Hunting Party
Hunting Party Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Quick Start
Game Objective
The game ends when the Shadow is killed and the bounty is given. The winner is the player with the most gold at the end of the game, NOT necessarily the one who kills the Shadow. To kill the Shadow a party must be built with hunters who have the destined skills defined in the prophecy.
Turns
Turns proceed clockwise from the first player (usually determined by who won last). A player may choose to do one of three actions: Hire Hunters, Purchase Items, or Hunt during their turn along with using any number of Hunter's abilities.
Contents
- 40 Hunter Cards
- 30 Gold Coins
- 8 Yellow Pie Pieces
- 8 Green Pie Pieces
- 8 Red Pie Pieces
- 8 Purple Pie Pieces
- 8 Blue Pie Pieces
- 10 Silver Coins
- 36 Items Cards
- 12 Prophecy Cards
- 32 Dark Agent Cards
- 1 Shadow Card
Setup
Prophecy Cards
Separate the prophecy cards into the three types of Guiding, Seeking, and Fighting seen on the right page of the open prophecy book.
Randomly and secretly set aside one card from each pile. These represent the destined skills needed to kill the Shadow.
Randomly and secretly give each player one of the remaining cards from each pile. These represent the prophecies of skills not needed to kill the Shadow.
Note: Setting up the prophecy cards can be done as simply as shuffling each of the three types of prophecy cards separately. Then stack the three piles into one pile and deal out four hands. With the fourth hand being set aside for the Shadow.
Players Start With
- 3 gold coins
- 8 pie pieces of one color representing their shares
- 1/8th of the bounty per share
- Piece of paper and pencil
- Prophecy Tablet, which must be separated and folded into a prism
The strip printed on the Setup page lists the skills on the Prophecy Tablet:
- Guiding: Palace, Catacomb, Darkwoods, Mystic Vale
- Fighting: Subdue, Melee, Range, Magic
- Seeking: Bait, Sorcery, Tracks, Knowledge
The Map
Separate the remaining cards according to the image on the back, and the names on the sides.
Set aside handicap characters:
- Wolf Familiar from the Forest
- Dragon Familiar from the Tower
- Tax Collector from the Arena
- Timmy the Orphan from the Temple
Card note (Wolf Familiar): "This character is for Handicap purposes. Therefore he cannot be killed, eradicated, equipped, affected by any Player, or share modifiers like Hate."
Set aside the Shadow card and place it on top of all other cards set aside.
Shuffle and place the remaining cards face down in stacks according to the figure on page three.
Figure note (page 3): The figure on page three is a map diagram showing where each card stack is placed. It is an illustration and is not reproduced as text here; its locations are shown as a castle (Palace), a spire (Tower), a forest, an arena, a church (Temple), houses (likely the Tavern), docks (Market), a skull-marked cave (Catacomb), dead trees (Darkwoods), and a river valley (Mystic Vale).
Strategy (page 5): The prophecy cards a player has tell of what skills are not needed. Thus it is generally a good idea to choose a region not dominated by those Guiding and Fighting skills.
Note (page 5): Every hunting region has a fighting skill in two corners that is most needed in that region. These regions are linked to the Hiring region of the same fighting skill for the best chance to find Hunters with the needed Guiding and Fighting skill. This is explained in more detail below.
Skill Types
Fighting Skills Type
- Subdue: useful for fighting Dark Agents of the Palace. Hunters with Subdue can usually be found in the Arena.
- Melee: useful for fighting Dark Agents of the Catacomb. Hunters with Melee can usually be found in the Temple.
- Range: useful for fighting Dark Agents of the Darkwoods. Hunters with Range can usually be found in the Forest.
- Magic: useful for fighting Dark Agents of the Mystic Vale. Hunters with Magic can usually be found in the Tower.
Seeking Skills Type: Tracks, Bait, Knowledge, Sorcery.
Guiding Skills Type
- Palace: needed to Hunt at the Palace. Hunters with Guiding to the Palace can usually be found in the Arena.
- Catacomb: needed to Hunt at the Catacomb. Hunters with Guiding to the Catacomb can usually be found in the Temple.
- Darkwoods: needed to Hunt at the Darkwoods. Hunters with Guiding to the Darkwoods can usually be found in the Forest.
- Mystic Vale: needed to Hunt at the Mystic Vale. Hunters with Mystic Vale Guiding can usually be found in the Tower.
Choose Your Hero
Each player places face up in front of them their Hero from the top card of a chosen Hiring Location (indicated by handshakes in two corners).
Card example: The example card shown is a Witch Hunter (Catacomb and Melee skills) placed in the Temple. Its printed abilities include Hate toward Witch & Sorceress, an ability to nullify the effect of a Potion, and an ability to destroy an item on a Hunter.
Hunting Skills
The arrows are showing the location of a Hunter's skills. The three types of skills are Guiding, Seeking, and Fighting. One of each of these types will be required for a Hunt. Often multiple fighting skills are required for slaying the Dark Agents or the Shadow. Fighting skills dominating a region will be located in the corner of that region.
Prophecy
During the longest night of the New Age, the Shadow will fall upon the land unless the King's bounty pays true. To face the Shadow and break a new dawn, the King's champions must hunt to the four corners of the land. Take heed, for the destined party must be formed with the Guide, Seeker, and Fighter, lest the Dark Agents be faced.
The Story
The King will pay a heavy price to have the prophecy go his way, thus he has placed a bounty of 40 gold coins on the Shadow and a lesser reward for the Dark Agents. In the Prophesies, you will find clues about the Shadow's true location, seeking, and fighting vulnerabilities. After promising various hunters a share of the bounty, you will be able to begin your Hunt for the Shadow. Items can extend your party members skills, abilities, or even make them champions. While gathering clues, you will be intercepted by Dark Agents who will kill members of your party unless your party can kill them first.
Example: Alice wants to acquire the skill of Range for her party. So she chooses to Hire from the Forest. She reveals the Elvish Archer, and chooses to bid last. Ben bids one share followed by Chris bidding two shares, and she ends the bidding with three shares. Alice now places three shares on her new party member, and places the Elf in front of her.
Strategy: When bidding, think of how you can use the Hero's abilities or if the Hero fulfills any skill requirement you need. Try to diversify your party's skills.
Strategy: When choosing how much to bid, consider how helpful a Hero would be for your opponents and bid defensively. It is easier to remove a Hero from your party than from your opponent's.
Strategy: Shares are a player's greatest resource. Do not give them up lightly, or you will be struggling to kill off your own party members. A bid of two or three is standard. A bid of four or five are only used as defensive bids. Of course, a bid of one is a steal.
Example: Alice plays the Enchantress's Potion to steal Ben's Bard. Ben's response could not be to use the Bard's ability or even to disband the Bard. However Ben could play the Archmage's Potion from his hand to nullify the effect of the Enchantress's potion.
Hiring
Hiring is done to increase the skills and abilities of your party, but instead of paying your party members gold, players will promise them a share of the King's bounty.
Hiring
- Flip over the top Hunter from one of the Hiring Regions (Tavern, Arena, Temple, Forest, and Tower).
- Active player chooses to bid first or last, with bidding proceeding clockwise from the active player.
- Each player bids from their remaining undistributed shares.
- Bids must be at least one.
- New bids must be higher than the previous bid.
- After each player has had a chance to bid once, the player with the highest bid places the Hunter face up and to the right of their hero, with the bid amount in shares (pie pieces) on their new party member.
- If no one bids, then the Hunter is put on the bottom of the location he/she is from as if he was killed.
Disbanding
Be careful not to bid too much (4+ shares). Once a Hunter is part of the party, they can only be removed from the party by being killed, stolen, or disbanded. To Disband, pay the Hunter gold equal to his share count. Disbanding can be done at any time except during a Hunt, distribution of the bounty or in response to another player using an ability or potion.
Timing
The use of Disbanding, Abilities, and Items cannot be done in response to another player's action unless it directly responds to that action. A conflict may occur in which two players want to do something after an event (like hiring). In this case priority goes to the active player and then proceeds clockwise.
Item Purchase
Items can be purchased from the Market to acquire either potions or equipment. This is another way to expand your party's skills and abilities.
Purchase
- Secretly draw from the Market location the top three item cards.
- Choose which items to buy at the cost of a gold coin per item and place them face down in your hand.
- Place the remaining items face down under the Market.
Example: Alice spends her turn purchasing new items for her party members by drawing the top three items from the market. Returning to the bank two gold for the two items she wants and returning the third item face down under a market stack.
Example continued: Since Alice already had two items in her hand she must now use one of them or discard it face down under a market stack.
Example continued: Since Alice's party member (the Smuggler) already has the Palidan's Boots of Speed, Alice cannot give him the Elvish Archer's Boots. However, Alice can give him the Ranger's Hood which gives the Smuggler the hunting skill of Tracks.
Note: The equipment should be placed under the party member with only the title shown.
Player's Hand
Items that have not been used yet are part of a players hand. A player must discard cards from their hand down to 3 cards at the end of their turn.
Potions
Potions can be used anytime, but once used are evenly used are evenly placed at the bottom of the Market stacks. [Transcription note: the printed sentence repeats "evenly used are evenly" as shown; reproduced as printed.]
Equipment
Equipment can only be equiped during that players turn except during a hunt. Only a member of the party and not the player's hero can accept items. Once an item is given it follows the fate of that hunter, and cannot be taken back. A hunter also cannot have two equipment of the same type.
The equipment types are Body Gear, Hand Gear, Head Gear, and Foot Gear.
Items from Dark Agents
Some Dark Agents have items as part of their bounty. The player should just follow the instructions on the chest, without previewing the items.
Chest instruction: If killed then the player may buy 2 items at the cost of one gold each.
Hiring Examples
Example: The Palidan who has Witch Hate is Ben's only party member. So, if Ben wanted to bid two shares for the Witch, it would actually cost him three shares. Two for the Witch and one extra one for the Palidan, and Ben would have to have the three shares for this to be a legal bid.
Example continued: If Ben were the Witch Hunter who also has Witch Hate, then he would need to have four shares to bid two. Three for the Witch and one more for the Palidan.
Example: Alice wins the hiring for the Paladin with a bid of three. Since she is the Virgin Maiden who causes Temple members to cost one less share, she only puts two shares on the Paladin. The region (Temple) is labeled on the back of the card as well as the bottom right corner of the front.
Example continued: Alice gains the Princess who causes the Paladin to cost two less shares which removes the last two shares from the Paladin. Later the Princess is killed which forces Alice to again place two shares onto the Paladin. Essentially reverses the friendship from losing the Princess.
Example continued: Alice is the Virgin Maiden (who causes Temple members to cost one less share), gets her Paladin (a Temple member) with two shares stolen by Ben who is the Witch (who the Paladin hates). This would cause Ben to replace Alice's two shares with four of his own.
Share Modifiers
Hate
Some hunters hate other hunters indicated by the word Hate next to the type of hunter hated. For each of the hated hunters in the party this hunter requires one extra share. A player must take Hate into consideration for a hiring bid to be legal.
Card note (Paladin): The Paladin card's printed Hate entry is shown beside the Hate section. Its remaining printed text is small and partly illegible in the scan and is not transcribed here.
Heroes who Hate
If the player's hero hates a hunter, then the extra share is placed on the hated hero when they join the party.
Party Disband
At the beginning of a player's turn he may skip his turn and lose all of his gold and items to disband every member of his party. If a player owes members of his party more than eight shares and cannot disband any of them, then he MUST perform a Party Disband at the beginning of his next turn.
Friendship
Some hunters attract other hunters of a certain type like Forest members and have the opposite effect as Hate. When bidding, the player must have the bid amount even if all of the shares will not be placed because of this effect.
Card note (Elvish Archer): Champion ability: "Other Hunters from the Forest cost one less Share while they are in the Elvish Archer's party." The Archer's other printed ability, "You can loan the Skills of the Elvish Archer to another Player during their Hunt," is also shown on the card.
Easy Come Easy Go
Whenever a Hunter leaves a party, the ruling player should reapply all Hate and Friendship. Therefore players would remove shares due to hate when a hated Hunter leaves.
Stealing Hunters
Some items and abilities allow you to acquire hunters from other players. In such cases, all share modifiers (like Hate) should be removed from the stolen Hunter and his shares then replaced with the stealing player's shares. Then all of the stealing player's share modifiers should be applied.
Notes
Note: Comments (indicated by the grey color) are not rules, and are simply for entertainment.
Note: Since the cost of "once per round" is reset at the beginning of a players turn, a player could use the ability "once per round" during the player to their right's turn and again during their turn.
Note: Since a Hunt fatigues a Hunter, that Hunter cannot go Hunting and use an ability requiring this cost.
Note: Abilities take precedence over the rules.
Example: The Knight says he can disband during the Hunt and therefore can break normal disbanding rules.
Example: Ben has the "Assassin's Potion of Poison" and the Assassin as a party member. He can then place the potion under the Assassin representing giving it to her. This makes the Assassin a Champion and lowers her shares from three to two, and does not kill the Assassin.
Example: Chris has the "Retiarii's Net" and the Retiarii as a party member. He can then equip the handgear like normal equipment and lower the Retiarii from Two to one share. This allows the Retiarii to use his champion ability, but only allows for an increase of the original four instead of eight.
Hunter Abilities
Players may use the normal ability of their hero or party members at any time that the costs allow. If an ability is nullified then the cost must still be paid.
Normal Abilities
The cost symbols used for abilities are:
- Cost of one gold coin.
- A triangle symbol: this ability can be used once per round per hunter.
- A circular-arrow symbol: skip that players turn. It must be done at the beginning of the turn with no fatigue activating abilities, Hiring, Shopping, Hunting, or other turn skipping abilities.
- An hourglass symbol: this is known as fatigue and must be done during the ruling player's turn, and not during a Hunt.
Card note (Bard): The Bard card's printed normal ability reads "Remove one Share from another member of your Party." The card's remaining small print (including the champion ability) is not legible in the scan and is not transcribed here.
Card note (Ranger): The Ranger card's printed normal ability reads "Receive one Gold from the bank every time the Ranger receives an Equipment." Its champion ability reads "Ranger gains the Guiding Skill of any Hunter until the end of turn. The Ranger as a Player's Hero can have Equipment."
Champion Abilities
A player may use their hero's champion ability, because they are a champion. However they may only use their party member's champion ability if they have been made a champion.
Making a Champion
Each item has a hunter's name on it, and as long as they have it they are a champion. Making a champion removes a share and allows the use of their champion ability. When items are used to make a hunter a champion that item does not have the normal effect on the hunter.
Hunt
Slaying the Shadow happens only after a player declares the predestined Hunt, defined by the skills on the prophecy cards set aside. A player learns this through a process of elimination during the previous Hunts.
Declaring Your Hunt
- Declare to all players which guiding, seeking, and fighting skill you plan on hunting with.
- Indicate which hunters are going as fatigued (these hunters must not have been fatigued).
- All of the declared skills must be represented on the hunters going hunting.
Note: The Hunting skills Guiding (blue), Seeking (green), and Fighting (red) are color coordinated, so a player need only declare a Hunt with a skill of each color.
Example: Alice declares a Hunt of (Palace, Bait, Magic). Ben does not have any prophecy cards with those skills so he passes. Chris has both Palace and Bait, so he chooses to show Alice the Bait Prophecy. Alice marks this down on a piece of paper using the Prophecy Tablet.
Example: Ben declares a Hunt of (Catacomb, Tracks, Range) which no player including Ben has, therefore he has found the Shadow. Ben slays the Shadow because his party has two Melee. Then a bounty of forty gold is given out with Ben getting ten gold for his two shares, and the game is over.
Thwarting the Hunt
A Hunt is thwarted (stopped) if any player has a prophecy card denying a skill used in the declaration of the Hunt. If any player thwarts the Hunt then the Shadow is not found.
- Start to the left of the active player and continue clockwise until the Hunt is thwarted.
- If a player has any of the declared prophecy cards, that player MUST show ONLY ONE of the prophecy cards to ONLY the active player (revealing a skill not destined).
- Record clues on the paper using the Prophecy Tablet.
Finding the Shadow
If no one including the active player can thwart the Hunt then the Shadow is found. If the active player's party has TWO of the declared fighting skills, then the Shadow is slain.
- If the Shadow is slain, then 40 gold coins are distributed to the active player's party, and the game is over.
- If not killed, then the player left of the active player chooses one party member to die except for the player's hero.
Example: Ben is the Witch Hunter who has the guiding skill to the Catacombs and the fighting skill of Melee. His only party member is the Ranger who has the hunting skill of Track and the fighting skill of Range. This allows him only two Hunt declaration possibilities. Either "Catacomb, Tracks, Melee" or "Catacomb, Tracks, Range."
Note: The weakest location is the Palace, followed by the Catacombs, then the Darkwoods, and the Mystic Vale has the strongest Dark Agents.
Example: Both Hunts take him to fighting the Dark Agents of the Catacombs. He flips over the top Dark Agent of the Catacombs, which is the Banshee. To defeat the Banshee the fighting skills of Subdue & Melee are needed OR the fighting skill of Range. The party cannot meet the requirements of Subdue & Melee, but can meet that of Range. Thus, the Banshee is defeated, and Ben's party receives bounty.
Strategy: It can be just as profitable to Hunt for Dark Agents in the Palace with a lot of shares as it is to Hunt in the Mystic Vale with a few.
Example continued: Since the defeated Banshee's bounty is 8 gold, and Ben has four shares left, then Ben gets 4 gold from the bank.
Dark Agents
Dark Agents are the minions of the Shadow, sent out to kill Hunters trying to stop the Shadow. Therefore if a Hunt is thwarted then the Hunting Party must fight a Dark Agent.
Fighting a Dark Agent
- The active player flips over the top Dark Agent from the location declared by the guiding skill.
- If the party members on the hunt can meet all of the fighting requirements from either of the vulnerabilities boxes then the Dark Agent is slain.
- Place the Dark Agent back on bottom of his stack.
Consequences of Losing
- If the player cannot meet the fighting requirements for a Dark Agent, then the player must follow the instructions in the consequences box.
- The Hunting player's hero and the handicap characters cannot be chosen for death.
Card note: The Dark Agent card shown on this page has a vulnerabilities box and a consequences box. The small printed text inside the consequences box is not legible in the scan and is not transcribed here.
Bounty for Winning the Fight
- The bounty value in gold is on the gold coin bag at the bottom center of the Dark Agent Card.
- The Hunting player gets 1/8th of the bounty for each share they have.
- Use the Bounty Distribution Table in the Glossary (page 21) of this rule book for quick reference.
- Silver is worth 1/4th of gold.
Rule Variation
This is the end of the standard rules, which should be used from the begin for normal game play. Here are some rule variations for more players and a more balanced game.
Alternate Rules for 4 or 5 Players
Since there are only enough prophecies for three players, prophecy cards must be shared with the opposite player. A player's Hunt cannot be thwarted by a player who he is sharing prophecies cards with. Also players can only affect the player to their right and left, this includes party members, items, and bidding.
Trading and Bribing
Players are encouraged to give unused items, gold, and advice to other players as part of any deal, but they may not share prophesy card information or Party Members.
Handicap Characters
- Tax Collector from the Arena
- Timmy the Orphan from the Temple
- Wolf Familiar from the Forest
- Dragon Familiar from the Tower
These are the handicap characters, used to balance weak players with strong players. The negative handicap Hunters (Tax Collector & Timmy the Orphan) can be given to strong players with 0-2 shares. While positive handicap Hunters (Wolf Familiar & Dragon Familiar) can be given to weak players with 0-2 shares. Handicap characters cannot be equipped, killed, stolen, or affected by any players as well as share modifiers such as Hate.
Shadow Rules
For an extra challenge, players can use the red shares to represent the shadow's advance to domination. Any player loses a fight with a Dark Agent or the Shadow add a red share to the Shadow card. When all eight shares are on the Shadow card, all the player lose and the Shadow has won. For more of a challenge, start with 1-4 shadow shares.
Glossary
- Hunter: Any character from the Tavern, Arena, Temple, Forest, or Tower.
- Champion: A Hunter who can perform their champion ability because they have their item or are a Hero.
- Hero: The Player's Character that is a Champion.
- Share: 1/8th of the Bounty in the shape of a pie.
- Shadow: Evil leader threatening to destroy the Kingdom.
- Dark Agent: The minions of the Shadow found at the Palace, Catacomb, Darkwoods, and Mystic Vale. A dark agent is an evil minion set out to destroy the kingdom and its hunters.
- Item: Either a Potion or Equipment from the Market.
- Potion: An Item that can be used only one time.
- Equipment: An Item that can only be used by giving it to a member of your party member, not your Hero.
- Disband: Paying gold equal to a member of your party's share count to remove that Hunter from the party.
- Bounty: Gold given for slaying the Shadow or Dark Agents.
Ability Costs
- Fatigue: Use only during your turn not during a hunt which also fatigues your hunters.
- Skip your Turn: Use only at the beginning of your turn. No other action may be taken.
- One Gold: Use during any player's turn, at the cost of one gold.
- Once per Round: Use during any player's turn. Once used, it cannot be used again until your next turn.
Bounty Distribution Table
Key: G = Gold, S = Silver. Silver is worth 1/4th of gold.
| Shares | 4 Gold | 6 Gold | 8 Gold | 10 Gold | 12 Gold | 16 Gold | 20 Gold | 40 Gold |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Share | 2S | 3S | 1G | 1G 1S | 1G 2S | 2G | 2G 2S | 5G |
| 2 Shares | 1G | 1G 2S | 2G | 2G 2S | 3G | 4G | 5G | 10G |
| 3 Shares | 1G 2S | 2G 1S | 3G |