Version 0.3 - 11.14.14

Background:

The undead have invaded! The King has sent you to your home village to alert them of this event as well as to gather any extra supplies they might have so that the capital doesn’t starve. You rush home only to find the village has already fallen. Having already failed in your first task you wait for the mistfall that accompanies dusk before entering through a gap in the walls. You must gather as much food in your Bag of Holding as you can or more people will die. The question is, can you navigate the burning village without fanning the flames in your heart?

Objective:

Control your rage and gather at least 25 food cubes. Then escape the village either through the gap in the walls or the front gate.

Materials:

• A 1.5" hexagonal playmat

• 1 figure representing a player 

• 7 skeletons

• 3 six-sided dice and 1 ten-sided die for combat

• 5 blue tokens and 2 red tokens for the player’s HP

• 20 red/orange rage counters

• 1 20-sided dice to check for rage

• 35 food cubes

• A triangular paper-cut out to represent your cone of sight 

Setup:

Movement:

Player

You, the snarling assassin, can sneak up to 3 hexes at a time. You can move in any direction as long as a wall isn’t obstructing you. (Hexes that have walls going through them are traversable on the side that has half or more of the hex open.)

Food is collected by ending your turn on its hex.

If you end a turn adjacent to a skeleton that has its back to you, you can choose to immediately destroy it. If you do so, you get 3 rage counters. If you end a turn adjacent to a skeleton that doesn’t have its back to you, you initiate combat.

Skeletons

Each skeleton’s patrol paths are marked in yellow and they patrol 1 hex  normally unless you are spotted. In that case, the skeleton immediately rushes to your position and initiates combat.

Sight:

Both the player and the skeleton have the same range for their vision. Sight extends in a cone which, including the currently occupied hex, goes 3 hexes forward. It also expands as it goes forward to include 3 hexes at its zenith compared to the 1 at its nadir. Neither skeleton nor player can see through walls however. It is highly suggested that a paper cut out be made before the start of the game to represent this.

Combat:

Combat is determined by competing dice rolls. You roll two dice and choose the higher roll while the skeleton only rolls one die but wins all ties. The loser of each combat roll loses a single hitpoint. The skeletons have 2 hitpoints each before they are destroyed while you start with 5 (represented by the blue tokens). If you lose all 5, you will have died and your failure will mean the demise of many others. Therefore, you can disengage from combat any time you take damage. As long as you manage to exit its sight, the skeleton will be confused and return to the nearest point on its standard patrol route albeit with all its hitpoints restored.

Rage:

Gaining Rage

The rage counters symbolize your desire for vengeance overriding your other impulses.

• At the start of the game you start with 5.

• Each house you visit increases this by 2.

• Each time you take damage this increases by 2.

• Destroying a skeleton increases it by 3.

• Each food cube you collect decreases your rage by 1 as you recall your purpose.

• Retreating from combat decreases your rage by 3 as you chide yourself for your foolhardiness. 

Controlling Rage

Each time a skeleton is in your sight you must check if you still control your rage. This is done by rolling a d20. If you roll below or equal to the number of rage counters you have, you must rush towards the skeleton and engage it in combat. (This can mean that you end up fighting a skeleton you normally would’ve backstabbed).

Losing Control

If ever you reach 20 rage, your rage now has complete control of you. Swap out your remaining blue hitpoint tokens for the 2 red ones and use a d10 for combat instead (other rules are unchanged). Your new goal is now to kill all remaining skeletons in combat.

Game End

The game ends either when you escape the village, you die, or all skeletons are dead. If you die, you lose.

If you escaped the village with your rage in check:

• But had less than 25 food in your bag, you don’t win but you survive.

• And had 25 or more food, you win the game.

• And had all the food, you win and the king knights you for your exemplary service.

If you survived the skeletons but lost control of your rage, you don’t return home regardless of how much food you have. Instead, you wander the lands seeking death.