Migration finished - I think! - so onto the Adventure Phase. Before we get on with Dudley, I’ll summarise the essential rules for this phase.
Adventure Phase Summary
Adventure Phase
During the Adventure Phase each Hero encounters the Space they end their movement in.
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In a Land Space with an Artifact, the Hero can try to hunt down and recover the Artifact (see the Artifact Adventures section).
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In a Land Space without an Artifact, or in a Sea Space, the Hero rolls 1 die. If the roll is a 4, 5 or 6, they draw an Event card; if the roll is a 1, they are attacked and must draw an Enemies card; if the roll is a 2 or 3, their journey is uneventful.
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In a City Space, the Hero draws one City card and encounters that first, but then they can interact with the city to:
- Sell Artifacts they have recovered for Fortune (receive an additional 1 Fortune if selling in a Major City),
- Buy Gear or Allies cards to help them at the cost of 5 Glory each,
- Buy Common Items cards for the amount of Glory shown on each card, or
- Heal their Wounds at the cost of 1 Glory per Wound.
Artifact Adventures
A Hero in a space with an Artifact marker can now go exploring to recover the Artifact. Each Artifact has a given Fortune that the Hero will receive for recovering it and selling in in a City (shown in the gold circle) and a given number of Danger cards that the Hero must face to recover it (shown in the red shield). To recover the Artifact, the Hero must successfully overcome the number of Dangers listed although they do not have to complete them all in the same game round (unless explicitly stated for the Artifact).
Each Danger card usually contains a Skill Test or Fight that must be successfully won (or Escaped From) for that Danger to be overcome. If successful, the Hero can receive a reward in Glory and can then decide to Press On to try a new Danger, or decide to Camp Down and end their turn. If the Hero Camps Down, they receive the Glory they earned from the Danger(s) they overcame and fully heal any Wounds they received, and can resume their hunt for the Artifact next game round that much closer to retrieving it. They can though continue to Press On until completing all the stated number of Dangers, at which time they collect all of the Glory they earned and the Artifact. Note that if a Hero decides to Press On where there is a Villain also searching for the same Artifact, they must first Sneak past the Villain each time they Press On.
If a Danger test is unsuccessful, the Danger card is flipped to reveal a Cliffhanger. The Heroes turn immediately ends, and they lose any Glory they accumulated that turn during the Adventure for this Artifact. In the next Game Round, they cannot move (although still roll for initiative) and instead have to overcome the Cliffhanger - these are more deadly tests where failure usually results in a Hero being KO’d, but success results in the Hero immedaitely gaining the Glory reward and then being able to Press On or Camp Down with their hunt for the Artifact.
There are some special types of Artifacts called Temples. These work differently, in that each Temple has an amount of Fortune and for every Danger (or Cliffhanger) successfully overcome, that Hero or Villain gains 1 of the Fortune there immediately. However, if a Danger is failed and a Cliffhanger occurs, there is a chance that the Temple may collapse, and then all Heroes and Villains there must roll to Escape it or be KO’d. Whoever takes the last Fortune coin from the Temple also gains the Temple Treasure, which counts as an Artifact and can be sold at a City for 3 extra Fortune, that Temple (Artifact) is now removed from the board and will be replaced by a new Artifact in the End Phase.
Skill Tests
Each Hero has 4 Skills that will be tested at various stages in the game: Combat, Agility, Cunning and Lore. Each Skill has a rating value which is the number of dice the Hero will roll during that test. Each Skill test will tell you what Skill (or Skills) are to be tested (possibly some combined and possibly with a choice of Skills to test), what the Success Number required on a die is, and how many successes are required (marked by an X).
For example: a Skill Test of Agility 4+ XXX is Agility test requiring 3 successful die rolls of 4 or higher. A Hero rolls the number of dice equal to their Agility value, and if they get three 4s or higher, they are successful. However, they do not have to get them all on the first roll in most instances - and as long as they get at least one successful roll (in this case, at least one die is a 4 or higher), they keep the number of successes they scored and can reroll again, adding extra successes on their new roll. They can keep doing this until the Test is succesfully completed, or until they roll no successes in one roll and they then fail that Test.
Succeeding a Test usually rewards the Hero with Glory; Failure will penalise them in some way, usually Wounds or loss of Glory, Gear or Allies. Notably, failing a test on a Danger card usually while on an Artifact Adventure flips that card to a Cliffhanger (more in the Artifact Adventures section).
Fights
Fights are basically a series of Skill Tests using the Hero’s Combat Skill against an Enemy until one side is defeated (is reduced to zero Wounds remaining and is KO’d), one side Escapes or for a fixed number of Fight Rounds in certain cases.
Unless otherwise stated, each Fight Round the Hero and the Enemy roll their Combat or Fight Dice, and each roll of 4 or higher is a Hit on their opponent. Most Heroes and some Villains and Enemies have a Defense value: this is subtracted from the number of Hits that Hero or Enemy receives that Fight Round to show how many Wounds they take.
For normal Fights, if a hero wins they usually receive some Glory for the encounter. If they lose, they are normally KO’d and will revive back in their Home City in the End Phase. In Fights of one single round, other outcomes are possible, normally these are competing against Villains at Artifact sites or when invading the Zeppelin.
Escapes
Heroes often have the chance Escape rather than Fight. This is usually a Skill Test, which if successful during a Fight will end that fight although they will gain no Glory from it. If the Escape test during a Fight is failed, the Enemy gets a free attack on the Hero and the Fight continues with another Fight Round, although the Hero can choose to try and Escape again each new Fight Round.
Escape tests at a Temple Collapse are either passed - leaving the Hero/Villain safe in that location - or failed, leaving that character KO’d.
Sneaking
A Sneak Test is a different sort of test that is not dependent on the Hero’s Skill values, but the Enemy’s or Villain’s Search value. Sneaking mostly comes into play when a Villain is searching for the same Artifact as a Hero, or when a Hero is trying to sneak aboard the Zeppelin.
To Sneak past an Enemy or Villain, the Hero chooses a number between 1 and 6 and the Enemy rolls a number of die equal to their Search value. For each die that rolls the number chosen by the Hero, the Hero has to Fight a single Fight Round against that Enemy or Villain.
Additional Rules
Carrying Limits. Each Hero can carry up to 3 Gear cards and 3 Allies cards, but can have an unlimited number of Event cards and Glory. Note that in the cooperative game, Fortune is shared between the Heroes. (In the Cooperative Game, Heroes can trade Gear and Allies with each other when in the same Space, but can never trade Event Cards.)
KO’d. If a Hero is KO’d, they must immediately lose 1 die worth of a combination of Glory, Gear cards or Allies cards. (In the Cooperative Game, Fortune gained by the Heroes collectively is not lost in this way.) A KO’d Hero will revive in their Starting City during the End Phase of that Round.
Exerting: A Hero is allowed to Exert themselves when faced with a Cliffhanger Test or when trying to Escape. The Hero can take 1 or more Wounds on themselves and gains that number of extra dice for that one roll only, not that entire Test. A Hero cannot though KO themselves by Exerting.
