What rules are frequently overlooked in the first games?

• You need unconquered tunnels to mine gold.
• When building a room, you have to replace an existing unconquered tunnel. You can’t just place a room on an empty space connected to your tunnel system.
• Besides the fact that a monster (or ghost) leaves you when not paid on Pay Day, you also gain one Evil.
• The paladin will not leave your dungeon and move to a different dungeon unless another player’s Evil Counter is higher on the Evilometer than yours. (Being on the same space is not evil enough to make the paladin move, regardless of who is closer to the starting player.)
• The paladin does not move to another player unless that player is on or above the marked space of the Evilometer (even if that player’s Evil Counter is above the one of the player that currently has the paladin).
• In each combat round, you may choose any of the unconquered dungeon tiles closest to the entrance, regardless of which one you chose the previous round and regardless of whether the party conquered or not.
• You have to pay one extra Gold when using a trap in a room (except  in the Labyrinth).
• After its attack, a typical monster (or ghost) is knocked out (turned face down) for the rest of the Combat. However, after Combat (before the Second Year starts), all monsters (and ghosts) are turned face up again, so they will fight for you again in the second Combat.
• The party gets no fatigue when it does not conquer. (Some players forget this when using a Demon.)
• The amount of fatigue is stated on the Combat Card. The fixed amount of two fatigue was just for the training scenarios.
• You lose one Evil every time the party conquers a tile of your dungeon.
• In the Second Year, you can use First Year rooms twice during each round’s Production Phase.
• When using the Buy Traps action in the Second Year, you get one extra Trap Card and then return one Trap Card of your choice. (It does not have to be one of the cards you just drew.)
• When playing with special events, you reveal the Special Event Card as soon as the Special Event tile is revealed (i.e., after the Special Event Card is revealed, there will be two Orders Phases before it takes effect).
• You start the game with 3 Gold, 3 Food, 3 imps and 3 tunnels. (This mistake may not be the most common, but it is surely the most fatal.)

In which order do the players play the game?

Clockwise. When the rules say that something happens “in order, beginning with the starting player” it means the one with the Starting Player Token goes first, the person on the starting player’s left goes second, etc.

(We are sorry the clockwise order was not stated in the rules explicitly. This will be corrected in later editions.)

Which rules for Room Building apply in the Second Year?

The same as in the First Year: You have to replace an unconquered tunnel, and two rooms can’t be adjacent each to other. The only difference is that Second Year room tiles have no special zone.

(We are sorry if That Damn Demon misled you here. We will try to persuade him to clarify his comment in later editions, but… you know, no one wants to upset him.)

Does the Dragon’s special ability prevent paladins from healing the party?

Yes, it does. The party skips the entire Healing Step. However, it does not prevent wizards from casting the “Regeneration” spell, as spells are not part of the Healing Step.

(The icon description on page 19 incorrectly says “Priests will not heal anyone this round.” This should also apply to paladins. In later editions, this will be changed to “Skip the Healing Step this round.” )

Can a non-player Evil Counter get the Lord of Dark Deeds title in the 2-player game?

No. Only player Evil Counters are taken in account.

(This is not exactly stated in the rules. It will be added in the later editions.)

How do you choose a dungeon tile for Battle?

You always chose an unconquered tile that is closest to entrance. The distance is measured by the number of steps required to get there from the entrance, as though you were walking through the dungeon. (In some cases, it can happen that there is a tile that is physically near the entrance, but only accessible by a path through many dungeon tiles.)

(The rules do not state this exactly. This will be corrected in later editions.)

If there is more than one such tile, you get to choose any one of them. Each round, you have to decide again. You do not take into account which tile was chosen the previous round (or whether it was conquered or not). So it is possible, for example:

• In round 1 to fight at the entrance, and lose that tile.
• In round 2 to fight in a room next to entrance, and prevent conquering.
• In round 3 to fight in a tunnel next to the entrance.
• In round 4 to fight again in the room that was fought over in round 2.

How does Poisoned Dart work?

The 1 point of damage is assigned as any other trap damage (i.e., it can be prevented by thieves or the paladin). The 2 additional damage is a special effect of the trap. Because of this, it can’t be prevented by anti-trap abilities (neither by thieves nor by the paladin) even if the first damage was prevented.

(The text on the card explains that thieves cannot prevent the damage, but this applies to paladins as well. The card will be corrected in later editions.)

Note that the additional damage is assigned at the end of the round, even after the Conquering Step. That means that even if this damage eliminates the last adventurer, the party can conquer a tile before it happens. Also note that if the adventurer you hit is eliminated by monsters or by fatigue, these two damage are not dealt. (They do not transfer to the next adventurer.)

The damage is dealt even if there was no Conquering this round.

(The “At the end of the round (after Conquering)…” text on the card just specifies the timing of these events.)

In my game, there are four blue Event Tiles. One of them is blank on the front side. Why?

Because of production issues, there has to be an even number of cardboard components of each shape. You don’t need this tile in the game.

However, you can use this extra tile if one of your Event Tiles gets damaged on the reverse side.

In my game, there are four Troll Tokens, but only three Trolls. Why?

Because of production issues, there has to be an even number of cardboard components of each shape. Enjoy your extra token

In my game, there are twenty cardboard tokens not described by the rules. What are they for?

These are Magic Items. They are mentioned in the rules on page 11 (Leftovers). They were meant as a small surprise, so they are not mentioned in the online version of the rules.

These items are for a special game variant. Rules for this variant will be found soon in the Dungeon Lords section of the www.czechgames.com web pages.

How does the Witch Hunt event work in limiting cases?

If you have no monsters, you have no choice and gain 3 Evil.

If you are on (or close to) the top of the Evilometer, you can still choose to not discard a monster and thus gain 3 Evil, even if your Evil Counter will actually move less than 3 spaces or not at all.

Do I have to pay for a monster I fed to a Demon during Pay day?

No, you do not pay the cost of a monster eaten by a Demon, nor do you gain 1 Evil for not paying it.

What player actions are performed simultaneously?

In fact, only Selecting Orders in the Orders Phase and Choosing Initial Inaccessible Orders in the Full Game are done purely simultaneously. Many other actions (reacting to an event, planning combat, etc.) can be done simultaneously to speed game play, but if it matters, players have to make their final decision in clockwise order, beginning with the starting player.

Similarly, when executing orders in the Orders Phase, players can do some things simultaneously to speed up the game, if they are sure their decision will not influence and will be not influenced by other players’ decisions. However, whenever it matters, the decisions are made and evaluated in the order of actions: Get Food, Improve Reputation, Dig Tunnels, Mine Gold, Recruit Imps, Buy Traps, Hire Monster (or Ghost), and Build Room. (And within each action, the order is from shorter spaces to longer ones.)

We do not recommend resolving the Battle Phase simultaneously; each player should show what is going on in his or her dungeon to the other players. If you decide to save time by resolving the Battle Phase simultaneously, remember that order becomes important when there is a possibility that the paladin will switch dungeons.

When does the paladin move to a dungeon?

The rules for moving the paladin are the same in the Combat and Building Phases. You have to check the situation after each move on the Evilometer. (Players never move their Evil Counters simultaneously.)

The paladin enters the game as soon as a player’s Evil Counter gets on or above the marked paladin space of the Evilometer. He is put in front of that player’s dungeon. He moves to another dungeon only when another player’s Evil Counter is:

• “on or above the paladin space”

and at the same time:

• “higher than the Evil Counter of the player who currently has the paladin”.

Especially note:

• The paladin does not leave when the player’s Evil Counter falls below the paladin space.
• The paladin does not move to another player’s dungeon if that player’s Evil Counter is not on or above the paladin space (even if that player is more evil that the player that currently has the paladin).
• The paladin ignores the Starting Player Token (if Evil Counters are tied, he stays where he is), unless two new players become most evil (and on or above paladin space) at the same time. (This can happen when the most evil player drops and exposes two other players to be most evil, or at the start of the Second Year, when a new paladin has to be assigned.) In these cases only, the paladin goes to the player that is last in play order among the tied players.

How does the Magic Room work?

For each use of this room, you have to pay one food to the bank. You get one new imp, which you can use this round immediately.

You activate rooms in any order you wish. All of the following examples are possible:

• You have 4 available imps, 1 Food, the Magic Room, and the Hatchery. You can activate the Magic Room to get an extra imp and then use the imp to activate the Hatchery (and get your Food Token back). If you had no food, you could not do that – activating the Hatchery first would leave you without enough available imps to activate the Magic Room.
• You have 5 available imps, no food, the Magic Room, and the Hatchery. You can use the Hatchery to produce one Food and then the Magic Room to produce one imp.
• In the Second Year, you have 3 available imps, 2 Food and the Magic Room. You can use 2 imps to activate the Magic Room, and then use the new imp and the remaining imp to activate it again.

How do Troll Tokens work?

You should have as many Troll Tokens as you have Trolls. Store them in your Imp Den.

One or more Troll Tokens can be used in any First Year room, including the Magic Room. Each token replaces one imp. (Two Trolls in a Magic Room produce a regular imp, not another Troll Token. Don’t ask us how they do that; it’s just magic.)

Troll Tokens cannot be used to Mine Gold or Dig Tunnels (however, they can produce gold or tunnels in the appropriate room) and do not count as imps for any other purposes (final scoring, Kamikaze Imp trap, Fist of Justice spell, Desertion event, etc.).

What rules and cards affect the paladin in combat?

The paladin is not a wizard, warrior, priest, or thief, but he possesses the abilities of each. That means Vampires can attack him (he is not a priest). An Anti-magic Dart has no special effect if it hits him (he is neither a priest nor a wizard), but if it hits a wizard or priest it does prevent the paladin from casting spells or healing.

The paladin is still an adventurer, so anything that affects adventurers affects him (including traps and attacks that damage all adventurers).

The paladin goes first (except when Illusion was cast), so all standard attacks have to target him, and ghosts can’t attack him. Rolling Stone and Poisoned Meal affect the paladin, while the Pendulum hits the first adventurer behind him.

How does the paladin switch dungeons during combat?

Even in Combat, the paladin can move to another player, following the general paladin rules. If he moves, he takes all the damage he received so far with him.

Note that Battle is evaluated in clockwise order, beginning with the starting player (i.e., the player that was starting player in the last round of Building). In some cases, this order can influence whether the Paladin moves, to which player he moves, and also whether he will affect Battle again this round.

When the paladin moves to a different dungeon, it results in one of three cases:

• He moves to a player that has already resolved Battle this round. In this case, the player will face the paladin in the next round (unless this round was the fourth and thus last round of Combat).
• He moves to a player that still needs to resolve Battle this round. In this case, the paladin joins the party immediately, becomes the first adventurer, and affects this round of Combat.
• He moves to a player that already eliminated all adventurers in a previous round, and thus planned no Battle for this round. In this case, the paladin does nothing this round. (It is not so easy to start a battle as to join a battle-ready party.) That player will have to do battle with the paladin next round (unless this round was the fourth and thus last round of Combat).

If the paladin is eliminated, he goes to the prison of the player that assigned the last point of damage to him (even if another player assigned more damage before the paladin moved). There will be no paladin for the rest of the Combat, no matter how evil the players are.

If the paladin is not eliminated, he leaves to the Distant Lands Board at the end of Combat.

So after First Year Combat, the First Year paladin is out of the game whether he was eliminated or not. If at least one player is on or above the paladin space of the Evilometer at that time, the Second Year paladin is assigned at the start of the Second Year (after the Starting Player Token is moved).

How does the anti-trap ability work?

You can imagine it this way: prepare damage blocks above each adventurer according to the trap text, as if there were no thief or paladin (but do not assign damage yet). Now remove one block for each trap icon in the party, starting with the blocks prepared for the first adventurer, etc. Assign the remaining damage, if any is left. The prevented damage is not dealt.

No matter how much damage is prevented (even if all damage is prevented), the special effect of the trap (no conquering, no spellcasting, skipping the Healing Step, extra damage from poison) is never prevented.

This works the same way every round, regardless of whether some damage was prevented in previous rounds, as long as there are any surviving adventurers with the anti-trap skill.

When does the party heal?

As stated in the rules, the Healing Step is skipped if there was no attack in the Battle Phase this round.

This can happen if:

• You sent no monsters (or ghosts).
• You sent only Slime and used it to prevent conquering instead of to attack.
• You withdrew all your monsters because of a spell.
• You sent only monsters (or ghosts) that cannot attack (Vampire vs. priests only or Ghost vs. one adventurer).

(Or in any combination that leads to the states mentioned above.)

The Healing Step is also skipped as a result of these special effects:

• You hit a priest (not the paladin) with an Anti-magic Dart this round. (Note that the Anti-magic Dart can not prevent Healing if the party has a paladin and no priests.)
• Your Dragon attacked this round. (Dragons turned into sheep do not prevent Healing, but dragons affected by Blind Rage do prevent Healing.)

Except in the cases mentioned above, any attack by a monster (or ghost) will cause the party to heal during the Healing Step. You do not keep track of which damage was caused by what, so even the damage from traps or from previous rounds can be healed.

During Healing, you have to remove one Damage Counter for each heart symbol in the party. You always remove all damage from the first adventurers first, no matter when or from which source it was dealt.

Priests and paladins are healed the same as any other adventurers: when there are no wounded adventurers in front of them.

How does spellcasting work?

Every round, there are two spellcasting Steps (Fast Spells Step and Slow Spells Step) but only one spell (on the current Combat Card). This spell is either fast or slow, and thus it is cast either in the Fast Spells Step or in the Slow Spells Step. In the other step, nothing happens this combat round.

The party casts the spell only if the total of their magic points is equal to or higher than the required amount of magic points (above the Combat Card space on the Combat Side of Progress Board). Just sum the crystal icons on all the remaining adventurers during the appropriate

Can spells affect the special abilities of Monsters?

The “skip Healing” and “prevent Conquering” abilities are resolved in the Monsters (and Ghosts) Step of Battle.

Fast spells that force you to withdraw a monster prevent it from using its ability, as does Metamorphosis (it turns a monster into a sheep with no abilities).

However, Blind Rage does not affect other abilities (it just alters the attack type), and Dimensional Gate is a slow spell, so the ability takes effect even though the monster is teleported away.

Do spells affect Ghosts?

If the spell says it affects all monsters (Word of Peace, Suggestion, Blind Rage) it does not apply to Ghosts. (This is not optional – for example, you can’t decide to withdraw your Ghost when Word of Peace is cast.)

When you have to choose one of your attacking monsters (Aura of Fear, Metamorphosis, Dimensional Gate), you can’t choose a Ghost. You have to choose a monster, if you sent one. If you sent only Ghosts (or nothing at all), the spell has no effect on you.

Spells that affect the party can protect them from monsters and ghosts. For example, Magic Shield can prevent 1 point of damage from a Ghost and Invisibility can keep a Ghost from damaging wizards.

The effect of Illusion also applies to Ghosts: it allows them to attack the first real adventurer (even the paladin).

When can I withdraw a monster (or ghost) from battle?

Once sent to battle in the Planning Phase, monsters and ghosts cannot be voluntarily withdrawn (for example to avoid a nasty spell), and they have to use one of their combat options, if possible. Whether they can attack or not, they return face down. (Golems and Vampires are the exceptions – Golems always return face up. Even if your Vampire cannot attack, you may decide to return it face up. (Golems and Vampires that get turned into sheep, however, lose their abilities and are knocked out.))

Some spells force you to withdraw one or more monsters. In that case, return any affected monsters to your Monster Lair face up, as though you never sent them. You can use them in later rounds. Nothing can cause a Ghost to withdraw from the battle.

How does the Illusion spell work?

It creates an adventurer with no abilities and one hitpoint. This adventurer is not a thief, wizard, warrior, priest, or paladin. It goes first, even if there is a paladin, and behaves as a regular adventurer. This means a standard attack has to target it. “Attack Anyone” attacks can choose it as a target. “Attack Everyone” attacks affect all adventurers, including the illusion. Ghosts can’t attack it, but its presence allows them to attack the first real adventurer (even the paladin). If the party conquers, the illusion is the first to be assigned fatigue.

If the illusion survives the round, it does not disappear. It will lead the party in the next round. It can be affected by traps and spells.

Once the illusion is eliminated, however, it disappears. You cannot keep it in your prison, so you will score no points for it.

How does the extra hitpoint created by the Create Food spell work?

Put a Food Token on the first adventurer. For the rest of Combat, it is exactly same as if that adventurer had one more hitpoint (as if the red number were 1 point higher). That means you have to assign one damage more to eliminate him.

If there is an illusionary adventurer surviving from a previous round (created by the Illusion spell), Create Food will apply to him, increasing his hitpoints to 2. (After all, it is magic food.)

The extra hitpoint does not go away at the end of the round. This adventurer can be fully healed by healing abilities or the Regeneration spell.

On the other hand, the Poisoned Meal trap causes one more damage to this adventurer.

How does the Magic Shield spell absorb damage?

Magic Shield absorbs the first point of damage that would be otherwise dealt to an adventurer this round. That means:

• It applies to the first attack in the Monsters (or Ghosts) Phase this round. This attack deals one less damage. (An “Attack Everyone” attack will deal one less damage only to the adventurer in the front; the other adventurers get full damage.)
• If there was no attack, the spell reduces fatigue in the Conquering Step.
• If there was no attack and the player prevented Conquering this round, it can even reduce damage from the Poisoned Dart’s special effect at the end of round. (It might sound strange, but the spell finds a way, as it gets really bored when nothing happens.)
• Otherwise (if there was no damage dealt after the Fast Spells Step this round) the shield vanishes without effect.

When do I decide how my monsters and ghosts attack?

For monsters (and ghosts), you choose the order of attack and the type of attack in the Monster (and Ghosts) Step. You do not have to state it when planning. You can decide to attack in any order.

Note that the order might be important: for example, if an attack eliminates the first adventurer, the next adventurer becomes the first adventurer for the following attacks.

Does the dummy player remove a room or monster when its Hire Monsters or Build Room action resolves?

No. The dummy player does nothing. It just blocks one space of three different actions.

During development of the game, there was a rule that the dummy player took the leftmost monster (or ghost) when placed on the Hire Monster order. This rule was later abandoned, as it was too restricting and players tended to forget it, but if you want, feel free to use this rule.

How does the Labyrinth room work?

When planning, you can put two traps here, but you don’t have to choose the order of the traps. In the Trap Step, you can resolve the traps in either order.

Order is important not only because the first trap can eliminate an adventurer (and thus change which adventurer will be affected by the second trap) but also because the second trap is only affected by the anti-trap abilities that remain after the thieves and paladins deal with the first trap.

Example: Suppose we have a thief with 2 trap icons, the paladin with 3 trap icons, and two warriors in between. We played Rolling Stone (4 damage to the first adventurer) and Wall of Fire (1 damage to each adventurer, 1 extra to the last) in our Labyrinth. If we use the Rolling Stone first, then the four damage and also the first damage from the Wall of Fire gets prevented. The paladin will get no damage, the warriors will each get 1, and the thief (as the last line) will get 2 damage. On the other hand, if we use the Wall of Fire first, then its 5 damage gets prevented, and the Rolling Stone does 4 damage to the paladin. In both cases, five damage were prevented and four damage were dealt (but to completely different adventurers).

What does Pendulum trap do if there is only one adventurer left?

Nothing. But you still have to discard it after use.