Monster Maker 30th Anniversary Remake Edition
Monster Maker 30th Anniversary Remake Edition Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
Adventure Cards: 125
- Character Cards: 30
- Monster Cards: 20
- Labyrinth Cards: 50
- Diversion Cards: 5
- Small Treasure Room Cards: 10
- Trap Cards: 5
- Cleric Cards: 5
Treasure Cards: 25
Game Summary Cards: 6
Enter/Exit Tiles: 6
Exit Bonus Tile: 1
6-sided Dice: 6
How to Play Booklet: 1
Card & Tiles Overview
Character Card
- Name: The character's name.
- Class: The character's class. Depending on the treasure card, it may have an effect.
- Fighting Strength: The character's strength in battle.
Monster Card
- Name: The monster's name.
- Undead: This appears if the monster is undead.
- Fighting Strength: The monster's strength in battle.
Labyrinth Card
- Distance: Indicates how far you have traveled in the labyrinth.
Diversion Card, Small Treasure Room Card, Trap Card, Cleric Card
Each card has a special effect. Follow the instructions on the card.
Treasure Card
- Name: The treasure's name.
- Value: The value of the treasure. Also the point value for the game.
- Effect: There are some treasures with special effects. Follow the instructions on the card.
Enter/Exit Tiles
Indicates whether you are entering or exiting the labyrinth. When starting the game, place it on the enter side and flip when you are exiting.
Exit Bonus Tile
The player that exits first receives this tile.
Game Setup
Shuffle all Adventure Cards, keeping them face down, and deal 5 cards to each player. Place remaining cards in the middle of the table.
If a Trap Card was dealt, show it to all players, discard and draw a new Adventure Card. Shuffle the Trap Card into the remaining Adventure Cards.
Shuffle all Treasure Cards and place face down next to the Adventure Cards.
Give all players an Enter/Exit Tile. Place it on the enter side.
Roll the dice or use another method to determine the first player.
Game Flow
During the game, the current player performs their entire turn and play moves to the player on their left.
When someone exits the labyrinth, the game enters the game end phase (p18).
Turn Order
On your turn, you can do 1 of the following 4 actions:
- A. Labyrinth movement (p8)
- B. Place a monster (p10)
- C. Battle a monster (p10)
- D. Discard your hand (p13)
After doing any of the actions, Refresh your hand (p13).
Then, that person's turn is done.
Each action is described in detail on the following pages.
A. Labyrinth Movement
Play a Labyrinth Card from your hand in front of you and advance through the labyrinth. If any Labyrinth Cards have been previously played, place it so that all the numbers are visible. This is the sum total of your advancement through the labyrinth.
If there is a Monster Card in your labyrinth, you cannot play a Labyrinth Card.
Enter/Exit
MONSTER MAKER is a game where you enter a labyrinth and exit with treasures. The way to get the treasure from the labyrinth is to exit to the surface. This is indicated by the Enter/Exit Tile and indicates if you are currently going into or out of the labyrinth.
Gaining a Treasure Card
When the total value of Labyrinth Cards equals 100 or more, you will arrive at a treasure chest. Draw 1 Treasure Card. If the Treasure Card has "open" on it, make sure the card is face up and visible to all players. For weapons and armor, you can use them in combat. For details, refer to "Treasure Card" (p16).
Exiting from the Labyrinth
When you have arrived at a treasure chest, you will also start to exit from the labyrinth.
Flip the Enter/Exit tile to the exit side. You will now be leaving the labyrinth. You will want to travel the same distance on your exit path as you entered with. If you exceed the distance or do not meet the distance, you will be penalized at the end of the game. For details, see "Distance Penalty" (p19).
How to use a Diversion Card
A Diversion Card is a type of Labyrinth Card. By playing this card, you can discard the Monster Card placed in your labyrinth. You have found a passage to avoid where the monster is.
How to use a Small Treasure Room Card
A Small Treasure Room Card is a type of Labyrinth Card. Although the distance is 0, you may draw a Treasure Card.
B. Place a Monster
You can play a Monster Card in your hand to the top of the Labyrinth Card of any other player. It cannot be placed in front of players that have not played a Labyrinth Card. Please note, a Small Treasure Room Card is considered a Labyrinth Card.
You cannot play a Monster Card in a labyrinth where a Monster Card already exists. Only one Monster Card can be in the labyrinth of a player.
C. Battle a Monster
If a Monster Card is in your labyrinth, you can defeat the monster in battle (discard it) by playing any number of Character Cards in your hand.
The way you battle is as follows.
Determine the battle value with Character Cards
All the Character Cards have the strength written as "xD (+y)." D means dice, "xD" means rolling the dice. "+y" is the bonus. "xD+y" is the value from adding "y" to the sum of the results of adding x dice.
The battle value is the sum of the fighting strength of all Character Cards participating in the battle, plus bonuses.
Example: 3D+2 = battle value 11.
Compare with the Fighting Strength of the Monster Card
Compare the battle value of the calculated Character Cards with the Monster Card that has been placed.
If the battle value of the Character Cards are equal or greater than the fighting power of the Monster Card, you have defeated the monster. Remove it from your labyrinth and discard the card.
If the battle value of the Character Cards is less than the fighting power of the Monster Card, you do not defeat it. Monster Cards that can not be defeated will stay in the labyrinth.
Discard Character Cards
Regardless of whether you can defeat the Monster card, you discard all Character Cards that participated in the battle.
How to use a Cleric Card
The Cleric Card is a special Character Card.
There are 2 uses of a Cleric Card:
- Remove Undead: Some Monster Cards have "Undead" written on them. By discarding a Cleric Card from your hand in battle, you can discard the Undead Monster Card in your labyrinth.
- Healing: Immediately after the battle is complete, you can discard a Cleric Card from your hand to return a Character Card used in that battle to your hand.
Battle Example
Gargoyle Monster Card (Fighting Power: 15) is placed in front of Silver's labyrinth. Silver cannot move through the labyrinth unless it is defeated.
Silver has decided to battle by playing Character Card, Fighter Irene (Strength 3D+2) and Character card, Elf Sigurd (Strength is 2D). If Irene is the only one fighting, you would expect the value to be 12.5, based on the average of rolling dice. So, it is quite a bad battle. By adding Sigurd to the battle, you can expect the average to go up to 19.5.
If you roll the dice, (5D total), the outcome is 1, 1, 3, 4, 6 and totals 15. The final battle value is 17 with the addition of Irene's bonus (+2). It is a great triumph because it is more than 15, which is Gargoyle's fighting strength. It was a dangerous place to only have Irene!
Battle value 17.
Gargoyle will be discarded from the labyrinth as well as Irene and Sigurd, who participated in the battle.
D. Discard Your Hand
You can discard any number of cards from your hand. You can discard 0 cards. (There may be occasions where you don't want to discard a card, such as when you draw a Trap card and you only have 1 card). No other actions can be done. Although it is a "pass" action, it is very effective to help get out of a situation when your hand cannot help.
Refresh Your Hand
When you are done with your action, you will refresh your hand. Draw Adventure Cards from the draw pile until you have 5 cards in hand. All cards are drawn together, not 1 by 1. When you run out of Adventure Cards, take all discarded Adventure Cards, shuffle and make a new draw pile.
Resolving Trap Cards
When you replenish your hand, if you draw a Trap Card, you must discard down to 1 card. You can choose which card to keep, but all other cards, including the Trap Card, will be discarded. You will begin your next turn with 1 card in hand.
If you have a Thief Character Card, you can reveal it and discard the Trap Card. No matter how many Trap Cards you draw, as long as you have a Thief, you will not need to discard. However, the Trap Card(s) will be discarded, so you will start the next turn with less than 5 cards.
Example of discarding your hand and refreshing your hand
Monster Card Goblin (Fighting Power: 10) is placed in front of the labyrinth of Nine. Until they beat Goblin, they cannot advance through the labyrinth.
But, what is that? Nine's hand has Labyrinth 20 Card, Labyrinth 20 Card, Labyrinth 30 Card, Labyrinth 40 Card and Monster Card Wyvern (Fighting Power: 20) with no character cards to defeat the Goblin.
Nine chooses "discard your hand" as the action of this turn, leaving only the Labyrinth 40 Card and discarding the others.
After going 40 more distance, Nine will be at 100 distance and they will reach the treasure. Nine cannot discard the Labyrinth 40 Card.
Nine did not want to discard the Wyvern, a powerful Monster card, but wants to be able to proceed in the labyrinth over hindering others.
Since the action is over, the next step is refreshing your hand. Since Nine has 1 card, they draw 4 cards. They drew Character card Fighter Diane (Strength: 6D+2)! Goblins are as good as dead. However, if you look closely, you will notice that there is a Trap Card in the 4 cards drawn!
Nine had a Labyrinth 40 Card and a Labyrinth 20 Card and a Monster Card Hell Hound (Fighting Power: 12) and puts them in the discard pile, keeping Character Card Fighter Diane (6D+2) in hand.
Nine was sad to discard Labyrinth 40 Card, but decided to give priority to defeating the Goblin.
Treasure Card
You get Treasure Cards in the labyrinth. There are various rules for the different types:
Keep in hand
Do not add Treasure Cards into your hand. Keep them face down in front of you. You can check the contents of the treasure at any time and reveal it as described below.
Maximum number of Treasure Cards
The maximum number of Treasure Cards you can have is 2. When you draw a third Treasure Card, please discard a Treasure Card so you are back to 2 cards.
If "open" is written on the Treasure Card
If Treasure Card has "open" written on it, reveal that Treasure Card by flipping it face up.
"Open" Treasure Cards cannot be discarded. If both of your Treasure Cards are open, that player cannot draw a Treasure Card again, even if you arrive at another treasure chest. This also applies if you play a Small Treasure Room Card.
Treasure Cards with battle effects
Some of the Treasure Cards have a battle effect, such as "Fighter/Elf combat strength +2." These are used by flipping the card over.
These Treasure Cards are not discarded, even if their effect is revealed. Some Treasure Cards have effects that allow you to discard Undead.
Only one Character Card can use each Treasure Card. Just because there is a Thunder Spear, does not mean that both Fighters can use it. Also, if two Treasure Cards have the same kind of effect, it will stack with existing effects. If you have a Thunder Spear and Burning Ax, you can +5 the fighting power of a Fighter.
A Treasure Card, once revealed, can be discarded (a Treasure Card that is "open" cannot be discarded, however!). If the Treasure Card is discarded, the battle effect of that card will be lost.
Treasure Cards with random values
Some of the Treasure Cards have values written as "1D x 50G," etc. These values are decided by rolling the dice, same as determining a Character's strength. This die roll happens during the Victory Judgment (p19).
End of Game
A player that has entered the labyrinth and exited with cards of equal or higher value, has exited the labyrinth. Note that the distance traveled forward and backward does not have to be exactly the same.
The player that returns first will receive the Exit Bonus Tile and the game enters the end phase.
The exiting player is out of the game until the Victory Judgment (p19). You cannot place Monster Cards in the labyrinth of other returning players.
The rest of the players will continue playing, but will not refresh their hand after taking their action. They must play with only the cards in hand from that point.
If you cannot move in the labyrinth, place a Monster Card or battle a Monster, you must discard your hand as your action. You must discard a minimum of 1 card when that action is taken.
During the exit, any player that is able to play Labyrinth Cards equal to or greater than the forward distance is able to return safely. However, only the first player will receive the bonus tile.
Once everyone has exited, or if the players have no cards in hand, the game is over.
Victory Judgment
Victory is determined by summing the value of Treasure Cards brought back from the Labyrinth, the Exit Bonus Tile and the Distance Penalty. The player with the most points will be the winner. In the case of a tie, all players with the same points will be the winners (you may decide to play another game!).
Treasure Card values
The value of the Treasure Card is printed on the card. For the Treasure cards that have a random value, you will roll the die now. If you have 2 cards, you will sum the net value. That value will be the score for your treasures.
Returning bonus
The player who won the Exit Bonus Tile (the player that exited first), will add the 100g to their point total.
Distance penalty
If the distance traveled between your entrance and exit are different, you will receive the below penalties. If it results in a negative score, you will have 0 points.
- If your exit value is greater than your enter value: Determine the excess distance, multiply it by 2 and subtract from your points.
- If your exit value is less than your enter value: Determine the shortage, multiply it by 10 and subtract from your points.
[Editor's note: "exit value" and "enter value" in the two penalty lines above refer to the distance traveled on the exit and on the entrance, as the worked examples below show.]
Players that have not gotten to the treasure chest
When the game is over, the score of a player who has not arrived at a treasure chest, regardless of any treasure cards, is 0. If a player has not started to exit, they do not score any points.
Victory Judgment example
Silver got the "Crown of Kings (value: 300G)" and was the first player to exit from the labyrinth. Since they exited first, they received a 100G bonus. The distance traveled for both entrance and exit was 100, so there is no penalty. Silver scored 300+100-0 points or 400 points total.
Nine got the "Holy Sword (value: 300G)" and "Ancient Talisman (value: 150G)". They did not exit first, but they did exit safely. However, the distance traveled forward was 100 and the distance traveled back was 110, which is a 10 point difference. As a result, 20 points (10x2) will be given as a penalty. Nine's score is 300+150-20 points or 430 points total.
Enter: 100
Exit: 110
First got the "Statue of the Goddess (value: 300G for 1-4, 100G for 5-6)" and "Mysterious Map (value: 3Dx20G)" but did not exit safely. The distance traveled forward was 100, but the distance traveled back was 110, which is a 10 point difference and not enough for a safe return. As a result, 100 points (10x10) will be given as a penalty.
First will roll a die to decide the value of "Statue of the Goddess." Since the outcome was a 2, the value of the "Statue of the Goddess" is 300G. Next, 3D are rolled to decide the value of the "Mysterious Map." The result was 16, so the value of the "Mystery Map" is 320G. First's score is 300+320-100 points or 520 points total.
Enter: 110
Exit: 100
Moon got the "Mountain of Gold Coins (value: 300G)" and "Armor of Mithril (value: 250G)" but did not exit safely. The distance traveled forward was 100, but the distance traveled back was only 80. Also, the "Mountain of Gold Coins" has the effect of +10 to the exit distance. In total, they were 30 distance away from exiting. As a result, 300 points (30x10) will be given as a penalty. Moon's score is 300+250-300 or 250 points total.
Enter: 100 (+10)
Exit: 100
First wins the game this time, with 520 points.
Optional Rules
3 round rule
The game is played 3 consecutive times and you compete for victory or defeat by the overall score. As the penalties can be big in any single game, everyone has the possibility of winning until the end. It takes more time, but it is recommended if you want a longer game.
Multiple players rule (short version)
Although 5 or 6 players can play this game, one game tends to be long. If you want to shorten the game, reduce the distance as noted below:
- 5 players: The distance to reach the treasure chest is 80 or more.
- 6 players: The distance to reach the treasure chest is 70 or more.
Also, when playing with 2-4 players and want a shorter game, play with this rule.
Reward rule
You can add rewards for various actions that happen during the game. For example, the following rewards can be given:
| Act | Reward |
|---|---|
| Most Monster Cards defeated | 100 points |
| Most Monster Cards placed into labyrinths | 100 points |
| Played the most Labyrinth Cards | 100 points |
| Drew the most Trap Cards | 100 points |
| Discarded the most Treasure Cards | 100 points |
By introducing this rule, various bargains such as simply putting Monster Cards in the labyrinth of the player furthest in or out can be made. However, you will need to keep track of the actions of each player. When introducing this rule, it is better to limit to 2-3 of these bonuses. Please also decide who will track these things when using the reward rule.
FAQ
If you can only partially defeat a monster in battle, will the damage accumulate?
Battle is a comparison between the character battle value and the monster's fighting power. There is no concept such as "accumulating damage." The battle will either result in a win or loss.
If you draw a Trap Card and have a Thief in hand, after you reveal the Thief, can you draw another card?
No. Your hand has already been refreshed when you drew the Trap Card and resolving the Trap Card was done after.
Can you place an Undead Monster Card in the labyrinth of players that have "Holy Grail" or "Ancient Talisman?"
Yes. The effect of the "Holy Grail" and "Ancient Talisman" is used in the battle with monsters action. The effect is different from the Cleric Card and you can use the "Holy Grail" and "Ancient Evil Spirits" without having to discard it. There is no rule to prevent placing the Undead in the labyrinth itself.
Does the effect of "Mountain of Gold Coins," "Mountain of Silver Coins" and "Statue of the Brave Warrior" stack?
Yes. If you have a "Mountain of Gold Coins" (+10 in the return distance) and "Statue of the Brave Warrior" (+20 in the return distance), +30 will be the total added for the return.