Dragonslayer

Dragonslayer Rulebook

Table of Contents

Introduction

In Dragonslayer, you are a magician embarked on a quest to destroy Vermithrax Pejorative, the last Dragon. Before you confront the dread beast, you must travel throughout the island kingdom of Urland in search of companions, magical items, spells, and weapons. Your journey will be eased or hindered by events that occur along the road, and your every step will be dogged by the King's men — desperate men who would take you captive to thwart your mission. And should your good fortune and skill see you through all the dangers of the road, the greatest peril yet awaits you. You must face and match the awesome creature you have sworn to destroy before you can win... before you can claim the title, Dragonslayer.

How to Start the Game

Spread the map of Urland smoothly on a table. Don't punch out the cardboard playing pieces (called tiles) just yet; read the following rules first so you know how to sort and use the tiles. When you do punch them out, be careful to work them loose gently to avoid tearing them.

You need two, three, or four people to play Dragonslayer. Each of you selects one magician tile and places it on the map in the space marked as your magician's abode. Your magician represents you and any companions accompanying you throughout the game. If there are fewer than four players in the game, remove the magicians no one chooses. One player should always play Galen, whether there are four players or not.

After placing your magician on the map, put the tiles marked "Ulrich" and "Dragon Shield" on their pictures on the map. Give the "Ulrich's Ashes," "Amulet of Power," and "Hodge" tiles to the Galen player.

Place the tile marked "The Dragon Vermithrax Pejorative" in the box on the map marked "The Dragon's Lair." Place the other seven tiles that have the Dragon pictured on them (called Dragon Location tiles) to one side of the map, face-down.

Next, give each player a set of two King's men tiles. Each set of two has a leader's name on it (for instance, Tyrian). Place each of your King's men tiles face-down in a castle on the map.

The remaining 75 tiles — representing events, companions, magic items, weapons, and spells — should all be turned face-down and mixed. Without looking at them, place four of these tiles in each of the four towns (Swanscombe, Broadford, Roskill, and Culnakask) and two in each of the 21 hamlets. Put the 17 leftover tiles aside without looking at them; you will not need these in this game.

How to Play Your Turn

Players always take their turns in this order: Aurric, Merridyds, Old Kyvin, and Galen. Each of your turns represents 3 days, and everything you do during your turn is measured by the number of days it takes. In each of your turns, your magician can spend up to 3 days, and then each of your King's men can spend up to 3 days.

It costs you one day when your magician:

Moves along a road into any place in Urland.
Moves from a port to a sea zone or from a sea zone to a port.
Moves from one sea zone into a neighboring sea zone.
Takes a tile in a hamlet or town.

Your First Move

Since you start the game in your abode, you will have to go to sea to reach Urland. Spend your first day to move your magician to the sea zone that borders your abode.

You can spend your second day moving from the sea zone you are in, across a sea zone boundary, into a neighboring sea zone; or you can land in Urland in the port that borders the sea zone you are already in.

If you spent your second day moving into a sea zone, you can spend your third day moving into another sea zone, or you can land in Urland. If you spent your second day landing in Urland, you can spend your third day moving along a road from the port you landed in to another place in Urland; or you can take one of the tiles from the port in which you landed. Once your magician has spent 3 days, he can do nothing until your next turn.

Taking Tiles and Forming Your Party

When you take a tile, you will find that it gives you instructions, or it represents a companion or thing. If the tile instructs you to do something, you must follow those instructions immediately and then remove the tile from the game. If the tile is a companion, it becomes part of your party of people who will help your magician try to slay the Dragon. If the tile is a thing (weapon, spell, or magic item), you may be able to add it to your party, provided you have enough companions to carry it.

You can never have more weapons than you have people (including your magician) in your party. This means that, if you lose a companion, you may have to drop one of your weapons (place it face down in your present location).
You can never have more spells and magic items (together) than your magician can carry. Your magician can carry as many spells and magic items as he has pentacles (star symbols) on the bottom of his tile.

If you take a tile and find that you cannot carry it, you must either put it back, face-down, where you found it, or keep that tile and replace it with one of your other tiles.

Note to the Galen Player: Galen can always carry Ulrich's Ashes (a magic item) plus one other spell or magic item, even though he has only one pentacle on his tile.

All the companions and things in your party should be kept off the map in front of you; only your magician (and your King's men) should be on the map.

Moving Your King's Men and Challenging Magicians

After you have finished moving your magician and taking tiles, you can move your King's men to try to slow down your opponents' magicians. Each of your King's men tiles can spend up to 3 days moving, just like your magicians, except King's men can never go to sea, go to the Dragon's Lair, or take tiles.

Each time you move a King's men tile into a hamlet or town that has a magician in it, you may challenge that magician if you want to. (If there is more than one magician in a place and you want to challenge, you have to challenge each magician in the place, one at a time — even your own, if he is there — until a magician accepts your challenge. You can choose which magician you will challenge first.)

When you tell a player you are challenging his magician, he can either accept the challenge, or avoid it by taking the road. If he takes the road, he moves his magician out of the place onto a neighboring road of his choice (spending no days for the move) and your King's men can continue to move. If he accepts the challenge, compare the strength of your King's men tile to the total combat strength of all the people in the magician's party. If your King's men tile is as strong as your party or stronger, put your King's men tile and the magician in any castle you choose; both your King's men tile and the magician lose their entire next turn, and the rest of this one. If the magician's party is stronger, your opponent puts your King's men tile in any castle he chooses, and your King's men tile loses the rest of this turn (but not the next turn).

One of your King's men tiles must finish moving and challenging before your other King's men tile can begin.

Your King's men can never challenge a magician who is in a town if there is a companion in that magician's party who lives in that town (as marked on the companion's tile).

A magician must always spend an extra day to enter any place that has a King's men tile in it. A magician must also spend a day to leave any place that has a King's men tile in it. This is true even if your own magician enters or leaves a place with your own King's men in it.

Your Other Turns

Each of your turns is similar to the first, except that you will not be coming to Urland from your abode. There is no set number of turns to Dragonslayer. You keep playing until your magician is dead, or the Dragon is dead.

Slaying the Dragon and Winning

When you think your party is strong enough to fight the Dragon, you can move to the Dragon's Lair and draw a Dragon Location tile at random. This tile tells you where the Dragon is. (If you draw "The Dragon is Away," put your magician in Morgenthorme immediately; you cannot fight the Dragon if he is not there.) Place all of your weapons, spells, and magic items on the Battle Display on top of their pictures. (Some things — like the Amulet of Power — are pictured twice; you will have to pick one of these spaces.) Add the combat strength of everyone in your party and, reading across the line that matches your Dragon Location tile, add the combat strength of everything you have on the top two rows of the Display and note the total; then add the magic strength of your magician and the magic strength of everything you have on the bottom row of the Display and note this total. Now look at the Strength Modifiers Display and add or subtract as you are instructed. Subtract the Dragon's strength (recorded on the Dragon Strength Track on the map) from each of your strengths and look at the Dragon Battle Matrix, finding the description of your combat strength across the top and the description of your magic strength down the left side. (If either of your strengths is less than the Dragon's strength, you immediately lose.) Read the result and follow the instructions at the bottom of the Matrix. (If the Dragon reaches a strength of zero, it is dead and the game is over. If your party is wiped out by the Dragon, you are out of the game.) Finally, put your magician (if he survives) in Morgenthorme, where he stays for the rest of this turn (he can leave next turn). Return the Dragon Location tile to the pile. The Dragon (if he survives) then raids the nearest place that still has face-down tiles in it, and those tiles are removed from the game. If there is a magician in the place raided, he is then attacked and must fight the Dragon exactly as though he had gone to the Dragon's Lair and drawn a "Dragon at High Altitude" tile, except that after this fight the magician is not put in Morgenthorme, and the Dragon does not raid again.

Abandoned Weapons

When you lose a weapon in the Dragon's Lair, put the weapon on the Abandoned Weapons Display in the box that describes where the battle took place. Any party can recover abandoned weapons by going to the Dragon's Lair and drawing a Dragon Location tile. If you draw the tile that matches the location of the weapons, you have to fight the Dragon and cannot recover weapons; if you draw any other tile, you can take the weapons (as many as you can carry) and then go to Morgenthorme for the rest of this turn. The Dragon does not raid (unless you have to fight him). Note that any weapons you lose if you are raided are removed from the game — not put on the Abandoned Weapons Display.

How to Win the Game

You win Dragonslayer by fighting the Dragon — either in the Lair or in a raid — and reducing the Dragon's strength to zero. It is possible that no one will kill the Dragon, in which case no one wins. It is also possible for your magician to kill the Dragon and be killed himself, in which case you earn a draw with the Dragon.

Summary of the Rules

You can refer to this summary for quick reminders when you are in doubt about general rules. For a more detailed explanation, refer to the rules sheet.

Starting the Game

Select a magician and place him in his abode.
Put Ulrich and the Dragon Shield on the map.
Give Hodge, Amulet of Power, and Ulrich's Ashes to Galen.
Put Vermithrax Pejorative in the "5" box on the map, and place the Dragon Location tiles aside.
Place your set of two King's men on the map.
Place tiles face-down in the towns and hamlets.

Playing Your Turn

Play in this order: Aurric, Merridyds, Old Kyvin, Galen.
Spend up to 3 days moving by land or sea, or taking tiles.
Move one of your King's men and challenge, if you want to.
Move your other King's men and challenge, if you want to.

Spending Days

Spend one day to enter any place in Urland.
Spend one day to enter a sea zone.
Spend one extra day to enter any place with a King's men in it.
Spend one day to leave any place with a King's men in it.
Spend one day to take a tile.

Slaying the Dragon

Move to the Dragon's Lair.
Draw a Dragon Location tile at random.
Place your weapons, spells, and magic items on the Battle Display.
Add your combat strengths, including your companions.
Add your magic strengths, including your magicians.
Add or subtract the modifier for the Dragon's location.
Subtract the Dragon's strength from each of your strengths.
Look at the Dragon Battle Matrix and apply the results.
Put your magician in Morgenthorme for the rest of his turn.
The Dragon raids the nearest place with face-down tiles in it, and battles any magician there as though at High Altitude.

The map key (Dragon's Lair, Road, Castle, Hamlet, Abode, Sea Zone Boundary, Port, Town) is a graphic on the rules sheet and is not transcribed here.

Special Tile Summary

Dragon Shield. If you have Valerian as a companion, you can take this tile from its box on the map the first time you fight the Dragon. The Shield can be used only once (then it is removed from the game) and it never counts as a weapon carried by your party.

Enchant Weaponry Spell, Spell of Killing, Charm of Weaponry. You can use the combat strength of these tiles while fighting the Dragon only if you have at least one weapon in your party, and you can use only one of these tiles per weapon.

Silver Ewer, Orb of Vision, Far Mirror. When you enter the Dragon's Lair with any one of these, you can discard the first Dragon Location tile you draw. You can use each of these tiles only once per turn.

Ulrich's Ashes. Galen can turn Ulrich's Ashes into Ulrich by going to the Dragon's Lair as if he were trying to recover abandoned weapons. If he draws "The Dragon is in the Lake of Fire," he has to fight the Dragon and cannot trade the Ashes for Ulrich; if he draws any other tile, he gets Ulrich and the Ashes are removed from the game. Galen can never lose Ulrich's Ashes in any other way. Note that Ulrich can carry up to three magic items and/or spells for Galen.

Delayed. When you take one of these, your magician loses whatever days he has remaining this turn and he loses the next turn completely. If you are challenged while delayed, you may not take the road.

Item Stolen. When you take one of these, remove one of your weapons, spells, or magic items from the game; if you have none, ignore this tile.

Companion Killed. When you take one of these, remove one of your companions from the game; if you have none, ignore this tile.

Companion Deserts. When you take one of these, remove one companion and one weapon from the game; if you have no companions, ignore this tile; if you have a companion but no weapons, treat it as a Companion Killed tile.

Captured. When you take one of these and you are in a town or hamlet with a King's men tile (even your own) you are captured. The player who owns the King's men tile puts you and his King's men in a castle (use the King's men on top if there is more than one in the town or hamlet).

Betrayed. Treat as a Captured tile, except also remove one companion from the game. If you have no companions, ignore this tile completely.

Gain One Day or Escape from Castle. With this tile, you can add one day to any one of your magician's turns, or you can use it to leave a castle rather than lose a turn when captured. You can save this tile to use later, and you can use as many of these as you have in one turn.

Battle Display

Place your tiles in the appropriate boxes. Each row is a place where the battle can happen (High Altitude, Low Altitude, Open, Mouth, Passage, Lake). The number in each box is the value added to your party's strength for that item in that place.

Note on the scan: the Battle Display chart is printed across the sheet, and the scanned PDF pages cut it off at their edges. The columns for the West Sea Trident and Diamond Mace sit on the cut line, and the Spell of Lightning / Spell of Whirlwinds boundary is partly lost. Values below are only those legible on the scan; the rest of the chart must be checked against the printed sheet before use.

Weapons (added to your party's combat strength)

Place	Hart Bow	Axe of Ardanna	Hammer of Morgan	Sword of the Well	Sicarius Draconum	The Dragon Shield	West Sea Trident
High Altitude	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Low Altitude	2	0	0	0	2	1	1
Open	3	1	1	3	3	3

Place	The Diamond Mace	Crystal Bow	Eldrinn's Halberd	Bow Whitestag	Spear Sessaman	Club Imperator	Sling of David	Black Bow
High Altitude	0	2	0	1	0	0	2	1
Low Altitude	0	2	0	1	1	0	2	1
Open	1	2	2

Magic Items and Spells (added to your party's combat strength)

Place	Amulet of Power	Charm of Weaponry	Anti-Fire Spell	Spell of Agility	Spell to Enchant Weapon	Spell of Killing
High Altitude	3	1	0	0	2	3
Low Altitude	3	1	0	1	2	3
Open	3	1	2	1	2	3
Mouth	3	1

Dragon Shield, Magic Items and Spells (added to your party's magic strength)

Place	The Dragon Shield	Amulet of Power	Anti-Fire Spell	Spell of Agility	Spell of Hellfire	Spell of Lightning	Spell of Whirlwinds	Spell of Animation	Spell of Storms
High Altitude	0	3	0	0	0	2	2	0	1
Low Altitude	1	3	1	0	1	1	2	0	1

Strength Modifiers Display

Effect on your combat and magic strengths when the Dragon is...

Flying at High Altitude: Add 1 to both your strengths.
Flying at Low Altitude: There is no modification.
In the Open: Subtract 1 from both your strengths.
At the Mouth of its Lair: There is no modification.
In the Passage of its Lair: Subtract 2 from both your strengths.
In the Lake of Fire: Subtract 2 from both your strengths.

Abandoned Weapons Display

Place weapons lost in the Dragon's Lair in the appropriate box; see Abandoned Weapons for the recovery procedure.

Weapons abandoned at High Altitude
Weapons abandoned at Low Altitude
Weapons abandoned in the Open
Weapons abandoned in the Mouth of the Lair
Weapons abandoned in the Passage
Weapons abandoned in the Lake of Fire

Dragon Battle Matrix

Your combat strength versus the Dragon is... (across the top) and your magic strength versus the Dragon is... (down the side). Each entry reads "number lost / strength levels the Dragon loses."

Magic \ Combat	The same	1 more	2 more	3 more	4 more	At least 5 more
The same	10/0	9/0	8/0	6/0	4/0	2/0
1 more	9/0	7/0	5/0	4/0	3/0	2/1
2 more	8/0	6/0	5/0	3/0	2/1	2/2
3 more	6/0	5/0

The number to the left of the slash indicates the number of weapons, spells, magic items, and/or companions (your choice) you immediately lose. Remove any spells, magic items, and companions you choose to lose from the game; place any weapons you choose to lose on the Abandoned Weapons Display. The number to the right of the slash indicates the number of strength levels the Dragon permanently loses; adjust the marker on the Dragon Strength Track accordingly.