Dungeons & Dragons: Ghosts of Saltmarsh Board Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• This Is an Expansion
• Game Components
• Tile Features
• Conditions
  • Condition: Advantage
  • Condition: Disadvantage
  • Condition: Stunned
  • Condition: Poisoned
• Experience Points
• The Adventure Deck
• The Treasure Deck
• The Spell Deck
• The Trap Deck
• Playing the Campaign
• Town Actions
• Campaign Tracker

This Is an Expansion

The Dungeons & Dragons: Ghosts of Saltmarsh Adventure System board game requires that you own a base Adventure System board game, as you will be using many of its components.

The main components needed will be the Hero figures and their relevant cards and tiles to play in this expansion. Healing surges, HP tokens, Wound tokens, and other components not found in this expansion will also come from your base game.

While the basic rules to the Adventure System board game have not changed much, the game has evolved over time to include new rules, types of cards, conditions, etc. This expansion provides components (unless noted otherwise) that may not be found in your Adventure System board game, as well as brief rule explanations on their usage.

Remember, any rule not discussed here, will be the same as your Adventure System board game.

Game Components

• 8 Figures (2 Purple Villains, 6 Green Monsters)
• 1 Villain card
• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Adventure book
• 23 Interlocking Dungeon tiles
• 6 Double-sized interlocking Special tiles
• 20 Condition markers:
  • 5 Advantage/Disadvantage
  • 5 Stunned/Poisoned
  • 5 Monster Stunned
  • 5 Monster Advantage/Disadvantage
• 148 Cards:
  • 40 Adventures
  • 55 Monsters
  • 38 Encounters
  • 6 Traps
  • 9 Spells
• 7 20mm circles:
  • 3 Goblin Archer
  • 3 Goblin Cutter
  • 1 Goblin Champion
• 100 25mm circles:
  • 30 Villager tokens
  • 1 Eliander
  • 1 Manistrad
• 12 Flood tokens
• 54 Monster tokens

Tile Features

• Monster Symbols: Each tile may feature one or more Monster squares marked with the Monster icon to indicate where to place Monsters.
• Trap Symbol: Each tile may feature one or more Trap squares marked with the Trap icon to indicate where to place Traps. To place a Trap, choose a Trap token from the pile of facedown tokens and place it where indicated, keeping it facedown. When revealed, if the token doesn't have a damage number, the Hero suffers no effect (exception: The Trap Deck, see page 3). Otherwise, the Hero takes the damage indicated. Then remove the token from the board. If your Hero was in the middle of his or her move, you may continue moving them normally.
• Ambush Symbol: Each tile may feature a square with the Ambush icon to indicate where special effects happen from Encounter card draws and special adventure rules.

Conditions

Condition: Advantage

Both Heroes and Monsters can gain Advantage.

• If an attack or other effect causes a Hero or Monster to gain Advantage, place an Advantage Condition marker on the Hero's card or Monster's figure. A Hero or Monster can only have one Advantage Condition marker at a time.
• While a Hero or Monster has Advantage, the next time either makes an Attack, roll the die twice and use the higher result. Then, discard the Advantage Condition marker.
• If a Hero or Monster gains Disadvantage while having Advantage, discard both markers.

Printed as "Advantage Condtion marker" in the final bullet; read here as "Advantage Condition marker."

Condition: Disadvantage

Both Heroes and Monsters can gain Disadvantage.

• If an attack or other effect causes a Hero or Monster to gain Disadvantage, place a Disadvantage Condition marker on the Hero's card or Monster's figure. A Hero or Monster can only have one Disadvantage Condition marker at a time.
• While a Hero or Monster has Disadvantage, the next time either makes an Attack, roll the die twice and use the lower result. Then, discard the Disadvantage Condition marker.
• If a Hero or Monster gains Advantage while having Disadvantage, discard both markers.

Condition: Stunned

Both Heroes and Monsters can become stunned.

• If an Attack or other effect causes a Hero or Monster to become Stunned, put a Stunned Condition marker on the Hero's card or Monster's figure.
• While a Hero is Stunned, he or she loses their free Move action. Discard the Stunned Condition marker at the end of their Hero phase.
• While a Monster is Stunned, it skips its next activation and does nothing. After the Monster skips its activation, discard the Stunned Condition marker.

Condition: Poisoned

Some Monsters, and other effects, can poison a Hero.

• When a Hero is Poisoned, put a Poisoned Condition marker on the Hero's card.
• While Poisoned, a Hero takes 1 damage at the start of their Hero Phase. Take this damage before using any Treasure cards and before checking to see if the Hero must spend a Healing Surge.
• At the end of their Hero Phase, roll the die. If the result is 10 or higher, discard the Poisoned Condition marker.

Experience Points

Experience Points can only be used to cancel Encounter cards. In some Adventure System board games, Experience Points could be used to level up. This is not the case anymore: leveling up is part of a Town action (see Town Actions below).

The Adventure Deck

Adventure cards are similar to cards found in the game such as Monsters, Encounters, Spells, etc., but are not meant to be placed in those respective decks.

They are kept separate and certain adventures will identify how they are to be used.

The Treasure Deck

While you will be using the Treasure deck from an Adventure System board game, we recommend removing any named magical items from the deck if you wish to keep a thematic game. Otherwise, feel free to include whatever Treasures you wish.

Some earlier Adventure System board games did not come with GP tokens. We recommend that you keep any gold piece Treasure cards in front of you or use some other accounting method to keep track of how many GPs a Hero possesses.

The Spell Deck

A relatively new type of card, Spells can be cast by Heroes, Monsters, and by other means.

Spell cards indicate how a Spell works depending on the caster.

Once a Spell is cast, shuffle it back into the Spell deck.

If you are using an Adventure System board game that has Spells, you can add the new, non-duplicated Spells found in this expansion to that deck.

The Trap Deck

Whenever you trigger a Trap token with the word "DRAW" printed on it, you draw a Trap card, and place it with your Monsters. It will activate in turn order during step 3 of the Villain Phase.

These Complex Traps usually have a token associated with them and the Trap card will tell you on which tile it should be placed.

A Hero may attempt to disable the Trap using the Disable Trap action, but many have an effect if you fail the Disable roll.

Playing the Campaign

The Dungeons & Dragons: Ghosts of Saltmarsh Adventure System board game is intended to be played as a campaign, although you can always play any adventure as a stand-alone experience.

When you play the Campaign, the following simple rules apply.

If you successfully complete the adventure, follow the Aftermath instructions which normally give a reward of gold pieces to each Hero. You may then take Town actions (see next page).

• Missed Campaign Adventures: If a Hero did not participate in a successful adventure, that Hero gains 200 gold pieces. Collected gold pieces can be tracked on page 4.
• If you fail an adventure, you may keep the Treasure cards you gained, take Town actions, and then try again.
• Treasure cards and gold pieces your Hero has at the end of an adventure carry over to the next adventure, even if you failed the adventure and are trying again. If you pause between adventures, make sure to keep track of what your Hero has collected on page 4.
• Experience points gained by defeated Monsters do not carry over.

Town Actions

Before and after each adventure (unless indicated otherwise in an adventure), each player can take any number of Town actions to prepare for the next adventure. A player can choose from the Town actions below.

1. Swap Powers: You may change your Hero's selected powers. You are still bound by the selection requirements on the Hero card.

2. Sell Items: You may sell any Item Treasure cards your Hero has gained. The sold Treasure card(s) goes back into the Treasure deck and the Hero gains the value listed on the card in gold pieces. If an Item does not have a sell value, it is half the price of the buy value.

3. Buy Items: You may buy Items from a display of Treasure cards. Reveal four cards from the Treasure deck. Any Items revealed can be bought by the Heroes for the Buy cost printed on their cards. Spend the appropriate amount of gold pieces and place them back in the supply.

   Then shuffle any unbought Item cards and any non-Item cards back into the Treasure deck.

4. Trade Treasure Cards and/or GP: You can barter with other players, exchanging Item Treasure cards for other Treasure cards or GP. Alternatively, you may give another player an Item Treasure card or gold pieces without receiving anything in return. You can only trade items and GP with Heroes that are participating in the adventure.

5. Level Up: Your Hero may spend 2,000 gold pieces to become 2nd level! Note: If you find adventuring in Saltmarsh too hard, you can choose to level up for a lower gold piece cost. However, we do not recommend reducing the cost below 1,000 gold pieces.

Note: For those players that own base games that contain Advancement Tokens, you can purchase them as you see fit as part of the Town action.

Campaign Tracker

The rulebook includes a Campaign Tracker sheet for tracking Gold Pieces and Items throughout the Campaign. It has a block for each Hero, with boxes for NAME, CLASS, LEVEL, Gold Pieces, and Items.