Random Encounter: Plains of the Troll King

Random Encounter: Plains of the Troll King Rulebook

Table of Contents

Game Components

1 Rulebook
45 Random Encounter cards
4 Boss cards
4 Key cards
1 Reference card
5 Loot dice

Setting Up

Each player receives 9 Random Encounter cards and 1 Loot die.

Before you begin, remove the Reference card, Key cards, and Boss cards (i.e., cards with a White Star). Shuffle the rest of the deck, and deal each player nine cards.

Give each player one Loot die turned so that the "1" side is face-up.

Place the remaining cards facedown in the middle of the table, leaving space for a Discard pile.

The player who has slain the largest troll goes first.

You are ready to begin the game!

For Multiplayer Random Encounter

Before you begin, remove the Reference card, Key cards, and Boss cards (i.e., cards with a White Star).

Shuffle the rest of the deck, and deal each player nine cards.

Give each player one Loot die turned so that the "1" side is face-up.

Place the remaining cards facedown in the middle of the table, leaving space for a Discard pile.

The player who has slain the largest troll goes first.

You are ready to begin the game!

The Cards

Level: This shows you how powerful the creature is. The player with the highest combined level in a battle will be the winner (after effects are resolved).
Biome: This background image shows what set the creature comes from. (This box contains the complete set for Plains of the Troll King.)
Name: The name of the creature. Names only appear on creatures with special abilities.
Level Star: The color of the Level Star indicates if the card has an ability and what ability that is. You can find out what each of the Level Stars do on the Reference card.

Building Encounters

An encounter is a set of facedown cards that a player has chosen to combine together into a group. Each player creates five encounters with the nine cards dealt at the beginning of the round. An encounter can have any number of cards in it, but each player must have five separate encounters to begin the round.

Placing and Protecting Loot

Players now have to decide which one of their encounters to protect their loot behind. To do this, they place their Loot die directly behind the chosen encounter.

If the encounter with your Loot die is beaten, the player who defeated that encounter gains 1 loot on their die, and you lose 1 loot, so protect your loot wisely! (Players always gain an additional loot by winning an encounter with a Loot die behind it, even if the player who lost the encounter only has 1 loot and cannot lose any more.)

Win or lose, once an encounter with a Loot die has been targeted, the Loot die remains protected out of play for the rest of the current round.

Example: The active player selects two Encounters to do battle. See Battle Example 1.

Battle

With your encounters built, you are now ready to begin battle! The active player picks an encounter in front of the opponent of their choice and selects one of their own encounters to battle against it.

Once the encounters have been selected, both players reveal the battling encounters at the same time.

Battle Example 1: 3+6+4=13 VS 9+5=14 (Winner!)

Battle Example 2: 11+1 = 12 BUT Troll King = Autolose! VS 10+1 = 11 (Winner!)

Resolution

First, resolve any Green, Blue, or Red Star Creature effects (in that order). If there is not already a clear winner and loser, each player determines the combined level of all creatures in their encounter and compares it to the combined level of all creatures in the encounter they are battling.

The player with the highest combined level wins the battle! In the case of a tie, all cards are sent to the Discard pile.

If you win the battle, you gather all cards involved in the battle and place them in front of you, showing that you've won the battle. Stack your victories so that it is obvious how many encounters you have won during the round.

If you manage to defeat an encounter with a Loot die behind it, you take 1 loot from that player's die and add it to your own. (Remember, a player can never drop below 1 loot, but you always earn a bonus loot from winning an encounter with a Loot die behind it, even if it reads "1.")

If you attack an encounter with a Loot die behind it and lose, your plans have backfired, and you pay 1 loot to the defender in addition to losing the encounter to them.

Players continue sending encounters into battle in clockwise order until no more battles can take place. If a player has an encounter or encounters left and there is no one to battle, they discard their remaining cards, and the round ends.

The player who has won the most battles at the table then adds 2 loot to their Loot die. In the case of a tie, all winning players add 1 loot each.

Round End / Determining the Winner

Once all encounters are settled, check to see if there is a player at 6 loot. If there is, they are the winner! If two players are at 6 loot each, the players sum the combined levels of all cards they've won during the round, and the player with the highest number wins.

If no player is at 6 loot yet, then play continues. Re-shuffle all Random Encounter cards (remembering to leave out the Reference card, Key cards, and Boss cards), and deal nine cards to each player. Rotate the starting player for each successive round clockwise around the table.

Continue the questing!

Solo Adventure Mode

In Solo Adventure Mode, the aim of the player is to collect the four keys, enter the Boss room, and then defeat the Final Encounter!

Before you can begin, remove the Reference card, Key cards, and Boss cards (i.e., cards with a White Star) from the deck to form your Main deck.

Deal yourself nine cards from the Main deck. This is your hand. Shuffle the remaining cards from the Main deck facedown. Shuffle all White Star (Boss) cards in a separate facedown pile. This is the Boss deck.

Then deal six cards from the Main deck into another pile, and put a card from the Boss deck facedown on top of these six cards. This is the Final Encounter.

Next, take four cards at random from the Main deck and remove them from the game. Then add the four Key cards to the deck. Shuffle this deck facedown again, and create twelve enemy encounters using the rest of the deck as shown on the next page.

Use a Loot die as your marker so you know which enemy encounter you are currently on.

Solo Adventure Mode Example

Set up as seen below with one card for each enemy encounter in column 1. Likewise, two cards for each encounter in column 2, three in column 3, and four in column 4.

Start your adventure on the bottom left enemy encounter. On a turn, you may perform several actions:

RIDE–DISCOVER–BUILD–BATTLE–LOOT/RECRUIT

The player performs each of these actions (explained below) in sequence. The player wins if they find all keys and then defeat the Final Encounter. The player loses if they can no longer perform an action while there are still enemy encounters on the table.

Ride (Optional)

Riding is used to move forward spaces. When moving, you must first move up the column then to the bottom of the next column in sequence, moving back to the start once reaching the end of the final column. To move, you discard a card from your hand. The level of the creature you discard is how many spaces forward you move. You do not have to ride and may choose to discover and/or battle the enemy encounter you are currently on.

Discover

When you stop on a facedown enemy encounter, flip it face-up before you perform any further actions. This is called discovering. If the enemy encounter contains a key, turn that card sideways—it is not considered part of the encounter! If there are any illegal card combinations in the encounter (such as a Red Star and a Blue Star card together or a Green Star card with no other cards), then discard those cards and replace each one with a card from the top of the Boss deck that you shuffled previously. Boss cards have unique abilities, so make sure to read the text on the card before continuing play! If there are no Boss cards left, then just discard those cards.

Build (Optional)

Now that you have seen the enemy encounter, you may add a card (or cards) from your hand to create your encounter. Your encounter stays with you throughout your adventure until it is defeated. Remember, Red and Blue Star cards cannot be in an encounter together, and Green Star cards cannot be alone. Cards cannot be removed from your encounter. Keep your encounter in front of you on the table, ready to do battle with each enemy encounter you discover. If you currently have no cards in your encounter, you MUST build one.

Battle (Solo Adventure Mode)

Rules for battle in Solo Adventure Mode are the same as the multiplayer game, aside from minor changes. You first resolve any named creature effects. If there is not a clear winner and loser (i.e., there is no "always wins" or "always loses" card on either side of the battle), determine the combined level of all creatures in your encounter, and compare it to the combined level of all creatures in the enemy encounter. The encounter that has the highest combined level wins the battle!

After this action is complete, discard all Green Star cards that took part in the battle.

If You Win: Loot/Recruit

You just defeated an enemy encounter! You may take any keys that were in this encounter and set them aside. You impressed your opponents, and you may now pick one of the defeated creatures to add to your hand. Discard the rest. Now move back to the Ride action.

If You Lose

Discard your encounter, skip the Loot/Recruit action, and move straight to the Ride action again. The enemy encounter that you were battling remains face-up in the same location. You may choose to stay and battle this encounter again if you wish.

Entering the Boss Room!

If you have all four Key cards, you may enter the Boss room and battle the Final Encounter. Good luck, adventurer! Before entering the Boss room, you may add as many cards from your hand to your encounter as you wish. To enter the Boss room, discard your hand and remove any remaining enemy encounters and all four Key cards from the game, then flip the Final Encounter face-up. Treat this as a Discover action (see Discover on previous page), then battle the Final Encounter to see if you emerge victorious (see Battle above)!

Level-Up Your Game!

Once you are familiar with the base game, you can level-up your experience by adding in some extra rules that create more complex tactical scenarios for all of the players involved!

Level 2: Strength in Numbers (Any Game Mode)

An encounter that consists only of copies of the same level of card is doubled in level when calculating the winner of a battle. (e.g., An encounter made of three level 3 cards would become level 18 instead of level 9.)

Level 3: Creature Market (Multiplayer Mode Only)

Play this alongside the extra rule added in the Level 2 game. During the start of a new round, instead of dealing nine cards to each player, create a line of five face-up cards from the deck in the middle of the table. Each player, starting with the active player, picks a card from the face-up cards and adds it to their hand. Each time a card is picked, replace it with a new card from the top of the deck. Keep doing this until each player has nine cards in their hand. Then discard any leftover face-up cards, and continue the round as normal.

Quick Game: Keys to Success (Multiplayer Mode Only)

Set aside nine cards for each player, and create a new deck with these cards. Remove four cards at random, and then add the four Key cards to the deck. Shuffle this new deck, and deal nine cards to each player as normal. The aim of this game mode is to control the most Key cards at the end of the round; no Loot dice are used. In the event of a tie, each of the tied players determines the combined level of all cards in the battles that they have won, and the player with the highest score wins.