NoteQuest

NoteQuest Rulebook

Table of Contents

Introduction

Introduction

How to Play

To play NoteQuest you will need this book, a notebook (or a sheet of paper), a pencil and some dice. Now just find a quiet place and begin your adventure!

First you will create an adventurer and a dungeon. If you manage to beat the dungeon, you can move on to another dungeon, and so on. If you die before that (which is quite likely), create a new character and try to explore the dungeon again (and find the corpse of your old character with all the items in its backpack) or explore a new dungeon. That is the flow of the game.

The book you hold in your hands is the Complete Manual. It gathers the material of the free Basic Manual and of the Expanded World supplement. We recommend starting with the basic game (the next 5 pages) before venturing into the Expanded World (page 25).

Creating an Adventurer

To create your adventurer you will need to roll a Race and a Basic Class on the following tables. Each of these will indicate Hit Points (HP), Advantages and your Starting Weapon. You begin with 10 Torches and no coins. If you have spells, roll on the Basic Spells table.

Table: Race

2d6	Race	HP	Advantage
2	Slime-Man	10	If you engulf the body of a dead enemy, you recover all HP.
3	Vagaloid	16	Starts the game with 3 uses of the Basic Spell: Light.
4	Fairy	8	Starts the game with 5 random Basic Spells.
5	Gnome	14	Starts the game with 3 random Basic Spells.
6	Elf	16	Starts the game with 1 random Basic Spell.
7	Human	20	None.

Table: Basic Class

2d6	Class	HP	Advantage	Starting Weapon
2	Beggar	+4	None.	Stick (Damage 1d6-2)
3	Gravedigger	+2	Causes +2 damage to Undead.	Shovel (Damage 1d6-1)
4	Noble	+0	Starts the game with 1 random Basic Spell.	Rapier (Damage 1d6+1)
5	Student	+0	Starts the game with 3 random Basic Spells.	Dagger (Damage 1d6-1)
6	Blacksmith	+4	Can restore armor by spending 1 Torch.

Table: Basic Spell

1d6	Basic Spell	Effect
1	Heal	Recovers 5 HP.
2	Light	Creates a globe of light that counts as a Torch.
3	Teleport	Teleports you to any room you have already visited. Can be used to flee from combat.
4	Frost Ray	Attack that causes 4 damage and the opponent will not attack on the next turn.
5	Lightning	Attack that causes 6 damage.
6	Fireball	Attack that causes 5 damage to all opponents in the room where you are.

Creating a Dungeon

The dungeon is built as you explore, opening door by door. Initially you only know its name, which was whispered in the tavern. To determine the Dungeon Name, roll on the tables below. Roll three dice, and consult each of the 3 columns.

Table: Dungeon Name

1d6	Dungeon Type	Second Part	Third Part
1	The Palace (page 12)...	... of Horror ...	... Secret
2	The Crypt (page 14)...	... of Curse ...	... Misty
3	The Tomb (page 16)...	... of Pain ...	... Eternal
4	The Sanctuary (page 18)...	... of the Hero ...	... Frozen
5	The Temple (page 20)...	... of the Promise ...	... Flaming
6	The Dungeon (page 22)...	... of Darkness ...	... Bloody

Depending on the Dungeon Type rolled, you will consult the tables on a different page (see the table above). For your exploration, you will only need the tables found there.

Opening Doors

To begin exploring the dungeon, you first need to understand the process of opening a Door. Each time you find a door, you must check it by rolling on the table at the side to learn what happened. It may be locked (result 2 or 3) but it may also have triggered a trap! If it did, roll on the Trap table corresponding to the type of dungeon you are in.

Memorize this table to make your exploration easier!

Table: Opening a Door

1d6	Door
1	You triggered a Trap!
2	Locked!
3	Locked!
4	Unlocked
5	Unlocked
6	Unlocked

Segments

The dungeon map is divided into "Segments", where a Segment can be a Corridor, a Staircase or a Room. Whenever you open a door, you will roll a die and check the corresponding column of the Segments table based on the place where you are opening the door.

If you are on a staircase, for any door you open, check the first column of the table. If you are in a corridor, for any door you open, check the second column. If you are in a room, for any door you open, check the third column.

If the segment is a Room, also roll on the Contents table and on the Monsters table.

The Final Room

Each Staircase you descend leads to a new level of the dungeon. As soon as you are entering the third level (that is, there are 2 floors between you and the dungeon entrance), you will have found the Final Room.

If the dungeon was completed without any staircase to the third level, the last room opened will be the Final Room.

The Final Room is a large room without doors where the Dungeon Boss stands in the center. Roll only on the Dungeon Boss table on the dungeon's page and nothing else (no Contents or Monsters). After defeating the Dungeon Boss you will find 2d6 Treasures with it.

The Darkness

The most important thing to understand when playing NoteQuest is the Darkness. This is the greatest enemy of your adventurer. If at any moment you are in the middle of the dungeon with no torches, the darkness will devour you. You lose your character and must make a new one. When the new character reaches where your old one was, it will find only the backpack and clothes on the floor. Monsters are not affected by darkness.

Each torch spent reflects an action that took time. If you are running out of torches, you can go to town to buy more. Each Torch costs 1 coin, but you can only carry a maximum of 10 torches at a time.

Spending Torches

The most important resource of dungeon exploration is Torches. Every character starts with 10 torches. On entering a dungeon you will consume 1 torch to light the way. Some actions, such as Open Lock and Find Secret Passages, take time and may consume more torches.

Actions in the Dungeon

Inside the dungeon, you will be walking segment by segment. If you enter a segment with monsters, you must face them before anything else. If there are no monsters (or if they were defeated) you may open any doors or chests that exist there. Besides these simple actions, there are special actions the player can choose to do:

Open Lock: You can open locks of doors that are locked. To do so, spend 1 torch and you will manage to unlock it.
Break Door: A locked door can be opened by breaking it. It is a simple action and requires no time or torch, but if you do this, besides the door no longer being closable, you alert all the monsters of that segment, who will attack you first.
Move Silently: If you opened a door without breaking it or triggering a trap, you can choose to Move Silently. Spend 1 torch and roll a die for each monster inside the room, and if any lands on the number 1, the monsters saw you and will attack you first. But if you succeed, you can pass through the room undetected, taking treasures and opening doors. If while hidden you trigger a trap or make any noise, the monsters in the room attack you. You cannot move silently in the Dungeon Boss's room.
Disarm Traps: In a room you can choose to Disarm Trap. Spend 1 torch and prevent any trap inside this room from taking effect.
Find Secret Passage: If you are in a segment that may have a Secret Passage, spend 1 torch and roll on the Secret Passage table.
Open a Chest: If you find a Chest, roll two dice. The die with the highest result indicates how many coins were inside the chest, and the die with the lowest result indicates how many Treasures were inside the chest. However, if both dice land on 1, the chest was empty and also triggered a Trap!

Actions in Town

When you need to leave the dungeon, whether because your torches are running out or because you have few hit points, it is enough that the segments up to the dungeon entrance are empty. In town you can take any of these actions:

Rest: Spend 1 coin and recover all your Hit Points (HP) and consumed spells.
Repair: Spend 1 coin to recover all HP of one armor piece.
Buy: Spend 1 coin and add 1 torch. You can only carry a maximum of 10 torches at a time.
Sell: You can sell any item in any town for 1 coin. Magic items can be sold for 1d6-1 coins.

Special Conditions

Spells: Each spell has a different effect and can be used outside or inside combat. In combat they consume an attack turn. After use, the spell is spent and can only be used again if you recover it in town. Note that you can have the same spell more than once. This means you have more uses of that spell.
Carrying Limit: You can only carry up to 10 torches, and up to 10 items of any kind in your backpack.
Armor: Armor is divided into 5 pieces: Shoulder Pads, Bracelets, Boots, Helmet and Breastplate. You can wear any pieces as you like, you just cannot wear more than one of the same piece. Each has an HP value and if an armor piece loses all HP, it is destroyed.
Broken Doors: Whenever there is a broken door in a segment, there is communication of the monsters between segments. This means that if the monsters of one segment are alerted, those of the other will be too and will attack the adventurer.
Keys and Doors: If you find a key, you can open any door of the dungeon. Keys found in one dungeon do not open doors of another. The master key opens any door of any dungeon.
Returning to a Dungeon: If you leave the dungeon to rest in town, when you return you will have to roll on the Monsters table for each empty room you enter. This also applies if you die and go adventuring with another character in the same dungeon. If a room still has monsters, they remain, but recover all their hit points.

Combat

Combat is very simple. First you need to know who will start attacking. If you opened the door without making noise (that is, without destroying it or triggering a trap), you are the one who starts attacking. If not, the monsters of the room do. Combat then proceeds alternating attacks between you and the monsters.

On the monsters' attack turn, add up the damage of all of them and subtract this value from your HP (or from the HP of the armor, if you are using one). On your turn, roll the damage of the Weapon you are using, choose one enemy and subtract this value from its HP.

If you lose all your hit points, your character is dead and all its equipment will now be on the floor of that room to be recovered by your next character.

Use of Hands

When your character goes to explore a dungeon, it needs to use one hand to hold the torch. Therefore it cannot fight with a Two-Handed weapon without some other light source in its place. Losing an arm to a trap is another case. There are some ways around this, such as hiring someone to hold the torch for you, using a Lantern or casting spells.

Monsters

Some monsters have unique characteristics, see the list below:

Stone Body: This monster ignores all damage received that is 3 or less.
Spoils: After combat, roll 1d6. On a 6 you found 1 Treasure. On a 5 you found 1 Key. And on a 4 or less you found 1 coin.
Explosive: When a 1 is rolled on the damage roll, this monster will destroy itself, causing damage equal to its current HP.
Fire: When a 1 is rolled on the damage die, its next attack will cause +10 damage.
Horde: When a 1 is rolled on the damage die, an Orc (6 HP; Damage 3) enters the room.
Intangible: Does not receive damage if the damage is an even number.
Magic: When a 1 is rolled on the damage die, this monster will cast a spell. Roll 1 die and add the value to the final damage of the monster's next attack.
Sudden Death: When a 1 is rolled on the damage die, this monster's next attack will kill you.
Undead: After this monster is defeated, roll a die. On a 1, it returns to life with 1 HP.
Necromancy: When a 1 is rolled on the damage die, a Skeleton appears (4 HP; Damage 1; Undead).
Weak Point: When a 6 is rolled on the damage die, this monster receives double damage.
Regeneration: When a 1 is rolled on the damage die, this monster recovers 6 HP.