Dragon's Ransom Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Object of the Game
• Setup
• Hero Character Cards
• Minion Cards
• Chaining
• Trap Cards
• Hero Ability and Item Cards
• Turn Sequence
  • 1. Play Cards
    • Minion Attack Event
  • 2. Discard Cards
  • 3. Draw Cards
    • Hero Attack Event
• End of Game
• Multiplayer Rules
  • Role Cards
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Terms

Components

162 Cards

• 85 Minions Cards
• 38 Hero Cards
• 24 Attack Cards
• 5 Trap Cards
• 4 Hero Character Cards
• 6 Role Cards*

28 Wound Tokens

Object of the Game

You are the master of the dungeon. Alone or with a team, you must defeat the invading Heroes by attacking them with minions and traps.

Setup

1. Randomly place the four Hero Character cards in a line side by side to create a row.
2. Set aside all Heroes Attack! cards.
3. Shuffle all the remaining cards to create the draw deck.
4. Draw the top 7 cards. This is your starting hand. If your starting hand contains any Hero Ability cards or Hero Item cards, place them now.
5. Split the draw deck into 3 piles as equally as possible.
6. Shuffle a number of Heroes Attack! cards equal to the desired difficulty into each of the piles. Stack these piles to form the draw deck.

Difficulty	Easy	Normal	Legendary
Cards	2	3	4

Hero Character Cards

Hero Character cards represent the Heroes invading your dungeon. Each card depicts the Hero's type in the upper left corner and their health in the upper right corner.

The reverse side of each Hero Character card shows the defeated Hero. If there are wound tokens equal to or greater than the Hero's health, flip the card over to indicate that the Hero has been defeated. Any Hero Ability cards drawn for a defeated Hero will be discarded.

Minion Cards

Minions are your main way of dealing with the Heroes. Grouping minions together makes them stronger.

1. Type: A minion can be one of 4 types: Arcane, Beast, Dragon, Undead.
2. Attack Value: The amount of wounds the unit will inflict on the Hero.
3. Name/Ability: Details special gameplay rules that the minion provides. Text in italics have no effect on gameplay.
4. Chain Position: Depicts the possible locations this minion can be played. See Chaining.

Chaining

Chains are the way you assemble groups of minions to attack the Heroes. Chains are not required to connect, but it is recommended to make complete chains to take advantage of ability bonuses. There are 3 types of chain positions: Start, Middle, and End.

When an Attack! card is played, you will resolve the chain that is closest to the target Hero. A chain consists of any number of cards that are connected by chain positions.

• A single complete chain.
• 2 separate chains.

Trap Cards

Traps are a way to directly affect the Heroes. There are 2 types of traps.

• Basic Trap cards can be played and resolved immediately.
• Special Trap cards, denoted with an arrow at the bottom, are placed into the Hero attack queue. They replace Hero Ability cards during the Hero Attack Event.

Hero Ability and Item Cards

Heroes are able to fight back by activating their own abilities and slaying your minions. When Hero Ability cards are drawn, immediately place them above the associated Hero in their attack queue in the order they were drawn. Hero Ability cards are played underneath the last card played in that column.

1. Hero Icon: Shows in which Hero's column the ability will be placed.
2. Name/Ability: Details the effect of the card.
3. Initiative: When activating multiple ability cards, begin with the card of the highest initiative and resolve in descending order.

When a Hero Item card is drawn, immediately place it above the Hero, but below the Hero Ability cards, of the matching Hero icon (found in the upper left on the Hero Item card). Items remain on the Heroes until they are removed by another effect.

Tip: Items grant unique bonuses that make each Hero more dangerous. It is a good idea to focus your attacks on Heroes equipped with items.

Turn Sequence

A turn consists of the following sequence:

1. Play Cards
2. Discard Cards
3. Draw Cards

1. Play Cards

At the start of your turn, you may play as many cards from your hand as you would like in any order.

Minion cards are played by adding them below a Hero into a column. Minion cards must be played on top of the last card played in any column. They cannot be placed between cards. When a Minion card is played, its ability is activated.

Playing an Attack! card will initiate a Minion Attack Event.

Minion Attack Event

Based on the type of Attack! card played, send chains of minions to cause wounds to the Heroes. You must attack with the chain closest to the chosen Hero Character card. When attacking with multiple chains, you may choose the order in which they are sent.

Place wound tokens equal to the Total Attack Value of the chain onto the Hero Character card it hits. If a Hero receives wounds equal to or greater than their total Health Value, that hero is defeated. Flip the card over and discard any Trap, Item, and queued Minion cards in that Hero's column.

Discard all cards used in the Minion Attack Event.

Basic Trap cards are activated immediately, while Special Trap cards are added to the attack queue of any Hero.

Special Trap cards always activate last in regards to initiative.

2. Discard Cards

Once you finish playing cards, you may discard any number of cards from your hand.

3. Draw Cards

You may draw as many cards as you would like up to your hand limit (typically 7). Decide how many cards you would like to draw, then draw that many cards facedown at once. Reveal the new cards.

• If these new cards contain any Hero Ability or Hero Item cards, immediately place them now.
• If these new cards contain a Heroes Attack! card, perform a Hero Attack Event.

The remaining cards go into your hand.

Hero Attack Event

When a Hero Attack Event takes place, all of the Heroes will perform the queued Hero Ability or Trap card closest to them above their Hero Character card in their column. Activate all abilities based on their initiative value starting with the highest and ending with the lowest. If a Hero does not have a queued ability, that Hero will not make an attack during this event.

If a Hero attacks a column that does not contain any Minion cards, perform the attack to an adjacent column. If this is also not possible, you must discard the strongest Minion card from your hand. If you are unable to discard a card, discard the top card of the draw deck. If this is a Hero Item, Hero Ability or Heroes Attack! card, play it instead.

Discard all cards used in the Hero Attack Event.

At the end of the Draw phase, if your hand contains 3 or more Attack! cards, you must play one.

End of Game

Play continues in turns, using the rules above. The game ends in one of two ways:

• When all the Heroes are slain. Victory! You have successfully thwarted the Heroes. Now get back to cleaning prison cells.
• The draw deck is depleted. Failure. The dungeon is pillaged of all treasures and riches. Tiny baby dragons starve at night.

Multiplayer Rules

Dragon's Ransom can be played co-operatively with up to 4 players using the provided Role cards and the following rule changes:

• Deal out a random Role card to each player.
• Each player starts with a number of cards equal to their Max Hand Size.
• Players must play a card during their turn, but no more than 3.
• Players may draw 0 cards during the draw phase.
• A player may skip her Play phase, but may not if she had previously skipped her Play phase the last round. (Flip the Role Card over to the reverse side to indicate a skipped turn this round).

Role Cards

Each Role card shows:

1. Name: The name of the Role.
2. Max Hand Size: The maximum number of cards you may have in your hand at the end of your turn.
3. Special Ability: A special ability that the Role may perform.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Some card abilities mention "cost" or "play for free". What does this mean?

A: These terms only apply to the multiplayer mode, in which the play limit per turn is 3 cards.

Q: How do I determine the attack value of a card without an Attack Value?

A: These cards are not included when determining a card based on Attack Value.

Terms

• Adjacent - Cards directly to the left or right.
• Closest - The minion closest to the attacking Hero.
• Farthest - The topmost minion in the target column.
• HP - Health Points.
• Send - Perform an attack.
• Slay - Discard the minion to the discard pile.
• Strongest - The minion with the highest Attack Value.
• Total Attack Value - The combined value of all the minion's Attack Values in a chain, plus any ability bonuses.
• Weakest - The minion with the lowest Attack Value.