Dungeon Academy Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• How to Build the Dungeon
• Setup
• Goal of the Game
• Sequence of Play
  • 1. Choose the Duration of the Exam
  • 2. Prepare the Dungeon
  • 3. Opening the Dungeon and Go for Adventure
  • 4. Resolve the Dungeon
    • Monsters & Potions
    • Failing the Level
    • Achieving a Level
      • Level Resolution Example
      • Level Points Scoring Example
  • 5. Earn Loot
  • Move to Next Level
• Endgame
• Variants
  • Training
  • No Mercy!
  • Solo Variant
• Loot Cards
• The Boss Dice
• The Labyrinth Dice
• The Hero Cards

Components

• 16 base dice
• 1 Labyrinth die
• 1 Boss die
• 10 Hero cards
• 20 Loot cards
• 1 Teacher (pawn)
• 6 Exit cards
• 158 energy tokens
• 1 dungeon (base, roof, and floor pieces)
• 150 Adventure sheets

How to Build the Dungeon

The rulebook shows the assembly of the dungeon in two illustrated steps, labeled 1. Base and 2. Roof, folding the cardboard pieces into the base frame and the roof tray that will later hold the rolled dice.

Setup

1. Each player takes an Adventure sheet and a pen.
2. Each player draws 1 Hero card.
3. Take the number of Energy tokens shown on your Hero card and place it on the corresponding spaces on the Health side and on the Mana side. The remaining Energy tokens are placed in the middle of the table to create a pool.
4. Place the dungeon in the center of the table, then place the Loot cards and Exit cards, the teacher and the 16 base dice within reach.

Advice: don't play with the Labyrinth die and the Boss die during your first play.

Goal of the Game

Dungeon Academy plays through 4 levels, each one representing a dungeon floor. At the end of the 4th level, the player who gathered the most Glory obtains their Dungeon Academy diploma and wins the game!

Sequence of Play

When exploring a level, players perform the following steps:

1. Choose the Duration of the Exam

Use a timer or download the Dungeon Academy free app and pick a game duration, depending on the difficulty you want to play with:

• Easy: 1 minute.
• Moderate: 45 seconds.
• Hard: 30 seconds.

2. Prepare the Dungeon

Choose a player who will create the dungeon. This player rolls the 16 base dice into the dungeon roof.

The player manually adjusts the dice in order to get a 4x4 square.

The player now covers the dungeon roof with the dungeon floor.

Then, while holding it tightly, the player turns the dungeon upside down in the middle of the table without lifting the roof.

The player creates a draw pile with the Exit cards sorted by numerical order, starting with the "1" face up.

The school's dungeon is ready for the examination.

3. Opening the Dungeon and Go for Adventure

When players are ready, one of them removes the dungeon's roof.

The adventure begins: each player has to draw their path into the dungeon on their Adventure sheet on the corresponding level.

Note: each player looks at the dungeon from their own point of view, which means that each player draws their path from their own perspective.

When drawing, players have to observe the school's three golden rules:

• They have to start and finish their path on one of the dungeon's outer spaces. They cannot start or finish inside the dungeon!
• Rooms are connected horizontally or vertically, it is not possible to move diagonally.
• It is forbidden to move through the same room twice.

Hint: End your path with an arrow to show the direction of your journey.

When a player has finished their path, they draw the first Exit card from the draw pile. When each player has drawn an Exit card, or when the timer runs out, stop the adventure. Players will now resolve their dungeon.

4. Resolve the Dungeon

Starting with the player who owns the Exit card "1", then in ascending order, each player will resolve their path, monitored by their left neighbor who will act as the teacher.

This player takes the Teacher pawn to check the Hero's path through the dungeon's rooms. By following the path drawn on the active player's Adventure sheet, the teacher is moved on the dice one by one, telling each time the content of the room.

When the teacher tells the content of the room, the active player earns or loses the corresponding Health/Mana points, depending on what they do: fighting a monster or drinking a potion (see Monsters & Potions).

When Heroes fight a monster, they place one of their lost Energy tokens inside the corresponding space on their Adventure sheet. The remaining lost Energy tokens go back to the pool.

When Heroes drink a potion, they add 1 Energy token from the pool (depending on the kind of the potion they drunk) to the corresponding side of their Hero card.

Beware, players cannot store potions: potions cannot be kept for later and must be drunk immediately.

If their Health or Mana is already maxed out, the potion is lost.

Note: there are two spaces on the Adventure sheet you can use to write your Health and Mana values at the end of each level. Use them! They will be useful to redo the check if the cat shuffles everything on the table...

Monsters & Potions

Room content	Effect
The Blob	-1 Health
The Colossus	-2 Health
The Health Potion	+1 Health
The Ghost	-1 Mana
The Reaper	-2 Mana
The Mana Potion	+1 Mana

Failing the Level

If, by the end of the timer, heroes find themself in one of the following situations the level is failed:

• They didn't make it to the exit.
• They broke at least one of the three golden rules.
• Their Health points or Mana points drop below 0 during the check.

The teacher then implements the following penalties:

• The player scores 0 Glory for this level.
• The player does not achieve any quest.
• The player does not draw any Loot card.
• The Hero recovers full Health and Mana points!

Achieving a Level

If players manage to exit the level alive and in time, they earn Glory points that they write on their Adventure sheet:

• Players earn 1 Glory point for each monster they fought on this level: count the number of Energy tokens they placed on their Adventure sheet through the check.
• If players have scored Glory points with cards (Loot or Hero), they indicate them in the corresponding space.
• Players choose 1 of the 4 quests at the bottom of their Adventure sheet and score 1 Glory point for each corresponding monster they have defeated in this level. Each quest requires the player to have defeated specific monster: little monsters, big monsters, blue monsters or red monsters.

Level Resolution Example

1. Max faces a Blob, he therefore loses 1 Health. He places this token on the "Blob" space of his Adventure Sheet.
2. Max drinks a Red potion, he takes 1 Health token from the pool and places it on the Health side of his Hero card.
3. Max drinks another Red potion, but his health is already maxed out! Therefore he places no token on his Hero card.
4. Max faces a Reaper, and loses 2 Mana. He takes one of the 2 tokens and places it on the "Reaper" space of his Adventure Sheet, and places the other token in the pool.
5. Max drinks a Blue potion, and gains 1 Mana. He takes one Mana token from the pool and places it on the Mana side of his Hero card. He then exits the dungeon!

Level Points Scoring Example

1. During the 1st level, Max defeated 3 Blobs, 1 Colossus and 1 Reaper, which represents 5 monsters. Max earns 5 Glory and writes this number in the corresponding space next to the level 1 on his Adventure sheet.
2. Max chooses to validate his Red monsters quest: as he defeated 3 Blobs and 1 Colossus, he earns 4 Glory and writes this number in the corresponding quest space.

5. Earn Loot

When the path drawn by each player has been checked, Heroes reach the Treasure room.

The player who exited first from the level draws as many Loot cards as the number of players and places them face up in the middle of the table.

Starting with the player who owns the Exit card "1", then in ascending order, each player who achieved the level must choose 1 of these Loot cards.

Note: at the end of the last level, there's no Treasure room, but keep the exit order, it will be needed in case of a tie!

Move to Next Level

Reset the Adventure sheet. Each player discards all Energy tokens that are on their Adventure sheet. Unless your Hero power tells you to, you do not recover Health or Mana when moving to another level.

Players, then move to the next level, and repeat these 5 steps, with the following changes:

Add Boss and Labyrinth dice to the dungeon. At the start of level 2, one base die is replaced by the Labyrinth die, until the end of the game. At the start of level 4, one base die is replaced by the Boss die. At the end of this rulebook, you will find the description of these two dice. Make sure every player has understood the effect of each face of the dice before lifting the roof!

Endgame

After the last level is resolved, players sum up their Glory to check for victory.

Each player adds the Glory points they wrote on their Adventure sheet and any Glory point written on their Loot cards and Hero card.

The player who scored the most Glory points wins the game and gets the Dungeon Academy diploma!

In case of a tie for the first place, the winner is the player who exited the last level the fastest.

Variants

Training

If you play with younger players or if you just want to train, you may play without the Labyrinth and Boss dice.

No Mercy!

Players cannot change their route by erasing or crossing out errors: when they draw their route through the dungeon, it is final, mistakes are not allowed anymore!

Solo Variant

The rules stay the same with one exception: after the player achieves a level, they draw 2 Loot cards, choose one and discard the other.

When playing solo, the goal is to improve one's own score on the Hero scale:

• 0 to 10: Young Esquire
• 11 to 20: Hero Apprentice
• 21 to 30: Local Hero
• 31 to 40: World-Class Hero
• 41 to 50: Living Legend
• 51+: Demigod

Endgame scoring example: Max sums up all the numbers written in the Glory spaces. He has gained 4+6+3+5 = 18 Glory for the levels he achieved, and he has gained 4+2+5+1 = 12 Glory thanks to quests. He also adds 2 Glory for the School's Mascot he found during the adventure. Consequently Max scores 18+12+2 = 32 Glory!

Loot Cards

Icons in the bottom left corner indicate when and how these cards may be used. Cards without an icon have a permanent or end-of-game effect.

• Only once per level icon: the card can be used once during each level.
• Must be played during the next level icon: the card is played immediately and takes effect during the following level.
• Discard this card when using it icon: the card is a one-shot effect, discarded once used.

Loot card	Effect
Purse	At the end of the game, gain +1 Glory.
School's Mascot	At the end of the game, gain +2 Glory.
Shield	Gain +1 Health. Your maximum Health is increased by 1.
Helm	Gain +1 Mana. Your maximum Mana is increased by 1.
Blob Hunter Degree	During the next level, gain +1 Glory for each blob you defeat.
Ghost Hunter Degree	During the next level, gain +1 Glory for each ghost you defeat.
Colossus Hunter Degree	During the next level, gain +1 Glory for each colossus you defeat.
Reaper Hunter Degree	During the next level, gain +1 Glory for each reaper you defeat.
Great Red Potion	Discard this card at any time to gain +2 Health.
Great Blue Potion	Discard this card at any time to gain +2 Mana.
Great Cocktail Potion	Discard this card at any time to gain +1 Health +1 Mana.
Useless Item	This item has no use whatsoever.
Teleportation Ring	You can start your path on any space.
Getaway Boots	You can finish your path on any space.
Ranger's Trophy	During the next level, if you exit first, gain +2 Glory.
Treasure Map	Immediately mark a space on the next level. If your path passes through that space during the resolution, gain +2 Glory.
Cursed Glasses	During the next level, your red potions are blue, and your blue potions are red.
Invisibility Cloak	Discard this card at any time to ignore a monster on your path (no gain or loss of Health and Mana).
Ghost Cleaner	Once per level, you may defeat a ghost without losing any Mana.
Anti-Blobs Sword	Once per level, you may defeat a blob without losing any Health.

The Boss Dice

Face	Effect
Troll	-3 Health, +3 Glory, then regenerate all your Health.
Lich	-3 Mana, +3 Glory, then regenerate all your Mana.
Dragon	-3 Health, -3 Mana, +3 Glory, then regenerate all your Health and all your Mana.
Chest	+2 Glory.
Dead End	You cannot move through this room.
Key	You have to move through this room to be able to exit the dungeon (even if you own the Getaway Boots).

The Labyrinth Dice

Face	Effect
Corridors	You cannot move through the side walls.
Crossroad	Nothing!
Banana Peel	-1 Glory.
Purse	+1 Glory.

The Hero Cards

Hero	Power
The Pirate	At the start of the game, mark one room on each level. When you move through these rooms, gain +1 Glory.
The Ranger	On each level, if you finish first, gain +1 Glory.
The Conjurer	Gain +1 Glory for each Reaper you defeat.
The Monk	Once per level, treat a Health effect as a Mana effect and vice versa.
The Rogue	You start the game with 2 Loot cards drawn randomly.
The Ninja	Once per level, when resolving the Dungeon, you may ignore a monster on your path, without gaining or losing Health, Mana, or Glory.
The Wizard	Once per level, you may defeat a Reaper without losing Mana.
The Barbarian	Gain +1 Glory for each Colossus you defeat.
The Merchant	Gain +7 Glory at the end of the game.
The Warrior	Once per level, you may defeat a Colossus without losing Health.