DECKNFORGE — the whole rulebook

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Playtest v0.3 — the whole rulebook and the reference sheets, one page.

Quickstart

The short version. Full rules: MENU

1.
Split your deck: aces and jokers are Monsters, face cards are Adventurers, number cards are Equipment. A new deck's Monsters are blank until you lose.
2.
Shuffle every player's Monsters into one shared pile. That pile is the dungeon and the timer.
3.
Draw 3 Adventurers face up. Draw 7 Equipment to hand. Hand limit 7.
4.
Work out what you have to beat: 25 × players + the number on every Monster.
5.
Each round everyone takes 3 actions at the same time - Draw, Hire, Equip, Cast - then one Monster is drawn and hits the whole band.
6.
Discard Adventurers matching the Monster's suit, and their gear with them. If what they were carrying beat the Monster's attack, it dies too.
7.
After that attack, total every equipped card still in play. Over the Dungeon Strength? Cleared. +150 XP. Twice in a row? +1 on every Monster card you own.
8.
Out of monsters with the dungeon still standing, or out of Adventurers? You fell. Take a scar: inscribe a new Monster and upgrade one piece of Equipment. +10 XP.
9.
Every Qi Word is a name and one symbol. The SHEETS say what each symbol does.
10.
Once a game, something may ask you to write four words. See FLARE.

The one thing people miss: you check whether the dungeon is cleared after the monster attacks, not before. The gear you just lost does not count.

Now show me a full round

Start the rulebook properly

The reference sheets

1. WHAT IS THIS

Start with a plain deck of cards. Then deface it.

Inscribe Qi Words: a name you make up, and one of twelve symbols that says what it does. Ink your own art. Every word you write is permanent.

   ┌────────┐  ┌────────┐  ┌────────┐
   │Q      ♠│  │7      ♥│  │4      ♦│
   │        │  │        │  │        │
   │  ████  │  │  ▓▓▓▓  │  │  ▚▚▚▚  │
   │        │  │        │  │        │
   │♠      Q│  │♥      7│  │♦      4│
   └────────┘  └────────┘  └────────┘
   ADVENTURER   EQUIPMENT    MONSTER

What you are left with is a dungeon that remembers every game you have played.

THREE DECKS OUT OF ONE

Your deck becomes three: the Adventurers you send in, the Equipment you hang on them, and the Monsters you have already lost to.

That last one is the important one. Monsters are not printed - they are earned. Every dungeon that beats you leaves a Monster behind, inscribed in your own handwriting, and every dungeon after that has to get past it.

2. WHAT YOU NEED

ON THE TABLE

▪
A standard deck of cards, jokers in
▪
A marker or Sharpie
▪
The three reference sheets

THE REFERENCE SHEETS

One for Heroes, one for Equipment, one for Monsters. Each lists the same twelve symbols and what that symbol does on that kind of card. They are here - SHEETS - and they print. See 12.

Nobody writes rules on a card any more. You name it, you draw a symbol, and the sheet does the arguing.

WHAT YOU BUILD

One deck splits three ways, and it splits the same way for everybody:

   MONSTERS     aces and jokers    6
   ADVENTURERS  face cards        12
   EQUIPMENT    number cards      36

That is the whole deck. Nothing is left over and nothing is added.

Two or more players. Everyone brings their own deck, and every deck is different, because every deck has lost different fights.

The marker is not optional. This is a game you write on.

3. THE OBJECTIVE

Survive the dungeon's monsters and out-gear it.

Clear the dungeon when your equipped card values outmuscle its Strength - and you check that after a monster attacks, never before.

  ┌──────────────────────────────────┐
  │  DUNGEON STRENGTH                │
  │                                  │
  │      25 × PLAYERS                │
  │       + EVERY MONSTER'S NUMBER   │
  │         (SLAIN ONES DROP OUT)    │
  └──────────────────────────────────┘

A Monster's number is every +1 it has collected, plus its modifier. Jokers count too: they never hit, but they make the dungeon bigger. Slay a Monster and the Strength comes down.

THE CLOCK

The clock is the Monster pile itself.

If the last monster attacks and the dungeon still stands, your band has run out of time - and failed.

So the pile is both the threat and the timer. A big shared pile is a long game you are more likely to lose.

4. SETUP

0. WHAT EVERYBODY BRINGS

Before anything is shuffled: every player brings their own deck.

One standard deck each - brand new or already defaced. The marker and the three sheets can be shared. See 2.

Nobody plays out of somebody else's deck. The scars on yours are yours, and the dungeon is built out of whatever everyone drags to the table.

1. SPLIT YOUR DECK

Three piles, the same three for everyone at the table:

   MONSTERS     aces and jokers    6
   ADVENTURERS  face cards        12
   EQUIPMENT    number cards      36

A new deck's Monsters are blank cards. What gets written on them is what you lost to - see FALL.

2. ADVENTURERS

1.
Shuffle your Adventurer deck.
2.
Draw 3 face up in front of you.
3.
Set the rest aside.

3. MONSTERS

1.
Put your initials on your Monster cards first. Everyone's monsters go into one pile and somebody has to be able to hand them back.
2.
Combine all players' Monster decks into that one shared Monster pile.
3.
Shuffle it well. This is the dungeon.

A corner initial does it. It is your deck - you are allowed to write on it.

4. EQUIPMENT

1.
Shuffle your Equipment deck.
2.
Draw 7 cards into your hand.
3.
Your hand limit is 7 - never hold more.

NAME YOUR DECK

Once your deck clears its first dungeon, you will give it a name. It is yours now, scars and all.

5. THE ROUND

        ┌───────────────┐
        │     READY     │
        └───────┬───────┘
                │
        ┌───────▼───────┐
        │  PLAYER TURN  │
        └───────┬───────┘
                │
        ┌───────▼───────┐
        │ MONSTER ATTACK│
        └───────┬───────┘
                │
        └───────◀───────┘

1 ▸
READY
Take 3 Actions - Draw, Hire, Equip or Cast. Resolve every symbol immediately. Draw back up to a full hand.
2 ▸
PLAYER TURN
Spend the 3 Actions. All players act simultaneously - resolve them in any order. See 6 for the four actions in full.
3 ▸
MONSTER ATTACK
Draw 1 card from the Monster pile. It strikes the whole band at once. See 7.

Then check the dungeon - see 8 - and go round again.

6. YOUR THREE ACTIONS

Three per turn. Every player acts at the same time, in any order.

▶
DRAW
Draw Equipment or a Hero from its deck into your hand.
▶
HIRE
Play a Hero from your hand into an empty slot. Every player has three slots in total.
▶
EQUIP
Play a piece of Equipment onto a Hero in play. Equipping switches its symbol off - the card is worth its face value and nothing else.
▶
CAST
Use a piece of Equipment's symbol instead of equipping it - look it up on the Equipment sheet. The effect lasts until the end of the round, through the Monster Attack, and then the card is discarded.

THE TRADE

Every card is one or the other, never both. Equip it, or cast its symbol.

Equip is permanent value that counts toward clearing the dungeon. Cast is a one-round effect that burns the card.

7. THE MONSTER ATTACK

Draw 1 card from the Monster pile, plus one more for every escalation the dungeon has had. Each strikes the whole band at once - not one player, all of them.

1.
Every player discards Adventurers matching the Monster's suit. Their equipment goes too.
2.
Resolve the Monster's symbol, then any Hero symbols it set off. Both are on the sheets.
3.
Hit Adventurers retaliate.

RETALIATION

If the combined equipped value of the Adventurers that were hit is greater than the Monster's number, the Monster is slain - discarded from the dungeon, adding nothing to Dungeon Strength.

So the cards you just lost can still take the monster down with them.

JOKERS AND ESCALATION

The dungeon is laid out in rows. A row holds at most two jokers.

Draw a joker and place it in the first row with room. Placed, it does what jokers do:

   ┌── a placed joker ──────────────┐
   │ Every equipped piece of        │
   │ Equipment, on EVERY player's   │
   │ Adventurers, is discarded.     │
   └────────────────────────────────┘

If every row is already full, the joker has nowhere to go. It escalates instead:

▪
add a new row to the dungeon
▪
it does not wipe equipment
▪
from now on, every Monster Attack draws one extra Monster, for this and each further escalation

   ROW 1  [J][J]   full
   ROW 2  [J][ ]   room for one more
   ROW 3   ....    the next escalation
                   opens this one

So the 3rd joker escalates. The 4th and 5th wipe equipment in the new row. The 6th escalates again. And on it goes.

An escalating joker is the dungeon getting wider, not meaner: you keep your gear, and pay for it every round after.

INSCRIBED JOKERS

A joker never hits, but it is inscribed like any Monster: a name, a symbol and a number.

▪
Its symbol works when the joker is placed in a row, or escalates.
▪
Its number adds to Dungeon Strength, like any Monster's.
▪
A joker can not take SHIELD, BUFF, GAZE, GLORY or DARKEN: each needs a Monster that hits, is slain, or goes back into the pile.

8. CLEARING THE DUNGEON

After a monster attacks, total the face values of all equipped cards in play. Beat the Dungeon Strength and the dungeon is cleared.

WHAT THE BAND TAKES

▪
The band gains experience. Monsters do not mutate and Equipment is not inscribed.
▪
Randomly draw 1 Adventurer that has no Qi Word yet. Name it, and give it a symbol off the Hero sheet.
▪
Add +150 XP to the deck.

   ┌── the dungeon grows ───────────┐
   │ Clear TWO dungeons in a row    │
   │ and the dungeon grows: write   │
   │ +1 on EVERY Monster card in    │
   │ your deck. Aces and jokers,    │
   │ inscribed or still blank.      │
   └────────────────────────────────┘

KEEPING COUNT

Tick the deck's box when you clear. A fall rubs the tick out. On the second tick, write the +1s and rub both out.

There is no Level to remember - it is all written on the Monsters. Winning makes your own monsters hit harder, forever. A blank Monster keeps its +1s for the day it is finally inscribed.

9. WHEN YOU FALL

Failure is the rule, not the exception. Clearing a dungeon is hard and takes experience - most runs end in scars, and that is how a deck earns its story.

When your band falls, you leave the dungeon stronger. In order:

1.
Draw one uninscribed Monster from your deck. None left? Skip this step.
2.
Draw 1 random piece of Equipment from your Equipment deck. Its number is the monster's modifier.
3.
Inscribe the Monster: give it a name, pick a symbol off the Monster sheet, and add the modifier to the +1s it already carries.
4.
Upgrade that drawn piece of Equipment with its own Qi Word - a name and an Equipment symbol, but no modifier.

Drew a joker in step 1? It is inscribed the same way, from a shorter list of symbols - see 7.

You lost, so the dungeon got a new monster with your handwriting on it - and you got a better weapon. Both are permanent. Both come back next game.

10. ELIMINATION

▪
Exhaust your last Adventurer and you leave the dungeon.
▪
If anyone is driven out, the dungeon wins - the whole band takes a scar.
▪
Even in defeat the deck earns +10 XP on the box.

One player running dry ends it for everyone. Keeping the weakest band alive is not charity, it is the win condition.

11. XP AND LEGEND

Game after game, drive your deck toward legendary status - the rank it earns the moment it banks 1000+ XP.

   ████   ███   ███   ███
     ██  █  █  █  █  █  █    XP
     ██  █  █  █  █  █  █     TO
     ██  █  █  █  █  █  █  LEGEND
   ████   ███   ███   ███

WHERE XP COMES FROM

 CLEARED A DUNGEON ......... +150
 FELL / DRIVEN OUT ......... +10

GLORY symbols pay extra - see the sheets.

XP is the only score a deck keeps. How hard its Monsters hit is written on the Monsters themselves - see 8.

12. QI WORDS

A Qi Word is what you inscribe on a card: a name you make up, and one symbol out of twelve. The name is yours. The symbol is the rule.

FLAME SHIELD COVER BOLT NULL BUFF MUDDLE GAZE RALLY DARKEN GLORY SUMMON

Tap a symbol to see what it does on each kind of card.

WRITING ONE

1.
Name it. Anything the table can say out loud. That was always the fun part, and it stays yours.
2.
Pick a symbol. Any of the twelve, off the sheet for that kind of card.
3.
Draw it beside the name. That is the whole inscription - plus the modifier, on a Monster.

   ┌──────────────┐
   │A            ♦│
   │              │
   │ EMBERCLAW  │
   │      +2      │
   │              │
   │♦            A│
   └──────────────┘

A Monster called Emberclaw, with Flame and a +2 modifier. The Monster sheet says what Flame does when it attacks.

ONE CARD, ONE SYMBOL

▪
A card carries one Qi Word, so one symbol. It never gets a second.
▪
The same symbol does a different thing on a Hero, a piece of Equipment and a Monster. Read the right sheet.
▪
Equipped Equipment has its symbol switched off - see 6.

WHEN A SYMBOL WORKS

   MONSTERS   when it attacks
   JOKERS     when placed or escalating
   HEROES     while in play
   EQUIPMENT  when you Cast it

The Monster sheet

The Hero sheet

The Equipment sheet

CARD TERMS

QI WORD

What is inscribed on a card: a name and one symbol. Permanent.

EQUIPPED

Equipment attached onto an Adventurer.

DISCARDED

Gone for good - removed from this game.

13. FLARE

There is a force in DecknForge that does not come from DecknForge.

Nobody at the table knows where it comes from. Nobody in the dungeon knows what it is. Monsters will not say its name, and Heroes who say it too often are not invited back. It is called Flare, and it touches things in ways nobody has managed to write down.

THE RULE

▪
Once per game, you may add Flare.
▪
Write it on the card itself, wherever it fits.
▪
Flare is four words or fewer. Not five. Never five.
▪
Flare goes on any card.
▪
Flare may bend the game. It may never break it.

Flare has never once asked whose card it was touching.

READING FLARE

Flare is read aloud the moment it is written, and from then on it is true. If the table cannot agree on what it means, it means the least it could.

Flare that would break the game simply does not happen. The words stay on the card anyway. Nobody knows why.

EXAMPLES

There are none. Every example anyone has tried to write down was different by morning.

14. GLOSSARY

Try DEFINE SCAR for one at a time.

SYMBOL

One of the twelve drawings in a Qi Word. What it does depends on the kind of card - see the sheets.

REFERENCE SHEET

One per kind of card - Heroes, Equipment, Monsters - saying what each of the twelve symbols does there.

QI WORD

What is inscribed on a card: a name and one symbol. Permanent.

EQUIPPED

Equipment attached onto an Adventurer.

DISCARDED

Gone for good - removed from this game.

ADVENTURER

A card from your Adventurer deck. You start a dungeon with 3 face up.

EQUIPMENT

A card you hang on an Adventurer. Its face value counts toward clearing the dungeon.

MONSTER

An ace or joker in the shared pile. Its number is every +1 it has collected, plus its modifier.

JOKER

A Monster that never hits. Placed, it wipes equipment; with no room, it escalates. Inscribed, its symbol works when placed or escalating.

ROW

One escalation of the dungeon. A row holds at most two jokers.

ESCALATION

What a joker does when every row is full: it adds a new row instead of wiping equipment, and every Monster Attack from then on draws one extra Monster per escalation.

MONSTER PILE

Every player's Monsters, shuffled together. It is the dungeon, and it is the clock.

DUNGEON STRENGTH

25 × players + the number on every Monster not yet slain. Beat it with equipped value to clear.

MODIFIER

The number drawn for a Monster when it was inscribed, added to the +1s it already carries.

GROWING

Two clears in a row: +1 on every Monster card in your deck, aces and jokers, inscribed or blank. Decks have no Level of their own.

FLARE

Four words or fewer, written once a game on any card, by something from somewhere else. It bends the game. It never breaks it.

SCAR

What a lost dungeon leaves behind: a new inscribed Monster and an upgraded piece of Equipment.

Banked on the box. +150 for a clear, +10 for a fall. 1000+ is legendary.

That is the whole rulebook.

The Reference Sheets

Twelve symbols, three sheets. Each symbol has one idea - Flame is fighting back, Darken is the clock - and each sheet says exactly what it does on that kind of card.

FLAME SHIELD COVER BOLT NULL BUFF MUDDLE GAZE RALLY DARKEN GLORY SUMMON

MONSTERS - when it attacks

HEROES - while in play

EQUIPMENT - when you Cast it

Every sheet is in rules.html too, laid out to print.

How Qi Words work

MONSTERS — when it attacks

A Monster's symbol works when it is drawn and attacks, on top of its suit and its attack. A joker's works when it is placed in a row or escalates.

	FLAMEfight back	Every Monster this round has +3 attack against retaliation.On a joker: when placed or escalating.
	SHIELDone stands firm	Cannot be slain by retaliation.Jokers cannot take this.
	COVERshelter for everyone	Other Monsters drawn this round cannot be slain.On a joker: when placed or escalating.
	BOLTspeed	Draw another Monster straight away. It attacks too.On a joker: when placed or escalating.
	NULLcancel	Every player discards one equipped card of their choice.On a joker: when placed or escalating.
	BUFFboost	+2 attack for each Hero it hits.Jokers cannot take this.
	MUDDLEweaken	Every player's hand limit is 5 next round.On a joker: when placed or escalating.
	GAZEsee it coming	Also hits Heroes of the other suit in its colour.Jokers cannot take this.
	RALLYthe push to clear	+5 Dungeon Strength while it stands. Slain, it adds nothing.On a joker: when placed or escalating.
	DARKENthe clock	After it attacks, shuffle it back into the Monster pile.Jokers cannot take this.
	GLORYXP and Legend	+50 XP if it is slain and the dungeon is then cleared.Jokers cannot take this.
	SUMMONcall it in	Put one slain Monster back on top of the Monster pile. It attacks next round.On a joker: when placed or escalating.

HEROES — while in play

A Hero's symbol works the whole time it is in play, and is gone when it is discarded.

	FLAMEfight back	+2 when this Hero retaliates.
	SHIELDone stands firm	Survives its first hit each dungeon. Turn it sideways to show the hit is used.
	COVERshelter for everyone	Jokers do not wipe the Equipment on any of your Heroes.
	BOLTspeed	Once a round, Equip onto this Hero without spending an action.
	NULLcancel	When this Hero is hit, the Monster that hit it is slain too.
	BUFFboost	Each piece of Equipment on this Hero counts +1.
	MUDDLEweaken	Monsters that hit this Hero have -2 attack.
	GAZEsee it coming	At Ready, look at the top card of the Monster pile.
	RALLYthe push to clear	+5 toward the clear check.
	DARKENthe clock	When the Monster pile runs out, the band gets one more round.
	GLORYXP and Legend	+25 XP if this Hero is in play when the dungeon is cleared.
	SUMMONcall it in	Once a round, Hire without spending an action.

EQUIPMENT — when you Cast it

An Equipment symbol works only when you Cast the card, until the end of the round. Equipped, it does nothing.

	FLAMEfight back	+3 to every retaliation this round.
	SHIELDone stands firm	One Hero of your choice ignores this round's hits.
	COVERshelter for everyone	The next joker placed this round wipes nothing.
	BOLTspeed	+1 action this turn.
	NULLcancel	The first Monster drawn this round loses its modifier: it attacks with its +1s alone.
	BUFFboost	+5 to this round's clear check.
	MUDDLEweaken	Every Monster this round has -3 attack.
	GAZEsee it coming	Look at the top 3 Monsters and put them back in any order.
	RALLYthe push to clear	This card's face value counts at this round's clear check, as if it were equipped.
	DARKENthe clock	Freeze this round's Monster Attack. It is not skipped: next round, draw one extra Monster.
	GLORYXP and Legend	Wild: use any other symbol on the Equipment sheet.
	SUMMONcall it in	Hire the top Hero of your Adventurer deck into an empty slot, free.

All twelve, side by side

Symbol	MONSTERSwhen it attacks	HEROESwhile in play	EQUIPMENTwhen you Cast it
FLAMEfight back	Every Monster this round has +3 attack against retaliation.	+2 when this Hero retaliates.	+3 to every retaliation this round.
SHIELDone stands firm	Cannot be slain by retaliation.	Survives its first hit each dungeon. Turn it sideways to show the hit is used.	One Hero of your choice ignores this round's hits.
COVERshelter for everyone	Other Monsters drawn this round cannot be slain.	Jokers do not wipe the Equipment on any of your Heroes.	The next joker placed this round wipes nothing.
BOLTspeed	Draw another Monster straight away. It attacks too.	Once a round, Equip onto this Hero without spending an action.	+1 action this turn.
NULLcancel	Every player discards one equipped card of their choice.	When this Hero is hit, the Monster that hit it is slain too.	The first Monster drawn this round loses its modifier: it attacks with its +1s alone.
BUFFboost	+2 attack for each Hero it hits.	Each piece of Equipment on this Hero counts +1.	+5 to this round's clear check.
MUDDLEweaken	Every player's hand limit is 5 next round.	Monsters that hit this Hero have -2 attack.	Every Monster this round has -3 attack.
GAZEsee it coming	Also hits Heroes of the other suit in its colour.	At Ready, look at the top card of the Monster pile.	Look at the top 3 Monsters and put them back in any order.
RALLYthe push to clear	+5 Dungeon Strength while it stands. Slain, it adds nothing.	+5 toward the clear check.	This card's face value counts at this round's clear check, as if it were equipped.
DARKENthe clock	After it attacks, shuffle it back into the Monster pile.	When the Monster pile runs out, the band gets one more round.	Freeze this round's Monster Attack. It is not skipped: next round, draw one extra Monster.
GLORYXP and Legend	+50 XP if it is slain and the dungeon is then cleared.	+25 XP if this Hero is in play when the dungeon is cleared.	Wild: use any other symbol on the Equipment sheet.
SUMMONcall it in	Put one slain Monster back on top of the Monster pile. It attacks next round.	Once a round, Hire without spending an action.	Hire the top Hero of your Adventurer deck into an empty slot, free.

Credits

DecknForge is in active playtest. These rules are v0.3 and they will change.

THE SHAPE OF IT

A legacy game with no box to buy. The components are a deck of cards you already own and a marker. Everything that makes your copy yours, you wrote on it yourself - and most of it you wrote because you lost.

THE PARTS

▪
The rules and the reference sheets, both in here. Tap RULES or SHEETS.
▪
The symbols are Ionicons, by Ionic, under the MIT licence.

ionic.io/ionicons

"Now go deface a deck."

How do I play?

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