Double-decker DungeonQuest (revision 11) ======================================== This is a DungeonQuest variant; rather than playing in the rather disappointing tileless Catacombs, it adds a second dungeon level and uses as many Catacombs bits as possible. Our survival rate with normal DQ was approaching 40% (and we don't play the "search up one piece of treasure, exit, hope other players die" strategy); this drops it significantly. (Changes in v11: eliminate the "Collapsed" tile which was a huge chunk of rules which were barely ever used). Setup ===== Draw a map for the lower level, the same size and shape as the upper level, but without Tower Rooms. The Treasure Chamber is present on both levels. Put a Stairs counter in the space in the middle of each long edge of the lower level map; these spaces are shown as stairs on ancient maps of the Castle. When these spaces are explored, place Stairs counters in them (unless they are Bottomless Pits or something else that makes stairs inherently impossible). The spaces above them would get stairs counters at that point if they had not been explored, as is normal in these rules. (The variant 8-player map I'm aware of adds two side "lobes" with four more Tower rooms - leave the two Stairs where they were before the addition of the side lobes; they're not on the map edge anymore but they're equidistant from all the players). Catacombs radically reduced the success rate of Searching; edit two Empty cards into Secret Doors. The Passage Down Search card is now a "Secret Staircase" card. You'll need to bodge up some tiles marked "Pit Above" (two exits and a hole, just like a bottomless pit) and "Chasm Above" (four exits crossed diagonally by a chasm). These don't go in the main tile mix; keep them to one side. Some markers to indicate tiles below a Narrow Bridge (to which you can climb up, but it's inobvious) might not hurt. You'll want more Stairs markers. I found it best to make them in matching pairs, so it's easy to spot the corresponding stairs on the other level. The game lasts for four additional turns. Individual players don't really need to know all these rules in advance, but they do need to know that the Amulet of Levitation's reveal condition is changed, what the Ring of Teleportation does, and they probably should know that the better treasure in the Chamber is on the lower level. Rules about movement ==================== You can move between levels if there are Stairs on your tile, whether or not there are Stairs on the other level (if there aren't, you emerge from a secret passage on that level). This is pretty well like a normal move; you can't move into another player's space and you draw a tile if the destination is unexplored. If you enter an unexplored tile by any means that doesn't let you "step over the arrow" - falling, climbing, teleportation, etc. - the tile is oriented randomly, choosing from the facings that don't put the arrow next to the map edge or a wall on an adjacent tile (if there are none, choose completely at random). Ie, if possible, you'll always be able to try and exit the tile by stepping over the arrow. You might also move between levels by climbing up and down (which takes a turn just like using the stairs), by falling or by teleporting (which take no time), or by using the Amulet of Levitation (which has its own section of rules). Although falling takes no time, you can never move after a fall, even if you had not moved this turn. You still draw a Room (or Trap) card if you fell or teleported into a tile. Sometimes you will have the option of making a descent not by stairs but by climbing down dangerously; if you do this, you make an Agility check on d12; if you fail this check, you fall. Normally, you can climb down from a Chasm, Pit, or Narrow Bridge tile, or if you just evaded a Trapdoor. You can try to climb up if the tile above is a Chasm, Pit, or Narrow Bridge tile, or if you arrived in your current tile by falling through a Trapdoor. This is a move taking a turn; make an Agility check. If you fail it, you fall back into the tile below. If you fail to climb up and the rules call for someone falling into the tile to take d6 damage, you only take d3; you didn't make it all the way up. In this case, don't draw a Room or Trap card; you never made it out of your tile. This is a general rule; if you try to move to another space but fail, you don't draw a fresh Room or Trap card. Some tiles restrict your movement inside them - you're always on one side of a Pit, Chasm, or Narrow Bridge, for example. If you climb up or down from one of these tiles to another restrictive one, you pick one of the four sides of the tile and stick to it. This might make the move impossible, eg between a Pit tile and a Narrow Bridge oriented the other way around. If you involuntarily move (eg by being teleported or falling) into a space with another player, you instead end up in a randomly selected free adjacent space on the same level, perhaps having fallen through a series of exciting chutes - and you can't reascend by climbing, Levitation, etc to the tile you left after this happens. This replaces the printed rules for this happening with the Amulet of Teleportation. You can still never voluntarily move into a space with another player. However, you can fall through a lower-level space (Bottomless Pit or Chasm) occupied by another player. In the case of a Chasm they just hear your despairing scream. In the case of a Pit, they make a Luck check. If they pass it, you whizz harmlessly past them. If they fail it, you collide; they take d6 damage (and so do you, but you're dead meat anyway). If they are still alive after a collision and are not levitating, they must make an Agility check to avoid overbalancing into the Pit with fatal results. Rules about placing stairs ========================== Stairs counters can be placed in normal Rooms, Trap Rooms, Spider Webs, Portcullis Rooms, Corridors, Chambers of Darkness, Chasms, and Narrow Bridges. When one is placed in a Chasm or Narrow Bridge, place it on a random side, unless it's known to connect to a set of stairs in a restrictive tile on the other level, in which case it ends up on the matching side of the tile. They can never be placed in Rotating Rooms, Tower Rooms, Bottomless Pits, Cave-In tiles, the Treasure Chamber, or rooms that already have stairs. If you enter an unexplored space with a Stairs counter, place it in the room if stairs are permitted there. When a Passage Down Room card is drawn, place a Stairs counter in the room if permitted. When you draw a tile with printed stairs, or when a Stairs counter is placed for any reason, check the corresponding space on the other level. If it is unexplored, put a Stairs counter in it. (If it's already explored, the other end of the staircase must be secret.) If you use Stairs to move into an unexplored space, place a Stairs counter in the tile you move into, if it is permitted. If you use Stairs to move into a previously explored space that doesn't have a Stairs counter, don't place one; the exit is concealed. Rules about drawing tiles ========================= If you draw a Bottomless Pit or Chasm on the lower level, it works as normal. Otherwise (ie, on the upper level), if the tile below is unexplored, it works as normal and the tile below is considered to be a space of the same type in in the same orientation. If the tile below is explored and isn't of the same type (and orientation, if a Chasm), discard the Bottomless Pit or Chasm tile and draw again - lucky you! If you draw a Narrow Bridge on the lower level, put a Stairs counter in the room. Treat it as a normal Room, ignoring the bridge. Draw a Room card. Rules about kinds of rooms ========================== If you fall into a room and hit the ground, you normally take d6 damage; d3 if you failed to climb up out of it. Bottomless Pit (bottom level): If you fell in, you plummet to your death. If you were successfully climbing down, but not from a similarly aligned Pit, make a second Agility check to climb back up to the upper level; otherwise, you plummet to your death. If you were descending stairs, make a Luck check to notice the ingenious collapsing stairs arrangement and return to the upper level; you lose this turn. If you fail the check, you notice the collapsing stairs arrangement as it collapses and you plummet to your death. In either of these cases, if you had the Amulet of Levitation, you may either return to the upper level or remain in the Pit tile as you please. Bottomless Pit (any): If you were teleported in, make a Luck check (if you do not have the Amulet of Levitation) to end up on a randomly selected side of the pit; otherwise you end up in the middle and plummet to your death. Failing to climb up from or down into a Bottomless Pit tile is fatal. You can jump the Pit at any point in your turn by making an Agility check. Failure is fatal. Chasm (present on both levels): You can climb up or down between the Chasms. A failed climbing attempt results in a fatal fall down the Chasm. Chasm (any): If you are teleported into a chasm space or fall into one from a space that's not a chasm, make a Luck check as for the Bottomless Pit, above (unless you have the Amulet of Levitation). If you fell in but are lucky you still take falling damage. You can jump the Chasm at any point in your turn by making an Agility check - on a d10, since the Chasm is narrower (yes, the ninja cannot fail). Failure is fatal. You can search a Chasm, but any Secret Door you find can only lead in two directions (unless you are levitating). Cave-In, Spider Web: If you fall or are teleported in, you are automatically stuck and must make the appropriate check to leave in any direction. If you are moving by stairs and find such a tile, you may choose to retreat as normal on your next move. You cannot climb up from these tiles. The footing is too unsure in a Cave-In and the Web is much too sticky. You don't take any damage when falling into a Spider Web, since it cushions the fall. If you attempt to go up and find you are moving into a Cave-In, you take d12-Armour damage as loose debris falls on you, and you remain on the lower level. No stairs can lead down from a Cave-In. You can never try to climb up to a Cave-In (eg if you fell through a Trapdoor in a Cave-In). You can't search a Spider Web or Cave-In. Chamber of Darkness: Stairs in a Chamber of Darkness count as an exit to be chosen from like any other. If you leave a Chamber of Darkness by stairs down, make an Agility check or take d3 damage from falling down the stairs. An Amulet of Levitation prevents this damage. You cannot climb up or down from a Chamber of Darkness, but you can levitate if the rules would otherwise allow it. Corridors: Stairs can exist in a corridor, and you can use the extra move to go up or down stairs or after arriving by stairs or by successfully climbing into a corridor. You cannot get an extra move after falling or being teleported into a corridor tile. Narrow Bridge (changed from Catacombs): Remember Narrow Bridges only end up on the upper level. You draw a Room Card for a Narrow Bridge. Monsters, etc, are always on the side you are on. You can search a Narrow Bridge, but any Secret Door you find can only lead in three directions (unless you are levitating). At any point in your turn (when you're not doing anything else) you can cross a Narrow Bridge; make an Agility Check on d10. If you fail, you fall into the lower level. (Remember this replaces the Catacombs rule; you don't count or lose Treasure). You can climb down from and up into Narrow Bridges. If you are teleported into a Narrow Bridge tile and do not have the Amulet of Levitation, make a Luck check as for a Bottomless Pit - if you pass it, you end up on a random side - if you fail, you fall. Portcullis: If you arrive in a portcullis room by moving between levels or by teleportation, the portcullis was already closed. It's impossible for there to be a placed portcullis tile with the portcullis open. Two portcullises back-to-back count as one portcullis. Rotating Room: If you arrive in a Rotating Room by stairs, they are always secret one-way stairs - there can never be a stairs counter in a Rotating Room. Consider the room to have already rotated (as with a portcullis, the tile on the map always means the same thing). Tower Room: There's nothing stopping you returning to a Tower Room by teleportation or stairs from below. After teleporting in you would not get a free move (just like a Corridor) but could escape the Castle. Treasure Chamber: If you are in the Treasure Chamber on the upper level, draw 3 Treasure Counters and return the one with the highest value to the pot. The Chest has value 0 for this purpose; the Book, a higher value than any other treasure. The Treasure Chamber is one vast two-level space. If the dragon awakens, it toasts players on the upper and lower levels alike. If you are teleported into the Treasure Chamber from outside, make a Luck check. If you succeed, you end up on the same dungeon level you teleported from and can take Treasure as normal. If you fail, you land on the dragon. You are killed instantly (well, relatively quickly), and other players in the room suffer the normal effects for the dragon awakening. You can't climb in the Treasure Chamber; it's too noisy, even with a Rope. Rules about cards ================= If you have a Rope, you get a +2 bonus to any Agility Check you make when climbing up or down between levels. If you fail a check when climbing down you may discard the Rope to make the check into a success. (If you just climbed down to an unexpected Pit, you can't discard the Rope to succeed in scrabbling back up - you aren't climbing down anymore.) The Secret Staircase card lets you move to the other level, just as if there was a temporary Stairs counter in the tile you are in. You still won't succeed in ascending to a Cave-In tile. If you ascend to a restrictive tile like a Narrow Bridge, you can choose the side you arrive on freely - secrets are handy like that. If you arrive by Secret Door in the side of a Pit or Narrow Bridge, you fall. A Trapdoor trap on the lower level works as normal. A Trapdoor trap elsewhere on the upper level drops you into the lower level for d6 damage but, until you leave the tile you entered, you can climb up using the normal movement procedure. If you evade a Trapdoor, you may climb down on subsequent turns, until you leave the tile. It may be possible to evade Doomshadow by changing levels. The first time you do so while being pursued, roll a d6. On a 1-2 pursuit continues. On a 3-4, it behaves like a Dalek, unable to use stairs - roll thereafter only if you start a turn on the dungeon level where you first encountered it. On a 5-6, the pursuit ends. Roll only once per Doomshadow; you can't bounce between levels until you get an answer you like. Rules about amulets and rings ============================= The Ring of Teleportation now moves you between levels either upwards or downwards. It takes your entire turn. You do draw a Room or Trap card for the space you land in. It can be used to change levels in the Treasure Chamber; you draw no Treasure, but also no Dragon counter. The Amulet of Teleportation will teleport between levels, up or down, if you roll a 10 when you hit a trap. It does not otherwise move you between levels, except inasmuch as you might be teleported somewhere and immediately fall to the bottom level. Note that these rules replace the printed rules for being teleported into various kinds of tile. The Amulet of Levitation has many more uses. It is identified whenever the player with it makes an Agility Check to avoid falling or would otherwise fall automatically. Once identified, the player wearing it is always considered to be levitating (ie, these rules use "are levitating" and "have the Amulet of Levitation" interchangeably). You may use it as normal to evade Trapdoors and cross Bottomless Pits, Narrow Bridges, and Chasms. You are never forced to fall into the lower level. In any tile where a normal player could fall into the lower level (eg, immediately after drawing a Trapdoor card), you have the option of falling safely; you take no damage, and you do not plummet to your death if you arrive on a Pit or Chasm. This does not use a move, and you have not already moved this turn you may move out of the lower level space, even if a falling player could not. In any situation where you climb down, you automatically pass any checks made. Normally, of course, it is easier and quicker to fall safely. In any situation where a player could climb up to the upper level, you may rise up, using a turn to do so. In the Treasure Chamber, you may levitate between levels. If climbing, this takes a turn but you do not draw a Dragon or Treasure counter - levitation is silent. If descending, this does not take a turn; if you haven't moved yet this turn, either take Treasure and a Dragon counter, or move out of the Chamber normally. Rules about heroes ================== The Wizard's "Warp Door" spell cannot be used to escape the dungeon from the lower map. If you have Flame Bright with you, it will attempt to climb up or down whenever you do. If it fails to climb up when you succeed, you can either wait for it or abandon it. If you wait, it doesn't block player movement into the tile it's supposedly still trying to climb out of. Serallia's Sun Orb lets her ignore the new Chamber of Darkness rules. When drawing tiles for Flame Bright's warning ability, pay no attention to the rules about what tiles can be placed where (eg, Bottomless Pits above non-Pit tiles). When the tile is actually revealed, if it is impossible to place, draw another tile (with no roll for warning... sorry). A berserk dwarf can never climb up or down. He can take Stairs. An archer (El-Adoran or Farendil) with a Rope may cross a Narrow Bridge by firing an arrow across. They always cross, but if they fail a Luck check, the arrow is lost. Nothing to do with playing in 3D ================================ Making Strength better ====================== Strength isn't a lot of use in DQ, and opening doors is a desperation move. Suggest the following: Two doors back to back do not require you to draw two door cards, only one. On a "Door Jammed Shut" result, the door opens if you can make a Strength check on d12. You can't use a Secret Door to bypass a Door or Portcullis. If you want to exit out that side of the tile, you have to use the Door or Portcullis. If you get bitten by a Vampire, instead of losing a LP every turn, you make a Strength check. If you fail it you lose an LP; if you roll a natural 1, you make a second Strength check; if this is passed, you have fought off the infection. Character balance ================= Balance is a bit of a quixotic goal in DQ but I think there is a general perception that the wizard is very good because of the ability to Stasis out of the dungeon with complete impunity, and the dwarf is very weak because of the way that using your special ability allows the other players to ruin your day. Ironhand can use Amulets. Why not? They're terrible. Stasis can't be repeated. After a turn in Stasis, Azoth must take a normal turn. (He could then miss that normal turn, waiting to use Stasis again when it is next his turn to move.) (Or https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2411565/azoth-rework is a more extensive rework.) The dwarf moves randomly (picking from any direction, including up and down, including those with doors and portcullises but not those blocked altogether) when rolling a 1 when berserk, not under the control of another player. If the dwarf has killed anything while berserk, he only loses 3 LP upon calming down. The Helm of Terror is near-useless, and Thargrim generally weak. We are experimenting with the following. When you meet a monster (that's not a Death Warrior) and Combat results, you may pay an LP to use the Helm. Draw another monster card. If that results in Flee, the monster flees. If not, the monster is emboldened by your weakness; use the highest LP value on the two cards. (In solo play, decide if you will use the Helm on a Combat result before drawing the Monster card, to avoid knowing the monster's LP before deciding). The ninja very seriously outclasses the rangers. I'd suggest starting the rangers with 6 arrows. Miscellany ========== The solo combat chart on p13 of the rulebook is much more favourable to the player than the combat cards. Roll d10, with 9 being "2 LP damage to monster" and 10 being "reroll". If you are playing with Catacombs bits, I suggest changing two Empty cards to Secret Doors (and, if not actually using Catacombs, regarding the Passage Down as a Secret Door). This restores the pre-Catacombs odds of finding one, and the Strength changes make Secret Doors less use. On leaving a Chamber of Darkness, you only choose randomly between passable exits. (Bumping into a wall always seemed a bit arbitary - it takes a turn, but only if the wall was printed on another tile). You must attempt to open a door or portcullis if the roll selects one; hanging about in the Chamber is too worrying. The Ring of Warning works whenever the word "trap" is used; Trap tiles, Door and Crypt Traps, Trapdoors and Crossfire Traps, when a Search card tells you to draw a Trap. It is always optional to use it, but it must be used immediately - on hitting a Trap tile, you can't wait to see the card. https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2409382/final-potions-deck is, well, a potions deck which has enough good ones in that the bad ones get a chance to kill you. Instead of being able to Search twice, you can Search until you draw an Empty, which you retain until you leave the tile (or die). Per https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2555584/article/36462972#36462972 the odds are pretty similar and the bookkeeping reduced. The Thief must also stop searching after one Empty, he just gets there faster (and bear in mind if he draws two cards, he always resolves them both.) Armour could be less useless. Here There Be Dragons ===================== There isn't really any reason to stop at two levels, is there? Suggestions for more follow. Stop reading now until you've tried the rules above. :-) More levels could be added to the dungeon. Levels don't all have to be the same shape and size, but there should always be at least two levels at any given horizontal position so that effects like the Amulet of Teleportation can work. I intend to experiment first with a third level with the outer ring of tiles missing. Add three additional turns for each additional level beyond two. Instead of being in the upper or lower levels, you're either in an "topmost tile", "lowest tile", or "intermediate tile", based on whether or not there's a tile space above or below you (or both - but never neither, given the two-level criterion above). Warp Door works only from the top level. The two guaranteed stairs should be on the line through the long axis of the Treasure Chamber, as far from it as permits them to be present on every level. If you've constructed weird level shapes where that doesn't make sense, too bad. They still don't appear on the topmost level until they're explored from below - on intermediate levels, you find up stairs but not down stairs. If you arrange to fall into an intermediate tile of a sort that's normally just present on the upper level, this counts as being teleported in. With any luck, that makes sense. If you descend by stairs into such a tile, you use the procedure for descending into an unexpected Bottomless Pit; make a Luck check or fall in. You can't lower yourself dangerously from the collapsing stairs arrangement. The Treasure Chamber runs through every level. Except perhaps not in the top level. If you're on a level below the second level, draw as many treasure counters as the number of the level you are on, but always keep only two. If the Treasure Chamber is not present on the top level, refer to the paragraph above if you drop in unexpectedly. Lowering yourself or using stairs still only descends one level per turn. Falling, including the controlled no-damage fall of the Amulet of Levitation, obviously is still instantaneous. Falling should do an extra d6 damage for each extra level fallen, if someone arranges to fall multiple levels. Bottomless Pits and Chasms on topmost and intermediate tiles have to be able to place a chain of Pits or Chasms all the way to the bottom level in order not to be discarded. Narrow Bridges only count as Stairs on the bottom level. Stairs get a bit uglier because on intermediate levels they might go up or down. Suggest separate "up stairs" and "down stairs" markers. It should remain the case that when you find stairs, the marker for the other end is placed immediately in the corresponding space if it is unexplored, but if that space was explored, the marker is only placed when someone actually traverses the stairs, opening a secret somewhere. I'm not sure what should happen if someone finds stairs on an intermediate level. The obvious options are random choice of up/down, player's choice, and both. I actually incline to both; the stairs-finding game is quite harsh. Involuntary teleportation moves you to a randomly selected other level if there isn't some reason for that not to make sense. The Ring only ever moves you one level, up or down.