Dungeon Lords Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Summary
• Overview of Play
• Combat Training
  • Monster (or Ghost) Tile
  • Adventurer Tile
  • Trap Card
  • Training Dungeons
  • Damage Counters
  • Combat Round
  • Training Scenarios
  • Combat in Rooms
• Rules
  • First Game
  • Setup
• First Year
  • New Round Phase
  • Orders Phase
  • Executing Orders
  • Description of Actions
  • The Orders Phase with 2 Players
  • The Orders Phase with 3 Players
  • Production and Orders Retrieval Phase
  • Event Phase
  • Adventurers Phase
  • Paladin
  • End of the Round
• Combat
  • Setup
  • Planning Phase
  • Revealing Combat Card Phase
  • Battle Phase
  • Moving Paladin
  • End of Combat
  • Notes on Selected Traps
• Second Year
  • Choosing a New Starting Player
  • Building in the Second Year
• Scoring
  • Titles
  • Winning the Game
• Full Game
  • Choosing Initial Inaccessible Orders
  • Special Events
  • Recruiting as First Order
  • Paying a Cost vs. Gaining Evil
• Full Rules Summary
  • Setup
  • Building
  • Combat
  • Second Year
  • Scoring
• Appendix
  • Monsters (and Ghosts)
  • Production Rooms
  • Combat Rooms
  • Point-Scoring Rooms

Summary

Dungeon Lords is a game for 2 to 4 players. You take the role of a young aspiring dungeon lord (just 15 to 20 decades old) who is trying to get a dungeon lord license. The Ministry of Dungeons gives you a trial period during which you attempt to build a high-quality dungeon and protect it from adventurers. At the end of two years, your dungeon is visited by Ministry officials who give you points for your engineering and tactical achievements.

You call that a summary? This is a summary: build, fight, build, fight, score. That's all there is to it.

Overview of Play

The game alternates between Building and Combat. Each phase of play is illustrated on the Progress Board, which has one side for Building and another for Combat.

Building. The game begins with Building, which lasts 4 rounds (winter, spring, summer, and fall). Each round has several phases, which are indicated by the spaces on the Progress Board. The Progress Marker advances along these spaces, indicating the current phase and round. During Building, players expand and improve their dungeons, hire imps, recruit monsters, buy traps, and pay taxes. The dungeon lords with the nastiest reputations attract the most powerful heroes, while the weaker heroes target less threatening dungeons. A dungeon lord who is particularly evil may attract a paladin, the most powerful adventurer of all. After four rounds of Building, you must defend your dungeon.

Combat. Combat also lasts 4 rounds. In each round, the adventurers try to conquer one space of the player's dungeon. The player uses the traps and monsters acquired during Building to eliminate the adventurers as quickly as possible, before they conquer too much of his or her dungeon.

Second Year. After the First Year's Combat, the game enters the Second Year, which also has Building and Combat. The adventurers in the Second Year are more powerful, probably thanks to some mysterious ritual called level-upping.

Scoring. After the Second Year's Combat, players score points. The one with the highest score wins.

Combat Training

After Building, three adventurers come to your dungeon to face your monsters in Combat. Although it is out of order, we will go over Combat first, so you know what things to look for during Building.

When you're explaining this game to your friends, don't skip over Combat Training. You need to give them lots of Combat examples so they understand what's coming for them. If your friends can't figure this part out, or if they think it isn't any fun, then this probably is not the game for them.

Despite popular misconception, ghosts are not, technically, monsters. In order to avoid the discrimination and loss of self-esteem that can arise from using the word "monsters" to also refer to ghosts, this publication will, in accordance with Ministry of Dungeons regulations, refer collectively to monsters (and ghosts) with the recommended phrase, "monsters (and ghosts)".

Monster (or Ghost) Tile

Each Monster (or Ghost) Tile shows the monster's (or ghost's) cost — its wages, which must be paid when hiring and again on Pay Day (not relevant to Combat Training) — and its abilities, showing what the monster (or ghost) can do in Combat.

The back of the Monster (or Ghost) Tile indicates whether it can be hired in the First Year (silver) or the Second Year (gold). In Combat Training, we will just look at the First Year Monsters (and Ghosts).

Adventurer Tile

Each Adventurer Tile shows:

• The glyph. Two adventurers with the same glyph are equally powerful. Adventurers with more complex glyphs are more powerful. The power level is also indicated by the background shade — lighter adventurers are more powerful.
• Hit points. The amount of damage the adventurer can take before being eliminated.
• Special abilities, which indicate the adventurer's profession: Warriors go in front. Thieves disarm traps. Priests heal. Wizards cast spells.

The back of the Adventurer Tile indicates whether it appears in the First Year (silver) or the Second Year (gold). In Combat Training, we will just look at the First Year adventurers.

Trap Card

Each Trap Card shows the name of the trap, an illustration, and a description of the trap's effect, including any special costs. Some traps have a different strength or cost in the Second Year. We will just ignore these Second Year values in Combat Training. All Trap Cards have the same back. There is only one deck for both Years.

For example, the Cursed Ring trap: "'I saw it first!' 'But I grabbed it first!' 'Well, I have the biggest axe.' Pay 1 Gold. Each adventurer takes 1 damage. Skip the Conquering Step (and fatigue) this round."

Training Dungeons

We will use Ministry-approved training dungeons for Combat Training. They look almost like real dungeons and you can find one on the back of each player's Dungeon Board. Even if you have fewer than 4 players, you should use all 4 training dungeons – each gives a different training scenario. On each training dungeon, set up the monsters (or ghosts), traps, and adventurers depicted.

Let your friends set up the boards themselves. It will go quicker and they'll get to know the cards and tiles. Make sure they understand that these are just examples. In the game, they will make the decisions about which monsters (or ghosts) to hire and how many traps to buy.

A training dungeon has these areas:

• Entrance with pre-drawn adventurers. A party is made up of three adventurers who march in a specific order. They work together to last as long as they can in your dungeon. Warriors go first and protect the rest. Thieves keep those in front from getting harmed by traps. If the party is attacked, the priests heal them up after battle. Priority is given to protecting the first adventurer. If the first adventurer is eliminated, the next in line becomes the first adventurer. In the four training scenarios, you will use every silver-backed Adventurer Tile except for the wizards.
• Scenario number. Go through the training scenarios in order. The lower numbered ones are simpler.
• Prison. This starts empty, but you hope to fill it with eliminated adventurers.
• Small dungeon with three tunnels. Put 3 Tunnel Tiles on the indicated squares, dark side up. The adventurers will try to conquer these tiles (and flip them over so that the light side is up). Your success can be measured by how few they conquer.
• Minion Figures. Minions are essential to the proper function of any dungeon.
• Battleground. This depicts the steps of Battle, which will be explained below. This also has places for you to put the monsters (and ghosts) and traps you use during battle.
• Treasury/Pantry. There usually isn't much in a training dungeon, but some of the training scenarios require a Food Token or a Gold Token.
• Your combat options. Find the Trap Cards and Monster (or Ghost) Tiles with the corresponding illustrations and put them here, face up.

Damage Counters

Damage Counters are used to keep track of damage done to adventurers. Keep some within reach. When an adventurer takes damage, put that many Damage Counters on the Adventurer Tile. If the number of Damage Counters matches or exceeds the adventurer's hit points (red number) the adventurer is eliminated and the tile should be moved to the Prison.

Combat Round

Combat takes place over several rounds. Each round, the adventurers try to conquer one tile of your dungeon. You try to use your monsters (and ghosts) and traps to do enough damage to eliminate them.

The Battleground illustrates the steps of Battle. Take a Minion Figure and put it on the first space: Planning. After completing each step, advance the figure to the next one.

Planning. First you decide where the battle will be fought. In the beginning, this is simple: the adventurers always attack the tile closest to the entrance. Put the Adventuring Party Marker on that Tunnel Tile to mark where the battle is being fought.

Next you decide which traps and monsters (or ghosts) to use. In a tunnel, you can only use 1 trap and 1 monster. You can also choose to use a trap with no monster (or ghost), a monster (or ghost) with no trap, or nothing at all. Put the Trap Card and the Monster (or Ghost) Tile on the indicated spaces of the Battleground.

The following examples each use one of the adventuring parties from the training dungeons. You should use these adventurers to explain combat to your friends, borrowing traps and monsters from other training dungeons if you need to.

Traps. In this step, your trap goes off. The card explains what the trap does. Usually it deals some damage. Discard the Trap Card after using.

Thieves have the ability to reduce the damage from your traps. For each thief symbol, they reduce the damage by 1. Damage to the adventurers in front is reduced first. The thief's damage-reduction ability can be used again each round until she is eliminated. If there are multiple thieves in the party, their abilities are cumulative. The ability only works on damage, however. If the trap has other effects, the thief cannot prevent them.

Example 1 — Fire Wall: "Ha! We'll run right through it! Ow!" "Ow!" "Owwwww!" Each adventurer takes 1 damage. The last one takes 1 more. Put 1 Damage Counter on each warrior and 2 on the priest in the rear.

Example 2 — Rolling Stone: "Yeah, I hear the rumbling, but I think that's normal underground." The first adventurer takes 3 damage (in the second year, 4 damage). Put 3 Damage Counters on the first warrior. This eliminates him. Move him to the Prison and put the Damage Counters back in the bank.

Example 3 — Rolling Stone: The Rolling Stone does 3 damage, but the thief reduces it by 2. Put 1 Damage Counter on the warrior.

Example 4 — Fire Wall: "Ha! We'll run right through it! Ow!" "Ow!" "Owwwww!" Each adventurer takes 1 damage. The last one takes 1 more. The Wall of Fire does 1 damage to the warrior and 1 to the priest, but the thief can prevent both of these. That is the limit of her ability, so she gets 2 Damage Counters.

Example 5 — Rolling Stone: "Yeah, I hear the rumbling, but I think that's normal underground." The first adventurer takes 3 damage (in the second year, 4 damage). All 3 points of damage are prevented by the thieves. No one gets any Damage Counters.

Example 6 — Trap Door: "He vanished!" "How'd he do that?" "Shut up and throw me a rope." The first adventurer takes 2 damage. Skip the Conquering Step (and fatigue) this round. Both points of damage are prevented, but the special effect (skip Conquering) still applies.

Monsters (and Ghosts). Monsters (and ghosts) attack after traps go off. If you have more than one, you can decide the order in which they attack. Some monsters have two ways to attack divided by a horizontal line. You get to decide between them. (The following examples use the monster's attack above the horizontal line.)

There are three types of attack:

• Standard Attack: The monster attacks the first adventurer and deals the indicated amount of damage. All the damage is applied to the first adventurer even if damage exceeds hit points. Example: If you use the witch's standard attack for 4, she does 4 damage to the first in line. The warrior already has 2 Damage Counters, so 4 is more than enough to eliminate him. The excess damage does not go to the next in line.
• Attack Anyone: This is like a standard attack except you get to choose the target. Example: If you use the vampire to attack anyone for 3, you can choose to eliminate the first adventurer or the last or to give the one in the middle 3 Damage Counters.
• Attack Everyone: The monster does the indicated amount of damage to each adventurer. Example: If you use the slime to attack everyone for 1, each adventurer will get 1 Damage Counter. This is enough to eliminate the warrior.

After attacking, the monster (or ghost) is automatically knocked out. Return the Monster (or Ghost) Tile back to its lair face down. It will not be usable in later rounds. However, you don't lose it forever. It turns face up again after the last round of Combat.

Monsters (and ghosts) can never win. This is the law of the dungeon. Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die... or at least be knocked out. As a final service to their dungeon lord, knocked out monsters fall face down so that they can easily be distinguished from those who are simply relaxing face up.

Healing. Now the priests step in. If any adventurer was attacked, the priests will heal the party. But if no monster (or ghost) damaged the party this round, the priests do not heal, even if the adventurers have damage from traps or from previous rounds.

Priests hate their roles in adventuring parties and do not get along with the others. With lawyers, however, they are quite chummy. They take the Adventurer's Code literally when it says, "Priests are required to heal the party after battle to the best of their abilities." See? "After battle." No battle, no healing.

Each priest removes 1 Damage Counter from the party for each priest symbol on his Adventurer Tile. At this time, it does not matter whether the damage was from monsters (or ghosts) or traps. They simply heal all they can, beginning with the adventurer in front. A priest will heal himself, if all those in front of him have no damage. Adventurers that were eliminated remain eliminated. The priests cannot repair the damage that eliminated them.

Example 1: The vampire attacks the thief and eliminates her. During Healing, nothing happens because neither of the remaining adventurers have damage.

Example 2: The troll attacks and does 3 damage to the warrior. The priest heals one damage during Healing, so the warrior is left with 2 Damage Counters.

Example 3: The party is already wounded when the goblin attacks. It does 2 damage to the first priest. During Healing, the priests heal 4 damage. This removes both Damage Counters from the first priest, the Damage Counter from the thief, and one of the Damage Counters from the last priest. In this case, it would have been better not to have sent the goblin.

Fatigue and Conquering. Now the adventurers try to conquer the indicated tile. But it is not that simple. They have to deal with darkness, rats, damp drafts, and uneven footing. Sometimes they argue about which way to go, who should carry the lantern, or whether the proper term is "side passage" or "T-shaped intersection". Just walking through a dungeon can be quite exhausting.

Before the party can conquer the tile, they accumulate fatigue. This is indicated by the two Damage Counters illustrated for this step. The Damage Counters both go to the adventurer in front (because he's under the most stress). Unlike all the other damage in the game, fatigue damage is dealt 1 point at a time. So if the first adventurer is eliminated by fatigue, the next adventurer in line will get what is left.

If all adventurers have been eliminated after accumulating fatigue (or earlier) then Combat is over and the adventurers do not conquer that tile. However, if even one adventurer is left after assigning fatigue, the tile is conquered. Flip it over so that it is light side up. The next battle will be fought over the next tile.

Later Rounds. After Conquering, the round is over. The next round begins and has the same rules. Do not forget that used traps are discarded and used monsters are turned face down, so they will not be able to aid you in later rounds. Combat continues until all adventurers are eliminated or until all dungeon tiles are conquered.

Training Scenarios

At this moment, we can look at the scenarios in the prepared training dungeons.

Describe the capabilities of the monsters and let your friends read the Trap Cards. Then ask them to demonstrate how they would handle each of the given scenarios. Make sure they move the Adventuring Party Marker and accurately describe the action in each step. If someone doesn't know what to do, let the others help, but make sure that he or she does his or her own battle calculations.

Monsters Used. These are the monsters (and ghost) used in the training scenarios:

• Troll: The troll has a standard attack of 3. If you pay 1 Food, it can attack for 4 instead.
• Goblin: The goblin has a standard attack of 2. If it eliminates the first adventurer it gets to attack the next one for 1.
• Witch: The witch has either a standard attack of 4 or two attacks of 1 on anyone. These two attacks can be on the same adventurer or on two different adventurers.
• Ghost: The ghost can attack anyone for 2 except for the first adventurer. The ghost is not a monster, so limits on the number of monsters do not apply to it. In a tunnel you can send one monster and as many ghosts as you want.
• Vampire: The vampire can attack anyone who is not a priest. He can either attack for 3, or make an eat-and-run attack for 2. In the second case, he is not knocked out. He returns to the Monster Lair face up, ready to be used in a later round.
• Slime: The slime can either attack everyone for 1 or it can slurp around their ankles and hold them in place. This latter effect is not an attack, so it does not trigger Healing. It has the special effect that the adventurers do not conquer the tile (and do not accumulate fatigue) that round. Whether you use the slime's attack or its effect, it is knocked out afterwards.

Solutions. You should try to find the solutions to the training scenarios yourselves. Then read this part to see if you got it right. Each scenario has a solution in which the adventurers only conquer one tile. If your friends don't find the optimal solution, it doesn't really matter. The goal is just to get them to understand the mechanics of Combat.

First Scenario. The simplest solution is to use the Rolling Stone and the troll in round 1, paying the troll 1 Food to use his bigger attack. This eliminates both warriors. The priest has no one to heal, and he takes 2 damage during Conquering. The trap is discarded, and the troll is turned face down, which leaves us with the goblin. It can easily eliminate the priest next round. Or we can leave the priest alone. Without an attack, he will not heal and then he will be eliminated by fatigue before he can conquer the next tile.

An even more efficient solution is to use the troll's free attack, after the trap eliminates the first warrior. This will not be enough to eliminate the second warrior, and the priest will heal one point of damage, but the warrior will then be eliminated by fatigue. To eliminate the priest in the next round, attack with the goblin for 2. Even though the priest heals one, he is still eliminated by fatigue before he can conquer the second tile. The result is the same except that we have saved one Food Token for later.

Second Scenario. It looks like the trap can take out the first adventurer, but the thieves will reduce the damage down to 1. ("Hey, put that down! It could be poisoned... You already had a bite, didn't you?") Instead, let's save the trap for next round and just send the witch and the ghost. The witch can eliminate the warrior, but we'll send the ghost into battle first. We want the ghost to attack the thief in the middle and it won't be able to do that if the thief is the first in line.

Then the warrior is eliminated by the witch, and the wounded thief falls from fatigue. We are left with just the last thief for round 2. Now we prepare the Poisoned Meal. Even though she knows she shouldn't, the thief takes a little bite (1 damage). She is eliminated by fatigue before she can conquer the second tile.

Third Scenario. These adventurers are tougher. Has our vampire bit off more than it can chew? It can't attack the priest, so we'll save the Pendulum for him. But for that to be effective, we need to get rid of the thief. In round 1 we send the vampire and the Cursed Ring. The ring only damages the thief. (She explains to the others that the ring is a trap and they shouldn't fight over it, but in the scuffle she gets hit in the eye.) The vampire could eliminate the thief now, but then it would be knocked out. Instead we have the vampire attack for 2 and return face up. The priest heals 1, so the thief ends the round with 2 Damage Counters. The ring prevents Conquering and the adventurers take no damage from fatigue.

The second round is fought in the same place. We just send the vampire to finish off the thief. The vampire returns face up. The priest has no one to heal. During Conquering, the warrior takes 2 damage from fatigue.

In round 3, we finally send the Pendulum with the vampire. The pendulum does 3 damage to the priest. We'll use the vampire's bigger attack on the warrior. This eliminates the warrior. It also knocks out the vampire, but that doesn't matter, as we shall see. The priest heals 1 damage. Even though his damage was from the trap, he gets to heal because the vampire damaged the warrior. The priest is eliminated by fatigue before he can conquer the second tile.

Fourth Scenario. Let's be patient. We'll hold back the slime and just send out the Wall of Fire. The weak thief can only reduce damage to the first priest. The thief takes 1 damage, and the priest in the rear takes 2. The priests heal no one because nothing attacked. The party conquers the first tile after the first priest accumulates 2 damage from fatigue.

In the second round, we send the Anti-Magic Dart and the Slime. Because of the thief, the dart does not wound the priest that we target, but its special effect (skip Healing) still works. The slime attacks and does 1 damage to everyone. This eliminates the first priest. The thief and the priest are each 1 point away. The priest cannot heal because of the dart. During Conquering, the first point of fatigue eliminates the thief and the second point eliminates the priest before they can conquer the second tile.

Combat in Rooms

So far, we have only covered combat in tunnels. But some dungeon tiles can be rooms. There are 2 differences:

• You can send up to 2 monsters into battle (along with any number of ghosts). When it is time for them to attack, you choose the order in which they do so.
• You can use 1 trap, just as you can in a tunnel, but in a room you must pay 1 Gold.

Setting a trap in a tunnel is simple. The adventurers have nowhere else to go. In a room, however, you need to trick them into standing in just the right place. This can be accomplished by putting some gold there.

Here's a mental picture for you: In a tunnel you've got a trap door and a monster with a club waiting on the other side. In a room, you have a little treasure chest underneath a suspended 5-ton weight. There's still room for 2 monsters. And you can always have as many ghosts as you want because they can just stand inside the walls.

Everything else works the same as it does in tunnels. If a Room Tile is conquered, flip it over so the back side is up.

Training Scenario: Set up the first training scenario again. What if it were being fought in a room? Take a Room Tile and put it face up on the square by the entrance. You can probably figure out that if you get to use one trap and two monsters, you can win in the first round, but it will cost you 1 Food (for the troll's bigger attack) and 1 Gold (for baiting a trap).

Rules

The rules will focus on a four-player game. The three-player game is similar, with similar strategies. The two-player game has a few additional differences and the strategy is a bit more difficult. We recommend playing your first game with three or four players.

Rules for two or three players will be denoted like this. A Roman numeral indicates whether the rule applies to two or to three. For a four-player game, just ignore text like this.

First Game

The rules for your first game are slightly simplified. Later in the book are rules for the full version of the game.

Even in a simplified game, there are many factors to keep track of, and overlooking even one of these can lead to serious consequences from which you might not be able to recover. For a beginner, the simplified game is difficult enough. The Ministry of Dungeons warns that playing the full game with beginners leads to immorality in the form of unpaid taxes due to lack of funds.

Setup

Set up the game boards, tokens, figures, tiles, and cards as illustrated.

Central Board. Everyone needs to be able to reach the components on the Central Board. It should be in the middle of the table. It includes:

• Combat Cards for the First Year. Shuffle the 9 Combat Cards with the silver sword. Choose 4 randomly and place them face down on the town space of the Central Board. Return the other 5 cards to the box without looking at them. The town is best known for the Adventurers' Academy, where pudgy gray-haired humans give lectures on how to explore a dungeon. Because most of their lectures consist of stories about how much better things were back when they were adventurers, it is possible to summarize the entire year's curriculum on four small cards.
• Food Token Bank.
• Tunnel Tile Bank.
• Gold Token Bank.
• Imp Figure Bank, which also holds three Troll Figures. Trolls are the only monsters who like to hang out with imps.
• Trap Cards Deck. Shuffle all the Trap Cards and place the deck face down on the Central Board.
• The Underground Tavern. Spaces for available Monster (or Ghost) Tiles.
• Bargain Basement Room Store. Spaces for available Room Tiles.
• Paladins. Both paladins go on the paladin space, face up. The darker one with the silver glyph is on top. The lighter one with the gold glyph will not be used until the Second Year. If your Evil Counter ever lands on or rises above the paladin space, he will don his holy armor and stride to battle.
• Evilometer. All players' Evil Counters begin on the indicated space. In a two-player game, an Evil Counter in one of the non-player colors should be placed here, as well. (It doesn't matter which color.) If a card or a rule tells you to "gain 1 Evil", you move your Evil Counter one space up the Evilometer, toward the evil face. If you are told to "lose 1 Evil", you move your Evil Counter one space down, toward the happy face. The Evilometer measures how the locals view the aspiring dungeon lords. Doing evil actions will move you up the Evilometer. Peaceful gestures and propaganda can be used to move yourself down. The most powerful adventurers attack the players highest on the Evilometer. Pay special attention to the space with the paladin icon. If your reputation gets this evil, you had better be prepared to deal with the paladin.

Note: Tokens, Tunnel Tiles, and Imp Figures are not intended to be limited. If any bank runs out, represent the component with a suitable substitute.

Progress Board (Building side up). The Progress Board needs to be where everyone can see it, but only one player needs to be able to reach it. It includes:

• Adventurer Spaces. Adventurers arrive in spring, summer, and fall. Adventurer Tiles are placed here on one phase, and then, a few phases later, they are assigned to the players' dungeons. At the beginning of the game, these spaces are empty.
• Rounds and Steps. Building has 4 rounds: winter, spring, summer, and fall. Each round has several phases, represented by the spaces on the board. (A few of the phases are skipped in the first round, so winter is shorter.) The Progress Marker is moved after each phase to keep track of the current phase and round.
• Progress Marker. This can sit next to the Progress Board during Setup. When the game begins, place it on the first space.
• Events. The three Event Tiles are shuffled and placed face down on the indicated spaces of the spring, summer, and fall rounds.

Distant Lands Board. The Distant Lands Board can be off to the side somewhere. It holds cards that are not currently in use. Components which have not yet been used, as well as components which have left the game, are placed on the Distant Lands Board. It includes:

• Monster Stacks. Separate the Monster (or Ghost) Tiles into two groups according to their backs and mix each group up. Stack the gold-backed tiles on the indicated space. Then stack the silver-backed tiles on top of them.
• Room Stacks. Separate the Room Tiles into two groups according to their backs and mix each group up. Stack the gold-backed tiles on the indicated space. Then stack the silver-backed tiles on top of them.
• Adventurer Stacks. Separate the Adventurer Tiles into two groups according to their backs and mix each group up. Put the stacks on the indicated spaces.
• Discard Piles. Cards and tiles that leave the game do not come back. Put them on the indicated discard piles. Tiles should be discarded face up, but Trap Cards are kept face down.
• Damage Counter Bank. Some like to call this the "Blood Bank" — the little cubes represent the life force flowing through the veins of the adventurers. We put them here, though, because they will not fit inside the cardboard tiles.
• Combat Cards for the Second Year. Shuffle the Combat Cards for the Second Year and choose four of them at random to place, face down, on the Distant Lands Board. Return the rest to the box, without looking at them.

Player Board. Each player chooses a color. In your color you should have a Dungeon Board, 3 Minion Figures, an Adventuring Party Marker, an Evil Counter (the cube), 8 Orders Cards, and two Overview Cards that illustrate scoring. Place your Evil Counter on the starting space of the Evilometer. The other components are placed according to this illustration. See — you get three minions, three tunnels, three food, three gold, and three imps. Easy to remember, isn't it?

Areas of your Dungeon, Open to the Public:

• Entrance. This is where the adventurers will gather over the course of the year. No one will dare to venture in alone, but as soon as there are three of them, you must call your monsters to arms. Yes, there is a fourth space, somewhat larger — for now, let's just hope this stays empty. (This is where the paladin will stand, if he comes.)
• Construction Site with three Tunnel Tiles. Tunnel Tiles are placed on the three indicated squares, dark side up. Ah, the Construction Site. A few thousand cubic meters of mountain in which to dig, tunnel, and build. What can we say? Inside every dungeon lord, there is a little boy just waiting to get out. In some cases, literally.
• Office with three Minion Figures. Your loyal minions, at your service. Without us, nothing would get done.
• Pantry with three Food Tokens. Whether it is bread, cheese, mushrooms, or meat, dungeon dwellers always eat green.
• Imp Den with three Imp Figures. Here is where your imps will sleep when they are not working. Demonologists classify imps as lesser demons, but really their only supernatural power is that they actually like to work.
• Treasury with three Gold Tokens. This is where you keep your gold. The usual way to acquire gold is to mine it in your tunnels, but there are other ways. Some of them are even legal.

Areas of your Dungeon, Closed to the Public:

• Battleground. You already saw this in Combat Training. There's a few new symbols here, but we'll explain those later.
• Monster Lair. This is where you keep monsters (and ghosts) so that your dungeon will be well protected. (Also they keep you from getting lonely.)
• Trap Storage. Whether you build them or buy them, make sure your traps are well-maintained. Nothing is more embarrassing than having a spring-loaded dart launch itself with a rusty squeak.
• Prison. This is where you keep defeated adventurers. Here they will slowly languish, tormented by the fate that awaits them: At the end of the game, as an example to all who would dare trespass in your dungeons, you score them.
• Dead Letter Office. This is where we keep notices of overdue taxes. Let us hope we do not need to use it.
• Inaccessible Orders. Shuffle your deck of Orders Cards and choose 2 at random to place here, face up.
• Orders Cards. Take the remaining six cards into your hand.
• Spaces for Three Orders. Your workplace: tidy, clean, and appropriately lit. From here you issue the orders that lead your dungeon to growth and prosperity.
• Overview Cards show the four Titles (The Lord of Dark Deeds — Highest on Evilometer; The Lord of Halls — Most rooms, conquered and unconquered; The Tunnellord — Most tunnels, conquered and unconquered; The Monsterlord — Most monsters, not ghosts; The Lord of Imps — Most imps, not trolls; The Lord of Riches — Most food, gold, and unused traps; The Battlelord — Fewest conquered dungeon tiles) and the Scoring (Monster, not ghost, +1; Unconquered room +2; Imprisoned adventurer +2; Imprisoned paladin +5; Conquered dungeon tile −2; Unpaid tax −3; Point-scoring rooms ?; Exclusive title +3, or +2 in a two-player game; Shared title +2, or +1 in a two-player game).

Non-Player Dungeon Boards. According to Ministry of Dungeons regulations, dungeon lord license tests must always be done in groups of four. If there are fewer applicants, the Ministry issues temporary building permits to dungeon lords in neighboring regions. They send their minions into our town, which drives up prices. Now when you consider that these interlopers do not even pay taxes... [Edited for brevity. —MoD]

In a two- or three-player game, take the remaining Dungeon Boards, fold them and place them this side up. You will need the Dungeon Boards, Action Cards, and Minion Figures of all four colors, even in a two- or three-player game. In a three-player game, choose a player to handle the non-player Dungeon Board. In a two-player game, each player handles one non-player Dungeon Board.

Set up each non-player board with: Minion Figures; Inaccessible Orders — shuffle the non-player Orders Cards and deal out three at random, face up; Spaces for Orders; and an Orders Cards Deck containing the remaining 5 Orders Cards.

Starting Player Token. Before the first game, put the happy face sticker on the big wooden disk to create the Starting Player Token. The nicest player gets the Starting Player Token. (Or you can choose the starting player randomly.)

Embezzlement. Each player loses half of his or her gold (rounded down).

Leftovers. After setup, everything should be on the table except the following:

• The 5 First-Year and 5 Second-Year Combat Cards that you returned to the box.
• The Overview Cards for any colors without players.
• One Evil Counter, if it is a two- or three-player game. (In a two-player game, one of the non-player Evil Counters is placed on the Evilometer.)
• Nine Special Event Cards, which you will not be using in your first game. (Just put them back in the box.)
• Twenty Item Tokens. (These should be put back in the box. Once you are experienced dungeon lords, you can go to www.czechgames.com to find rules for a game variant that uses them.)

First Year

Put the Progress Marker on the first space of the Progress Board, as shown. After each phase, you will advance the Progress Marker to the next space. The Year is divided into 4 rounds: winter, spring, summer, and fall. Each has the same phases, except that winter has no Event or Adventurers Phase.

Get someone smart to take responsibility for moving the Progress Marker and keeping everyone up to speed.

New Round Phase

Take 3 tiles from the top of the Monster Stack on the Distant Lands Board and place them face up in the Underground Tavern on the Central Board. Similarly, draw 2 tiles from the Room Stack and place them in the Bargain Basement Room Store. Any monsters or rooms that were left on the Central Board from a previous round should be placed in the appropriate discard piles. Each round there will be a completely new selection.

In the first three rounds, you also get a trouble forecast — a look at next round's event and adventurers. (In fall, there is no forecast because it is the last season of the year.)

Next Round's Event. Turn up the Event Tile for the next round. This event does not occur immediately. It depicts what will happen at the end of the next round. This gives you two rounds to prepare. Events will be described below in the Event Phase.

Next Round's Adventurers. Draw four Adventurer Tiles and place them, in order, on the 4 spaces for next round's adventurers. Then rearrange them so that the weaker adventurers (darker, with simpler glyphs) are on the left and the more powerful adventurers (lighter, with more complex glyphs) are on the right. Tiles with the same glyph and shade should stay in order.

In a two- or three-player game, you only draw 3 adventurers.

If all the adventurers have the same glyph, place the last one drawn at the bottom of the stack and draw a new one. Keep doing this until you get a different glyph. Then re-order the adventurers.

Orders Phase

Selecting Orders. You begin the round with 6 Orders Cards in your hand. (Two inaccessible orders are face up on your Dungeon Board.) All players decide simultaneously. Choose 3 orders and place them face down on the appropriate spaces of your Dungeon Board. The order you want carried out first should be on the left.

When you explain this part to your friends, have them do it. It's just an example, so it doesn't matter which cards they pick.

Revealing Orders. When everyone has placed all three orders, everyone turns their first card (the one on the left) face up. Beginning with the starting player, each player finds the place on the Central Board corresponding to the revealed order and places one of his or her Minion Figures on the first empty space (the one with the lowest number). You play in turn, clockwise around the table. If someone playing ahead of you has chosen the same place as you, your minion will have to go on the second space.

Then everyone reveals their second order. Again, play clockwise around the table, placing your second minion on the first unoccupied space corresponding to your chosen action. (Some of the spaces may be occupied, either because of other players' first orders or because of second orders played by those who go before you.)

Finally, everyone reveals their third card and places their third minion, according to the same rules.

Let your friends do it as you explain it. You can also re-arrange their cards to make interesting examples.

It is possible that when it is your turn to place a minion all three spaces will be occupied. In this case, you place the minion on the Orders Card instead. This indicates that he is unable to carry out the order.

It's no fun to be shut out, but if you are, don't come crying to me. You can see the other players' inaccessible orders. If you choose a card that everyone else has available, you'd better play it early.

Example: The picture illustrates the situation after all cards are revealed. All 4 players chose to Mine Gold, and Green's minion is left sitting on the Orders Card because all spaces were occupied by the time he got there.

Don't worry about the funny pictogram on this card. It only applies to the full game.

Executing Orders

The actions are always performed in the same order. You start with the Get Food action in the upper left corner and move from left to right along the top row. Then you do the actions in the second row, again from left to right.

At each place, the minions execute their orders beginning with the one on the shortest space. (Usually they act in the order in which they arrived — first, second, third — but when buying rooms or hiring monsters, they go in the opposite order, as explained below.) When it is your minion's turn, you perform the indicated action and return your Minion Figure to your Dungeon Board. Alternatively, you can decide not to perform that action and move your Minion Figure to your Orders Card to indicate that the order was not carried out.

Each space illustrates what you gain from that action. If there is no arrow, you get it for free. Usually, however, the action will have a cost which is indicated by the symbol to the left of the arrow. If you pay that cost, you get the thing the arrow points to.

If the cost is gold or food, you pay it by taking the indicated number of Food or Gold Tokens from your Dungeon Board and returning them to the bank. If you do not want to pay or cannot pay, then you cannot use the action. In this case, move your Minion Figure to the Orders Card to indicate that the order was not carried out.

You must pay the full cost or nothing at all. You cannot pay part of the cost to get part of the reward. You cannot pay double the cost to use the action twice.

If a player does not use an action, the space remains unused. The other Minion Figures do not move up. They stay where they are.

Sometimes the cost of an action is paid for with your reputation. This means that you move your Evil Counter one space up the Evilometer toward the evil face (unless you are already at the top). Two evil faces mean that you move up two spaces.

Description of Actions

Get Food. The first minion to reach the village can buy food with gold. After that, the villagers won't sell any more. They claim they need it for themselves. Nonsense. The minion simply explains how much his master desires this food and what will happen to the village if he does not get it. The villagers will hand their food over promptly.

Threats get the third minion nowhere. However, if he follows through on those threats, he can find among the ruins of the village not only food, but also the gold paid by the first minion.

The village is the main source of food in the game. You pay for it either with Gold or with reputation, depending on which space your minion is on.

The first minion heads for the Adventurers' Academy. In addition to renewing acquaintances among the students and faculty, he gains valuable insight into which spells are currently en vogue among the wizards. The second minion wanders through the slums, discussing social responsibility with the poor. To get the best of both worlds, the third minion will simply pay the local beggars to spread his master's good name while he is renewing acquaintances at the Academy.

Improve Reputation. For each smiley face, you move your Evil Counter down the Evilometer one space (unless you are already at the bottom). If you also get a chance to spy, you can look at any one of the four Combat Cards. (Usually, it is best to look at the top card, unless you spied it earlier in the round.) Be sure not to change the order of the cards.

In combat, you need every advantage you can get. Use your spies well. Combat can go 4 rounds, so there are 4 Combat Cards. Most of the card explains the spell. You'll have to worry about that if any wizards come after you. It's a good idea to keep in mind what the spell does and whether it takes effect before your monsters attack or after. Even if no wizards are coming, you'll want to know how many fatigue points the adventurers will be getting for that round. That info is at the bottom of the card. Oh, and try to remember which card you looked at in case you get another chance to spy later in the Year. If you keep looking at the same card every time, you'll feel kinda dumb.

Dig Tunnels. The first minion can get a permit for two imps to dig two tunnels. The second minion can get a permit for three tunnels. The third minion gets a permit for four tunnels, but Ministry regulations require that the work be supervised by a foreimp.

This action allows you to dig up to the indicated number of tunnels. Each tunnel will require one imp. You do not have to dig all of them. You can dig fewer tunnels and use fewer imps. If your minion is on the third space, you must use one imp as a foreimp, even if you only dig one tunnel. Place an Imp Figure on the dungeon entrance to indicate that he is supervising. (If you choose to dig no tunnels, you do not use a foreimp.)

If you choose to dig no tunnels, then move your Minion Figure to the Dig Tunnels Orders Card to indicate that the order was not carried out.

Each tunnel is dug as follows: Draw one Tunnel Tile from the bank and place it (dark side up) adjacent to a previously placed Tunnel or Room Tile. Put an Imp Figure in the upper right corner of the new tile to indicate that the imp is working on the tunnel.

Your new tunnels can be placed adjacent to each other or they can connect with tunnels or rooms built earlier. For safety reasons, the Ministry of Dungeons will not let your tunnels make a 2×2 square. This means that any 2×2 block of your Construction Site must have at least one square empty.

At one time, dungeon lords just dug where they pleased until the countryside had more holes than Swiss cheese. Now they have to send their minions to the Ministry of Dungeons to get tunneling permits.

Mine Gold. Mining gold is analogous to digging tunnels. Your minion will get you a permit for 2, 3, or 4 imps. If you get the last permit, you need to put a foreimp at the dungeon entrance to supervise. As with digging tunnels, you can choose to use fewer than the maximum number of imps (which is especially useful if you are short on imps or unconquered tunnels).

Imps only mine gold in unconquered tunnels (Tunnel Tiles that are dark-side-up). Imps cannot mine gold in rooms. To mine gold, place an Imp Figure in the middle of the tile and draw 1 Gold from the bank.

Two imps cannot mine the same Tunnel Tile, but an imp can mine gold in a tunnel that was dug this round. Such a tile will have one imp in the upper right corner (the one that dug it) and one imp in the center (the one mining gold). Imps that were used during digging cannot be re-used during mining. Each imp only does one job per round.

You need a permit to mine the gold that you use to pay the taxes that are allocated to the office that issues you the permit.

Recruit Imps. The early minion can find an imp who is willing to come work for food. One may also find a pair of imps willing to come work for more food... or for food and gold. Regardless of how you recruit them, once the imps get to your dungeon they will be so happy with their work that they will not notice that you never feed them again.

To recruit imps, pay the indicated cost in Food (and possibly Gold) and take the indicated number of Imp Figures from the bank. New imps will not be available for digging or mining this round because those actions have already been dealt with, but they can still help out during the Production Phase, which comes later.

Unlike the humble imps, the monsters (and ghosts) who gather in the Underground Tavern know what they are worth. Imps. You can find them in the outskirts of any subterranean town. They huddle together in small groups, mumbling in their strange tongue. They do the jobs that no one else will do, and they do them gladly.

When you hire a troll, take a Troll Token from the bank and put it in your Imp Den. If you lose the troll later, return the Troll Token to the bank. Trolls live in the Monster Lair with the other monsters (and ghosts) but they don't like it there, so they often wander over to play with the imps. Sometimes they even help the imps out with their work.

Buy Traps. A few enterprising imps have set up a trap workshop on the edge of town. Here is how enterprising imps do business: They offer their first trap for 1 Gold. After selling their first trap, they are so excited that they offer the second trap at a discount. Not until they make their sale do they realize that they are giving it away for nothing. To recoup their losses, they offer a trap for 2 Gold, which no one will buy, so they decide to offer a "buy one, get one free" sale. After the sale, they close up shop. Running a business is stressful work. To unwind, they build more traps. They wrap these in unlabeled bundles and immediately forget which is which.

To buy traps, pay the indicated amount of Gold (nothing if your minion is on the first space) and draw the indicated number of Trap Cards. You keep your Trap Cards face down on your Dungeon Board, but you can look at them at any time.

Hire Monster (or Ghost). Unlike the humble imps, the monsters (and ghosts) who gather in the Underground Tavern know what they are worth. Each minion attempts to paint a grander picture of life in his master's dungeon than the one before. The third minion trumps the other two by bringing a feast. (In underground taverns, no one cares if the patrons bring in food. In some cases, the patrons are food.)

Unlike the preceding actions, those who come later perform their actions earlier. Begin with the minion on the third space (the shortest space) and proceed to the second and then the first.

To hire a monster (or ghost) you choose one of the available Monster (or Ghost) Tiles and pay the cost indicated in the corner of the tile. Place your new monster (or ghost) face up in the Monster Lair of your Dungeon Board.

Each player can hire one monster (or one ghost). The one whose minion is on the third space must pay an extra food, but he or she gets to choose from all 3 available monsters (and ghosts). Those who go later must choose among the monsters (and ghosts) that are left.

If you can't pay the cost on the Monster (or Ghost) Tile (or if you can't pay the extra cost on the third space) you cannot use the action.

When you hire a troll, take a Troll Token from the bank and put it in your Imp Den. Sometimes trolls even help the imps out with their work. Combat in rooms is slightly different (see below).

Build Room. Although demand is high, room salesmen are always eager to make a deal. Rooms can be purchased for a very reasonable sum. Dungeon lords looking for a bargain can wait and hope that something is left over for the quarterly inventory reduction sale.

As with hiring monsters, players buy rooms in reverse order, beginning with the minion on the third space. Each player may buy only 1 room, and only 2 rooms are available. The player on the third space does not have to pay anything, but if the players on the second and first spaces buy rooms (for 1 Gold) then nothing will be left. (In this case the player moves his Minion Figure from that space to the Build Room Orders Card to indicate that the order was not carried out.)

When you get a room, you replace one of your unconquered Tunnel Tiles with the Room Tile. The room must be placed according to the following limitations:

• A First Year room must be placed in the proper zone of the dungeon. Some rooms must be near the surface, some must be deep, some must be in the center, and some must be on the periphery. The zone is illustrated on the Room Tile. The light squares are the ones where the room is allowed to be built.
• Two rooms cannot be adjacent. (But it is acceptable for two rooms to share a corner or to be connected by a Tunnel Tile.)

If you have no unconquered Tunnel Tiles on squares that meet the requirements, you cannot buy that room.

A tunnel can be turned into a room even if it was newly dug earlier in the round. Gold cannot be mined in rooms, but a tunnel can be turned into a room even if gold was mined there earlier in the round. (Just put any imps from the Tunnel Tile in the corner of the new Room Tile to indicate that they have done a job this round.)

Rooms bring points at the end of the game, and they give your imps and trolls a place to work, as explained below. Also, new tunnels can be attached to rooms as though the room were just another tunnel. (And you still are not allowed to fill up any 2×2 block with Tunnel and Room Tiles.)

You've probably already noticed that the minion who arrives second usually has an advantage over the minion who arrives first, and sometimes the minion who arrives third is in the best position of all. It depends on what you're after. Once your fellow players figure out the game, they'll start playing the actions that help them the most. By looking at things from their point of view, you can guess what they will play and place your orders so that you get exactly what you want.

The Orders Phase with 2 Players

Before choosing orders, you need to choose orders for the non-player colors. Each non-player Dungeon Board should have 3 inaccessible Orders Cards. For the non-player color that you are in charge of, shuffle the 5 remaining Orders Cards and reveal 2 at random. Take 2 Minion Figures in this non-player color and place them on space 1 of the actions you just chose. If both non-player colors choose the same Orders Card, one will go on space 1 and the other will go on space 2. Each player will be left with a hand of 3 non-player Orders Cards. When you choose your own orders, you will also choose a third order for your non-player color and place it face down next to the 2 already chosen this round.

Once both players have chosen orders for themselves and the third order for their non-player colors, reveal the final non-player orders and put the remaining Minion Figures on space 1 of the indicated actions. If both players chose the same order, put one on space 1 and the other on space 2.

Hey, keep it straight. The first 2 cards are random and face up. Those minions go on space 1 (or 1 and 2 if orders double up). You get to choose the third card, and you keep it hidden until it is time to reveal actions. That minion goes on space 1 (or 1 and 2 if orders double up). You can use that non-player order to bump your minion up to a better position or you can use it to block out your opponent. It's up to you. But don't forget that 5 of those non-player orders are already face up on the table, so your opponent knows which 3 you are choosing from.

After orders are revealed, pick up the 3 non-player inaccessible orders and put them in the deck with the 2 you did not use. This will leave 3 on the board, which you move into the spaces for inaccessible orders. Spaces occupied by non-player minions are not available. Player minions go into the first unoccupied space, if there is one.

The Orders Phase with 3 Players

Before choosing orders, you need to choose orders for the non-player color. There should be 3 inaccessible orders on the non-player Dungeon Board. Shuffle the remaining 5 cards and choose 3 at random to put on the non-player Dungeon Board, face up. Pick up the 3 inaccessible orders and put them back in the deck. You should end up with 3 new, random Orders Cards on the non-player Dungeon Board and 5 in the deck.

Take the 3 non-player Minion Figures and place them on space 1 of the actions indicated by the new orders. The new Orders Cards should be moved to the spaces for inaccessible orders.

Then everyone chooses and reveals orders as described above. The spaces occupied by the non-player minions are off limits, so the first player there gets space 2 and the second player gets space 3. If all 3 players choose an order that was picked by the non-player color, then one of them will be shut out.

Play through the actions as described above. When it comes time for a non-player minion action, simply return the Minion Figure to the non-player Dungeon Board.

Production and Orders Retrieval Phase

In this phase you can use your production rooms (even one that you built this round). You also get to take back 3 Orders Cards. To speed up game play, all players can do this simultaneously, but if someone wants to decide based on the actions of the other players, then you decide in order, beginning with the starting player and proceeding clockwise.

Production. Rooms that produce something indicate how many imps are required and what the imps will produce. If you have that many imps left in your Imp Den, you can move them to the room and take the indicated product from the bank. (Imps that mined gold or dug tunnels or supervised this round are not available for production.) Rooms are described in detail on the last page of this book.

A Troll Token can take the place of an Imp Figure during production. However, trolls only help out in rooms. They cannot be used for digging tunnels or mining gold.

You can use multiple production rooms if you have them. However, in the First Year, it is only possible to use each room once per round.

You should try to get at least one room in the First Year. It makes sure your imps have something to do. Those little guys just love to work.

Orders Retrieval. This is also the phase in which you get some of your Orders Cards back.

• Take back the two inaccessible Orders Cards.
• Take back the Orders Card that you chose for the first position and move the other two up to the spaces for inaccessible orders, as indicated by the arrows on your Dungeon Board.

However, if you have an order that was not carried out (as indicated by a Minion Figure on the Orders Card) you can take that card back instead of the one in the first position. In any case, you may only take back 1 of the 3 cards you chose for this round. The other 2 become inaccessible.

Example: In this position, you must take back the two inaccessible orders. You also get to take back either the first-position card (because it is in the first position) or the not-carried-out card (because the Minion Figure indicates that it was not carried out). The other card and the remaining card move up to the spaces for inaccessible orders.

The card you pick to be first will probably land your minion on the weakest space, but you get it back to play again next round.

Event Phase

No events occur in the first round (winter) but the other three rounds have an Event Phase. Events are revealed at the beginning of the round before they occur, so players have 2 rounds to prepare for them. After the event occurs, remove the Event Tile from the Progress Board.

The event applies to all players. If players must make a decision (how much tax to pay, whether to let monsters go) they decide in order, beginning with the starting player.

Each Year has the same 3 Event Tiles:

Pay Day. On Pay Day, each player must pay the wages of his or her monsters (and ghosts). This cost is given in the corner of the Monster (or Ghost) Tile.

It is important to take care of your monster's (or ghost's) basic needs. Some monsters require little. Goblins can get by on a sack of dried mushrooms, and slime can get by on just about anything. Trolls, on the other hand, will eat quite a bit more. Vampires do not eat, but... well, you have to let them go out from time to time. Ghosts need to haunt, and witches occasionally need a night off to spend with their covens. Such nocturnal activities are frowned upon by the local populace, so you can expect that a lot of vampires, ghosts, and witches will not earn you a cheerful, sunny reputation.

If you are unable or unwilling to pay the cost of keeping a monster (or ghost), the monster (or ghost) will leave your dungeon. Discard the Monster (or Ghost) Tile to the Distant Lands Board. When a monster (or ghost) leaves you this way, you gain 1 Evil. Move your Evil Counter one space up the Evilometer.

Try to hire monsters that you can actually pay. If you don't pay them, they leave in a huff and rampage across the countryside, griping about your management style to anyone they don't eat.

Example: In this situation, you have to pay 2 Food Tokens and move your Evil Counter up 3 spaces. But if you do that, you will be so evil that the paladin will come after you. You can't avoid the paladin by letting the witch go. That would leave you paying 1 Food and 2 reputation, but you would also gain 1 Evil for letting the witch get away. The only way to avoid crossing that line is to let the vampire go. You would pay 2 Food and 1 reputation (move 1 space up), and then gain 1 Evil for letting the vampire go (move up 1 space more). Of course, if you are not afraid of the paladin, you can just pay for all three monsters.

Taxes. When taxes are due, each player must pay a tax based on the size of his or her dungeon. For every 2 dungeon tiles (tunnels and rooms) you pay 1 Gold. (Round up: 3 tunnels would cost 2 Gold.) Of course the Ministry taxes you whether the tiles are conquered or not. Surely you are not surprised?

For each Gold that you choose not to pay, the Ministry of Dungeons gives you a black mark. Actually, it's a red mark — notices of past due taxes are written in blood. Take a Damage Counter and place it in the Dead Letter Office (to the right of your Minion Office). At the end of the game, each of these Damage Counters will cost you 3 points. You choose how much to pay. Even if you have enough, you do not have to pay the full tax.

Sometimes it's to your advantage not to pay the full tax. (And if any Ministry of Dungeons pencil pusher wants to edit or censor this, just remember that I can find you.) It's hard to do anything without Gold, and it might be worth the 3 points to keep an extra coin around. Here's some examples:

• When you need to buy food or reputation next round. (Mining Gold happens afterward.)
• When you can't mine gold next round.
• In the last round, when you need to keep gold to pay for a trap in a room during Combat.

Special Events. This Event Tile has no effect in your first game. Special Event Cards are only used in the full game.

Adventurers Phase

Like Event Tiles, the Adventurer Tiles for spring, summer, and fall are revealed at the beginning of the previous round. In this phase, the adventurers are assigned to the players' dungeons. Each player will get one adventurer. Assign adventurers in order, beginning with the one on the left (with the simplest glyph). This one goes to the nicest dungeon lord, the one lowest on the Evilometer. Break ties according to play order: Among tied players, the starting player is nicest, the one on the starting player's left is next, and so on. The smiley face on the Starting Player Token should help you remember this.

The next adventurer goes to the second nicest dungeon lord, and so on. The one on the far right (the most powerful) will go to the player highest on the Evilometer.

The one on the right may be the most powerful, but that doesn't mean he's the one most dangerous to you. If you are relying on traps, a weak thief might give you more trouble than a strong priest. On the other hand, if you rely on vampires, you'll want those priests to stay away. You know you're getting good at this game when you can figure out ways to manipulate your standing on the Evilometer to get just the adventurers you want.

When you get your first Adventurer Tile (in spring) put it on the small space closest to your dungeon's entrance. Your second Adventurer Tile goes on the next space, and your third goes on the last remaining space, so that adventurers enter the dungeon in the order in which they come to you.

The warrior is the exception to this rule. When you get a new warrior, he pushes his way to the front. Push all the others back one space. (A new warrior will even push back a warrior from a previous round).

Assigning Adventurers to 2 Players. In a two-player game, there are 3 Adventurer Tiles and 3 Evil Counters on the Evilometer. Before assigning adventurers, move the non-player Evil Counter one space toward Evil. Assign the adventurers as though it were a 3-player game. (In case of ties, the non-player is nicer than the players.) The adventurer assigned to the non-player should be discarded to the Distant Lands Board.

Paladin

Each Year has only one paladin. In the First Year, you use the weaker paladin, the one with the darker background and the silver glyph.

If your Evil Counter lands on or rises above the paladin space on the Evilometer, the paladin sets out to attack your dungeon. Take the Paladin Tile from the Central Board and put it in the large space near the entrance to the dungeon. The paladin is a special adventurer that is always at the front of the party. Any new warrior will push ahead of everyone but the paladin.

The paladin himself is a mighty warrior. And a priest. And a wizard. And even a bit of a thief. For purposes of the rules, he does not count as any of these. He's just "an adventurer". But anyone facing the paladin quickly realizes he is more like an entire adventuring party.

If you cross the line, you attract the paladin immediately. For example, if you land on the paladin space because you threatened the villagers, you cannot avoid him by improving your reputation in the town, even though the Improve Reputation action happens right after Get Food. Once the paladin sets out, there is no way to return him to his tent. However, there are ways to get him to go to another dungeon.

You can skip this next bit and save it for when the paladin actually does go after someone. The paladin will move to another player's dungeon if these two conditions are met:

• That player's Evil Counter is at or above the paladin space.
• That player's Evil Counter is higher than the Evil Counter of the player who currently has the paladin. (It must be higher. Being on the same space is not evil enough.)

Keep in mind that everything in the game happens in order. (For example, even if, in practice, everyone is responding to an Event Card at the same time, they theoretically make their decisions in order, beginning with the starting player.) So it is not possible for two players to move up the Evilometer at the same time. However, there is still one ambiguous case: In this example 2 players have simultaneously become the most evil. In the Adventurers Phase, we explained that the one closer to the starting player is nicer. The paladin will go to the one who plays later in clockwise play order.

While other adventurers are meeting, plotting, and drinking in the taverns, the paladin sets up his tent outside of town and sweeps the countryside with his stern, watchful gaze. (In other words, he drinks alone.) If ever he should sense great evil, he will don his holy armor and stride boldly to battle. (If he only senses a little evil, he just sits around boldly polishing his armor.)

Now, I understand that many of you wish to become dungeon lords purely for the fun of being evil. And this is a worthy cause. However, I must caution you that an evil reputation is only fun if you have the monsters and the traps to back it up.

End of the Round

At the end of each of the first three rounds, the Starting Player Token moves one player to the left. At the end of the last round (fall) the token does not move. Instead, Combat begins.

In any case, at this moment you move all your Imp Figures back to your Imp Den. They will be ready to work for you next round (and they definitely don't want to get involved in Combat).

All right. That's Building. Once you've explained that bit, try to size up the mood of your fellow players. If they don't want to hear any more jabbering, then just start playing. You've already given them some Combat Training, so they'll have some idea of why they need those traps and monsters. You can explain the details of Combat once you've played through the first year of Building.

Combat

Since you've already had Combat Training, this part will be pretty easy. There are only a few extra rules:

• Combat lasts 4 rounds. Any adventurers that are not eliminated after the fourth round leave your dungeon and head off to Distant Lands.
• Each round has its own Combat Card. This tells you which spell the wizards are casting (if there are any wizards) and how much damage the first adventurer will take from fatigue. You have to make your plans before the Combat Card is revealed.
• Each time the adventurers conquer a tile, you move your Evil Counter down one space on the Evilometer.

Now we'll go over everything in detail, from beginning to end. If you need to see more examples, look back at the Combat Training chapter.

At the end of the last round of Building, the Progress Board should be empty. Each dungeon will have 3 adventurers (not counting the paladin). In Combat, the adventurers try to conquer the dungeons.

Each adventurer has a certain number of hit points (the red number). During battle, adventurers acquire Damage Counters (the red cubes). When the number of Damage Counters on the Adventurer Tile equals or exceeds the adventurer's hit points, the Adventurer Tile is moved immediately to the dungeon's Prison.

The Damage Counters are kept on the Distant Lands board so they don't get in your way during Building. For Combat, you should pass a handful around so that everyone has as many as they need.

Setup

Flip over the Progress Board so that the Combat Side is up. Take the 4 Combat Cards from the Central Board and place them face down on the indicated spaces on the Progress Board. Be sure to keep them in order. The top card should go in the space with 1, and the bottom card should go in the space with 4.

The Progress Board maps out 4 rounds of Combat. Each round has 3 phases: Planning, Revealing Combat Cards, and Battle. Put the Progress Marker on the first space.

Planning Phase

Choosing a Dungeon Tile. Use a Minion Figure to indicate which dungeon tile the adventurers will be attacking. You must choose among the unconquered tiles nearest the entrance. Distance is measured as though you were walking through the dungeon.

In round 1, this means you must choose the tile at the entrance. In later rounds, after this tile is conquered, there may be several unconquered tiles that are all nearest. In this case, you will choose among them. It does not matter where the previous round's battle was fought. You can imagine the adventurers retreating to the entrance at the end of each round. They always attack one of the nearest unconquered tiles.

Example: In round 1, the player had to choose the tile at the entrance. The adventurers conquered it. In round 2, the player can choose to battle in the tunnel on the right or in the room. Let's suppose he chooses the room and uses the slime's ability to prevent conquering. The room is not conquered and in round 3, he has the same two choices. This time he chooses the tunnel, and the adventurers conquer it. In round 4, he will have to choose the room because no other tile is that close to the entrance.

Choosing Defense. In addition to choosing a tile, you need to determine which traps and monsters (and ghosts) you will use in the battle. Everyone can make these decisions simultaneously, but if one player wants to decide based on the other players' actions, then you decide in order, beginning with the starting player (the one who started the last round of Building). Traps are played face down. Monsters (and ghosts) are played face up. You do not have to use any traps or monsters (or ghosts) if you do not want to.

Some traps have a cost (imp, food, or gold). You must pay this when the trap is revealed. You do not get to change your mind.

Combat in Tunnels. For a battle in a tunnel, you can use only 1 trap and 1 monster. You can use as many ghosts as you want.

Combat in Rooms. For a battle in a room, you can use only 1 trap, and it will cost you 1 Gold to do so. Put the Gold Token on the Trap Card so you don't forget. You can use up to 2 monsters and as many ghosts as you want.

Revealing Combat Card Phase

Once all players have chosen their traps and monsters (and ghosts), reveal the Combat Card. Players who used spies to look at the card have an advantage: the other players have to plan without knowing what the card is. The Combat Card does not take effect at this time. It is simply revealed.

Battle Phase

Battle is the last phase of the round. Players will fight their battles in order, beginning with the starting player.

You should narrate your battle to the other players. That way, they can follow along and check that you are doing it right.

Order is important. During battle, your rating on the Evilometer can change. This might make the paladin choose a different dungeon (as explained in the Paladin section above). The paladin will move immediately (along with any Damage Counters that are on him) so it is possible that the paladin will fight in multiple dungeons in the same round. Once the paladin is eliminated, however, he will move no more, regardless of the Evilometer.

A paladin in your prison is worth more points than the average adventurer. You know you're getting really good at this game when you can draw the paladin to your dungeon after another player has nearly finished him off.

Battle has several steps, which are illustrated on your Dungeon Board. When it is your turn, place your second Minion Figure on the illustration of the first step, and move him along after each step is dealt with.

Trap Step. You begin Battle by revealing your Trap Card, if you played one. If the Trap Card has a cost to use, you must pay this cost. If the battle is in a room, you must pay 1 Gold to use the trap. It is not legal to choose a Trap Card that you cannot pay for.

Traps usually wound the adventurers. Damage is reduced by 1 for each thief symbol on the paladin and thief tiles in the party. Priority is given to reducing damage to the adventurers in front. For examples, see the chapter on Combat Training. Traps may also have additional effects. These cannot be prevented.

Once a trap is used, discard it to the Distant Lands Board.

Fast Spells Step. This step occurs only if the following two conditions are met:

• The Combat Card for this round has the fast spell icon.
• The party has enough magic points.

The number of magic points required is shown above the Combat Card on the Progress Board. The round 1 spell only requires 1 point. The round 2 spell requires 2. Etc. If the number of magic symbols on the party's paladin and wizards is equal to this number or greater, the party has enough magic points.

The effect of the fast spell is given on the card. It usually influences the rest of the Battle. If the spell talks about "withdrawing" a monster, that means you return it to your Monster Lair and leave it face up, as though you had never sent it into battle.

If the spell is not a fast spell, if the party cannot cast spells, or if the party does not have enough magic points, then ignore the text on the card and skip this step.

Monsters (and Ghosts) Step. Now your monsters (and ghosts) attack. If you sent more than one, you choose the order in which they attack.

The Monster (or Ghost) Tile illustrates the monster's (or ghost's) attack. If there are 2 attacks divided by a horizontal line, you get to choose which attack to use.

If you sent a monster (or ghost) it must attack if possible. Whether it attacks or not, it is then knocked out for the rest of the Year. Place the Monster (or Ghost) Tile in the Monster Lair face down.

The Combat Training chapter has many examples of attacks and special powers. Here is a summary:

• Standard Attack: The first adventurer receives the indicated amount of damage.
• Attack Anyone: You choose an adventurer to receive the indicated amount of damage. The monster may not attack priests.
• Attack Everyone: Each adventurer receives the indicated amount of damage. The ghost may not attack the first adventurer. The monster returns to the lair face up. It is not knocked out. The party does not conquer (and does not accumulate fatigue) this round. Skip the Healing Step for this round of Combat. Not a monster. Take a Troll Token. (This is not relevant to Combat.)

Slow Spells Step. This step occurs only if the following two conditions are met:

• The Combat Card for this round has the slow spell icon.
• The party has enough magic points (as explained above).

The spell takes effect as described on the card. Usually it harms your dungeon.

Here's the way spells work: in round 1, the party needs 1 magic point. In round 2, they need 2, and so on. The spell is either fast or slow. If it's fast, it happens after traps but before monsters. If it's slow, it happens after monsters. You don't check for magic points until the spell is ready to take effect. So a trap that eliminates a wizard might keep the party from casting a fast spell. A monster can't stop a fast spell, but it might be able to eliminate a wizard before he can cast a slow spell.

Healing Step. This step occurs only if the following two conditions are met:

• The party has at least one priest or paladin (with the heal symbol).
• At least one monster (or ghost) attacked. (The slime's special ability is not an attack.)

In the healing step, you remove 1 Damage Counter for each heal symbol in the party. Take Damage Counters off the adventurers in front first.

Adventurers that take maximum damage are eliminated immediately. It is not possible to bring them back from Prison during the Healing Step.

Conquering Step. Before conquering the tile, the party accumulates fatigue. Fatigue is damage dealt by the effort of conquering. The amount of damage is specified on the Combat Card. The damage is dealt to the first adventurer, but it is dealt one point at a time. If the first adventurer is eliminated, the remaining damage will fall on the next in line. And so on.

It is difficult to maintain an aura of malevolence after a party of adventurers has waltzed past your traps and monsters. The word gets out.

I'll save you the trouble of looking at the Combat Cards: in the First Year, one card gives 0 fatigue, four give 1, and four give 2. In the Second Year, one card gives 1 fatigue, four give 2, and four give 3.

If there is still at least one adventurer left after assigning fatigue damage, the tile is conquered. Flip it over so that the light side is up.

A conquered tunnel is a picture of utter devastation. Sunlight streams in through holes in the ceiling. Grass grows among the ruins. I have even seen flowers. Nothing is sadder.

A conquered dungeon tile is unusable. A conquered room loses its function. A conquered tunnel cannot be turned into a room, and gold cannot be mined there. However, it remains a tile in your dungeon. New tunnels can be dug adjacent to it, and rules like "don't make a 2×2 square" and "don't put 2 rooms next to each other" still apply. And you still have to pay taxes on a conquered tile.

If those do-gooder adventurers really wanted to do some good... [they would rampage through the Ministry of Dungeons].

Each time the adventurers conquer one of your tiles, you lose 1 Evil (move down 1 space on the Evilometer).

Moving Paladin

Because players change positions on the Evilometer during Combat, it is possible that the paladin will move. When he does, he keeps any Damage Counters.

If the paladin moves to a dungeon where all adventurers have been eliminated, Combat in that dungeon will start up again next round. (If the paladin arrives in round 4, his arrival will not re-start Combat.)

End of Combat

There are three ways Combat in your dungeon can end:

• All adventurers are eliminated. This ends your Combat immediately. You skip any steps remaining in the Battle, and you will not battle in the remaining rounds. You just wait for the others to finish.
• Four rounds have been fought. Any adventurers remaining leave the dungeons and go to the Distant Lands Board.
• No unconquered tiles are left. If you have no unconquered tiles, there is nowhere left to fight. Each time you are supposed to pick a tile, you must let a prisoner go instead. (Move one Adventurer Tile from your Prison to the Distant Lands Board. You can save the paladin for last.)

After all players are done with Combat, turn your monsters (and ghosts) face up again – they don't want to miss the next Pay Day.

There's one more difference between Combat Training and actual Combat: in the Training examples, there is an optimal solution. Real Combat is a lot messier. If you only lose 1 tile, that is a major victory. You should expect to lose 2 or 3 and build your dungeon big enough so that you will have something left afterward.

Notes on Selected Traps

Poisoned Dart. "I'm fine. It's just a scratch." Deal 1 damage to the adventurer of your choice. At the end of the round (after Conquering) he also takes 2 damage. The additional 2 damage at the end of the round cannot be prevented by the thief ability. It is dealt to the dart's target even if the initial 1 damage was prevented. ("I'm okay! It's just a scratch.")

Anti-Magic Dart. "Ablacradaba! Um... babracadable! Bleah." Deal 1 damage to the adventurer of your choice. If a wizard is targeted, not even the paladin can cast spells. If a priest is targeted, not even the paladin can heal the party. If a wizard is targeted, the party casts no spells this round. If a priest is targeted, skip the Healing Step. If the paladin is targeted, however, there is no special effect.

Second Year

After Combat, the Second Year begins. Players continue with the same dungeons. Conquered rooms and tunnels cannot be repaired in any way. Your inaccessible Orders Cards for winter will be the two that you put there at the end of fall in the First Year.

Return the 4 used Combat Cards to the box. Take the 4 gold-backed Combat Cards from the Distant Lands Board and put them on the town space of the Central Game Board. If the paladin for the First Year is still in his tent, move him to the Distant Lands Board. In the Second Year, you use only the stronger paladin (with the gold glyph). You will draw new Adventurer, Monster, and Room Tiles from the gold-backed stacks.

In a two-player game, you also need to move the non-player Evil Counter 2 spaces down the Evilometer toward the happy face. This simulates conquering in the non-player dungeon.

Choosing a New Starting Player

The Starting Player Token should still be with the player who started fall in the First Year. Now it is time to pass it on.

• In a 4-player game, the Starting Player Token should be given to the player opposite the person who started the First Year. (So it moves 3 places to the left.)
• In a 3-player game, the Starting Player Token should be given to the player who was starting player in spring of the First Year. (So it just moves one place to the left, as normal.)
• In a 2-player game, the Starting Player Token should be kept by the player who started fall in the First Year.

(At the end of winter, spring, and summer, the Starting Player Token will move one player to the left, as it did in the First Year.)

Now check the Evilometer. If any player is at or above the paladin's limit of tolerance, the paladin moves to that player's dungeon. (In case of ties, don't forget that the new starting player is the nicest.)

Building in the Second Year

The Second Year is similar to the First, but the rooms do different things. The adventurers are more powerful, but so are the monsters, and you get a bit more choice when buying traps.

You can explain all the new rooms and monsters now, or you can wait until they show up on the table. It's up to you.

Buying Traps in the Second Year. Adventurers and monsters are more powerful in the Second Year, but the imps are selling the same old traps. To help business along, they come up with a special sale: when you buy from their shop, you get to take home an extra trap... but only for a little while. After opening up the bundles and examining the traps, you choose one to bundle up and take back. It doesn't matter which trap you send back to them. They have no idea what they sold you anyway. It is a useful service. And perhaps someday the imps will figure out how to label those bundles and save us all the trouble.

Buy Traps works differently in the Second Year. You draw one extra Trap Card (2 cards on the first and second spaces, and 3 cards on the third space). After looking at all your Trap Cards, you discard one, face down. Your discard can be one of those that you just drew, or it can be one that you drew earlier.

This rule only applies to the Buy Traps action, not to a room that produces traps.

Rooms and Monsters in the Second Year. The Second Year rooms do not produce anything. However, your First Year rooms become more productive. If you have enough imps, you can make your First Year rooms produce twice (e.g., use 3 imps to produce 1 Food or 6 imps to produce 2 Food).

The Second Year rooms either give you advantages when there is a battle in them, or they give you points at the end of the game. Second Year rooms have no zone restrictions.

If you put the combat rooms near the entrance, you'll be able to use them. Try to keep the point-scoring rooms away from the adventurers.

The back page of this book gives a description of all the rooms and monsters. Some of the Second Year monsters have unusual costs.

Combat in the Second Year. Combat is the same in both Years. Tiles that were conquered in the First Year remain conquered. The adventurers continue to attack unconquered tiles closest to the entrance.

Scoring

Two years pass as though it were only two hours. And there, at the entrance to your dungeon, appear the officials from the Ministry. It is time for your evaluation.

The Scoring Track is on the Combat side of the Progress Board. Each player places his or her third Minion Figure on the space labeled 0.

One minion points out which tile is being fought over. One keeps track of the order of battle. The third minion is in charge of keeping score. Of course, you can use whichever minion you want, but we minions appreciate it when we are assigned a special function.

Take the Overview Card and go through the scoring line by line. At each line, move all the players' figures the specified number of spaces:

• 2 points for each unconquered room in your dungeon.
• 1 point for each monster in your Monster Lair. (They should all be face up again after Combat.) No points for ghosts.
• 2 points for each adventurer in your Prison, except for paladins who are each worth 5 points.
• You lose 2 points for each conquered tile (room or tunnel).
• You lose 3 points for each red mark in your Dead Letter Office.
• Rooms that score bonus points are scored at this time, except for the Hall of Fame which is scored while handing out titles.

Note that having a room conquered costs you 4 points: you lose 2 because it was conquered and you don't score the 2 points for an unconquered room.

Titles

Titles are given to players who have the most in selected categories. If one player has the most, then the title is exclusive and worth 3 points. If 2 or more players have the most, then they have to share the title and only get 2 points each.

In a 2-player game, exclusive titles are worth 2 points and shared titles are worth 1. Ignore non-player Dungeon Boards and Evil Counters.

The Lord of Dark Deeds. This title goes to the player highest on the Evilometer. In case of a tie, this title is shared. (The Starting Player Marker has no effect on this title.) No, you don't get any points for being lowest. "Lord of Kissing Up to Townsfolk" is not something to brag about.

The Lord of Halls. This title goes to the player who has the most rooms. Even conquered rooms count.

The Tunnellord. This title goes to the player who has the most tunnels. Even conquered tunnels count. Whenever you build a room, you have to give up a tunnel. Keep that in mind at the end of the Second Year of Building when you are maneuvering for titles.

The Monsterlord. This title goes to the player who has the most monsters. Ghosts do not count.

The Lord of Imps. This title goes to the player who has the most Imp Figures. Troll Tokens do not count.

The Lord of Riches. Your treasure is measured by the total number of Gold Tokens, Food Tokens, and unplayed Trap Cards you have. Whoever has the most gets this title.

The Battlelord. Unlike the other titles, this one goes to the player with the fewest: the fewest conquered tiles (tunnels and rooms).

Winning the Game

The player with the most points wins and becomes the Underlord, the highest-ranking dungeon lord in the land. If there is a tie, then victory is shared.

All players who finish the game with a score above zero pass the test and get their dungeon lord licenses. If you finish with zero points or less, don't worry: you'll get your license next time.

You know, it's not really about winning. It's about building a great dungeon. Even if everything is going wrong and you have no chance to become the Underlord, you can at least dig a lot of holes and get them to declare you... the Tunnellord!

Full Game

The rules given above are appropriate for introducing new players to the game. For your next game, you can play with the full rules. There are only a few differences:

Choosing Initial Inaccessible Orders

In your first game, the inaccessible orders for the first round of the First Year were chosen randomly. In the full game, you have a bit more control.

After the starting player has been chosen, but before the first Monster, Room, Adventurer, and Event Tiles are revealed, you shuffle your Orders Cards and draw three at random. From these you choose two to be your inaccessible orders. Once all players have made their choices, the inaccessible orders are revealed and the game begins as described above.

Inaccessible orders for later rounds are chosen in the usual way.

We left this rule out of the first game because new players probably won't understand what the orders do until they have seen them in action. But you can use it in your first game if you want.

Special Events

During Setup, shuffle the blue Special Event Cards. Draw 2 at random and place them face down on the Distant Lands Board: one underneath the Second Year Combat Cards Deck and one on top of it. Put the rest of the Special Event Cards back in the box without looking at them.

When the "Special Event" Event Tile is revealed, take the Special Event Card for that year from the Distant Lands Board and place it face up on the Progress Board.

When it comes time to deal with the Special Event, proceed according to the text on the card.

The Special Events make your job harder. If you want an easier game, you can leave them out.

Recruiting as First Order

The early bird may get the worm, but the early minion will have trouble getting into the tavern: Everyone will still be asleep. Pounding on the door will not convince the bartender to open early. However, the jingle of a pouch of coins can be heard above the loudest snoring.

The Recruit Monster (or Ghost) card has a special symbol to remind you of this rule: if you play the card as your first order, it costs you 1 Gold. You must pay this as soon as the card is revealed, before you move your Minion Figure to the Underground Tavern. If you have no Gold and you play this card as your first order, your Minion Figure is placed directly on the card instead of on one of the action spaces (which leaves the space open for another player to use).

Paying a Cost vs. Gaining Evil

You pay for reputation costs with your reputation, by moving up the Evilometer. If you are out of spaces to move up to, you cannot pay the cost. It is analogous to being out of Gold or Food Tokens.

There are three situations where moving up the Evilometer is a cost:

1. Getting food on the second and third action spaces.
2. Hiring certain monsters (and ghosts).
3. Paying wages to your monsters (and ghosts) either during Pay Day or in response to the Suggestion spell.

In all other situations (other spells, special events, releasing monsters (or ghosts) on Pay Day) you are not paying a cost, you are "gaining Evil". If you gain (or lose) Evil that would move you off the end of the Evilometer, you simply remain on the space on that end.

We like to call this "Absolute Evil". One cannot improve on perfection.

Example: It is Pay Day. The player in this situation can only pay 2 more reputation, so he must let the witch or the vampire go. He decides to keep the vampire and pays the cost by moving 2 spaces up the Evilometer. He gains 1 Evil for letting the witch go, but his Evil Counter is already at the top, so it does not go any higher.

---

A game by Vlaada Chvátil

Illustration: David Cochard

Graphic design: Filip Murmak

Translation: Jason Holt

Lead tester: Petr Murmak

Testers: Milano, Vazoun, Peťa, Rumun, Jéňa, Křupin and many others from the Brno Boardgame club, Ellife, Roneth, Vodka, Cauly the Paladinslayer and others from club Korunka in Ostrava, Petr, Martina, Vítek, Filip, Ladinek, Vláďa Suchý, Jirka Bauma, and others from clubs Paluba and Kapsa in Prague, Plema, Flygon, Tomáš and others from clubs in Pilsen, Eklp, Petronilla, Elwen, Tůva Bivod and his friends, and many others from all parts of the Czech Republic.

Special thanks: to dilli and her Slovakian and Austrian gaming friends, and to those nice people organizing Festival Fantazie and Gamecon events.

© Czech Games Edition, October 2009. www.CzechGames.com

Full Rules Summary

Here's a quick summary of the rules, with no jabbering. It should be noted that... Hey! No jabbering.

Setup

• Choose a starting player and set up the game according to the pictures on pages 7–9.
• Randomly choose 2 Special Event Cards, which remain unknown for now.
• Shuffle your own Orders Cards and draw 3 at random. Choose 2 to be your inaccessible orders. All players reveal these simultaneously.

Building

New Round Phase

• Draw 3 new Monster (or Ghost) Tiles and 2 new Room Tiles.
• Except in round 4, you also do the following:
  • Draw Adventurer Tiles (4 for four players, or 3 otherwise) and arrange them according to their shade and glyphs, from least powerful to most powerful. (If they are all equally powerful, replace the last one drawn.)
  • Turn up next round's Event Tile. If it is a Special Event, reveal this Year's Special Event Card.

Orders Phase

• Choose orders for any non-player colors. (See page 15.)
• Each player chooses 3 Orders Cards.
• Players reveal their orders and take turns placing their figures on the action spaces.
  • A player who chooses Hire Monster (or Ghost) for his or her first order must pay 1 Gold.
  • If there is no space left for a Minion Figure, it goes on the Orders Card.
• Actions are played in the order indicated by the Central Board, left to right, top to bottom.
  • Get Food, Improve Reputation, Hire Imps, or Buy Traps: You pay the cost on the left of the arrow (if any) and gain the thing on the right of the arrow. Paying only part of the cost for part of the benefits is not allowed.
    • A player who gets a chance to spy can look at one of the Combat Cards.
    • In the Second Year, a player buying traps gets one extra Trap Card and then discards any one of his or her Trap Cards.
  • Dig Tunnels or Mine Gold: You gain a permit to employ up to the specified number of imps. You are allowed to use fewer if you wish. On the third space, you are required to have a foreimp, regardless of how many other imps you employ. Trolls do not help with digging or mining.
    • New tunnels must be adjacent to a previous room or tunnel. You cannot fill all squares of a 2×2 block. You need 1 imp for each new tunnel.
    • Each imp can mine 1 Gold in 1 unconquered tunnel. Two imps cannot mine the same tunnel.
  • Hire Monster (or Ghost): Players choose in reverse order — third, second, first. When you hire a monster, you pay its cost. (On the third space, you also pay 1 Food.)
  • Build Room: Players choose in reverse order. On the first and second spaces, you pay 1 Gold. On the third space, you pay nothing, but there might not be any rooms left.
    • The room replaces an unconquered tunnel.
    • Two rooms cannot be adjacent to each other.
    • First Year rooms must be built in their specified zones.
  • If you do not use an action, return your Minion Figure to that Orders Card to indicate that the order was not carried out.

Production and Orders Retrieval Phase

• If you have any unused Imp Figures (or any Troll Tokens) you can use them in rooms that produce. Move the indicated number of imps (or trolls) to the room (and pay any additional cost if there is one) to get the indicated product. Imps produced by a room can be used immediately.
  • In the First Year, each room can only produce once per round. In the Second Year, each room can produce twice per round.
• Take back both inaccessible Orders Cards. Of the 3 that you played this round, either take back the first or take back any card with a Minion Figure. Move the other two up to the spaces for inaccessible orders.

Event Phase

• Events affect all players in order, beginning with the starting player.
  • Pay Day: For each monster (and ghost), either pay its cost, or let it go and gain 1 Evil.
  • Taxes: For every 2 dungeon tiles (conquered or unconquered) you are taxed 1 Gold. Round up. Gain 1 red mark (−3 points at the end of the game) for each Gold you cannot or will not pay.
  • Special Event: Proceed according to the text of the Special Event Card.

Adventurers Phase

• In a 2-player game, move the non-player Evil Counter up 1 space.
• The least powerful adventurer (on the far left) goes to the player lowest on the Evilometer. The next in line goes to the next player on the Evilometer, and so on. Break ties based on play order. Starting player is nicest.
• New adventurers line up behind those from previous rounds, except for warriors, who move to the front of the party.

End of the Round

• Return all imps to their Imp Den.
• Except in fall, pass the Starting Player Token to the left.

Paladin

• Each Year has only one paladin.
• The paladin leaves his tent and goes to the dungeon of the first player to land on or climb above the paladin's level of tolerance indicated on the Evilometer.
• The paladin will move to a different player's dungeon if that player is at or above the tolerance level and is above the player who currently has the paladin.
  • Break ties in clockwise play order. The starting player is nicest.
  • If the paladin moves into a different dungeon during Combat, he takes his damage (if any) with him.

Combat

• Flip over the Progress Board. Deal out the Combat Cards face down, in order.
• Combat has four rounds. If an adventurer's Damage Counters equal or exceed his hit points, he is eliminated and goes immediately to the Prison. Your Combat is over when you eliminate all your adventurers or after you fight four rounds.
• Planning Phase: All players can plan simultaneously.
  • Choose an unconquered tile nearest the entrance and mark it with a Minion Figure.
    • For a tunnel, you can play 1 trap and 1 monster.
    • For a room, you can play 1 trap (but it costs 1 Gold) and up to 2 monsters.
    • You can play as many ghosts as you want.
    • You do not have to play a trap or a monster (or a ghost) if you don't want to.
  • If you have no unconquered tiles, you discard one imprisoned adventurer instead of planning.
• Revealing Combat Card Phase: Reveal the Combat Card for this round.
• Battle Phase: Players battle in order, beginning with the starting player.
  • Traps Step: Reveal (and pay for, if necessary) your Trap Card and deal with its effect. Thieves reduce damage by one per thief symbol, protecting adventurers in front first. Discard the Trap Card.
  • Fast Spell Step: If the Combat Card has a fast spell and if the party has enough magic points, then deal with the fast spell's effect.
  • Monsters (and Ghosts) Step: Your monsters (and ghosts) attack in the order you choose. After attacking, your monster (or ghost) is knocked out (face down) for the rest of the Year.
  • Slow Spell Step: If the Combat Card has a slow spell and if the party has enough magic points, then the slow spell takes effect.
  • Healing Step: If at least one monster (or ghost) attacked, then remove 1 Damage Counter from the party for each heal symbol. Those in front are healed first.
  • Conquering Step:
    • The party takes the amount of Damage Counters shown on the Combat Card. These go to the first adventurer. If the first adventurer is eliminated, any remaining counters are put on the next in line.
    • If at least one adventurer remains, the party conquers the tile. Flip it over and move your Evil Counter one space down the Evilometer.

Second Year

• Setup: Flip the Progress Board back to the Building side. Put new Combat Cards in the Town. Discard the paladin from the First Year if he is still in on the Central Board.
• In a 2-player game, move the non-player Evil Counter 2 spaces down the Evilometer.
• Choose a new starting player by moving the Starting Player Marker:
  • One player to the right, in a four-player game.
  • One player to the left, in a three-player game.
  • Not at all, in a two-player game.
• At the end of winter, spring, and summer, the Starting Player Marker moves left, as in the First Year.
• Play through Building and Combat in the Second Year.

Scoring

• Give out points for various aspects of the individual dungeons.
• Give out points for titles.
• The one with the most points wins and is declared the Underlord.
• All players with positive scores get their dungeon lord license.

Appendix

Monsters (and Ghosts)

Goblin. The goblin is not the biggest monster in the dungeon, but if its standard attack of 2 manages to eliminate the lead adventurer, it gets so excited that it also attacks the next adventurer in line for 1.

Slime. What would a dungeon be without slime? The slime can either attack from the ceiling (1 on everyone) or it can slurp around the party's ankles and hold them in place. If you choose the second option, the party does not conquer (or accumulate fatigue) this round. The slime will still be knocked out, but it does not count as an attack. Priests will not heal the party unless a different monster (or ghost) attacked this round.

Ghost. The odd thing about this monster is that it is not a monster:

• The limits on the number of monsters allowed in a battle do not apply to ghosts.
• A spell or event that applies to monsters does not apply to ghosts unless it specifically says so.
• Ghosts do not count as monsters during scoring.
• Ghosts cannot be used to pay the cost for a demon.

A ghost cannot attack the first adventurer in line, but it can attack any other adventurer for 2. If there is only one adventurer, the ghost cannot attack at all.

Troll. This hairy, good-natured giant enjoys helping out imps around the dungeon. When you hire a troll, you get a Troll Token which can be used instead of an Imp Figure in a production room. The troll does not help with digging tunnels or mining gold and does not count as an imp during scoring. If you lose your troll, you have to return the Troll Token. A troll has a standard attack for 3. If you pay 1 Food, it will attack for 4. It fights better on a full stomach.

Witch. The witch specializes in the wild magic of chaos. She can either cast one big spell (standard attack 4) or two smaller spells (two attacks on anyone for 1 each). The two attacks can be on the same adventurer or on two different adventurers.

Vampire. Nothing says "evil" like blood sucking. A vampire can chomp on any adventurer for 3 damage. Or it can eat and run: attack any adventurer for 2 and then return to the Monster Lair face up, ready to be used in a later battle. A vampire cannot attack priests (but it doesn't mind the taste of paladins). If the party has only priests left, the vampire cannot attack, but it can still return to the Monster Lair face up.

Golem. In addition to 1 Gold, a golem also costs 1 Trap Card. You must discard a trap when you hire the golem, and you must discard another trap to pay him on Pay Day. If you do not have a Trap Card, you cannot pay his cost. A golem simply attacks. And attacks. And attacks. It has a standard attack of 4, but it is not knocked out after battle. It returns to the Monster Lair face up and can be used in a later round.

Dragon. A dragon's fiery breath does 2 damage to each adventurer. In addition the party skips the Healing Step for this round of Combat.

Demon. A demon just jumps into the middle of the party and takes someone out. It can attack anyone for 7 points of damage. The party is so shocked that they forget to conquer this round. Skip conquering and fatigue. In addition to paying the Gold cost, you must discard a monster when you hire or pay the demon. On the plus side, a monster fed to the demon on Pay Day does not need to be paid. (Feeding the demon a ghost does not work — they just go right through him.)

Production Rooms

Production rooms are only available in the First Year. They can be used once per round in the First Year and twice per round in the Second Year. Each room requires a certain number of imps, but Troll Tokens will work, too.

Chicken Coop, Mushroom Bed. These rooms produce Food. Chickens like to live closer to the surface, and mushrooms like to be deep underground.

Souvenir Shop, Mint. These rooms produce Gold. The Souvenir Shop should be near the surface to attract customers. The Mint is not exactly legal, so it should be hidden deeper (even though some people believe that making ceramic imp mugs is a bigger crime than forging money).

Workshop. Trap manufacture is a noisy business, so it's best to have this on the edge of the dungeon. When using this room, you draw a Trap Card. The rule about drawing an extra Trap Card when you Buy Traps in the Second Year does not apply to Trap Cards you get from the Workshop.

Tool Shed. Give the imps a few extra picks, and you can be sure they will start digging, whether you have a permit or not. This room allows you to dig 1 tunnel, according to the usual rules. This tunnel is dug by the 2 imps in the Tool Shed. You don't need to put an Imp Figure on it.

Printing Press. If you don't like the news, print your own. Located in the center of your dungeon, a printing press gives you the ability to impress the populace with stories like "Local Dungeon Lord Rescues Local Cat" or "Local Dungeon Lord First In Line at Blood Drive".

Magic Room. Also recommended for the center of the dungeon is this tastefully decorated hide-away that we call "the Magic Room". Send in two imps and a romantic dinner, and out come three. It's magic! The new Imp Figure shows up in your Imp Den immediately, so it can also be used in production. And yes, even in this room you can use Troll Tokens. What can we say? They just really like imps.

Combat Rooms

Combat rooms are found only in the Second Year. They affect battles that are fought in them. They have no effect outside of Combat and no effect on Combat in other tiles in your dungeon.

Training Room. This is where your trolls and goblins learn martial arts. In this room, trolls and goblins have +1 damage to each attack: A troll can attack for 4 (or 5 with Food) and a goblin can attack for 3 and then again for 2 if the first attack eliminates the lead adventurer.

Dark Room. No, this is not where you develop your photographs. This is just a very dark room. In this room, vampires and witches have +1 damage to each attack. A vampire can either attack for 4, or attack for 3 and then escape. A witch can make a standard attack for 5, or she can make two attacks for 2 on anyone.

Labyrinth. The labyrinth is like a long tunnel: you can put 2 traps here and you don't have to pay gold for them as you do in other rooms. However, you can only play one monster here. If you play 2 traps, you can use them in either order. To reduce damage from the second trap, the party can only use as many thief symbols as they have left over after dealing with the first trap. The Labyrinth still counts as a room during scoring.

Anti-Magic Room. No, this is not the opposite of the Magic Room. This is a room where the party cannot cast any spells. For a battle in this room, skip the Fast Spell Step and the Slow Spell Step. Your traps and monsters (and ghosts) function normally. (Not even your witch is affected by the anti-magic.)

Point-Scoring Rooms

Point-scoring rooms are available only in the Second Year. They give you bonus points at the end of the game, but only if you can keep them from being conquered. These points are in addition to the 2 points you get for each unconquered room. Don't forget to turn your Monster (or Ghost) Tiles face up after the Second Year's Combat. Those monsters just love to be scored.

Cafeteria. You gain 1 point for each monster depicted (troll, goblin, slime, or witch). (These monsters all eat food. Dragons eat food, too, but the Cafeteria won't give you points for dragons because they start food fights.)

Chapel. With a pipe organ, of course. Play that ominous minor chord and gain 2 points for each vampire and ghost. (That's right: points for ghosts.)

Pandemonium. Gothic arches, marble pedestals, grotesque statues, and a gate to another dimension. Gain 2 points for each golem, dragon, and demon.

Hall of Fame. This is where you keep your awards and trophies. For each exclusive title you earn, you gain an additional 2 points (or 1 point in a three- or two-player game). Unlike with the other rooms, these points are scored while handing out titles.