Duel of Ages Set 1: Worldspanner Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• A Quick Overview
• Game Contents and Victory
  • Game Contents
  • Winning Duel of Ages
  • Tie-Breaker
  • Timing Turns
  • Battle Variant
• Characters and Ratings
  • Colored Ratings
  • A Brief Overview of the Ratings
  • Honor and Respect
• Challenge Rolls
  • 1. Get Your Challenge Number
  • 2. Add Modifiers
  • 3. Roll 2 Dice
  • 4. Rate Your Success
  • 5. See the Result of Your Success
• Starting a Game
  • 1. Make Teams
  • 2. Deal Characters
  • 3. Decide Team White
  • 4. Build the Map
  • 5. Reveal Characters
  • 6. Add Labyrinths
• Game Play
  • Team White's Turn
  • Team Black's Turn
  • Dismissal and Banishment
  • Placing and Stacking Character Markers
• The Map
  • Tunnels
  • Caverns
  • Easter Eggs
  • Obstacles
• Character Movement
  • Moving from Space to Space
  • Using Move Points
  • Moving in Tunnels
  • Moving Through Cavern Walls
  • Moving into an Enemy Space
  • Moving into a Tower
  • Moving out of a Dome
  • Movement Example
• Equipment
  • Using Cards
  • Example Cards
  • Revealing Cards
  • Equipment Types
• Line of Sight
  • What Terrain Blocks LOS?
  • Tracing LOS
  • Tracing LOS Along a Space Edge
  • Tunnel LOS
  • Map Edges Are Cavern Walls
  • See You, See Me
• Ranged Attack
  • Using a Ranged Weapon
  • Selecting the Target
  • Making a Hit Roll
  • Terrain Effects on the Hit's Challenge Number
  • Weapon Loss on a 12
  • Health
  • Weapon Loss After a Kill
  • Damage
  • Ranged Attack Example
• Opportunity Fire
  • Weapon OpFire Rating
  • Selecting the Target
  • The Enemy-in-Space Restriction
  • Opportunity Fire Examples
• Melee Attack
  • The Melee Phase
  • Natural Melee Attack
  • Pick Your Weapon
  • Pick Your Target
  • Make the Attack
  • Melee Attack Example
• Adventures: Labyrinths
  • The Labyrinths
  • The Guardian Position
  • Challenging the Guardian
  • Guardian Chain Reaction
  • Begging for Mercy
  • Example: The Amazon Challenges the Sphinx
• Adventures: Towers
  • Tower of Havoc
  • Tower of Maneuver
  • Great Vortex
  • Tower of Knowledge
  • Tower of Desperation
• Rules Clarifications (The Chief Weewak Answers Your Questions)
• Background: At the Feet of Suva and The Sport
• Credits

A Quick Overview

1. Divide players into two teams.
2. Receive a randomly dealt group of characters.
3. Build the map to your satisfaction.
4. Characters gain equipment by confronting the guardians of the four labyrinths.
5. Use equipment and your characters' own natural abilities to outfight and outmaneuver the enemy.

Game Contents and Victory

Game Contents

• 4 Platters
• 6 Dome keys
• 4 Labyrinth keys
• 52 Equipment cards
• 40 Guardian cards
• 28 Character cards
• 28 Character markers
• 4 Team White markers
• 4 Team Black markers
• 2 LOS markers
• 2 OpFire markers
• 2 Chart cards
• 1 Rulebook
• 4 Dice

Winning Duel of Ages

Select a time limit, from two to five hours. Three hours is standard. The timer should begin when Team White is ready to take their first turn. When the timer signals the end, the current team completes their turn, then the opposing team completes one turn.

At the end, the teams score points as follows:

• 1 point if your team has more characters left alive than the enemy team.
• 1 point for each labyrinth in which your guardian position is closer to the labyrinth entrance than the enemy's.

Tie-Breaker

In case of a tie, the game continues until one team manages to break the tie, by shifting a victory point in a labyrinth or through character count. The game immediately ends when that happens.

Example: We have a tie. Team White has 2 surviving characters. Team Black has 3. 1 point to Team Black. Team White leads in the Ancient and Future Labyrinths. 2 points to Team White. Team Black leads in the Modern Labyrinth. 1 point to Team Black. No leader in the Colonial Labyrinth. No point awarded. Final: White 2, Black 2. The game continues. Team Black manages to defeat the guardian in the Future labyrinth. This moves their marker into the same position as Team White's. Team White loses the victory point for the Future labyrinth. It is suddenly White 1, Black 2, and Black immediately wins.

Timing Turns

In tournament play, a team has 2 minutes to complete their turn from the Free Action phase through to the end of their Move phase.

Battle Variant

This variant is best for beginning players, or when time is not an object. The game continues until one side surrenders or is eliminated.

Characters and Ratings

Characters are the core of DOA. It is your team of characters that must outwit, outfight and outmaneuver the enemy team.

Each character card describes a character, for example Siennya, Queen's Daughter (the Amazon). The card lists page references to learn more about each rating shown on the card, along with the character's flavor text, Age, and a bonus ability (for example: "Move cost 1 in Swamp. Gains +1 Hit with Bow, Brawler.").

Colored Ratings

Many of a character's skills are rated by six colors. The brighter the color, the better the rating:

• White (Incredible)
• Yellow (Excellent)
• Green (Good)
• Blue (Average)
• Red (Poor)
• Black (Why Bother?)

A Brief Overview of the Ratings

• Honor – How the character treats others.
• Respect – How others treat the character.
• Speed – Speed of movement.
• Health – Amount of damage the character can take before dying.
• Melee – Hand-to-hand fighting skill.
• Damage – Every character can use his fists/claws/tentacles in melee. Damage rates the power of that natural melee attack. This rating is actually two ratings in one. The color of this rating is called its Penetration. The number in the middle is the attack's Damage.
• Aim – Steadiness, cool-headedness, concentration, and vision quality. Aim is important when using weapons that require good vision and steadiness, such as rifles.
• Point – Hand-eye coordination; the ability to make fluid, accurate upper body movements. Point is critical with weapons that are not carefully aimed, such as pistols and automatic weapons.
• Throw – The ability to accurately toss an object. It is important for grenades, spears, and for the arm-strength weapons like bows.
• React – The ability to move the body quickly. Characters with high React can avoid harm from enemy melee attacks.
• Stealth – If the enemy can't see you, they can't shoot you. Stealth rates character size, quietness, and knowledge in areas of camouflage. Stealth's main purpose is defense against ranged attack.
• Armor – Even if an attack hits, it must still penetrate the target's clothing or armor.
• Strength – Sheer physical body strength.
• Wits – Cleverness; ability to come up with answers and solutions.
• Age – Characters (and many other aspects of the game) are divided into four ages:
  • Ancient: Characters from the distant past, and heroes and beings of epic fantasy.
  • Colonial: Notable figures from the 1500's to the 1930's.
  • Modern: From World War II to the dawn of interstellar travel.
  • Future: Characters of science fiction, and of human entry into other star systems.

Honor and Respect

• H (Honorable), H (Decent), H (Dishonorable)
• R (Respected), R (Common), R (Disrespected)

Honor and Respect have little effect in DOA: Worldspanner. That changes in DOA 2: Intensity. Honor and Respect are not ratings that a player needs to "role-play."

Challenge Rolls

Challenge rolls are the core of Duel of Ages. A challenge roll pits a character's rating against another rating. Here's how:

1. Get Your Challenge Number

Look at the Challenge Chart on the chart card. Compare the color of your rating against the color of the challenge. The result is a number, from 2 to 12. This is your challenge number.

Example: Challenging a Green rating against a Blue rating yields a challenge number of 8.

2. Add Modifiers

There may be modifiers that increase or decrease the challenge number. Modifiers cannot reduce the number below 2 or raise it above 12.

Example: Let's say a -2 penalty applies to this challenge. The challenge number drops to 6.

3. Roll 2 Dice

Now, roll two dice. The lower the roll, the better. Never, ever modify the number rolled. All modifiers adjust the challenge number, not the roll.

4. Rate Your Success

Find the number rolled on the Challenge Results table. The result will be one of five success levels:

• AMAZE: Sweet success – you pulled off a beauty!
• PASS: Success.
• SQUEAK: Success – sort of.
• FAIL: No good.
• FOPP: Failure Of Painful Proportions. This is a bad thing.

Dirty little secrets — you don't need the charts. Just remember these rules of thumb:

• Seven in the middle: Your Challenge Number is 7 if the opposing color equals your color. The number bumps up or steps down from there. If you're one worse in color than the opponent, you bump down to 6, and so on.
• Low rolls are hot: A low roll is good. 2 is hot, 12 is not.
• Success levels: An AMAZE happens on a roll of 2, or on any roll that is 4+ less than the Challenge Number. A FOPP happens on a roll of 12, or on a roll 4+ more than the Challenge Number. A PASS happens on a roll 1-3 less than the Number. A FAIL happens on a roll 1-3 more than the Number. A SQUEAK happens on a roll equaling the Challenge Number.
• And so, roll to Squeak: Say out loud, "Seven to Squeak!" (or whatever the Challenge Number is) before you roll. Now you know that number is a SQUEAK. Something less than that is PASS, more is FAIL. If the roll looks more or less by a lot (4 or more), it is a FOPP or AMAZE.

5. See the Result of Your Success

There will be a success result list for whatever you are challenging. That result list tells you what happened as a result of your challenge.

Example: Let us say that Siennya was attempting a Spit Upon Enemy* challenge. The success list looks like this:

• AMAZE: A large spinner right in the eye. Enemy is blind for one turn.
• PASS: A healthy goober on the cheek. You manage to both infuriate the enemy and disgust onlookers.
• SQUEAK: You wet his boot. Acceptable, but shows an embarrassing lack of lung power.
• FAIL: You hit the cat. The enemy is unimpressed.
• FOPP: Misfire! It's long, green, and stuck to your chin.

Looking at this, Siennya's FOPP means she needs a handkerchief...

*The Spit Upon Enemy challenge is not real. But the Chief Weewak demanded its inclusion in the rules set. Frankly, we are as disgusted as you, yet we have little choice – the Chief has powerful friends.

Starting a Game

1. Make Teams

Divide players into two teams. Teams do not need an equal number of players.

2. Deal Characters

Decide the number of characters each team will play, usually from 4 to 10. Then each team decides how many characters each player commands.

Shuffle the character deck. Deal cards face down until each player has his allotment. You may look at them, but don't let the opposing team see them!

There is no difference between your characters and those your mates are running. There is never an instance where something happens to all the characters you are running, but not to the characters of your mates.

3. Decide Team White

Have one person on each team roll two dice. The team with the higher roll is Team White, the other is Team Black.

4. Build the Map

Players build the map using the large circular platters, and the small triangular keys. These hook together to form any map shape you desire.

Take the four platters and the six Dome keys. Leave the four labyrinth keys aside until Step 6.

Team Black takes one platter and hooks any one key to it. Team White then takes one platter and one key, and attaches those to the first platter. At no time can a placed platter or key be unhooked from the rest of the map.

The teams alternate doing this until all four platters and four of the Dome keys are hooked. Then, they alternate placing the last two Dome keys.

Building the map will create nooks, crannies, and notches. A nook is a hole without a key. A cranny is a gap between two platters. A notch is just the standard gap in a platter.

By the time the map is fully built, every nook and cranny must be filled in. So, the teams cannot leave more than four nooks and crannies when they build the map – no more than the four labyrinth keys can fill in.

5. Reveal Characters

Lay the character cards out in front of you, face up. Players are allowed to study the character cards of all other players.

For each character, find the marker that matches the character's icon as shown on the card. Place the marker on the card.

You have two choices for keeping track of character Health:

• Select someone as the record-keeper. He tracks current Health on paper.
• Stack pennies next to the character cards.

6. Add Labyrinths

Team Black selects one labyrinth key and places it in any nook, cranny or notch available on the board. The entrance to the labyrinth must be placed so that it can be entered from the map.

Team White then places the second labyrinth, then Team Black the third, and the fourth by Team White. Nooks and crannies must be filled in.

The labyrinths have a red eye in one space. Place a Team Black and a Team White marker in each of those spaces.

Separate the Guardian cards into their four decks. Shuffle each deck and place each deck face-down close to the labyrinth of the same age.

You are now ready to begin play...

Game Play

DOA is played in rounds. Each round has a Team White turn and a Team Black turn.

Each turn has phases. Every character on the team must fully complete a phase before going on to the next phase.

Team White's Turn

Free Action phase. Some character abilities and cards allow a character to take a free action. Free actions are always free. They do not restrict the rest of the character's turn. Any number of free actions may be taken in a turn. Team Black never takes free actions until their own Free Action phase.

Fire phase. Team White characters may fire ranged weapons. Each character may fire one shot with one weapon. Team Black characters do nothing.

Move phase. Any Team White characters that did NOT fire in the Fire phase may move. Team Black characters do nothing.

Opportunity Fire phase. After all Team White characters move, Team Black characters may fire at moving enemy.

Melee phase. Characters from both teams who are in a space with an enemy may attempt one melee (hand-to-hand) attack against one enemy.

Adventure phase. Team White characters in an adventure space conduct the adventure.

Reinforcement phase. Team White selects two characters that are not yet on the map, and makes dismissal rolls for each. A character must be selected before a roll is made. Because no characters are on the map during the first turn, the only phase that matters on the first turn is the Reinforcement phase.

Team Black's Turn

Team Black takes their turn, in the same way as Team White's turn above.

Dismissal and Banishment

During the course of the game, characters are often asked to leave places after an adventure. POOF! They disappear from one spot, and FOOP! reappear within an exit point, called a Dome.

Dismissal is a pleasant "goodbye." Banishment is a harsh "Begone, swine!"

Dismissal. Roll one die. Look for Domes with the same number. Place the character's marker in one of those Domes. The chosen Dome must be empty. It cannot have another character in it. If all Domes with that number are full, go to the next higher number (or to 1 if at 6).

Example: The Amazon is banished. She is on Team White, so Team Black rolls one die. The roll is 6. But both Domes numbered 6 already contain characters. So, they place her in a Dome numbered 1.

Banishment. Banishment is the same as dismissal. But the enemy makes the die roll and places the character.

Placing and Stacking Character Markers

Characters are represented on the map by markers. Always place character markers inside a space.

Any number of characters may be in one space, except in Domes and Towers. Only one character may be in a Dome or Tower at a time.

The Map

The map has a honeycomb pattern, hundreds of little hexagons. Each hexagon is called a space.

A space's terrain depends on the type of terrain shown in the space. If a space has no terrain showing, it is a Clear space.

Terrain types shown on the platters and keys: Clear, Woods, Building, Swamp, Rough, Water, Fire, Deep Water, Obstacle, Dome, and the five Towers – Maneuver, Knowledge, Havoc, Great Vortex, and Desperation.

Tunnels

Tunnels are beneath the surface. Terrain exists normally on the surface. The terrain in a tunnel is always considered Clear.

A tunnel entrance is not terrain. It simply marks where characters may enter the tunnel system.

Caverns

A cavern is a hollow hill. Characters can move around inside the cavern, but may not climb up on top of the hill, or pass through the cavern walls. Because of this, there are only three ways into the cavern (enter only across the three open sides).

Informative symbols like the red eye are not terrain. For example, the red eye space is Clear terrain. Any space containing cavern walls is a cavern space.

Easter Eggs

Every platter has two Clear spaces containing Easter eggs – a glimpse of small creatures or machines, etc. Easter eggs are not terrain. They exist merely to add spice to the map.

Obstacles

There is only one obstacle on the maps – the fallen, crumbling goliath on the Colossus platter. Any space containing the ruined statue or broken down columns is an Obstacle space.

Character Movement

During your team's Move phase, each of your characters may move on the map – if they did not fire a weapon in the Fire phase.

Moving from Space to Space

Each space costs a number of move points to move into, depending on the terrain in the space. A character never pays movement to leave a space, only to move into a new space.

• Move Cost 1: Clear, and any Tower (Maneuver, Knowledge, Havoc, Great Vortex, Desperation).
• Move Cost 2: Woods, Water, Rough.
• Move Cost 3: Swamp, and Building. You may enter a Building space from any direction. Don't worry about doors or other openings. Every Building space costs 3 to enter, even if that space is part of a big building that your character is already in.
• Stay Out!: Dome, Deep Water, Fire, and Obstacle cannot be entered by normal movement.

Using Move Points

A character's move points equals his Speed rating. So, a character with 7 Speed has 7 "points" to spend on moving from space to space.

Move points not used in a turn are lost. They cannot be used in the next turn.

If a character does not have enough move points to enter a space, he cannot enter that space. But! Regardless of cost, a character can always move one space by using all his move points. This cannot be into prohibited terrain like Obstacle.

Moving in Tunnels

To move from one tunnel space to another, those spaces must be connected by tunnel. Cost for moving along a tunnel is 1 per space.

A character can move to and from tunnels only in a space containing a tunnel entrance. It costs 1 move to go down into the tunnel system or up from the tunnels. This 1 cost is true even if coming up into slow terrain like Woods or Building.

To designate that a character is in a tunnel, flip the character's counter over.

Moving Through Cavern Walls

Characters can never pass through cavern walls.

Moving into an Enemy Space

A character must stop when entering a space containing an enemy character. Enemies in tunnels do not stop characters on the surface, and vice versa.

Moving into a Tower

A character ends movement immediately upon entering a Tower. Important! Only one character is allowed in a Tower at a time.

Moving out of a Dome

A character that begins the Move phase in a Dome must ALWAYS leave the Dome.

Movement Example

Six characters (A-F) all have 6 Speed, which means 6 move points.

• A: Uses 3 move points to enter the Building, 1 for Clear, 1 to go down into the tunnel, and 1 to move to the next tunnel space.
• B: Uses 1 point to move in the tunnel, and 1 point to come up to the surface in the building. B did not need to pay the Building cost when coming to the surface.
• C: Uses 4 points to enter two Water spaces. He would like to enter the building, but he has only 2 points left – not enough.
• D: Uses 1 for Clear, 3 for Swamp, and 1 for a Tower. D must end movement as soon as he enters the Tower. If another character was in the Tower already, D could not move into the Tower.
• E: Does not want to move. So he doesn't.
• F: F would also like to stay where she is, but cannot: she is in a Dome and must leave. So, she exits to a Clear space.

If any of these characters had moved into a space containing an enemy, they would have been forced to stop in that space. For this, enemy in tunnels do not affect characters on the surface, and vice versa.

Equipment

Characters begin with no equipment – they must gather it through adventures. Equipment is detailed on the equipment cards (just called "cards").

Using Cards

Each card shows a description, the number of uses (P = Permanent, K = Lost after a kill, 1 = Usable once), and a Strength/Wits requirement.

4 card carry limit. Each character may carry 4 cards. If a character gains new cards and the total number of cards exceeds 4, he must immediately discard cards to get rid of the excess.

Strength and Wits requirement. Look at the Strength and Wits rating on a card. A character must be as good or better in both Strength and Wits, or he cannot use that card. He can still carry it, however.

Trading equipment between characters. You cannot freely move cards between characters. This is known as cheating. To trade cards between two characters, both characters must use 2 move points in the same space during their Move phase. Any number of cards may be traded between these two characters. If one of the two characters wishes to trade with a third character, he and the third character must spend another 2 move points to do so. Cards cannot be traded in a space containing an enemy.

Picking up and (not) dropping equipment. Characters cannot drop equipment voluntarily. But when a character is killed, his cards remain in the space and may be picked up. Place a blank marker on the space. A character may pick up equipment from the ground during his Move phase. This costs 2 move points. All cards in the entire space must be picked up at once. A character cannot just pick through what he wants. A character cannot pick up cards if an enemy is in the space. If a character is somehow killed in a Tower or Dome, the equipment cannot be picked up. Discard it.

Destroying equipment. A character may destroy equipment only:

• During his Free Action phase.
• When trading equipment.
• When the character receives new equipment.

Discarding equipment. Place cards face up in a discard pile. Players are allowed to look through this pile.

Example Cards

• Obsidian Tomahawk (Melee weapon, Colonial vs. category, K – lost after a kill): "While much more effective than the stone club-axe, the obsidian tomahawk's edge was prone to chipping and shattering."
• Accelerator Tube (Ranged weapon, Misc/future category, single Target, Range 6, OpFire 2, Attack rating 2): "Known as the 'junk bomber.' Feed any small object into this weapon, and that object is accelerated to lethal speed." The accelerator tube is not lost when it kills an enemy character (Permanent).
• Sumerian Chariot (Living Equipment, Mount, ancient, P – Permanent): "The plains of the Fertile Crescent – from The Euphrates to Egypt – make the chariot an ideal war machine." The user's Speed is 7, but he may not enter Building spaces. The user also gains +1 Armor against ranged attacks. See Mount rules for use.

Revealing Cards

When you draw a new card, look at it, but keep it face down next to the owning character, unrevealed to the enemy. At some point a card must be revealed. Once revealed, it cannot normally be hidden again, even if traded or captured.

Equipment Types

Ranged. Ranged weapons are used to fire at enemies in other spaces. They come in a number of groups – rifles, pistols, bows, grenades, etc. A ranged weapon must be revealed just before attempting the first Hit roll with it. Most ranged weapons must be discarded after killing an enemy character. This is designated by the "K" in the lower left of the card.

Grenade "Blind Throw". Grenades have the special ability to be thrown over Buildings and Domes, even to a place the user cannot see. Grenades treat Building and Dome as Woods for Hit purposes. Example: A has a grenade with a Range of 3. A may fire at B, even though he does not have line of sight to B, because he treats Building and Dome as Woods when using a grenade. He suffers a -2 Hit penalty: -1 for the Building, -1 for the Dome. Because Building is treated as Woods, A suffers only a -1 penalty if firing at C, instead of the normal -2 for Building. See the Ranged Attack rules for more information. Grenades cannot be thrown into or out of a Dome.

Melee. Melee weapons can be used to attack enemy characters in the owner's space. They are revealed and lost in the same way as ranged weapons.

Armor. Armor comes in three types – Body Armor, Head Armor, and Shield. A character may use only one of each type at a time, though he is allowed to carry others. For example, a character carrying both the Leather Armor and Kevlar Vest may use only one of them.

Mount. Mounts do one of two things: they may give the owner a new Speed rating (such as the Sumerian Chariot), or they may add to the character's normal Speed (such as the Crickets). Using a Mount is voluntary. To use (or stop using) a Mount, it must be revealed and selected during the Free Action phase. Only one Mount may be used at a time. A character cannot use a Mount during half his move, then stop using it. He is either using the Mount during the whole turn, or not. Special advantages of a Mount, such as the armor given by the Sumerian Chariot, apply only while the Mount is in use. A character cannot trade away a Mount that he is using. A character cannot use a Mount on the turn he receives it in trade. Notice that Mounts are normally permanent. They are not lost after the first use.

Loss of character special movement abilities. Important! While using a Mount, a character may not use her special movement abilities. For example, if the Amazon is on the Sumerian Chariot, it costs her 3 to move through Swamp, not 1.

Stealth. Stealth equipment makes a character harder to hit. Reveal them as per the card instructions. Only one Stealth item may be used at a time. Others may be carried, but not used.

Medical. Medical cards increase the character's current Health, if the character is wounded. Only one Medical card may be used by a character in a turn. Medical cards are generally one-use items, discarded after use.

Pack. Packs allow a character to carry more than 4 cards. They must be revealed once the character is carrying more cards than he is normally allowed.

Gadget. Miscellaneous useful items. Follow the instructions on the card. These items must be revealed before use.

Line of Sight

Living down there on the map, characters can't just see everywhere, like you can from your lofty altitude. Some terrain blocks vision. And if a character can't see, he can't shoot. This is called line of sight (LOS).

What Terrain Blocks LOS?

Clear, Rough, Swamp, and Woods do not block LOS. A character can see through any number of these spaces.

A character can see into a Building space, but not past it. A character in a Building space can see out of the space in all directions.

Characters cannot see past Obstacle, Domes, Towers and Cavern Wall. They can't even see into Domes and Towers. So, characters in Domes and Towers are safe from attack.

LOS is blocked only if the line passes through the picture of the terrain, not the shadow ("Only the picture counts"). This LOS is not blocked, even though it passes through a space containing a Building.

Tracing LOS

Often, you can simply eyeball the line of sight. But sometimes you need to measure it out. To do this, lay a LOS counter in the target's space and one in the firer's. Then stretch dental floss or a rubber band between the red dots.

Tracing LOS Along a Space Edge

Often, LOS passes directly along the edge between two spaces. If blocking terrain touches that edge from either side, it blocks LOS.

Tunnel LOS

Tunnel LOS is easy. LOS is not blocked while the tunnel goes straight. After a curve, LOS is blocked. Characters on the surface can never see characters in tunnels, even if on a tunnel entrance space. If another character was directly above a tunnel character on the surface, they still cannot see each other.

Map Edges Are Cavern Walls

The edge of the map, including the notches, are considered cavern walls.

See You, See Me

There is never a situation where a character can see an enemy, but that enemy cannot see in return. If character A can see character B, then B can see A right back.

Ranged Attack

Using a Ranged Weapon

To use a ranged weapon:

1. It must be your character's time to shoot, during your Fire phase, or the Opportunity Fire phase during the enemy's turn.
2. The target must be in line of sight.
3. The target cannot be in the attacker's space.
4. No enemy characters can be in the attacker's space.
5. The target must be in range of the weapon. Range is counted with spaces, not move cost. So, range counted through 3 Woods spaces is just three spaces, not six.

Selecting the Target

During the Fire phase, a character may take one shot with one and only one weapon.

Look at the weapon's Target rating. It is either Single or Area.

Single target. A Single-target weapon attacks only one target in a space. If there is more than one character in the space – enemy or ally – a random target must be chosen, as follows: Have the owners of each character in the space roll one die. The lowest roller is the target. If the lowest roll is tied, the attacker decides which of those tied characters he wishes to attack. For example, if Character A rolls 3, B rolls 2, and C rolls 2, the attacker may choose either B or C as the target.

Area target. An Area-target weapon attacks everyone in the space – friend and foe. Make a separate Hit roll for each target.

Making a Hit Roll

The Hit roll is a challenge roll, using ratings shown on the weapon card. For example, the Accelerator Tube causes a challenge roll of the attacker's Point rating against the defender's Stealth rating.

The attacker makes the roll. On SQUEAK or better, the attack hits.

Terrain Effects on the Hit's Challenge Number

Take note of each space in which Woods, Swamp or Fire touch the line of sight. For each, apply a -1 Hit penalty. This includes the space the target is in, but not the attacker's space.

If the target is in a Building space, apply a -2 Hit penalty.

If the target is in a Rough space, apply a -1 penalty. Rough terrain between the target and the attacker does not count.

Weapon Loss on a 12

If the Hit roll comes up a 12, the weapon breaks and is discarded. If this is an Area attack, conduct the attacks on all targets before discarding the weapon.

Health

Each character has a Health rating. This is the amount of damage a character can take before being eliminated.

Reduce the target's Health by the amount of damage from the attack. If reduced to 0 or less, the target is eliminated.

Current Health and Maximum Health. The Health rating on the character card is the character's Maximum Health. The character's current health is the Current Health rating. If healed in some way, characters cannot increase their Current Health above their Maximum Health.

Weapon Loss After a Kill

Upon killing an enemy with a weapon, the weapon is lost. Discard it. If this is an Area attack, conduct the attacks on all targets before discarding the weapon.

Damage

If the attack hits, the attacker must now make a challenge of the weapon's Penetration against the target's Armor. On a:

• FOPP – The attack causes no Damage.
• FAIL – The attack inflicts the weapon's Damage - 2.
• SQUEAK – The attack inflicts the weapon's Damage - 1.
• PASS – The attack inflicts the weapon's Damage.
• AMAZE – The attack inflicts the weapon's Damage + 1.

Ranged Attack Example

The Amazon (A) is firing the Accelerator Tube (Range 6, Target single, Attack rating 2) at the Gladiator (B).

This is a challenge of Amazon's Point vs. Gladiator's Stealth. Both are green, so the Challenge Number is 7.

However, the attack's line of sight passes through one Woods and two Swamp. Also, the Gladiator is in a Rough space. So, the Challenge Number suffers -4, down to 3.

The Amazon player rolls the dice. He rolls a 3 – a Squeak, good enough for a hit.

Now Amazon challenges the weapon's Penetration (Red) vs. Gladiator's Armor (Blue). The Challenge Number is a 6.

The Amazon player rolls two dice. A 6. Again, a Squeak. A Squeak causes one less damage than the weapon's rating. In this case, the Accelerator Tube has a Damage rating of 2. So, the attack causes 1 damage.

The Gladiator has 5 Health, so his current Health is reduced to 4.

The target is 4 spaces away, in range of the Tube's 6.

Opportunity Fire

Opportunity fire means firing at targets as they move. This occurs in the Opportunity Fire phase, after all enemies have moved in their Move phase. A character may use only one weapon during opportunity fire.

Weapon OpFire Rating

A weapon's OpFire rating determines how you can use that weapon during Opportunity Fire:

• OpFire 0 – The weapon cannot be used during opportunity fire.
• OpFire 1 – May take one shot during opportunity fire.
• OpFire 2+ – May take two or more shots. However, only one shot is allowed against any one target, and any one space.

Selecting the Target

A character may attack a moving target in any space that the target moves into. Watch the enemy movement path carefully. If you wish to mark a certain space after movement is pointed out, you may do so with a crosshairs marker.

You cannot attack a target in the space where he began the Move phase, unless the target spends move points in that space to pick up or trade equipment.

Targets moving into tunnels are not using move points in the surface space. That 1 cost gets them underground. Going from tunnel to surface is the same.

Targets must be moving. You cannot opportunity fire at a target that does not use any move points. This includes targets that fire during their Fire phase. Such targets are hugging the ground or hiding behind small obstacles.

Using a Single target weapon. Ignore the random target rule for when multiple targets are in a space. Any moving enemy can be targeted.

Using an Area target weapon. With an area weapon, pick one enemy character as the primary target. Now pick a space that enemy moved into or used move points. Every character that moved into that space is attacked by the weapon, as well as anyone in the space who did not move. Remember, if the weapon has an OpFire of 2 or more, the user cannot target that same space again, nor can he use that same enemy as the primary target. But it is possible that one enemy could be attacked more than once, depending on movement path and primary target choices.

Making the attack. Other than the above, an opportunity fire attack uses the normal ranged attack rules.

The Enemy-in-Space Restriction

Normally, a character cannot use a ranged weapon if an enemy is in their space. During opportunity fire, however, this is only true if an enemy starts in the character's space, and stays there. Enemies leaving or entering the space during their Move phase do not prevent opportunity fire.

Opportunity Fire Examples

• Single target example: Character A has opportunity fire with a Single target weapon. X is his ally. B is an enemy who is not moving. C moves through one space, then another, then into A's space. A can fire at C in the first space he passes through. He can also fire at C in the second space, because the random Single target rule is ignored during opportunity fire. A cannot fire at C in his own space. A cannot fire at C twice, nor can he target B. So, he cannot take more than one shot.
• Area target example: A has opportunity fire with an Area target weapon with OpFire 2. The weapon has OpFire 2. A must pick a primary target, either C or D (B did not move). He picks C, and fires at him in the first space. He attacks both C and D, because D is moving through the same space. For his second shot, A cannot choose C as the primary target again. So, he picks D. But he also cannot fire at the same space again. So his only option would be to fire at a later space, attacking whoever is there, including his own ally.
• Avoiding opportunity fire: Character A would like to opportunity fire, but he has no target. Character B uses 1 move point to disappear down the tunnel. He cannot be fired at on the surface, because he started in that space. In the same way, Character C moves behind the Tower of Desperation and stops, out of sight of A. Character D does not move at all. So he cannot be targeted.
• One space only: Character A has opportunity fire with a Single target weapon with OpFire 2. B and C are underground. They pop up out of the tunnel and move into A's space. A fires at B in the space they move up into. But he cannot fire at C, because he already fired at B in that space, and he cannot fire at a target in his own space.
• Enemy in space must be unmoving: A may fire, because B is moving out of A's space, and C is moving in. If B remained in A's space without moving, A would not be able to fire.

Melee Attack

Melee is hand-to-hand combat. Melee occurs when enemy characters are in the same space during the Melee phase.

Unlike the Fire phase, characters from BOTH teams attack in every Melee phase.

The Melee Phase

Melee is simultaneous – usually. The current team resolves their melee attacks first. However, all melee attacks happen at the same time. This means that, if a character is killed in melee, he still makes his own melee attack before dying.

Some characters, like the Mercenary, are allowed to attack first. This means they may kill an opponent before the opponent can attack. If more than one character has a special ability of attacking first, their attacks are simultaneous.

Natural Melee Attack

Every character can fight hand-to-hand without needing a melee weapon. This is called the natural melee attack. The Damage rating on the character card is for the natural melee weapon. The natural melee attack, like other melee weapons, challenges the attacker's Melee rating vs. the target's React rating.

Pick Your Weapon

At the start of the Melee phase, you must select the weapon each character will use in the melee. This can be a melee weapon carried by the character, or his own natural melee attack.

Pick Your Target

Each character is allowed to attack only one enemy in the Melee phase. A character does not need to pick a target until it is his turn to make a Hit roll.

Melee is voluntary. You may refuse to make an attack. However, this does not prevent the enemy from attacking you, or give the character any defensive benefits.

Make the Attack

Melee attack is handled in the same way as a ranged attack, except that terrain is ignored.

Melee Attack Example

Sarge (Melee 5, Claymore weapon Damage 4) is fighting the Rogue (Melee 4, Stiletto weapon Damage 1) and the Tyrant (Melee 4, natural weapon Damage 2) in the same space.

Sarge attacks Rogue: Sarge's Melee vs. Rogue's React gives a Challenge Number of 8, reduced to 6 by the Tyrant's -2 Hit penalty. The Hit roll ("six to Squeak") comes up 5, a PASS (a hit). The Claymore's Penetration vs. the Rogue's Armor gives a Challenge Number of 8. The Damage roll ("eight to Squeak") comes up 3, an AMAZE. AMAZE causes the Claymore's Damage + 1, for 5 Damage. Result: Rogue killed, Claymore lost.

Rogue attacks Sarge: Rogue's Melee vs. Sarge's React gives a Challenge Number of 7. The Hit roll ("seven to Squeak") comes up 7, a SQUEAK (a hit). The Stiletto's Penetration vs. Sarge's Armor gives a Challenge Number of 10. The Damage roll ("ten to Squeak") comes up 11, a FAIL. FAIL causes the Stiletto's Damage - 2, for 0 Damage. Result: Sarge is unharmed.

Tyrant attacks Sarge: Tyrant's Melee vs. Sarge's React gives a Challenge Number of 7. The Hit roll ("seven to Squeak") comes up 9, a FAIL (a miss).

Adventures: Labyrinths

During the Adventure phase, the current team's characters that are in an Adventure space conduct adventures. The team decides the order in which their characters resolve adventures. Characters of the other team never conduct adventures until their own Adventure phase. A character may conduct an Adventure even if an enemy is in his space.

The Labyrinths

There is a labyrinth for each age. Each labyrinth has guardians. A guardian is actually a situation in which a character finds herself – a momentary illusion. The "story" results of the event do not happen to the character. For example, if you FAIL against the Sphinx, your character does not actually come to harm.

There are four decks of Guardian cards, one for each labyrinth. The Sphinx is an example Ancient Guardian. She poses a riddle: "Four legs in morning, two at midday, three in evening." Answer correctly, or else...

The Guardian Position

Each team has a marker that begins on the red eye of each labyrinth. The location of the token is the guardian position. This position changes as characters defeat the guardians.

Challenging the Guardian

A character who is in his team's guardian position during the Adventure phase may challenge the Guardian, if he wishes.

A character may challenge any labyrinth. If challenging the labyrinth of his age, however, he gains a +1 bonus.

If a Guardian is not yet revealed, reveal the top card.

Make a challenge roll using the rating on the Guardian card. In the Sphinx's case, the character's Wits are challenged against Green.

The results of the challenge are shown by symbols, plus a special "also" result for an AMAZE. Handle the results in the order of the symbols on the card:

• The character is dismissed.
• The character is banished.
• The character draws the number of cards listed.
• The character loses all cards.
• The Guardian is defeated: place the Guardian face up, on bottom of the deck. Move your guardian position one space toward the entrance to the labyrinth. If it is already at the entrance, it does not move.
• Amaze Bonus: a special bonus that occurs on an Amaze result.

Guardian Chain Reaction

It is possible that the guardian position will be moved underneath another character of the current team. That character can then challenge the Guardian immediately. The same is true if the guardian position does not move, and another character is in that space.

Begging for Mercy

If a character is on the red eye during the Adventure phase, he may beg for mercy. The current guardian is removed (placed on the bottom of the deck), and the character is dismissed.

Example: The Amazon Challenges the Sphinx

It is Team White's Adventure phase. The Amazon is a member of Team White. She is on the White guardian position in the Ancient labyrinth. So, she challenges the Guardian.

The Amazon's Wits rating is Blue. Blue vs. Green = 6. Siennya is Ancient, so she gains a +1 bonus on the challenge. "7 to Squeak."

The roll is 4 – a PASS. So:

• The Sphinx is placed at the bottom of the Ancient Guardian deck.
• The White guardian position is moved one space toward the front of the labyrinth.
• Draw one card and place it under the Amazon's character card.
• Make a dismissal roll for the Amazon.

Adventures: Towers

Towers reflect human strategy – maneuver, intelligence-gathering, raiding, and so on.

During the Adventure phase, a character in a Tower must challenge the Tower.

Important! Characters gain NO bonus for challenging a Tower that is in the labyrinth of their age.

Tower of Havoc

An enemy in chaos is an enemy half beaten. Raids behind enemy lines spread not so much destruction as confusion. The Tower of Havoc represents the ability to spread chaos among the enemy. It is a means of moving equipment between enemies, removing equipment from the hands of a skilled opponent. This Tower is a Green Strength challenge.

• FOPP – Ambush! The challenger loses all cards, and is banished.
• FAIL – The challenger is banished.
• SQUEAK – The enemy chooses two of his characters – a giver, and a receiver. The giver must give all cards to the receiver. If the enemy has only one character, that character simply loses all his cards. The challenger is dismissed.
• PASS – As Squeak, but you choose the giver. The challenger is dismissed.
• AMAZE – As Squeak, but you choose both the giver and the receiver. The challenger is dismissed.

Tower of Maneuver

Maneuver is a critical element of human strategy. If one can meet an enemy at the time and in the place of one's choosing, the battle is well in hand. The Tower of Maneuver allows you to move allies and enemies – useful for trapping an enemy or plucking an ally out of the fire. This Tower is a Blue Strength challenge.

• FOPP – Outmaneuvered! The enemy moves the challenger to the empty Dome of their choice.
• FAIL – The challenger is banished.
• SQUEAK – One ally of your choice is dismissed. The challenger is banished.
• PASS – One ally of your choice is dismissed OR one enemy of your choice is banished, your choice. The challenger is banished.
• AMAZE – One ally of your choice is dismissed OR one enemy of your choice is banished, your choice. The challenger is dismissed.

Great Vortex

There are times when great advantage can be won in battle, but at a significant risk. Success can hinge on whether the risk is reasonable, or merely foolhardy. Named after a mineral-rich but perilous region of space, the Great Vortex can provide healing for the character – or serious hurt. This Tower is either a Yellow Strength or Yellow Wits challenge, challenger's choice.

• FOPP – Giant sucking time rift. The challenger loses all cards, suffers 1 damage, and is banished.
• FAIL – The challenger is banished.
• SQUEAK – The challenger is healed for 1 Health, if wounded. He is then banished.
• PASS – The challenger is healed for up to 2 Health, if wounded. He is then banished.
• AMAZE – The challenger is healed for up to 4 Health, if wounded. He is then banished.

Tower of Knowledge

Battlefield intelligence: commanders never have enough. If one can discover the enemy's strengths and weaknesses, one can discern the best means of engaging the enemy. The Tower of Knowledge reflects scouting and spying. It reveals enemy equipment. This Tower is a Blue Wits challenge.

• FOPP – Discovered! The challenger must reveal all cards and is banished.
• FAIL – The challenger is dismissed.
• SQUEAK – The enemy must reveal 1 unrevealed card of their choice. The challenger is dismissed.
• PASS – The enemy must reveal 2 unrevealed cards of their choice. The challenger is dismissed.
• AMAZE – The enemy must reveal 4 unrevealed cards of their choice. The challenger is dismissed.

Tower of Desperation

There are times when one must choose between two evils. Is a retreat into dangerous territory less dangerous than standing and fighting? The Tower of Desperation is most certainly dangerous territory, but – could it not be more favorable than certain death at the hands of a pursuing enemy? This Tower is a Green Wits challenge.

• FOPP – Sad news: the challenger fails to evade the dangers of the tower, and is killed. (In DOA: Intensity, challenger is instead imprisoned.)
• FAIL – The challenger suffers 2 damage, and is banished.
• SQUEAK – The challenger suffers 1 damage, and is banished.
• PASS – The challenger is banished.
• AMAZE – The challenger is dismissed.

Rules Clarifications (The Chief Weewak Answers Your Questions)

The rulebook presents its FAQ as an in-character audience session with "the Chief Weewak," a comic figure who fields rules questions from confused new players. The rule clarifications he gives are:

• Movement is never by dice roll. A character's movement is entirely governed by his Speed rating (move points), as described under Character Movement.
• Line of sight is blocked only by terrain, never by other characters. If your target is behind another character (friend or foe), that character has no effect on LOS.
• If a character is killed by opportunity fire while moving to trade equipment (before actually completing the 2-move-point trade), the trade does not happen. Put the cards back the way they were; the character who didn't reach the trade loses the move points he spent trying to get there.
• If a dismissal or banishment roll comes up on a number where every Dome is completely full (not just the same-numbered Domes), place the character in a Dome containing an ally, never an enemy.
• Health loss has no other mechanical effect on a character – no movement penalty, no Hit penalty. Characters fight at full effectiveness until they are eliminated.
• Only one Guardian card is active in each labyrinth at a time. Both teams confront the same Guardian, even though their guardian positions may not be in the same space.
• A character can never deliberately target an ally with an attack.
• On a Tower of Maneuver PASS or AMAZE, you may choose to dismiss an ally OR banish an enemy (rolling for the enemy's placement as normal banishment).
• When a rule says a character "loses" cards, those cards are discarded permanently. When a rule instead uses the word "drop," the cards remain in the space and can be picked up.
• If you have placed a targeting marker to opportunity fire at a moving enemy, you must let the enemy complete his entire Move phase before you announce your shot. Once he has finished moving, he cannot change his path to avoid it.
• Characters may use equipment of an Age other than their own, without penalty.
• The game supports exactly two teams; the turn structure (in particular, the Melee phase in which both sides attack simultaneously) does not extend to three or more teams.
• A team must bring two more characters onto the map each Reinforcement phase until none are left off-map; characters cannot be voluntarily held off the map. Likewise, once a character is on the map, he stays there until he is killed – a character can never voluntarily leave the map.
• If an enemy fired at you during his Fire phase rather than moving, you cannot shoot back at him during the Opportunity Fire phase, because Opportunity Fire only triggers off movement. You get your chance to fire back on your own following Fire phase.
• If a Guardian is not defeated, it remains face up on top of its deck. The next character to challenge it – regardless of team – takes it on; it does not matter which team challenged it first.
• Honorable and Dishonorable characters are not roles a player must "act out." In DOA: Worldspanner, the Honor and Respect ratings have little mechanical effect (later sets expand on this).
• Checking line of sight is free and does not cost a character his shot, even if the first line you check turns out to be blocked. However, a player may only check LOS during his own turn to fire, and only from the space his character actually occupies.
• Duel of Ages is not a trading-card game. Every copy of the set contains the identical, complete set of cards – there is no randomized or rare-card distribution.

Background: At the Feet of Suva and The Sport

The rulebook closes with two pages of setting lore, framed as a fireside dialogue between "Suva," an alien historian of the Orian race, and a group of young listeners. Suva recounts the origin of Lith, the Worldspanner – a vast, world-sized living being encountered by humanity generations earlier, who nearly died when the alien empire called The Five attempted to exterminate her as a perceived threat. Humanity discovered a way to save her, and in gratitude Lith began teaching herself about human nature by having people act out conflict and strategy for her within caverns she carved beneath planetary surfaces. This grew, over generations and through the war against The Five, into a spectator sport: Duel of Ages. In "The Sport," the rulebook describes how these duels are staged – "sandbox" arenas roughly a kilometer across, hollowed out by Lith and dressed by human "mistpainting" technology into any battlefield imaginable, with elite human players participating via full-body holo-suits while billions more play amateur versions on a virtual network. The section closes with the opening lines of an in-universe short story about Siennya, Queen's Daughter (the Amazon) – one of the 360 "Full Degree" characters the game's designers fleshed out with individual histories.

Credits

Executive Producer: Joshua Evarts

Game Design: Brett Murrell

Editor: Richard Nord

Playtest & QC: Michael Baker, Gary Heller, Steve Kennedy, James Murrell

Art: K. Andersen, Armands Auseklis, Jose R. Castello, Lon Chaney, Dean Chaney, Donna D'Amelio, Gerald C. Double, Ronald C. Kapaun, Zieben Lin, Lorraine Purviance, Mike Robinson, Martin Roes

Many thanks to the playtest groups, to the Barretts, Cooks and Schisels, to the Wilhelms, Patchins and Todds, to the Grubbs, Chubbs and Burrowses, to Ben, Matt, Karissa, Jonathan, Jeremy, Jeff, Kate, Eric, Mark, Julia, Ygunna, and all the others who have contributed so much to the quality of Duel of Ages.

1st Edition published by Venatic, Inc., February 2003.