The Quest Kids
The Quest Kids Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Meet the Quest Kids
SKYLAR — The Powerful Viking Skylar is a natural born leader. She is strong, confident, savvy and swings a mean axe.
NOAH — The Wily Warrior Noah is as smart and courageous as they come, however he is slightly obsessed with treasure and has a mysterious past.
IVY — The Elf Princess Ivy is a fast, fearless, and kind Princess, and she wields her elven long bow with precision and grace.
CRASH — The Young Wizard Crash is the youngest Quest Kid, and while he may not get his spells right every time he never stops studying or helping the team when they need him.
Quick Play Instructions
- Create the Dungeon. Shuffle the green, gray and red Dungeon Tiles and place them face down on the board.
- Choose a Hero. Select a Quest Kid, take their figure and player mat, and then the adventure begins!
- Explore a Tile. On your turn choose a Dungeon Tile to explore. Green tiles are always good, gray tiles may have a lurking bad guy, and red tiles have the greatest risk AND the greatest treasure!
- Gain Abilities. Uncover ability cards that give you power, magic, and wisdom to use during your adventure.
- Scare Away Monsters. If you uncover a bad guy, use your gained ability cards to scare it away.
- Helping Each Other. If you encounter a bad guy that you cannot scare away you can ask for help from one of your fellow Quest Kids.
- Discover Treasure & Special Items. In all fantasy dungeons there is treasure to be found! You will discover treasure, gems and other special items during your journey.
- Count the Stars. Once the final tile is explored and all bad guys are dealt with, count the stars you have collected during your adventure. The Quest Kid with the most stars wins!
What Is In Your Game
- 1 Game Board
- 4 Large Hero Figures (Hero Miniatures)
- Standee Figures
- 20 Kind Kid Cards
- 11 Quest Cards
- 20 Health Cards
- 42 Dungeon Tiles (12 Green, 12 Gray & 18 Red)
- 60 Ability Cards
- 6 Gems
- Hidden Treasure Tiles — 24 Treasure Tokens
- 1 Treasure Bag
To Prepare the Game
- Place the Game Board in the center of the table.
- Shuffle the green and gray Dungeon Tiles and place them face down on the squares in rooms 1, 2, 3 and 4. Shuffle the red Dungeon Tiles and place them face down in rooms 5, 6 and 7.
- Place the Ability, Health, Quest and Kind Kid decks on their designated spaces on the board. The Kind Kid cards and Quest Cards should be shuffled and placed face down.
- Place the Treasure Tiles in the Treasure Bag.
- Each player will select a Quest Kid to use during their adventure and the character's corresponding player mat.
- Each player begins the game with 3 Health Cards and one Quest Card (your quest DOES NOT need to be kept a secret from other players).
- Each player takes 1 ability card based on their character:
- Skylar: 1 Power
- Noah: 1 Power
- Ivy: 1 Wisdom
- Crash: 1 Magic
- Place your Quest Kid figure at the entrance of the dungeon. Continue taking turns one after the other in clockwise order. Continue playing in this order until the end of the game. The player that had an adventure most recently goes first.
Exploring Dungeon Tiles
On each turn a player can either explore a new Dungeon Tile or visit an already explored Dungeon Tile that has not been resolved.
To explore a Dungeon Tile players move to any eligible tile and reveal what awaits on the other side of the card.
There are three different colors of Dungeon Tiles:
- Green tiles are always good.
- Gray tiles may have a lurking bad guy, but also have better rewards.
- Red tiles contain the best treasure, but also the biggest baddies.
Important: after a Dungeon Tile has been resolved it should be removed from the board and placed in a discard pile or onto the player's player mat (if it has stars).
Moving Through the Cave
Moving through the cave is quite simple for the Quest Kids. On a player's turn they are free to move to any Dungeon Tile that is adjacent to an already explored space (players cannot move diagonally).
Players do not have a movement limit. Players can move to any Dungeon Tile no matter where they are in the cave if that tile is next to an explored space and the player does not go through a wall to get to it.
More than one player can be on the same Dungeon Tile and players can move through an explored yet unresolved tile to explore a new Dungeon Tile.
There are both horizontal and vertical doors located throughout Tolk's Cave.
Ability Dungeon Tiles
Ability Dungeon Tiles allow players to gain ability cards, which are discarded to scare away bad guys and gain special items throughout your adventure. The Ability Dungeon Tile will specify how many of a specific ability a player should take from the decks at the top of the board and placed on their player mat.
There are three different abilities: Power, Wisdom, Magic.
- Ex: Skylar explores a dungeon tile and discovers the "+2 Power" ability tile. She takes two purple Power cards from the deck at the top of the board and places them with her player mat.
- Ex: Noah explores a dungeon tile and discovers the "+3 Any Combo" ability tile. He can pick any combination of three ability or treasure cards he wishes (3 power, 3 treasure, 2 magic & 1 treasure, etc.).
Monster Dungeon Tiles
Monster Dungeon Tiles bring Bad Guys into the game. When a Bad Guy is revealed the player has the chance to immediately scare them away!
- Ex: Crash needs to discard 3 Wisdom cards and 1 Power card to scare away Sly. If Crash scares away Sly he gets 4 stars! Place him on your player mat. Nice work!
Can't Scare Away a Monster?
- If a bad guy is not scared away the player loses one Heart card. If the player is out of heart cards when they can't scare away a monster they must skip their next turn, but gain back one Heart card.
- Bad Guys that are not scared away remain on the board. Another player can use their turn to scare away an already discovered bad guy instead of exploring a new tile.
Kind Kid Cards
When a player unveils a Monster Tile and does not have the required Ability Cards to scare it away they can ask for help from other players. If a player helps a fellow Quest Kid they get to take a Kind Kid card.
Kind Kid cards are always good and provide useful items like extra health cards, ability cards, stars and more. Kind Kid cards can be played at any point during any turn.
A player takes one Kind Kid card per Ability Card they give to another player.
- Ex: Noah needs 2 Magic and 1 Power to scare away a monster, but he only has 1 Magic. Ivy gives 1 Magic and Crash gives 1 Power to Noah and they both take 1 Kind Kid card.
The option to help a friend in need is given to players in reverse turn order (counter clockwise). The first friend can give one card and then it passes to the next player who can give one card. Continue in this way until you get back to the first player who can then give a second card and so on.
Special Item Dungeon Tiles
Special Item Dungeon Tiles represent valuable items that are found throughout Tolk's Cave that are worth stars at the end of the game. Players can gain these items by discarding Ability Cards.
- If a player does not have the needed ability cards to get a Special Item the dungeon tile stays on the board. Another player can use their turn to get the special item instead of exploring a new tile.
- The gem components should be placed on their matching dungeon tile when they are revealed during gameplay and then on a player's "Special Items" box on their playerboard once a gem is obtained.
Players cannot help other players obtain Special Items.
Treasure Tiles
Throughout their adventures players will reveal treasure by exploring Dungeon Tiles and gaining Kind Kid Cards.
- When a player reveals the treasure icon they will draw a Hidden Treasure Tile from the Treasure Bag.
- If Crash, Noah or Skylar draws this treasure chest they get one star.
- If Ivy draws this tile she gets three stars!
- Most treasure tiles are worth stars at the end of the game, however there are some bad things lurking in the Treasure Bag that are worth negative stars!
- Once the final treasure tile is pulled from the bag there is simply no more treasure hiding in Tolk's Cave.
Quest Cards
At the beginning of the game each player will receive a Quest Card. Each Quest Card has a unique goal for a player to complete in order to earn stars. The Quest Card does not need to be kept a secret from other players.
- Example: to complete the "In Hand" Quest, Noah needs to have 3 Power Cards on his player mat at the end of his turn. Once he does, he completes his Quest by moving the Quest Card to his star card collection on his player mat and draws a new Quest Card.
A player is not required to discard cards to complete a Quest! Players can only complete one Quest per turn and cannot receive help from other players to complete a Quest. If the Quest Card deck is empty then no new Quest Cards can be drawn.
There is no penalty if a Quest is not completed at the end of the game.
End of the Game
The game is over once all of the Dungeon Tiles have been explored. All players can then take two additional turns to deal with any remaining Bad Guys or Special Items. The game can end with bad guys and special items still on the board.
Final Score… The Quest Kid with the most stars at the end of the adventure is the winner. Possible star sources include: Scared Away Monsters, Special Items, Health Cards, Quest Cards, and Treasure Tiles.
Advanced Scoring System
If you would like a slightly more advanced scoring system that incentivizes different styles of play, use the end game bonuses listed here:
- Most Kind Kid Cards = +4 stars (if tie +3 stars)
- Most Remaining Health = +3 stars (if tie +2 stars)
- Most Treasure Tiles = +3 stars (if tie +2 stars)
- Most Scared Away Monsters = +3 stars (if tie +2 stars)
If there is a tie for the most stars then the player with the most Kind Kid cards is the winner. If there is still a tie, enjoy your shared victory with respect and honor.
How-To-Play Videos
Scan the QR codes in the printed rulebook with your smart phone camera to access How-To-Play Videos for The Quest Kids, from The Dice Tower and Man vs. Meeple.
Credits
Game Designer - Dustin McMillian, Artist - Apolline Etienne, Visual Design & Strategy - Culture Pilot, 3D sculptor - Bryce Cook