Too Many Bones: The Automaton of Shale

Expansion for Too Many Bones Expansion for Too Many Bones: Unbreakable Expansion for Too Many Bones: Undertow

Too Many Bones: The Automaton of Shale Rulebook

Table of Contents

Automaton Adventure Set-up
Automaton of Shale (Tyrant Card)
Automaton Anatomy
Tyrant à la Mode
Mode Shift
Automaton Encounters
Epilogue: Automaton
Encounter Cards Without Rules Text

Automaton Adventure Set-up

The cards and chips in this expansion can be played as a single adventure, using either the base Too Many Bones game, Undertow, or both.

To do so, we recommend that you follow the story, playing the encounters in the order you come across them in this book.

Set up your game as normal, with the following modifications:

The Automaton will be your Tyrant. You will not get to see its card or chip until you come to it in the story. The details you need for setup and your adventure are shown by icons on the card (icons not legible in the capture) and the Tyrant Encounter.
Do not build an Encounter deck. The book will give you your Encounters in the order you should complete them. As normal, in the event that you run out of Encounters, take a random Encounter from the game box to finish your adventure.
Any time the book gives you loot or Baddies, place them on the top of their respective deck/stack.

A couple of notes:

One encounter includes a wave-icon option (the Undertow icon). If you do not have Undertow, you must choose the other option for this encounter.
After playing this adventure, feel free to mix the components of this book into your game.

Automaton of Shale (Tyrant Card)

Roll the D6 Before Battle. Permanent.

Card face: "Automaton of Shale - 1 of 1." The card shows two numbered gear badges (9 and 11) and four colour icons; their meaning is not printed in the legible text and is not transcribed.

Automaton Anatomy

Chip: "Automaton Anatomy." Roll the D6 Before Battle. Permanent.

1-2: After all Gearlocs have rolled their initiative, increase one Gearloc Ini Die by 1.
3-4: Place a Def 2 Die in your Active slot.
5-6: Place a Def 2 Die in your Active slot. After all Gearlocs have rolled their initiative, increase one Gearloc Ini Die by 1.

Tyrant: Eliminated.

Tyrant à la Mode

BQ: Baddie Pts (party of 1 ignores this). Add Automaton to bottom of BQ.

When the Automaton enters play, place it as a standard Baddie (rather than a Mech). Reminder: as a Mech, the Automaton is immune to Poison, Weaken, Terrify, Stun, Bleed, and Fatigue.

Tyrant Skills:

Mode Shift: At Start of Battle, roll the D6 and place it on the Automaton. This represents the Automaton's mode. Each mode has a different effect, explained on the Automaton's Mode card. Increase the D6 by 1 at the end of any turn in which the Automaton loses HP.
Tinkerer: Place all HP lost by the Automaton on this card. At the start of each round, distribute this HP between all non-Tyrant Baddies in play (ignoring their HP Stat). If there are no non-Tyrant Baddies in play, return the HP on this card to the supply.
Taunt: Place Taunt Effect Die on this unit until the start of its next turn. Adjacent opposing units must attack this unit (units with multiple targets will attack this unit multiple times).

Mode Shift

The Automaton's mode is determined by the current face of the D6 that is placed on its chip when it enters the Battle Mat.

Poison Mode: After the Automaton resolves its roll, place a Poison 2 Effect Die on each of its targets that lost HP.
Creation Mode: After the Automaton resolves its roll, add # Baddie Pts to bottom of the BQ equal to the total Dmg rolled on its Atk Dice.
Def Mode: The Automaton's Def Stat is temporarily increased by # equal to party size.
Heal Mode: After the Automaton resolves its roll, all other Baddies on the Battle Mat heal to their max HP.
Electric Mode: After the Automaton is attacked, it deals 2 Dmg back to its attacker, so long as it was not defeated.
Unleash Mode: The Automaton does not roll Atk Dice on its turn and instead deals 3 True Dmg to all Gearlocs. Set this die to 1.

Automaton Encounters

Each card below is a single Automaton encounter. Story and flavour text are omitted. Where a card carries a Choice, the Choice text is the rule. The small blue or green italic lines are flavour and are omitted; blue rules lines (for example "Battle is ended after Round 3") are kept.

"It's been... tinkering... with these baddies?" (Only Option)

BQ: Baddie Pts (party of 1: Subtract 2 Pts). All Baddies are immune to Poison, Bleed, and Fatigue.

Roll the D6 at the start of each round. The result is applied to all Baddies:

Attack form is Ranged.
Attack form is Melee.
Roll +1 Def Dice.
Roll +1 Atk Dice.
Have the skill Assault.
Have the skill Blind Strike 2.

For each HP a Baddie would lose, the party may forgo removing the HP to increase the D6 by 1. If the final Baddie in play is defeated while the D6 is set to 6, treat this card as Loot.

Automaton Wiring: At the start of any round during the Tyrant Battle, change the Automaton's Mode to a different mode of your choice. Single-use.

Go back to sleep (Choice)

Increase each Gearloc's Health Stat by 1.

Listen to the intern and spend a bit of time preparing for your journey (Choice)

Training Pts earned from this choice may not be used to increase Stats.

Fight the dummies, dummy! (Choice)

Place four 1Pt Baddies on Baddie Ranged Positions with 1 HP each. Distribute # health chips equal to party size between the Baddies as you see fit.

Battle is ended after Round 3. Encounter success is achieved if battle is won before then.

Dumb down these dummies! (Choice)

Place four 1Pt Baddies on Baddie Ranged Positions with 1 HP each. Distribute # health chips equal to party size between the Baddies as you see fit.

Battle is ended after Round 5. Encounter success is achieved if battle is won before then.

Take a chance on the Mohlnor's "boat" and deal with Doug. (Choice)

Persistent. Gearlocs may not increase their Stats. Discard at the start of Day 5.

Swim across the Sibron, leaving Doug and the Mohlnor "boat" behind. (Choice)

Persistent. Gearlocs may not Scout during the Recovery Phase. Discard at the start of Day 6.

One Night Ultimate Wire Wolf. (Choice)

BQ: Baddie Pts, incl. Wire Wolf (5Pt). If BQ has fewer than 5Pts, BQ: Wire Wolf instead.

Party of 1: Gain Backup Plan Extension: 2 (crossed-tool icon) – Place Untargetable Effect Die on yourself.
Party of 2-4: Increase Wire Wolf's HP Stat by party size.

Clank! In the Woods. (Choice)

BQ: Baddie Pts, incl. Wire Wolf. If BQ has fewer than 5Pts, BQ: Wire Wolf instead.

All Baddies have the skill Break in addition to their other skills.

All Gearlocs have Backup Plan Extension: 2 (crossed-tool icon) – Deal 3 Dmg to an adjacent Baddie.

Attempt to prove that these are just typical Baddies. (Only Option)

Place 3 Baddies from the top of any Active Stack(s) facedown (Scouted Baddies may be used, but are still flipped facedown). As a party, decide how many of the Baddies to reveal, up to 2. The number revealed affects your reward, if successful.

As a party, guess the total of all 3 Baddies' HP Stats combined. Then flip all faceup for the actual total and discard the Baddies.

Encounter success is achieved if your guess is within 2 of the correct total. Collect additional rewards based on the number of Baddies revealed before guessing.

0 Revealed: a fist-in-gear icon and a loot icon.
1 Revealed: a purple loot icon.
2 Revealed: a loot icon.

These krelln are extra aggressive... (Choice)

Note: If you do not own Undertow, you must choose the other option.

BQ: Baddie Pts, incl. # (blue krelln icon) equal to party size. Gearlocs may discard any amount of loot and reduce Baddie Pts in the BQ by the number discarded.

Double the HP Stat of the first (blue krelln icon) placed on the Battle Mat. When (blue krelln icon) attack the raft, their attack is automatically successful without rolling.

Land is looking mighty attractive right now. (Choice)

BQ: Baddie Pts, add one 5Pt Baddie. Gearlocs may discard any amount of loot and reduce Baddie Pts in the BQ by twice the number discarded.

Fight amongst the ruins. (Choice)

BQ: Baddie Pts. (Party of 1: Subtract 2 Pts.)

All Baddies enter battle on Melee Baddie Positions. Place a stack of 3 health chips on each Ranged Baddie Position to act as the "crumbling ruins." At the end of any turn in which a Baddie loses 2 or more HP, remove a chip from the crumbling ruins stack in the Baddie's lane. The battle is immediately lost if two crumbling ruins stacks are depleted.

Sneak around and push the building on top of the enemy! (Choice)

All Gearlocs lose 1 HP and skip the Recovery Phase.

"Surprise attack! Wait... how do I get this stuff off?" (Choice)

BQ: Baddie Pts, add # Pts equal to party size.

Gearlocs have Surprise. In Round 1, Gearlocs may use no more than 2 Dex.

Brace and prepare to strike! (Choice)

BQ: Baddie Pts, add # Pts equal to party size.

At Start of Battle, each Gearloc may roll all of their Def Dice and place rolled Def in their Active slots. Rolled (crossed-tool icon) are not kept.

Epilogue: Automaton

Epilogue card, "Automaton of Shale - Epilogue 001."

The Automaton wheels around, its joints pulsing as it prepares to change form... but before the change can begin, one of its arms pops off, then the other, clattering to the ground as a hiss erupts from each of the beast's shoulders. As more pieces of its body fall away, the Automaton's once-impassive face betrays its anguish, the regret of an artificial life created for the sole purpose of animating more artifice. The creature lets out a final despairing, lonely howl before its remaining joints give way, collapsing the creature in a pile of inert debris. Where once was a unique being now lies only salvage.

Encounter Cards Without Rules Text

The Tyrant Encounter ("Rock and Steel"), the three Special Encounters ("News of the North", "Training for Dummies", "Snore of the Mohlnor") and the General/Solo Encounters ("Fangs for the Memories", "It's All Fun And Games When Someone Has Extra Eyes", "Krelln or High Water", "Scavengers' Endgame", "Earth Tones") show only narration on their legible card faces, with no rules text in the capture. Their narration is omitted. Any mechanical text on their reverse or on the Choice cards above is not present in the capture; this is a gap in the source, not a rule.