About the game

Table Dungeon is essentially a D&D derived card game with the all familiar classes, items, creatures, leveling, and brutal ends. Players must work together to defeat the endless crawl of baddies; however, there is only one victor in the end, and so players must choose carefully when to be greedy and when to take one for the team.

The game can be played with 2-4 players, and requires a die and standard deck of cards per player. (e.g. if 4 players, it requires 4 dice and 4 decks). It is recommended to have decks with different backs to keep things organized, as some deck mingling is done. Setup takes about 5 minutes, and playtime varies on how long the players can survive.

Feel free to roleplay your character during the game, but you are required to have an amazing accent.

Setup

Print a copy of the Enemy Table (Letter) (A4) and place the sheets at the center of the table.

Each player starts by choosing one of the four classes: Fighter, Wizard, Rogue, or Cleric. These Class Sheets (Letter) (A4) should be printed off before the game begins, and two characters can be the same class (although it’s recommended to have variety).

Players should also have some token (like a small coin) for placing over their current health, as indicated on the character sheet. All players start with 10 health and 10 max health.

The players place dice equal to the number of players in the center of the table.

Each player then begins to organize his deck of cards:

1. Remove the suit that is not used by your class. Shuffle the removed suits of all the players into a loot deck, which is placed in the center of the table.
• Fighter removes the diamonds.
• Wizard removes the clubs.
• Rogue removes the hearts.
• Cleric removes the spades.
2. Each player should make two piles of cards in front of him:
• Action pile - contains all remaining 1-6 ranked cards, and a Queen, King, and a Jack (doesn’t matter which suit). (Ace = 1 in this game)
• Experience (XP) pile - contains the rest
3. Shuffle the action pile. Take the top ten cards from that pile, and show them to yourself. Put any royals that you see back in the action pile, and place the rest in the XP pile.
4. Shuffle the action pile again. Place it face-down on the action pile spot on the character sheet.
5. Shuffle the XP pile. Place it face-up on the XP pile spot on the character sheet.
6. The loot pile and discard pile on a player’s character sheet should have no cards at this point.
7. Each player draws 5 cards from the action pile.

Enemy Encounter

Begin the game by making sure the Enemy Table (Letter) (A4) starts at level 1 (the first sheet). Choose any player to roll the dice at the center of the table. Sum the dice total. Compare this roll to the Enemy Table (Letter) (A4) under the Roll column to find the matching enemy to that roll.

For example, if there are two players, two dice are rolled. The roll is a 4 and a 6. That sums to 10. Look at the Enemy Table (Letter) (A4) under level 1 and see that a roll of 10 is a Swarm of spiders. ...I hate spiders...

Enemy’s effects

At level 1, the enemy’s health is equal to the roll. To defeat the enemy, the sum of attack cards played by the players must be equal or greater than this value. At level 1, if the players do not defeat the enemy, they each take 4 damage, and each player should move his health token down 4 spaces. If a player reaches 0 health, he is removed from the game.

Also, note the text in the Description column for that enemy for any special conditions when facing this enemy:

• "Automatic win" means the players still play a card, but the enemy will always be defeated. This is a good time to play a royal, or heart.
• "If loss" means if the players failed to defeat the enemy.
• "Will flee" means will be an "automatic win" with no loot if the condition is met.

Players’ play

Once the enemy is revealed, players must play a card from their hand face-down towards the center of the table. Once all players play a card, the cards are revealed to all the players, and attack damage is tallied to determine if the enemy is defeated.

• Heart: If a player plays a heart that is not a royal, he will heal for the value of the card + his Constitution. If an enemy deals damage, the player is healed after taking the damage, and a player cannot heal after reaching 0 health. A player cannot heal beyond his max health.
• Spade: If a player plays a spade that is not a royal, he will attack the enemy for the value of the card + his Dexterity.
• Club: If a player plays a club that is not a royal, he will attack the enemy for the value of the card + his Strength.
• Diamond: If a player plays a diamond that is not a royal, he will attack the enemy for the value of the card + his Intelligence.
• Royal: If a player plays a royal, its suit is ignored, and he removes his chance for drawing loot. The player may do one of three things:
1. Put top card of the XP pile at bottom of the XP pile
2. Put one card from his hand at bottom of the XP pile
3. Put top card of XP pile into discard pile

If the players’ total attack is greater than or equal to the enemy’s health, or if the enemy’s description says, "Automatic win", the enemy is defeated. Otherwise, players take damage as indicated on the Enemy Table (Letter) (A4). Either way, this ends the round.

Drawing loot

If an enemy is defeated, the player who played the lowest ranked non-royal card (not including the modifier granted by the stat bonuses) draws a card from the loot deck and places it in his loot pile.

• If the loot is a royal, it is an item that either gives passive benefits or that the player may use once at anytime, then remove the card from the game. See the character sheet for descriptions of each of these items.
• If the loot is an Ace, place it back in the loot deck, shuffle the deck, and that player draws another loot. Players level up, and the Enemy Table (Letter) (A4) is moved onto the the next level. If 4 aces are drawn, the game is over, and players determine the winner.
• Otherwise, the loot is worth the amount of points equal to its rank.

Drawing from the action pile

At the end of the round, each player should draw from his action pile until 5 cards are in his hand. When a player attempts to draw from the action pile, but no cards remain:

1. He places as many cards from the XP pile as the enemy level into the discard pile
2. He shuffles his hand and discard pile and places it as the action pile
3. He draws 5 new cards

Leveling up

After drawing an Ace from the loot deck, players level up. When players level up, they gain 5 max health and heal 5 health. Players also take the top 3 cards from the XP pile and place each card either in his discard pile or at the bottom of his XP pile.

Win/Lose conditions

If four aces are drawn, the game is over, and a player has won. All players that are still alive tally their points given from their loot cards (points equal the rank of the loot card -- no points given to royals). The player with the most points, wins the game.

If all players die, they all lose and the game is over.