Gelatinous Cube Dice
Gelatinous Cube Dice Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
How to Win
Get to the bottom of the dungeon (level 6) and destroy all three boilers in the last room. You must hit the rune, candles, or boilers (all Glyphs) in each room before you can proceed to the next room.
This can take about one hour of dedicated gameplay to win. However, this game is developed so you can stop after any Room card (about 1-4 minutes of play) and put it away. You can then pick it up and continue later.
How to Lose
You lose if your Health is reduced to 0 at any time.
Components
- 1 six-sided die
- 15 cubes
- 24 Room A cards
- 5 Room B cards
- 1 Room C card
- 1 Gelatinous Cube card
- 1 Level Reference card
- 10 Ability cards
Set Up
Step 1: Take the Gelatinous Cube card and Level Reference card and place these in front of you. These will form the bottom of the playing area.
Step 2: Take 5 cubes and put them on the correct stat blocks on your Gelatinous Cube card using the Level Reference card (1 above the dashed line and 4 below).
These represent your Resistance and Health. As you advance in level, your capacity in these areas will sometimes increase.
Step 3: Place the remaining cubes in the tin and place the tin to the left of the playing area.
These cubes will either be used as increases in your stats or placed in the dungeon as unknown dangers - after all, you are a gelatinous cube and can't see them.
Step 4:
a. Sort the room cards into A, B, and C card piles.
b. Place the C card in the middle of the table to start the dungeon pile.
c. Take 4 random A cards and place them on top place them on top of the dungeon pile (the C card).
d. Take a B card and place it on top of the dungeon pile.
e. Take 4 random A cards and place them facedown on top of the dungeon pile.
f. Repeat steps (d) and (e) until the entire dungeon pile is complete.
Every 5 cards represents a level of the dungeon. In this way, you will play 4 level A cards and then a level B card for the first 5 levels of the dungeon. After completing a room, set it to the side, out of play. In this way, you will never repeat rooms in the dungeon.
At the beginning of each level you will reference the Level Reference card (shown below).
Along with your difficulty, this card determines how many abilities and dangers you will use in the current dungeon.
Level Reference
The Cube Stats column shows the hand icon (Resistance), the drop icon (Health), and the eye icon (Ability cards), as printed on the card.
| Level | Cube Stats | Dangers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 hand, 5 drop, 2 eye | 2 Hit Dangers - 3x |
| 2 | 1 hand, 6 drop, 3 eye | 2 Hit Dangers - 4x |
| 3 | 1 hand, 6 drop, 4 eye | 3 Hit Dangers - 3x |
| 4 | 2 hand, 7 drop, 5 eye | 3 Hit Dangers - 4x |
| 5 | 2 hand, 8 drop, 5 eye | 4 Hit Dangers - 3x |
| 6 | 2 hand, 8 drop, 5 eye (printed with a second eye icon) | 4 Hit Dangers - 4x |
Difficulty
- Standard - 2 Abilities
- Wizard - 1 Ability
- Expert - 1 Ability/Trash Unpicked
Step 1: Shuffle the Ability cards; this is your pool of Ability cards. Draw 2 and keep the number indicated on the Level Reference card and for your chosen difficulty. If you are playing at a higher level than standard, you will keep less cards. As you level up, you may swap out Ability cards, but if you are playing on Expert these cards are not returned to your available pool.
Step 2: Take the top card of the dungeon pile and place it in front of you.
Step 3: Roll your die according to your current level to set up dangers.
For example, when you start you will have 3 dangers worth 2 hit points to place in a Level 1 dungeon. Roll your dice 3 times and place a cube on each number corresponding to your die roll. If you roll the same number, just place it on the next number in order, going back to 1 if you roll another 6.
As an example, if I rolled 4, 6, and 6 I would place a danger on the 4, 6, and 1 numbers on the dungeon card.
Step 4: Roll the die and place it the way you would like on your starting space as referenced in Fig 1. In A dungeons you will start on A, in B you start on B, on C you start on C.
Gameplay
The game is played using actions. You spend an action point(s) every time you move or use a Power.
You can take 9 actions in any Room A before taking Overtime damage; 12 actions in Room B; 22 actions in Room C. Action Point card with reminders shown below.
Action Point card reminders: 9A, 12B, and 22C.
Every action after your limit requires taking one Overtime damage before performing the action. Dedicate a cube to the Action Point Card to record each of your actions. The larger numbers (9, 12, and 22) remind you when to start taking Overtime damage.
You will always start the room on the letter of the dungeon room you are in - see Fig. 1.
Your goal is to get your cube through a room to a specific glyph square(s) as in Fig. 2 - and then exit the room (Fig. 3) in as few moves as possible; reaching the end arrow means you have exited the room. There are 5 rooms per level - four easier rooms marked A, and 1 more difficult room marked B (except on level 6, where the Room C card replaces the Room B card).
If a room has more than one glyph, each glyph must be reached with the 6 (Gelatinous Cube) being on top.
Each room is its own mini puzzle, and if you complete the six cards on one level you get to level up your cube and go deeper into the dungeon. When you level up, you gain a new Ability card, increase your stats, and return to full Health and Resistance.
Step 4 Continued: You may place it with the rolled side up in any orientation you prefer but with the number you rolled face up. Look at the sides of your cube to predict your actions in advance and what you need to do to get to the Glyph (candles and boilers count as glyphs too).
Step 5: Use Basic Movement to navigate the Room. When you move your die to an adjacent square (not diagonal), it falls 90 degrees or one face-side into the next square, and then you count off 1 action point.
If you enter a square with a danger in it, the danger is destroyed but you also take damage (refer to the Level Reference card).
All Glyphs (signs, candles, boilers) must be destroyed before exiting a room. Destroy a Glyph by landing on that square with your top die facing as a 6.
Walls, as seen in Fig. 4, are solid black lines that may not be normally moved through.
Exceptions provided by Ability cards may break the rules on Basic Movement.
Dangers
Dangers will cause you damage when you move into the same square. Take damage according to the Level Reference card and then you remove that danger (as a gelatinous cube, you devoured it).
If you have Resistance cubes, remove the Resistance cubes before removing from the Health pool. Put the Resistance and Health cubes lost (as well as the danger cubes) back into the tin.
Ability Cards
In each Room, you can use a single Ability card you have acquired from your current level or any lower level. These usually cost 1 action point but vary. Once you have used an Ability card in a room, you cannot use any other Ability card while in that room. Flip over the used Ability card to show you have used it.
Your Ability cards are refreshed between Rooms, and you gain a new Ability card each time you gain a level. (The exception is Level 6 when you can use two different cards per room).
Between Rooms
Once you complete a room, remove the card from play. Reset your Resistance to full - but do not change your current Health. You carry all damage to the next room with you.
Then repeat steps 2-6. Flip back over all your Ability cards, they are available for the new room. Repeat Steps 2-4.
Between Levels
Your cube levels up every time you complete a Room B card (five Room cards). Use the Level Reference card to reset your Resistance and Health.
Follow Step 1 again to gain another Ability card.
Final Room
So, you made it all the way to the bottom of the dungeon just to die here?! You have to shut down all three boilers by landing on them (with a 6 of course) and then get out of the room the way you entered, before the boilers overheat (22 actions).
Scoring
If you lose, you can score your progress by counting the number of Room cards in your discard pile. For instance, if you made it to the last room on level 3 but died there, you will have 14 points.