Knock, Knock! Dungeon! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Contents
• Object of the Game
• Setup
  • Notes
• Turns
  • 1. Put a card down
  • Playing a Creature Card
  • 2. Assessing dangers
    • Assessing the halls
    • Assessing creatures
  • 3. Check the alarm
  • 4. Draw a new card
  • Important
• Point scoring option: the Hunt for Chests
• End of the Game
• Adventure Variation
  • Notes
  • Little extras
  • Spellbook Tokens
• A small explorer's guide

Game Contents

• 63 Keep cards
  • 41 empty halls
  • 22 halls containing a creature
• 12 Time tokens
• 4 Spellbook tokens
• 1 Speech/Silence token
• 1 6 minute sand timer

Object of the Game

Your group of adventurers must defeat the Black Knight before your 6 minutes are up.

Setup

1. Make a reserve pile of Time tokens on one side of the table.
2. Place the Speech/Silence token on the table, Word side-up (green). In a solo game this token is not used and can be placed back in the box.
3. Place the sand timer on the table so it can be seen by all the players.
4. Take the stack of Keep cards and remove those marked with a Keep-level symbol. (Place these back in the box.) Place the Black Knight card to one side for now.
5. Shuffle the pile of cards together and place the Black Knight card at the bottom of the pile.
6. At the start each player takes the following cards to make up their own hand:
   • 6 cards for a solo game,
   • 4 cards each for a game with 2-5 players,
   • 3 cards each for a game with up to 6 players.
7. Turn over the first card in the Keep pile and place this in the centre of the table. If it shows a creature, see Playing a Creature Card.
8. Leave the Spellbook tokens in the box.

Notes

• In your first game, it is recommended that you play without the timer.
• Make sure you have space on the table as the Keep will grow quickly and will take up space.
• Players cannot show their cards to other players.

The player who has visited a Keep the most recently plays first and play continues in clockwise turns. Knock, Knock! Dungeon! is a cooperative game where players must help each other wherever possible!

When all the players are ready, turn over the sand timer.

Turns

There are 4 phases in each turn:

1. Put a card down
2. Evaluate the dangers
3. Check the alarm
4. Draw a new card

1. Put a card down

On their turn, players must choose a card from their hand to put down and extend the Keep. Cards must be placed according to the following rules:

• the new card must cover at least one corner of a previously placed Keep card,
• the new card cannot cover more than one corner of the same card,
• the new card cannot be slipped under other cards,
• all cards must be put down facing the same direction. A 180° turn is allowed.

If the card being put down has the Speech/Silence symbol, then the Speech/Silence token is flipped over. During the game, the face shown on this token indicates whether or not players can speak to each other:

• (Green, Word side) Players can speak to each other as much as they want.
• (Red, Silence side) Players cannot speak to each other but they can gesture.

Note: Any card with no creature is an Empty Hall card.

Playing a Creature Card

If the card that is put down shows a Creature, place as many Time tokens on top of this card as is indicated on the card. If there are not enough Time tokens left then the game is lost.

2. Assessing dangers

Once the card has been put down, the player whose turn it is must assess the danger level of each partially covered Keep card. The danger level of one Keep card corresponds to the total value of its 4 corners.

Assessing the halls

If the danger level is less than or equal to 5 then everything goes well and the players are not spotted.

If the danger level is 6 or more, the group makes too much noise. The creatures hear the adventurers and sound the alarm. The game is lost.

Assessing creatures

If the danger level of a creature is less than or equal to 5 then the creature is defeated and the group continues their adventure. The creature remains in the Keep but the Time tokens on the card are put back in the reserve.

If the danger level of a creature is 6 or more then the fight continues for as long as there are still Time tokens on the creature.

Notes:

• When a creature is defeated its card becomes a standard hall and so the danger level cannot ever exceed 5.
• The assessment of the Black Knight follows the same rules as for other creatures.

3. Check the alarm

Remove one Time token from each creature who still possesses at least one. Place these tokens back in the reserve. If a creature's last token is removed then this sounds the alarm and the game is lost.

4. Draw a new card

The player whose turn it is draws a new card and adds this to their hand.

Important

• In a solo game, if the player places a Silence card in the Keep then they should not draw another card to replace this.
• Once a player has shown a card to the other players, this card must be played.
• When a player draws the Black Knight, he must immediately be played. Then it is the next player's turn.
• At any point in the game, players can decide to use the Spellbook token gained during a previous adventure and apply its effects immediately. The token is then discarded. Remember that sometimes you cannot speak to each other!

Point scoring option: the Hunt for Chests

Certain halls in the Keep contain bountiful treasures hidden in chests (found on certain cards)! Try to create the longest chain of cards containing chests in order to collect the most treasures! The longer the chain, the more riches you take from the Keep.

Only the longest, unbroken chain of cards with chests can bring you points.

If you are the conqueror of the Keep, each chest card will win you 1 point for every chest shown on the card.

End of the Game

There are several ways the game can end:

The players win when:

• The Black Knight is defeated before the 6 minutes run out.

The players lose when:

• The danger level of a hall reaches 6 or more.
• The danger level of a creature who has no more Time tokens reaches 6 or more.
• The players must place Time tokens on a creature but there are not enough in the reserve to do so.
• The Black Knight has not been defeated at the end of the 6 minutes.

Adventure Variation

The Adventure Variation allows you to experience a thrilling crusade across 4 Keeps. The game is played as written above with a few exceptions.

At the end of each Keep if players defeat the Black Knight, the team can take a randomly chosen Spellbook token. This token can be used to help in the rest of the adventure. If the adventurers have unused token(s) then this new token is added to their reserve.

Notes

• If the players have several Spellbook tokens they can use as many of these as they wish during their turn.
• Used Spellbook tokens are put back in the reserve. They can be taken again once a Keep is freed.

From the 2nd Keep level onwards, the following rule applies: During setup, cards which correspond to the Keep level being attacked should be added to the pile. (Cards are marked with Keep-level symbols 1, 2, 3 and 4. Example: if you attack Keep 3 then you add these cards to the pile.)

Little extras

It is possible to save the game between 2 Keeps. To do this players note the upcoming level and the Spellbook tokens in their possession on a piece of paper. When they want to start again, they begin to play under these conditions.

Spellbook Tokens

• Fireball: immediately gets rid of a creature (its card is removed from the Keep and the Time tokens are put back in the reserve). Watch out, the Black Knight is immune to this spell!
• Ice Flash: allows one creature to be frozen. All the Time tokens on this creature are put back in the reserve and the Ice Flash token is placed on the frozen creature. This enemy must still be defeated before the end of the Keep, before defeating the Black Knight, but the situation is less urgent than before.
• Poison: players poison one creature. This token is placed on one of the 4 corners of the Creature card. The value on this corner automatically becomes zero. Moreover, if this corner is covered by another card then the token is placed on top so that it also cancels out the value on this corner of the new card.
• Sphere of Silence: the Speech/Silence token can be flipped over and the power of speech can be restored.

A small explorer's guide

• Keeps become more and more difficult. Start with the first before tackling those after.
• Don't panic: the more you play, the more experience you will have of the game.
• Talk to one another as much as possible, as long as you're allowed! It's vital you work together in these Keeps.
• Fight 1 creature after another wherever possible. The fight will be easier.
• Prepare for the Black Knight's arrival. Rid yourself of as many creatures in play as possible, and consider keeping some 0/0/0/0 cards in game and in your hand for the final fight.