Monster Inn Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • Creature Card Layout
• Game Overview
• Game Setup
• Gameplay
  • A) Staying In
  • B) Dropping Out
  • Human Bonus
  • Support
• End of the Game
• Scoring

Components

• 40 creature cards
  • 20 monsters with combat values from 1 to 20 (4 monsters each in 5 different races, distinguished by colour)
  • 20 humans with combat values from 1 to 20
• 50 treasures
  • 25 gold coins
  • 25 gems

Creature Card Layout

The rulebook's card diagram labels the following elements. The labels are transcribed as printed.

Monster cards

• Skulls (1-4)
• Human skull
• Combat value (1-20)
• Colour, depending on race: undead, kobolds, goblins, orcs and trolls
• Race symbol: serves only as an additional aid, alongside the colour, to tell the races apart

Human cards

• Skulls (1-4)
• Monster skull
• Combat value (1-20)
• Combat value range (1-5, 6-10, 11-15 and 16-20), which is the information shown on the human card's reverse side

Note: during setup, humans are laid out by their combat value range, so their exact combat values remain unknown to the players until the scoring phase.

Game Overview

You are dungeon masters and try to recruit combat-strong monsters for your dungeon in the tavern. To do so, you take turns bidding treasures. Whoever can or wants to bid no more treasures first must take a human or a weaker monster and is out for this round. Only those who stay in long enough can bid for the strongest monsters.

In your dungeons, the humans will eventually meet your monsters. Victorious monsters bring you fame points, but in case of defeat you may receive negative points. Whoever has the most fame points from monsters and treasures at the end of the game wins.

Game Setup

• Shuffle the 40 creature cards and place them as a face-down draw pile in the middle of the table.
• Draw as many creatures from the draw pile as there are players, without revealing them. Reveal only the monsters among these creatures and leave the humans face down.
• Lay the drawn creatures out to the right of the draw pile as the tavern, in a single row. Arrange them from left to right according to these rules:
  1. First, lay out the humans in a row from left to right in descending order of combat value range (shown on their reverse sides). If several humans share the same combat value range, lay them next to each other in any order. You do not know the exact combat values of the humans, but as a rule the strongest human will be at the far left of the tavern.
  2. Then continue with the monsters, starting directly to the right of the last human, and lay them out in ascending order of combat value from left to right. The strongest monster is therefore at the far right of the tavern.

The rulebook shows an example tavern for 5 players: the face-down humans come first in descending range order, followed by the revealed monsters in ascending order.

Note: it is possible that you draw only humans or only monsters. The basic rules for laying out these creatures do not change in that case.

• Sort the 50 treasures by gold coins and gems and place them as a supply next to the draw pile.
• Each player takes 3 gold coins and 3 gems from the supply and holds them in hand. Keep your treasures hidden from the other players in your hand until the end of the game.

Variant: for a more tactical game, the players may agree together to play with open treasures. Both options have their own appeal.

Gameplay

The game is played over several rounds, in which every player receives exactly 1 creature from the tavern. First, determine in any way who starts. That player takes the first turn, and the others follow clockwise.

The bidding always concerns the creature that is currently furthest to the left in the tavern. When it is your turn, you must decide whether to stay in or to drop out. Then the player to your left is up.

A) Staying In

• If no treasure is yet in the centre of the table, place either 1 gold coin or 1 gem in the centre.
• If at least 1 treasure is already in the centre of the table, add 1 treasure of the same kind (gold coin or gem) to it.
• Instead of adding 1 treasure of the same kind, you may perform a treasure exchange. To do so, take all the treasures lying in the centre of the table, and then place into the centre exactly 2 more treasures of the other kind than the number you just took.

The rulebook illustrates a treasure exchange with an example image.

Note: a treasure exchange is costly, but used at the right moment it can be a clever move.

B) Dropping Out

If you cannot or do not want to stay in, you must drop out. Take all the treasures lying in the centre of the table into your hand. You may also drop out when no treasures are yet in the centre. In addition, you must take the creature that is currently furthest to the left in the tavern and place it in your dungeon. The following rules apply:

• Humans are placed in your dungeon in the order in which you take them, in a face-down row from left to right in front of you. You may not turn them over; they remain face down until the end of the game.
• Monsters are placed in the order in which you take them, in a face-up row from left to right directly above the humans. If necessary, leave some space below, in case the first creature you take is a monster.

The first monster you take is therefore always placed in your dungeon directly above the first human you took, the second monster above the second human, and so on.

The rulebook shows an example dungeon.

Important: A player who drops out takes no further part in the rest of the round. Every player receives exactly 1 creature per round. If all other players except you have dropped out, you must also drop out and take the last remaining creature. The player to your left then draws new creatures as described in Game Setup, lays them out as a tavern in a row, and starts a new round.

Human Bonus

Whenever you take a human, you additionally receive 1 treasure of your choice from the supply.

Support

Each time you place a monster in your dungeon and you already have at least 1 monster of the same race in your dungeon, you may request support for 1 of your monsters of that race (including the one just placed). To do so, place 1 treasure of your choice from your hand on the corresponding monster. That monster is then protected from any human that may lie beneath it at the end of the game.

• You must decide immediately after placing the monster in your dungeon whether you want to request support. You cannot do this later.
• The treasure remains on the monster until the end of the game and is no longer available to you.

The rulebook shows an example of support, with a gold coin or a gem placed on a monster.

End of the Game

The game ends with 4 or 5 players after the round in which the draw pile is used up. With 3 players, the game ends after the round in which only 1 creature remains on the draw pile (return that creature unseen to the box).

Then score your dungeons to determine who wins (see the next section).

Scoring

First, remove from your dungeon all humans that have a supported monster above them, and all humans that have no monster above them. Return them unseen to the box.

Then turn your remaining humans face up and compare their combat value with the combat value of the monster directly above each. Remove all humans whose combat value is lower than that of the corresponding monster and return them to the box.

Now count your fame points as follows:

• Each monster without a human beneath it brings you fame points equal to the skulls shown on it (1-4).
• Each monster with a human beneath it brings you 0 fame points or even negative fame points. To determine this, subtract the skulls on the human from the skulls shown on the monster.
• Every 3 treasures (regardless of kind) bring you 1 fame point each. Treasures placed as support on monsters do not count.

The rulebook shows a scoring example, with the total given as 4 + 4 - 1 + 2 = 9 fame points.

The player with the most fame points wins. In case of a tie, among the tied players the one with the most treasures wins. If the tie remains, the tied players share the victory.