# Dungeon Crawl, a Better Game Than Solitaire

2011-07-05

by marccase, cc by nc sa

converted to gemtext by lettuce, 2023-07-28

=> https://www.instructables.com/Dungeon-Crawl-a-better-game-than-solitaire/ Dungeon Crawl source on Instructables

## Introduction: Dungeon Crawl, a Better Game Than Solitaire

This is my very first instructable, so feedback is greatly appreciated. Dungeon Crawl came out of one sleepless night I had a few months back. The mind does weird things when it's tired and for some reason that night I latched on to the idea of making a better single player card game than solitaire. After roughing out the rules and play testing the game for a month I feel confident that it's ready for the masses! I hope you enjoy. If you enjoy this game please vote for me in the Toy Challenge 2 contest.

Materials:  

- 1 deck of normal playing cards with Jokers taken out.

## Step 1: Choose a Character

=> ../../images/dungeon-crawl-solitaire/character.gif caption: This shield card is worth 1 point of damage absorption. (3 / 2 = 1.5 so 1)

You can either play as a mage or a warrior. Each character has it's own card set up and play styles.

### Mage 

Mages only get half the face value of their HP card.  However they are the only character that has a mana pool.  This is a second stat card drawn after the HP card. Mages  get the face value of the card in MP cards (see “Drawing  your stats” section). In battle, Mages melee attacks are only  worth 1 damage. However, Mages may use MP cards to cast  either an attack spell or a shield spell. Each spell costs one  MP card. When used the Mage takes the MP card and turns  it over, The damage dealt (attack spell) or absorbed (shield  spell) is equal to the face value of the card (EX:a 4 of  diamonds can either deal 4 damage or absorb 4 points of  damage from a monsters attack). Mages may regenerate MP  cards by spending 10 score points per card (see collecting  your score).

### Warrior

=> ../../images/dungeon-crawl-solitaire/stats.gif caption :Here is a 10 of spades. Fighters=10hp. Mage=5 hp. ( hp is also rounded down).

=> ../../images/dungeon-crawl-solitaire/draw.gif caption: Draw your HP cards. In this case 10 if you were a warrior and 5 if you were a mage. 

=> ../../images/dungeon-crawl-solitaire/king.gif caption: King of diamonds means 13 mana cards! :D

A warrior's HP is the full face value of their HP  card ( see “Drawing your stats” section). The Warrior also  draws a card from the deck for every melee attack.  The damage dealt is the face value of the card. Warriors  also get a shield card. This is drawn after their HP card.  The shield card absorbs one half of the face value of the  card in incoming damage rounded down. (EX: if the shield  card is the three of diamonds then all incoming attacks  lose 1 damage. An enemy attacking with a 7 of clubs would  only deal 6 damage).

## Step 2: Draw Your Stats

After deciding on a character you will need to draw their  stats. This is done by drawing a card from the deck. The  first card you draw is your character card. This will  determine the number of hit points your character has. For  a warrior the face value of the card will be your HP. For a  Mage it will be half the face value of the card (EX:If you  draw the ten of spades, your character would have ten hp if  they were a warrior and five if the were a mage.) You will  then draw the appropriate number of cards to use as HP  counters and place them next to your character card (see  “Lay out your cards” section).

Next, if you are a Mage you will draw for your mana poll.  Draw another card to see how much MP you will have.  You get mana points equal to the face value of the card.  (EX: if you get the king of diamonds then you would have  13 mana points.) Draw the appropriate number of cards to  represent your mana poll and lay them next to your player  card. (see “Lay out your cards” section)  

If you are a warrior, you will draw your shield card (see  warrior section of selecting character for description of  shield card). This is laid sideways and placed under the  character card (see next section).  Note: In Dungeon Crawl, jacks are worth 11, queens are  worth 12 and kings are worth 13

## Step 3: Lay Out Your Cards

=> ../../images/dungeon-crawl-solitaire/warrior.gif caption: warrior layout

=> ../../images/dungeon-crawl-solitaire/mage.gif caption: mage layout

Here is how to lay out your cards. For a warrior your shield card goes under your player card and sideways. Your HP cards can then be stacked next to your player card. For a mage your player card is turned sideways with your Mana pool to your left an your HP to your right.

## Step 4: Battles

=> ../../images/dungeon-crawl-solitaire/battle.gif caption: Here is his two HP cards, maybe it's a giant rat. 2 of hearts is the Monster card on the right. In normal mode he can't do more than 2 damage. In hardcore mode it can do up 13 damage. 

Once your character is set up and ready you can begin your  adventure! Exploration follows three basic phases.  

1. Enter a room  
2. Fight the monster  
3. collect your score.  

Before you begin, shuffle the deck and set aside. This  becomes the battle pool which is used to draw monsters  and decide damage during combat. You may now decide if  you will be playing on normal, or hard core difficulty. In  normal difficulty the face value of a monster card also  dictates it's maximum damage. In hard core mode there is  no damage cap for monsters. This means that a monster  who could normally deal a maximum of 2 damage in  normal mode may be able to deal as much as 13 in hard  core mode (see Fighting the monster)

## Step 5: Enter a Room

When you enter a room you make the monster that you  will be fighting. To do this you draw a card from the battle  pool. This card becomes the monster card. Its HP is the face  value of the card. Draw the appropriate number of cards to  act as the monsters HP counters. Depending on your game  mode this also dictates the max damage the monster can do  (EX: a two of hearts would have 2 hp and in normal mode  could do a max damage of 2).

## Step 6: Fight the Monster

=> ../../images/dungeon-crawl-solitaire/fight.gif caption: Monsters initiative card is drawn first (8 of clubs). Player initiative card drawn second (Ace of diamonds).

Fighting starts by drawing for initiative. You first draw the  monsters initiative card from the battle pool and then your  own. The card with the highest face value wins. That  character gets their turn first. In this case the monster drew  an 8, while I drew a 1. Therefor, the monster goes first. NOTE: at the end of each turn, all attacking cards, lost HP  cards and used Mana cards are shuffled into the deck.

## Step 7: Monster Turn

=> ../../images/dungeon-crawl-solitaire/monster-turn.gif caption: Monsters attack card is black (Ace of spades). Players evasion card is red, attack misses (7 of hearts).

On the monsters turn you will draw a card for the  monsters attack. The attack is worth the face value of the  card if it hits (Ex: an ace of spades would be worth an  attack of 1 damage). Next you will draw your evasion card  from the battle pool. If your evasion card is a different  color than the monsters attack card, their attack misses  (EX: you draw a 7 of hearts, it is a different color than the  ace of spades and the attack of one damage misses). The  monsters turn now ends.

## Step 8: Player Turn

=> ../../images/dungeon-crawl-solitaire/player1.gif caption: Going to use a mana card to attack the monster

=> ../../images/dungeon-crawl-solitaire/player2.gif caption: My spell is worth 9 damage if it hits.

=> ../../images/dungeon-crawl-solitaire/player3.gif caption: My attack is black (9 of spades). The monsters evasion is black, I hit and do 9 damage. The monster dies (4 of clubs).

If you are a warrior than your turns are exactly like the  monsters turn. Draw a card and the attack is worth the face  value of the card. The monster then gets a chance to evade,  etc. The only difference is the damage absorption of your  shield on successful monster attacks (see warrior section of  choosing your character).  
-  
When playing a mage your turns are a little different. If  you decide to do a melee attack you still draw a card.  However this is only to find out the color of your attack  (either red or black) for when the monster draws it's  evasion card. All mage melee attacks do one damage. To do  any real damage a mage must play a spell card from their  mana pool. Spell cards work exactly like a normal attack  card and do face value damage. On monster turns, if a  monsters attack hits, a mage may choose to cast a shield  spell. To cast either spell a mage would turn over a card  from their mana pool and play it. The card either deals or  absorbs the face value of the card. The cards are always  drawn from the top of the mana pool.  No matter what character you play as, once you have  drawn your attack card the monster draws their evasion  card. This works exactly like a player evasion on the  monster turn.

## Step 9: Collect Your Score

```
| Player Name | M/W | Difficulty | Score |
------------------------------------------
|             |     |            |       |
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|             |     |            |       |
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|             |     |            |       |
------------------------------------------
|             |     |            |       |
------------------------------------------
|             |     |            |       |
------------------------------------------
|             |     |            |       |
------------------------------------------
|             |     |            |       |
------------------------------------------
```

Play continues until the monster dies. Once this happens  the player may add the number of hp the monster had to  their total score (EX: a monster with 6 hp is worth 6  points). While Warriors can do nothing but gain more  score, Mages may choose to sacrifice 10 score points to  regenerate their whole mana pool (up to the total number  of mana from their original mana card, see drawing stats  section). This may be done at any time, even during  combat. In normal difficulty you may keep your score  when your character dies and record it on the high score  sheet. If you are on hard core difficulty you may only  record a high score if you chose to leave the dungeon and  end the game. If you die you lose all your score. On the  high score sheet you record your name, your character  type, the game difficulty and your final score. A handy score sheet,  as well as a mini copy of the rules can be found here. Just fold it along the  Lines and cut along the dotted line.

Hope you have fun with this game! Again, feedback is appreciated.

## Step 10: Variations

Some very helpful people have proposed variations for this game and I'd like to include them here for your own enjoyment.

TristanGood suggested adding a "Rouge" class. A Rouge gets half HP like a Mage does but has a  counter attack pool instead of a mana pool. Upon successfully evading the monsters attack a Rouge can burn one of their counter attack cards to do a counter attack on the monster. The damage is the face value of the card. The counter attack cannot be blocked.  The counter pool can be replenished just like a mana pool by spending 10 score points. 

Raykevinr suggested including jokers in the game as item cards. Upon pulling a joker you then draw another card. Red cards heal the face value of the card in HP (extra hp above your total is lost). Black is either a MP/CP restorer (for Rouges and Mages) or a new shield card for Warriors. The MP/CP potion works the same as the HP potion. New Shield cards replace old shield cards for Warriors.

Darthunicorn suggested a really cool survival mode. In survival mode score can be used to do various things. If a character spends 30 score points they can add a plus 1 to their health.  For 40 A warrior may get a new shield card (equal to a +1 to their current shield)  or a Mage may gain an extra mana card to their total mana. Fights become progressively more difficult however, after 15 rounds,monsters get plus 2 on their hp. After 25 rounds they get plus five. And after 35, they lose the damage cap.

Any more good ideas are welcomed!


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