Pirate Tales Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• The Game Begins
  • 1. Buy Adventure Cards
  • 2. Lay Out Adventure Cards
  • 3. Lay Out Kraken Card
  • 4. Place Bets
  • 5. Reveal Kraken Card
  • 6. Set Sail For: The Adventure
    • A. Rolling and Re-rolling
    • B. Placing Dice and Fulfilling Adventure Cards
    • Playing Hand Cards
    • Worked Example
• End of Your Voyage
  • On Success (Aye!)
  • On Failure (Ney!)
  • 7. Evaluate Bets
  • 8. Return
• Upgrading Dice
• 9. End of the Game
• Round Overview
• Card Effects and Symbols Overview
• Trade Rates
• Credits

Components

60 dice (30x white, 18x red, 12x black)

1 game mat

170 cards

• 90 Adventure cards
• 21 Kraken cards
• 36 Treasure Island cards
• 22 Capsize cards
• ... plus 1 promo card for the game "Kingscraft"

Markers and figures

• 4 wooden ships in the player colors
• 4 luck coins in the player colors
• 46 doubloons
• 30 gems (blue/red)

In the following rulebook, the generic masculine is used for readability (e.g. "the player"). Of course, the wording used still applies to people of all genders.

Setup

1. Place the mat in the middle of the table.

2. Sort the dice by color and place them within easy reach for everyone.

3. Place the doubloons and gems next to it.

4. Shuffle the Adventure deck and place it face down in its designated spot.

5. Sort the Treasure Island cards, shuffle them separately, and form 3 stacks according to their value, sized to the number of players:

   	Level 3	Level 5	Level 7
   With 2 players	4x	4x	4x
   With 3 players	6x	6x	6x
   With 4 players	8x	8x	8x

   (not all cards are needed to play)

6. Place blue gems on the goal space, one per player.

7. Place the Capsize cards in their designated spot. Now choose how you would like to play:

   Family mode: skull-1 - skull-2. Only positive and neutral cards.

   True Pirate mode: skull-2 - skull-3. Only heavy and neutral cards.

   Fate mode: skull-1 - skull-3. All cards.

8. Shuffle the Kraken cards and place them in their designated spot next to the game board. There are 3 different sets (Easy / Medium / Hard). You may put them together as you like. Always play with at least 7 cards.

Each player takes ...

• 5 white dice
• 2 Adventure cards from the stack
• 1 ship in the color of their choice, and places it on the "Caribbean Sea" starting space
• 1 luck coin in their chosen color
• 3 doubloons

Shown is the setup of a game for 4 players.

The Game Begins

The following steps apply to the active player, except during the Betting phase. Fellow players take their turn in order once the active player's turn ends with a success or a failure.

Main steps of a voyage:

• Prepare the adventure
• Place bets
• Carry out the adventure
• Return

1. Buy Adventure Cards

This step is optional!

Buy up to 3 cards from the Adventure deck and take them into your hand. Pay 1 / 3 / 6 doubloons for 1 / 2 / 3 cards. You may only make one purchase per round.

2. Lay Out Adventure Cards

Plan how far your voyage should go.

Draw the top card from the Adventure deck and place it face up on space 1 of the Adventure track.

Then place, face up and one at a time, as many further Adventure cards from the stack as you believe you can fulfill on the Adventure track.

Note that the last card must always be a Treasure Island card and must lie at least as far to the right as your pirate ship has already advanced on the Sea track (in the example, at least on space 3).

You choose this card from one of the 3 Treasure Island card stacks (3 / 5 / 7) and place it face down on the last space of your voyage (in the example, on space 4). The harder the challenge of the Treasure Island card, the more rewarding it is.

Of course, you may also lay out more Adventure cards than required in front of your Treasure Island card, in order to perhaps collect more doubloons this way. But bear in mind: the longer your voyage lasts, the more dangerous it becomes!

IMPORTANT! Your Treasure Island card must lie at least as far to the right as your pirate ship has already advanced on the Sea track.

3. Lay Out Kraken Card

Should your voyage reach one of the last three spaces (5, 6, 7 - the ones bordered with kraken arms), you must draw 1 Kraken card. Place it face down on top of the Adventure card already laid out on the space determined by the number on the back of the next Kraken card. In the example, a "3" appears under the Kraken card being laid out. It is therefore placed on space 3. Should the Kraken card stack contain only one card, shuffle all already-played Kraken cards and place them back under the last card in the stack.

4. Place Bets

Now all players except you place their bets on the outcome of your voyage.

To bet, take your luck coin and place it beneath the game board as follows:

• On Aye! (piglet), if you believe the adventure will succeed.
• On Ney! (rabbit), if you believe the adventure will fail.

The order in which you place your luck coins plays no role in the betting.

IMPORTANT! All players must place a bet! Your own luck coin can never be lost while betting.

5. Reveal Kraken Card

Should a Kraken card lie on the Adventure track, it is now turned over by the active player (this usually happens only later in the game). There are two card effects:

ON REACHING means the card is only carried out once you arrive at it.

ON REVEAL means the card is carried out immediately once it is turned over.

The card underneath the Kraken card no longer needs to be fulfilled! There is no reward for it, and no die needs to be used for it!

6. Set Sail For: The Adventure

To pass your adventure, you must successfully complete all the required challenges on the Adventure cards and the Treasure Island card you laid out, from left to right. The number in the lower skull shows the required number of successes.

You can reach this total by placing dice with successes and by successes on Adventure cards from your hand.

A. Rolling and Re-rolling

Roll all the dice in your dice pool.

Dice that show at least one skull on top count as a success. Dice that show no skull on top count as a failure.

• No skull = failure
• 1 skull (red or white) = success
• 2 skulls (red or black) = success
• 3 skulls (black) = success

You may, at any time during your adventure, set aside a free die (any die that is not lying under a card or already set aside) from your pool, in order to re-roll any number of your other free dice. The dice set aside are no longer available for this voyage, but remain part of your personal pool.

In this example, the player has 2 dice with no success (white) and 2 with one success each (red and black) on top.

1. Since the red and black die still have more promising sides, the player decides to re-roll. To do this, he must set aside 1 of his free dice. He chooses a white die with no success. He can no longer use or re-roll this die on this voyage.
2. He rolls the remaining dice and gets lucky: he now has 2 dice with 2 successes each and 1 with no success.
3. He could now set aside another die, e.g. to re-roll the black die a second time.

You may re-roll as often as you like, as long as you have free dice that you can set aside or re-roll.

B. Placing Dice and Fulfilling Adventure Cards

Your voyage begins with the first Adventure card on the left side (1) and ends with the Treasure Island card (unless you capsize beforehand).

Every Adventure and Treasure Island card has a number in the middle at the bottom (skull icon). This represents the number of dice successes required.

To fulfill a card, you must place at least one die showing at least one success beneath that card. If you need more successes than the die shows, you may add further dice and/or cards with successes shown on them to fulfill this card.

As soon as an Adventure card is fulfilled this way, you immediately receive the bonus shown at the top right of the card. If the bonus grants you a new die, roll it immediately!

You place die/card combinations for as long as it takes until your voyage is fulfilled or you can no longer reach the required successes.

IMPORTANT! An Adventure/Treasure Island card is only fulfilled when at least one die with a success lies beneath it and the required dice successes of the card can be met. An Adventure/Treasure Island card can never be fulfilled by card successes alone!

Playing Hand Cards

At any point between the start and end of your voyage, you may play Adventure cards from your hand to use one of the card's two effects:

1. Top left are skulls on a flag, which you may add as successes to your dice roll.

   Or:

2. Top right is a symbol describing an effect that takes effect immediately. The effects are explained in more detail in the symbol overview on page 12.

Place Adventure cards that were played from your hand directly onto the discard pile of the Adventure deck after use.

Worked Example

In this example, Player Red's ship is on space 3 of the Sea track.

He could have already played the Treasure Island card on space 3 of the Adventure track, but he is a brave pirate who does not shy away from adventure. The first card requires 1 success. Player Red places 1 of his white dice with a success beneath it. He has thus successfully fulfilled the card, but unfortunately it shows no reward at top right. He also rolled enough successes for the card on space 2. He places 2 dice with 1 success each beneath it. As a reward, he may choose whether to re-roll any number of his dice, or receive a doubloon. He decides to re-roll his last free die - and gets lucky!

His red die now shows 2 successes. He uses these for the Adventure card on space 3.

As a reward he receives a white die, which he immediately rolls ...

... but unfortunately achieves no success: (see illustration above)

He fails at the Treasure Island card laid out on space 4. Player Red still receives a doubloon because of the doubloon space at 3, since he has a die with a success lying there. The red ship stays on space 3, since the voyage ultimately failed at space 4. He draws a Capsize card, reads the text aloud, and resolves the card. The Treasure Island card goes back onto the stack unseen.

... and achieves a success: (see illustration below)

He places this beneath the Treasure Island card (4), allowing him to also play a card with 2 successes from his hand to raise the number of successes to the required 3. He thereby completes his adventure successfully. Player Red receives a doubloon for the doubloon space (3) and may now turn over the Treasure Island card on space 4. He receives the reward immediately. In this case he receives a blue gem and a red die. His red ship advances 2 spaces from space 3 to space 5 on the Sea track.

End of Your Voyage

On Success (Aye!)

Have you fulfilled the requirement of the Treasure Island card at the end of your voyage, turn it over. You receive the shown reward and move your ship forward the indicated number of spaces on the Sea track.

In addition, you receive the respective number of doubloons shown above the card spaces, provided you already have a die with a success lying on the doubloon spaces (3, 6, 7).

On Failure (Ney!)

You could not, or did not want to, fulfill all the cards of the voyage.

1. Take a Capsize card and resolve the described effect.
2. If you have already achieved a success on a doubloon space (3 / 6 / 7), you may take the corresponding number of doubloons shown above the spaces.
3. Place the Treasure Island card you could not fulfill back unseen onto its corresponding stack.

7. Evaluate Bets

On success of your adventure:

If you were successful, take, for every luck coin that was placed on your success, a doubloon from that player's pool into your personal pool - as a reward for succeeding despite all doubts. Every player who bet on your success takes back their luck coin and an additional doubloon from the general pool into their personal pool.

On failure of your adventure:

If you capsized, all players who bet on that outcome get their luck coin back and a doubloon from the general pool. Players who bet on your success also take back their luck coin, but lose one doubloon into the general pool.

IMPORTANT! Should a player be unable to pay their debts even once, they do not accumulate! Their luck coin is never lost in the betting. The betting debts of the bankrupted player lapse. The successful active player receives their doubloon from the general pool.

8. Return

Place all laid-out or used Adventure cards onto the discard pile of the Adventure deck.

If the Treasure Island card was fulfilled, place it on the discard pile for Treasure Island cards after you have received its reward.

IMPORTANT! If the Treasure Island card was not successfully fulfilled, place it back unseen onto its corresponding Treasure Island card stack.

Take back all your dice: those played beneath Adventure cards, those set aside for re-rolling, as well as any received as a reward.

It is advisable to now count and upgrade your dice.

You may take a maximum of 7 dice from one round into the next!

Upgrading Dice

Now you may upgrade as many dice as you like (exchange them for better ones):

• Exchange 2 white dice from your pool for 1 red die from the general pool.
• Exchange 2 red dice from your pool for 1 black die from the general pool.

IMPORTANT! The dice pool is limited. Should the last die of one color be gone, you can no longer obtain any more of it.

Here the active player's turn ends and the next player takes their turn!

9. End of the Game

If a player's ship reaches the last point on the Sea track (End), the end of the game is triggered. The round is played to the end, until it reaches the starting player. Every player who reaches the end of the Sea track receives a blue gem.

The player who could hoard the most valuable treasure of gems and doubloons wins the game.

• 1 doubloon = 1
• 1 blue gem = 5
• 1 red gem = 10

If two or more players could hoard an equally valuable treasure, the one who has advanced further on the Sea track wins. If there is still a tie, whoever has more black dice is checked. Should there still be no clear winner, whoever has the most red dice is checked. If a winner still cannot be determined, the players share the victory.

IMPORTANT! At the end, all players may exchange any remaining Adventure cards with a doubloon symbol for doubloons.

Alternative end condition: The game ends immediately when the last Treasure Island card is fulfilled in a single pass.

Round Overview

Prepare your adventure (see page 4)

1. Buy Adventure cards (optional)
2. Place cards from the stack onto the Adventure track. The last card must lie at least on the space beneath your ship and must always be a Treasure Island card (3 / 5 / 7).
3. If you reach into the purple-marked kraken zone, play a Kraken card face down onto the position shown by the next Kraken card.
4. All other players bet on the outcome of your adventure.
5. You reveal the Kraken card and your adventure begins.

6. Off to the adventure (see pages 7-10)

You roll all your dice.

Try to fulfill all the challenges. Start at the front and then in order:

• Place dice with successes beneath the cards. Remember! There must be at least 1 die beneath each card.
• Re-roll: at any time you may set aside a free die, with or without a success, from your pool, in order to re-roll any number of your free dice.
• At any time during your turn you may play cards from your hand for additional successes or bonuses.

If you fulfill a card's challenge, you receive the bonuses at top right immediately!

If you manage to fulfill all cards successfully, you may turn over the Treasure Island card, receive the shown reward, and advance your ship the corresponding number of spaces on the Sea track.

If you don't succeed, you draw a Capsize card!

In both cases, you receive doubloons for the doubloon spaces (3 / 6 / 7), if a die with at least 1 success lies there.

7. Evaluate bets (see page 10)

Distribute winnings, pay betting debts. Keep luck coins!

8. Clean up (see page 11)

Upgrade dice. Always remember: at the end of the round you may only take 7 dice into your next round!

Card Effects and Symbols Overview

Skulls on dice and on black flags: For every skull you have one success.

Skull on wood with number inside: The indicated number of successes must be met. Note: there must always be at least one success from a die included.

White die: You receive a white die. This die is rolled immediately and counts as a free die.

Red die: You receive a red die. This die is rolled immediately and counts as a free die.

Re-roll: You may re-roll any number of your free dice. Does not apply to dice already set aside.

Draw Adventure card: According to the number, you draw that many Adventure cards.

Pirate ship: According to the number, you advance your ship. If no number is printed, you advance it 1 space.

Doubloon: You receive the shown number of doubloons (1 or 2).

Blue gem: You receive a blue gem (equivalent to 5 doubloons).

Red gem: You receive a red gem (equivalent to 10 doubloons).

Trade Rates

Tradable at any time:

• 5x doubloon <-> 1x blue gem
• 2x blue gem <-> 1x red gem

At the end of your round:

• White + white die -> 1 red die
• Red + red die -> 1 black die

Credits

• Game idea: Benno Thönelt
• Illustration: Roman Kucharski
• Graphic design: Christian Schaarschmidt
• Editing: Joachim Joch
• Proofreading: Lisa P. Reitz

Published by Skellig Games GmbH, Parkweg 6, 35452 Heuchelheim, Germany.