of its own.

Movement is measured in movement points, each of which allows a character to move one square.

The simplest way to receive a move effect is to take a "Move Action," which allows the user to Move 3. In addition to their two Cube Actions per turn, a Hero can also take a free Move Action.

Taking a Move Action, however, is not the only way a Hero receives movement. Most Agility Skills also give movement points to their users.

Example: On his turn, Elros uses his free Move Action to move 3 squares.

Both orthogonal and diagonal movement is allowed in any combination. The only restriction on movement is that a character cannot move through the same square as a Solid Object or enemy (unless you are Jumping, see below). However, you may pass through—but not end your movement on—a square occupied by an ally, and you also may "squeeze" diagonally between two objects that would normally block your movement.

If you need extra movement during your turn, you may take an additional Move Action by Expending an Action Cube. You may do so up to twice each turn, since every additional Move Action taken in a turn counts as one Cube Action.

While moving, you may interrupt your movement to take a Minor Action (see page 29), such as Opening a Door or Searching a Chest, but if you take a Cube Action or a Reaction, you must interrupt your movement and any remaining movement points are lost.

You can, however, choose to take your free Move Action before or after you have taken any of your two Cube Actions on a turn.

Squares and Areas

All Map tiles in AoD are divided into two types of spaces, called "squares" and "areas." Both types of spaces can affect movement and combat. Squares are indicated by white lines.

Small characters, including Heroes and most Monsters, have a 25mm round base that fits in a single square. These characters must always be clearly placed in a single square. When they move, they move from square to square.

Squares are adjacent if they share a line or corner between them.

Areas are indicated by blue lines. Each area contains 4 squares. Large Monsters have a 50mm round base. They occupy all 4 squares in an area. These characters must always be clearly placed in a single area. When they move, they move from area to area.

Shoving and Crushing

As a Rule, a Large Monster cannot enter an area if any of the squares in that area are occupied by a Solid Object, however, they can move into or through an area occupied by smaller Monsters or Chests through what is called "Shoving" and "Crushing."

Whenever a Large Monster would finish its movement inside an area that is already occupied by Small Monsters, they push them aside and the Party Leader chooses to which square adjacent to the Large Monster's new position each smaller Monster will be pushed to. This is called "Shoving."

Example: The shortest path for the Shadow Knight to reach Lorelai is obstructed by a Small Monster, the Executioner. Due to its size, the Small Monster will be Shoved. This way, the Shadow Knight will advance into the area occupied by the Executioner, which, in turn, must be moved to a square adjacent to the Shadow Knight's new position. In this specific scenario, there are 12 squares to which the Executioner could be pushed and the Party Leader may even choose a position that seems most advantageous to them.

Crushing, however, is quite simple: the Large Monster just ends its movement in the area (blue square), stomps the Chest and destroys it. Remove the Chest token from the board and then roll the Trap Die, applying its effects to the Monster who destroyed it (see page 31).

By interacting with the Chest, the Large Monster triggered the trap, but on the other hand, by crushing it under its feet, any content held by that Chest is lost.

Movement Across Different Levels

AoD presents a three-dimensional dungeon where some Map tiles will typically be placed inside a plastic room base. These room bases may have areas that are higher or lower than other areas. These different areas are called "levels."

These levels could be 0, which is the base—usually the table; 1, which is the first level of platforms on Dungeon Tray 1 and 2; or 2, which is the second level on Dungeon Tray 2, and the highest a dungeon can have.

• Characters do not have to pay an extra movement point if they change only one level from one square to another. However, moving in a single step from the lowest level (0) to the highest level (2) costs 1 additional movement point. So, if a Hero wants to move from the table (level 0) straight to the top of a Tray 2 terrain (level 2), it would cost a total of 2 movement points to do so.
• There is no extra cost to move down to a lower level, but it can be dangerous. Again, a character can move down one level per step without any trouble, but if a character chooses to move down 2 levels in a single step, they take 2 non-preventable damage. This is called "Falling Damage."

Falling Damage

The same way that a character is subject to falling damage when descending two floors in a single step, a character will also suffer falling damage if it is forced to descend a great altitude at once. Thus, if a character is Pushed or moved through Telekinesis from the highest level (2) straight to the lowest level (0), they also suffer 2 non-preventable damage.

Jumps (Special Movement)

JUMP is a special type of movement some Characters may have or receive during some move effects. Like its name suggests, jumping Characters avoid touching the terrain while passing over it, which can have some strategic benefits:

• A jumping character isn't affected by harmful terrain or Darkness tiles they jump through—but they are by the ones they end their movement on (land);
• A jumping character can also pass through squares occupied by Solid Objects or enemies—but cannot end their movement on them;
• A jumping character does not take Falling Damage, but it also must spend two movement points to jump straight from dungeon level 0 to level 2;

Skills

Every Hero has a set of Actions that they can use to influence the game, such as attacking a Monster, healing wounds, or performing some other task. We call these actions "Skills" and they can be found on your Hero board, Skill cards, and Dungeon Role cards, as well as some Equipment cards.

To use one of your Skills, you must spend one of your available Action Cubes. This means that the chosen Action Cube must be placed on top of the Skill you are using. That Skill is blocked until you manage to recall it from there.

Also, the Action Cube you spend must be the same color as the Skill you want to use.

Example: if Vorn wanted to use his Arcing Swing Skill, he would have to spend a Melee (yellow) cube.

Then, you must resolve its effects in the same order they are written, starting from left to right, paying special attention to any "and" words, commas, and semicolons they have.

Tied Effects

When two effects are mixed together into a single one, we say that they are "Tied Effects." As the name might suggest, since they are combined, they must be applied to the same Target.

Tied Effects can be identified by the word "and," which is used as a conjunction of objects just like it is in grammar. One thing is important when dealing with them: they all happen at once.

Example: Maya's Ranger's Mark has a Tied Effect. Thus, the same Target must both receive the Ranger's Mark and take the 3 damage from the Spell Attack. Since they are happening all at once, Maya won't benefit from her Ranger's Mark damage bonus this time.

Tied Effects are not voluntary. A character can't choose to receive just a part of them and disregard the rest. However, characters are forced to apply only effects they can.

Example: Controller's Stun Enemy has a Tied Effect. If it hits a character that is immune to STUN, that character will take only the Spell Attack damage, instead of both effects or none.

Commas and Semicolons

Commas also are used to combine two effects just like the word "and," but they are mostly used for grammatical purposes. Commas always link the information it follows (which is usually a Target specification) to the effect it precedes:

Example: Lorelai's Magic Missile has a Target specification (see ahead): "Up to two Targets." The comma was used to tie this information together. The word "and" here would make the phrase grammatically senseless: "Up to two targets and 2 dmg."

Important: Commas also replace the word "and" when three or more effects need to be tied together, avoiding a grammatical cacophony of "AND, AND, and, AND."

Semicolons, on the other hand, are used for the opposite purpose. Whenever a Skill has more than two effects that are not tied to each other, the semicolon appears acting as a visual frame to indicate where one effect ends and the other begins.

Example: Jaheen's Invigorating Blow has two distinct effects and thus, they were separated by a semicolon. The first one gives HEAL 3 to a character, while the other is a Weapon Attack.

Unlike the word "and" and a comma, when a semicolon is used, it parts completely one effect from another, meaning that the casting Hero would be able to choose different Targets for each one of them individually.

Example: Following the previous example, Jaheen could choose to HEAL an ally with the healing effect of his Invigorating Blow, while hitting an enemy with the Weapon Attack allowed by it.

Example: Vorn's Warlord's Charge has three effects. The first one gives himself a movement of 5 points; the second gives FOCUS 1 to the Target SELF (which also is himself); and finally, the third allows up to two Targets to each make a Weapon Attack that has a +1 damage bonus. Take note of how the commas are used to tie information to effects, while semicolons visually separate them one from another. Combined, those punctuation signals make it possible to understand this Skill's effects both grammatically as well as in a gameplay manner.

Skill Types and Their Ranges

First, let's make clear that Range and Target are different things: Range is the maximum distance away an object you wish to affect can be; while Target is the type, number, or areas a Skill can or must affect.

In AoD, a Skill's Range is defined by its type. Here is a short list with the description of all Skill types and their respective standard Ranges:

• Melee Skills (yellow): Melee Skills have a Range of 0, which means that they can only affect a character or square that is adjacent to the Hero; or is the Hero themselves.

  Example: If Elros uses one of his Melee Skills, he will only be able to affect a target that is adjacent to him, or be the target himself.

• Ranged Skills (red): Ranged Skills have a Range of up to 1, which means that they can affect a character or square that is in up to one area (blue square) from the casting Hero's area; or is the Hero themselves. Note: Some Class Abilities can improve your base Range for Ranged Skills.

  Example: If Elros uses one of his Ranged Skills, he will only be able to affect a target that is within one area (blue square) away, or be the target himself.

• Agility Skills (green): Agility Skills have unlimited Range, which means that they can affect a character or square that is anywhere on the board, as long as it is revealed. However, keep in mind that effects of MOVE, usually displayed as the first effect on most Agility Skills, always target the Hero themselves unless it states otherwise.

• Wisdom Skills (blue): Wisdom Skills have unlimited Range, which means that they can affect a character or square that is anywhere on the board, as long as it is revealed, just as with Agility Skills.

Example: If Elros uses one of his Agility or Wisdom Skills, he will be able to affect a target that is anywhere on the board (any revealed Map tile), including any object outside the squares highlighted by this example, or be the target himself.

The Range for Multi-Colored Skills

Some Skills commonly found on Dungeon Roles and Equipment might have a two or four-colored slot, meaning that they are flexible and can be used in a lot of different ways.

The Controller's Stun Enemy is a Multi-Colored Skill.

Since those Skills are untyped, their Range is defined by the color of the cube a Hero spends to use it. Therefore, a Controller's Stun Enemy cast with a Melee Cube (yellow) would have melee Range, while this same Skill, if cast by the use of a Wisdom Cube (blue), would have unlimited Range.

Defining the Range for Passive Skills

Since their color is grey and they are not activated by spending an Action Cube in their slot, doubts may arise about the Range for Passive effects. Although many Passive Skills are tied to a Skill Type, this doesn't affect the Range of Passive Skill effects.

If the Range for a Passive Skill's effect is not described in its text, it means that it is unlimited (as with Agility or Wisdom Skills).

Example: Jaheen's Beacon of Protection just states "SHIELD 2." Since this effect does not have any Range specification, it can be given to a Target at any Range.

Example: Staff of the Moon, on the other hand, specifies that the effect's Target must be within Range 1, meaning that it would only affect a character that is up to one area (blue square) away.

Targeting

In the previous topic, we learned how to define the Range for a Skill's effect; now it's time to understand the concept of "Target" for those effects.

As a standard, all effects target a single character within Range. This standard, however, is only used if the effect does not include a description of a specific Target.

Example: Jaheen's Blessing of the Sun does not have a Target specification, so it abides by the standard "a single character within Range." In this case, since this is a Ranged Skill, its target must be a character that is within 1 area (blue square) away from Jaheen (or is himself).

On the other hand, when a Target specification appears in a Skill, the description will be written before the effect it applies to, separated by a comma ",".

Example: Vorn's Bull Rush damaging effect is written as "... Up to two Target adj (adjacent to him) enemies, 2 DMG," meaning that the last effect "2 DMG" can be applied only to these specific Targets: up to two target adj enemies instead of the standard "a single character within Range."

As mentioned before, at the end of this Rulebook you can find a comprehensive list of all Keywords and terms present in AoD. Just to clarify this topic a little better, here is a short list with the Target specifications most commonly used:

• ALLY OR ALLIED: The following effect can only be applied to a Target that is allied with the casting character. Monsters are allied only to Monsters; while Heroes are allied with Heroes, Pets, and Companions.
• SELF: The following effect can only be applied to the character themselves, regardless of the Skill Range.
• STRIKE: The following effect is applied to an entire area (blue square) instead of a single square. A STRIKE cast at melee Range means that the character must choose a square that is adjacent to them, and apply the described effect to its whole area; while one cast at RANGE 1 or more means that the character must choose one area (blue square) within Range to do the same. Although STRIKE is an area effect, the casting character may choose which creatures inside its area they wish to affect, to avoid harming their allies.
• TARGET ADJ (Adjacent): The following effect can be applied only to a Target that is adjacent to the acting character, regardless of the Skill Range.

Passive Skills

Passive Skills have a gray box and are marked with the letter "P." Although they are usually tied to a Skill type, they are not considered to be a Skill of that type for Range purposes. Each Passive Skill describes its own effects and they abide by the Standard rules regarding Range and Target (any character within any Range) when they are not specified.

Passive Skills are considered to always be in effect as long as they are not blocked by a Curse Cube. There are two main kinds of effects: Static Benefits and Triggered Effects.

Static Benefits are effects that do not require anything to happen. They just give your Hero some kind of benefit (usually a bonus to some effects or immunities).

Example: Vorn's Hold the Line Passive Skill has a Passive Effect that increases the dwarf's Health and gives him several immunities.

Triggered Effects, on the other hand, are effects that require a game condition to occur in order for them to take place. Usually, triggered effects carry an idea of "if this, then that" implied on their writing, along with the words "when" or "whenever."

Among the most common of these effects are those associated with the D20 roll, known as "Surge Effects." Whenever an effect like this happens, you should resolve it immediately, as many of them confer benefits on the Attack that triggered them.

Example: Lorelai's Gravity Control takes effect when she rolls a natural 16 or more on the D20, adding the Condition STUN to her current Attack (if she is attacking).

Some Surge Effects confer Immediate effects instead of an Attack enhancement. Although they are slightly different, their resolution is the same: any Attack, Skill Challenge, or other effect keeps "hanging in the air," waiting for the Surge to be resolved.

Example: Jaheen's Beacon of Protection is one such Skill: When the Surge triggers, before the Attack deals its damage, you must choose a character to receive SHIELD 2 (as mentioned earlier, since there is no Range or Target specification, it could target any character at any Range).

Attacks

Attacks are effects intended to cause damage to an opposing character. Although there are some Skills that can inflict Conditions directly to a Target, they are not considered Attacks by this fact alone. To be an Attack, a Skill must have one of the two Symbols that identifies them as such. In AoD, Attacks are divided into two types:

• Weapon Attacks use your Weapon as their base. Thus, to use them, you must roll the D20 to see if they hit or miss: roll the 20-sided die, add any bonuses or modifiers you have, and compare the result to the Accuracy of your Weapon.
• Spell Attacks are magical and/or special abilities used by your character. They always hit their target, so no die roll is required. Although they are reliable, they tend to inflict less damage than Weapon Attacks.

Weapon Attacks

Whenever the crossed swords symbol appears in a Skill, it means that this Skill has a Weapon Attack attached to it. The "+N HIT" is the cue for you to make an Attack, adding that number to the result you rolled on the D20.

Many Class Abilities give you a passive bonus to this roll, as well as some Dungeon Roles, Equipment, or Hero Skills. Also, the height difference between you and your Target (if any) provides you with a bonus or penalty called advantage or disadvantage, while being on top of Darkness inflicts a penalty of -2 to your roll.

Each of these factors is taken into account when determining if you reached your Weapon's Accuracy value to hit your Target, but you do not need to worry about them right now: We will explain each of them throughout this Rulebook.

Some Weapon Attack Skills show multiple modifiers, such as "+0 HIT/+0 HIT." Whenever this is the case, it means that these Skills allow you to make multiple individual Attacks as part of the same action. Each Attack must be resolved one at a time and thus you may change your target between Attacks as you see fit.

To resolve a Weapon Attack you must roll your D20 and add (or subtract) all of the modifiers and then check the following:

• If the final result is equal to or higher than your weapon's Accuracy value, you hit! Immediately deal the amount of damage shown on your weapon plus any collateral damage the Skill might inflict (usually written after the HIT bonus, separated by a comma) to the Target.
• If the final result is less than your weapon's Accuracy value, the Attack misses.

Example: Maya uses her Rapid Shots Skill, which is a Weapon Attack Skill (as shown by the crossed swords symbol). This action allows her to make two attacks with a +0 modifier. Using her Elvish Bow, which has an Accuracy value of 7, she must roll her D20 and score 7 or higher to hit. If she does, the Target takes the Weapon's damage (which is 3, as described on the Elvish Bow's card) per attack that hits.

Collateral Damage from Multiple Weapon Attacks

If a Weapon Attack Skill includes multiple Attacks and has collateral damage, those effects are applied once for each Attack that hits.

Example: If a Skill grants +0 HIT / +0 HIT, BLEED 1 AND SLOW, the Hero would make two Attacks and impose both Conditions on their Target on each hit. Although SLOW is redundant, BLEED is stackable and thus, by hitting the same enemy with both Attacks, the Hero would inflict BLEED 2 and SLOW on their Target in the end.

Critical Hits and Double Damage

Sometimes, just hitting an enemy is not enough to describe how skillful your Attack was! Spell Attacks may never miss their Target, but Weapon Attacks are the only ones that can give you the sweet taste, and the outstanding results, of a well-landed blow.

This event is called a Critical Hit (or just Crit) and is achieved only when you roll a natural 20 on your D20. A natural roll is only the number displayed on the die, without applying any bonuses or penalties.

A Critical Hit doubles the damage your attack would normally do (including all the collateral bonus damage written with "+X DMG" it has), but does not double the effects of any Condition or any other effects of any kind.

Example: If Lorelai's Telekinetic Thrust scores a Critical Hit, she would inflict a total of 8 damage (if using a weapon that does 3 damage) to its Target (3+1 x2 = 8).

Critical Hits can deal lots of damage, and their interaction with damage bonuses does not stop there. A few Skills, Equipment, and other effects can grant a Weapon Attack an effect called "DOUBLE DAMAGE," meaning that the damage they inflict is doubled, just as it happens with Critical Hits.

DOUBLE DAMAGE, however, is not a Crit and because of this, it can also be doubled by a Crit, meaning that a Critical DOUBLE DAMAGE Attack would deal four times its damage in a single blow!

Example: Elros' Backstab can deal DOUBLE DAMAGE under certain circumstances. If the Assassin manages to score a CRIT with one of its blows using a Weapon that does 3 damage, his Attack will deal a total of 12 damage! (3x2 x2 = 12)

Also, some effects may grant a wider range for a Critical Hit (such as whenever you roll a natural 18 or more on your D20). If two of them would be applied to the same attack (imagine that one is a Passive bonus, while the other is a Skill bonus), remember that they never stack, but the wider range overlaps the thinner one. So, if you have an effect giving you "Crit 18+" and another one giving "Crit 16+," you won't score a Critical Hit with a natural roll of 13, but you will with a 16 or higher.

Critical Failures

However, the same way your Hero may look like they have a rabbit's foot in their pocket, luck could also completely forget their existence and reward them with a very poorly-landed blow.

Such an event is called a Critical Failure and is achieved only when you roll a natural 1 on your d20.

Whenever you score a Critical Failure, your Attack automatically misses, regardless of your bonus.

Although this is a general rule, there are some Class Abilities, Hero Skills, or other effects that turn your Critical Failures into regular hits or even Critical Hits! Whenever this is the case, you must ignore the effects of scoring a Critical Failure and treat the result as instructed by your special ability.

Weapon's Range vs Skill Range for Weapon Attacks

All Weapons have an attribute called "Attack Type" which can be Melee or Ranged, the same way that a Weapon Attack can be part of a Melee Skill or a Ranged Skill. The interaction between these two features might seem contradictory, but they are not.

The "Attack Type" attribute found on Weapon cards is not relevant when you are making a Weapon Attack through a Skill. They are used only when you make Weapon Attacks that are also Focus Abilities (see page 34); or when you are commanded to make Weapon Attacks through the actions of another character, as the Leader Role might do, for example.

Therefore, the only thing that defines the Range of Weapon Attacks made through your Skills is their Skill Type or the cube you spent to use them.

Example: Vorn's Guarding Strike is a Melee Skill. Therefore, the Weapon Attack made through it can only Target a character that is adjacent to him.

Example: Vorn's Spinning Throw is a Ranged Skill. Therefore, the Weapon Attack made through it can only Target an area (blue square) that is within Range 1 of him. Vorn's Weapon's Type (melee) doesn't keep him from performing this Attack. On the other hand, Vorn's weapon also doesn't allow him to make this Attack if he is engaged in combat (see page 13).

As we have seen with these examples, what really matters isn't Vorn's Weapon's Attack Type, but the Skill Type he is using to make those Attacks. To consolidate this rule, let us also check these two examples with a multi-colored Skill:

Example: Defender's Join The Fray has a Weapon Attack among its effects and can be used by spending either a Melee cube (yellow) or a Ranged cube (red). If he spends a Melee cube, the Weapon Attack made with it can only hit a character that is adjacent to Vorn. Since it is a Melee Weapon Attack, it can be made while engaged. If he spends a Ranged cube, however, the Weapon Attack made with it can hit a character that is within Range 1 of Vorn, but he can't make it while engaged.

This example might have made you think that the "Attack Type" attribute is irrelevant to a Weapon, but it has its important uses, as mentioned earlier. In the "Equipment" chapter of this rulebook, you will find more details about it.

Spell Attacks

Any Skill or effect that has a burst symbol is a Spell Attack. As mentioned earlier, unlike Weapon Attacks, there is no die roll required when making a Spell Attack. You simply allocate an available Action Cube of the matching color to use the Skill and apply its effects.

Example: Vorn uses his Whirlwind of Steel and, after giving SHIELD 2 to himself, he automatically inflicts 1 damage to up to 2 Targets that are adjacent to him.

Spell Attacks, however, do not have collateral damage like Weapon Attacks do. Conditions imposed by them, even when tied to a damage effect, are applied regardless of whether the Attack reduces the Health of the Target or not.

Example: The Controller's Stun Enemy applies its STUN effect even if its Target manages to avoid taking the Spell Attack damage.

Minor Actions

There are six different Minor Actions you may use during your Hero's turn, in addition to your two allowed Cube Actions and your free Move Action. You may use all of them that you want, but only one of each kind per turn.

As mentioned before, your Hero may not use Minor Actions if they are engaged in combat (see page 13), except for Spend Focus and Use a Consumable Item.

Exchange Items

Through this action, you can reorganize your Equipment or share it with other Heroes. You may do one of the following whenever you take an Exchange Items Minor Action:

• Equip/Unequip: Swap any equipped item with a card of the same type from your bag, or just equip or unequip an item you have;
• Give Item: Give any card from your bag to a Hero in an adjacent square. That Hero stores that item in their bag;
• Take Item: Take any card from an adjacent Hero's bag (as long as they are willing to give it to you). You must immediately consume the item you just received (if you still can do so this turn) or store it in your bag.

Important: You cannot exchange an item if its slot is currently occupied by an Action Cube.

Important: Any Double-Sided item you interact with is kept with its current face up. They won't flip back by unequipping it or giving it to another player.

Important: When you receive a new item, if your bag is full, you may immediately discard another item in order to make space. Discarding an item like this does not count as using it.

Use a Consumable Item

Unlike Equipment that is sturdy and can be used over and over again, some items, such as potions and scrolls, can be used only once. These are called Consumable Items. A Consumable Item has the word "DISCARD" and a matching symbol on its card.

Important: This Minor Action can be taken even if your Hero is engaged in combat. This is an exception to the general rule.

Although Consumable Items have the drawback of being lost after use, they are found in greater quantities during an Adventure, making it easy for a Hero to collect and use many of them.

Consumable Items must always be carried inside a bag and they can't be stashed during the Camp Phase. On the other hand, Consumable Items found during an Adventure carry on to the next, staying with you until they are used or discarded.

Important: Each Hero can carry only two items in their bag, whether Equipment or Consumable Items. Therefore, don't be afraid to use your potions and scrolls!

After use, a Consumable Item must be placed in the discard pile, and will be reshuffled into the Chest deck at the beginning of the next Adventure.

Consumable Items also have a Subtype, and some Interactions or effects may mention them specifically. Among the ones presented in this corebox are:

• Gem: Used to socket and upgrade some Equipment.
• Pattern: Instructions to craft special Equipment.
• Potion: Liquids that give their drinker some benefits.
• Scrolls: Pocket Magic for dealing with nuisances.

Example: This Cosmic Gemstone has the Gem Subtype. Its effects describe exactly what it does: it is used to FLIP an Equipment card with the "Socket" Attribute to its back side.

Interact

This action allows you to interact with a board element known as an Interaction token. These, in turn, are markings placed on the board to physically represent locations where the Heroes will be able to interact with a scene from their Adventure.

Interaction tokens can have one or two charges, and are considered Solid Objects in terms of occupying a space.

To interact with one of these, you need to be adjacent to it. When you do, open the Interactions Book to the page described by the Setup that placed this token on the board and look at the scene presented by it. You will be able to choose one of the options offered, provided that it has not already been chosen in this Adventure.

Once an option has been chosen, advance to the Resolution corresponding to its number. Interaction resolutions are found in the Book of Adventures, in the appropriate section. The resolutions are arranged in numerical order and once you've found the one you've chosen, you can read the consequences triggered by it. Most resolutions will affect only the Hero who chose them. However, some Interactions will be collective to the group and affect the entire party. Others, in turn, are the responsibility of the Party Leader alone.

Some of them will even put you in new dilemmas that will require a second choice to be made immediately, or may have different consequences depending on the game state (usually checked by a Status or Outcome that some Hero possesses).

In any case, there is no mystery: just read the resolutions carefully. They always describe their effects, including triggers that lead to other resolutions, clearly and objectively.

Once you have finished reading the last sentence regarding your Interaction, you should reduce the Interaction token by one charge, representing that a choice has already been made. If your interaction was the last one, you must remove the token from the board.

Important: A Hero can only interact with the same Point of Interaction once per round (since you can perform each kind of Minor Action only once per turn), but another Hero could interact with the same Interaction during this same round if they wish to. Likewise, the first Hero could interact with it again during a later round, as long as there are still charges available on it.

Open a Door

Through this Minor Action, your Hero is able to open a Door if they are adjacent to it. To do so, pick up the Door card, unfold it, read its storyline, its Special Rules, and Special Events (if there are any), and then add the indicated Setup to the board.

As mentioned earlier, the game is paused until the Setup is complete. If your Hero still has movement points from a Move Effect currently being resolved, those points aren't lost (usually). You can find details about Setups on page 16-17.

Opening the Same Door for a Second Time?

In order to increase the replayability and offer support for the community's engagement, encouraging the creativity of our players, the Doors in AoD have a QR code on the back. This code will direct you to a selection of random Doors adapted to your current challenge that fits into your storyline. From time to time, this database will change, and even suggestions for Doors delivered by the community itself can be found (once tested and approved), have fun!

Search a Chest

Like any other physical action in AoD, to Search a Chest your Hero must be adjacent to it. When you do so, remove the Chest token from the board and draw the top card of the Chest deck.

Chests May Be Trapped!

Life would be easier if chests along the way were just lying there waiting for someone to pick up their belongings within, but it just happens that they aren't. Unfortunately.

Whenever a Hero searches a Chest, they must roll the Trap Die to see which hazard they have stumbled into this time in order to acquire the treasure.

The Trap Die

The Trap Die is a d6 with four special faces on it: POISON, SLOW, BURN, and BLEED; and, of course, those symbols are related to their associated Conditions. There are two blank faces on it—the stroke of luck! If you roll a blank face, it is assumed that the trap failed (maybe due to its age and lack of maintenance).

• POISON: Whenever you roll the Poison face, your Hero receives POISON 2.
• SLOW: Whenever you roll the Slow face, your Hero receives SLOW.
• BURN: Whenever you roll the Burn face, your Hero receives BURN 2.
• BLEED: Whenever you roll the Bleed face, your Hero receives BLEED 2.

Use Focus Ability

Focus is a valuable tool in your arsenal. Every Hero has two Focus Abilities on their Hero board. Each Focus Ability shows the amount of Focus you must spend in order to use that ability. As mentioned earlier, Focus is a stackable resource and therefore, you can hold only a maximum of four Focus at a time.

You may use a Focus Ability at any time during your turn or as a Reaction (if you have a Focus Ability that is also a Reaction). When you choose to do so, discard the number of Focus tokens required and immediately resolve its effects.

Example: Vorn has two Focus Abilities: Crossed Parry, which is also a Reaction, and Hammer Crush, which is also a Weapon Attack. Therefore, Vorn can use Crossed Parry to defend himself from an Attack, while the Hammer Crush can only be used during his turn.

Important: Since spending Focus is a Minor Action, you may only use one Focus Ability per turn, regardless of the number of Focus tokens you have. It's good to remember that a turn is an individual part of a round and thus, even if you used a Focus Ability during your turn, you may use a Focus Ability that is a Reaction later in the same round if you wish to.

Important: This Minor Action can be taken even if your Hero is engaged in combat. This is an exception to the general rule.

Focus Abilities may grant Weapon Attacks, Spell Attacks, Movement, or any kind of effect. To resolve them, follow the same instructions as if you were reading the effects of a Skill. Although they are very similar, some things about their resolutions are different and are good to keep in mind:

• The Range for Weapon Attacks made with Focus Abilities is defined by your Weapon's Type. Melee Weapons have Range 0 while Ranged Weapons have Range 1; therefore, if your Hero has a Ranged or Implement Weapon, they must check for combat engagement.
• Unless the ability says otherwise, Spell Attacks, Reactions, and symbol-less effects have a Range as if they were an Agility or Wisdom Skill (unlimited). Move effects, when not specified otherwise, target the Hero themselves.
• Focus Abilities may have specified Targets. They could be as restrictive as "SELF," or broader as in "UP TO TWO." Either way, they must always respect its allowed Range, as described above.

Class Abilities

Each class has its own unique mix of abilities that only a Hero of that class has access to. At the beginning of the Campaign, you don't have any of your Class Abilities unlocked, but you can learn them as the Campaign goes on.

Whenever you learn and unlock a new Class Ability, simply add a white cube to the chosen class ability. If it is the first Ability from a tree, also take its card.

Learning Class Abilities

Your Class Abilities are divided into four branches called "trees." As you learn abilities in a tree, you gain access to more powerful abilities. Each Class Ability card shows a single tree that includes a total of three Class Abilities.

You always have to learn the first ability in a tree before you can learn the higher abilities. Most trees give you a choice for your second ability, but some trees offer only a single path.

Example: The Ranger has four ability trees: Marksman, Trapmaster, Beastmaster, and Huntsman. If you learn the first Beastmaster ability (Wild Strength), you can then learn either of the other two abilities (Oakenskin and Master Trainer). On the other hand, if you start the Huntsman tree (Relentless Tracker), you only have one choice (Bounty of the Hunt), and then (Hunting Squad) later on.

Important: You may always learn any of the starting abilities in any tree. You are not required to learn all of the abilities in a tree before starting another one.

Using Class Abilities

Class Abilities are usually "passive," meaning that they are always in effect as soon as you learn them.

Many abilities provide a bonus to one of your Hero's actions, such as additional Health, Movement, or a modifier to your attack rolls. Others might have Triggered Abilities or give your Hero new actions to perform—there is no general rule.

Just like Passive Skills, Triggered Class Abilities, unless specified otherwise, have unlimited Range.

Example: The Mage's Arcane Study explains that its target is the Hero themselves, through the Keyword SELF; whereas the Cleric's Rewarding Pursuit does not restrict any type of Target in its effect, meaning that it can Target any character at any Range.

Abilities that give a bonus to your effects apply only when you are the source of the described effect, not the receiver (some abilities might work the other way around, but if that is the case, they specifically say so).

Example: The Warrior's Sturdiness gives a +1 bonus to PREVENTS they cast (Equipment is included); whereas the Cleric's Comforting Word does the same for their HEALS.

Multiclassing

Though it is recommended that you play each Hero using their regular Class Ability cards, if you would like to spice things up and customize your own Hero, you can use these optional Multiclassing Rules. Here's how you do it:

• Each Hero may have up to one additional class besides their Primary Class. Take Maya for example: she's a Ranger, so this is her Primary Class.
• Simply choose a tree card from the new class and learn its Level 1 Ability. The Class which that tree belongs to becomes your Secondary Class. Once this choice is made, you cannot later choose a third Class.
• You can only choose a Class that is not currently being played by any other Hero to be your Secondary. For example, if there's a Warrior such as Vorn in your party, they "own" all their Primary Class cards and you could not choose Warrior as your Second Class.

The AoD's Core Box features 5 Classes, so multiclassing will be easier with small parties. Many other expansions, however, add new classes to your game system, increasing your multiclassing possibilities.

Dungeon Roles

A Dungeon Role is the posture your Hero chooses to take when fighting Darkness, improving your options for customization. Giving access to a specific set of Skills designed to help you fulfill your role in the party, this feature can provide interesting interactions with your Hero Skills.

There are five Dungeon Roles to choose from: Controller, Defender, Leader, Striker, and Support.

Some Dungeon Role Skills are Passive whereas other Skills require you to spend an Action Cube to use them. These Skills usually have a multi-colored box, meaning, as mentioned before, that you can use any matching color Action Cube to activate them, but the color of cube you use defines the Range for its effects.

You begin your career with both cards I and II of your chosen Dungeon Role, and you may even learn two more Skills through your Adventures (the third card, starting with side "A" up). For progression purposes, a Dungeon Role Skill counts as a Hero Skill. So, whenever you are instructed to learn a new Hero Skill, you may choose to learn your Dungeon Role Skill of that same level instead (you must still have the first level of a Dungeon Role Skill learned in order to learn its second level).

Any Hero can play with any Dungeon Role they want to. Try to choose the role that fits with your play style and the needs of your party!

Also, Dungeon Roles can be changed during a Campaign and thus, unlike other Hero Skills, they are transferable to the new Role you are getting. In other words, the Dungeon Role's improvements are tied to the Hero, not to the Role itself.

Example: If you have learned Skill "A" from the third card of your current Dungeon Role and you choose to change it, so you can use it as if you have trained Skill "A" from the third card of your new Role as well. However, the opposite applies if you are picking a new Role from another player who already trained its Level 1 Skill while you have not: Only the two starter Dungeon Role cards will be available to you.

At the beginning of the game, use only cards I and II. Whenever you would learn a Level 1 Hero Skill, you may choose to learn from your Dungeon Role instead, adding card III-A to your playing area. If you keep improving, with a Skill Level 2 upgrade, you may learn the next Skill by flipping the card to III-B.

Initiative and Party Leadership

Dungeon Roles are also important to set the order that each Hero will act inside the party. Every Role has its specific slot on the Initiative Track.

Also, many gameplay effects use the Party Leader as a tie-breaker for some decisions, or Target reference for some effects. This role, in turn, is also defined by the Dungeon Role you choose.

Here follows a list of all Dungeon Roles with a small description of their strengths and their priority in defining leadership:

• Leaders are experts in coordinating attacks and extracting the best from their allies. Leaders also always are the Party Leader. They are the "first in line of command."
• Defenders are experts in withstanding injuries and offering protection to your Party. Defenders become the Party Leader if no character has chosen the Leader Role. They are the "second in line of command."
• Supporters are experts in providing resources to allies, helping them in times of need. Supporters become the Party Leader if no character has chosen the Leader or Defender Role. They are the "third in line of command."
• Controllers are experts at creating obstacles and disabling enemies for your Party. They become the Party Leader if no character has chosen the Leader, Defender, or Support Roles. They are the "fourth in line of command."
• Strikers are experts at getting hits and inflicting damage, clearing the way for your Party. Strikers have the lowest priority to be the Party Leader. They are the "fifth in line of command."

Equipment

Equipping New Equipment

Dungeon delving can be a very profitable job if performed correctly, and after some time on the road, your Hero certainly will find or receive new Equipment.

A Hero can store any kind of Equipment they find in their bags, but they can only equip new Equipment if they are proficient with it. So, the first thing regarding Equipment you need to know about is your Hero's set of proficiencies, presented on their boards.

Example: Elros is able to equip Weapons that are Light Weapons; Off-Hand Tools that are Off-Hand Weapons; Armor that is Leather Armor; and Trinkets, which every Hero is proficient with.

Weapons

Weapons are one of the most important Categories of Equipment in AoD. Without one, your Hero cannot make any Weapon Attacks. They also define the Range of your Focus Abilities that are Weapon Attacks, as well as the Weapon Attacks you make when commanded. Aside from these basic needs, many Weapons have passive benefits as Triggered effects, making them a very complete and useful piece of Equipment.

Weapons are divided into four Subtypes and your Hero is usually able to Equip only one of them. They are: Heavy Weapons; Implement Weapons; Light Weapons; and Ranged Weapons. To identify which Weapon Subtype a Weapon belongs to, you just need to check the description on its card, right below its name.

Example: Blooded Sword is a Light Weapon, and thus, Elros can equip it.

Weapon Type and Range

Weapons can have different ranges based on their combat characteristics: Melee or Ranged. To identify the Range of your weapon, just check the symbol at the top right of the card. If it is yellow with the stabbing knife symbol, it is a Melee Weapon; if it is red with the aim symbol, then it is a Ranged Weapon.

A quick tip: Light Weapons and Heavy Weapons are Melee while Implement Weapons and Ranged Weapons are Ranged.

Example: Jagged Blade Axe is a Melee Weapon while Elvish Bow is a Ranged Weapon.

As mentioned already, a Weapon's Range (and therefore its Type) is important in determining three things:

• The Range of your Focus Abilities that are Weapon Attacks;
• The Range of the Weapon Attacks you make when commanded by an ally;
• And whether or not you can make Weapon Attacks through those two abilities while engaged in combat.

It's good to remember that, regardless of your Weapon's Range, you can make Melee and Ranged Weapon Attacks through your Skills.

As mentioned on page 28, the Skill Type, or the color of the Action Cube you used to activate that Skill (if that Skill has a multi-colored slot), is what defines the Attack's Range and whether you can make it while engaged or not.

Your Weapon's Range will only be taken into account when you don't use an Action Cube of your own to make a Weapon Attack.

Off-Hand Tool

In addition to Weapons, Heroes are able to wield other tools to assist them. Depending on the style and abilities of each class, this tool can be an agile and reliable off-hand weapon; a resistant shield to withstand many blows; or some kind of relic with magic power.

In the same way your Hero is proficient with a single Subtype of Weapon (usually), they are also proficient with a single Subtype of Off-Hand Tool. They are: Off-Hand Weapon; Shield; and Relic.

Example: Since Elros is proficient with Off-Hand Weapons, he can equip the Throwing Dagger, but not the Iron Shield.

Some Off-Hand tools may have Skills instead of passive benefits. There is no general rule about these effects and each one can adapt differently to your style of play and the specifics of your Hero.

Armor

To better protect themselves, Heroes rely on armor they acquire along the way. Each Hero begins their journey with basic armor, however, others can be found during their Campaign. Like the two previous items, a Hero can only equip an Armor that they are proficient with. They are: Cloth Armor; Leather Armor; and Plate Armor.

Example: Elros is proficient with Leather Armor and thus, he can equip the Padded Leather Armor, but not the Lesser Displacement Cloak.

Trinkets

In addition to weapons and armor, Heroes also have some other peripherals classified as "miscellaneous" that can give special passive benefits or have their own Skills. All Heroes are equally proficient with any Equipment classified as Trinkets.

Example: Even with their effects being so different, Elros could equip either the Amulet of Power or the Ring of Precision since they are both Trinkets.

Due to this huge flexibility and variety of effects, Trinkets can cover many weak spots of your Hero, as well as providing interesting combinations to best suit your needs or playstyle.

The Equipment Card

1. Equipment Name
2. Equipment Type—Weapon, Off-Hand Tool, Armor or Trinket.
3. Equipment Subtype
4. Weapon Type—Melee or Ranged. Considered only when making Weapon Attacks through Focus Abilities or when commanded by allies.
5. Accuracy Value or Dock Slots—the value you must roll on the D20 to hit with this Weapon, or the Action Cube you must spend to use this Skill.
6. Base Damage—the amount of damage you inflict on a successful hit. Only Weapons will have this attribute.
7. Description—Describes the Equipment Special Effects.
8. Source—Where the Equipment was acquired.
9. Set Icon—Indicates which expansion this Equipment belongs to.
10. Illustration

Interacting with Equipment (Cards and Effects)

With layers and more layers of effects and details that you learned so far, some doubts may arise regarding the interaction between Equipment, Skills, Effects, and so on. Here you can find some clarifications about these matters:

• When you equip Equipment with a dock slot, you do not receive an extra Action Cube. Only when a Hero learns a new Hero Skill or Dungeon Role Skill are they rewarded with an Action Cube.
• If you want to use a Skill on any of your Equipment, you must be equipped with that Equipment and spend an AC that matches a color needed to use that Skill. If that Skill is a Reaction, you must use it as a Reaction, and, likewise, if it is a Cube Action, you must use it as one of the two Cube Actions you are allowed to take during your turn.
• You can't block an Equipment's Skill with a Curse Cube or Trauma Cube.
• If an Equipment has two dock slots, it means that its Skill can be used twice (but still only once per threat).
• If you want to exchange one of your equipped items with one stored in your bag, or give Equipment to another Hero, you must use the Exchange Items Minor Action (see page 29).
• Discarded Equipment returns to their respective decks: a Camp Item Level 01 should return to the Camp Item Level 01 deck, while an Adventure Item should return to the Adventure deck.

Double-Sided Items

Many Adventure Items have two faces, allowing them flexible use (in some cases) or progression capability, preventing them from becoming obsolete throughout the Campaign.

This is an example of a Double-Sided Adventure Item, the Family Locket. Which face is the front and which face is the back is explained beside its Expansion Symbol.

When a Hero takes an Adventure Item, they always receive it with the FRONT face up. They can't voluntarily choose to use the BACK face or flip the card. However, some effects on the card itself will allow or force them to flip the card as part of their mechanic. Once flipped, the same rule applies: a card cannot be flipped back unless an effect allows or forces them to.

Example: As a part of the "Purge the Wicked" effect, you must flip the Good-Quality Torch over.

Some Adventure Items have a different mechanic and one of their faces represents the standard version for that item while its back presents an "enhanced" version, achieved through the combination of some specific in-game effects. These items will have the "socket" option to represent this change. By adding (and discarding) a Cosmic Gemstone (a Consumable Item that has only this purpose), a Hero can flip one of their Adventure Items that has the "socketed" property. This action is permanent.

This is an example of a Cosmic Gemstone. They can be found either as Adventure Items through Interactions, or as a treasure from the Chest deck. Their effect is the same.

Monsters

Mere bodies at the service of a mysterious and consuming force, Monsters are the most common villains you will encounter. As the Darkness takes over a region, a Kingdom, or even an entire world, it does not waste any of its precious resources...

Overview

In AoD, there are seven different types of Monsters sorted by their "raw power." Among these seven types, three of them are classified also by their combat abilities.

Although this might seem a lot of information to put together, you don't have to worry about the Monsters you will face: All Setups will detail each enemy to you.

You can find here a short list of all Monster types, ascending from the lowest to the highest in their hierarchy:

• Minions: Recently spawned, these are the weakest creatures among the Darkness' armies, they are the "cannon fodder."
• White Monsters, Gray Monsters, and Black Monsters: Ascending from the first to the last, these are the main forces at the enemy's disposal. With the capability to learn and adapt, they are also classified regarding their battlefield experience: Rookie, Fighter, Veteran, and Champion.
• Commander: Formidable enemies that rely on different strategies to fight the Heroes, Commanders are among the toughest creatures the Darkness can count on.
• Overlord: Outranked only by the Generals themselves, these powerful Monsters have mastered many combat styles, switching from one strategy to another as the tide of battle comes and goes. These creatures are not easily found, but they are even harder to defeat.
• Generals: Known by the common folk as the "Bosses," Generals can be far tougher than the Overlords, proving themselves to be the real threat that a world must face when invaded by Darkness.

Understanding a Monster Card

Each Monster card shows the following:

1. Type Symbol—White, Gray, Black, Golden (Commander) or Purple (Overlord). If none, the Monster has no type.
2. Monster Name
3. Monster Rank
4. Illustration
5. Immunities
6. Health—Each Monster of this type has the Health points shown.
7. Rune Position—shows you where the Monster card is placed on the Initiative Track. Take note that there is an arrow indicating if it should be placed on the top or the bottom section.
8. Movement—the number of squares (or areas for large Monsters) that the Monster may move each turn.
9. Attack Type—Melee, Ranged, or Magical.
10. Base Damage—If this is a "-", this Monster doesn't Attack.
11. Special Abilities—All special features about a Monster's turn or Attack are written in this space. Passive Special abilities are written in BLUE, while Triggered Abilities are written in PINK. All other text in BLACK regards Attack features like Multi-Targeting or collateral damage.

Monster Sizes

Monsters are also sorted by two size categories, regarding their base size for rule purposes. Small Monsters, which have a 25mm base; and Large Monsters, with their 40mm bases or larger.

• Small Monsters occupy a single square. They Move from square to square, as Heroes do.
• Large Monsters occupy an entire area (blue square). They move from area to area, as mentioned on page 22.

Being Large also provides some benefits: Large Monsters are immune to KNOCK DOWN, PUSH, STUN, and TELEKINESIS. Some effects may surpass these inherited immunities, but they will always specify so.

Important: A special icon is used to indicate when a Monster is LARGE. Some Small Monsters may have this icon as well, meaning that they have all Large Immunities, although they are still Small.

Monster Turns

As mentioned before, when the Initiative Marker moves onto a Monster card, all Monsters of that type are activated and take their turn, following the order of their colored snap-on base. After all Monsters of that type have been activated, that Monster's turn ends and the Marker must be moved forward.

A Monster turn consists of these simple steps followed in the order they are written:

1. Conditions: First, any Conditions that are affecting the Monster (such as POISON, BURN, SLOW and so on) must be resolved.

   Important: A Monster that is defeated in this step does not trigger any of their abilities from the following step.

2. Triggered Abilities: Then, any abilities that trigger at the beginning of a Monster's turn (such as SHIELD) take effect at this time. They are the ones written in PINK.

3. Preparation: Afterwards, the Monster checks its possible Targets considering if they have multiple Attack Options; how many Targets they can reach; or if they can move to gain advantage on top of Darkness.

4. Move: Once a Monster has defined its Target or Targets, then it moves towards them if needed.

5. Attack: At last, the Monster attacks and its turn ends.

6. FLIP: Complex Behavior Monsters, however, have a sixth step to fulfill: they must flip their card over to change their behavior for the next round.

Conditions and Triggered Abilities

These two steps of a Monster's turn are very simple and straightforward: any Condition affecting the Monster takes place and then, if the Monster survives, their Triggered Abilities are resolved.

Usually, all effects presented during these Steps will be referenced into keywords and whenever you face an effect that you are not yet familiarized with, you can always check the Conditions, Keywords, and Terms Dictionary on page 54.

Preparation, Move, and Attack

These three steps, although done in order, are tracked together, once the Monster makes its preparation, taking into account how many squares they can move and which Targets they can reach.

When making their preparation, a Monster's "Artificial Intelligence" always takes the following elements into account:

• First, the Monster will check if it possesses Multi-Target Attacks. If it does, then it will seek to reach as many Heroes as it can.

  Important: CLEAVE, MULTISHOT, and STRIKE are examples of Multi-Target Attacks. ATTACK TWICE is not.

• Second, the Monster will target their Primary Target (see below) or the group of Heroes which they are part of (if they have Multi-Target Attacks). If a Monster has plenty of enemies within reach, it will always attack their Primary Targets among these.

  Important: Whenever a Monster does not use a Keyword to describe its Primary Target, it means that they seek the Strongest Hero. All standard Monsters, for example, act like this.

• Then, the Monster takes its Move Action (if needed) and Attacks its Targets.

  Important: If a Monster cannot reach its Primary Target, it will swap to the next Target it could reach following its behavior.

  Important: If a Monster cannot reach any Target during its turn, it will use all of its movement towards its Primary Target.

  Important: If a Monster cannot see any Targets at all (assuming that all Heroes, Pets, and Companions managed to gain Stealth somehow), they will pass their turn without moving or attacking. Conditions will take effect and abilities will trigger either way.

Example: Consider the Executioner (Standard). Jaheen is currently the Strongest Hero with 10 Health; Lorelai is the Weakest Hero with 6 Health; and Elros is in the middle of them with 8 Health. Since the Executioner - Rookie has CLEAVE 2, it will pursue Lorelai and Elros instead of Jaheen since it could hit a greater number of Heroes this way. If Lorelai were in a different position, the Executioner - Rookie would only be able to hit one Hero with its Attack in any case and thus, it would go straight to the Strongest Hero instead, which is Jaheen.

Pets and Companions Priority

Monsters do not perceive a Pet or Companion as a Hero and thus they are never taken into account during its preparation.

However, this doesn't mean that Monsters are completely unaware of their threat. If a Monster could Attack a Pet or a Companion without having to swap between Primary Targets, it will always do so. This can happen very often against Monsters with MULTISHOT when you are playing a solo game.

Example: Consider the Executioner from the previous example, with Jaheen as the Strongest Hero with 10 Health, and now with Jynx, the Eagle, next to Lorelai. Since the Executioner has CLEAVE 2, this won't change the Executioner's behavior, since Monsters do not perceive Pets as Heroes. Jaheen is still the Primary Target and thus the Executioner will hit him. On the other hand, if the Executioner were able to attack Jynx without losing its Primary Target, it would have done so—for instance, if it could hit both Jaheen and Jynx at once, it would choose to, taking the best from its CLEAVE ability.

Monster Movement

During their turn, Monsters receive a number of movement points as displayed on their card and they use the same rules as Heroes (see page 22). However, when a Monster moves, it tends to move the shortest distance needed towards its Target (or Targets).

Naturally, a Monster will avoid harmful terrain (see below) and seek to end its movement on top of Darkness to receive its damage bonus. However, if there is no other way, they will approach their Targets wandering through dangerous terrain. Monsters have more hatred for the Heroes than regard for their own lives.

They are not (very) stupid though. If able, a Monster would take a longer route to avoid such perils or gain advantage from Darkness, but they will always respect their hatred first.

Resolving Monster Attacks

Unlike Heroes, Monsters do not roll dice when they Attack, they always score a successful hit if their Target is in Range. This doesn't mean, however, that the Heroes should take this damage willingly. As mentioned before, whenever threatened, Heroes have a chance to respond through their Reactions (see page 14).

Any special information regarding Monster Attacks, as well as collateral damage, is written the same way a Hero Skill would be: commas tie information, while semicolons are used to separate effects.

Likewise, Monster Attacks do collateral damage like Weapon Attacks do. Whenever that is the case, as with Heroes, they will only take effect if the attack does at least one damage to its Target. So, if you manage to PREVENT all damage from a Monster's attack, you avoid its collateral damage as well.

Example: The Shadow Knight - Rookie has three distinguished abilities: SHIELD 1, that is Triggered; STRIKE 2 that is a Multi-Target Attack; and KNOCK DOWN, that is a collateral damage.

The Crux of the Matter

Some Monsters (mainly Alternate versions) may have an "X" replacing a number to describe an ability strength. Whenever this variable appears, it means the number of Runes on the Initiative Track that matches the color of this Monster's Rune.

Monster Attacks: Melee

Melee monsters fight at close range and will rely most of the time on good movement to reach their target and deal some damage.

Since they are melee attackers, they are not subjected to any engagement restriction as ranged Monsters are and due to their short range, they will seek new positions less often than a ranged Monster with MULTISHOT, for example.

Their behavior tends to always be flat: "Lock-on to their Targets, check for advantageous positions, then move and Attack."

Monster Attacks: Ranged

Ranged Monsters, as the icon and their Attack Type suggest, are ranged and their Attacks, by default, have Range 1 (the same for Heroes' Ranged Skills).

Likewise, they need time and space to take the proper aim for their Attacks and as with any Hero, they cannot Attack while they are engaged in combat (see page 13).

That being said, before attacking, Ranged Monsters that are engaged must try to move away from engagement. This won't change any step of their turn, but forces them to move. If a Monster is unable to move away from the engagement, it won't move or attack this turn.

Ranged Monsters with MULTISHOT tend to move quite a lot through the battlefield from round to round, always seeking new ways to attack more than a single Target. Keep an eye open for their turns.

Monster Attacks: Magical Attacks

Spellcasting Monsters can target any Hero (or Heroes) on the board. As with melee Monsters, they do not have to worry about engagement restrictions and since they have unlimited Range, it's most likely that they will just stay still while attacking. Monsters like this will only move if they need to leave a harmful terrain or if they could reach Darkness and receive its bonus.

Their behavior also tends to be flat: "Lock-on to their Targets, check for advantageous positions, then move and Attack."

The Armies of Darkness

Now that you were introduced to Monsters in an overall approach and tracked their standard behavior, let's dive into the Armies of Darkness and learn the particulars of each of those enemies.

Minions

Being expendable troops, these Monsters compensate for their lack of raw strength through numbers.

Minions are not present on any Door's Setup, but they are constantly summoned by Special Mechanics such as the "Monster Raid" or a General's Attack cards.

Minions do not have a color as White, Gray, and Black Monsters do (this can be relevant for some effects).

Apart from this, Minions are just like any other Monster.

White Monsters, Gray Monsters, and Black Monsters

From the Skeleton Archer to the Shadow Knight, these three types of Monsters are the most common threats a Hero will face during their Adventures.

Hierarchically speaking, Black Monsters are stronger than Grey Monsters that, in turn, are stronger than White Monsters.

These Monsters also take into account their rank, which is the translation of their battlefield experience into game statistics, when defining their strength: the greater the rank, the stronger a Monster is.

Champions are the most dangerous among them, followed by Veterans, Fighters, and then Rookies. Even a White Monster with the Rookie rank, which would be the weakest among these Monsters, outranks the Minions.

Apart from their color and Rank, these Monsters also have different personalities even among the same kind. To represent these variations, each Monster has a double-sided card and some of them even have more variants, completely changing the way they behave on their turn.

Example: A Skeleton Archer's card has a Standard side on one face and an Alternate side on the other.

Standard and Alternate Monster Versions

Whenever a Setup instructs you to Summon a Monster, by default, it means for you to Summon a Standard Version of that Monster.

However, this is not a rule, but a suggestion.

If your Party desires more variety and strategic planning, you may Summon the Alternate version of these Monsters instead. This won't make the game necessarily harder (mathematically speaking), but more complex (which can lead to a harder experience).

Standard Monsters and Alternate Monsters are built following the same balance formulas, but the Alternate version of a Monster always Targets Heroes other than the Strongest Hero and, usually, has keywords with more complex effects.

Complex Behavior Monster Versions

Deepening this concept of Standard and Alternate Versions, a few Monsters also have what is called "Complex Behavior," meaning that the way they act might change from one round to another, adding even more variety to an encounter.

Likewise, a Setup won't instruct you to Summon a Monster with Complex Behavior, but you can do it if you want to. These Monsters also have the same numbers as any other.

Complex Behavior Monsters are always summoned with their card set with face "A" up on the Initiative Track and, at the end of the last Monster of their kind's turn, that card must be flipped over. By doing this, Complex Behavior Monsters will act differently from one round to the next, switching between those two behaviors.

Example: A Shadow Knight's Complex Behavior card has side "A" on one face and "B" on the other.

Important: Some Monsters with Complex Behavior might have different Rune affiliations between the sides and thus, when they FLIP, they will also move their position on the Initiative Track. By doing this, they might even get the opportunity to act two times in a single round and that is fine, they were meant to be like this.

Commanders

With their errant forms, Commanders are among the toughest enemies you might face. Only the most wicked souls, when consumed, are turned into such monstrosities...

Although they follow the same rules as any other Monster, Commanders have some features that turn their encounters into special challenges: Their Health is calculated differently; they always have an effect tied to their Rune color ("X"); and, most importantly, they receive additional actions (or "buffs") to play during a round.

Calculating a Commander's Health

A Commander's Starting Health is calculated by the number displayed on their card times the number of the Commander Power (CP) provided by the instruction that Summoned it. The CP, in turn, is based on a solid number plus the number of Players (or Heroes) in your party.

Thus, the instruction that Summons a Commander will be written like this: "1x Commander with CP 1+P", meaning that the CP will be 1 plus your party size.

Example: There are three players in your Party and the Setup says "1x Commander with CP 2+P". The CP, in this case, will be 5 (2+3). Taking a Commander with 8 Health as an example, it would have 40 Health in total (8x5 = 40).

Important: Commanders have no Maximum Health Limit and thus, any overheal provided by their abilities keeps adding to their Health.

Commander Attack Cards

To balance the odds against an entire party of Heroes, Commanders rely on special attacks they launch during a round, in addition to their own turn. Those abilities are presented through Commander Attack cards.

When you Summon a Commander, you must also take the Commander Attack deck, shuffle it, and draw one card for each Hero playing this Adventure. Place these cards on the Initiative Track in the positions indicated by their Runes.

Any variable "X" described on these cards means the number of Runes on the Initiative Track that matches that Attack's Rune.

Whenever the Initiative Marker reaches one of these Commander Attack cards, you must apply their described effects and then move the Marker forward.

Important: Some of those cards only have Passive Skills, meaning that you just need to move the Marker forward when it reaches them. Their effects are always active.

Important: Attack cards do not receive the bonus damage for having their Commander (or Overlord, see below) on top of Darkness. Only their base attack (the ones they make during their Monster card's activation) do.

With all of this being said, it's good to keep in mind that an Attack card activation does not count as a Commander's turn. Thus, the Commander won't activate when resolving a Commander Attack card (unless the card specifies so, as Haste does) even though they might take the current Commander's position on the board as a reference for the effect's Range.

The Commander's own turn happens when the Initiative Marker reaches its card on the Initiative Track, as it would with any other Monster. The Attack cards function only as special actions, not additional turns (unless they specify so, as said before).

Putting All Things Together...

In a short version, to Summon a Commander you have to:

• Place its miniature on the board and its card on the Initiative Track, as you would with any Monster;
• Then, draw Commander Attack cards—one for each player (Hero) in the party;
• Set its starting Health: Its Health Value times the CP instructed by the Setup.

Important: The CP is variable and "players" in this case, also means the size of your party.

Example: For a party with three Heroes, a CP 2+Players would be 5 (2+3). Thus, if the Commander had 8 Health displayed on its card, its starting Health would be 40 (5 x 8 = 40).

Overlords

Commanders who live long enough to claim the bodies and souls of many prey grow in strength and evolve into these aberrant creatures. Overlords are rare as they are dangerous...

As their small description suggests, Overlords are very similar to Commanders, but stronger. Thus, a Setup will rarely instruct you to Summon an Overlord, but you may do so by replacing a Commander whenever you would Summon it, if you wish to deal with a more challenging experience.

Overall, Overlords are just like Commanders with two exceptions:

• Instead of using the Commander Attack cards, Overlords use Attack cards of their own, the Overlord Attack cards;
• Through their MAELSTROM Triggered Ability, Overlords shuffle their Attack cards back into their deck to then draw a new hand, possibly changing them from round to round.

Apart from this, Overlord Attack cards are also balanced through a different perspective. While the Commanders tend to have the same mathematical formula applied to each card, Overlord Attack cards follow a rarity rate similar to the Chest cards, meaning that the rarer a card is, the stronger its effects are.

The Demon Lord Overlord can be found in the "Monster Pack" Expansion, sold separately.

Customizing Your Commanders and Overlords

For increased variety and replayability, both the Commander Attack deck and the Overlord Attack deck were developed with a deck-building mechanic. Both decks contain exactly 10 cards, each attached to a different Rune position, and these cards may be swapped from time to time if you want to.

This Corebox features only a single card option available to Commanders, but Overlord cards can be obtained with new expansions, as in the Monster Pack.

To properly customize your Attack decks without affecting their mathematical balance, you must not change the building rules, only the cards, paying attention to the following instructions:

• An Attack deck must have exactly 10 cards, one for each Rune position (each color, up and down);
• You can only replace a card with another card that has the same category as the first one (Commander Attacks for Commander Attacks, and Overlord's for Overlord's), and they must also occupy the same Rune color and position on the Initiative Track (Red up for a Red up and so on).

Generals (Bosses)

Behind all of those mindless creatures, a powerful force embodies the wishes of the enemy and carries on its mysterious agenda. These are the Generals, also known by the common folk as "Bosses" in honor of the fear they inspire. Unlike any other Monster, these creatures have a mind of their own, pointing that maybe the enemy is not so errant as it seems...

Being the ultimate antagonist of a Campaign, Bosses are Monsters who follow a third set of special Attack rules which, in turn, are similar to the Commanders and Overlords, but they have their own particulars as described below:

• When a Boss encounter starts, the Book of Adventures instructs the players to take a series of steps and procedures, preparing them for the upcoming fight.
• Boss Attack cards are fixed. They do not draw them at random as Commanders and Overlords do, they are always five regardless of your party's size. During some fights, however, you might be asked to add or remove some of these cards based on the Outcomes (page 6) you have received.
• Usually, a Boss has a huge Health pool, since their encounters are almost an Adventure of its own.

Bosses also have a special board called the "Boss Monster Board," where you can find the game statistics about that Boss, its immunities, special abilities, and keep track of its Health.

Darkness

A mysterious enemy from another world, the Darkness is a constant threat. As you advance in your Adventures, you will learn a little more about this force of destruction, but, along the way, it will never be asleep, waiting for a chance to corrupt you to its side...

As a standard rule, when the Initiative Marker moves onto a Rune card, it is time for the Darkness to act against the Heroes. Some Adventures might ask you to place a second card on the Initiative Track, meaning that the antagonistic forces may have two turns to act in that round. Special Scenario cards like this will always carry instructions of their own effects written on them and thus, there is no need to worry about it right now. All you have to do is read and resolve them.

While this may happen or not, one thing is certain: Almost every Adventure you will face will have the "Darkness Hunting" Rune card. On its turn, you have to do the following:

1. Draw the described number of Runes from the Rune bag;
2. Find the Darkness tile that is shown on the back of the Rune token and place that tile on the map (see below);
3. Then, put the Rune token on the Initiative Track, on top of the matching Rune, with the Rune side up.

The Rune is placed on the Initiative Track and its respective shape of Darkness tile is placed (spawned) on the board.

The enemy is not placed randomly on the board. In general, the Darkness will grow towards the Strongest Hero, trying to catch it. If a Darkness tile fails to reach the Strongest Hero because it is not large enough, it should be positioned in such a way that it gets as close as possible to doing so.

Sometimes, this could be done in more than one way and whenever this is the case, the Party Leader has the power to decide how the tile will be placed on the map, as long as it fulfills the mentioned criteria: get as close as possible to its Target.

On the other hand, if Darkness would fail to catch the Strongest Hero because they are already on top of Darkness, then the new tile changes to grow towards the second Strongest Hero and so on.

If by any chance all Heroes are already inside Darkness, skip that spawning and all Heroes take Y non-preventable damage where Y is equal to the number of Heroes playing this Adventure (the Rune must be placed on the Initiative Track regardless). This is called "Crush" damage and even characters immune to Darkness take it.

Darkness is never affected by Hero abilities such as STEALTH, but it chases the Heroes even if it wouldn't affect them. Thus, it will chase even a Target immune to its damage (some Class Abilities can give you this benefit) or a Hero that is already knocked out (assuming that they are the Strongest Hero that is not on top of Darkness even if their current Health is 0).

Darkness Tiles

The chasing Darkness is represented on the board by Darkness tiles. They come in a variety of shapes and they only affect the squares they cover. Their forms can be found on the back of any Rune responsible for its spawning.

The small Darkness tiles never appear on Rune tokens. They are used when the drawn tile has a shape that cannot be placed on the board (such as when there is not enough room on the map). Each small Darkness tile covers one square on the board.

Darkness tiles also corrupt terrain, turning into Darkness each square they cover (only the squares they cover). Therefore, when a character steps on a Darkness that is on top of Lava terrain, they do not receive BURN, but the Darkness' effects instead.

Darkness Spawning

All Map tiles have a Darkness Spawn Point, marked with a special icon. As a standard rule, when a Darkness tile should be added to the board, it must either be placed on top of a Darkness Spawn Point or orthogonally adjacent and connecting to a Darkness that is already on the board (either tile or map). Either way, growing towards its Target.

Example: On a given map, the first Darkness tile is drawn and placed on the Darkness Spawn Point. It will grow outwards from there, trying to catch the Heroes.

Example 1: Consider the Darkness pursuing Elros. The first tile spawns in the corner of the map, stretching as close to the assassin as possible. The Darkness could also have been placed on the board in another way. Both ways are correct, since it chases the Strongest Hero (occupying the largest number of spaces towards you, in case it can't reach you). As mentioned earlier, when there are two or more correct ways to place a Darkness tile, the Party Leader will choose how it is placed.

It couldn't, however, be placed in a way where its edge closest to Elros would be two spaces away from him, whereas there were ways to place it leaving it just one space away from its Target.

Spawning Darkness Tiles That Do Not Fit

Not all placements will be so simple and straightforward as this example. If you must spawn a Darkness tile that does not fit on the board or that would hang over the edge of a higher level, do not place it on the board.

Instead, take three small Darkness tiles and place them on the board following the same rules.

Example: Elros is at a certain position and the Rune drawn this time has a shape that cannot fit in the corridor, so it is discarded and 3 small Darkness tiles are placed instead. As we can see, the Darkness, once broken, could either be placed stretching from the Darkness Spawning Point or connected to the small Darkness tile that was already on the board. Since by doing the last it would be able to reach Elros this turn, its correct placement would be as such.

This is true even if the Darkness could fit on the map, but would end closer to its Target by breaking into three small ones.

Keep in mind that although the Darkness tile was broken, the Rune token must still be added to the Initiative Track as usual.

Also, Darkness tiles can change between dungeon levels (see page 49) as a character would, as long as they are still connected adjacently to another Darkness already placed on the board.

Example: Considering the previous Darkness tile shape, instead of just stretching towards Elros after breaking, the enemy had a second option: spawn from Darkness already on the board. As we can see, the tiles changed from level 1 to level 2 without any trouble. They would even if they moved from 0 to 2, costing two points of "movement" (tiles) instead of one as normal.

This last example could lead us to one last, important question: when broken, if the Darkness reaches its Target by placing just one or two small Darkness tiles, what happens to the remaining ones?

As normal, they switch their Targets to the next Strongest Hero that is not already on top of Darkness, following its standard behavior. Again, the second tile might reach the second Strongest Hero at once, leaving a third tile to be placed; or all Heroes could be on top of Darkness at this point, leaving this tile without possible Targets.

When this is the case, since the Darkness tile was already broken to be placed on the board, the Heroes won't be subjected to Crush damage (it hasn't failed to be placed). All you have to do is discard any remaining small Darkness tile that just failed to be placed on the board at this second moment.

Although this is an interesting event, it is not so common.

Darkness General Effects

The Adventure you are playing may describe some special effects that occur when the Darkness catches up to a Hero or is placed on the board. Most times, however, the Darkness uses its standard effects which are:

• It deals 2 non-preventable damage to a Hero, Companion or Pet that was caught, stepped in, or ended its turn on top of a Darkness tile or map;

  Important: Some Heroes do not take damage from Darkness due to Class Abilities, Equipment, or even game benefits they received during an Adventure. This kind of protection saves them from taking this "catch" damage unless the effect specifies that it works against Hero Darkness immunities.

• It imposes a penalty of -2 HIT on all Weapon Attacks made by Heroes on top of it;

• It gives a +2 base damage boost to all Monsters that are on top of it.

Example: Elros and Lorelai are having a tough fight against a Shadow Knight. The Initiative token just reached Elros' card on the Track and now it is his time to act. The assassin moves two squares and when he steps on the Darkness for the first time this turn, he takes 2 damage from it. Since he already took damage from Darkness this turn, even if he steps on Darkness a second time (like he did), he will not take its damage again (this turn).

Elros now is ready to use Weapon Attack Skills like Backstab, but, since he is on top of Darkness, he will suffer a -2 HIT penalty. After Elros performs his attacks, he chooses to end his turn and does not take 2 damage from the Darkness tile again.

On its turn, the Shadow Knight moves to a position where it can Attack both heroes due to its STRIKE 2. Its figure is on top of Darkness (it is on top of four, but it only needs to be on top of one Darkness, even being Large), which means that its Attack deals +2 DMG.

Whenever you are in doubt if a Hero would or would not be affected by Darkness, check this short list below. It covers most of the possible game situations. The Heroes will be affected by Darkness every time they:

• Are caught by a Darkness tile spawned by a Rune;
• Step on a Darkness tile for the first time in a turn, which may happen more than once per round if they use a Reaction that gives them the ability to move outside their turn;
• End their turn on top of a Darkness tile having not yet taken Darkness damage this turn, which may happen if they started their turn already on top of Darkness and did not move;
• If they are on top of Darkness when rolling for a Weapon Attack.

Terrain

Dungeon delving would be easy if every surface was flat and level and free from obstructions. But that is often not the case...

AoD features various types of terrain in addition to the regular dungeon floor and some of them are filled with threats. We call this kind of terrain "Harmful Terrain."

As a general rule, a character is affected by terrain in only two cases, which are similar to the way they take damage from a Darkness:

• When they step into that terrain for the first time in a turn; or
• If they end their turn inside that terrain.

Regardless of the way a character was affected in a turn, they are only affected by each type of terrain once per turn, which could happen more than once per round.

Example: Elros started his turn and took his free Move Action. At his very first step, he entered Lava terrain and suffered BURN 2. Then, his second and third steps were also inside the Lava terrain, but since he already suffered its effects this turn, he doesn't suffer it again. When he finished his turn, even being inside the Lava terrain, Elros also suffered no harm, since he already had this turn.

Moving Forward: On its turn, the Shadow Knight attacked the Assassin, who, in turn, used his Leather Armor's Reaction Tumble, to PREVENT 2 and MOVE 2. If he moves, since it would be the first time he is stepping in Lava terrain during a turn again (it's the Shadow Knight's turn, not his now), he would suffer the effect one more time; if he does not move, however, since he just took a Reaction outside his turn instead of actually ending his turn inside harmful terrain, he would not suffer its effects.

Take note that timing is the key here. A seasoned Hero, as time goes by, will learn all of these tricks in order to avoid harmful terrain as much as they can. Or even use it to their advantage! Ending your turn and ending a Skill's effect outside your turn are different situations.

Following this line of thought, you can only take BURN 2 from stepping on Lava once per turn, but if you move through Lava into Spikes, you would also take BLEED 2 from the Spikes terrain since you haven't yet suffered from Spikes terrain in that turn.

Example: Elros starts his turn and, like before, takes his free Move Action. On his very first step, he enters Lava terrain and suffers BURN 2. His second step is also inside the Lava terrain and so, he doesn't suffer it again. His third step, however, is his first into Spikes terrain and thus, Elros suffers BLEED 2. When he finally ends his turn, he will not suffer BLEED 2 again.

Note: Harmful terrain can also be used to the Heroes' favor. Monsters are subjected to the same rules of terrain as Heroes and thus if a Hero throws a Monster in Lava, Spikes, and so on with effects like PUSH and TELEKINESIS, for example, they will immediately suffer that terrain's effect (since they will be stepping on them for the first time in a turn).

Note: It's always good to keep in mind that when a character starts its turn inside harmful terrain (or Darkness, for that matter), it is not yet affected by that terrain. Characters are affected only when they step on it for the first time during a turn, or if they end their turn inside it, whichever comes first.

One last detail is worth mentioning: As presented in the last chapter, when harmful terrain is covered by a Darkness tile, you should only consider the Darkness' effects over the squares it occupies.

So, if a character steps on a Darkness tile that is on top of Lava terrain, it won't suffer BURN 2, but only the Darkness effects instead.

All other squares of that terrain that aren't covered by Darkness, however, inflict their own effects as normal.

Types of Harmful Terrain

Water: Moving through water makes characters go slower than usual. When a character is affected by Water terrain, it immediately loses 1 point of movement from its current movement effect (if they entered it by moving).

Darkness: Darkness terrain works just like a Darkness tile (see previous chapter) regarding its effects, but is also considered a Darkness Spawn Point for rule purposes. Therefore, Darkness tiles cannot be placed on top of them (since they are Darkness of their own) and their effects are:

• Deals 2 non-preventable damage whenever a Hero steps into or ends their turn inside it;
• Any Hero on top of it suffers a -2 HIT penalty to all Attack Rolls;
• Any Monster on top of it gains a +2 DMG bonus to its attacks.

Lava: Lava is very hot and causes severe burns, inflicting damage over time. Whenever a character is affected by Lava terrain, it suffers BURN 2. Beware, Burn tokens are stackable and lingering on Lava can quickly become lethal.

Noxious Miasma: Composed of a cloud of toxic fumes and liquids. Whenever a character is affected by Noxious terrain, it suffers POISON 2. Just like Lava terrain, untreated POISON can easily be lethal.

Spikes: Sometimes, nothing beats the classics! Whenever a character is affected by Spikes terrain, it suffers BLEED 2. Although BLEED is the weakest of the damaging Conditions, combined with other effects, it can certainly take down a distracted Hero.

Tridimensional Terrain

AoD features a unique system to present a three-dimensional experience. Map tiles will typically be placed inside a plastic room base (or beneath them) when they are added to the board.

These room bases may have areas that are higher or lower than other areas. These different spaces are called "levels." These levels could be 0, which is the base—the table—where some tiles will be placed; 1, which is the first level of platforms on Dungeon Tray 1 and 2; or 2, which is the second level on Dungeon Tray 2, and the highest level a Setup in AoD can have.

The different levels of the dungeon map affect the game in the following ways:

• As mentioned in the Movement section of this Rulebook, characters moving in a single step from the lowest level (0) to the highest level (2) must pay 1 additional movement point. So, if a Hero wants to move from the table straight to the top of a Tray 2 terrain, it would cost a total of 2 movement points to do so.
• There is no cost to move down to a lower level, but it can be dangerous. Again, a character can move down one level per step without any trouble, but if a character chooses to move down 2 levels in a single step, it takes 2 non-preventable damage. This is called "Falling Damage."

Important: Although FLYING and JUMP prevent a character from receiving Falling Damage, they do not lower the cost in movement points to ascend two levels in a single step.

• If a Hero attacks an enemy at a different level, there is a modifier to their Weapon Attack Rolls. Heroes that are higher than their Targets have advantage (+2 to HIT), while Heroes lower than their Targets have disadvantage (-2 to HIT). This applies to both ranged and melee attacks.

  Important: Since advantage and disadvantage are relative to your current position and Target, it is possible to have advantage against one specific enemy while having disadvantage or being neutral to another. Each case must be checked individually.

Bridges

Special types of terrain that can be set between two Dungeon Trays in order to increase the experience of tridimensional dungeoneering, bridges can provide a safe path over harmful terrain beneath.

Bridges can be put into the first level (1) or second level (2) of a Dungeon Tray and they are always considered to be at the same level as the Trays they connect, with two exceptions:

• Characters can't pass through a square under a bridge. Those squares are considered blocked.

  Important: If a bridge would be placed over a square occupied by a character, that character may immediately change its position by moving aside, as if they were Shoved by it (page 23).

• Darkness tiles can stretch into squares that are under a suspended bridge.

  Important: A square under a bridge is considered to be adjacent to the square that hangs directly over it, along with any squares that are adjacent to that square.

Therefore, Darkness tiles can spawn in bridge squares that directly hang over it or that hang orthogonally adjacent to Darkness already placed on the board.

Important: If the bridge is at dungeon level 1, the Darkness tile can spawn from beneath it without breaking, since Darkness can change up to one level as a character would do. If the bridge is at level 2, however, since a character would need to spend 2 points of movement to climb that height, the Darkness will have to break and count as if it has already spent one of its small Darkness tiles in order to reach the bridge level.

This doesn't mean, however, that a character that is on top of a bridge that hangs over Darkness is on top of Darkness. Only characters directly on top of Darkness are subject to its effects.

Finally, bridges also have the power of covering, meaning that any terrain feature (including Darkness Spawn Points) is invalid as long as it is under a bridge.

The Camp

Usually at the end of each Adventure, the Heroes return to camp so they can heal up, acquire new Equipment, and learn new abilities in what is called the "Camp Phase."

You don't have to worry about when this phase should happen: the Adventure Book will tell you every time the party is supposed to have a Camp Phase, as well as when they are not.

When your Party is visiting the camp, place the Camp board in the play area (which at this point is probably empty) and each Hero must follow its described steps in the order they are written.

Rewards

In the Rewards section of an Adventure, at the very end of it, the Adventure Book describes what reward each Hero in your party will receive for completing the Adventure.

Immediately unlock or gain your latest reward and write it down on your Campaign Log. Keeping track of your rewards can be very helpful if you want to play different games with different parties and groups at the same time.

Equipment Offer

On certain occasions, the Heroes will be rewarded with a supply of Equipment called "Level X Equipment Deck."

Whenever this is the case, look for all the Equipment cards (usually there will be 28 of them) of that level and reveal them to the Heroes. Level X Equipment have a yellow flag with a number of stars equal to their level on their backs.

Each Hero will have the right to choose one of those cards. If two or more players are interested in the same Equipment, the Party Leader has the power to decide who will receive it (it is important to remember that during Adventures, Heroes will be able to exchange Equipment between themselves).

All Equipment that has not been chosen must be assembled into a new deck. This is called the "Previous Camp Items Deck" and on some occasions, an Interaction may allow you to draw, as randomly as possible, a card from this deck.

Important: The Previous Camp Items Deck is formed only by the last Camp Items deck that was revealed to your party. Thus, once your party reveals the Camp Items Level 02 deck, the Camp Items Level 01 deck should not be considered the Previous Camp Items Deck anymore.

Learning New Hero Skills and Acquiring New Action Cubes

AoD Skills are separated into three categories: Initial Skills (which the characters start the game with); Level 1 Skills; and Level 2 Skills. Skills are learned progressively: that is, you cannot learn a Level 2 Skill if you have not yet learned the Level 1 Skill of that same type. Dungeon Roles are also included in this rule.

Hero Skill Rewards have a specific Skill Level. Heroes can't choose, for example, to learn a Hero Skill Level 1 when they are supposed to learn a Hero Skill Level 2 or vice versa.

When learning a new Hero Skill, the Hero also receives a new Action Cube that matches the color of that Skill's Type, even if that Skill is Passive. That is, if they choose to learn a Melee Skill, they will receive a yellow Action Cube and add it to their player board.

When a Hero learns a new Dungeon Role Skill, they may choose the color of the cube they want to receive instead, which can be of any color. If you later choose to change your Dungeon Role, you may also change the color of the cube you received. So, note on your Campaign Log which color you have chosen.

Learning New Class Abilities

Unlike Hero Skills and Dungeon Roles, when a Hero learns a Class Ability, they do not receive new Action Cubes. Also, rewards that give Class Abilities are not restricted to any level, meaning that the Hero may learn an ability of any level, as long as they are able.

Class Abilities are divided into cards with three Abilities each, starting from Level 1. Those cards are called "trees." You always have to learn the first Ability in a tree before you can learn the higher Level Abilities. Most trees give you a choice for your second ability, but some trees offer only a single path.

You are not entirely committed to a tree when you learn its first Ability. On your next Class Ability reward, if you wish to, you can learn the first Ability from another tree, one of the second level from your current tree, or even go Multi-Classing, as described on page 32.

Stashing Items

Before they move on to their next Adventure, the Heroes will have the opportunity to rearrange their gear and set aside some of their unused Equipment in order to clear space for Consumable Items in their bags.

Heroes can also "Stash" Equipment and Adventure Items (meaning that they can't stash Chest Items). Thus, a Cosmic Gemstone acquired as an Adventure Item can be stashed, while one drawn from the Chest deck can't (but the Hero could choose to keep it in their bag, for example).

Stashed items can be stored and retrieved only during the Camp Phase. When stashing an item, write it down on your Campaign Log and keep its card in your Campaign Trayz.

Retrieving Starting Gear

During the Camp Phase your Hero may also retrieve any piece of Starting Gear they discarded along their journey. They do not need to have them stashed, they can pick new ones if needed. A Hero will never run out of their Starting Gear.

Sequential Adventures

As mentioned in earlier Chapters of this Rulebook, not all Adventures will lead to the Camp Phase upon their completion. Some of them will specifically state that this Phase should be skipped and the party must proceed straight to the next Adventure.

Such Adventures are called "Sequential Adventures" and although some of them may have special preparations of their own, they usually follow the same rules: you must keep the board almost as it is when moving from one Adventure to another, or, to recreate that condition as close as you can if you choose to end your game session for the day.

In order to create this feeling of sequence, these Adventures will carry the following instructions by default:

"This is a Sequential Chapter and thus there will be no Camp Phase between this adventure and the next one. The procedures for ending this game session and for going forward to the next one will be a little different from normal. Now, every Hero must carefully, in order, complete the following instructions:

• First, take the appropriate reward for this adventure's conclusion, as described below.
• Next, take a Free Recall Action and recover all your Health. Then, remove all Conditions affecting the Heroes, but retain any Resource tokens you have. Finally, pets are dismissed between the two adventures, while Companions are kept.
• If you aren't ending the game session right now, keep your Hero Board and the Initiative Track as they are now, with the only exception of adjusting the Rune Card so face "A" is up (if it isn't already). Finally, you can undo all Setups from the board, and carry on to the next adventure, starting turns normally from the first card placed on the Initiative Track.
• Otherwise, if you're ending the game session right now, note in the Campaign Log the quantity of Curse Cubes and Trauma Cubes that you have. At the start of the next adventure, you will redistribute them to your board again (you don't need to place them exactly in the same skills where they are now).
• Finally, do the same with the Runes that are on the Initiative Track: note their quantity and, at the start of the next adventure, draw the same number of Runes from the bag and place them on the Track, but don't place any Darkness tiles on the board. Also, the quantity of Runes of each color doesn't need to follow the same set-up as at the end of this Adventure (it can be random)."

Restarting Sequential Adventures

Sequential Adventures tend to be more challenging than the classic Dungeon Crawler scenarios and thus, either by running out of time (drawing the last Rune from the bag) or by wounds and corruption, the party is more likely to fail during them.

Although there is no real downside to losing and the party could just restart the Adventure, it would be probable that they would fail the second run through a Sequential Adventure under the same circumstances that they lost their first try, since the difficulty is tied to the progress made during the previous Adventure.

Therefore, when your party must restart a Sequential Adventure, after you have remade all preparations but have not started playing yet, you may do one or more of the following in order to balance things up:

• Remove one Rune of each color from the Initiative Track;
• Each Hero receives CLEANSE 2;
• Remove a Trauma Cube from one Hero in the party.

By making the appropriate adjustment, your party might have a very good chance to succeed on their second run through a Sequential Adventure.

Other Playing Modes

One-Shot Adventures

A One-Shot Adventure is a stand-alone game that is not connected to a Campaign. Any Adventure that is not sequential can be played as a One-Shot with the appropriate Hero upgrade.

However, although this experience might provide mathematical balance, the narrative element might be lost during some interactions, which specifically link to events prior to them.

Setting Up a One-Shot Adventure

To play a One-Shot Adventure, choose one of the "One-Shot Friendly Adventures" from the Book of Adventures and set up the game the same way you would for a Campaign. Also, you need to level up your Hero according to the challenge for that specific Adventure.

Both the "One-Shot Friendly Adventures" available and their required upgrades can be found in a reference table in the Adventure Book.

Leveling Up Your Character

Once you have chosen the Adventure you wish to play and checked the level up requirements, your next step is to choose the evolution for your character.

To do so, pick a character with their starting conditions (Character board, two Starting Gear, and a Dungeon Role with only the first and second card) and then give them the appropriate rewards, one at a time, as described in the table.

Although these rewards were already explained in the previous chapter, you can find a quick reference here to speed things up:

• Hero Skill Level 1: Your Hero learns one of their Level 1 Hero Skills. As normal, you may choose to learn the Level 1 Skill from your Dungeon Role instead. As described on page 50, learning Hero Skills will reward you with an extra Action Cube.
• Camp Items Level XX: Reveal the appropriate Camp Level deck. Your hero has the right to pick one of those cards.
• Class Ability: Your Hero learns one Class Ability. As described on page 51, you can't learn a Level 2 Class Ability from a class tree if you have not already learned that tree's Level 1 ability. You can, however, learn more than one Level 1 ability. You are not committed to learning all Skills from a Tree when you pick it.

Player versus Player Games

For those who want a competitive playing experience, Player versus Player games discard the cooperative nature of the game and pit the Heroes against each other.

Player versus Player games can be free-for-all, one-on-one, or team match-ups with two-against-two. You can use a pre-designed Battlefield or create your own using the map tiles and Trays. There is no general rule.

Battlegrounds, as they are called, are conducted very much like a regular Adventure, using the turn-based structure of the Initiative Track, however, you do not place any Rune cards, unless the Battleground instructs you to do so.

Setting Up a Player versus Player Game

First, choose one of the Battleground maps or design your own and set it up on the table. Make sure all players know the Special Rules for the Battleground you have chosen.

Then, set up the rest as normal, except for the Initiative Track. In a Player versus Player game, the Heroes must alternate between teams (if you are playing a team game). To do so, all players must make a d20 roll called the Initiative Roll.

After rolling for Initiative, place the fastest Hero in the space designated to the Defender, then place the fastest Hero from the opposite team right after them, in the space for the Leader role, and so on.

If this Battlefield includes Monsters in its Setup, place their cards on their appropriate Rune slot on the Initiative Track as normal.

Dungeon Roles

The normal Dungeon Roles are not used in full in Player versus Player games.

Instead, to replace the Remove Curse Skill present on each Dungeon Role, every Hero has another Cube Action option during their turn:

• Expend 1 Action Cube to: HEAL 2 AND CLEANSE 1. This is considered a Cube Action.

Monsters in Player versus Player Games

Many PvP Battlegrounds also contain Monsters in their Setup to further increase the difficulty of that respective scenario. Monsters in a Battleground, however, behave slightly differently from standard behavior during adventures.

Rather than chasing the Strongest Heroes right on the spot, the Monsters will choose to target the Nearest Hero as their Primary Target. Except, of course, when it can hit more Heroes with its attack. In this way, their behavior flowchart will work as follows:

• First, the Monster checks if it has any kind of Multi-Target Attacks or not. If it does, it will try to reach and attack as many Heroes as it can. If the Monster has two or more ways to attack more Heroes this turn, it will choose to attack the Strongest Ones among them;
• Afterwards, the Monster will track the Nearest Hero. If two Heroes are at the same distance from a Monster, then it will attack the one who is the Strongest Hero among them.
• Then, the Monster will take its Move action (if needed) and Attack its "locked" targets.

Conditions in Player versus Player Games

In order to maintain mathematical balance and fair play, some Conditions and Effects work differently in Player versus Player games:

• BLEED: Instead of inflicting damage at the beginning of the character's turn, BLEED does its damage immediately and is then removed.
• BURN: Instead of inflicting damage at the beginning of the character's turn, Burn inflicts damage immediately and is then removed (just like BLEED, above). Note that all Burn tokens are removed at once, so BURN 2 will only inflict 2 damage instead of 3 like it would in the Adventure mode.
• POISON: Instead of inflicting damage at the beginning of the character's turn, Poison does its damage immediately and is then removed (just like BLEED, above).
• STEALTH: A character using STEALTH can be targeted by other characters (including Monsters) even if they do not have Immunity to STEALTH. However, characters that aren't immune to STEALTH have a -5 to HIT penalty when attacking a Hero that is in STEALTH. Characters without immunity to STEALTH suffer DOUBLE DAMAGE when Surprised as normal.

Curse Cubes

Just like in any Adventure, when you are fighting in a Battleground, you can hold up to five curse cubes before losing the match and whenever you receive one, you must block one of your Hero Skills with it (as mentioned before, there are no Dungeon Roles in Battleground matches).

Those are the normal rules. If any Hero has some special ability that allows them to use their Curse Cubes or hold more Curse Cubes on their board, it also applies in Battlegrounds.

Trauma Cubes

Trauma Cubes, however, work slightly differently on Battlegrounds than in Adventures. Their function remains the same: they represent injuries and when received, they must be placed blocking one of the Hero's Skills and, after receiving more of them than they can hold, a Hero is defeated.

On multiplayer Battlegrounds, however, the Trauma Cube limit is shared between the party instead of focused on a single Hero. Thus, a party is considered defeated when their Heroes, combined, receive two Trauma Cubes per hero.

If any Hero has some special ability that allows them to hold more Trauma Cubes on their board, this increase also applies to the limit of Trauma Cubes their party can hold.

Example: in a 2v2 player game, a party will be defeated when it receives its fourth Trauma Cube. Unlike the Adventure mode, it doesn't matter if a single Hero has received more than two of these Trauma Cubes, as long as the party total does not exceed this limit.

Conditions, Keywords, and Terms Dictionary

Here is a complete list of Conditions, Keywords, and Terms found in AoD. Keep in mind that you don't need to know all of these effects in order to play the game. This list was designed to be consulted as fast as possible whenever a doubt about some effect appears and, as the name suggests: As a Dictionary.

• REACTION: This Skill can only be used in response to a threat, which happens only when a Hero would take preventable damage. Thus, non-preventable damage cannot be responded to, but you can respond to effects even if your SHIELD tokens reduced the incoming damage to zero. Also, each Hero can use only one Reaction per threat, but two Heroes can use their Reactions combined to help a single Hero (if their effects allow it).
• SPELL ATTACK: This Skill is a magic spell or ability that inflicts damage. This type of damage is always a success, so no attack roll is needed—the target simply suffers the effect.
• WEAPON ATTACK: This Skill is an attack using your Weapon. You must roll the D20 to see if the attack is successful or a failure. Weapon Attacks can score Critical Hits and Critical Failures.
• + or -X DMG: The X value is added to the damage your attack inflicts. Critical Hits and DOUBLE DAMAGE also double this damage.
• + or -X HIT: This is the instruction for your Hero to make a Weapon Attack adding (or subtracting) the X value to your die roll. Keep in mind that this bonus affects only the outcome of a Weapon's Accuracy, not whether you get a Critical Hit. If you have +6 HIT and roll a 14 on the D20, it doesn't mean that it is a natural 20, it is an Accuracy 20 and a natural 14.
• +X MOVEMENT: You receive X additional movement points every time you receive a Move effect.
• ACTION CUBES (AC): Action Cubes are the colored cubes spent by Heroes to use their Skills.
• ADJ OR ADJACENT: This effect can only affect a Target in an adjacent square to the casting Character, regardless of the Skill's Range.
• "ALL": When an effect states that it PREVENTS ALL DMG, or ALL BUT 1 DMG, it means that your effect is equivalent to the damage the Target is receiving. Therefore, if a Monster attacked a character for 6 damage, and that character received a PREVENT ALL DMG effect, the effect would have prevented 6 damage. Likewise, ALL BUT 1 DMG would be equivalent to 5 damage. This word, however, does not change any other aspect of the attack resolution: your SHIELD tokens will be used before you have the chance to PREVENT ALL DMG or ALL BUT 1 DMG, and your PREVENT effect affects the attacked character, not the attacking Monster. Therefore, a PREVENT ALL DMG won't prevent both hits of a MULTISHOT, CLEAVE, or STRIKE attack, but only all DMG that would be dealt to the Target using this effect.
• AMBUSH: A Monster with Ambush slides through reality, flickering from one point to another instead of walking. When a Monster ambushes, remove it from the board. Then, the character that is its Primary Target (or its controller if it is a Companion or Pet) chooses an unoccupied square that is adjacent to it where the Monster will be placed. If that square is harmful terrain, the Monster suffers its effects as if it had landed on it from JUMP.
• ATTACK TWICE: A Monster with this ability, when activated, will make its move and then attack two times (it won't move twice or move between attacks). Each attack must be resolved separately and may be reacted to individually. If a character becomes out of range between attacks, the Monster may choose another target for its last attack as long as it doesn't have to move.
• AURA: Aura is a reward related to a choice a character made during the story. Auras usually give special abilities as if they were some kind of blessing. A character can have only one Aura noted on their Campaign Log and they are removed when either the character receives a new Aura (which replaces the old one) or is knocked out and receives a Trauma Cube. Auras are not removed during the Camp Phase.
• BLEED X: The Target takes X BLEED tokens. At the beginning of that character's next turn, it takes 1 non-preventable damage for each BLEED token it has and then removes all of them from its board. BLEED is a stackable Condition.
• BLOODSEEKER: A Monster with Bloodseeker Targets the Weakest Hero (the one with the lowest Health at the moment) as its Primary Target.
• BURN X: The Target takes X BURN tokens. At the beginning of that character's next turn, it takes 1 non-preventable damage for each BURN token it has and then removes one of those tokens from its board. BURN is a stackable Condition.
• CHARACTER: "Character" is a property of some game objects. Heroes, Monsters, Pets, NPC tokens, and Companions are considered characters for rule purposes. All characters can benefit from immediate effects (when able) such as PREVENT, but only characters with cards or boards can hold Conditions or Resource tokens.
• CLEANSE X: The Target removes up to X Curse Cubes from its board. In addition, remove all POISON tokens it has (only POISON is removed by CLEANSE this way).
• CLEAVE X: This Attack can Target up to X enemies who are adjacent to the attacker (they do not also have to be adjacent to each other). Heroes make only a single Attack Roll and apply its results to all characters they are attacking.
• COMMAND: This Monster goads another Monster to fight. When a Monster commands, the Strongest Monster that is not the commanding Monster itself immediately activates (as if it were its own turn, suffering the effects from any Conditions on it). Then, the commanding Monster continues its turn. If there is no other Monster on the board, this ability has no effect.
• COMPANIONS: In addition to Pets, the Heroes may also encounter valuable allies during their journey, called Companions. Companions do not have Health. Instead, they have a value called "Sturdiness." In short, they are only defeated if they take damage that exceeds this value all at once. Companions are seen as Pets in the eyes of the Monsters (they will be targeted as their last priority, only when the Monster cannot attack a Hero in their place). Companions can hold SHIELD tokens and receive PREVENT effects like any character. Companions are activated after the turn of the Hero they are following and their turn consists of a Move Action and an Attack Action, in that order, in the same way as a Monster. Companions are discharged during the Camp Phase.
• COPY EFFECT: Some Skills copy the effects of another Hero Skill. A copy of a Skill has all effects exactly as described in the copied Skill, including their base Range regardless of the color of the cube you used to copy it (if you used a Wisdom Skill to copy a Ranged Skill, the Range for your copied Skill will be 1, not Unlimited). Dungeon Role Skills, Equipment Skills, and Reactions, unless stated otherwise, cannot be copied.
• COVETOUS: A Monster with Covetous Targets the Hero that is holding more Resource tokens (FOCUS, SHIELD, and KI are examples) as its Primary Target. If two Heroes are tied with the same number of Resource tokens, a Monster with Covetous targets the one among them who occupies the fastest Initiative Slot.
• CR (CUBE RANGE): This term refers to the Range of an effect, which is defined by the color of the cube spent to use the Skill or Reaction that cast it.
• CUBE ACTION: This is the name given to actions that a Hero takes by spending an Action Cube. During their turn, a Hero can perform up to two Cube Actions. Some special actions can be considered as one of these Cube Actions, such as, for example, the purchase of an additional Move Action by Expending an AC. Reactions are not considered Cube Actions.
• CRIT X+: If you roll X or more on your D20 during an attack roll, you inflict a Critical Hit! A Critical Hit does double the normal damage, but does not inflict double the Conditions.
• CURSE CUBES (CC): Curse Cubes are the black cubes that represent the influence of Darkness on a Hero's willpower. When received, a Curse Cube must be allocated to a Hero or Dungeon Role Skill and as long as it remains there, that Skill is blocked and cannot be used. When a Hero receives their sixth CC, they are considered corrupted and the Adventure ends in failure.
• CURSE X: The target gains X Curse Cubes. Unlike the Curse Cubes you receive upon taking a Recall Action, CURSE is an effect and as such there are some abilities that can give you immunity to it, but they wouldn't have any effect against receiving Curse Cubes in any other way.
• DEFIANT: A Monster with Defiant Targets the Most Vigorous Hero (the one with most available Action Cubes at the moment) as its Primary Target.
• DIFFICULT TERRAIN: A character that is affected by Difficult Terrain (like Water) loses 1 movement point from its current move effect. As with any harmful terrain, a character can only be affected by Difficult Terrain once per turn.
• DISARM: A Hero that suffers from DISARM must immediately EXPEND all of their available Melee and Ranged Action Cubes. This effect is considered to be FATIGUE (characters that are immune to FATIGUE are also immune to DISARM and it does not trigger any abilities that wouldn't be triggered by FATIGUE effects as well).
• DISCARD: Discard is a type of resource loss. When you must discard something, remove it from your board.
• DRAIN: Draining is resource stealing. When a character drains something from a Target, it means that the drained character loses whatever is being drained and then gives it to the draining character. Draining Health is not the same as dealing damage, so this effect can't be responded to with Reactions.
• ENEMY: Any character that is not in your party and is not an NPC Token is considered an enemy. Monsters are the Heroes' enemies and vice-versa.
• EVOLVE: This Monster gets stronger during the battle. When a Monster EVOLVES, give it a +2 DMG and a +1 MOVE token (keep these tokens on its matching color on the Monster Status Board). These benefits are cumulative and they are not considered to be Conditions.
• EXPEND: Expend is a type of resource loss. When you must Expend Action Cubes, move an available Action Cube to your Expended Action Cubes box on your Hero board. An expended AC can be recalled as normal but it cannot be spent to use Skills while it is there.
• FATIGUE X: A Hero that suffers from FATIGUE must immediately EXPEND X of their available Action Cubes for no effect. If they do not have enough ACs, they must Expend all of their current available Action Cubes and consider the effect resolved.
• FLYBY: A Pet with this ability freely returns to a square adjacent to its master (of its choice) after attacking. That character won't be affected by any square it flies by, but it will be affected by the one adjacent to its master since it has to land on it.
• FOCUS X: The Target gains X FOCUS tokens, which they can later spend to use Focus Abilities. FOCUS is a stackable resource.
• FREE RECALL ACTION: A Free Recall Action is a Recall Action (see page 20) that can be taken without generating the Curse Cube penalty to the Hero who took it.
• FRUIT OF LIFE: With a Use a Consumable Item Minor Action, a character holding a FRUIT OF LIFE may discard it to: SELF, HEAL 2. Additionally, these fruits are considered items and may be exchanged with other Heroes like any other item would normally be, but they do not occupy any bag space. FRUIT OF LIFE is a stackable resource.
• FURY: When you hit with a Spell Attack or Weapon Attack, you may discard 1 FURY to add +1 DMG to your Attack. You may discard only 1 FURY token per turn or Reaction (if you have an ability that is also a Reaction, for example). FURY is a stackable resource.
• HEAL X: The Target regains X Health. A character can never gain more Health than their maximum value. Any excess Healing is lost.
• IMMUNITY TO "CONDITION/EFFECT": The character cannot be affected by the named Condition or Effect. Not being affected by a Condition means that you don't even get their tokens when exposed to it. In particular, immunity to STEALTH has additional meanings: The character can Target hidden characters as normal, and they can't be Surprised by hidden characters.
• INTIMIDATE X: A Character has -X DMG for each INTIMIDATE token they are holding. Unlike other Conditions, INTIMIDATE does not take effect at the beginning of their next turn, it lingers until removed instead. The next time the affected character makes an Attack (either a Weapon Attack or a Spell Attack), whether it hits or misses, it removes all INTIMIDATE tokens they are holding. INTIMIDATE is a stackable Condition.
• JUMP X: Jump is a special type of movement that has some benefits. A jumping character is not affected by terrain or Darkness tiles they jump over (but they are by the one they land on); they can jump over enemies; and they are not affected by Falling Damage, although they do not receive any benefit to jumping from dungeon level 0 straight to level 2.
• KI: You may discard a KI to make a Weapon Attack with +0 HIT. Regardless of whether you have spent a KI to make a Weapon Attack or to use any other ability you have learned, you may only discard one KI per turn or Reaction (if you have an ability that is also a Reaction, for example). KI is a stackable resource.
• KNOCK DOWN: The Target receives a KNOCK DOWN token. Unlike other Conditions, KNOCK DOWN does not take effect at the beginning of the character's next turn, it lingers until removed instead. The next time the affected character receives a Move effect, it cancels that effect and removes their KNOCK DOWN token from their board. KNOCK DOWN is a redundant Condition.
• LARGE MONSTER: This Monster is considered Large (even if its base is small-sized). A Large Monster is immune to KNOCK DOWN, PUSH, STUN, and TELEKINESIS.
• LOOT: Whenever a Companion with this collateral damage hits an enemy, if this was the killing blow, replace the defeated enemy's miniature with a Chest token. Consider it safe (a Hero looting it does not need to roll the Trap Die). A Loot is considered an object (not a Solid one).
• MAELSTROM: This is an ability given to Overlords. At the beginning of its Monster activation, an Overlord must shuffle their Attack cards back into the deck and draw a new "hand" (one per Hero playing the Adventure) of cards. Thus, the Overlord combination of Attacks might change from round to round.
• MANIFEST: Manifest is an effect that evokes the chaos power of Darkness. To manifest, a player must randomly take one Rune from the bag and reveal it to the other players. This is not considered "drawing" the Rune and thus it won't spawn a Darkness tile or trigger any abilities associated with Rune drawing. Once the Rune is revealed, the Manifester will trigger a special effect based on that Rune color. Afterwards, return the manifested Rune to the bag; it is not placed on the Initiative Track.
• MOST CORRUPTED HERO: The Hero with the most Curse Cubes is the Most Corrupted Hero. If two Heroes are tied with the same number of Curse Cubes, the Most Corrupted one among them will be the one who occupies the fastest Initiative Slot.
• MOST TIRED HERO: The Hero with the fewest available Action Cubes is the Most Tired Hero. If two Heroes are tied with the same number of available Action Cubes, the Most Tired one among them will be the one who occupies the slowest Initiative Slot.
• MOST VIGOROUS HERO: The Hero with the most available Action Cubes is the Most Vigorous Hero. If two Heroes are tied with the same number of available Action Cubes, the Most Vigorous one among them will be the one who occupies the fastest Initiative Slot.
• MOVE X: The target may move up to X squares respecting the normal rules for movement (page 22).
• MULTISHOT X: A Character with this ability fires a single ranged Attack at X different targets within range. It inflicts damage normally to all targets it hits. You must make only a single attack roll (if the attacker is a Hero).
• NON-PREVENTABLE: This damage cannot be prevented by any kind of effect, including SHIELD and/or PREVENT. Non-Preventable damage is not considered a threat and thus can't be responded to with Reactions.
• NPC (TOKEN): NPC (Non-Player Characters) are the bystanders of a Campaign. Some NPC Tokens are used to represent your Companions on the board, while others just embody generic NPCs as "Villagers" or "Children." Regardless, an NPC Token is a Solid Object and every time they are used, they follow a set of special rules of their own. Each Adventure will describe exactly how these tokens interact with the players and the current Adventure.
• OBJECT: Any piece placed on the table that is not a Map, a Trayz, or a Bridge is considered an object. Some of them can be SOLID OBJECTS (see below), meaning they follow special rules, while others are just objects, like Traps, Darkness tiles, and any object you were instructed to place on the board that was specified as such. Characters can pass through and end their movement on top of objects that are not considered Solid Objects.
• OUTCOME: An Outcome is a game status received as a consequence of an important choice made by a player during the story. Many Interactions along the way can have different results based on the Outcomes the Heroes have on their Campaign Logs. Outcomes are only erased when commanded by another Interaction resolution.
• PASSIVE: This ability is always active, unless its cube Slot is blocked by a Curse Cube or Trauma Cube.
• PAY X LIFE: Some abilities require a little bit more of a Hero's stamina to perform. When a Skill requires a Hero to Pay Life, they must first lose that amount of Health (this is non-preventable damage) before applying any of its other effects. A Hero may not use a Skill with a Pay X Life cost if the loss of Health would result in them being knocked out.
• PENITENCE: The Target takes 1 non-preventable damage per Curse Cube it is holding. Penitence is usually collateral damage.
• PET: Some Heroes have companions and each one of them has its own token and a card with its attributes. You can find the details about Pets on page 9.
• PRIMARY TARGET: A Monster's Primary Target is the character it seeks to attack during its turn. All Monsters that follow the Standard behavior have the Strongest Hero as their Primary Target, for example. You can find the details about Monster behavior, Monster turns, or anything else about Monsters on page 38.
• PREVENT X: Immediately ignore up to X damage that would be dealt to the Target. Take note that since the PREVENT effect is directed at the Character receiving the damage instead of the source of the damage, it is the protected character who needs to be within this effect's Range.
• PROTECT: This character interposes themselves in front of any harm to protect their allies. Whenever a character is the Target of an attack, another character with Protect that is adjacent to them may invoke this effect. The Protecting character becomes the Target of the attack instead of the original Target. This effect works against CLEAVE, MULTISHOT, and STRIKE, but only if the Protecting character is not already a Target of the attack.
• POISON: The Target takes X POISON tokens. At the beginning of that character's next turn, it takes 1 non-preventable damage for each POISON token it has. Unlike BLEED or BURN, POISON is not removed after dealing its damage. However, whenever a character receives a CLEANSE effect, it also removes all POISON affecting it. POISON is a stackable Condition.
• PUSH X: Push the Target X squares away from you. You can only PUSH a target that has the same base size as you or smaller (unless the ability you are using says otherwise). The Target must be pushed in a straight line of your choice and each square it moves must place it farther from you. Characters are pushed until they fulfill the PUSH length or find an obstacle in the way. An obstacle can be another Solid Object, the side of a Dungeon Tray to a higher level (it can fall to a lower), or the end of a Map placed at level 0.
• RANGE X: Range is always counted using areas (blue squares). Range 1 can target any square inside a blue area up to 1 area away, while Range 2 can target a square inside an area up to 2 areas away, and so on.
• RANGER'S MARK: When a character is Marked, it receives a RANGER'S MARK token. All Weapon Attacks and Spell Attacks made by the Ranger against a character they marked deal +1 DMG. As mentioned earlier, this damage is doubled if the character scores a Critical Hit as normal.
• RECALL X: You recover to your Available Action Cubes box up to X Spent or Expended Action Cubes from your board.
• RECKONER: A Monster with Reckoner Targets the Most Corrupted Hero (the one with most Curse Cubes at the moment) as its Primary Target.
• REGAIN YOUR BREATH: Some effects might be tied to a Hero having regained their breath during that turn or not. Regain your breath means to recover from being knocked out.
• REDUNDANT: A redundant effect means that a character can only hold one token of that specific effect. If a character would gain a second token for a redundant effect, just ignore it.
• REGENERATION X: At the beginning of its turn, a character with Regeneration regains X Health. This regained Health cannot exceed its maximum HP.
• RELENTLESS: A Monster with Relentless Targets the Most Tired Hero (the one with fewer available Action Cubes at the moment) as its Primary Target.
• REROLL: When a Skill has REROLL, it means that you get one free reroll of the d20 for one Weapon Attack performed by that Skill that you may choose to use when you miss.
• RETALIATE X: Immediately cause X damage to the attacker. A character can't retaliate against an Attack that does not include them as one of its Targets. Retaliation effects that are used with cubes can only affect attackers within Range, while Retaliation effects made through Focus or other sources can affect attackers at any range. Unlike PREVENT, whose Target is the character you wish to defend, RETALIATE targets the attacker against whom you wish to retaliate.
• ROLL X+: If you roll X or more on your D20 during an attack roll (usually 16+) this benefit is triggered. Roll X+ abilities usually give a boost to the current Attack, or, in some cases, might trigger special effects. When that is the case, the range of these effects is limitless unless it says otherwise. You do not count your HIT bonus to check if a ROLL X+ ability will trigger. For example, if you Roll 13 on the d20 and have a +3 HIT bonus, you didn't roll 16+, you rolled 13+.
• SELF: Abilities with the SELF Keyword can only target the casting character. For example: "SELF, PREVENT 3" means that the character can prevent 3 damage from themselves only.
• SHADOW AURA: A small Darkness Tile is placed in the square occupied by the Target that suffered the effect (place it below their Hero miniature—it takes effect immediately).
• SHIELD X: The target gains X SHIELD tokens. Each SHIELD token can be used to absorb 1 point of incoming damage against the character. You must use all of your SHIELD tokens before losing any Health or using a PREVENT effect—you cannot choose to take the damage and keep your SHIELD tokens or to PREVENT the damage with another Skill in order to save them. SHIELD tokens are a stackable resource.
• SHOVE: When two characters would occupy the same space and one of them has priority over the other, we say that the first will shove the second. When a character is shoved, it is moved to a square that is adjacent to the area (blue square) that it previously occupied. The Party Leader chooses to where a Monster would be shoved, while a shoved Hero can choose their new position for themselves. Characters suffer the effects of stepping on harmful terrain when they are shoved into them (if they have not suffered them already this turn).
• SILENCE: A Hero that suffers from SILENCE must immediately EXPEND all of their available Agility and Wisdom Action Cubes. This effect is considered to be FATIGUE (characters that are immune to FATIGUE are also immune to SILENCE and it does not trigger any abilities that wouldn't be triggered by FATIGUE effects as well).
• SLAUGHTER: A Monster with Slaughter Targets NPC Tokens (non-Companions) as its Primary Target.
• SOLID OBJECTS: A Solid Object is a piece such as a token or a miniature that occupies its space on the board. Therefore, characters can't end their movement on top of Solid Objects, nor pass through them if they are considered enemies (if these Solid Objects are characters). Thus, characters, Chest tokens, Interaction Tokens, Piles of Runes, Runes, NPC Tokens, and any other special object you were instructed to place on the board and was specified to be a Solid Object is considered as such.
• SPLIT: The casting character can choose to split the described effect among any number of Targets (within Range) they choose. To be considered a Target, a character must receive a share of at least 1 point. Any empowering bonus that character has is applied to the total amount, not to each Target they choose. Example: A Bonus of +1 HEAL applied in a SPLIT, HEAL 4 effect would result in a SPLIT, HEAL 5 instead of four individual effects of HEAL 2.
• SLOW: The Target receives a SLOW token. Unlike other Conditions, SLOW does not take effect at the beginning of that character's next turn, it lingers until removed instead. The next time the affected character receives a Move effect, it loses 2 movement points from that effect and removes their SLOW token from their board. SLOW is a redundant Condition.
• STACKABLE: The Stackable property means that a character can hold up to 4 copies of the same token on their boards/cards. A two-sided token that displays the faces 1 and 2 must always be considered as if it was the number of individual tokens indicated. If a character would receive a fifth token of a Stackable effect, just ignore it. Example: 2 tokens of Focus 2 and 4 tokens of Focus 1 are considered Focus 4 either way.
• STATUS: Status is a reward related to a choice a character made during the story. Some Statuses can give special abilities as if they were some kind of blessing, while others are just related to the story. Regardless, a character can have any number of Statuses noted on their Campaign Log and all Statuses are erased during the next Camp Phase.
• STEALTH: The Target receives a STEALTH Token and is considered hidden while they are holding it. Characters without Immunity to STEALTH do not count a hidden character either as their Target nor an enemy for engagement purposes (they still can't pass through them if they are enemies). Hidden characters still take damage from area Attacks such as STRIKE and from Darkness. At the beginning of its next turn, the character is no longer hidden and must discard its STEALTH token. Alternatively, as many seasoned assassins do, a character can end their STEALTH sooner by trying to Surprise a Target. Thus, if a character with a STEALTH token makes a Weapon Attack, whether it hits or not, it immediately loses STEALTH. On the other hand, if the Attack hits, it gains DOUBLE DAMAGE if the attacking character was considered hidden from its Target. This is called "Surprise." Characters immune to STEALTH cannot be Surprised.
• STRIKE X: Strike is a type of area effect that targets a whole area (blue square) instead of a single target (regular square). STRIKE X means that you must choose X areas within Range and affect each character you choose to inside those areas. A STRIKE X made at melee means that the character must choose areas which have one of its squares adjacent to them. Likewise, a STRIKE X at Range 1 (RANGE 1, STRIKE X) means that the character must choose X areas within Range 1, while a STRIKE with limitless Range means that the character must choose areas anywhere on the board.
• STRONGEST HERO: The Hero with the most Health at the moment. Monsters often target the Strongest Hero. If two Heroes are tied with the most Health, the Strongest one among them will be the one who occupies the fastest Initiative Slot.
• STUN: STUN works differently between Heroes and Monsters. When the STUN effect is resolved at the beginning of a Monster's turn, that Monster loses its Attack action for that turn and then removes the STUN token (it will still take its Move action). At the beginning of an affected Hero's turn, on the other hand, they lose one of their two allowed Cube Actions for that turn and then remove the token from their board. STUN is a redundant Condition.
• STURDINESS: Sturdiness is the capability to withstand blows that Companions have. Any damage dealt from a single blow to this character up to this value is ignored as if they had absorbed it (even non-preventable damage). However, if the damage manages to overcome this value by at least 1 point, the character is defeated. Heroes can use their PREVENT Skills to mitigate damage that would overcome a Companion's Sturdiness, and they might give Companions SHIELD tokens to hold (remembering that they are consumed the first time the Companion would take damage, not only when this damage would overcome their Sturdiness).
• SWAP: Swap consists of two objects trading positions on the board. The first object immediately assumes the position the second object occupied and vice versa. Characters entering a harmful terrain or stepping on Darkness for the first time this turn are affected by them. Each SWAP effect states what kind of objects they swap at that moment.
• TELEKINESIS X: Move any small-sized object or Solid Object that is not an Interaction Token (Traps, Chests, characters with the small base size, or small Darkness tiles) up to X squares. They are not affected by the terrain they float by, but they are affected by the one they land on. Characters moved from the 2nd dungeon level straight to the base suffer Falling Damage (2 non-preventable damage).
• TRAMPLE X: Trample is a movement improvement. A trampling character is allowed to pass through but not end their movement on squares occupied by enemies. In addition, when they pass through enemy characters this way, they inflict X non-preventable damage to them. A character can't trample the same character more than once per move effect.
• TRAP: Place a Trap token in the center of an area that is adjacent to your area (blue square). The first time an enemy activates within that area or moves into that area, the Trap is triggered. All enemies inside that area are affected by the Trap, then remove the Trap token. There can only be 1 Trap token in an area at a time. A trap will apply its effects only when triggered.
  • BEAR TRAP: When triggered, it deals 2 non-preventable damage and BLEED 2 to each enemy affected by it.
  • FIRE TRAP: When triggered, it deals 2 non-preventable damage and BURN 4 to each enemy affected by it.
  • POISON TRAP: When triggered, it deals 2 non-preventable damage and POISON 2 to each enemy affected by it.
• TRICK OR TREAT: When Tharmagar activates, his controller chooses: Either a Hero within Range 1 from Tharmagar gains HEAL 2; or a Monster within Range 1 from Tharmagar suffers, at Tharmagar's controller's choice, BLEED 2, BURN 2, or POISON 2.
• TRAUMA CUBE (TC): Trauma Cubes represent a deep wound suffered by the Hero. When received, a Trauma Cube must be allocated to a Hero Skill or Dungeon Role Skill and for as long as it remains there, that Skill is blocked and cannot be used. When a Hero receives their second TC, they are considered killed and the Adventure ends in failure.
• UNIQUE: This Pet is somewhat tied to the story and thus it can't be summoned to the board by any other means other than the Skill that specifically allows you to activate them. While they are summoned on the board, any other generic pet-activation Skill your Hero has works normally on them.
• VICIOUS: The damage dealt by this Monster's attack is non-preventable.
• WEAKEST HERO: The Hero with the least Health at the moment is the Weakest Hero. If two Heroes are tied with the lowest Health, the weakest one among them will be the one who occupies the slowest Initiative Slot.
• WILD CUBE: A Wild Cube is an Action Cube that can be used as if it were any color you choose. When a Wild Cube is spent to use one of your Hero Skills (not Dungeon Roles or Equipment), any number written in its effect is doubled. Example: A Wild Cube was used to activate a "SELF, HEAL 2 AND SHIELD 4" Skill. Doubling these numbers would give "SELF, HEAL 4 AND SHIELD 8." Since SHIELD tokens are stackable, receiving SHIELD 8 would be a waste, but the HEAL 4 would not.

Tokens Sorted By Type

Redundant Conditions (a character can have only one of each of these at a time): KNOCK DOWN, RANGER'S MARK, SLOW, STEALTH, STUN.

Stackable Conditions (a character can have up to 4 of each of these at a time): BLEED, BURN, INTIMIDATE, POISON.

Stackable Resource Tokens (a character can have up to 4 of each one of these at a time): FOCUS, FRUIT OF LIFE, FURY, KI, SHIELD.

Additional Resource Tokens (a character can hold as many as they want of these to help them track additional resources they received): +1 DAMAGE, +1 MOVEMENT, +30 HEALTH.

Game Objects (these are usually placed on a Map, Monster card, Monster board, or Initiative Track): BEAR TRAP, CHEST, EVENT, FIRE TRAP, INITIATIVE, INTERACTION, NPC (6 colors), POISON TRAP, TIME.

Game Symbols (these symbols are found on Monster cards or Map tiles and represent effects that are not tied to any Condition): DIFFICULT TERRAIN, LARGE MONSTER.

Quick Rules and Tips Chart

Hero Turn Flowchart

This is what happens when the Initiative Marker reaches a Hero card and it is their time to act:

1. At the beginning of the Hero turn, any Condition they have takes effect (BLEED, POISON, STUN and so on).
2. Then, any passive ability the hero has that triggers at the beginning of their turn takes effect.
3. After that, in any order, the Hero may:
   • Take a free Move Action (if you interrupt your movement to take any Cube Action, any unspent movement points are lost).
   • Take up to two Cube Actions (Spend AC to use Skills). As a Cube Action, a Hero can Expend one AC to take an additional Move Action.
   • Take any of the following Minor Actions up to once each per turn: Use Focus Abilities*; Use a Consumable Item*; Exchange Items; Interact; Open a Door; Search a Chest. (Minor Actions cannot be taken while the Hero is engaged in combat, unless they have the "*".)
   • Take a Willing Recall Action. This ends the Hero's turn.
   • Recall Action: The Hero recovers all of their spent and expended AC to their available AC box. As a penalty, they also gain a Curse Cube that blocks one of their Skills. The amount of Curse Cubes gained is described in each Adventure.

IMPORTANT: If your Hero runs out of ACs at any moment (even outside your turn), you must immediately take a Recall Action, but this does not end your turn like a Willing Recall Action does. This is called an Unwilling Recall Action.

Reactions

Reactions are immediate actions that a Hero can take even outside of their turn. They are indicated by the Lightning Bolt symbol.

They do not count as one of the two Cube Actions a Hero can take during their turn even if they are used during it.

• A triggering effect for a Reaction to be taken happens whenever a Hero is threatened, which is when they would take preventable damage (all damage is preventable damage unless it specifies that it is non-preventable, as Darkness and Conditions do).
• You can take a reaction to protect a Target other than yourself. Reactions with the Keyword "SELF," however, can only be taken if the Hero themselves is among the characters that are taking the damage.
• Likewise, "RETALIATE" effects only work if the casting Hero themselves is being attacked.

Using a Skill

To use a Skill, a Hero must spend one of their available Action Cubes (AC) that matches the color of the chosen Skill. This counts as one Cube Action.

The cube must be placed on that Skill's slot on their board and remains there until the Hero recovers it through a Recall Action or other effect that allows them to do so.

The range of a Skill effect is defined by that Skill's color:

• Melee (yellow): A Target on an adjacent square.
• Ranged (red): A Target on any square up to one area (blue square) away.
• Agility (green): Move effects, unless stated otherwise, always target the Hero themselves. The secondary effects of an Agility Skill can Target a character at any distance (unlimited).
• Wisdom (blue): A Target at any distance (unlimited).
• A Hero can always target themselves if they want to, if the effect does not specify its targets.

Skill effects must be resolved in order: You must follow the order that they are written, from left to right, paying attention to any grammatical punctuation it has.

Whenever an effect restricts its Targets, that restriction is applied to every effect that comes after it until you read a semicolon ";". Target restrictions are written before the respective effects, separated by a comma.

• Example 1: SELF, HEAL 2. In this case, the Heal 2 can affect only the Hero themselves.
• Example 2: UP TO TWO TARGETS, 2 DMG. In this case, 2 damage must be dealt to each of up to two Targets within Range.

Some Skills have two or more effects. They are called "Multi-Effect Skills." You must resolve these effects one part at a time.

• Example 3: MOVE 3; UP TO TWO TARGETS, 2 DMG. In this case, you can move 3 squares and then deal 2 damage to each of up to two Targets within Range.

The effects of a Skill are usually mandatory, however, many of them use the phrase "up to," allowing the chosen number to be 0 and thus that effect would not be applied.

Likewise, a Hero cannot be forced to resolve an effect that they are unable to do, such as receiving a fifth stackable token or targeting a character that is out of Range. In these cases, the effect is just considered wasted.

• A Hero can use a Skill even if they know that some of its effects will be wasted.

You can find all details about Skills on page 24 of this book.

Attack Rolls

Whenever the crossed swords icon appears, it means that you must make a Weapon Attack: Roll the d20 and check if it hits your Weapon's Accuracy in order to deal damage.

In AoD there are no "basic attacks," only Skill, Class Abilities, or Equipment effects that instruct you to make Weapon Attacks.

• Weapon Attacks are made with your equipped Weapon. The result you need to get on the d20 and the base damage of an attack is written on its card.
• A Hero cannot make Ranged Weapon Attacks while engaged in combat.
• Ranged Weapon Attacks are Attacks made through actions using a red Action Cube; or Focus Abilities and Commanded Attacks with Ranged Type Weapons.
• You can find details about engagement on page 13.
• Weapon Attacks made through actions using a yellow cube, even if your character is equipped with a Ranged Type Weapon, are considered Melee Attacks, and Weapon Attacks made through actions using a red cube, even if your character is equipped with a Melee Type Weapon, are considered Ranged Attacks. In AoD, the color of the cube overrules your Weapon Type.
• Weapon Attacks get a +2 to HIT bonus if you are on higher ground compared to your target, or a -2 to HIT penalty if you are on lower ground compared to your target.
• Weapon Attacks get a -2 HIT penalty if you are on top of Darkness.
• Roll the d20, apply your bonuses (if any), and check the result. If it equals or exceeds the Accuracy of your Weapon, it is a hit. Otherwise, it is a miss.
• If you roll a natural 20 on the d20 (this means without adding your bonuses), it is a Critical Hit and deals double damage!
• If you roll a natural 1 on the d20, it is a Critical Failure (this means that your attack misses even if the bonus would make the result enough to hit).
• Any effect separated by a comma that is written after the HIT bonuses of a Weapon Attack is considered to be collateral damage and is applied only if the attack deals damage to its Target.
• Many Passive Skills provide an additional effect if the attack rolls 16+ or 18+. This means that the natural number rolled must be equal to or higher than the indicated number, and not the sum of the roll plus the attack bonuses.

Recall Action

As you take actions, your pool of Action Cubes will be depleted. This represents the combined effects of time, fatigue, and the corruption of the Darkness on your Hero.

• When you take a Recall action (regardless of whether it was Willing or Unwilling), take all of your spent and expended Action Cubes allocated on your Skills and Expended Action Cubes box and return them to your Available Action Cubes pool.
• You must also take Curse Cubes and assign them to your Hero's Skills. The standard amount is 1, but some adventures will describe in the gray box if this penalty is doubled or not.
• Willing Recall Actions are taken by the Hero during their turn, when they choose to. To take a Willing Recall Action, the Hero must have no more than two different colors of available Action Cubes. Taking a Willing Recall Action ends the Hero's turn.
• Unwilling Recall Actions are taken at any moment that the Hero runs out of available Action Cubes. This can occur either during or outside their turn. Unwilling Recall Actions do not end the Hero's turn if it happens during their turn.

Using Focus Abilities

Using a Focus Ability can either be a Minor Action or a Reaction, based on each Hero's Focus Abilities. Focus Abilities that are Reactions are marked with the Lightning Bolt icon (like any Reaction) while all others are considered Minor Actions.

To use one of their Focus Abilities, a Hero must declare their intention to use it and discard the required number of FOCUS tokens from their board.

• Focus Abilities that are also Weapon Attacks have their Range based on the Weapon Type your Hero is equipped with. Melee Weapons turn your Focus Abilities into Melee Weapon Attacks while Ranged Weapons turn your Focus Abilities into Ranged Weapon Attacks and thus, you are also subjected to engagement restrictions.
• Focus Abilities that are not Weapon Attacks have unlimited Range (although they might have Targeting restrictions such as "SELF").
• Focus Abilities that grant movement points, when they do not specify which character can receive these points, always mean that the casting Hero themselves is the target of such effects.
• You can find details about Focus Abilities on page 31 of this Rulebook.

Using a Consumable Item

Using a Consumable Item is a Minor Action. A Hero can only use a Consumable Item that they are holding in their bags (or on their board if they are consuming a Fruit of Life, for example).

• Consumable Items are discarded after they are used.
• Since Use a Consumable Item is a Minor Action, be aware that a Hero can only consume one of those items per turn.

Exchanging Items

Exchanging Items is the basic action for a Hero to interact with their equipped gear or to give or take items to another character. Whenever a Hero uses this Minor Action, they can do one of the following options:

• Equip/Unequip: Swap any equipped item with a card of the same type from your bag, or just equip or unequip an item you have;
• Give Item: Give any card from your bag to a Hero in an adjacent square. That Hero stores that item in their bag;
• Take Item: Take any card from an adjacent Hero's bag (as long as they are willing to give it to you). You must immediately consume the item you just received (if you still can do so this turn) or store it in your bag.

Important: You cannot exchange an item if its Slot is currently occupied by an Action Cube.

Important: Any Double-Sided item you interact with is kept with its current face up. They won't flip back by unequipping it or giving it to another player.

Important: When you receive a new item, if your bag is full, you may immediately discard another item in order to make space. Discarding an item like this does not count as using it.

Interact

To interact with a Point of Interaction, a Hero must be adjacent to it and use the Interact Minor Action. Each Interaction preset in a Setup has an illustration referring to it inside the Interactions Book.

When a Hero interacts, they must:

• Open the Interactions Book to the page described by that Setup.
• Choose one of the presented options and proceed to its resolution. All resolutions can be found inside the Adventure Book in their respective section.
• Resolutions usually consider the Hero who chose them as the benefactor of its effects. Some of them, however, might specify that their effects are given to the Party Leader or another character. Whenever this is the case, they will describe it so.

Open a Door

Open a Door is a Minor Action that does not interrupt your movement. If you open a Door having spent 2 squares of your movement, after you complete the setup, you will be able to resume your turn as normal and move your third square.

• When opened, a Door will reveal a new Setup. The yellow arrow indicates the position where the opened Door was in relation to the new Setup.
• Doors can add new Special Mechanics, Special Rules, or even Endgame Triggers. Each Door will tell exactly what it brings to the gameplay.

Searching a Chest

To search a Chest, a Hero must be adjacent to it and use the Search a Chest Minor Action. When they do, they must:

• Draw a Chest card from the Chest deck.
• Roll the Trap Die to see if the Chest was trapped.
• You can find details about Chests on page 31 of this Rulebook.

Companion and Pet Turns

Some Heroes have the ability to summon Pets to assist them, while also, during your Adventures, you may stumble across some characters that are also eager to fight the Darkness by your side. Be they a Pet or a Companion, these allies follow a set of rules that is very much alike:

• Pets and Companions take their turns right after their controller's turn. Their turn consists of a Move Action and then an Attack Action, in this order.

  Important: Some Companions like Tharmagar have a special turn sequence. You can find these details described inside the Adventure Book.

• Monsters perceive Pets and Companions with a lower priority. They will choose to attack them only if they would waste an attack without reaching any Hero.

  Important: If a Monster has Multiple-Attack options such as CLEAVE, MULTISHOT, or STRIKE, they will include a Pet or Companion among its targets whenever they can do so without giving up attacking a Hero instead. Thus, they won't give up attacking two Heroes to attack a Hero and a Pet or Companion, but they would attack a Pet or Companion along with their Primary Target if they can do so by taking an appropriate Move Action.

• Pets and Companions, however, are different characters. Any ability that your Hero has that interacts with Pets does not work on Companions.

• Some effects can give your Hero the ability to activate pets. An activation means to take a Pet turn or to summon (or resummon) a Pet to the board.

• Summoned Pets arrive in an unoccupied square adjacent to the Hero who summoned them and they are immediately affected by any harmful terrain or Darkness they arrive on.

• You can find details about Pets and Pet Turns on page 9 of this Rulebook.

• You can find details about Companions and their turns on page 15 of this Rulebook.

Knocking Out a Hero

When your Hero reaches 0 Health, they are knocked out and you must do, in order, the following:

• Lay the miniature down (this is just a reminder);
• Remove any Conditions they have (Resource tokens are kept);
• Recall all of their Action Cubes (a knocked out Hero does not gain Curse Cubes);
• Assign one Trauma Cube to one of their Skills;
• Erase any Auras they have on their Campaign Log.

While knocked out, a Hero cannot be the target of any Attack or Effect and cannot take any Actions or Reactions.

At the beginning of your next turn, your Hero catches their breath and recovers all of their Health. Stand their miniature up and continue your turn as normal.

If your Hero is knocked out during your turn by taking Condition damage, they may immediately catch their breath and continue their turn from where it stopped.

Darkness Spawning

When the Initiative Marker reaches the Rune card on the Initiative Track, it's time for the Darkness to act and you must:

• Draw the number of Runes indicated by the card;
• Find the matching Darkness tile and place it on the board following the Darkness Behavior Rules:
  • The Darkness always tries to reach the Strongest Hero that is not on top of Darkness (map or tile).
  • If all Heroes are already on top of Darkness when a Rune is drawn, skip that spawning and all Heroes take Y non-preventable damage where Y is equal to the number of Heroes in your party.
  • If a tile does not fit on the map when spawned, it must be broken down and replaced by three small Darkness tiles that, in turn, chase their Target.
  • You can find details about Darkness Spawning on page 44 of this book.
• Place the Runes on their positions on the Initiative Track.
• Then, flip the card over—it has two faces.

Darkness Effects

Once it is on the board, the Darkness has the following effects:

• It deals 2 points of non-preventable damage to a Hero, Companion, or Pet that was caught by it when it is spawned; stepped on it for the first time in a turn; or ended their turn on top of it;
• It imposes a penalty of -2 to HIT on all Weapon Attacks made by Heroes on top of it;
• It gives a bonus of +2 damage to all Monsters that are on top of it; Commander, Overlord, and Boss Attack cards are not subjected to this buff, only their Monster card Attacks are.

Setups

Every Door, as well as many events, will instruct you to add a Setup. Usually, Setups are a continuation of the existing dungeon, emulating the dungeoneering process.

• Setups must always be made following the table orientation of the First Setup.
• Whenever you are instructed to add a Setup, the game is paused until it is complete.
• All Setups carry an illustration with some objects that must be added to the board. Each one of them must be placed in the exact position described by the Setup and you must place all elements that are indicated from the Solo gameplay (above the dotted line) through the size of your party.

Example: In this example, if your party has four Heroes, you would place a total of 1x WM: Shadow Cultist - Rookie; 1x Chest token; 2x Gray Monster (Random) Rookie; and 2x White Monster (Random) Rookie (5 Monsters and 1 Chest).

Summoning Monsters

A Setup will instruct you to summon Monsters usually in one of the two following ways:

• GM: Rotten Flesh - Rookie: In this case, you must use specifically the Gray Monster Rotten Flesh with the Rookie rank.
• Gray Monster - Rookie: In this case, the Monster you use must be picked randomly from all the Gray Monsters you possess with the Rookie rank.

Tip: To quicken things up, it's a good idea to sort all kinds and ranks of Monsters into separate decks during the game preparation.

Most Monsters in AoD have two or even three different behaviors in order to add variety and challenge to your game. By default, a Setup won't specify which kind of behavior the Monster you are about to summon must use, meaning that you should use the "Standard" version of it.

However, this is not a rule, but a suggestion. Whenever you summon a Monster, you can choose to summon any of its variant behaviors if you want to change your gameplay experience.

Important: Take note that these Monsters, although designed within the same general rules, can prove themselves to be more challenging than their Standard versions, due to their variations on targeting.

Summoning Commanders and Overlords

Commanders and Overlords are special types of Monsters and to properly Summon them, you must pay attention to some details about their mechanics. As usual, this process can be a little tricky the first time you run through it, but it will become easier as time goes by.

When you are instructed to summon a Commander or an Overlord, you must:

• Place its miniature on the board and its card on the Initiative Track, as you would with any Monster;
• Then, draw Commander Attack cards (or Overlord Attack cards)—one for each player (Hero) in the party;
• Set its starting Health: Its Health Value times the CP instructed by the Setup.

Important: The CP is variable and "Players" in this case, means the size of your party.

Example: For a party with three Heroes, a CP 2+Players would be 5 (2+3). Thus, if the Commander had 8 Health displayed on its card, its starting Health would be 40 (5 x 8 = 40).

Losing an Adventure

There are two possible outcomes for an adventure: either the Heroes succeed in completing the goal; or, they fail by getting more Trauma Cubes or Curse Cubes than they can hold, or by drawing the last Rune from the bag.

• A Hero will fall the moment they gain their sixth Curse Cube;
• A Hero will fall the moment they gain their second Trauma Cube;
• The party will fall the moment the last Rune from the bag is drawn and it becomes empty.

There is no downside to a Campaign for losing an Adventure. Your party may restart the Chapter, but they need to undo any progress they made during the current Adventure.