Pencils & Powers
Pencils & Powers Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
Pencils & Powers is a Roll & Write adventure-puzzle game where you will roll dice, fight monsters, collect treasure, level up your heroes, and face off against a boss monster. The game includes two adventures and is playable solo or with a group of friends.
Components
You will need three d6 (6-sided dice) for the table. Additionally each player will need a d6, a pencil, and an adventure sheet.
Setup
Before the game begins, roll 3d6. Reroll until all three dice have different numbers. Each player then selects and assigns one die to the room square for treasure filling in that room number for the topmost treasure. The next treasure down gets the next higher number. When the number 6 is assigned the next number will be 1. The same is done for the second die with monsters. The third die is the amount of gold you will start the game with.
Example: If you rolled a 1,3,6 and selected the 3 for treasure, working down the column, the remaining positions receive numbers 4,5,6,1,2. from top to bottom. Selecting the 1 for monsters would result in 1,2,3,4,5,6. And finally you would assign the remaining die and start with 6 gold.
How to Play
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Roll the Dice: Select a player to roll the three dice and place them for all players to see. All players will simultaneously assign the results of this roll. Each player clockwise around the table will take turns rolling these dice.
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Assign the Dice: All players simultaneously select one die to assign to Explore, one die to assign to a Treasure, and one die to assign to a Monster in any order they so choose.
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Attack a Monster: After assigning the dice, you may attack one monster that is in a room that has a shaded square bordering one of its doors. If the door has become locked you will need to use a hero power to open it if you have one that opens locked doors.
Note: You may assign dice to already defeated monsters and collected treasure. These dice are simply lost. Do NOT shade any additional squares for them. This can be a great strategy late in the game so as to avoid improving a monster any further until you are ready to attack.
Explore
Explore: Starting next to the "start" location on the map, shade in the shape that matches the assigned die. The shape may have no more than one edge touching another shaded area but must touch at least one shaded edge. You may rotate the shape 90 or 180 degrees. Rooms, obstacles, tombs, and the start area may not be shaded. If the assigned die is a 1 then you may roll your personal die for a shape.
(The sheet shows the six shapes, one per die face, and an example of rotated shapes.)
Treasure
Treasure: Fill in the leftmost empty square of the treasure chest that matches the die you assigned to treasure. The reward for each shaded square is denoted by an icon under each square and is collected when you defeat the monster in the same room as that treasure.
Trapped chests trigger once the chest is opened unless disarmed. Locked chests must be opened first. You may then collect anything else in the chest in any order you so choose. A chest that remains locked provides no points at the end of the game. You may unlock a chest at any time after you have defeated the monster in that room.
Hint: Early in the game you should focus on improving the treasure with the key to the boss's room and a treasure that will reward you with both a Magic Shield and a Magic Sword. This will get you off to a good start.
Monster
Monster: Select to improve a monsters attack or health and shade in the square that matches your selection on the adventure sheet for the die that you assigned to monsters. Health or attack may not be more than two points ahead of one another, for example a monster with 1 attack and 3 health would need the next point to go to its attack.
Monsters may have a power that triggers based on something that may happen on your turn or even before the game starts. Read the monster powers before the game begins so you are familiar with their effects.
Boss Monster: Some adventures may have a "Boss" monster. To gain access to this monsters room you may need to collect one or more items from various treasures. When defeated you will gain access to a special treasure.
(Example boss sheet entries: Dragon, room 5: "Improve this monsters treasure by 2. Magic Shields do not reduce damage." Zaugg, boss: "Magical lock doors to this room. Immune to Magic Weapon damage. Improve by 1 each time a monster dies." Special treasure: "When you have defeated Zaugg you gain the Witches Cauldron. It may be used to grant two levels.")
Heroes
Each hero starts with 3 health and 3 power. Each hero also has a level indicator (1, 2, 3). When a hero goes up a level they gain 1 health and 1 extra use of their powers. Every time a hero uses a power or loses health shade in one of the boxes next to that icon. When there are no more health boxes to shade in, that hero is dead.
Powers: You may use each power a single time during combat. Outside of combat powers may be used any number of times. Shade in a power square when used. Powers that are (FREE) do not require you to shade in a power square.
Level Up: Gold may be used to purchase extra levels for your heroes at the end of your turn. A level costs 5 gold plus the level you are purchasing. (Level 1 = 6 gold, 2 = 7 gold, 3 = 8 gold).
Raise Dead: A dead hero that is not at max level (level 3) may be brought back from the dead by paying for a "Level Up". Max level heroes that die are simply dead.
(Example hero: Guardian. "Guard: (FREE) lower the damage a monster does this combat by 1 for every 1 damage the Guardian takes. Smash: deal 1 damage to a monster or open a locked chest or door.")
Attack
Attack: When you have selected a monster to attack, roll your personal "Combat" die. This will be your heroes attack roll for this combat. Next add the total number of magic weapons your heroes have to the Combat die. Additionally you may use hero powers to add to the damage. To defeat the monster the total must be equal to or greater than the monsters health total for this combat.
Monsters deal damage equal to their attack, spread any way you wish across your heroes. Each magic shield your heroes have reduces the overall damage that is assigned by 1. Each hero may have no more than one magic shield so the most damage you can mitigate this way is 4. However some heroes have powers that provide additional damage mitigation.
Success: When you defeat a monster fill in its tombstone and collect the treasure assigned to the room.
Failure: If you fail to defeat a monster any damage you did to the monster is ignored.
Blessing of Luck: Players may spend one gold to reroll the Combat die. This may be done as many times as you wish provided you have gold to spend.
Example: You are playing The Dread Knight adventure. You decide to attack the Spyder. You now roll your personal "Combat" die and it comes up a 3. That monster has 4 attack and 6 health. So you need 3 additional damage to beat its health. The heroes have one magic weapon taking the combat total to 4. The Guardian bashes the monster for 2 additional damage taking it to 6 and thus defeating the monster. The monster would do 4 damage to the heroes but the party has two magic shields taking that down to 2. So you decide to assign one damage to the Guardian and one to the Assassin. The monster is dead and the treasure for that room is collected.
End of the Game
The game ends when all players have defeated all six monsters or have reached the maximum number of turns. Every turn you will write down the dice rolled on the right side of the adventure sheet. In some adventures that game will end after the 35th roll. There may be ways to extend the game beyond the 35th turn. See each individual adventure for details.
(The sheet has a Setup row and a Rolls column numbered 1 to 35 for recording each roll's three dice.)
WINING THE GAME [sic]: The greatest team of adventurers are those of the player with the most points at the end of the game. See each individual adventure to determine how score is calculated.
Hint: It is possible to score more than 100 points in a game. To help maximize your score you should manage risk vs reward by waiting as long as you can before collecting treasures and defeating some monsters. Getting a Magic Sword and Magic Shield early in the game will help with any Wandering Monsters you encounter along the way.