Ruins: Death Binder Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Premise of the Game
• Component List
• Component Overview
  • Map
  • Map Movement
  • Player Board
  • Action Cards
  • Scenarios, Adventure Tokens, and Sidequests
  • Event Cards
  • Skill Cards
  • Enemy Cards and Bosses
  • Event Enemies and Corruption Mechanics
  • Faith Die
  • Blinded Cards
  • Descent Modifier Cards
  • Enemy Behaviour Cards
  • Tokens
• Combat
• Game Modes
• Additional Modifiers (Optional)
• Solo Play
  • Introduction
  • Solo Setup
  • Solo Areas of Play
  • Solo Round Overview
• Co-op Play
  • Introduction
  • Co-op Setup
  • Co-op Areas of Play
  • Co-op Round Overview
• Gameplay Example
  • Start
  • Explore Phase
  • Resolve Phase
  • Combat
  • Resolve Phase
• Boss Encounter Example
• Glossary

Premise of the Game

Ruins: Death Binder employs a deck-leaking mechanic which will require players to start with a full deck of cards, and then remove the majority of them while storing others for later use. Players descent down the map, testing different strategies, decisions, and resolving various events while gaining blight, which will make the descent more difficult.

Each playthrough will be different as the map layout changes and will require adapting in order to win. Treat each failure as a learning opportunity for future descents.

Are you ready to challenge the Ruins?

Component List

• 1 Map Board (double sided)
• 3 Player Boards (1 Solo and 2 Co-op)
• 6 Boss cards
• 20 Enemy Level 1 cards
• 19 Enemy Level 2 cards
• 17 Enemy Level 3 cards
• 15 Enemy Level 4 cards
• 8 Event Enemy cards (two sided)
• 39 Event cards
• 24 Skill cards
• 8 Blinded cards
• 8 Enemy Behaviour cards (for Co-op)
• 40 Scenario cards
• 69 Action cards
• 8 Special Action cards
• 6 Descent Modifier cards (optional)
• 14 Trait trackers
• 8 Defense, Health, and Experience trackers
• 1 Fate Die
• 70 Tokens (see the Tokens section for which is which):
  • 3 Stun
  • 21 Adventure
  • 6 Target (for Co-op)
  • 17 Cave In
  • 6 Vulnerability
  • 1 Leader (for Co-op)
  • 15 Wound
  • 1 Position

Component Overview

Map

The first side of the map is the representation of The Ruins, while the back contains an additional map called The Nightmare.

Players start from the top (Locations with arrows) by resolving Adventure Tokens that are placed on the various locations (A1... B1 etc.) throughout the map. That is called a descent.

Once the players reach the end points the descent is concluded with a Boss encounter.

Map Movement

The player(s) location is marked with a position token.

After the initial random placement of Adventure Tokens on all of the Locations on the map that have coordinates, including on the Boss location, Players start the game by choosing one of the three start positions indicated with arrows.

During a descent, Players remove the Adventure Tokens after Resolving it, then move their position token to an adjacent Location (horizontally or below) closer to the Boss Location. The Position token can only move via the lines (corridors) to adjacent Locations, may not move to an empty Location, may not move outside, and moving to the end point and resolving the Adventure Token, triggers Boss encounter immediately.

After Resolving the Boss encounter the map is then set up again, and the player(s) continues their journey by selecting an Adventure Token from the starting positions.

Playthrough continues in this fashion until certain game mode objectives are completed.

Player Board

There are three player boards included in the game. Player 1 and Player 2 are for Co-op play only.

IMPORTANT: The backs of the player boards contain a useful turn order schematic (both for solo and Co-op play) designed to help with certain steps of the game.

Character Level Trait The value under it (Arabic 1,2,3) specifies the Character Level value. Some Action cards use the Character Level symbol.

Spell/Melee Traits They specify the tier of damage when used Spell and Melee Action cards. The "X" on Co-op boards means it cannot be Upgraded.

Max Attacks Trait The maximum number of Action cards you can play in a Combat turn.

Store Cards Trait After using all available attacks for that Combat round, move the amount of used cards (player decides which) indicated by this trait to the 'Stored Action Cards' area.

Max Health Trait The maximum health the player character can have.

Starting Defense Trait The amount of defense the player starts each Encounter with. It resets to that value after each Encounter.

Upgrade Cost The experience cost to upgrade a trait to the next value. Pay the cost and move the cube from the previous position to the upgraded square.

Value Indicator Value of specific trait.

Defense Track Displays character's current defense. When defense reaches zero, the player becomes undefended and may be affected by certain abilities that require that state.

Health Track Displays player's current health. When you upgrade the Max Health trait, increase current health by the amount of the increase (e.g. if you upgrade from 8 max health to 10, add 2 to current health immediately).

Blight Track Displays player's current Blight. It is increased via various actions on the Event cards, Adventure Tokens and Enemies.

The player's Blight dictates how many Enemies appear during Encounters. For example, when the tracker reachers "2E" it means 2 Enemy cards should be drawn from the top of the Enemy deck.

If the Blight reaches the maximum point on the track (thus not possible to gain more Blight), Remove a number of Enemy cards from the top of the Enemy Deck equal to the amount of Blight that would be gained.

Experience Track Tracks player experience as it is gained and spent. When the player reaches certain points on the experience track, they draw a Skill card. The player can only acquire Skill cards at each of the points once per game.

Rest Actions Actions the player can use while Resting. The player pays the cost to receive an effect.

Vulnerabilities Display Displays current Vulnerabilities to Melee/Spell damage types. Minimum base value of 1 per type.

Sidequest Zone Place the active Sidequest here until it is completed or swapped for a new one.

Removed Action Cards Place Removed cards here, face down.

Owned Skill Cards Slot where player stores acquired Skills. The player has access to all these cards at all times. Placed face up.

Draw Deck (DD) Draw Deck area. Face down. If the Draw Deck ever runs out of cards, shuffle the Stored Action cards to make a new Draw Deck.

Stored Action Cards (SAC) Slot for Stored and Bought Action cards. When cards are Stored, they are placed on top of this area, face up.

Action Cards

The player starts with a full deck of Action cards (Draw Deck), which will change and evolve during the game. This deck needs to be shuffled thoroughly before playing.

These cards are used to damage Enemies and use various abilities.

Upgrading the tier of a card type increases the damage dealt by cards of that type. Tiers and damage amounts are indicated on the cards in diamonds: left (tier I), center (tier II) and right (tier III).

Damage Value — Amount of damage dealt per tier.

Tier Indicator — Indicator of Melee or Spell tier damage level.

Special Abilities Indicator — Many action cards have special abilities. An icon indicates that the ability requires a successful Faith Toss to activate.

Card Type — The background image determines the card type: crossed swords for Melee and swirls for Spell. In addition, all blue cards are Spells and all red cards are Melee. Special Action cards are green and can be either type.

Scenarios, Adventure Tokens, and Sidequests

Scenario Numbering — Scenarios are drawn in an ascending order. This is where the player will find the numbering for each of the cards.

Scenario Information — Adds narration to the current story.

Adventure Token — During the Explore phase the player decides which Adventure Token to go through. In order to progress further, the player needs to Resolve each of the Adventures within it in a clockwise direction. There are three icons in the game. To Resolve the token used in this example, we would need to first draw an Event card and Resolve it, Encounter Enemies and take a Rest. This marks the token as complete. Add 1 Blight for each Resolved Adventures on the Adventure Token.

Sidequest — Once the Adventure Token has been Resolved, the player can choose to partake in a Sidequest. To partake in the chosen Sidequest, move the token to the Sidequest Zone of the player board. The player can have 1 active Sidequest, but it can be swapped anytime. Once the Sidequest goal is reached, gain the reward and shuffle the token back into the supply.

Event Cards

Event cards determine the situations that the player faces. Once the deck is depleted, reshuffle the used Event cards and place them again to form a new deck.

Ambush Card There are various Ambush Events. The instructions on how to proceed are on each of them.

Example: Guard Patrol. Based on the amount of players, draw mentioned Enemies from the Event Enemies deck then Combat them. Once the Enemies are defeated, this Event is Resolved.

Discovery Card The player chooses to either make the Faith Toss or gain an amount in Blight.

Example 1: We make a Faith Toss. It is a success so we get rewarded. The Event is Resolved.

Example 2: It is a fail so we get a penalty. The Event is Resolved.

Example 3: We choose to increase Blight instead and skip the Event. The Event is Resolved.

Obstacle Card These are treated as Enemies, but player increases Obstacle base health depending on the current Enemy level (Enemy back card visible on top of the Enemy deck). The starting (level 1) is the base value and we add +2 health for each level above it.

Example 1: This obstacle has 4 health on level 2. The player dealt 3 damage and needs to remove 1 Draw Deck card. The Event is Resolved.

Example 2: Player dealt 5 damage, defeats the obstacle and receives the reward, the Event is Resolved.

Decision Card Choose either the left or right option and apply the effects as written.

Example 1: We choose the left option. We receive 4 experience points and increase Blight track by 2. The Event is Resolved.

Example 2: We choose the right option. We receive 1 experience point and decrease Blight track by 2. The Event is Resolved.

Cave In Add a Cave In token to the Locations on the map indicated by the card.

Example: We add Cave In tokens onto A5, B3 and C2 positions. As we are currently on the B3 position, we need to move our player(s) token to a new Adventure Token. Add the Blight for the resolved Adventures and start to Resolve the new Adventure Token. The Event is Resolved.

Precognition Estimate a number of certain requested cards.

Example: We estimate the number of current level Enemies. We estimate that 9 are still remaining. Then we count them. We estimated wrong but still within the limit. We get the lower reward. The Event has been Resolved.

Skill Cards

During the game, when the player reaches certain points on the experience track, draw a Skill card. The player can only acquire Skill cards at each of these points once per game. Skills are stored in the 'Owned Skill Cards' slot.

Skills aren't considered an attack, so they don't count towards a player's Max Attacks trait. They can be used at any time in the player's turn. After use, the Skill cards are placed in the discarded skills area.

Enemy Cards and Bosses

Enemies and Bosses are drawn from separate decks, but both types are very similar. Enemies are drawn once prompted by the Encounter Adventure. Bosses are drawn once a player reaches the bottom of the map and Resolve its Adventure Token, or when Scenario requires it.

Bosses have an order number on the back of the card indicating the order in which they are fought. If the Boss has a partner, you must face it with a Boss of the same level with the same icon.

Enemy Name — Enemy name and title.

Enemy Damage and Type — The amount and type of damage the Enemy deals. Any damage dealt by the Enemy is considered to be this type.

Experience Reward — Amount of experience players receive after defeating the Enemy.

Health — Amount of damage required to defeat the Enemy. If damage is greater or equal to health, it is defeated.

Retreat Cost — Players are able to retreat from the Encounter if each pays the cost next to the icon in the Draw Deck cards. It can only be used on the player's turn. In order to retreat the cost has to be paid for all Enemies in that Encounter.

Melee and Spell Vulnerabilities — Enemy's Vulnerabilities to damage types. Multiply damage dealt to this Enemy by the value of the corresponding type. If an Enemy has a Vulnerability of 0, it ignores all damage and abilities from that attack type.

Special Abilities — Enemies often possess abilities. Some are always active, and some only activate with a successful Faith Toss (indicated by an icon). Enemy abilities activate whenever possible unless otherwise specified.

Narrative Information — Additional lore text.

Boss Reward — After defeating a Boss (and its partner, if applicable), the player that defeated it draws a Special Action card and adds it to their hand.

Boss Partner Icon — Indicates if the Boss requires a partner to match.

Boss Order — Indicates the ascending order in which the Boss cards need to be defeated each time the player passes the very bottom part of the map.

Boss Special Abilities — Bosses have two possible abilities. Toss a Faith Die at the start of each enemy Combat round to determine which one is active for the round.

Event Enemies and Corruption Mechanics

Event Enemies are Enemies that are drawn once prompted by the various Events. They don't have a retreat cost and players cannot retreat from them. They are easily identified by having a character on both sides of the card.

Event Enemies can be corrupted by the player at the start or during the Combat if player(s) exceed a certain point on their Blight tracker as indicated by the red icon.

Once an uncorrupted Event Enemy becomes corrupted, it should be turned onto its corrupted side. This cannot be undone. This corrupts all Event Enemies in a Combat and cannot be undone. When an Event Enemy is defeated, it goes back into its pile.

Faith Die

Some Event cards and player/Enemy abilities require a Faith Toss (throwing the die) to determine the outcome. When an ability requires a Faith Toss, a result means the ability does not trigger. Whichever side lands face up dictates the card/ability's resolution.

Blinded Cards

Players may get Blinded cards in their hand as a result of Enemy skills. Blinded cards serve no useful purpose to the player. When drawn, they sit in a player's Hand, taking up space.

They can be Removed with the 'Remove card from Stored' Action during the rest phase or when played during Combat to make room for more useful Action cards.

When removed, place Blinded cards back into the Blinded deck.

They cannot be removed when prompted by any other card or Ability.

Descent Modifier Cards

If you find the game too easy, you can increase the difficulty of the game with these cards. They add additional sets of rules that change the gameplay.

After setting up the game as normal, the player randomly draws one modifier card, positions it in sight, and starts the game, obeying the new rule change.

Not recommended to use in first playthrough.

Enemy Behaviour Cards

These cards are only used in a Co-op game. It is a direct way of each enemy finding a target to attack.

Each Behaviour card has a specific ruleset that needs to be checked in order to pick either a Player 1 or Player 2 to attack.

More information on the Behaviour cards can be found in the Co-op section.

Tokens

Position Token — Indicates the current placement of the player(s) on the map.

Cave In Token — Used to mark an area of the map that has been caved in.

Wound Token (1 and 5) — Indicates 1 point of damage on the front and 5 points of damage on the back side.

Stun Token — Used to mark a character affected by the stun ability.

Leader Token (Co-op) — This token is used in Co-op play to mark the Leader.

Vulnerability Token — Used on a character that has its Vulnerability to Melee or Spell damage increased.

Adventure Token — Used on the map to indicate the journey. They usually have multiple Adventures. On the backside they can have a Sidequest.

Target Token (Co-op) — Used in Co-op play to indicate which Enemy is targeting which player.

Combat

At the start of Combat, set your defense to your starting defense trait value.

Combat Round:

1. Replenish your Hand to 6 cards from the Draw Deck.

2. The player attacks by playing Action cards. They may play a number of Action cards up to their Max Attacks trait (but of min. of 1). The player may also use owned Skill cards (these do not count as attacks). Order of played cards is important, as some cards affect card effects that follow it.

2.1) Attacking: Select an Enemy to be the target of your attack, then choose an Action card from Hand to attack the target.

2.2) Evaluate base damage and Tier: Find the card's base damage based on the corresponding trait tier on the player board (either Melee or Spell tier).

2.3) Check Enemy Vulnerabilities: Per Action card played, check the target Enemy's Vulnerability to the type of the card played, and multiply the base damage of the card with the Vulnerability of the target to it.

2.4) Apply (non Faith Toss) ability: Resolve the card's ability (if it has one).

2.5) Deal damage: Deal damage to the Enemy and add a wound token for each damage dealt.

2.6) Apply Faith Toss Ability: If the card's ability requires a Faith Toss, Resolve it now. Upon success, apply the effect.

3. After the player has finished playing a number of cards up to their Max Attacks, the player may Store some of the Action cards they used during this Combat round. They may Store cards up to their Store cards trait (not Storing any cards is also allowed). The remaining used Action cards are removed.

The player's turn is over and the player cannot start another attack that turn.

4. Enemies attack in order from left to right. They deal damage to the player equal to their base damage multiplied by the player's corresponding Vulnerability. For each point of damage taken, the player first loses a defense point. If they run out of defense, they become undefended and lose health instead. Make sure to use any applicable Enemy abilities (making a Faith Toss when needed).

Repeat steps 1 through 4 until either all Enemies are defeated, or conditions for players' defeat are met.

Game Modes

In order to start, choose a game mode:

Campaign mode Recommended for new player. Play through a solo campaign and find out the full story behind your unnamed character. Make decisions that will change the narrative of the ending.

Players: Solo

Playtime: ~3 hours to complete whole story

Objective: Complete all of the Scenario cards

Map: Ruins

To start: Follow steps on the Solo Setup pages.

After setup: Draw "The Awakening" Scenario 1 card.

Quick Descent mode A quick game of Descent mode, in which the goal is to reach and defeat one Boss.

Players: Solo or Co-op (2 players)

Playtime: ~45 minutes Solo / ~60 minutes Co-op

Objective: Defeat 1 Boss

Map: Ruins or Nightmare (player's choice)

Solo Setup: Follow the Solo Setup steps.

Co-op Setup: Follow the Co-op Setup steps.

After setup: Pick a starting position and descend.

Descent mode Dive deep into the very core of the dungeon to defeat all Bosses.

Players: Solo or Co-op (2 players)

Playtime: ~2,5 hours Solo / ~3 hours Co-op

Objective: Defeat 4 Bosses

Map: Ruins or Nightmare (player's choice)

Solo Setup: Follow the Solo Setup steps.

Co-op Setup: Follow the Co-op Setup steps.

After setup: Pick a starting position and descend.

Additional Modifiers (Optional)

Start From Higher Level (Quick Descent Mode - Solo) The Player is able to start the game from a higher level. In order to speed up the game do the following per level skipped:

• Remove 18 Draw Deck cards
• Spend 16 experience on trait upgrades
• Remove all Enemies with a level lower than the level the player is starting from.

Start From Higher Level (Quick Descent Mode - Co-op) For each Player, per level skipped:

• Remove 10 Draw Deck cards
• Spend 14 experience on trait upgrades
• Remove all Enemies with a level lower than the level the player is starting from.

Increase Difficulty If the player finds the game too easy, he can choose to include a Descent Modifier card during setup. Just draw one card and apply new rules.

Decrease Difficulty The Player can start the game with a second level Starting Defense Trait if finding the game difficult.

Decrease Game Length The game can be shortened by doing the following:

• Remove 2 Adventure Tokens with 4 Adventure icons
• Remove 1 Adventure Token with 3 Adventure icons (selected at random)
• Do not place an Adventure Token on the Boss location

Solo Play

Introduction

In the Solo game mode the player faces the Ruins alone, but can also engage in a story filling campaign mode which provides additional back story for the character.

Victory Conditions If the player completes their game mode's objective, they win the game.

Losing Conditions There are two ways in which the player loses:

• If the player loses all their health
• If the player is unable to refill their Hand to 6 cards (their Draw and Stored Action Deck are empty).

Solo Setup

Perform these steps when setting up the game for Solo.

Boss Deck — Place Boss cards, sorted from 1 to 4.

Enemy Deck — Shuffle level 1, 2, 3 and 4 cards separately. Combine in order from 1 on top to 4 on the bottom.

Scenario Deck (Only if playing Scenario) — Sort the deck from Scenario 1 on top to 28 on the bottom.

Event Enemy Deck — Place all double sided Event Enemy cards here.

Blinded Pile — Place the 8 Blinded cards here, face up.

Special Action Deck — Shuffle and place Special Action cards.

Skill Deck — Shuffle and place Skill cards.

Event Deck — Shuffle and place Event cards.

Player Board — Character area with tracks and various deck areas. For Solo play use the one with the "Player Trait Upgrades" title. Set the white cubes on the Start positions for each Trait. Set your initial health (6), starting defense (1) with green cubes.

Add the last two remaining green cubes on zero position for trackers below (Blight and XP).

Draw Deck — Take cards with "Action" on the back, shuffle thoroughly and place them here.

Map — Populate randomly with Adventure Tokens, Sidequest face down. Those that have adventure on the back - place either side.

Solo Areas of Play

Discard Area — Here the player will place all resolved event cards, used skill cards and defeated enemies.

Active Area — Here the player will place active events (besides obstacles which are treated as enemies), active Adventure Tokens and active Scenario cards.

Combat Area — Here, when prompted, the player will place enemies and obstacles that is currently in Combat with.

Remove Area — Area where player places Removed Action cards.

Skills Area — Area where player places acquired Skill cards.

Draw Area — Area where player Draws Action cards from.

Store Area — Area where player Stores Action cards, face up.

Supply Area — Player will draw tokens depending on the requirements of the situation (taking/dealing damage, stunning, increasing vulnerability etc.), will also store them here if not currently needed (or the need for them has been terminated) and will also use Faith Die when required.

Hand Area — The player's current hand of 6 Action Cards. These are the cards that can be played during Combat.

Solo Round Overview

1) Draw Cards — Player starts the game by drawing 6 Action Cards from the Draw Deck (Draw Area) into the Hand Area.

2) Explore — Player chooses a starting Adventure Token (1 of the 3 positions marked with an arrow on the map - A1, B1 or C1) and places the Position Token to mark the Descent. We have chosen B1, so it is placed in the Active Area.

3) Resolve Adventure — Adventure Tokens can have multiple Adventure icons. These icons are resolved in clockwise order, starting from the top.

There are 3 types of icons:

Event: Draw an Event card and place it in the Active Area. If it's an Obstacle, place it in the Combat Area.

Encounter: Draw the number of Enemies as shown on the Blight track and place them in Combat Area.

Rest: Spend gathered experience points, upgrade and do various rest actions.

The token we chose would be resolved in this order: Event, Event, Encounter.

4) Token Resolved — Once all of the Adventures have been resolved, the Adventure Token is considered resolved.

The player turns the token over and checks for a sidequest. If there is a sidequest, the player may place it on the "Sidequest" area of the player board. If there is already a token in the "Sidequest" area, then the player may still gain the new sidequest by returning the old sidequest to the supply.

5) Increase Blight — Add Blight for each Adventure icon on the Adventure Token. The Adventure Token we chose had 3, so we increase the Blight track by 3.

IMPORTANT: Turn order schematic (both for solo and Co-op play) can also be found on the backs of the player boards.

Co-op Play

Introduction

Core gameplay for Co-op is similar to the single player mode. One of the players assumes the role of the 'Fighter' (player 1 board) while the other of a 'Spell Crafter' (player 2 board).

The Fighter has a fixed Spell tier and the Spell Crafter has a fixed Melee tier. They share a common Removed Action cards pile, as well as a single Blight track, but still have their own Draw Decks and Stored Action cards.

How To Start At the beginning of the game, shuffle all of the Action cards. Each player draws 6 cards to form their Hands. Split leftover cards evenly between the two players to form their initial Draw Decks. The players may not exchange any cards or traits. As in a solo game, players refill the amount of cards used from their respective Draw Decks.

The oldest player takes the role of a Leader and is marked with a Leader token. The Leader is responsible for movement on the map and takes the first turn in an Encounter. When the Leader draws an Event card, the Leader gets to Resolve it and receive any benefits and suffer any penalties that come from it.

When an Adventure has been resolved, the Leader passes the Leader token to the other player. Once the Adventure Token has been Resolved, the player who was the Leader during the last Adventure gets the sidequest.

Enemy Behaviour Cards At the start of each Encounter, draw Behaviour cards and place them above each Enemy. These will decide which Enemy will be attacking which player each round.

To mark the current target, place 'Attacks Player 1' or 'Attacks Player 2' tokens. Check targeting at the end of every round to adjust the current target.

Example: We check the Enemy behaviour card icons from left to right. The first one is to attack the player with lowest health, however both player's health is the same.

We proceed to the next icon, which is to attack the player with highest defense. Player 2 has more defense than player 1.

Token 'Attacks Player 2' is placed on that Enemy. In this round it will attack that player. In the next Combat round we check the icons again from left to right.

Experience Points The players gain experience points seperately as they Resolve Events. In Encounters, the only player that receives experience points is the one that defeats the Enemy.

Victory Conditions If the players' complete their game mode's objective, they win the game.

Losing Conditions for Co-op Play When the health on a Player board reaches zero, that player is considered 'Downed'.

A Downed player Removes 2 cards from their Draw Deck and discards any active Sidequest. If both are Downed during the same encounter or if either player runs out of their cards, then both players lose.

If the other player manages to Resolve the Adventure, the Downed player restores his health to 2 points.

Co-op Setup

Perform these steps when setting up the game for Co-op.

Boss Deck — Place Boss cards, sorted from 1 to 4.

Enemy Deck — Shuffle level 1, 2, 3 and 4 cards separately. Combine in order from 1 on top to 4 on the bottom.

Event Enemy Deck — Place all double sided Event Enemy cards here.

Blinded Pile — Place the 8 Blinded cards here, face up.

Special Action Deck — Shuffle and place Special Action cards.

Skill Deck — Shuffle and place Skill cards.

Event Deck — Shuffle and place Event cards.

Player 1 Board (red) — Character area with tracks and various deck areas. Left player board should be "Player 1". Set the white cubes on the Start positions for each Trait. Set your initial health (4), starting defense (2) with green cubes. This player is unable to upgrade Spell Tier beyond 1, hence 'X' on 2/3 tier position.

Add the last two remaining green cubes on zero position for trackers below. The Blight track is shared by both players and extends further onto the other board.

Player 2 Board (blue) — The other player board should be placed on the right side. Set the white cubes on the Start positions for each Trait. Set your initial health (6), starting defense (1) with green cubes. This player is unable to upgrade Melee Tier beyond 1, hence 'X' on 2/3 tier position.

Add the green cube on Experience track on zero position.

Split Draw Deck — Take cards with "Action" on the back, shuffle thoroughly and evenly split the Draw Deck between Player 1 and Player 2 Draw Areas.

Map — Populate randomly with Adventure Tokens, Sidequest face down. Those that have adventure on the back - place either side.

Co-op Areas of Play

Discard Area — Here the players will place all resolved event cards, used skill cards and defeated enemies.

Active Area — Here the players will place active events (besides obstacles which are treated as enemies), active Adventure Tokens and active Scenario cards.

Combat Area — Here, when prompted, the players will place enemies and obstacles they are currently in Combat with, this area also will contain Targeting Tokens and Behaviour cards accordingly.

Player 1 Skills Area — Area where Player 1 places acquired Skill cards.

Player 1 Draw Area — Area where Player 1 Draws Action cards from.

Player 1 Store Area — Area where Player 1 Stores Action cards, face up.

Player 1 Hand Area — Here, Player 1 will pick his Action cards to use in his Combat turn and when prompted by various enemy abilities and such.

Shared Remove Area — Area where players place Removed Action cards.

Player 2 Skills Area — Area where Player 2 places acquired Skill cards.

Player 2 Draw Area — Area where Player 2 Draws Action cards from.

Player 2 Store Area — Area where Player 2 Stores Action cards, face up.

Player 2 Hand Area — Here, Player 2 will pick his Action cards to use in his Combat turn and when prompted by various enemy abilities and such.

Supply Area — Player will draw tokens depending on the requirements of the situation (taking/dealing damage, stunning, increasing vulnerability etc.), will also store them here if not currently needed (or the need for them has been terminated) and will also use Faith Die when required.

Co-op Round Overview

1) Player 1 Draws Action Cards — Player 1 draws 6 Action cards from his Draw Deck (Draw Area).

2) Player 2 Draws Action Cards — Player 2 draws 6 Action cards from his Draw Deck (Draw Area).

3) Eldest player becomes Leader — The player that is the oldest, assumes the role of Leader and places the Leader token (crown) next to his player board.

4) Explore — Leading player chooses a starting Adventure Token (1 of the 3 positions marked with an arrow on the map - A1, B1 or C1) and places the Position Token to mark the Descent. We have chosen B1, so it is placed it in the Active Area.

5) Resolve Adventure — Adventure Tokens can have multiple Adventure icons. These icons are resolved in clockwise order, starting from the top.

There are 3 types of icons:

Event: Draw an Event card and place it in the Active Area. If it's an Obstacle, place it in the Combat Area.

Encounter: Draw the number of Enemies as shown on the Blight track and place them in Combat Area.

Rest: Spend gathered experience points, upgrade and do various rest actions.

The token we chose would be resolved in this order: Event, Event, Encounter.

When an Adventure has been resolved, the Leader passes the Leader token to the other player.

6) Token Resolved — Once all of the Adventures have been resolved, the Adventure Token is considered resolved. The player turns the token over and checks for a sidequest. If there is a sidequest, the player may place it on the "Sidequest" area of the player board. If there is already a token in the "Sidequest" area, then the player may still gain the new sidequest by returning the old sidequest to the supply.

7) Increase Blight — Add Blight for each Adventure icon on the Adventure Token. The Adventure Token we chose had 3, so we increase the Blight track by 3.

IMPORTANT: Turn order schematic (both for solo and Co-op play) can also be found on the backs of the player boards.

Gameplay Example

Start

We decide to play descent mode. After setting up the game as shown in the detailed setup. We have played a few turns previously and are about to begin another Explore phase.

Explore Phase

We choose another Adventure Token on the map. Each Adventure Token displays different types of Adventures which need to be Resolved in order to progress. Our Adventures are as follows: Encounter, Event, and Rest.

Resolve Phase

We start with an Encounter. We look at our Blight track to find out how many Enemies to fight. It indicates 2 Enemies, so we draw the top 2 Enemy cards.

Combat

We have Encountered a Parasitic Muncher and a Raised Bowbearer. The Parasitic Muncher has the 'First Strike' special ability which will deal an extra damage on its first attack.

The Raised Bowbearer has the 'Raise' ability that can bring it back to life with a successful Faith Toss. Fortunately, 'Raise' is only usable once, so we are not at the mercy of potentially infinite faith tosses.

We can also retreat from the encounter if all enemies have a retreat icon and we can afford to pay it. Both of these enemies require us to remove 1 Draw Deck card in order to leave the encounter and proceed with another Adventure.

But we can do that at any point in our turn, so we will try to defeat them instead.

Our turn is first. We decide to attack the Raised Bowbearer. It has 2 Melee Vulnerability, which indicates that it takes double damage from Melee attacks (this value can be increased by using an Action card with increase Melee Vulnerability).

We use a Melee attack, our card also has an additional ability: stun, which may force it to skip its first attack. Our Melee tier is 1, so the Enemy receives 1 damage multiplied by its Melee Vulnerability: 1 x 2 = 2.

We place 2 wounds on the Enemy and perform a Faith Toss to see if the stun ability was successful. Alas, it wasn't.

Our player board indicates that we can use up to 3 Action cards per turn (Max Attacks trait). We decide to attack the Parasitic Muncher that has a 'First Strike' ability, which, if not defeated in the first turn, would deal an additional point of damage to us.

We attack it with a Spell card that deals 2 points of damage. As this Enemy's Spell Vulnerability is 2, it takes 2 x 2 = 4 damage.

We avoid the extra point of damage from its ability and defeat it outright!

We gain 1 experience point for defeating the Parasitic Muncher and put it onto the defeated Enemy pile.

With our last attack, we play another Spell card on the Raised Bowbearer, dealing 1 additional damage.

For our first attack, we play a Spell card with the defense potential ability (which indicates to replace the icon with the Character Level trait value). We deal 1 damage to the Enemy and gain 1 point of defense.

For our second attack, we use another Melee card, but due to the Melee Vulnerability we deal not 1 but 2 points of damage.

The Enemy has been dealt a total of 5 damage and defeated, so we make a Faith Toss for the Enemy to see if its 'Raise' ability works - it is a fail, so it is truly defeated.

We gain 2 experience. All Enemies are defeated. We choose to Store 1 of our used Action cards, Removing the rest. The Encounter has been Resolved, and we set our starting defense to the start position.

It's the Enemy's turn. The Raised Bowbearer deals 2 damage (our Melee Vulnerability is 1). Any damage taken is first applied to defense, so we lose 1 defense and become undefended (a state where the defense equals zero) and we deal the remaining damage to our health.

The Enemy round is over. We Remove our used Action cards. Our Stored cards trait indicates that we can Store 1 card. We choose to Store the card with the stun ability, placing the rest on the Removed Action cards area of our board. We refill our Hand to 6 cards from the Draw Deck.

Resolve Phase

We still haven't completed the whole Adventure Token, and the next Adventure is an event. We draw one Event card - it's a decision. We have to choose the left or right option. We choose the option on the left and gain 3 experience but we also gain 2 Blight, which we increase on our Blight tracker.

We have also moved through the 6th experience point with a hand icon, which indicates to draw a Skill card (this can be done only at each hand icon point once per game).

The last icon we have to Resolve is Rest, giving us the chance to spend our hard earned experience. We pay 6 experience to increase our starting defense trait to 2nd tier and remove 2 Draw Deck cards to heal for 1 point. We will save the rest of the experience points for future use.

We have finished Resting and have completed all Adventures on the token. The token is considered to be Resolved.

We count the icons on the Adventure Token and increase the Blight by that number. We have 3 resolved icons and we increase the Blight on our Blight Track by 3.

We flip over the Adventure Token and decide if we want to do a Sidequest, which will give us benefits for meeting its requirement. We decide to do it and add it to the Sidequest Zone on our player board.

We choose another connected token and try to resolve the Adventures within it.

The journey ahead is long and perilous... Which path will you choose and what decisions will you make?

Boss Encounter Example

Once we managed to reach the end point on the map and resolve the Adventure Token on it, we are ready to encounter a Boss.

As we are playing a "Descent Mode" we will descent 4 times, unless we are defeated before that. This is our first descent in which we managed to reach to the end point of the map.

As according to the text on the end point we will draw a Boss card, it will be a level 1 Boss (as it is our first descent).

The back side of the card tells us what is the level and the name of the Boss.

Level 1 Boss is very specific, because he comes in play with a partner, indicated by the 'P' in the red icon, that means we will have to draw a partnering Boss, which has the same back name as the previous one.

We start the encounter by attacking, using skills and such.

Because of Varmas' Important Target ability, we need to deal the first damage to him in order to reach and deal damage to Colmund.

So we use our first Action spell card, the card does not have any abilities and deals 2 damage (our spell tier is 2, hence the increased damage), we still can do 3 more attacks as our Max Attacks is 4 (we upgraded it).

As the requirement for Varmas' Important Target ability has been met, we can freely deal damage to both enemies for rest of the Combat round.

We use 3 Action melee type cards (our melee tier is 1), cards have no abilities and we deal 3 damage total to Colmund.

We have used all of our attacks (4) and now we decide which cards to Store (as according to our Store Cards trait) and remove the rest. Now its time for enemy Combat turn.

Before Colmund deals any damage, his abilities are triggered depending on the Faith Toss result, so we roll the die and we do so every enemy Combat turn.

The roll resulted is activating the Penetrate ability.

Colmund deals 2 points of damage directly to our characters health, ignoring defense as required by the Penetrate ability.

Next up is Varmas that deals 2 damage to our defense.

Enemy Combat turn has been completed, we fill up our Hand to have 6 Action cards in it and we start our next Combat turn.

This goes process goes back and forth until enemy or player character has been defeated.

A few turns later we have managed to deal enough damage to defeat Colmund.

Because of that we receive 4 Experience points and a Reward - Special Action card, which we draw from the top of Special Action deck and place it in our Hand. If our Hand is full, we place it into Stored Action cards.

After we defeated the Boss and the partner, as according to the end point text, we set the Blight tracker to 0 and re-add tokens to the map.

We start the whole process again from top to bottom, for our 2nd descent.

Glossary

Adjacent — Enemies that are next to each other during Combat.

Allies — At least two characters with a common opponent. Enemies are allies to each other.

Attack — An attempt at dealing damage. Players attack with Action cards.

Character — Refers to a game entity: either Enemies or the player.

Combat Round — Constits of player(s) and Enemy turns and ends when each had its turn.

Combat Turn — Turn in which player or Enemy attack the other.

Damage — Point of damage inflicted on the character.

Defeated — Character whose health equals zero.

Opponent — Enemies and the player(s) are opponents to each other.

Remove — When Removing a card, place it face down onto your Removed Action cards area. If a Removed card is a Blinded card (unless you are using Remove rest action), Remove the next in order card instead of the Blinded card.

Store — When Storing a card, place it face up into your Stored Action cards area.

Target — The card or player that is being targeted with damage or an ability.

Undefended — A player or Enemy with zero defense.

SAC — Stored Action Cards

EC — Event Card

DD (Draw Deck) — +X DD means to take X cards from the top of your Removed Action cards and shuffle them into your Draw Deck. -X DD means to take X cards from the top of your Draw Deck and move them into your Removed Action cards.