Dragon's Hoard

Dragon's Hoard
Ken Leyhe
Be the hero who escapes the dungeon with the most treasure before sunset.
:Players	Players:	1 - 4
:Time	Length:	unknown
:Complexity	Complexity:	Medium
Trios per color:		5+ up to 10
Number of colors:		4+ up to 9
Pyramid trios:
Monochr. stashes:		4+ up to 9
Five-color sets:		5+ up to 10
- - - - - - Other equipment - - - - - -
piecepack, 2 opaque bags
Setup time:		2 minutes
Playing time:
Strategy depth:		unknown
Random chance:		Medium
Game mechanics:
Theme:		Dragons
BGG Link:		41807
Status: Complete (v1.0), Year released: 2001

Dragon's Hoard

By Ken Leyhe

Created in 2002, this is a simple fantasy rpg, where you try to escape a dungeon before the time runs out--bringing with you the most gold.

This is for one to four players.

Objective

To be the hero who escapes the dungeon with the most treasure before sunset.

Equipment

1. Icehouse stashes - At least four colors.
2. pieceack or Piecepack Expanded.
3. Two bags, cups, or combination of, for random drawing of pieces.

Setup

1. Create the dungeon using the tiles. Set up the tiles, face down, in a 5X5 board with the center being empty, the center square is the Dragon’s Lair.
2. Set the large pyramids to the side of the dungeon in stacks, these represent time.
3. Each hero gets a die and five small pyramids (color is not important) to represent Life Points (LP).
4. Place all medium pyramids in a bag.
5. Place all of the coins in a bag these represent treasure.
6. Each hero chooses a corner they will enter the dungeon through.
7. Choose a hero to go first.

Play

1. The game lasts a set number of rounds determined before the game (20 - 45, I suggest 30) these rounds follow this sequence:
   1. One large pyramid is removed from the stacks.
   2. The first hero takes a turn. The hero on his left takes a turn, and so on until each hero has had a turn.
2. The large pyramids are used to keep track of time, at the end of the last round, the sun sets and the game ends. As soon as the last pyramid is gone, night falls, and anyone left inside falls prey to the evil denizens of the dungeon.
3. Hero’s Turn
   1. If at any time a hero loses all of his LP he has died (see section 7).
   2. The hero draws a medium pyramid from the bag and places it on the board next to his last played pyramid to form a passage. (On a hero’s first turn the pyramid is played to the corner starting square)
   3. If this pyramid is the third in the passage the oldest pyramid is placed back in the bag.
   4. The pyramid is acted on as per the color chart (see below).
   5. Play passes to the next hero.

Pyramid Color	Room Type	Result
Yellow	Hallway	Draw another pyramid and place it straight ahead (if thats not possible ignore this result).
Green	Chasm	You cannot travel straight through this room, on your next turn you must go another direction.
Blue	Treasure Chamber	You've found treasure, draw a treasure coin.
Red	Goblin Lair	You have stumbled across a Goblin. Enter combat!
Clear	Empty Room	There is nothing here but stone and dirt.
Black	Cave In	You lose your next turn trying to dig your way through. You cannot return the way you came.
Orange	Trap	You've sprung a trap. Roll the die. Null - Ace = Lose 1 LP 2 – 5 = You avoid the trap.
Purple	Chamber of Darkness	This room seems to swallow the light, you cannot tell which way you are going. Roll the die. Null - Ace = Go Left. 2 – 3 = Go Straight. 4 – 5 = Go Right.
White	Spider's Web	You stumble into a Spiders Web. Roll the die to get free. Null - Ace = You are still stuck, you must try again on your next turn. 2 – 5 = You break free.

Combat

1. When you draw a red pyramid combat ensues and continues until either the Goblin or the hero is dead.
2. Another hero is chosen to act as the Goblin for combat.
3. Both the hero and the Goblin roll their dies with the high roll winning. An Ace is considered the high roll beating even a 5.
4. The combat results follow this chart:

Roll Outcome	Result
Hero Wins	Hero Slays Goblin Combat Ends
Goblin Wins	Goblin Claws Hero Hero loses 1 LP and combat continues.
Tie	No one scores a hit. Combat continues.

The Dragon’s Lair

1. When a hero places a pyramid in the center (empty) square he has entered the dragon’s lair and ignores the effects of the pyramids color.
2. On the turn you enter the lair you must roll your die and follow the chart (see below):
3. On your next turn you may leave the dragon’s lair through a different exit or you may stay and try to steal more treasure. If you decide to stay you Subtract one from your die roll (except the Ace) and follow the chart above.
4. If there is more then one hero in the dragon’s lair when awakes, then all heroes in the lair suffer the consequences.

Die Roll	Effect
Null / 0 or less	The Dragon Sleeps, but you fail to steal any treasures.
2 - 5	The Dragon sleeps, you steal the number of treasure coins rolled.
Ace	The dragon awakes and breathes his breath at you. Roll the die again losing that many LP (Ace = 1). If you survive you lose all of your treasure and back out of the lair to your last played pyramid.

Death

1. If a hero loses all of his LP in any way then he has died.
   1. He loses all treasure.
   2. He starts over in his starting corner with 5 LP.
2. If the sun sets while a hero is still in the dungeon then he has died horribly at the claws of the dungeon's Goblins.

Winning

1. Any heroes who escape the dungeon before the sun sets can claim a small victory but only the hero who has the most treasure wins.
   1. When a hero is ready to escape the dungeon he must leave through a corner square, simply playing a piece on the corner square signifies an exit from the dungeon.
   2. Once a hero has left the dungeon he is not aloud to re-enter, unless he wishes to discard all of his earned treasure.
2. Gold Pieces (GP) are awarded according to the chart (see below):
3. The hero with the most Gold Pieces wins the game.

Coin	Treasure Value
Null	Worthless trash with no value.
2 - 5	GP equal to the coins value.
Ace	This coin double the value of all coins from the same suit as the Ace.

Variations

1. Time: The amount of time you allow for the sun to set helps determine the difficulty of the game; a lower amount of time pyramids makes for a harder game and vise-versa.
2. Dungeon Size: If you have a Piecepack Expanded you can make the dungeon larger, 6 x 6, thereby making it harder to get to the dragon’s lair and out in a short amount of time.
3. Treasure Coins: If you have a Piecepack Expanded, adding the new coins will decrease the chance of someone getting an Ace that will double the treasure they have.
4. Icehouse Colors: If you don’t have all of the colors listed in the chart feel free to only use what you have and substitute colors as necessary. I recommend using the types in the order they are listed, so if you have 5 colors use down to the Empty Room listing.

External Links

• An archive of the rules can be found here.