2011-07-05
by marccase, cc by nc sa
converted to gemtext by lettuce, 2023-07-28
Dungeon Crawl source on Instructables
This is my very first instructable, so feedback is greatly appreciated. Dungeon Crawl came out of one sleepless night I had a few months back. The mind does weird things when it's tired and for some reason that night I latched on to the idea of making a better single player card game than solitaire. After roughing out the rules and play testing the game for a month I feel confident that it's ready for the masses! I hope you enjoy. If you enjoy this game please vote for me in the Toy Challenge 2 contest.
Materials:
- 1 deck of normal playing cards with Jokers taken out.
You can either play as a mage or a warrior. Each character has it's own card set up and play styles.
Mages only get half the face value of their HP card. However they are the only character that has a mana pool. This is a second stat card drawn after the HP card. Mages get the face value of the card in MP cards (see “Drawing your stats” section). In battle, Mages melee attacks are only worth 1 damage. However, Mages may use MP cards to cast either an attack spell or a shield spell. Each spell costs one MP card. When used the Mage takes the MP card and turns it over, The damage dealt (attack spell) or absorbed (shield spell) is equal to the face value of the card (EX:a 4 of diamonds can either deal 4 damage or absorb 4 points of damage from a monsters attack). Mages may regenerate MP cards by spending 10 score points per card (see collecting your score).
A warrior's HP is the full face value of their HP card ( see “Drawing your stats” section). The Warrior also draws a card from the deck for every melee attack. The damage dealt is the face value of the card. Warriors also get a shield card. This is drawn after their HP card. The shield card absorbs one half of the face value of the card in incoming damage rounded down. (EX: if the shield card is the three of diamonds then all incoming attacks lose 1 damage. An enemy attacking with a 7 of clubs would only deal 6 damage).
After deciding on a character you will need to draw their stats. This is done by drawing a card from the deck. The first card you draw is your character card. This will determine the number of hit points your character has. For a warrior the face value of the card will be your HP. For a Mage it will be half the face value of the card (EX:If you draw the ten of spades, your character would have ten hp if they were a warrior and five if the were a mage.) You will then draw the appropriate number of cards to use as HP counters and place them next to your character card (see “Lay out your cards” section).
Next, if you are a Mage you will draw for your mana poll. Draw another card to see how much MP you will have. You get mana points equal to the face value of the card. (EX: if you get the king of diamonds then you would have 13 mana points.) Draw the appropriate number of cards to represent your mana poll and lay them next to your player card. (see “Lay out your cards” section)
If you are a warrior, you will draw your shield card (see warrior section of selecting character for description of shield card). This is laid sideways and placed under the character card (see next section). Note: In Dungeon Crawl, jacks are worth 11, queens are worth 12 and kings are worth 13
Here is how to lay out your cards. For a warrior your shield card goes under your player card and sideways. Your HP cards can then be stacked next to your player card. For a mage your player card is turned sideways with your Mana pool to your left an your HP to your right.
Once your character is set up and ready you can begin your adventure! Exploration follows three basic phases.
1. Enter a room
2. Fight the monster
3. collect your score.
Before you begin, shuffle the deck and set aside. This becomes the battle pool which is used to draw monsters and decide damage during combat. You may now decide if you will be playing on normal, or hard core difficulty. In normal difficulty the face value of a monster card also dictates it's maximum damage. In hard core mode there is no damage cap for monsters. This means that a monster who could normally deal a maximum of 2 damage in normal mode may be able to deal as much as 13 in hard core mode (see Fighting the monster)
When you enter a room you make the monster that you will be fighting. To do this you draw a card from the battle pool. This card becomes the monster card. Its HP is the face value of the card. Draw the appropriate number of cards to act as the monsters HP counters. Depending on your game mode this also dictates the max damage the monster can do (EX: a two of hearts would have 2 hp and in normal mode could do a max damage of 2).
Fighting starts by drawing for initiative. You first draw the monsters initiative card from the battle pool and then your own. The card with the highest face value wins. That character gets their turn first. In this case the monster drew an 8, while I drew a 1. Therefor, the monster goes first. NOTE: at the end of each turn, all attacking cards, lost HP cards and used Mana cards are shuffled into the deck.
On the monsters turn you will draw a card for the monsters attack. The attack is worth the face value of the card if it hits (Ex: an ace of spades would be worth an attack of 1 damage). Next you will draw your evasion card from the battle pool. If your evasion card is a different color than the monsters attack card, their attack misses (EX: you draw a 7 of hearts, it is a different color than the ace of spades and the attack of one damage misses). The monsters turn now ends.
If you are a warrior than your turns are exactly like the monsters turn. Draw a card and the attack is worth the face value of the card. The monster then gets a chance to evade, etc. The only difference is the damage absorption of your shield on successful monster attacks (see warrior section of choosing your character).
-When playing a mage your turns are a little different. If you decide to do a melee attack you still draw a card. However this is only to find out the color of your attack (either red or black) for when the monster draws it's evasion card. All mage melee attacks do one damage. To do any real damage a mage must play a spell card from their mana pool. Spell cards work exactly like a normal attack card and do face value damage. On monster turns, if a monsters attack hits, a mage may choose to cast a shield spell. To cast either spell a mage would turn over a card from their mana pool and play it. The card either deals or absorbs the face value of the card. The cards are always drawn from the top of the mana pool. No matter what character you play as, once you have drawn your attack card the monster draws their evasion card. This works exactly like a player evasion on the monster turn.
| Player Name | M/W | Difficulty | Score | ------------------------------------------ | | | | | ------------------------------------------ | | | | | ------------------------------------------ | | | | | ------------------------------------------ | | | | | ------------------------------------------ | | | | | ------------------------------------------ | | | | | ------------------------------------------ | | | | | ------------------------------------------
Play continues until the monster dies. Once this happens the player may add the number of hp the monster had to their total score (EX: a monster with 6 hp is worth 6 points). While Warriors can do nothing but gain more score, Mages may choose to sacrifice 10 score points to regenerate their whole mana pool (up to the total number of mana from their original mana card, see drawing stats section). This may be done at any time, even during combat. In normal difficulty you may keep your score when your character dies and record it on the high score sheet. If you are on hard core difficulty you may only record a high score if you chose to leave the dungeon and end the game. If you die you lose all your score. On the high score sheet you record your name, your character type, the game difficulty and your final score. A handy score sheet, as well as a mini copy of the rules can be found here. Just fold it along the Lines and cut along the dotted line.
Hope you have fun with this game! Again, feedback is appreciated.
Some very helpful people have proposed variations for this game and I'd like to include them here for your own enjoyment.
TristanGood suggested adding a "Rouge" class. A Rouge gets half HP like a Mage does but has a counter attack pool instead of a mana pool. Upon successfully evading the monsters attack a Rouge can burn one of their counter attack cards to do a counter attack on the monster. The damage is the face value of the card. The counter attack cannot be blocked. The counter pool can be replenished just like a mana pool by spending 10 score points.
Raykevinr suggested including jokers in the game as item cards. Upon pulling a joker you then draw another card. Red cards heal the face value of the card in HP (extra hp above your total is lost). Black is either a MP/CP restorer (for Rouges and Mages) or a new shield card for Warriors. The MP/CP potion works the same as the HP potion. New Shield cards replace old shield cards for Warriors.
Darthunicorn suggested a really cool survival mode. In survival mode score can be used to do various things. If a character spends 30 score points they can add a plus 1 to their health. For 40 A warrior may get a new shield card (equal to a +1 to their current shield) or a Mage may gain an extra mana card to their total mana. Fights become progressively more difficult however, after 15 rounds,monsters get plus 2 on their hp. After 25 rounds they get plus five. And after 35, they lose the damage cap.
Any more good ideas are welcomed!