Objective

Collect the most valuable loot over three rounds by winning tricks and completing adventure quests. Tricks are won based on a combination of suit and dice value - highest, lowest, closest to 5, etc... Cards are dual use and can be used to manipulate the dice with their "crit" ability. The player with the highest total value of loot at the end of the game wins.

Components

• Mercenary Cards: There are 6 character types (suits), each with a winning dice roll requirement and a special ability. There are 8 of each character type. Only 3 types will be used during the game.

BARBARIAN:

~ DICE REQUIREMENT - The player whose Barbarian has the highest value wins.

~ CRIT ABILITY - Increase/decrease your die by 1-3 (within the die's numerical limits)

ROGUE:

~ DICE REQUIREMENT - The player whose Rogue has the lowest value wins.

~ CRIT ABILITY - Go last in turn order.

WIZARD:

~ DICE REQUIREMENT - The player whose Wizard has a value equal (or closest) to 5 wins.

~ CRIT ABILITY - Exchange your current die with one you've already used. It retains its die value.

DRUID:

~ DICE REQUIREMENT - The player whose Druid has the second-highest value wins.

~ CRIT ABILITY - Choose 1 opponent to re-roll the die they played that turn. They must keep the result.

PALADIN:

~ DICE REQUIREMENT - The player whose Paladin has the highest value and uses the same die size as the lead player’s Paladin wins.

~ CRIT ABILITY - In a tie, you win.

BARD:

~ DICE REQUIREMENT - Bards are a wild card. When leading with a Bard, choose one of the other suits for it to represents. When following with a bard, it is the same suit as whatever was led.

~ CRIT ABILITY - Re-roll your die up to 2 times.

• Dice: Each player receives one of each dice: 4-sided, 6-sided, 8-sided, 10-sided, 12-sided and 20-sided. Dice values are randomly generated at the start of each round. You must pair 1 die with your card each turn to give the card its value. Each die size can be used only once.

• Quest Cards: Meet special conditions shown on the card (e.g., "Win a trick with a 4") to gain loot. There are 64 different quests cards, so no 2 games are alike. The number of quests up for grabs during a round varies by player count.

~ 3-4 players: At the beginning of the round, you will be given 4 quest cards. Choose 1 to discard. Keep the remaining 3. These are private quests. Other players cannot see your quests. ~ 2 players: 6 public quests will be randomly chosen for both players to compete for.

• Barkeep's Challenge: At the end of each round, one player will win points for meeting its conditions. A new challenge will be selected each round by the player with the least loot.

Gameplay

The game lasts 3 rounds, with 6 tricks per round.

On your turn, you must choose a card to play and a die to play along with it. You may re-roll the die once. Then you may use the special ability of any card(s) still in your hand. Once the trick is resolved, points from quest cards will be awarded to players who met their criteria.

TRICK TAKING:

• Leading: The first player can lead with any suit.

• Following Suit: All other players must follow the led suit, if possible. If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card.

~ If a bard is led, everyone must follow with the suit it represents.

• Dice Modifiers: You may use up to 2 cards in your hand for their "crit ability" each turn, however once your hand is empty, you are done playing for the rest of the round.

Winning the Trick & Tiebreakers

Only players who followed the led suit are eligible to win the trick. In addition to the suit requirement, you must meet the suit's dice requirement to take the trick.

~ The player who best meets the win condition wins.

Tiebreaker 1: In case of a tie, the larger die type wins (d20 > d12 > d10, etc.).

Tiebreaker 2: The last player who played, in the turn order wins.

If multiple players used the Paladin's crit ability, the last player to use it wins the tie.

Winning the Game

In addition to points earned from completing quests and the barkeep's challenge, you get 1 point for each Bard you collected when you took the trick.

2-Player

Note the following changes:

~ Tied quests are discarded. Neither player scores it.

~ At the end of the round, all unscored quests are discarded and 6 new quests are revealed.

~ 3 types of mercenary cards (4 of each) are shuffled together with 6 bards to form the mercenary deck.

~ The "Creative" barkeep's challenge is not used.

~ If the game is tied at the end, you will play another round.