str. 1
Author: Artur Tojza
Translator: Małgorzata Olesiak
Game: Runebound 2 ed.
Dragon hunters
This is one of my earliest scenarios for the second edition of Runebound. This
game has been my number one for years and even the Mage Knight hasn’t managed
to supersede it, although it has come close. However, at first Runebound was very
irritating to me because of its randomness. Not the one on dice, but in cards. Not to
mention little interaction with other players and focus only on running from point
to point to knock out anything that's ali.... that moves. When I purchased add-ons,
almost all that have been issued in Poland, the gameplay has improved
considerably, but this still wasn’t it. So I took the matter into my own hands and
this is how my first own Runebound script was written, which changed a lot in the
gameplay itself. This is the one I tested most of the mechanics for subsequent
stand-alone scenarios and the planned campaign on. The latter has grown to
enormous size during the last year, but writing it down and publication will still
consume a long time. So I present "Dragon hunters" that, hopefully, will let you
discover the new face of the second edition of Runebound.
GENERAL INFORMATION:
* Number of players: 2-4
* Solo mode: optional
* Map: from the basic version of the game
* Required expansions: Cult of the Rune, The Island of Dread, Sands of Al-Kalim
(items only)
* Additional accessories: K12 dice (per player), shield counters (can be taken from
the character deck expansion)
* Game objective: score as many points as possible
* Difficulty level: easy
str. 2
NARRATIVE INTRODUCTION
Dragons. These creatures have always filled the hearts of many breeds with terror
and fascination. That’s why there was no shortage of daredevils who followed the
lead of beast, hunting for their treasures. However, the biggest trophy was the
dragon itself. His blood, bones, skin and breath sowing destruction and death,
wherever the great lizard casted his shadow. This has almost led to the extinction of
this species, because human greed is bottomless and other breeds haven’t lagged
behind in this field. After a few centuries one of the human masters decided to
change the clan tradition concerning hunting for these majestic creatures. He
introduced a decree which ordered the defeated dragon to be imprisoned in a
magical stone so that he could possess his unique power without killing the
creature.
He did as he decided, despite the silent objection of part of the mage and noble
communities. When another Dragon Tournament was announced, many daredevils
showed up ready to fight to the death, just to twin the king’s prize in gold and the
glory of the best dragon hunter. However, at the same time the surrounding lands
were invaded in the north by bandits, and from the south-west a horde of orcs
arrived. Wanting to take advantage of the situation, the king ordered the
participants of the Dragon Tournament to take care of this matter too. The winner
could only be the one who made a name for himself most of all in the fight against
the invaders, and defeated several dragon beasts at the same time.
The daredevils did not wait long and all of them went their separate ways, because
the tournament code clearly banned them duels between each other and cooperation
of the leaders. It only allowed to hire a small team that could assist the Hunter in
his task, obviously after agreeing the price for their service. Thus, in the taverns, all
the gold-hungry band gathered. From frail drunkards to mages and killers thirsty
for blood. A sign to start hunting in order to select only one winner was made from
the palace tower. Maybe it will be you, brave traveller.
GAME SETUP
In the game we use the board from the basic version of Runebound 2 edition. Place
hazard counters (orcs horde) and numeral counters (bandits from the north) on the
map as shown below.
The item deck (basic one + add-ons) is divided into four stacks: Weapons, Armor,
Runes and Artifacts.
If we have Weapon/Armor cards, they go to the Weapon deck.
We shuffle each deck and place it under the board with a reverse side facing up.
We supplement the marketplaces in particular towns in the following way:
* Vynelvale - Weapon + Armor + Artifact
* Riverwatch - 3x Weapon
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* Dawnsmoor - 2x Weapon + Armor
* Tanalir - 2x Weapon + Armor + Artifact
* Forge - 3x Armor
* Nerekhall - 2x Artifact + Runes
* Greyhaven - 2x Artifact + Runes
* Frostgate - the remaining rune cards
Cards in marketplaces in particular towns are always hidden and only the person
performing the trade in a given town can look through the stack.
After placing the skull and number counters (see above) and supplementing them
with shields, we place the sets of cards composed of the Cult of the Rune in the
upper section of the board with numbers in the following order (creatures only):
* 1 - green + yellow
* 2 - green + yellow
* 3 - green + yellow + blue
* 4 - green + yellow + blue
* 5 - green + yellow + blue
* 6 - yellow + yellow + blue + blue
Place the yellow and blue deck (creatures only) from the Island of Dread next to the
board. They are assigned only to the camps of orc hordes (skull tokens). Remove
the Margatha card from the red adventure deck and place it near the camp in the
lower left corner. Divide the character deck into two stacks, without the mercenary
characters of the Al-Kalim Sands (they do not participate in the game). In the first
stack there are mercenaries of the cost between 1 and 6, and in the second one those
of 7 to 10 cost. Both decks are placed in the lower left corner of the board, they are
the taverns decks from now on. At the beginning of the game, we assign one tavern
to each town (the space next to the board close to the town), supplementing it with
two cheaper mercenaries (stack 1-6) and one more expensive mercenary (stack 7-
10).
Each player receives his own character card, a figure assign to it, 3 pieces of gold
and K12 dice which is put with number 1 on the top.
It defines its current level of
the character. All players begin their journey from Vynelvale (red city).
TABLE OF CHARACTER’S UPGRADE
The following list describes how many experience points should be spent to get the
player to the next level. Points are presented as Arabic numerals and levels as
Roman numerals. All players start the game at level one.
* I - 0 pts
* II - 4 pts
* III - 5 pts
* IV - 5 pts
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* V - 6 pts
* VI - 6 pts
* VII - 7 pts
* VIII - 7 pts
* IX - 8 pts
* X - 8 pts
* XI - 9 pts
* XII - 9 pts
The experience counters spent on the upgrade go to the box. Trenloe the Strong
skill always lowers the cost of upgrade to the next level by 1 experience point.
ALTERNATIVE CARDS
If you have only a basic version of the game, you can play the script under slightly
different rules. You still place the numbers and skulls (hazard) counters on the
board as you see in the picture. Next, you use any counters instead of shields, for
example wooden dice from another game or beads. The rules for playing orc and
robber camps are described in the Special Rules section below. However, there is a
difference here. In the case of an attack on orc camps, you do not draw the cards
from the yellow and blue deck of the Island of Dread, but from the basic deck. If a
task or event is hit, you shuffle it back into the same deck.
In case of bandit camps, we do not draw cards, but we supplement particular
locations according to the levels (colour of the reverse side), always left to right,
with monsters that we have defeated from the ordinary challenges. A specific
robber camp is available to players only when a full troop is in place.
The rest of the rules for playing these fields stay unchanged (see Special Rules).
The initial drawing of item cards for particular markets is also changed. We still
separate item decks as described in Game Setup above, but now the initial number
of cards in individual towns looks as follows:
* Vynelvale - Weapon + Armor + Artifact
* Riverwatch - 2x Weapon
* Dawnsmoor - Weapon + Armor
* Tanalir - Weapon + 2x Artifact
* Forge - 2x Armor
* Nerekhall - Artifact + Runes
* Greyhaven - Artifact + Runes
* Frostgate – the remaining rune cards
However, taverns are supplemented only with two mercenary cards from the
cheaper stack (1-6).
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OBJECT OF THE GAME
The object of the game is to collect as many points as possible from the following
sources:
* defeated orc/ bandit camps
* unused experience points
* dragon runes (defeated red dragon cards)
SOLO VARIANT
It is an alternative here, consisting in racing with yourself and breaking your own
records. In this variant, we prepare the game as described in the rules above, but if
we get a red monster card (dragon rune), orc camp token (skull) or number token
(numeral), we roll the K10 dice and immediately consider its outcome. If the result
cannot be executed, nothing happens.
1 - we remove 1 orc camp, 1 bandit camp and 1 red adventure counter, located
nearest to the player's character, from the board.
2-3 - we remove the bandit or orc camp, located nearest to the player's character,
from the game.
4-5 - we remove all shields from the nearest two camps.
6 - we remove the camp in Frostgate.
7-9 – we remove the closest red adventure counter
10 - we remove the camp of the orcs' chieftain with the dragon assigned to it.
SPECIAL RULES
Trade
The player choosing the trade option in the town goes to one (and only one) of the
two possible options now:
* Stalls - the player picks up all the item cards which are in this town, and then
draws one card from any stack - Weapon, Armor or Artifact. The player can
purchase, or sell for 50% of the price (rounding down), any number of items.
* Tavern - the player enters the tavern, takes on all mercenary cards available in
this town and draws one card from one tavern’s stack. The player can buy up to two
mercenaries at one time. If he wants to dismiss some of his mercenaries, he does
not get a refund for him, but retains all the items he held. A single tavern can
contain a maximum of 5 mercenary cards. In the event the pool is full, the player
can discard to the box all mercenary cards from this town and choose 3 new ones in
their place, as described in the scenario preparation rules.
Sales for 100%
Starting the trade phase, before determining where he goes, the player can perform
the Diplomacy test 22 (magic). In the test, he can only use his character’s basic
skill, bonuses from characters’ level and natural talents. Bonuses from creatures,
str. 6
items and comrades are not taken into account. If he passes the test, he will be able
to sell any of his items for 100% of their value in gold.
Comrades
Each player can have comrades with a total value of cost of 12 gold items hire.
Comrades can be equipped with items. Each of them can have a total of 3 cards -
one weapon, one armor and one artifact. These items can be sold in the trade phase
or relocated between comrades and the player before the movement phase, in the
trade phase and in the experience phase. In the case of death of a comrade, all his
equipment is lost (it is removed from the game). Comrades cannot use single-action
weapons (e.g. bombs).
Player's equipment
The player's character may carry the following maximum set of items:
* armor
* helmet
* boots
* coat
* shield/weapon
* weapon
* 5x runes (including dragon runes)
* 3x elixir (including bombs)
* 2x add-on (e.g. necklace, pauldrons or amulet)
Besieged towns
A player's character can sneak into towns that are besieged by bandits or orcs. In
order to do this, you must spend two movement dice (any symbol) and pass the
Sneak test 22 (perception). If the test is successful, we can immediately go to the
trade phase, and when it is finished, go to any safe (empty) space near the town. In
the event of failure, the character must roll on the Agility test (perception) to escape
the pursuit and avoid a penalty before the battle with the guards. If the Agility test
is successful, the player proceeds to the combat phase, under normal conditions
described in the orc/bandit camp rules. If the test fails, then before the player moves
on into the combat phase, he receives 1 wound, 2 exhaustions and cannot use any
effect described in "Before combat".
Attack on the orc camp
If a player spends one movement dice with a symbol of terrain on which the camp
is located, he may attack it. A round of combat with opponents begins. He draws
one opponent from the yellow Islands deck for each shield, and for a skull token -
from the blue deck. The player does not draw all cards immediately, but one by
one. If he defeats the yellow opponent, he takes his shield and adds it to his
trophies. He can then withdraw from the camp or continue the combat (without
restarting items, comrades and skills). The new battle allows you to re-use the
"Before combat" ability, but different from the one used in the previous duel. After
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defeating the blue opponent, the player takes a skull token to his loot. In the event
of a loss, the player loses the most expensive item (it falls out of the game) and
withdraws to the nearest free town. You can escape from the combat on standard
rules. The loot described on the cards is ignored and replaced by the following
formula: "Each defeated yellow opponent generates 3 gold, and each defeated blue
opponent generates 5 gold."
Attack on the bandit camp
If a player spends one movement dice with a symbol of terrain on which the camp
is located, he may attack it. A round of combat begins, where the player takes the
fight with the opponents assigned to the relevant space. The player immediately
reveals all cards, and plays them from the bottom (the weakest) up. Each defeated
card gives the winner a shield, and the last card in the camp gives the player its
token. The new duel allows you to re-use the "Before combat" ability, but different
from the one used in previous battle. In the event of a loss, the player withdraws to
the nearest free town and loses two cheapest items (he removes them from the
game). The player can escape the combat on standard rules. The loot described on
opponents' cards are ignored and replaced with the statement "Each defeated card
generates 2 experience points."
Sneaking through the camps
The player may attempt to sneak through the enemy camp, unless it is located in
the town (see - Besieged towns). He must then spend 1 movement dice with symbol
of terrain on which the camp is located and pass the Sneak test 14 (perception). If
he fails, he gets 1 wound and has to fight in the camp on standard terms.
The surprise attack
The player can try to surprise the opponent after initiating an attack on the orc or
bandit camp. In order to do this, he must spend an extra movement dice with
symbol of terrain on which the camp is located and pass the Sneak test 16
(perception), using only one K10 dice. If the test is successful, the player inflicts 2
wounds to the first opponent with whom he will fight (he can kill him this way). In
the event of failure, he gets equivalent exhaustion to his stamina level (flame
symbol) and cannot escape during a clash with the first opponent. The surprise
attack does not count as "Before combat".
Orcs' chieftain camp
The orc camp, located in the very lower left corner, is defended by Margath dragon.
Before we can attack it, we must first defeat the dragon, and only then we can
proceed to the assault on the camp itself. You cannot sneak through this space or
attack the guards by surprise. The player cannot withdraw from the combat with the
dragon, however, after defeating him, he may give up the attack on the camp,
passing the Perception 20 escape test. In the event of a defeat, he receives 1 wound
and has to combat with another opponent.
str. 8
ZAKOŃCZENIE GRY
Rozgrywka kończy się natychmiast, gdy jeden z poniższych warunków zostanie
spełniony:
* jeden z graczy zdobędzie 4 smocze runy (pokona 4 czerwone karty smoków, nie
licząc Margatha)
* zostaną zdobyte wszystkie obozy bandytów
* zostaną zdobyte wszystkie obozy orków
END OF THE GAME
The game ends immediately if one of the following conditions is met:
* one of the players gets 4 dragon runes (he defeats 4 red dragon cards, not
counting Margatha)
* all bandit camps are conquered
* all orc camps are conquered
COUNTING POINTS
When one of the conditions for ending the game is met, the players calculate their
points as follows:
* each dragon's rune is worth 10 pts
* each skull token (orcs) is worth 3 pts
* each number token (bandits) is worth 3 pts
* each shield token is worth 1 pts
* each unused 4 experience points are worth 1 pts
The winner of the Dragon Tournament and the title of the best Dragon Hunter is
awarded to the person who collected the most points. If a game ends with a tie, the
one who has beaten more red dragon cards wins. If still tied, the one who gains
more shield tokens wins. If there is still no winner, the players that tie split the
prize.