The Red Dragon Inn: Allies – Spyke and Flower
The Red Dragon Inn: Allies – Spyke and Flower Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
40-card Spyke Character Deck, 40-card Flower Character Deck, 24-card Treasure Deck, 30-card Drink Deck, 20-card Otto Deck, 4 Fortitude Markers, 4 Alcohol Content Markers, Gold Coin Tokens, Player Mats, Deck Dividers, Bookmark, 2 Prize Cards, Rules
Object of the Game
Keep your Gold and stay conscious. If you run out of Gold, or if your Alcohol Content is ever greater than or equal to your Fortitude, you are out of the game.
Setup
Shuffle the Drink Deck and place it where everyone can reach it. Leave space for a discard pile next to the Drink Deck.
Each player takes a player mat, a Fortitude marker (with a heart), an Alcohol Content marker (with a tankard), and one of the Character Decks.
Shuffle your Character Deck and place it next to the space labeled Deck on your player mat. When you must discard Character Deck Cards, place them next to the space labeled Discard on your player mat.
Shuffle the Treasure Deck and place it where both Spyke and Flower can reach it. Leave space for a discard pile next to the Treasure Deck.
Take 10 Gold and place it near your player mat where everyone can see it. This is your "Stash." (For games with 2 players, take 8 Gold instead. For games with 7 or more players, take 12 Gold instead.) Put the extra Gold to the side. This is the "Inn."
Place your Fortitude marker on the 20 on your player mat. Place your Alcohol Content marker on the 0 on your player mat.
Take a card from the Drink Deck and place it face down on the space labeled Drink Me! This is your Drink Me! Pile. Do not look at the cards in your Drink Me! Pile yet.
Draw the top seven cards from your Character Deck. This is your hand. You may look at these cards, but you must keep them hidden from the other players.
Choose someone to go first.
On Your Turn
Your turn consists of four Phases, which must be played in order: Discard and Draw, Action, Order a Drink, Drink.
1. Discard and Draw
You may discard any cards from your hand that you do not want and then draw from your Character Deck until you are holding seven cards. You may not play any cards or effects until you have finished drawing cards.
If you draw the last card from your Character Deck, shuffle your discarded Character Cards and put them back next to the Deck space on your player mat.
If you are holding seven or more cards you may opt to keep all of them and draw no new cards.
2. Action
You may play one Action Card. To play an Action Card, read the title of the card out loud and pick the affected player(s). Give other players a chance to respond to the card, then follow any instructions on the card and discard it to the Discard space on your Player Mat.
Some Action Cards cause you to start a Round of Gambling. See "Gambling" below for more details on this.
If you cannot or do not want to play an Action Card, you don't have to.
3. Order a Drink
Take the top card from the Drink Deck and place it face down, without looking at it, on top of any other player's Drink Me! Pile.
If the Drink Deck runs out of cards, each player must pay the tavern to serve up a new round of Drinks. (See "More Drink Rules" on page 3 for details.)
4. Drink
Reveal the top card of your Drink Me! Pile, follow the instructions on the card and place it in the Drink Deck discard pile. Some of the instructions on Drink Cards are represented by icons:
- Mug with X: Gain [X] Alcohol Content
- Heart with +X: Gain [X] Fortitude
- Mug with +: Add a Chaser - see "Chasers" under "More Drink Rules"
- Heart with -X: Lose [X] Fortitude
If you don't have any cards in your Drink Me! Pile when you have to drink, you start to sober up; reduce your Alcohol Content by one.
After your Drink Phase, the player to your left goes next.
Sometimes and Anytime Cards
Sometimes Cards can only be played under certain conditions. Each Sometimes Card tells you when it can be played in its text.
Some Sometimes Cards allow you to Negate or Ignore another card. These cards are described in "Negate and Ignore Effects" on page 4.
You may play multiple Sometimes Cards in response to the same game event, even if they are multiple copies of the same card. However, you must play the cards one at a time and give your opponents an opportunity to respond to each one.
Anytime Cards may be played at any time, even if they interrupt another action.
Relevant Sometimes and Anytime Cards may be played in any Phase of a turn, either before or after the special action for that Phase. For example, you may play an Anytime Card during your Discard and Draw Phase before you discard and draw.
Losing the Game
Running Out of Gold
If you run out of Gold, the Wench kicks you out of the Inn and you must spend the rest of the night out in the stables. You are out of the game.
Passing Out
If your Alcohol Content is ever greater than or equal to your Fortitude, you fall unconscious and the Wench drags you up to your room to sleep it off. Your Gold is divided between the Inn and any players still in the game. Split your Gold in half. One half, rounded up, goes to the Inn. What's left gets split evenly among the remaining players, with any remainder going to the Inn. You are out of the game.
If you run out of Gold or pass out, you don't lose immediately. First, finish resolving any cards that have been played but have not yet resolved. After these cards resolve, you have one last chance to play Sometimes or Anytime Cards to save yourself or attack others. If you can't save yourself, then you're out of the game.
If you have any cards in your Drink Me! Pile when you lose, put them in the Drink Deck discard pile.
It is possible for multiple players to lose at the same time. If this happens, first determine which players are passing out. Each of those players divides their Gold among the players who aren't passing out, as described above. After this, if any players have no Gold, they lose the game as well. This means that if one player passes out and another runs out of Gold simultaneously, the player who is running out of Gold could be saved by getting a share of the Gold from the other player!
If all remaining players would lose the game simultaneously, the game is a tie between those players.
Gambling
When a player plays "Gambling? I'm in!" as their Action, this starts a Round of Gambling.
When a Round of Gambling begins, normal play is suspended and each player must ante 1 Gold, putting it in the middle of the table (making sure not to get it confused with the Inn's Gold). This counts as "losing Gold" for the purpose of cards which affect that.
The player who started the Round of Gambling is currently winning ("in control" of the Round).
Play proceeds clockwise around the table from the player who started the Round. On your turn you may either play a Gambling or Cheating Card or pass.
Card reminders: "Gambling? I'm in!" (Action - Gambling) starts a Round of Gambling (each player, including you, must ante) or, during a Round, takes control of a Round of Gambling. "Winning Hand!" (Gambling) takes control of a Round of Gambling; the next card to take control must be a Cheating Card. A Cheating Card can be played after anything. A Gambling Card can be played after anything except a "Winning Hand!"
Play a Gambling or Cheating Card: Playing either of these two types of card gives you control of the Round of Gambling. The card you play may have other effects, as well.
Pass: You may choose to pass instead of playing a card. You may pass even if you have a Gambling or Cheating Card that you could play (and it is often correct to do so!). If you pass, you are still in the Round of Gambling and may play Gambling or Cheating Cards later in the Round, as long as the Round does not end first.
Winning Hand!
"Winning Hand!" is a special Gambling Card, because only a Cheating Card can be used to take control after it has been played. If "Winning Hand!" is played and it is followed by a Cheating Card, then any Gambling or Cheating Card can be played next. Just remember:
- A Cheating Card can be played after anything.
- A Gambling Card can be played after anything except a "Winning Hand!"
Ending the Round
If you play a Gambling or Cheating Card and everyone else passes, the Round of Gambling ends, and you win. Take all of the anted Gold and add it to your Stash.
As soon as the last player passes, the Round of Gambling ends immediately. You may not play cards that would affect the Round after this point unless the card explicitly states that you can.
If a card effect says that you win the Round, the Round ends immediately, and you take the anted Gold.
When the Round of Gambling is over, normal game play resumes. The player who started the Round moves on to their Order a Drink Phase.
Leaving a Round of Gambling
Some cards allow you to leave a Round of Gambling. If you leave a Round of Gambling, you cannot play Gambling or Cheating Cards for the rest of that Round, but you may still play Sometimes or Anytime Cards. You are no longer affected by cards that require you to ante, such as "I raise!" Any Gold that you previously anted stays in the pot.
If you play a card that requires players to ante, then immediately leave the Round (for example, with "Gambling? I'm in!" followed by "Wishing Ring"), then the Round proceeds normally, but currently has no winner. If the Round ends before any player takes control, all anted Gold goes to the Inn.
Forcing a Player to Leave a Round of Gambling
Some cards force a player to leave a Round of Gambling. When a player is forced out of the Round, each player, including the one being forced out, has a chance to respond.
If there is ever only one player left in the Round, the Round of Gambling ends and the remaining player wins.
Running out of Gold During Gambling
If you run out of Gold during a Round of Gambling, you will remain in the game at least until the Round of Gambling ends, even if you leave the Round of Gambling or are forced out. Ignore any effects that force you to pay or ante Gold. If you do not win the Round of Gambling, you are out of Gold and out of the game!
If you play a card that would require players to ante, but you cannot ante (because you are out of Gold and cannot use a card like "Illusionary coin" from The Red Dragon Inn 2), then no player is required to ante.
Gambling Example
On his turn, Zot (from RDI 1) plays "Gambling? I'm in!" to start a Round of Gambling.
Deirdre (also from RDI 1) plays "I'm saving this money for the poor" to leave the Round of Gambling. She does not have to ante, but she cannot play any Gambling or Cheating Cards for the rest of this Round.
Zot, Spyke and Flower each ante one Gold. Since Zot started the Round, he's winning (in control).
Spyke goes next. He passes.
Flower plays "I raise," a Gambling Card that forces all players in the Round to ante an additional Gold. Zot, Spyke, and Flower each ante one more Gold (bringing the pot to 6 Gold). The "I raise" card also puts Flower in control of the Round of Gambling, so she is now winning.
Zot plays "Winning Hand!" This is a special Gambling Card that can only be beaten by Cheating Cards. Zot is now winning.
Spyke plays "Loaded Die," a Cheating Card. Spyke is now winning.
Flower passes.
Zot plays "Gambling? I'm In!" In addition to starting a Round of Gambling, "Gambling? I'm in!" can be used during a Round to take control. Zot is now winning.
Spyke passes and so does Flower.
Zot wins the 6 Gold in the pot.
More Drink Rules
Running Out of Drinks
When you reach the end of the Drink Deck, each player must pay one Gold to the Inn to get the Wench to bring more Drinks.
After each player pays one Gold, shuffle the discarded Drink Cards into a new Drink Deck. This happens instantly, so the Drink Deck is never out of cards. Drink Cards that have been put on Drink Me! Piles remain where they are.
Drink Events
Some cards in the Drink Deck are Drink Event Cards. If you reveal a Drink Event Card, follow the instructions on the card. Cards that affect Drink Cards do not affect Drink Event Cards unless they specifically say that they do so.
Chasers
If you reveal a Drink Card that has the phrase "with a Chaser" in the title and/or the "+" mug icon, reveal the next card from the deck from which you revealed the original Drink. If it's a Drink Card, add its effects to the original Drink. If it's another Drink with a Chaser, add its effects to the original Drink and continue this process.
If no cards remain in your Drink Me! Pile when you would reveal a Chaser from it, or if you reveal a Drink Event as your Chaser, there is no additional effect. Do not continue revealing cards, and if you revealed a Drink Event, discard it without taking its effects. You do not sober up if your Drink Me! Pile runs out while revealing Chasers.
The Drink Deck is never out of cards, so if you run out of cards while revealing Chasers from the Drink Deck, follow the Running Out of Drinks rule and then continue revealing Chasers.
The original Drink and its Chasers all count as a single Drink. A card that allows you to Ignore a Drink will Ignore the original Drink and all of its Chasers.
No player may respond to a Drink until all of its Chasers have been revealed.
Chaser Example 1: Flower drinks from her Drink Me! Pile and gets Wine with a Chaser. She reveals the next card on her Drink Me! Pile and gets Dragon Breath Ale. She adds the effects of both Drinks, for a total Alcohol Content of 6. Flower plays "Look what I found!" to Ignore the Drink, so she gains no Alcohol Content.
Chaser Example 2: During a Drinking Contest, Spyke reveals Light Ale with a Chaser from the top of the Drink Deck. He reveals the next card from the Drink Deck and gets Round on the House. Since Round on the House is a Drink Event Card, it has no effect as a Chaser. Spyke gains 1 Alcohol Content.
Ordering Additional Drinks
Some cards allow you to order additional Drinks during your Order a Drink Phase. When you do this, you may put the Drinks face down on any other players' Drink Me! Piles. They can all go to the same player, or they can be distributed however you like among multiple players.
Spyke and Flower and Treasure!
Like all good munchkins, Spyke and Flower can equip looted items to level up. They each have a Headgear slot, a Footgear slot, an Armor slot, and two Hand slots, which can hold either two "1 Hand" items or one "2 Hand" item.
Treasure Cards have a type, which tells you the slot where it can be equipped. A Treasure with type Special can be equipped without taking up a slot. You may have as many Special Treasures equipped as you like.
You may not keep Treasure that isn't equipped. Sorry, there's no stockpiling items in this game!
All Treasure Cards have a Level in the bottom right. Your Level is the sum of the Levels of all of your equipped Treasure.
Some Treasure Cards have a subtype of Action, Sometimes, Anytime or Cheating. An equipped Treasure of any of these subtypes may be played as though it were a card of that type in your hand. If you play a Treasure in this way, discard it.
At the beginning of your turn, or whenever a card tells you to Get Treasure, follow these steps in order:
- Reveal the top card of the Treasure Deck.
- If the revealed Treasure is a Curse, follow the Curse's instructions immediately, then discard it.
- If you already have a Treasure in the revealed Treasure's slot, decide which Treasure(s) you want to keep and discard the other(s).
- Equip or discard the revealed Treasure.
You may not play any cards or effects during these steps except for "The Full Munchkin" or any non-Treasure card played in response to a Curse, such as "Wishing Ring".
Example: Flower has Dwarven Elven Armor equipped. At the start of her turn, she reveals Budget Armor. She decides to keep the Dwarven Elven Armor, so she discards Budget Armor and continues with her turn.
Some of Spyke's and Flower's cards have a better effect depending on your Level. For example, "Kicking some arsenal" (Action: Pick another player. They lose 1 Fortitude. Level 5: They lose 2 Fortitude instead.) hits another player for 1 Fortitude, or 2 Fortitude if your Level is 5 or higher. These level-dependent effects are mandatory. You may not choose to take a lower-level effect, even if doing so would be helpful.
Level-dependent effects can be worded in two different ways. Some of them say "instead". These take effect instead of the base effect. Effects that don't say "instead" are cumulative - you get the better effect in addition to the original.
When you play a card that depends on your Level, the effect you get depends on your Level when the card resolves. Note that this could be different from what your Level was when you played the card!
Level numbers on cards are not affected by cards that change numeric values on cards, such as "Strength Potion" (from RDI 3).
Many cards allow you to Ignore a Drink. You may only play a card of this type on a Drink that would affect you in some way. You may not Ignore someone else's Drink unless that player first passes it to you or splits it with you, or if you would somehow take effects from it.
Other Rules
Minimum and Maximum Fortitude, Alcohol Content, Gold
Your Fortitude and Alcohol Content can never go below 0 or above 20. Your Gold can never go below 0, but it has no maximum. If the Inn runs out of Gold Pieces, use some other markers as a substitute.
If a card effect cannot fully take effect due to these limits, the card still takes effect as completely as it is able.
Timing
Whenever any card is played or a Drink or Drink Event is revealed, each player (in turn order, starting with the player who played or revealed the card) may play relevant Sometimes Cards in response.
If no player has any response to a card, that card resolves and its instructions are carried out.
If a player plays a response to a card and that response resolves, each player (in turn order, as above) has another opportunity to respond to the original card. If no player does, the original card resolves.
If two or more players are instructed to reveal and drink Drinks at the same time (for example, with the Drink Event "Drinking Contest!"), they first reveal Drink Cards and Chasers, as appropriate. After that, in turn order (as above), players may play Sometimes Cards that modify Drinks. Anytime Cards may also be played here. When no player has any further responses, each player drinks their Drink simultaneously.
Cards That Affect Your Fortitude, Alcohol Content, Gold
Some cards specify that they can be played in response to a card that affects your Fortitude, Alcohol Content or Gold. A card affects one of these attributes only if it could directly change that attribute when it takes effect.
If a card could normally affect an attribute but can't because that attribute is already at its minimum or maximum value, the card is still considered to affect that attribute.
You may not Ignore a Round of Gambling with a card that allows you to Ignore a card that affects your Gold.
Example: Flower plays "Tip the Wench" to make Spyke pay 1 Gold to the Inn. In response, Spyke plays "Treasure Fort", allowing him to Ignore the card, since it would directly change his Gold.
Example: Spyke reveals Wine on his Drink Phase. Gerki (from RDI 1) plays "A little somethin' extra" to add 2 Alcohol Content to the Wine. Spyke may not play "Treasure Fort" here, because Gerki's card is not changing Spyke's Alcohol Content directly - it is changing the effects of the Wine.
"Treasure Fort" (Sometimes): Ignore an Action, Sometimes or Anytime Card that affects your Fortitude, Alcohol Content or Gold. You may not use this card to Ignore a Round of Gambling. Discard one of your equipped Treasures (if you have one), then Get Treasure.
"The Wench thinks you should stop playing with the drinks."
Negating or Ignoring a Drink, passing a Drink to another player, splitting a Drink, and increasing or decreasing a Drink's Alcohol Content are all considered changing the Drink's effects, so "The Wench thinks you should stop playing with the drinks" can be played in all of these cases.
"The Wench thinks you should stop playing with the drinks" cannot be used to Negate another copy of "The Wench thinks you should stop playing with the drinks."
"The Wench thinks you should stop playing with the drinks" cannot be used to Negate a card that orders you Drinks, forces you to drink, or directly increases your Alcohol Content.
"The Wench thinks you should stop playing with the drinks" cannot be used to Negate a card that affects a Drink Event Card.
Negate and Ignore Effects
Some Sometimes Cards allow you to Negate or Ignore another card. When you Negate a card, you completely prevent it from resolving. The Negated card goes to the appropriate discard pile. None of its effects happen.
When you Ignore a card, the card resolves normally, but it has no effect on you. It still affects other players as usual.
Cards do not Negate or Ignore other cards unless they specifically use the word "Negate" or the word "Ignore." So, for example, cards which reduce or redirect damage, reduce Alcohol Content, or pass Drinks to other players are not Negating or Ignoring anything.
"I don't think so!" (Sometimes): Negate a Sometimes Card. This card can only be affected by another "I don't think so!"
Negate Example: Spyke plays "So then I got the Large Angry Chicken in a headlock like this!" on Flower. Flower loses 2 Fortitude, then plays "Oops, dropped my mace!" to try to make Spyke also lose Fortitude. Spyke responds with "I don't think so!" Flower's card is Negated, so it has no effect. Flower does no damage to Spyke.
Ignore Example: Zot (from RDI 1) plays "Oh no! Not again! Pooky's on a drunken rampage!" to make each other player lose 1 Fortitude. In response, Spyke plays "Treasure Fort" to Ignore the Fortitude loss. He does not lose Fortitude, but the other players do, since Zot's card affects them normally when it resolves.
Splitting Drinks
When a card is played that can split or duplicate a Drink, it creates separate, independent Drinks. A card that affects a Drink can only affect one of the split Drinks. If a Drink is altered before it is split, then the altered Drink is split.
To split a Drink with one or more Chasers, first combine all like numeric effects (Alcohol Content, Fortitude, drawing cards, etc.), then split each combined effect in half, rounding up.
Split Example: On Spyke's Drink Phase, he reveals Elven Wine with a Chaser of Ale of Intrigue. He then plays "Here, hold my beer!" to split the Drink with Flower. Spyke and Flower each gain 3 Alcohol Content and draw 1 card.
Round on the House
The card Round on the House is similar to a split effect, but is not considered a split effect. When a Drink is revealed for Round on the House, each player immediately receives a separate, independent copy of that Drink. Players do not have an opportunity to affect the Drink before it is copied, but may affect the individual copies afterward.
Drinking Contest
"Drinking Contest!" (Drink Event): Each player reveals a Drink from the Drink Deck and drinks it. The player who reveals the Drink with the highest Alcohol Content (even if they avoid the effects of the Drink) wins 1 Gold from each other player. If there is a tie, the players who tied reveal and drink again until there is a winner. The effects of Drink Event Cards are ignored and they count as 0 Alcohol Content.
When a player reveals a Drinking Contest card, each player, starting with the player whose turn it is, reveals the top card of the Drink Deck. If that card is a Drink Event, it has no effect and counts as having no Alcohol Content. If it is a Drink with a Chaser, the player continues revealing Drink Cards as appropriate. Once all players have revealed one or more cards from the Drink Deck, players may, in turn order, play Sometimes Cards that modify Drinks. Anytime Cards may also be played here. When all players are done playing cards, each player drinks and discards their Drink, then the player who revealed the Drink with the highest total Alcohol Content receives one Gold from each other player.
If two or more players tie for the Drink with the highest total Alcohol Content, the tied players repeat the process of revealing, modifying, drinking and discarding Drinks until there is a clear winner. If all tied players but one pass out during this process, the remaining player wins the Drinking Contest and does not continue drinking. If all tied players pass out during this process, the Drinking Contest has no winner.
If a player would win the Drinking Contest and pass out at the same time, that player collects Gold for winning the contest, then passes out.
If a player passes out during a Drinking Contest, that player loses the game, but does not split their Gold among the other players until after the Drinking Contest is completed. Players who lose the game in this way still must pay one Gold to the winner of the Drinking Contest before splitting their Gold.
Cards that increase or decrease the Alcohol Content of a Drink will affect the outcome of a Drinking Contest. If a Drink is split, Ignored, or given to another player, this does not affect the outcome of the contest. If a player somehow takes extra Drinks during a Drinking Contest, these extra Drinks do not affect the outcome of the Drinking Contest.
If a Drink's total Alcohol Content is less than 0 (such as "Pot of Tea"), it counts as a 0 Alcohol Content Drink in a Drinking Contest. The Drink will still affect your Alcohol Content as normal.
If you run out of Gold during a Drinking Contest, you will remain in the game at least until the Drinking Contest is finished. Ignore any effects that force you to pay Gold. If you do not win the Drinking Contest, you are out of Gold and out of the game!
Drinking Contest Example 1: In a Drinking Contest, Spyke reveals Elven Wine (3 Alcohol Content), and Flower reveals Light Ale (1 Alcohol Content). Spyke plays "I 'Spyke' my own drinks!", reducing the Alcohol Content of his Drink to 1, so he ties with Flower. They each gain 1 Alcohol Content, then the Drinking Contest continues.
Drinking Contest Example 2: In another Drinking Contest, Spyke reveals Dragon Breath Ale (4 Alcohol Content), and Flower reveals Dark Ale (1 Alcohol Content). Spyke plays "Here, hold my beer!" to give his Drink to Flower. Flower gains a total of 5 Alcohol Content, but Spyke still wins the Drinking Contest.
Variants
The Prize Variant
Some promotional cards, including Talisman of Liquid Courage and Six-Fingered Glove in this product, have the type "Prize". The Prize Variant provides an optional way to spice up Rounds of Gambling. To play with this variant, add any number of unique Prize Cards to the Inn at the start of the game.
Whenever a player starts a Round of Gambling, that player must choose one of the Prize Cards in the Inn and add it to the pot before players ante. The player who wins the pot also takes the Prize and follows its instructions at the appropriate time.
Using a Prize will cause it to move to the Prize Bin, a holding pile for used Prizes. The Prize Bin ensures that each Prize must be won once before any Prize can be won again. If a player starts a Round of Gambling and there are no Prizes in the Inn, move all Prizes from the Prize Bin to the Inn, then choose a Prize as normal. If a player starts a Round of Gambling and there are no Prizes in the Inn and no Prizes in the Prize Bin, that Round of Gambling simply doesn't include a Prize.
If the pot goes to the Inn, the Prize in that pot goes to the Inn with it.
Stealing Gold from the pot: A Prize is not Gold, so it cannot be stolen from the pot with cards like Eve's "Sleight of Hand" (from RDI 2). Stealing Gold from the pot does not cause you to win the Prize, even if you happen to steal the last Gold from the pot.
Taking the pot without winning the Round: A few characters, including Gerki, Torglesnarf, and The Wench can take the pot without actually winning the Round of Gambling. If they do this, they get the Prize.
Captain Whitehawk: If Captain Whitehawk takes half the pot with "What a coincidence, I happen to have the same hand!", the original winner chooses whether to give the Prize to Captain Whitehawk or to keep it for themselves.
Events: If an Event Card starts a Round of Gambling, the active player chooses which Prize to add to the pot.
Team Variants: In a team game, a Prize is won by the individual player who takes the pot. That Prize may only be used by that player, not by that player's teammates.
Otto, Our Mechanical Friend
The mechanically-minded adventurers Wizgille and Wrench have teamed up to build an automaton to join in on the party when the tavern is a little empty. Otto adds an automated third player to a two-player game!
The Red Dragon Inn works for two players even without this variant, but you may want to try playing with Otto if you want a more tactical and unpredictable mode of play where gambling takes on more importance. If you've never played the game before, however, we recommend at least one game without Otto to familiarize yourself with the basics.
Otto has 20 cards, which come in four different factions that determine his style of play: Warrior, Rogue, Cleric and Wizard.
Setup: Place Otto's player mat so that one of his 0-6 tracks is oriented toward one player and the other is oriented toward the other player. Place a Fortitude marker on each of the 6's and an Alcohol Content marker on each of the 0's. Choose two of Otto's four factions and shuffle them together so that he has a 10-card deck. The other two factions will not be used this game.
Because Otto counts as a third player, the players start the game with 10 Gold instead of 8. Otto always goes first.
General Rules: Otto cannot win or lose the game - he simply acts as a foil to the two other players. When one of the non-automated players is eliminated, the other immediately wins. Player turns, including Otto's, proceed clockwise around the table as usual.
Otto does not have a hand of cards, so he may not draw or discard cards. Otto has no Gold. If he would pay Gold, he pays with Gold from the Inn. If a player pays Otto Gold, that Gold goes to the Inn. Otto does not have a Drink Me! Pile - when he must drink, he drinks from the Drink Deck. Players may not Order Drinks for Otto. There is one exception: The Wench may order her Special Reserve Drinks for Otto.
Two Fortitude-Alcohol Tracks: Otto has two separate Fortitude-Alcohol tracks - one for each player in the game. If a player causes Otto's Fortitude or Alcohol Content to change, only that player's track is affected. Other actions (such as drinking on his turn) cause both tracks to be affected.
If Otto "passes out" on a track, reset that track to 0 and 6, then that player may either gain 1 Gold from the Inn or draw 2 cards from their Character Deck. Otto is never eliminated from the game.
Otto's Deck: At various points in the game, you will reveal a card from Otto's Deck and follow the instructions in one section of the revealed card. If Otto's Deck runs out, shuffle his discard pile and use that as the new Otto Deck. This happens immediately, with one important exception: if Otto runs out of cards during a Round of Gambling, do not reshuffle his deck until the Round is over.
Otto's Turn: Otto only has two phases on his turn: Action and Drink. He does not Discard and Draw, and he does not Order Drinks.
On Otto's Action Phase, reveal and discard the top card of the Otto Deck and follow the instructions in the "Action" box. If the instructions specify a player such as "the player with the most Fortitude" and the players are tied on the specified attribute, both players take the effect.
On Otto's Drink Phase, he drinks a Drink (with possible Chasers) from the Drink Deck. Any Fortitude or Alcohol effect he takes from that Drink affects both of his tracks. This remains true even if one player alters Otto's Drink.
Targeting Otto: Otto counts as a player in the game, which means that he can be affected whenever a player plays a card that uses wording like "pick another player," "each other player," or "each player." When a player plays an effect that affects Otto's Fortitude or Alcohol Content, only that player's track is affected.
Example: Flower plays "Hey everyone, how's my juggling?" to make each other player lose 1 Fortitude. Spyke loses 1 Fortitude, and Otto loses 1 Fortitude on his track closest to Flower. Otto's track on Spyke's side is not affected.
If a player card causes Otto to be affected by a Drink or an Event (for example, Deirdre's "Let's toast the Goddess!"), only that player's track is affected.
Gambling: Otto always antes with Gold from the Inn. If it is Otto's turn to act in a Round of Gambling, reveal the top card of his deck and follow the instructions in the bottom box, labeled "Gambling" or "Cheating". If the play he makes would be illegal (for example, playing "Gambling? I'm in!" after a "Winning Hand!"), he passes instead.
Remember that Otto's Deck does not reshuffle during a Round of Gambling. If he runs out of cards during a Round, he passes until the Round is over. Reshuffle his deck afterward.
Responses: When Otto is affected by a Drink, Action, Sometimes or Anytime Card that affects his Fortitude, Alcohol Content or Gold, reveal the top card of the Otto Deck and follow the instructions in the "Sometimes" box.
The instructions may refer to a certain card type in bold, such as "Action, Sometimes or Anytime" or "Drink". In that case, the response only applies to that type of card. If the card that triggered Otto is not of the specified type, Otto does not respond.
Otto's "Sometimes" effects count as Sometimes Cards. This means, for example, that they can be Negated by "I don't think so!"
Some of Otto's response effects refer to "the affected track(s)". This means the track(s) that are affected by the effect that triggered Otto. If an effect triggers Otto but affects neither of his Fortitude-Alcohol tracks, then any response that refers to "the affected track(s)" does nothing.
If a non-Otto card says that it can be affected as though it were an Action Card, then Otto reveals a Sometimes effect in response.
If Otto would reveal a response during a Round of Gambling, but his deck has no cards, he does not respond.
Choices: If a non-Otto card gives Otto the choice to pay Gold, discard cards, lose Fortitude, gain Alcohol Content, or split a Drink, Otto chooses not to do so, suffering the consequences of that choice.
If a card would force Otto to discard cards, nothing happens. If there is a penalty for not discarding enough cards, Otto ignores it.
For any choices not covered by the previous paragraphs, Otto always chooses the first option. For example, the Dungeon Event "Staring Contest" (from RDI 6) causes Otto to lose 2 Alcohol Content on both tracks.
If a card requires Otto to bid or secretly choose some amount of something, he always chooses zero.
Other Rules: If Otto would ever make an illegal play, he instead does nothing.
Otto may not be used in a Team Variant game.
If you are playing with the Prize Variant and Otto starts a Round of Gambling, he does not add a Prize to the pot. If Otto wins a Prize, it returns to the Inn.
If you are playing with an Event Deck that requires players to remove a counter from it at the end of each turn, remove a counter at the end of Otto's turn as well.
If you are playing with the Pub Crawl Variant, Otto never Crawls. If you are playing with the Dungeon Training Variant, Otto never moves through the Dungeon.
Otto is affected normally by Natyli's Debuffs, Remy's Marks, Amundyr's Scarabs and Valeria's Corruption. Extra damage from such components affect only that player's track.
If Otto would get an Artifact from Keet, that Artifact is discarded.
Otto never targets Wrench's Gizmos or Torglesnarf's Minions except with cards that affect "each other player".
Daareka may not target Otto with a card that allows her to make choices for a player.
The Wench may give Special Reserve Drinks to Otto. If Otto has Special Reserve Drinks in front of him, he treats those as the top cards of the Drink Deck whenever he must drink during his Drink Phase.
Warthorn may not give his Story Cards to Otto.
If Otto gets a Blessing from Murgath, he immediately reveals it and plays it for its healing effect. If the Blessing doesn't have a healing effect, it is discarded.
If Otto Checks for Traps from Alaric, he picks a random card from Alaric's hand. If it's a Trap, it takes effect and Alaric discards it, even if it had no impact on Otto (making him discard cards, for example).
Karl may not give his Buff Tokens to Otto.
If Otto gets a Drink that instructs Otto to keep it in front of him, he takes its initial effect, then discards it.
If a card would force Otto to play an Action Card, or give him the opportunity to play an additional Action Card, he instead does nothing. If a card instructs Otto to Order a Drink, he instead does nothing.
Otto card reminder (Action, Sometimes, Anytime): the player other than Otto with the most Fortitude loses 1 Fortitude; the player who played the card loses 1 Fortitude (the card still takes effect); "Gambling? I'm in!" Otto takes control of the Round (if this play is illegal, Otto passes).
Card-Specific Notes
Boom Stick: You must play this card as you play another card. You may not wait for your opponents to respond and then decide to play this.
Hey, come trigger this trap...: The affected player chooses which card(s) they wish to discard.
Hey everyone, how's my juggling?: You always pay 1 Gold to the Inn, regardless of your Level.
I'll get you next time!: This card does not do any damage to the player who hit you. It simply allows you to get Treasure after getting hit.
Magic Missile Launcher: See Boom Stick.
Of course I can drink with the visor down!: Reducing the numeric effects of a Drink moves all numbers on the Drink closer to 0. So, for example, using this card on Orcish Rotgut causes you to lose less Fortitude, and using it on Pot of Tea turns it into a 0 Alcohol Content Drink.
Oooh! Two for one!: If you reveal a Curse and a Treasure (in either order), first resolve the Curse, then you may equip the Treasure.
Spudded Leather Armor: See Boom Stick.
Talisman of Liquid Courage: If this triggers from a Drink with less than 3 Alcohol Content, you gain Fortitude equal to the actual Alcohol Content of the Drink.
The monsters kicked open OUR door!: Discarding an Action Card in this way does not count as playing it. It has none of its usual effects.