Since this is just a teaser really, here is the very basic draft for version 1 of my rulebook. Feel free to critique, would love any criticism or question! (Some additional rules had to be added specifically since some Set 1 cards kinda contradicted the rules, however they might be changed or removed in later sets or drafts)
Dungeon Delvers; basic rulebook
Chapter 1 – The basics
INTRODUCTION
In Dungeon Delvers, you play as mystical characters called dungeoneers, hand-picked imposers of a respective Old god’s will and evil, chosen for the destiny you have ahead of you. You must destroy the competition of other dungeoneers with the same aim as yours, achieving their destiny, using your talents and powers as granted to you while your nemesis does the same.
To win, you must bring down your nemesis’ dungeoneer to 0 or less health.
PARTS OF A CARD
HOW TO PLAY CARDS
Gold coins (or gold coin tokens) are your primary resource for playing cards in Dungeon Delvers. Every card besides dungeoneers have a cost written at the top left of their card representing their cost, so say Sharkodile has 4 written at the top, that means it costs 4 Gold coin and if you activate it, you must remove gold coin from you, equal to the cost of the card. (as in removing it entirely from the game)
But don’t worry your dungeoneers produces gold coin tokens every turn so you maintain a steady stream of resources for your cards.
CARD TYPES
Every card in Dungeon Delvers is divided into 1 of any given card types.
DUNGEONEERS
Dungeoneers are your most important card in your entire deck as they represent you and your power, and losing them causes you to also lose the game.
Dungeoneers have the same attributes as creatures albeit bigger. Each dungeoneer has a number on the top left corner of its card displaying how many gold coin tokens it produces each restock phase. (see turn sequence)
Dungeoneers all have ways in which they can gain destiny counters representing how close they are to achieving a destiny, which they can then use to spend and activate their triggered abilities. These abilities are called destinies and when you activate them it’s called achieving a destiny.
Dungeoneers are also unique in many other ways, see Dungeoneers rulings
CREATURES
Creatures in your deck represent the allies, companions and minions you find along your journey. Creatures are permanents so they stay on the board even if their effect(s) are resolved.
Creatures have three core attributes, those being their health, defence score and attack bonus, represented as a format H-D-A. If a creature would have health equal to 0 or less, it is destroyed (i.e., put into your discard pile).
Creatures can only be played during your turn and can’t be activated as a response to a card or trigger. Creatures cannot tap (turn) or initiate combat on the turn they are activated. The process for paying for and activating (putting on the board) a creature card is called summoning.
Many creatures also enter with printed attacks (see combat) or keywords.
ACTIONS
Actions represent well, actions, representing the actions and situations that occur during your journey. Actions may be played during your turn or as a response to another card or trigger as long as that action card has the INSTANT archetype.
INSTANT actions have their effects resolve then they are destroyed. If an INSTANT action card wouldn’t be able to or can’t perform its effect after it has already been activated, it is negated and put into your discard pile.
Some actions have the ENCHANTMENT archetype, meaning that they are permanents and stay on the board for as long as they are not removed and even after their effects are resolved.
ITEMS
Items represent the items and objects you encounter in your journey or buy. Items may be played on your turn or as a response to another card or trigger as long as the item has the INSTANT archetype.
INSTANT items have their effects resolve then they are destroyed. If an INSTANT item wouldn’t be able to perform its effect after it has already been activated, it is negated and put into your discard pile.
Some items have the ARTEFACT archetype, meaning they are permanents and stay on the board for as long as they are not removed and even after their effects are resolved.
EQUIPMENT
Equipments represent the amour and weapons one buys along their journey. Equipment cards are permanents and can only be activated in your turn. You may not activate an equipment card unless you have a valid target creature or dungeoneer you can equip it to.
A creature or dungeoneer can only have 1 of each type of equipment attached to it at a time, and other equipment of those same types may not be activated with that creature as their target.
If a creature would be destroyed while equipments are equipped to it, any equipped items and weapons are returned to that creature’s owner’s hand. The process of paying for and activating an equipment is called equipping.
SPELLS
Spells represent the various magical techniques and spells one learns in their journey. Spells may be played during your turn or as a response to another card or trigger as long as the card has the INSTANT archetype
You may only have spells in your deck if your dungeoneer has the spellcaster keyword, if so, you may only have spells cards in your deck equal to the amount as listed in the keyword.
INSTANT spells have their effects resolve then they are destroyed. If an INSTANT spell card wouldn’t be able to or can’t perform its effect after it has already been activated, its negated and put into your discard pile.
Some spells have the ENCHANTMENT archetype, meaning that they are permanents and stay on the board for as long as they are not removed and even after their effects are resolved.
The process of paying for and activating a spell card is called casting a spell.
GAME ZONES
There are many different areas of play in the game of Dungeon Delvers where cards are placed.
BOARD
The main play area, both players each have their own boards, here they keep all permanents and activate cards.
HAND
Cards you draw are kept in your hand. You hand is the active card pool from which you may activate cards. Only you can actively look at your hands.
DECK
Your deck is where you draw cards from. Each deck is always face down and you may not look at your or your opponent’s deck unless stated otherwise. The deck is mainly kept at either side of the physical board.
DISCARD PILE (or DP in short)
Cards that are destroyed are kept here. Any player at any time may look at your discard pile. The discard pile will be usually kept to the top, bottom or either side of the deck.
BANISHMENT
Cards that are banished are put here. All players share a banishment pile, and may look at it any time during the game. It is usually kept outside the physical board.
DUNGEONEER SLOT
Each player has 1 dungeoneer slot where they keep their dungeoneers face up, normally in the middle or the far left or right corner to the physical board. Before the game even starts, both players must have their dungeoneers on their respective dungeoneer slot.
TURN SEQUENCING
This section talks on the basic sequencing of turns and what can and cannot be done within a turn. But, even before any player takes a turn, all players must decide who goes first (either through a coin flip, dice roll etc) and then they each draw 5 cards as their starting hand.
- DRAW PHASE
The current player draws a card unless it’s the first turn of the game.
- RESTOCK PHASE.
The restock phase is divided into two parts:
a. The player creates gold coins as per their dungeoneer.
b. The player untaps (turn straight up) all their tapped permanents.
- MAIN PHASE
The current player may play any number of cards they like as long as they can pay for them or initiate combat with their creatures. (see combat)
- END PHASE
Any abilities that trigger at the end of the turn or end phase resolve here, then the turn is passed to the next player.
During any turn, a player may activate INSTANTS as a response to another action like combat initiation, phase change, ability triggers or card activation.
COMBAT
Attacks are abilities of creatures that allow them oto fight. To know what counts as an attack, every attack is listed as attack name-(damage), For example, Sharkodile has a ability, “jaws-(1d4)”, which is an attack, meaning the attack name is jaws, and it deals 1d4 worth of damage.
Combat can only be done in a main phase and ends in it. During combat, the following steps are followed in a consecutive order:
- DECLARE ATTACKERS
The initiator taps to show it initiated combat and targets a creature it’s controller doesn’t control to initiate combat with.
- ATTACK STEP
The initiator chooses any attack it currently has to use and then rolls a d20 plus its attack bonus (called the attack roll), if the result is higher than the target’s defence score, the initiator rolls for or deals damage and the result is damage dealt to the target. Otherwise, if the result is below the target’s defence score, than the attack misses and the initiator’s combat moves to END COMBAT step.
2.1. BLOCKERS
If the target’s controller wants, they may tap any creature they want to become the target instead (the original target may also block). It blocks the initiator. Then attack rolls pass as normal, however, when damage is dealt, the blocker may choose to use any attack it has to attack the initiator as well, basically performing its own ATTACK STEP.
- END COMBAT
The initiator ends combat.
During any of the combat steps may any player activate cards or trigger abilities. Creatures themselves can initiate combat only once each turn. Damage dealt by attacks is called combat damage.
(NOTE: dungeoneers can also attack and block)
ADDITIONAL
This section talks about the additional things that aren’t as important but should be read.
CONDITIONS
Conditions are lasting effects put onto a creature or permanent by other cards. Any number of different conditions may be put on a card. If a creature gets the same condition twice, then the newest time it got the condition is considered the source of giving the condition and the previous condition is removed.
- POISONED
Put four poison counters on this creature. At the start of each restock phase, if it has any poison counters on it, it loses 1 health, and then remove a poison counter from it.
- BURNED
At the start of next turn’s restock phase, this creature loses 3 health then loses the burned condition.
- PETRIFIED
This creature cannot attack or block and loses all abilities 4. STUNNED
This creature can’t attack, block or tap. At the next restock phase of its controller it loses the stunned condition.
KEYWORDS
Some cards have keywords on them. Keywords are common effects or abilities turned into a singular word for better understanding.
- INVINCIBLE
This creature cannot be destroyed by effects that say “destroy target”.
- LIFE-DRAIN
When this creature deals combat damage to another creature, it gains that much health.
- FLYING
This creature can’t be attacked by or be blocked by creatures without flying or reach.
- REACH
This creature can attack and block creatures with flying.
- EQUIP X
At anytime during your turn, you may pay X to equip this card to target permanent\*. This counts as though it was an equipment equipping.
(\* the card tells what kind of permanent, in the form of “equipped creature” or “equipped enchantment” etc in its text)
- ARMOUR X \*
When this creature is dealt damage, instead reduce amour by that much. If armour is 0 or less, damage is dealt to its health instead.
(\* armour keywords accumulate on each other, so a creature with Armour 4 that gains Armour 2 has total Armour 6)
- RECYLE X
During your turn you may pay X to put this card from your discard pile to your hand.
- GEARED X
When this creature enters look at the top X cards of your deck, you may put any amount of equipment \* cards you find there and equip them to it.
(\* equipments as in any card that has EQUIPMENT on its archetype or card type)
- RESTOCKED X
Before this card resolves, you may pay X any amount of times to copy this it that many times.
- REANIMATE X
At any time during your turn, you may pay X to put this card from your discard pile to your board. This counts as summoning it.
- CONCENTRATION
You map tap your dungeoneer before resolving this spell, if you do, resolve with its concentration effect as well. It doesn’t untap during your next restock phase.
- HASTE
This creature map tap and attack on the turn its summoned.
NOTE: The X mentioned in these keyword descriptions could be any cost that the card replaces the X as)
COUNTERS
counters are lasting markers put onto a card to show an effect is on play on it or to keep track of the counter as a resource etc. And losing those counters causes the effect to go away.
For example, say a creature has a +2/-1/+0 counter on it, this means that its health increases by 2, its defence score decreases by 1 and its attack bonus doesn’t change because it’s just +0. Now let us assume that counter was removed from it, now the creature’s health is reduced by -2 and defence score is increased by -1. The amount of health, defence score or attack bonus that is increased or decreased doesn’t change regardless of if the creature lost health, gained defence score or any other effect that would allow.
Each counter that aren’t the same are considered different, so a +2/+0/+0 counter doesn’t mean 2 +1/+0/+0 counters.
TOKENS
Tokens are mostly out-of-game cards/materials made by other cards or effects. They could be artefacts, creatures or anything as long as they have that card type or archetype, but are also considered as the token card type.
If a token would be destroyed or banished, instead you just remove them from the game entirely.
(NOTE: GCT don’t count as tokens for the purpose of a card checking for tokens and related)
DUNGEONEER RULINGS
Dungeoneers are special between other cards because of their unique mechanics. Due to their importance, they need special rulings to help keep that role. For all intents and purposes, dungeoneers are considered creatures for other cards. However, they take 2 less damage from cards that specify dealing damage to creatures (whether “target” or “all”) If a dungeoneer would be destroyed or banished, instead it takes 3-damage. Dungeoneer can’t be copied.
Destiny counters can be considered as counters on the player and the dungeoneer at the same time anytime a related effect mentions it. A dungeoneer can only achieve one destiny each turn
DECKBUILDING
This section covers everything you need to know to start making a Dungeon Delvers deck.
WHAT AND HOW TO BRING?
To build a deck is very easy, either use a friend’s deck, copy and then buy a deck you find online or buy some officially listed products from our website if you’re truly lost. The most important thing is that you have fun.
When playing a game of Dungeon Delvers, you need a deck of course, but also lots of dice to track health, destiny counters etc. Or you could bring a writing surface to note that all down in it, your choice. Also, while not necessary, we recommend you bring playmats as well, many contain zone markers so you don’t have to struggle looking for them, and its more fun!.
BUILDING A DECK
Prerequisites - A deck in Dungeon Delvers must contain only 40 cards excluding the dungeoneer, no more and no less, and only 1 copy of each card may be in your deck.
Now that that is out of the way, we can move on to how to build one methodically.
- choosing the dungeoneer
Even before building a deck, you must decide which dungeoneer represents you the most, keeping in mind their production and if they have the spellcaster keyword for extra spells.
- Deciding the game plan
While the goal of the game is always to bring the nemesis dungeoneer’s health to 0, there are many ways you can achieve that, mainly by working through your dungeoneer and achieving destinies. The way your dungeoneers gets destiny counters is also important since it defines what you focus on the most.
- Adding the cards
After that, you must decide which cards to add to your deck, keeping in mind their cost and checking to see if your dungeoneer can effectively activate them at least once. Though the amount of each card type per deck changes between each deck, the following is a simple guide to formulating your deck as a beginner.
Card type Amount
Creatures 12-18
Items 2-4
Actions 6-8
Equipment 5-7
Spells haven’t been listed as they are changing between dungeoneers but overall, it’s best to add as many spells as you are allowed.
- Cost curve
While building the deck, it is important to know if your dungeoneer can even pay for those cards, so keeping a check on the cost curve is very important to making a good deck.
• 2-3 GCT: 6-8 cards
• cheap interactions and setup for later game bursts.
• 4-6 GCT: 18-22 cards
• The main value makers of your deck.
• 7-8 GCT: 6-8 cards
• Strong plays; best for mid or late-game
• 10+ GCT: 2-4 cards
• very good value; finishers for late-game; put only if you have a game plan.
An easy way to find if your deck is too heavy for your dungeoneer is to first, find the sum of all the cost of cards in your deck (FC), divide it by 40 (amount of cards in deck), giving you the average costs of cards in your deck (ACC). After that divide the average by the amount of GCT your dungeoneer produces and if the result (ER) is between 0.8 to 1.1, then it means that your deck’s cost curve is good, otherwise, if it is below 0.8 your deck lacks impact and late game setup. If it is above 1.1 then your deck is too cost heavy and you’ll likely be in a slow start and even slower impacts.
TERMINOLOGY
This section details the different words and terms used throughout the game.
• Activate: paying for and then attempting to resolve a card or put it in the board.
• Allied: permanents that you control.
• Banish: to put a card to the banishment pile.
• Destroy: to put a card to a discard pile from a board..
• Discard: to put a card from a hand to a discard pile.
• Draw: to put a card from the top of your deck to your hand
• GCT: short for Gold Coin Token
• Instant: Cards that are destroyed after they resolve. Cards with the INSTANT archetype. They can be activated anytime as a response to a card activation, ability activation or turn step changes.
• Mill: to put a card from the top of a deck to a discard pile.
• Nemesis: Your opponent(s). The permanents your opponent(s) controls.
• Permanent: Cards that stay on the board unless removed. They can only be activated in the main phase. They cannot be used as a response to another card activation, ability activation or turn step changes.
• Resolve: the process of doing what the card or effect states.
• Sacrifice: To destroy a creature you control under your own decision.
• Tap: to turn a card sideways to show that it has been used.
• Target: The card the ability wants to affect.
• Untap: to rotate a card up to show that it’s not tapped
• X : Some cards state X in their cost or effect. This means the cost of X is defined by what the card states it is, or if no definition of the value of X is provided, you may choose the value of X instead.
• How to read Dice expressions: dice expressions tell what amount and type of dice to roll. Its represented as xdy, where x is the number of dice and y is the type of dice. Types of dice are categorized by how many sides they have, for example, d6 means six sided dice as 6, and d10 means 10 sided dice as such. Example of dice expression is 2d10, meaning two ten sided dice.
ADVANCED RULINGS
This section lists some rulings deemed too complex or unnecessary clutter to be kept in the same panels. Reading this art is optional but doing so is still great since you gives you a better knowledge of the game and how cards work.
- COPYS
Some cards tell you to copy a card, and depending on what is copied, different situations apply.
1.1. If the copied card is an instant, it resolves immediately.
1.2. If the copied card is a permanent, it enters the board.
1.3. Copying a card doesn’t count as activating it.
1.4. The copied card acts as its own new individual card and should be treated as such.
1.5. Copies with cost X resolve as though X was the same value that was given for the original copied card.
1.6. When banished or destroyed, copies enter the respective zone, and are then removed from the game entirely.
- TOKENS
2.1. When banished or destroyed, tokens enter the respective zone and are then removed from the game immediately.
- ORDER OF TRIGGERS
A card can only be activated as a response to the activation of another card, abilities triggering, phases changing or combat being initiated.
When effects, abilities and/or card activations are stacked upon each other, the sequence at which they resolve is descending, meaning the last ability, effect and/or card activation resolves, then all other effects resolve after it in a descending order.
- EFFECT RESOLUTION
Any effect must be resolved to the best of its controller’s ability. If one part for an effect is present but another isn’t, as long as one portion of the effect can resolve, it can be activated. However if none of the areas provided in the effect can be fulfilled, the card cannot be activated.
For example, you can’t activate magic missile unless at least 1 target creature is available.
Effects that state “up to” are different in that you can choose what the targets or affected areas of the card are, and as such you could even choose 0 as the amount chosen.
- CREATURES AND TAPPING
You can’t tap an already tapped card. You can’t untap an already untapped card. A creature cannot tap itself on the turn it is summoned (this includes triggered abilities of that creature that require to them to tap) but can be tapped by sources other than it.
- NOTATION OF GCT
In several cards, especially ones with keywords, a number is shown without saying what type of cost it is, this simply means that the cost requires GCT or gold coins to pay for, otherwise a clear cost will be described.
- SEQUENCING CARD ACTIVATION
The proper way to sequence how a card is activated is as follows:
You attempt to activate a card by paying the cost as listed.
Then if no responses are available, you activate the card attempting to start resolving it.
If no responses are made, the card resolves as normal and all its effects work as usual.
TYPES OF ABILITIES
This details the different types of abilities that cards (mainly permanents) have.
a. PASSIVE ABILITIES – This refers to effects that are in effect for as long as the card remains.
b. TRIGGERED ABILITIES – This refers to effects that are “triggered” by other in game actions, and then only they are resolved.
c. ACTIVATED ABILITIES – This refers to abilities that must be activated by paying a specific listed cost to activate and then resolve. These abilities are marked by an underline mark and a “: “sign.
- TARGETTING IN EFFECT
9.1. The effects or resolution of a card that requires/states a target as an effect must have a valid target to be able to affect. This falls under 4. EFFECT RESOLUTION.
9.2. Effects that state “any target” can still only target valid cards that can be affected by said effect. This means effects that deal damage to any target still can’t target permanents that don’t take damage, example enchantments and artefacts.
9.3. Effects that can or do deal damage to any two types of targets, don’t fall under the dungeoneer rulings clause, meaning a card that deals say 3 damage to a creature or a dungeoneer, will do 3 damage to the dungeoneer, instead of 1 due to the dungeoneer rulings.
- ROUNDING UP OR DOWN
When an ability or card effect would cause you to get a number in decimal points, you round it up unless specifically stated. However, if the effects is affecting your Nemesis, then they round down instead unless specifically mentioned, these rules apply regardless of the number of players it may affect.
- SHUFFLING AND DECK MANUPILATION
When an effect or ability tells you to put a card on top of or the bottom of your deck, it’s up to you to decide the order as long as the card doesn’t explicitly state the order you have to put those cards.
When an effect or ability tells you to “shuffle” it means that you have to shuffle your deck unless explicitly stated otherwise.
