C 2

Dungeons
&
Decks

1 S
Dealing Out Adventure
Dungeons and Decks is an experimental role-playing game designed for dungeon-crawling fantasy adventure.

Understandably, dungeon-crawling fantasy may not sound particularly experimental or original. In fact, it

probably sounds like the premise for at least half the RPGs out there. Well, my hope is that youll enjoy the

familiar premise along with an original (and slightly gimmicky) approach to the rules.

Where most RPGs will use dice, Dungeons and Decks relies on a pack of cards. I did tell you it was gimmicky.

However, it is a bit more than a cheap attempt at standing out from the crowd, the idea is to give you a system

that combines randomness with tactical decision-making in an interesting and (hopefully) fun way. I chose the

dungeon fantasy genre because it is so familiar to many people and its tropes and trappings are already ingrained

in RPG culture.

Otherwise, Dungeons and Decks is a fairly traditional game. One player takes the role of the Game Master (or

GM) building adventures and challenges for everyone else who takes on the role of individual adventurers

searching for treasure and glory in monster-infested holes. Oh, if you really want to use the DM acronym you

can always call yourself the Deck Master instead. If any of this sounds appealing then read on and get ready to

have some spell-swinging and sword-slinging fun.

What do you need to play?

Dungeons and Decks is meant to be easy to pick up and play without needing maps, charts or dice to roll. Like

any RPG its a good idea to have something to track your characters abilities and equipment whether thats a

pencil and paper, a laptop or a smartphone.

Oh, and of course youll need cards! Normally everyone, including the GM, should have their own deck of

playing cards (Jokers optional). However, if you cant scrounge up a full deck for everyone there are also rules

in Chapter 4 for playing with only two decks (one for the players and one for the GM).

And thats all you really need. Of course you can enhance your game experience with visual aids, sound

effects, maps, props, smoke machines, costumes, ritual sacrifice or whatever else floats your boat.

Whats a Flush?
Just to make things clear for anyone who might be wondering, Dungeons

and Decks uses playing cards but does not rely poker or any other card

game, so you dont need to worry if youve never played cards before.
 Table Of Contents
Chapter 1: The Basics
Important Terms 1
Cards 2
Actions 3
Setting Target Numbers 4
Combat 6
Time And Movement 10
Downtime 11

Chapter 2: Character Creation

Creating Your Character 12
Classes 14
Warrior 15
Trickster 21
Mage 27
Priest 33
Knacks 39
Level 40

Chapter 3: Special Rules

Spellcasting 41
Gear 43
Money 44
Minor Items 45
Major Items 46
Incredible Items 47
Card Shortages 48

Chapter 4: Running The Game

The GMs Deck 49
Hazards 50
Pacing An Adventure 51

Chapter 5: Minions And Monsters

NPC Threat Levels 52
Fodder 53
Minor Threats 56
Moderate Threats 59
Major Threats 62
Epic Threats 65

Icons provided by Freepik and Icons8.

Chapter 1:

The Basics
Before you get started building an adventure or creating a character its important to know the rules of the game

youll be playing.

Going Adventuring
The basic unit of the Dungeons and Decks campaign is the Adventure. An Adventure is a series of challenges, foes

and puzzles created (or furiously improvised) by the GM. The journey to retrieve the Urn of Storms from the

Black Mountain is an Adventure as is the trek through the Blood Mines of Groth. A short Adventure might last

only a single night of gaming while others may extend across several nights of fun. In between Adventures youll

have time to share stories, sell your treasure and generally carouse but well get to that later.

When you first start playing Dungeons and Decks you may take some time for introductions, setting scenes

and baiting plot hooks. However, the real meat of the game begins once the cards come out and the Adventure

begins. At the start of an Adventure you should make sure that youve got your deck of cards well-shuffled and

Important Terms
Here are some important terms and ideas that will need to be clearly defined as theyll be coming up a lot in

the game.

Hand: Everyone should have a hand of cards. Normally this is five cards but as your character gets more

experienced youll get more cards. Always draw cards from your deck to fill your hand back up when you

play or discard cards.

Draw: When you are called upon to draw a card you should take the card from the top of your deck and

put it in your hand.

Discard: When you are called upon to discard a card you can either choose them from your hand or discard

them blindly from the top of your deck. Discarded cards are placed in a discard pile.

Play: When you need to play a card you can select any of the cards in your hand to play. Normally cards

you play are then placed in the discard pile, but sometimes you will keep a card in play, leaving it in

front of you and discarding it once the effect or ability ends.

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then draw your initial hand of cards (this goes for the GM as well). If your Adventure takes more than one session

of play make sure to separate your deck and discards so that you can pick up where you left off.

Cards
Obviously the first question youll have is how do I use these cards?. The cards in your hand (which starts at

5 cards and increases as you level up) are available for you to play to attempt to resolve various actions and

challenges. After an action is resolved then you should draw enough cards from your deck to refill your hand.

Your cards have two important attributes that will be used for resolving actions: their card value (or CV) and

their suit (clubs, diamonds, hearts or spades).

Card Value
The card value of a card determines how powerful or effective your action is. Much like a high roll on a die, a

higher card value means youre more likely to succeed at your action. CV is determined very simply: all the

numbered cards have a CV equal to the number on the card (so an 8 of clubs has a CV of 8). Face cards have an

ascending CV, the Jack is worth 11, the Queen is worth 12, the King is worth 13 and the Ace is worth 14. Jokers

(if you have them in your deck) are worth 14 as well.

Card Suit
Each of the card suits (clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades) is associated with a particular category of action.

When taking an action where you have to play a card you normally need to play a card of the appropriate suit.

If you have to (or choose to) play cards of an inappropriate suit the action becomes Difficult (see pg 6 for info on

Difficulty). The suit/action breakdown is as follows:

Clubs (C): Acts of violence, strength and brute force. Any attempt to inflict damage.

Diamonds (2): Perception, intellectual challenges, solving puzzles and mysticism.

Hearts (1): Physical and mental endurance. Charisma and force of personality.

Spades (S): Deception, agility, stealth and evasion.

Each suit is also associated with one of Dungeons and Decks four Classes, for more information see pg 14.

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Actions
During an Adventure anything your character does can be expressed as an action. Actions come in three types:

Simple Actions, Tasks and Challenges.

Simple Actions
In many cases all you have to do is tell your GM that youd like your character to do something and it happens.

This is a Simple Action, a feat so basic that it requires no real effort or chance at failure. Want to scratch some

arrows on the wall of a cave so you dont get lost? No problem. Want to have a conversation? Just start talking.

Clambering over a fence, playing a game of darts, throwing a rock through a window? All of these are Simple

Actions.

GMs Note: Generally speaking any time the character has plenty of time to relax and handle things at their

leisure it should probably be considered a Simple Action.

Example: Duncan wants to break a window to get into an abandoned church. The window is ordinary glass and

there are bricks scattered all over so this is clearly a Simple Action. The GM tells Duncan that he easily shatters the

window and climbs inside.

Tasks
A Task is an action that requires some significant level of skill or luck to accomplish and has some kind of reward

for success or consequence for failure. Opening an unlocked door is a Simple Action but smashing down a barred

gate is a Task. When attempting a Task you must play one or more cards, spending effort in order to try and

overcome the obstacle.

Tasks are assigned a Target Number (or TN) by the GM based on how difficult the Task is to deal with. You

must play a card and if your cards value (see below) is equal or higher than the TN then you have succeeded at

the Task. Normally the GM wont reveal the Tasks TN ahead of time but the description of the Task should give

you a rough idea. The next page provides some example Target Numbers to help GMs set challenges.

Example: Jessica has found a large, rusty chest in the depths of the dungeon which she wants to unlock. The GM

tells her that the lock sees fairly simple (setting the TN at 3). Picking a lock falls under Diamonds so Jessica plays

a 5 and manages to crack open the rusty lock, finding it full of glowing vials.

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 Setting Target Numbers
All tasks have a Target Number that ranges from 2 to 10 (a Face card can beat any appropriate Task). Below

are some example TNs for each card suit (remember using an inappropriate card makes the task Difficult but

does not change the TN).

CClubsC 2Diamonds2
2C: Throw a heavy (50 lb) object over a chasm. 22: Recall a useful but obscure fact.

3C: Smash through a common wood door. 32: Spot a hastily concealed door or trap.

4C: Lift a large man (250 lbs) over your head. 42: Memorize the contents of a large book.

5C: Break down a reinforced door. 52: Dismantle a complicated lock.

6C: Hurl a large person (250 lbs) over a chasm. 62: Spot a carefully concealed trap or cache.

7C: Bring a galloping horse to a stop. 72: Reconstruct the events of a crime scene.

8C: Shatter steel chains. 82: Safely performing a half-understood ritual.

9C: Topple a large stone statue. 92: Analyze a bizarre, complicated device.

10C: Shatter a heavy stone door. 102: Outsmart an ancient, inhuman intellect.

1Hearts1 SSpadesS
21: Drink all night with no ill effect. 2S: Scam a table full of card players.

31: Smooth over an embarrassing moment. 3S: Sneak by your average guard.

41: Eat tainted food without getting sick. 4S: Climb a smooth stone wall.

51: Befriend a defeated opponent. 5S: Rob a merchant blind.

61: Ignore a sleeping draught or mild toxin. 6S: Pass yourself off as a well-known figure.

71: Resist torture without breaking. 7S: Run across a tightrope.

81: Touch a red-hot poker without flinching. 8S: Slink by a pack of guard dogs.

91: Befriend a bitter enemy. 9S: Break into the kings treasury.

101: Ignore lethal poison or dwarfish moonshine. 10S: Steal a ring from a new brides finger.

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Challenges
A Challenge is similar to a Task but instead of attempting to overcome a TN set by the GM youre struggling

against another character (usually an NPC). When faced with a Challenge you should declare what exactly youll

be doing and play a card (or cards if the Challenge is Difficult). The character opposing you then gets to play

their card(s) in response. If the your card value is higher then youve succeeded at the Challenge and if your

opponents card value is higher then theyve successfully foiled you. Ties will go in favor of the PC (or the

defender in cases where two PCs are opposing one another).

Generally speaking it should be obvious what suit is appropriate for a Challenge based on your description

of the Challenge. If theres any doubt then the GM can assign an appropriate suit to the Challenge.

Example: Conner has just managed to break out of his prison cell but now hes got to sneak by the jailor without the

alarm being raised. Conner states that hell wait in the shadows for the guards attention to wander and then try

and slip past, playing an 8S. The GM (on behalf of the NPC guard) plays a 42. The guard decides to take a little

nap and Conner easily escapes.

In battle attacking your foes and defending yourself are all treated as a special type of Challenge. For more

information on this see Combat on page 7.

Persistent Actions
Sometimes when you take an action you need it to stick for a bit. For instance, doing things like holding a door

closed, concentrating on a spell or maintaining a disguise. When you take a persistent action like this keep your

card in play, allowing it to be used to overcome Tasks and Challenges. This lasts until you take any other

non-Simple actions at which point you have to renew your effort: discarding your current card and playing a

new one if you want to keep the persistent action going.

Example: Jessica has pinned an orc warrior to the ground and plays a 6C to hold him down. Grappling the orc is a

persistent action so the 6C stays in play and any attempts the orc makes to break free must beat that card. However,

the orcs goblin ally is fleeing and Jessica wants to try and catch the scoundrel with a thrown dagger. She can take

the action but doing so will require that she discard the 6C and play a new card or release the orc.

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Difficulty
Normally when youre attempting a Task or Challenge you only play one card and compare its CV to the TN

or your opponents CV. However, in the case of Difficult actions youll be required to play two cards of the same

suit and in order to succeed both cards must be high enough to beat the TN or your opponents CV. Typically

Difficulty is caused by outside complications, character abilities or attempting actions without using the correct

suit. Tasks which are simply very challenging are represented by a higher TN (hitting a small target has a high

TN, hitting a target in the rain is Difficult).

Example: Natalie is trying to pick the locks on her manacles while hanging upside down. The GM decides that these

are good locks (TN 52) but Natalies less-than-ideal circumstances make things Difficult. Natalie plays two cards:

42 and 62. Under normal circumstances the 62 would succeed but the 42 is not high enough to beat the TN so she

fails to free herself.

Multiple factors can cause difficulty and these conditions stack, increasing the Difficulty and requiring you to

play more and more cards. Each level of Difficulty requires you to play another card, so a single source of

Difficulty requires two cards, two sources of Difficulty require three cards and so on. All cards must be of the

same suit and in order for the action to succeed every card must be high enough to beat the TN or CV.

Example: Natalie wants to try and pick the lock again but she doesnt have any 2 cards left in her hand (the

appropriate suit for this sort of action) and attempting a Task with an inappropriate suit makes it Difficult. Since

the situation is already Difficult this means that she has to put together three cards. Fortunately she has three 1

cards: a 71, 81 and a J1. All of those exceed the TN of 5 and allow Natalie to succeed at the Task and frees herself.

In cases where your degree of success or failure matters (especially in combat) then use your highest card (in the

case of a successful action) or your highest failed card (in cases where your action did not succeed).

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Combat
Combat in Dungeons and Decks is handled with a series of Challenges to try and defeat your foes. These combat

rules can potentially also be used for other struggles like magical duels or drinking contests. However, itll mostly

be used to handle battles.

Joining Battle
When combat begins the first thing to do is determine the order in which everyone will take actions. If the battle

begins with an ambush then the side with the element of surprise will go first. Otherwise everyone involved

should put a card in play. The suit of the card determines the order you act in: Spades first, then Diamonds, Clubs

and finally Hearts. If more than one character has the same suit then the one with the highest Card Value goes

first. Any remaining ties can be broken as you like (I suggest rock-paper-scissors or a coin toss).

Combat is divided into Rounds, enough time for everyone to have a turn taking an Action. Once everyone

has acted then that Round ends and a new Round begins. At the start of a new Round you can choose to discard

the card youve played for turn order and put a new card in play, shifting your position in the turn order.

Example: Dunan, Jessica and Cooper are all preparing to battle one of the guardians of the Tomb of Domb: a skeleton

warrior. Since the GM is in charge of the monster she plays a card for the skeleton: a 72. Meanwhile Duncan plays

a 22, Jessica plays a 5C and Cooper plays a JC. Since Cooper was the only one to play a spade he goes first. Duncan

and the skeleton both played a Diamond card but the skeletons CV is higher so it goes first, followed by Duncan.

Finally Jessica goes last with her Clubs card.

Taking Action
During your turn in a Round you can take as many simple actions as you can reasonably manage in a few seconds

(drawing a sword, shouting to your allies, hiding behind a table, etc). In addition you can take a single action

that requires playing a card. Usually this will be a Challenge (to attack a foe) but you can also try and accomplish

Tasks that could reasonably be resolved in a matter of a few seconds (smashing down a door, leaping over a

chasm, etc). The GM makes the final decision on whether or not a particular Task is possible in a single turn.

Examples: On the skeletons turn it draws a rusty blade (a simple action), rattles its way across the room (also a

simple action) and takes a swing at Jessica (a Challenge).

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Fighting Each Other
If you decide to attack an opponent you must play one or more cards, just like a normal Challenge, and your

opponent will do the same. If your CV is lower than the defenders then your attack was foiled and you inflict

no damage. If your CV is higher then your attack has succeeded and you inflict damage (see below). Ties go to

the defender.

Example: The GM, on behalf of the rotting warrior, plays a 5C for the attack and Jessica raises her shield to block,

playing a 31. Since the monsters CV was higher, Jessicas defense fails and she suffers damage.

Dealing Damage
If you are the victim of a successful attack then you will take damage equal to the difference between your CV

and your opponents. Damage forces you to discard cards equal to the damage inflicted. Discarded cards can be

taken from your hand or discarded blindly from the top of your deck. After discarding cards dont forget to draw

from your deck to refill your hand.

Example: With the skeletons successful attack Jessica takes 2 points of Damage (the difference between the skeletons

CV of 5 and her CV of 3). She has to decide how the damage is going to be allocated. First she draws a card to replace

the card used for her defense. Then she decides to get rid of a low-value card from her hand but wants to save the

rest and so discards from the top of her deck. Since shes down by one card now she draws one from her deck to refill

her hand.

NPCs take damage as well but the GM doesnt discard cards for it. Instead all NPCs have a set number of hit

points (or HP) and damage depletes their hit points. Once their hit points reach zero they are defeated.

Example: Jessica wants to take out this monster so she swings her mace, playing a 10. The GM only has a 4 to defend

the skeletal guardian. Jessicas attack succeeds and inflicts 6 damage. This particular monster has only 5 hit points

so the 6 damage is enough to defeat it and Jessicas attack sends bones flying.

If you take enough damage to completely empty your deck youve been Mortally Wounded and any leftover

damage is ignored. You can still act but any future damage takes cards only from your hand and if your hand is

completely emptied (due to damage or playing cards) then youve died. Powerful magic or plot devices might

be able to bring you back to life but otherwise there is little hope.
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 Rest and Recovery
Normally your deck will be gradually depleted over the course of an Adventure as damage and exhaustion

accumulate. Some special abilities or magical items (such as potions of healing) allow you to swap or recover

cards from your discard pile, allowing you to last a bit longer, but full recovery (shuffling your discard pile

back into your deck) doesnt normally happen until the end of the Adventure.

Since many Adventures are fast-paced escapades or dangerous delves into monster-infested dungeons

theres rarely a chance to get any real rest or recovery. However, in longer Adventures you might have the

opportunity for a Rest. Resting requires time, safety and comfort so its normally impossible in the depths of

a dungeon or hiking through the wilderness. You might be able to catch a few hours of fitful sleep but its not

enough to recover any cards. A Rest is something like a night at an inn, time spent carousing in a faerie grove

or a sip from a blessed fountain in an ancient shrine. A successful Rest allows you to take one card per Level

from the bottom of your discard pile and put them on the bottom of your deck.

Stunts
Sometimes its your turn but you have no cards worth playing. Maybe youre stuck with some low-end Clubs

cards that dont stand a chance but you cant scrape together enough cards of other suits to manage a Difficult

roll. Then you can perform a Stunt.

These are special combat tricks and maneuvers to help you succeed at a future action. A Stunt may involve

a clever feint, clambering to higher ground or drawing attention while an ally goes in for the kill. A Stunt counts

as a Task but does not have a Target Number. Instead you should describe what youre trying to do and play a

card appropriate to the Stunt (you cant use inappropriate suites for a Stunt). You (or an ally you designate) gets

a bonus equal to half the cards CV, rounding down, on the next action you (or your ally) initiates. This bonus is

lost if its not used before the end of your next turn.

Example: Kate is battling a mighty Rock Wyrm and only has a couple of low Clubs cards (not nearly enough to

pierce the beasts hide) and she only has one of every other suit. So she tells the GM she is going to leap on the

Wyrms back and try to find a gap in its stony plating. She plays an 8 (since this is a feat of agility) and thus will

earn a +4 bonus to the CV on her attack on the next round.

Potentially, any of the four suits can be used for Stunts. Clubs might involve shoving or knocking an opponent

off balance. Diamonds could represent looking for a weakness in their defenses or clever tricks. Hearts might

involve steeling your resolve or inspiring your allies. Spades could involve trickery or fancy footwork.

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Time and Distance
The following are a few other rules on how to handle basic things like movement and time in Dungeons and Decks.

Time
For the most part time is handled just like it is in the real world with minutes, hours, days and so on. The GM

can work out things like how long an overland hike or the time it takes to set up camp with some rough estimates

or back of the envelope math.

When it comes to game rules things are handled much more abstractly. Adventures are divided into Scenes

which can last anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. A Scene is a discrete set of connected events and

actions such as a fight, time spent exploring a cave or searching the bazaar for someone who sells stench potions.

In a combat Scene time is further divided into Rounds, enough time that everyone can take an action (usually a

few seconds).

Distance and Movement

Like time, distance is kept fairly abstract in the rules. If you and your team are battling a gaggle of goblins that

just burst into a bar then everyone can usually be assumed to be close enough to freely move and engage with

whoever they wish. However, in some cases a bit more detail is useful and so there are four increments of

distance in Dungeons and Decks:

Hand-to-Hand: This is close enough to hit with a punch or a swung sword.

Close: About 10-30 feet or so. Close enough that you could attack with a spell or thrown weapon.

Far: Around 30-100 feet or so. Spells and throwing weapons are usually Difficult at this point but long-range

weapons like bows or crossbows are not.

Very Far: Over 100 feet. You can only attack with weapons like bows or crossbows and even then it is Difficult.

During your action you can usually move far enough to close one increment of distance between you and someone

else as a simple action (so if youre Close to someone you can move to In Your Face and still hit them with your

sword). Moving two increments is possible as a Task (usually 5S at Far or 8S at Very Far). Of course if there are

barriers or obstacles in your path then moving even a single increment might require a Taskan opponent 20

feet away on even ground is very different from an opponent 20 feet above your head on the roof of a building.

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Downtime
So, after an Adventure is complete, what happens next? Well, once youve finished an Adventure youre due

some Downtime. Downtime is the general term for space between adventures when the decks are shuffled up

and put away. Its a time for characters to receive rewards and bask in adulation or just get wasted in an inn and

try to remember where your coin purse is. In general its a time for role-playing opportunities not directly

connected to things trying to kill you. Sometimes Downtime is very short, just a quick breather between

connected Adventures (perhaps waiting for a sage to decipher that map you found in the bandits lair) and other

times it could last for weeks or months at a time as characters tackle large-scale projects or pursue personal

ambitions.

During Downtime there are no actions. That is not to say you cant do things, they just wont involve playing

cards. Generally if youre trying to do something during Downtime and theres nothing much standing in your

way then you can do it. Want to skulk across the rooftops for a few nights, getting a feel of a city? Sure thing.

Want to spend time in the forge straightening your sword and banging dents out of your armor? Absolutely fine.

If things start to happen that absolutely require some sort of mechanical resolution then its probably time for a

new Adventure to start, perhaps kicked off by your characters daring (or foolhardy) escapades.

Otherwise, Downtime is intended to allow the players and the GM to roleplay without many rules getting

in the way. Since most Downtime will take place in towns or cities youll likely have a chance to replenish supplies

(see Gear on pg 43) or make connections with important local NPCs. Once its time to start a new Adventure

youll get out your deck, give it a good shuffle and draw a new hand to begin a new daring tale.

Probably a good place for a picture

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Chapter 2:

Character Creation
Now that you understand the basic rules its time to create your character. The first step is to come up with a

general concept for your character so you can figure out their personality and role in the game. Think up a name

and possibly a bit of background and then you can get started on the nuts and bolts of character creation.

Creating your Character

Every character has several basic traits they all share:

Class: Each character has a Class. There are four Classes: Warrior, Trickster, Mage and Priest. Your class

determines your Favored Suit and your choice of Abilities.

Level: Your Level is a general gauge of your competence, experience and skill. Starting characters are normally

Level 1 and your Level will increase as you go on Adventures and earn Experience Points (XP).

Knacks: Knacks are specializations or talents that that grant you a bonus in certain situations. Everyone starts

with three Knacks that you create for yourself.

When creating your character you should first select a Class from one of the four Classes. You can see more

information for each of the Classes on the following pages. Normally your characters will begin at Level 1,

allowing you to choose from one of of the Classs two Level 1 Abilities. Next you should come up with your three

starting Knacks. The rules for creating Knacks are on page 39.

Of course, youll also want to flesh your character out with a name, history, personality and appearance.

There are no rules for this, you can simply come up with whatever seems appropriate for your characters abilities

and the world of the game. You also begin play with any equipment that makes sense for your character (see pg

43 for more information on gear).

Races
You may have noticed a step missing from the traditional fantasy character creation: choosing your race. In

Dungeons and Decks your species is largely just treated as a cosmetic choice that carries no bonuses or penalties.

If you want to have some mechanical backing for your race that is normally done through your starting

Knacks. A Dwarf might have a Knack like Magic Resistance or Axes, Axes And More Axes. An Elf might

have a Knack like Elf Eyesor they might not, maybe your elf lost an eye and has terrible depth perception.

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Character Creation Examples

Kit
Example 1: David wants to create a character named Kit, a young man with
A city-bred young demi-elf with
distant elvish blood who grew up orphaned in the big city of Garwick. Kit fast feet and quick wits.
hooked up with an adventuring party when he needed to skip town after an

incident with the local thieves guild. The Trickster class seems a natural fit
Knacks: Sneaky, Running And
for an independent young man who lives by his wits and cunning and David Climbing Stealing

has two Level 1 Abilities to choose from and he selects Dumb Luck, deciding Abilities: Dumb Luck.

that Kit often seems to have uncanny luck in a pinch. Finally David must
Gear: A patchwork cloak full of
create Kits three Knacks. He decides to focus on Kits roguish past picking pockets, a pouch of food, a brace

the Knacks Sneaky, Running And Climbing and Stealing. of daggers.

Anastasia
Example 2: Eric wants his character to be a noblewoman forced to flee her highcrown

kingdom and seeking to return from exile. He decides that his character, Brave princess in exile
Anastasia Highcrown, was trained in magic by her court wizard who helped
Knacks: Excellent Manners,
her escape once her familys throne was usurped, making her a Mage. She is Shrewd Negotiator Scepter Of

trying to earn the wealth, connections and power she needs to return to her Highcrown

homeland and oust the usurpers. Out of her two Level 1 Abilities Eric decides Abilities: Hex

that Hex suits her best, being the more flexible of the two initial Abilities. Her
Gear: Her royal scepter, tattered
Knacks will largely focus on her noble heritage: Excellent Manners, Shrewd finery, too-light bag of coins.

Negotiator and finally Scepter Of Highcrown which she uses as a magic

wand to focus her powers.

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Classes
There are four Classes in Dungeons and Decks: the Warrior, the Trickster, the Mage and the Priest. The Warrior is

a heavy-hitting bruiser who is great at giving and receiving massive amounts of damage. The Trickster is a

multi-talented individual who relies on luck and finesse to pull out success when it counts. The Mage is a master

of magic and wizardry granting them unique magical tricks and flexible abilities. Finally, the Priest is a holy man

who inspires and supports the rest of the team who also has the power to call upon powerful miracles.

Although each class is specialized its important to remember that adventurers in Dungeons and Decks are

flexible, experienced adventurers who are all masters of many skills, your Class merely represents areas where

you are superb rather than exceptional. While the Warrior might be the king of the battlefield the Trickster can

easily hold their own in a fight and the Priest is more than capable of smiting sinners and flipping tables. Likewise

the Warrior can pick a lock, fast-talk a guard or sneak by a sleeping bear. So long as the cards are on your side

theres just about nothing you cant manage.

Each Class has a Favored Suit, Clubs for Warriors, Spades for Tricksters, Diamonds for Mages and Hearts

for Priests. When playing any card from your Favored Suit you may treat the cards base CV as your Level (or

the cards normal CV, whichever is higher). This applies whether the card is being used for an action or for one

of your Abilities. This happens before any modifiers (such as bonuses from Knacks or Abilities) are applied to

the cards CV.

Example:Jessicaisa6 level Warrior who needs to make an attack but her highest Clubs card is a measly 2. If she

chooses to play it she can treat the card as a 6C instead of a 2C, since Clubs is her favored suit.

Abilities
All characters have certain Abilities granted by their Class. An Ability is something that grants a bonus or lets

you change the rules just a little for your character (for instance, changing your hand size or how you draw or

discard cards). Each Class has several basic Abilities which all members of the Class possesses, most of which

are passive Abilities which are always active. In addition you can select from one of two Abilities based on your

Class at each Level (including Level 1). When picking an Ability you can also choose to select any lower-level

Abilityaswell(soat4 level you can choose either of your Level 4 Abilities or any Level 1, 2 or 3 Abilities you

havent taken yet).

Most of these Level-based Abilities require some condition or activation (the details will be in the Ability

description) and there is no limit to the number of Abilities that can be used to modify a single action.

14
Warrior
Clubs (C)

The Warrior is the undisputed king of the battlefield and the master of
Picture of a Warrior looking
physical combat in all its forms. Capable of dealing and enduring huge All big and strong and such.

quantities of damage the Warrior is the lynchpin of any teams combat

strategy. Warriors come in many forms, from fur-clad berserkers to

keen-eyed archers to a noble knight dressed from head-to-toe in steel. Their

weapons are ready, their loins are girded and their enemies are driven

before them.

Warrior Abilities fall into two categories: Might and Mettle. Might Abilities are focused on inflicting more

damage, taking out more enemies and generally seeing your foes fall at your feet in little pieces. Mettle Abilities

are more defensively focused, allowing Warriors to shrug off attacks and reducing the effectiveness of attacks

that do manage to land. In general the Warrior is themed around effectiveness: ensuring that when they succeed

they do so with gusto and when their opponents succeed their danger is blunted.

Obviously Clubs is the Warriors most favored suit but Hearts (or Spades for more agile Warriors) is close

behind as it allows them to endure or avoid damage.

Starting Abilities

Well Armed: When attacking a foe with any sort of weapon you can add 2 to your damage if the attack

succeeds. In this case a Weapon is anything crafted specifically for combat. Warriors are still deadly with a

hefty tree branch or a broken bottle but theyre more comfortable with a stout blade.

Bodyguard: If you are nearby (In Your Face range) an ally who is attacked you can discard a card to force

the attacker to target you instead. In the case of area attacks such as fireballs or dragonfire you can exempt

allies from the attack but your defense becomes Difficult.

Courage: A steadfast heart is essential to the Warriors role. You get a +2 bonus to the CV of any attempt to

resist fear, intimidation or poor morale.

15
 Might Mettle

Wild Swing Stand Strong

Before making an attack action If you play Clubs cards when

you can choose to make it
Difficult in exchange for
doubling the damage inflicted if
the attack succeeds.
Level defending against an attack you
can add your Level to the CV of
One
the card. This does not make
Clubs an appropriate suit for

defense.

Smack Down Shield Bash

If you successfully attack an After a successful defense you

opponent you may discard a card Level can play a Clubs card to make
in order to make their next action your attackers next action or
two
or defense Difficult. defense Difficult.

16
 Might
Battle Rage
At any time during combat you
can choose to enter a battle rage,
treating all cards you play as Level
though they were Clubs cards
three
until the fight ends. Ending this
rage early requires you to
discard your entire hand.
Critical hit
If you make a successful attack
you may play a Clubs card in Level
order to add the CV to your
four
damage. You can only do this
once per attack.
17
Mettle
Second Wind
You can play a Hearts card at any
time to take a number of cards
equal to the CV from your
discard pile and swap them with
cards in your hand.
Iron Jaw
On a failed defense you may play
a Hearts or Clubs card and
reduce the damage by the Card
Value.
 Might
Ferocity
When you draw a card for any
reason and it is not a Clubs card
you can choose to put it on the
bottom of your deck and draw
again. This can be repeated until
you get a Clubs card.
Whirlwind
By discarding a card you can
make a single attack which
affects all targets within Hand-to-
Hand range. Each target plays a
card for defense and compares it
to your card.
Mettle
The Best
Defense
You can discard a card to defend
Level using Clubs without making the
five action Difficult. This can only be
used to defend against physical
injury, fear or intimidation.
Counter-
strike
After a successful defense against
a hand-to-hand attack you can
Level play a Clubs card in order to
six inflict damage to your attacker
equal to the difference between
your defensive CV and their
attack CV.
18
 Might
Boundless
Strength
When you make an attack that
defeats an opponent you may
swap a card from your hand
with one from your discard pile.
Treat a group of Fodder (see
page 53) as a single opponent.
Killing
Spree
You can put a Clubs card in play
as a persistent action. Anyone
within Hand-To-Hand range is
subject to an attack using that
card. Since this is a persistent
action you must play a new card
when you take a non-simple
action.
Mettle
Tank
Put a Hearts or a Clubs card into
play. Any damage you suffer is
Level reduced to zero so long as it is
seven lower than the CV of the card in
play. Since this is a persistent
action you must play a new card
if you take any non-simple
actions.
Wall of
Steel
At the start of your turn you can
Level discard a card in order to make
eight any attacks against you Difficult
until the start of your next turn.
19
 Might Mettle

Unstoppable Immovable
Force Object

If your opponent attempts to Whenever a new combat Scene

defend against your attack with
a Hearts or Clubs card you may
discard a card in order to cut
their CV in half (rounding
down).
Level begins you get a +5 bonus to your
nine CV when defending with Hearts
or Clubs cards. This bonus lasts
until you are damaged by an
opponent.

Killer Juggernaut
Instinct

Whenever you play a non-Clubs When playing Hearts cards for

card you may discard a card in

Level defense or for Warrior abilities

order to treat its suit as Clubs you may act as though Hearts is
ten
instead. also your favored suit.

20
Trickster
Spades (S)

Tricksters are masters of cunning, grace and every underhanded trick in Picture of a Trickster looking
the book. The Trickster is an exceptionally flexible class which may be used suitably tricksy

to represent many different archetypes: charming gentlemen spies, rugged

wilderness bandits, professional thieves, military scouts or adventuring

archeologists. What they all share in common is a focus on skill, cunning

and subtlety. Whatever their profession, Tricksters are well suited to

tackling a variety of problems: combat, exploration, crime and dungeon-

delving.

The Tricksters abilities are divided into Luck and Finesse. Luck is useful for those who like to take risks for

big rewards and to make sure you have what you need in a pinch. Finesse makes your actions more efficient and

makes it easier to avoid wasting valuable cards. Since the Trickster has many abilities that help ensure success

and they favor the Spades suit they are often very skilled at avoiding damage, even outclassing the Warrior when

it comes to keeping their skins intact.

In addition to their favored suit, Spades, Tricksters usually rely on the Diamonds suit for things like spotting

danger or disabling traps and locks. Those who turn their hands to assassination often make good use of Clubs

cards as well.

Starting Abilities

Takes One To Know One: You get a +2 to your CV when attempting to spot trickery or deceit (seeing through

a disguise, catching someone in a lie, spotting an ambush, etc).

Hit em When Theyre Down: Tricksters are adept at exploiting weakness and get a +1 to their CV in any

Challenge where their opponent is experiencing Difficulty.

One More Time: When you fail a Task but have the opportunity to try again you get a +2 bonus to your CV

on any subsequent attempts.

21
 Luck
Dumb Luck
When taking a Difficult action
you get a +1 bonus to your CV Level
for every extra card youre
one
required to play.
Calling
Your Shot
Name a card or category of card
(An Ace of Spades or any face When making an attack you can
card) and discard a card. If the
Level
card you draw to replace it is not two
part of the category you called
then discard it and draw another.
Keep doing this until you get a
card that matches your criteria.
22
Finesse
Eyeballing
When faced with a Task the GM
will tell you the TN before you
play any cards.
Sting Like a
Bee
make your opponents defense
Difficult but any damage you
inflict if the attack is successful is
cut in half (rounding down,
minimum of 0).
 Luck Finesse

Deadly Fast Hands

Dodging

If you successfully defend When performing a Stunt with a

against an attack using Spades

Level Spades card you may discard a

card you may discard a card in three card in order to add your full CV

order to redirect the attack (with (instead of half) to your next

the same CV and abilities) action.

against another opponent in

Hand-to-Hand range.

Dont Mind Never Mind

Me

At the start of one of your turns If you attempt a Task or

in combat you can choose to

Level Challenge and fail then you may

make any action you take discard a card to return the

four
Difficult and in exchange all card(s) you played back to your

attacks against you become hand. This sets your effective CV

Difficult as well. This lasts until to 0 so its rarely wise for

the start of your next turn. defense.

23
 Luck Finesse

Only a flesh Off Balance

wound

When you take damage you can Any time you win a Challenge

reduce it by half (rounding

Level against another character you

down) but your next action five may discard a card in order to

becomes Difficult. make their next action Difficult.

Mulligan Cool-Headed

At any time you can discard a When you succeed at a Task or

card in order to put your hand on Level Challenge you can swap the
the bottom of your deck and card(s) you just played with
six
draw a new hand of cards. another from your hand, so long

as the new card would still

succeed.

24
 Luck
All In
Play a Spades card and draw
cards equal to its CV and add
them to your hand. You can keep
these extra cards until the end of
your next turn, at which point
any unused cards are discarded.
(Dont draw new cards to refill
your hand unless it drops below
its normal level).
Make it Fit
If you are taking an action and
your CV is not high enough for
success you may play a Spades
card and add its CV to your
current total CV.
Finesse
Wear Them
Down
Any time you win a Challenge
you get a +1 bonus to your CV
Level for any actions against the loser
seven of the Challenge. This is
cumulative but resets to 0 if you
fail a Challenge or take an action
against another character.
One step
Ahead
When you initiate a Challenge
Level against another character you can
eight discard a card to force them to
play their cards first. You still
have to describe your action to
establish appropriate suits.
25
 Luck Finesse

Spanner In Take a Peek

The Works

At the start of your turn in a When discarding you can choose

conflict you may sacrifice your

Level to look at the first card on top of

action and discard a card to nine your deck before deciding

make all opponents actions whether to discard from your

Difficult until the start of your deck or your hand.

next turn.

Charmed Jack of All

Life Trades

Whenever you succeed at a Task When using cards of an

or Challenge you can take a card
Level inappropriate suit you can
from the bottom of your discard ten choose to simply take a -1
pile and put it on the bottom of penalty to the cards CV rather
your deck. than making the action Difficult.

26
Mage
Diamonds (2)

The one, true master of magic, the Mage wields forces beyond mortal A Mage being magical
comprehension. They may command cosmic forces, harness primordial

powers and bend the energies of creation to their will. Magic thrums

through their veins and dances through their soul. For some reason they

usually use this power to trudge through slimy caves and fry hapless

monsters.

The Mage lacks the raw power of the Warrior or the reliable skill of the

Trickster, instead they have unparalleled flexibility and access to unique powers that no one else can do.

Although spellcasting isnt unique to Mages (see pg 41) their abilities allow them to use magic beyond the reach

of other spellcasters. Mage abilities are divided into Wizardry and Evocations. Wizardry abilities are used to modify

your normal spellcasting abilities, making your spells affect more targets, last longer or reach farther. Evocations

are unique spells which are only available to the Mage, giving them whole new powers. Its worth noting that

you can use your Wizardry abilities to enhance your Evocations just like a normal spell.

The Diamonds suit, the favored suit of the Mage, becomes extremely flexible with their Ritual Magic ability

and Mages will often rely strongly on Clubs for their destructive magical attacks.

Starting Abilities

Arcane Defense: You get a +2 bonus to your CV when resisting or overcoming any sort of magic-based

Challenge or attack.

Ritual Magic: The Diamonds suit can be used to enhance any sort of magical action, using the Stunt rules.

The bonus granted to your CV by the Stunt also increases by 1 when used this way.

Detect Magic: You get a +2 bonus to your CV for any action made to detect or identify magical effects.

27
evocations
Hex
You can play a card and choose a
target within spell range. If the
victim cannot (or does not) play
a card of the same suit with a
higher CV then they suffer a -2 to
the CV of all cards they play of
the same suit for the rest of the
Scene. This counts as a Task.
Mystic Hand
You may discard a card to
perform any action that you can
do with your own two hands
(opening a door, swinging a
sword, lifting an object) at your
spell range, so long as you can
see the object.
wizardry
Farcasting
Your spells have a range like
Level bows or crossbows, allowing you
to target opponents up to Far
one
range without penalty and up to
Very Far with Difficulty.
Focus
When using magic to perform a
Level persistent action (see page 5) you
can discard a card to avoid
two
having to play a new card when
you take non-simple action.
28
evocations wizardry

Counter- Blast
spell
You can treat the Diamonds suit

as appropriate for defending You can discard two cards to

against any sort of magical

Level have your spell affect anyone

Challenge and can play a three within Close range of your

Diamonds card to end an primary target. You cannot be

ongoing magical effect with a selective, both allies and enemies

lower CV than your card (this are affected.

counts as a Task).

Summon Affliction
Minions
By playing a Diamonds card you By discarding a card when you

can summon a Fodder Horde. make a magical attack you can

You can pick any of the stats

Level make the attack sticky, keeping

from page 53. The number of the card in play as a persistent

four
Fodder characters is equal to the action which repeats at the

CV of the card you played. You start of your turn. You cannot

can play additional Diamonds have more than one affliction

cards to increase the amount. stuck to an opponent.

29
evocations
Flight
You can discard a card to take
flight, allowing you to move
freely in three dimensions (this
does not increase your speed).
You must discard another card
every Scene you spend flying
and every time you take a non-
simple action.
Projection
You can play a Diamonds card in
order to leave your body as an
invisible, intangible spirit which
can still see and hear, but cannot
cast spells or affect the world. If
you go beyond Far range you
must discard a card every turn
you spend Projecting. Your body
is helpless until you return.
wizardry
Contingency
You can discard two cards to
declare an action and put it on
hold until it is triggered by a
Level specific condition (for instance,
zapping the next opponent who
five
attacks you). You must put the
cards for the action in play until
the action is triggered or the
Adventure ends.
Barrier
You can discard a card to shape a
spell into a wall or dome
Level (enclosing or crossing up to Close
range). The nature of the spell
six
determines the nature of the
barrier (an offensive spell
damages those who cross for
instance).
30
evocations
Blink
You can discard a card to vanish
and reappear at a destination
you can see or have seen before.
Otherwise this counts as normal
movement (so you can move one
range increment as a normal
action, two as a Challenge).
Shapeshift
By discarding one or more cards
you can change shape to a living
animal or monster for the rest of
the Scene (one card for a Fodder
monster, two for Minor Threats
and three for Moderate Threats).
While shapeshifted you get their
stats and non-supernatural
abilities.
wizardry
Fork Spell
When casting a spell you can
Level play a Diamonds card and affect
a number of targets equal to the
seven
cards CV. Any penalties for
range are based on the farthest
target.
Effigy
magic
By discarding three cards and
Level and ritually destroying an object
eight with an emotional or biological
link to the target (an important
possession, a bit of hair, etc) you
can target them with a spell
regardless of range or barriers.
31
evocations
Cosmic
Awareness
By discarding your entire hand
you can draw a new hand with
twice as many cards. This lasts
until the end of the Scene at
which point you have to discard
down to your normal hand size.
While the spell lasts you do not
have to draw new cards.
Time Stop
You can discard a card to stop
time for one round. While time is
stopped you can move and act
but nothing you do affects the
rest of the world. You can keep
the spell going longer by
discarding more cards, two on
the second round, three on the
third and so on.
wizardry
Permanence
You can make a spell semi-
permanent by playing two
Diamonds cards of the spells CV
Level or higher. This allows the spell to
Nine remain active until the
Adventure ends or you choose to
cancel it. The spell will run
independently and must not
require any input or control.
Hybrid Spell
With a single action you can
blend two spells but you must
Level discard a Diamonds card with a
higher CV than both spells. The
ten
two spells must have the same
primary target but can each use
different Abilities. Both spells are
resolved as separate Challenges.
32
Priest
Hearts (1)

A servant of the gods or spirits, the Priest is part crusader, part healer and
Priest being super holy.
part leader. They are empowered by the gods to seek out and defeat evil So holy you guys.
(or good, not all gods are nice) and they have the ability to aid their allies

and call upon powerful miracles and blessings. While many priests serve

their communities with wisdom and blessings, adventuring priests

generally use their divinely-gifted powers to seek out evil and give it a

good smiting (and taking evils treasure for purification).

Although they have supernatural powers Priests are not necessarily spellcasters, supplementing mundane

abilities with their divine powers. Their powers are divided into two categories Blessings and Miracles. Blessings

are used to support and aid your allies and are often more subtle (many might be treated as purely mundane

abilities). On the other hand Miracles are much more blatant, granting amazingly powerful but specific mystical

abilities. Several abilities are used to affect allies (which includes the priest themselves). In order to aid an ally

they must be within Close range.

Favoring the Hearts suit gives Priests impressive defensive abilities but theyre taxed by the demands of their

abilities. Since priests must also stay close to their allies to aid them theyll often serve as front-line fighters,

relying on Clubs as a secondary suit.

Starting Abilities

Holy Warrior: You get a +1 to your CV when attacking enemies of the faith (see below).

Inspiration: When using a Hearts-based Stunt to benefit you or an ally the bonus to CV increases by 1.

Shield Of Faith: When you take damage from an enemy of the faith that damage is reduced by 1.

Enemies of the faith

Several of a priests abilities refer to enemies of the faith. In the case of priests of goodness and heroism (the

assumption for players) enemies of the faith are beings like undead, demons and other beings of supernatural

evil. However, with the GMs permission your god might have alternate foes. For instance a priest of fire might

treat supernatural beings with ice and water themes as enemies of the faith.

33
Blessings
Share The
Load
When an ally takes damage you
can discard one of your cards to
reduce their damage by 1. You
can discard more cards to reduce
their damage further.
Aid
When an ally is called upon to
play a card you may choose to
play a card from your hand,
treating it as though the ally had
just played it themselves
(although it goes to your discard
pile). In the case of Difficult
actions you can play some or all
of the cards needed.
Miracles
Prayer
At the start of an Adventure you
can put one or more Hearts cards
in play from your starting hand.
Level At any time you can use these
one cards for an action, keeping the
CV the same but treating it as
whatever suit you like. You can
discard a card to add another
Hearts card from your hand later.
Smite
Hearts is an appropriate suit
when attacking enemies of the
Level faith. In addition when you
successfully attack using Hearts
two
cards (regardless of the target)
nothing, including Abilities, can
reduce or redirect the damage.
34
Blessings
Boon
Pick a suit at the start of an
Adventure. You and your allies
get a +1 bonus to your CV when
playing cards of that suit. You
can discard a card to change the
suit at any time.
Guidance
When an ally fails a task you may
discard a card to allow them to
try again with cards from their
hands (in the case of Challenge
the other participant keeps their
original card). The original
card(s) are still discarded.
Miracles
Blind Faith
When taking an action you can
choose to play cards blindly from
the top of your deck rather than
Level your hand. The cards CV is
doubled (before you apply any
three
modifiers) and you can treat it as
whatever suit you need for the
action. You must stick with the
card you draw.
Get Ye Back!
You may put a Hearts card in
play as a persistent action. Any
Level character trying to attack you
must play a card with a CV
four
higher than your Hearts card to
initiate the attack. Against
enemies of the faith treat the
cards CV as 2 higher.
35
Blessings
Healing
Words
You can play a Hearts card to
allow an ally to take cards equal
to the cards CV from the bottom five
of their discard pile and put
them on the bottom of their deck.
refresh
You can play a Hearts card to
end any ongoing negative effects
on an ally such as poisons,
curses, illness and so on. In
addition they can take a number
of cards up to your cards CV
from their discard pile and swap
them with cards from their hand.
Miracles
Righteous
Vengeance
Level Anyone who successfully attacks
you is treated as an enemy of the
faith.
Holy Light
You can play a Hearts card to
shine with holy light. All
opponents who can see you
Level suffer a -1 penalty to all their
CVs. Enemies of the faith suffer a
six
level of Difficulty on rolls
instead. To sustain the ability you
have to discard a card at the start
of your turn.
36
Blessings
Stand As One
When an ally takes damage you
can discard a card in order to
reduce the damage by one for
each ally you have (including
yourself).
Keep It
Together
When an ally takes damage you
can discard two cards to allow
them to take the cards they
would discard from this attacks
damage and put them on the
bottom of their deck instead of
their discard pile.
Miracles
Divine Curse
When you are attacked or attack
an opponent you may play a
Hearts card to curse your
Level opponent. If they cannot play
two cards with a higher CV than
seven
your card then all of their actions
become Difficult. This is
permanent unless removed by
you or another Priest.
Hand Of God
Play a Hearts face card or discard
your entire hand in order to
Level dramatically reshape or alter the
scene (parting a body of water,
eight
changing the weather, bridging a
chasm, etc). The changes are not
precise and cannot be used as an
attack against specific targets.
37
Blessings
Savior
You may play a Hearts face card
or discard your whole hand in
order to negate all effects from a
single attack on an ally. This
cancels all damage, prevents any
negative side effects and allows
the target to return any cards
played for defense to their hand
Miraculous
Recovery
You can discard your hand to
completely revive an ally,
reshuffling their whole deck and
drawing a new hand. This can
even revive a dead character if
used in the same Scene. However
all of their actions are Difficult
for the rest of the Adventure.
Miracles
Holy
Servant
By playing a Hearts face card or
discarding your whole hand you
Level can summon a Divine Servant
nine (see page 64) to aid you for the
rest of the Scene. You can play
cards on the Servants behalf but
if it dies then you must discard
your whole hand.
Avatar
You can discard your hand to
channel your gods power,
Level doubling all of your CVs. To
keep channeling your gods
ten
power you must discard a Hearts
card at the start of your turn.
Once the ability ends you must
discard your entire hand again.
38
Knacks
Although anyone can perform an action with the right cards your character will naturally be a bit more talented

in some areas compared to others. This is represented by your Knacks, specializations and tricks that help to

round out your character. During character creation everyone starts with three Knacks of your choice. Knacks

arent chosen from a list, instead you come up with a word or short phrase to sum up your Knack (if the GM

feels a particular Knack is too broad they can always ask you to pick something else). Any time your Level goes

up you can choose to rephrase or even entirely replace a Knack (representing learning new skills and allowing

others to get rusty) and every odd level you get an additional Knack.

When you take an action where one of your Knacks would be helpful or effective you can increase your

effective Card Value by 1. You can even apply multiple Knacks (increasing the bonus) so long as the GM agrees

that they would all apply.

Example Knacks
Generally speaking Knacks come in three broad categories:

Specializations: This represents training or talent in a specific skill or action, essentially a subset of one of

the four suits. Examples: Breaking and Entering, Smashing Stuff, Keen Eyes, Ancient Languages, Cheery Music.

Tools: A particular object or weapon which your character is uniquely able with. These Knacks may sometimes

cross over multiple suits depending on how theyre applied. Examples: Swordmaster, My Sexy Pants, Hitting

People With Furniture, Prepared Speeches, Sword and Board, Twin Blades, Ridiculously Large Weapons.

Situations: A situational Knack is one that works for just about any type of action but only in fairly narrow

circumstances. Keep in mind that while they might grant a bonus that doesnt remove penalties from the

situation. Example: In Pitch Darkness, Back Alleys, vs. Ninjas, While Naked, Blind Drunk, On Horseback.

39
Level
Your Level represents your accumulated experience and skill from your many Adventures. Normally everyone

will start at Level 1 and your Level can go as high as 10. Your Level increases as you earn Experience Points (EXP)

from adventuring as shown below.

When you get to a new Level you can pick one Ability from your Class of equal or lower Level. In addition

at every odd level (starting at level 3) you learn a new Knack and every even Level your Hand size increases.

Level Exp required bonus

1 0 Three Starting Knacks
2 5 Hand size becomes 6
3 10 Bonus Knack
4 15 Hand size becomes 7
5 25 Bonus Knack
6 35 Hand size becomes 8
7 45 Bonus Knack
8 60 Hand Size becomes 9
9 75 Bonus Knack
10 100 Hand Size becomes 10

Earning EXP
Everyone earns Experience Points (EXP for short) at the end of an Adventure. Leveling tends to happen fairly

quickly, although (as you can see from the chart above) it does slow down with time. The GM will award EXP

based on the following criteria:

Adventuring: Every Adventure is worth at least 2 EXP, increasing to 3 or 4 for particularly lengthy stories.

Exhausting The GM: If the GM runs out of cards in their deck they dont lose but you do earn 3 XP.

Great Deeds: Accomplishing something impressive such as saving a city or rescuing a prince(ss) should earn

1-3 bonus EXP at the GMs discretion.

Threats: Defeating an Epic Threat (see page 65) will automatically give you enough EXP at the end of the

Adventure to reach your next level. Any additional EXP earned that Adventure is then added on afterwards.

40
Chapter 3:

Special Rules
While Chapter 1 covers the basic rules that govern the majority of play for most characters this section will cover

more specific and unusual rules such as handling spellcasting, special equipment and what to do if you dont

have enough cards.

spellcasting
Spellcasting grants you a variety of special abilities in exchange for some limitations. The decision on whether

or not you want to be a spellcaster must be made during character creation and there are a few things to keep in

mind if you do decide to play a spellcaster.

Who can Cast Spells?

The Mage is always a spellcaster, but any of the other three Classes can also choose to practice magic. The other

Classes lack the Mages unique Evocations or their ability to manipulate their magic with Wizardry. Despite that

standard spellcasting can still be appealing even if you dont play a Mage. A spellcasting Warrior might rely on

magical wards in place of shields and armor and their sword might be sheathed in glowing runes or eldritch fire.

A spellcasting Trickster supplements their skill with illusions, shadow-magic or mind-warping magic. And the

Priest can supplement their powerful Miracles with more flexible spellcasting options to smite their foes with

blasts of holy fire or conjure divine visions.

The Limits of Magic

Magic is awesome, so why would anyone choose mundanity when they can fire lightning from their swords or

turn their skin to steel. Well, magic comes with a few downsides that keep magic in check.

First, magic has a couple of requirements. First, spellcasting requires that the caster be able to speak at

conversational volume or gesture freely with their hands. If you cant do at least one of those then you cant cast

spells at all. This is a big problem since spellcasters dont usually have a lot of practice getting by without magic

(see below). In addition spellcasters must have a magic prop of some kind. This can take many forms but needs

to fit two basic criteria: it should be clearly magical and it should be difficult to conceal when used. The wizards

staff is the iconic magic prop but some other examples would be a rune-etched sword, a bag of mystical

41
components, a holy icon or a book of spells all make good magical props. Spellcasting is still possible without a

prop but it does become Difficult.

Because a spellcasters magical training cuts into time needed for more mundane skills they tend to rely

heavily on their magical powers. This means that when a spellcaster has to try to accomplish something without

magic (say theyre bound and gagged, trapped in an anti-magic zone or facing the Manavores of Kraal) then they

suffer a -2 penalty to all CVs.

Spell Effects
The normal assumption is that any action a spellcaster takes will involve using magic (see above for the penalties

of attempting an action without magic). While magic is flashy, its normally just a few special effects layered over

your action. If you want to blast a helpless dragon with lightning its handled the same way as shooting them

with a bow and arrow. In both cases you are taking a Clubs-based Challenge against your opponent and inflicting

damage if you win. Here are some examples of how magical actions are handled with each suit:

Clubs: Attack spells (blasts of lightning, fire or killer bees). Crude physical changes such as toppling an object

with a blast of force or holding a door closed with a mystic chain.

Diamonds: Simple divination or dowsing and analyzing magical effects. Spells to detect lies or pierce illusions.

Delicate manipulation such as a spell of unlocking or conjuring an intricate object.

Hearts: Defensive spells that shield the body or the mind. Spells that promote positive emotions and

friendliness.

Spades: Illusions such as magical disguises or enchantments to allow you to pass unseen. Movement spells

such as short bursts of enhanced speed or levitation. Spells that misdirect attackers.

Magic is largely capable of doing anything a normal action can do, using the same rules. The exception is when

a spell is modified by an ability like the Mages Wizardry or in the exceptions below:

Spell Range: Generally a spell can be used normally on targets up to Close range or up to Far with Difficulty.

Magic Tricks: Minor, useless effects (conjuring butterflies, warming drinks) can be done for free but minor

useful effects (lighting the candles in room, conjuring a globe of floating light) requires you to discard a card.

Spell Effects: Spell effects are the difference between a thrown brick and a blast of fire. If your spell has any

useful secondary effect or takes advantage of an opponents weakness (such as starting a fire or melting an

ice-giant) then you must discard a card for it to work. You can also discard a card to ignore the need for tools

or preparation (such as a disguise spell) or to bend the limits of whats possible with normal actions.

42
Gear
Dungeons and Decks is largely not concerned with the minutiae of tracking gear. Theres no need to count how

many sandwiches you can stuff in your pants or whether you remembered to pack enough bowstrings and

whetstones. As professional adventurers it can be assumed that you have the basic gear and equipment you need

to do your job. That means that youre sure to have food for the road, torches to light your way in dark dungeons

and camping gear for roughing it in the wild.

For the most part gear has no in-game effect unless it triggers an Ability (such as a weapon for a Warrior) or

a Knack (a character with the Swordmaster Knack fighting with a sword). A Warrior fights just as well with a

dagger, bow, axe or sword and receives just as much protection from a suit of light leather armor or a suit of

heavy plate mail. Generally equipment is just a matter of personal style and has minimal in-game effect.

The exception is when circumstances specifically deny you access to gear. For example, a Trickster thief is

likely to have a set of lockpicks, but after being stripped of their gear and thrown in prison they are going to have

to deal with the fact that they have no suitable tools for attempting to open their cell door, making their attempt

to jimmy the lock with a spoon and bit of hay Difficult. In some cases attempting something is simply impossible

without suitable equipment (attempting an alchemical procedure without a lab for instance).

If youd like access to a specific, unusual piece of equipment that you havent specifically purchased or

acquired you can discard a card to claim that you had it on you all along. For instance, if a Mage claims they

have sleep-inducing herbs to try and slip into a giants stew, they could discard a card to conveniently have a

packet in their pouch. The GM has final say on whether or not an item is possible or appropriate and typically

it wont be possible to use this to acquire especially expensive or magical items.

A picture of equipment
and general gear

43
Money
Like gear, money is handled very simply and loosely. Small quantities of cash are simply not worth keeping

track of and its generally assumed that you have enough money to afford keeping your equipment in good

repair, buy needed supplies and purchase a room at a local inn. Likewise theres no need to worry about how

much spare change your orcish enemies kept in their loincloths or drag a wagonload of rusty axes back to town.

Instead, money is handled by Treasures. A Treasure is an item (or collection of items) of significant value

that can be exchanged for more practical gear or rewards. Treasure might be found during an Adventure or

offered as a reward by grateful townsfolk or shadowy patrons. Treasures come in three different levels:

Minor Treasures: A Minor Treasure represents enough money to impress your average commoner or peasant.

Its enough to buy a small home, throw a lavish feast or purchase a fine racing horse. Some examples of Minor

Treasures would be a sack of silver coins, a necklace of pearls or a golden ring with a small jewel.

Major Treasures: A Major Treasure is enough wealth to make a nobleman or a rich merchant impressed. A

Major Treasure could be used to purchase a mansion, buy a large sailing ship or arm and feed a small army

for a month. Some examples of Major Treasures would be a chest full of gold, a handful of polished gems, a

sword decorated with gold and rubies or a kings crown.

Vast Treasures: A Vast Treasure is a literal kings ransom, enough wealth to start or end a war. Vast Treasure

could fund the construction of a castle, an awe-inspiring monument or a fleet of ships. Vast Treasures are

things like a cave full of gold and jewels, the fist-sized ruby eye plucked from an ancient idol or a throne

carved from solid jade.

Normally each type of Treasure is not interchangeable as they represent huge jumps in value from one level

to the next. However, you can choose to break down a Major Treasure into 5 Minor Treasures or a Vast Treasure

into 10 Major Treasures. And, of course, you can also spend your Treasures in exchange for more practical

property. In addition to things like property you can purchase valuable (usually magical) items, exchanging the

equivalent Treasure for the equivalent item.

Of course, that assumes the opportunity to purchase an item exists. A village market isnt likely to have

anything worth a Minor Treasure, let alone a Major Treasure. And while the holy shroud of St. Parsus might be

worth, economically speaking, a Vast Treasure the monks who guard it arent likely to sell it regardless of the

price.

44
Minor Items
Minor items include a wide variety of practical but not necessarily stylish items such as a horse and carriage or

the finely tailored clothes needed to attend a high-class party. As far as adventuring gear goes Minor Items are

typically single-use or short term items such as magical potions. Long-lasting Minor Items have minimal or

extremely specific effects, such as a magic bag which produces three hard-boiled eggs at sunrise every day or a

crystal wand that glows like a torch on command.

Here are some example Minor Items:

Potion Of Vigor: The most loyal and true friend of an adventurer. These potions can restore a characters

strength, allowing you to swap one card per Level from your discard pile and your hand. The potion is

consumed when used.

Arrow Of Blasting: This rune-etched arrow detonates upon impact, allowing an attack with the arrow to

target everyone within Close range of your primary target.

Sacred Sigil: A silver holy symbol dedicated to one of the gods. When anyone that qualifies as an Enemy Of

the Faith (see page 33) for that god is in the vicinity (Far range) the sigil will glow and hum gently, increasing

in intensity as they get closer.

Kingsbane: Highly illegal, this poison is one of the greatest assassins tools. It is equally deadly mixed into

food or drink or coating a blade. After successfully poisoning a target put a card in play. The victim takes a

point of damage every turn until they can play two Hearts cards with a higher CV than the card in play (these

cards do not need to be played simultaneously).

Potion Of Lead: This potion resembles dull, viscous mercury. Drinking it will transform your body into living

lead, granting +1 to your CV when resisting injury or attacking with your heavy lead fists. However, your

weight is vastly increased, inflicting a -2 penalty to the CV of most actions requiring speed, agility or grace.

This transformation lasts until the end of the Scene.

Paper Lock: This strip of paper is decorated with dwarven runes of durability. Placing the strip on a closed

door seals and reinforces the door until it is removed (which uses up its magic). This makes the door as strong

as stone (TN 10C) and impossible to open without breaking it or removing the strip.

45
Major Items
Major Items can include things like large amounts of property, but as far as adventurers are concerned it mostly

covers permanent magical items. Most Major items either grant significant bonuses to certain actions or access

to a low or mid-level Ability. More powerful Abilities might be possible but will usually be temporary or

limited-use. One-shot Major Items are likely to be extremely powerful, given how expensive they are.

Phoenix Tears: This is a healing draught of incredible power, allowing you to take a number of cards equal

to twice your Level from the bottom of your discard pile and put them on the bottom of your deck. This can

even revive a slain character so long as it is administered in the same Scene.

Shield Of Burning Light: This shield grants a +1 to your CV when defending with it and when you

successfully defend against an attack using Hearts cards and the attacker is in Hand-To-Hand range the shield

flashes with light and causes the attackers next action to be Difficult.

Cape Of The Night Stalker: This pitch-black cape grants a +2 to your CV for actions related to stealth and

lets you ignore any penalties or Difficulty related to darkness or dim lighting.

Sword Of Flames: This enchanted sword burns with bright flames when drawn. It adds a +1 bonus to your

CV when attacking with the sword and if you successfully attack an opponent you add 2 to your damage.

This extra damage counts as fire damage, so opponents immune to fire wont take extra damage.

Axe Of Unmagicking: The Axe of Unmagicking ignores any barriers or defenses granted by magic. You can

also play a Clubs card to end any ongoing magical effects on the target with a CV equal or lower than the

Clubs card.

Dwarven Stone-Plate: The heaviest of heavy armor, this is platemail forged from slabs of stone. You can

double the base CV (before adding bonuses) of any Hearts or Clubs card you play for defense. However any

actions to move or dodge become Difficult while the armor is on.

Bag Of Teeth: This sack contains a dozen large, yellowed teeth which can be hurled on the ground to summon

a Fodder Horde of Mindless Undead (see page 54), one for each tooth. The sack refills itself at the beginning

of a Scene. The undead are not under your control and will seek to slay any living creatures.

46
Incredible Items
Incredible Items (which correspond with Vast Treasures) are almost all completely unique items of incredible

power. In fact, theyre so rare and powerful that theyre very rarely for sale at all, but if their owner does decide

to sell such an item they would certainly go for no less than a Vast Treasure. Incredible Items usually have

high-level Abilities along with built-in Knacks or bonuses and often come with multiple Abilities or access to

Abilities beyond the reach of ordinary player Abilities.

The Harvester Of Souls: This oversized blade is forged of crude iron and is extremely unwieldy, inflicting

a -1 to the CV of any attacks with the blade. However, every time the blade kills a victim (including individual

members of a Fodder Horde) you can take a card from the bottom of your discard pile and put in at the

bottom of your deck and you get a +1 bonus to any damage inflicted with the blade from then on. This bonus

resets to 0 at the end of an Adventure.

Staff Of Power: This staff practically hums with arcane power, serving as a magical prop and adding a +1

bonus to the CV of any spell cast by its owner. In addition you can discard two cards to gain any Wizardry

Ability (see page 27) that you dont already have for the remainder of the Scene.

The Iron Jar: This jar serves as the prison of a powerful spiritual entity such as a demon or elemental. You

can open the jar to release the trapped entity and play a card. If the prisoner of the jar cannot play a Hearts

card with a higher CV than the card you played then you can command them for the rest of the Scene.

Commanding them to return to the jar requires you to play another card and if they cannot play a Hearts

card with a higher CV then they must return to the jar (if this fails then they are freed). You can use the same

method to imprison a new entity inside of the jar (which can only hold a single entity at a time).

Mask Of The Unknown Hero: This small black domino mask grants a +1 bonus to the CV of any attempts

to deceive someone or conceal yourself. While it is worn no one can recall any distinguishing features about

you, even things that wouldnt be concealed by a mask such as your height, hair color or sex. You can discard

a card to make yourself completely undetectable for the rest of the Scene so long as you do not take actions

that affect anyone or whose effects would be visible to someone (such as opening a door someone is watching).

47
Card Shortages
What happens when you dont have enough decks to go around for a game of Dungeons and Decks? Well, heres

some rules for playing with less than the ideal number of decks.

The GM should get a deck of their own and any remaining decks can be assigned evenly to groups of players

(so if you have four players and three decks you can give one deck to the GM and the remaining two decks are

shared by two players each). You can even share a single deck among all the players and the GM, but this might

get unwieldy quickly.

Since decks are being shared among several players you can only discard cards directly from your hand and

emptying a deck no longer counts as defeat. When a deck is emptied you just shuffle the discard pile and keep

playing using it as the deck.

When you take damage you can discard cards from your hand but if you run out of cards or you dont want

to sacrifice a card in your hand then any remaining damage instead reduces your hand size for the remainder of

the Adventure. If your hand size is reduced to zero then you are mortally wounded and can only take simple

actions. Any further successful attacks will kill you.

Example: Miles has a hand of 5 cards: 31, 61, JS, 6C and JC. Hes just taken 3 points of damage from an orcs

arrow and discards his three non-face cards. This means he took the hit but shakes it off and draws three new cards

with no long-lasting effects. He managed to drawn an exceptional hand, getting a 102, J2, JS, Q1 and JC. He takes

four points of damage but he cant bring himself to discard the JC and Q1 cards. Instead he discards the remaining

three cards and allows one point of damage to reduce his hand size down to 4, drawing only two new cards.

Healing is, by necessity, handled a little differently. Invigorating effects (such as the Warrior Ability Second Wind

or a Potion of Vigor) works normally, but Abilities that would move cards from the discard pile to your deck

instead allows you to recover half (rounding down) that many cards in lost hand size (so the Priest Ability Healing

Word will let the target recover half their level in cards lost from their hand size).

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Chapter 4:

Running The Game

So, the first three Chapters covered how things work from the perspective of the players, so now its time for the

rules and concerns that are exclusive to the GM. None of this material is secret or needs to be hidden from the

player, but it will be addressed directly to the GM and largely covers things that the GM will have to know like

how to handle NPCs and build Adventures.

The GMs Deck

For obvious reasons each NPC cant have their own deck of cards like players. Instead you have your own deck

of card which will be used as a resource for all NPCs. At the start of an Adventure you should shuffle your deck

and draw your hand. Unlike players your Hand isnt affected by Level, instead your hand has one card per player

at the table (including yourself).

As the GM you generally do not need to discard cards and you dont take damage when a monster or NPC

is injured. However, if you do play enough cards that you have emptied out your deck you simply need to shuffle

your hand together with your discard pile and start fresh again, although this will give players bonus experience.

Once per Scene you can choose to discard your entire hand and simply draw a new one. This is generally

used to refresh your hand since you may find yourself with a handful of cards that arent very useful and GM

cards dont cycle as quickly as a players.-

Playing For NPCs

NPC characters dont have a Class or Level (although they might be described in ways that imply a Class or have

some Class-related Abilities). Instead, NPCs have a set of Attributes, one for each of the four suits. Each Attribute

has a Card Value assigned to it, with a 3 representing average human ability, 2 representing a deficiency and a

10 or higher representing extraordinarily superhuman power. When called upon to take an action or resist an

action an NPC can use an appropriate Attribute as their CV or you can play a card (or cards) from your hand to

set the CV. If an NPC is taking a Difficult action using their Attributes then additional cards must come from the

GMs hand.

49
 Example: The GM has an encounter prepared with a savage ogre. The ogre is dumb as rocks but extremely strong

and fairly tough, giving it the following Attributes: 5C, 22, 41 and 3S. When the ogre tries to smash one of the

players the GM can choose to play a card from their hand or the Ogre can simply default to its 5C, giving its attack

a CV of 5.

NPCs will often have Abilities which can be used in a variety of ways, but if an NPCs Ability requires them to

play a card then you must play a card from your hand to activate or trigger the Ability, the NPC cannot use their

Attributes as a default.

Since you cannot discard cards to absorb damage for NPCs theyll handle damage in a way thats a bit more

traditional. Each NPC has a damage threshold based on their Threat Level (see page 52) and if they suffer more

damage in a Scene than their damage threshold then they are defeated and taken out of the fight. This might

mean theyre merely knocked out or they might be slain by their righteous foes.

Example: An ogre is a Minor Threat and thus has a damage threshold of 5. Jessica charges the monster and manages

a blow that inflicts 3 damage, this means the ogre will be defeated if it takes two more points of damage.

For more information on NPCs see page 52.

Hazards
Hazards a special tool in your arsenal that can be used to represent traps, natural dangers and the general

unpleasantness that can plague adventurers. A character might step on a hidden pressure plate, slip while

climbing a wall or find a scorpion in their boot. Whenever you wish you can spring a Hazard on a PC, initiating

a Challenge much like an attack in combat using cards from your hand. You play your card (or cards) and declare

the danger that the player is facing. Most Hazards are Clubs actions that inflict damage if successful.

Example: Kate is battling the Death Dog of Dunmark in a grim cave and the GM decides to spring a Hazard on

her, with the dogs howl rattling loose a stalactite from the ceiling which plunges towards her. The GM plays an 8

and Kate manages only a 5, taking 3 damage.

The intent behind Hazards is to make dungeon-delving a more dynamic and dangerous experience but be careful

not to overuse this rule and never pick on a player by springing trap after trap on them.

50
Pacing an adventure
Because of its unique mechanics Dungeons and Decks relies a lot on proper pacing and structure. While all players

get more powerful as they level up and learn new Abilities, even a first Level character has access to a full deck

with face cards, aces and jokers. Even a fledgling adventurer has amazing potentialthey just need to have the

right cards at the right time. So, there are a few things to keep in mind.

The importance of Attrition

With a full deck of 54 cards a character is just short of invincible. There is no such thing as a one-shot kill against

a PC with a fully loaded deck, even when a first level character faces down an ancient dragon. A titan could

smash a level 1 Mage over the head with a 10-foot tall hammer and the reedy wizard will still have plenty of

fight left so long as they have a full deck. So its generally important to avoid these situations.

Most encounters in an Adventure simply cannot kill or even seriously harm a player character, let alone a

full team of PCs. Instead theyre meant to wear them down and force them to make choices about what cards

they can hoard and what they can sacrifice. Using a King of Clubs to cut a hapless orc warrior in half means that

you wont have that King later when battling an armored ogre warlord.

Rising Action
As mentioned a PC with a full set of cards can face just about any opponent, so its important that not only are

your monsters powerful but they must be used appropriately. Now, having a dragon attack the town, carving

it up and going out for drinks can be fun but its certainly anticlimactic. When running an Adventure you want

to make sure that you start with lesser foes and encounters to soften up players and steadily increase the danger

until the final encounter with an enemy horde or a devastating boss battle. Before the climax of the Adventure

most players should have already burned through half their deck.

Of course, the flipside is that once players have used up most of their deck they are dramatically less effective

and if you draw out the middle of an adventure with too many encounters even the mightiest heroes wont have

the endurance to hold out against their foes. Give your players the opportunity to bypass encounters with cunning

plans, clever words or by being willing to sacrifice possible Treasures or rewards in exchange for safety.

Your deck is an important tool, allowing you to increase or decrease the pressure on the players. If you keep

playing cards even a lowly goblin dirt-herder can be a challenge and if you hold back cards then players will

have an easier time dealing with their enemies basic Attributes. Dont feel like you have to take every combat

encounter to the edge and play your cards carefully to make sure the game remains fun.

51
Chapter 5:

Minions and Monsters

This chapter will cover the foes and (more rarely) friends youll encounter in Adventures. As explained on page

49 NPCs have Attributes which serve as a default CV for any action they might take (although the GM can

always choose to play cards on their behalf to improve the result). NPCs also have their own Abilities and Knacks.

NPC Threat LEvels

NPCs dont have Levels like a PC, instead they are assigned a general Threat Level to represent just how

dangerous and tough they are. The Threat Levels are:

Fodder: The weakest opponents, Fodder are only dangerous in large numbers and even then they fall by the

dozen before the blades of courageous adventurers.

Minor Threat: Minor Threats are tough enough to stand on their own but still represent little more than a

speed bump to an adventurer.

Moderate Threats: These mid-level threats often serve as boss fights at around 1or2levelbuttheyll

quickly be replaced by greater dangers and be relegated to a lesser role.

Major Threats: Major Threats are the stuff of great stories and tall tales: dragons, giants and ancient wizards.

They are powerful enough to threaten whole cities.

Epic Threats: These unique foes are dangerous enough to scourge a continent or bring ruin to a whole

kingdom. Only the highest-level PCs can possibly face an Epic Threat.

The next pages contain a sample of different Threats the players may face.

Some picture here.

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Fodder
Fodder characters are the weakest NPCs, best used for gangs of faceless and interchangeable minions. Your

average NPC townsperson or soldier is probably a Fodder character and it works well for a band of goblins,

bandits, orcs and so on. Fodder are worthless individually and and never have any Attributes above 5 and have

a Damage Threshold of 1, being taken out by a single point of damage.

Fodder also have some special rules: when working together a group of Fodder forms a Fodder Horde. The

Horde has the same Attributes as the individual members but they get a bonus to their Clubs Attribute based on

the number of members in the Horde: +1 for each doubling in size. So 2-3 Fodder would get +1, 4-7 Fodder would

get +2, 8-15 would get +3 and so on. Most Fodder Hordes also get a single teamwork-based Ability they can

perform. A Fodder Horde also takes damage as a group, with each point of damage you would normally inflict

taking out a member of the Horde.

Average Joes

3C 32 31 3S

Average Joes make up the bulk of humanity.

Knacks:

Your average commoner isnt likely to have any Knacks (at least none that will be relevantGrowing Cabbages

isnt likely to come up often) but others might have a couple based on their profession.

Soldiers: Fighting With Comrades, Intimidating Civilians

Guards: Keeping Watch, Following Orders

Bartender: Knowing His Customers, Dispensing Beer

Bandits: From Ambush, Acting Tough

Abilities:

Typically none.

Orcish Thugs

4C 22 31 3S

Savage warriors of the wilderness. Impressively brawny but uncivilized.

Knacks: Fighting With [Tribal Weapon]

Abilities:

Rampage: By playing a Clubs card as part of an attack the Horde can add bonus damage if the attack is

successful, the same amount as the bonus they get to Clubs cards.
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Goblin Rabble

2C 32 21 4S

Goblins (and other small humaniods like kobolds, rat-kin or gopher-folk) are exceptionally weak and cowardly,

relying on sheer numbers to have any chance of success.

Knacks: Fighting Smaller Groups

Abilities:

Overwhelm: By playing a Clubs or Spades card a Horde can inflict damage without a Challenge. This inflicts

damage equal to their numbers bonus (although Abilities can be used to reduce this damage like normal).

Mindless Undead

3C 22 41 2S

Skeletons, zombies, reanimated farm animals and other graveyard fodder found serving cultist or dark priests.

Knacks: Killing The Living, Shrugging Off Cuts And Stabs

Abilities:

Dead: Being undead these monsters arent affected by things like poison, illness, suffocation, starvation or

exhaustion. These undead are also mindless and thus cant be tempted by bribery, tormented by fear or

tricked with sweet words.

Mudlings

4C 22 41 2S

Crude humaniods formed of mud and dirt, usually conjured as minor magical servants.

Knacks: No Bones To Break, Ignoring Non-Magical Weapons

Abilities:

Made Of Mud: As crude magical constructs they are immune to poison, illness, suffocation and so on. They

are also mindless and cant be affected by fear or persuasion.

Pack Of Wolves

4C 22 31 3S

A pack of hungry wolves. The same stats could be used for guard dogs or a pack of hunting hounds.

Knacks: Keen Noses, Tracking Their Quarry

Abilities:

Take Down: After a successful attack they can play a Clubs card to make the victims next action Difficult.

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Revolting Peasants

3C 22 41 2S

Your average angry mob. Whether theyre ignorant fanatics on a witch-hunt or brave members of a populist

revolution.

Knacks: Under a Charismatic Leader, Defending Their Home

Abilities

Dogpile: If the mob inflicts damage successfully then you can put a Clubs card in play to catch the defender

in the crowd, preventing them from moving away and dragging them wherever the mob wants to go. The

victim can escape by playing a Clubs or Spades card with a CV higher than the mobs card.

Savage Nutria

2C 32 31 3S

These large rodents are inexplicably violent and bloodthirsty.

Knacks: Swimming, Swarming In Sewers

Abilities:

Covered In Furry Death: After successfully inflicting damage the nutria can put a Spades card in play to swarm

over the body of their victim, digging in and clinging. The swarm will stay attached, allowing them to attack,

until the victim plays a Clubs card with a higher CV than their Spades card. Anyone else attempting to attack

the swarm inflicts a point of damage to you as well.

Wasps The Size Of Cats

2C 22 21 4S

Other than their size, these are pretty much normal wasps.

Knacks: Defending The Nest, Finding Sweet Things

Abilities:

Swarm: By playing a Clubs or Spades card before attacking the swarm can apply the attack to all opponents

within Hand-To-Hand range.

Painful Sting: If damaged the victims must discard a Hearts card or suffer painful swelling which inflicts a -1

CV penalty to all actions until the end of the Scene. This effect is not cumulative.

55
Minor Threats
Minor Threats are often found leading gangs of Fodder or in groups to challenge mid-level players. They usually

have their highest Attributes in the 4-6 range and one or two Knacks. They have a Damage Threshold of 5.

Elite Warrior

4C 32 41 3S

Whether human, elf, dwarf or orc, these are the soldiers and mercenaries who make fighting their way of life.

Knacks: Fighting With [Weapon Of Choice], One-On-One Combat

Abilities:

Combat Style: By putting a card in play the Elite Warrior can grant themselves a +1 to the CVs of cards that

match that suit or all opponents receive a -1 to that suit when using it against them.

Dark Hounds

4C 22 41 4S

These large, black-furred canines are nearly skeletally thin but their muscles are whipcord strong and they have

a taste for the flesh of humans. They have a nearly symbiotic relationship with some of the nastier humaniods.

They are the mounts of goblin kings, the guard dogs of orc warlords and the guard dogs of ogres.

Knacks: Pack Attack, Smelling Manflesh

Abilities:

Lockjaw: If a Dark Hound inflicts damage it can put a Clubs card in play as a persistent action, locking onto

the target and inflicting 2 points of damage automatically at the start of their turn.

Keen Senses: For the purposes of perception Dark Hounds gets a +3 bonus to its Diamonds Attribute.

Ogre

5C 22 41 2S

Big, angry and smelly. Ogres like to club people to goo and then lick the goo off their clubs. This makes fights

with ogres extremely nasty.

Knacks: Fighting With Big Clubs, vs. Smaller Foes, Too Dumb To Be Afraid

Abilities:

Wild Swing: By making an attack Difficult an ogre can inflict double damage on a success or attack all

opponents in Hand-To-Hand range. Two levels of Difficulty allow the ogre to do both.

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Ninjas

3C 32 31 5S

Mysterious shadow warriors. Deadly effective individually or in small squads but oddly weak in large groups.

Knacks: In Shadows, Surprise Attacks, Evading Blows

Abilities:

Inversion: If ninjas appear in groups greater than 4 then they should be treated as Fodder.

Ninja Vanish: Whenever a ninja succeeds at a defense using Spades they can vanish and reappear within Close

range.

Minor Elementals

4C 22 31 3S

A minor elemental is a manifestation of one of the four elements, usually summoned as a magical watchdog or

servant. These attributes represent a standard elemental and the individual element modifies them as follows:

Gnomes (+11): Small humaniods made of compressed dirt. Knacks: Earthen skin, Standing Firm.

Salamander (+1C): A fat lizard whose skin shimmers with heat. Knacks: Burning Things, Resistant to Fire.

Slyph (+1S): Wispy, winged humaniods composed of cloudstuff. Knacks: Fast Moving, Hard To See.

Undine (+12): Slender, blue-skinned children with aquatic features. Knacks: Swimming, Fighting In Water.

Abilities:

Elemental Bolt: All elementals can make an attack with their element as a thrown weapon. If the environment

is especially conducive to their element (underground, in a storm, near a large fire or a body of water) then

the elemental bolt gets a +2 to its CV.

Hedge Witch

3C 52 31 3S

This is a dabbler in the mystic arts: a village witch, a goblin shaman or an apprentice wizard. They are treated

as a spellcaster (see page 41).

Knacks: Fortune Telling, Herbalism

Abilities:

Hex: The hedge witch can target a character in Close range and put a card in play. Unless the victim can play

a card of the same suit with higher CV then they suffer a -2 to the CV to that suit for the rest of the Scene.

Coven: When a hedge witch casts a spell other Hedge Witches within Close range can play a Diamonds card

to add a +2 bonus to the CV.

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Blobs

4C 22 41 2S

This covers your common dungeon puddings, jellies, slimes and oozes. Disgusting wads of protoplasm which

slurp along dungeon corridors looking for something organic to digest.

Knacks: Hard To See When Still, Dissolving Organic Matter

Abilities:

Divide: Every time a blob takes damage from a cutting or slashing weapon it produces a single Fodder blob

with identical Attributes. If a blob is killed by one of these weapons it will split into two of these Fodder blobs.

Imp

3C 52 31 3S

An Imp is a demonic pest from the Nether Realms which can still be a nightmare if allowed to run amok in the

mortal world. They are not even capable of manifesting a physical body and so possess the bodies of domestic

animals such as cats, dogs, goats or horses. Imp possession is not subtle as the animal will attack humans, bleed

from its eyes and spout blasphemous truths. Since they have no body killing the animal theyre in control of

simply frees them to possess a new one. It must be banished with an appropriate ritual or all nearby animals

must be slaughtered.

Knacks: Unholy Knowledge, Current Animal Body, Attacking Holy Men/Women

Abilities:

Illusion: An imp can create convincing illusions (treat this as a persistent Diamonds action) that fool all senses

except touch. They typically use this as a way to torment mortals, creating hallucinatory visions or turning

food to ash and so on.

Ghoul

4C 22 41 4S

Ghouls are horrific, cannibalistic monsters. They were once humans but after engaging in prolonged cannibalism

they were mutated into horrific monsters with distended teeth, twisted claws and hoof-like feet.

Knacks: Living Underground, Filthy Claws

Numbing Venom: If a ghoul injures someone then it becomes Difficult to use Spades cards until they play a

Hearts card. This can only inflict one level of Difficulty at a time.

Feeding Frenzy: Once a ghoul tastes human flesh they get a +1 to their Clubs CV for the rest of the scene.

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Moderate Threats
A Moderate Threat is usually dire enough to wipe out a small village or hold their own against a band of

weakened, low-level PCs. This makes them ideal boss fights for the first few levels. Their highest Attributes are

usually around 5-7 and theyll have several Knacks. The Damage Threshold for a Moderate Threat is 10.

Battle Mage

6C 52 41 3S

Trained war-wizards who rain fire and destruction on their opponents. These spellcasters are experts at combat

magic, capable of wiping out squads of normal soldiers with a gesture.

Knacks: Fire Magic, vs. Fodder, Explosive Spells, Weapon Wards.

Abilities:

Blast: By playing a Clubs or Diamonds card the battle mage can target everyone within Close range of their

primary target.

Unbridled Destruction: After a successful attack the battle mage can play a Clubs card to add its CV to damage.

Elementals

6C 32 61 5S

These are true elementals, taking the form of human-sized beings with elemental features. They have the same

elemental bolt ability as minor elementals.

Earth Elemental (+21 -1S): Earth elementals are humaniods made of jagged rock with the heads of bulls or

goats. Knacks: Rocky Hide, Immovable, Stone Fists; Abilities: Quake When attacking the elemental can play

a Clubs card to knock everyone in Hand-To-Hand range down, making their next action difficult.

Fire Elemental (+2C -11): Fire elementals are 4-armed humaniods with skin of glowing copper. Knacks: Copper

Skin, vs. Flammable Things, Better In Hot Places; Abilities: Child Of Flame Fire elementals cannot be harmed

by fire and everyone in Hand-To-Hand range takes 1 point of fire damage at the start of their turn.

Air Elemental (+2S, -12): Air elementals are thin, birdlike humaniods whose arms are replaced by a pair of

great feathered wings. Knacks: Fast Flyer, Dodging Attacks, Keen Vision; Abilities: Riding The Wind Air

elementals can fly freely in three dimensions and get a +1 to cards played to dodge or maneuver when flying.

Water Elemental (+22, -1C): Water elementals are blue-green humaniods covered in coral and moisture.

Knacks: Underwater Action, Fluid Movement, Words Of Wisdom. Abilities: Drowning When they

successfully attack with an elemental bolt the water elemental can put a Clubs card in play. The victim takes

1 damage per turn until they can play a card with a higher CV than the water elementals clubs card.
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Drake

7C 22 61 3S

These oversized lizards seem like they might be a relative of dragons, just without the wings, intellect or style.

Theyre more animalistic and are driven primarily by hunger and an attraction to shiny things.

Knack: Hard Scales, Fire Resistant, Keen Senses

Abilities:

Spit Fire: Drakes can spit fire as a thrown weapon.

Durable: Drakes are exceptionally large and tough and any damage they suffer is reduced by 1.

Demon

7C 52 71 5S

Demons can take many shapes but usually resemble humans with beastial features or bizarre mutations such as

two faces on opposite sides of their head or eyes on their palms. They are servants of the Nether Realm and exist

to spread chaos and discord and tear down the works of the gods.

Knacks: Sowing Chaos, Tricking Mortals, vs. Mortal Weapons, Killing Priests

Abilities:

Magic Resistance: A demon can play a Diamonds card to cut the CV of any spell targeting it in half (rounding

down).

Infernal Resilience: Any time a demon suffers damage it is reduced by 2 (to a minimum of 1).

Master Assassin:

5C 52 41 7S

If you tick off the wrong people in power you might find one of these kings of killing after you. They are masters

of stealth, poisons and disguise but even forced into face-to-face combat theyre still deadly.

Knacks: Knife-Fighting, Crafting Disguises, Breaking And Entering, Sneaking Around

Abilities:

Hidden Attack: If the master assassin makes an attack when the target isnt aware theyre in danger they may

double the base CV (before bonuses) of the card(s) they play.

Deadly Poison: The master assassins weapons are coated in deadly poison (they typically have a few extra

doses to slip into drinks as well). Anyone they damage must play a Hearts card or start taking 1 damage per

round at the start of the assassins turn. This lasts until the victim discards a Hearts card from damage.

Multiple doses of poison cause increasing damage.

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Common Giant

7C 22 61 2S

The so-called common giant resemble brutish humans of incredible size but lanky build. They stand around

15-20 feet tall and wield staves made from small trees. They are quite stupid and many are content to live their

lives as shepherds but they have short tempers and are quite willing to eat human flesh if their herds grow thin.

Knacks: Stomping, Immense Reach, Throwing Rocks, Ignoring Puny Human Weapons

Abilities:

Flattening Blow: After a successful attack the giant can play a Clubs card to stun their target, making their

next action Difficult.

Warlord

7C 62 61 4S

Warlords are the leaders of mortal armies, whether they are human generals, elvish war-poets or orcish

foe-crushers. Warlords are deadly fighters but theyre also expert leaders, inspiring their minions with charisma

or fear.

Knacks: Fighting With Their Allies, Spotting Ambushes, [Chosen Weapon]

Abilities:

All For One: When fighting alongside a Warlord (within Far range) Fodder Hordes can add their numerical

bonus to their Hearts attribute along with their Clubs attribute.

Battle Cry: When using a Hearts card as a Stunt to inspire courage or ferocity then the bonus applies to all

allies within Close range.

Vampire

6C 52 61 6S

Vampires are the so-called lords of the night. These blood-sucking undead are stronger, faster and harder to

kill than normal humans. Although terrifying to a normal human vampires are also beset with a variety of

weaknesses, forcing them to lurk in shadows and seek out prey in secret.

Knacks: In Darkness, Masters Of Seduction, After Feeding

Abilities:

Bloodthirsty: Once a vampire damages a character they get a +2 to the CV of any attacks against that target.

Vampiric Weakness: A vampire suffers a point of damage every round theyre in sunlight and if they are

exposed to traditional weaknesses (which can vary depending on the vampire) they suffer a -2 to all CVs.

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Major Threats
Major Threats are almost exclusively used for boss fights and only at the highest levels will they appear as a

standard encounter. One-on-one a Major Threat could easily burn through half a players deck. Their highest

Attributes range from 8-10 and they usually have multiple powerful Abilities. Their Damage Threshold is 20.

Dragon

9C 72 101 3S

Dragons, the king of all rampaging monsters. Your typical dragon is a huge, winged reptile with boiling acid for

blood which it can spew from its mouth to melt the flesh from its enemies bones. Dragons are ruled by strange

appetites and will often terrorize cities and kingdoms demanding a ransom of gold, virgins, gems, exotic spices

or even books and poems.

Knacks: Death From Above, Magic Resistance, Keen Senses, Spreading Terror

Abilities:

Terrifying Might: With their buffeting wings, dagger-like fangs, grasping talons and lashing tails dragons

bristle with deadly weapons. When a dragon successfully attacks an opponent, the damage increases by 3.

Boiling Acid Breath: The dragon may play two clubs card to breath a cloud of boiling acid blood which affects

everyone Close to the dragon and inflicting double damage on a success.

Invulnerable Scales: When the dragon takes damage it may play a Hearts card to reduce damage by the CV.

Flight: Although powerful fliers dragons are not graceful. To take flight the dragon must play a Spades card

and taking a non-simple action in flight requires playing another Spades card.

Elemental Lords

9C 72 91 5S

The greater elementals no longer resemble living creatures at all and are simply massive shapes composed of

their respective elements: a craggy hill with legs, a serpentine bushfire, a stormcloud come to earth or a waterspout

scouring its way across the ground. These primordial lords are typically only encountered when someone

foolishly attempts to harness their incredible powers. Such fools are almost always the first victims of the

rampaging elemental princes.

Like lesser elementals they can perform an elemental bolt but their range is as long as a bow and it affects all

targets within Close range of the primary target. Each type of elemental has different adjustments to their

Attributes and different unique Abilities.

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Earth Elemental (+21, +1C, -2S)

Knacks: Giant Rocky Limbs, Immovable Object, Made Of Stone

Abilities:

Earthshaker: When making an attack the elemental can play a Clubs card to knock down everyone within

Close range, making their next action Difficult.

Unyeilding: When defending using a Hearts card the elemental takes half damage (rounding down) if the

attack succeeds.

Fire Elemental (+2C, +1S, -21)

Knacks: Burning Anything, When Surrounded By Flames, Moving Swifly

Abilities:

Walking Holocaust: Fire elementals are immune to fire-based damage and anyone within Close range of the

elemental automatically takes a point of damage at the start of the elementals turn.

Blast Furnace: The elemental can put a Clubs card in play. Anyone who attempts to attack the elemental in

hand-to-hand range is subject to a free attack using that card.

Air Elemental (+2S, +1C, -22)

Knacks: Fly Like The Wind, Deflecting Projectiles, Hawk-like Eyes

Abilities:

Riding The Wind: Air elementals can move freely in three dimensions and can double the base CV of all Spades

cards for dodging or movement when able to fly freely.

Whirlwind: An air elemental can treat Spades as an appropriate suit for attacking and their attacks affect all

targets within Hand-To-Hand range.

Water Elemental (+22, +11, -2C)

Knacks: Fighting Near Water, Fluid Movement, vs. Ships

Abilities:

Engulf: When an elemental inflicts damage with a hand-to-hand attack they can play a Clubs card to draw

the target into their body. The target cannot act and takes 1 damage per round until they can play a higher

Clubs card to escape.

Drowning: Those who take damage from the elementals bolt power will suffer the same damage every round

at the start of the next round unless they play a card whose CV is higher than the damage inflicted.

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Lich

8C 102 71 4S

The greatest mortal Mages of a forgotten empire collaborated on a grand magical experiment in a bid for

immortality. The result was deeply flawed, keeping the archmages souls bound to their rotting bodies. Lichs

retain their mastery of magic but their sanity decays along with their bodies. Needless to say, Liches are spellcasters.

Knacks: Necromancy, Ancient Secrets, Blocking Spells, Occult Lore

Abilities:

Evocations: Liches typically have 3-4 Evocations from the Mage ability list (commonly Summon Minions, Hex,

Counterspell or Projection).

Wizardry: Liches typically have 2-3 Abilities from the Mage Wizardry list (commonly Fork Spell, Blast or

Affliction).

Undying: As undead, liches are immune to biological hazards such as poison, starvation, suffocation, etc. In

addition when they are subject to an attack that would defeat them they may play a Hearts card to reduce

the damage to 0.

Divine Servant

8C 82 81 8S

A Divine Servant is a messenger and servant of one of the gods. They resemble faceless winged humaniods who

blaze with a corona of divine radiance. These stats represent a generic servant of one of the good gods.

Knacks: Blazing Sword, vs. Enemies Of The Faith, Defending The Faithful

Abilities:

Miracles: Divine Servants have the Smite, Righteous Vengeance and Holy Light Abilities from the Priest

Miracle list.

Martyr: When an ally is attacked the Divine Servant can choose to redirect the attack to themselves.

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Epic Threats
Epic Threats should be custom designed for your game. An Epic Threat is an enemy that could threaten an entire

kingdom, or even the entire world. Epic Threats could include ancient undead warlords at the head of skeletal

hordes, the avatars of crazed gods or an ancient dragon slumbering beneath the roots of the world.

Epic Threats may have Attributes of 10 or more and likely have several extremely powerful Abilities. They

have a damage threshold of 50. Below is an example Epic Threat.

Demon Lord

JC 102 101 QS

Trapped in the deepest levels of the Nether Realm are the three Demon Lords, the masters of chaos and darkness.

Although they can easily appear as mortals (or just about anything else) their true form is a tower of hate, fire

and darkness. A demon lord set free upon the world would be a threat to all life and order.

Knacks: Killing, Deception, Destruction

Abilities:

Armageddons Flame: Playing two Clubs cards allows the demon lord to summon a column of roaring sapphire

flame anywhere within sight as an attack against anyone within the area (which can be as wide as Far range

if the demon lord wishes). The fires never die away and continue to burn (with the original attacks value)

until extinguished by the demon lord or until it slowly burns through to the center of the earth.

Unholy Armor: If a demon lord is attacked the damage is reduced by 3 and if the demon lord plays a Hearts

card the damage is reduced to a single point.

Curse Of Madness: As an action the demon lord can play a Spades card afflict the target with maddening

visions and hallucinations. This makes all of the targets actions Difficult and the victim can only recover by

playing two Hearts face cards simultaneously to break the spell.

Transmutation: By playing a Diamonds card the demon lord can make broad transformations to the

environment or objects such as transforming a stone tower into a living pillar of flesh or turning lead into

gold (creating up to a Major Treasure).

Soul Pact: The demon lord can make a pact with a mortal. The mortal may request a boon or service and the

demon lord may make a request of them. So long as the demon lord fulfills the letter of their agreement then

the mortal is obligated to fulfill their part as well. If the mortal cannot or will not hold up their part of the

bargain then their soul becomes forfeit, killing them instantly. If the demon lord does not fulfill their end

then the mortal is safe but there are no other consequences.

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