I feel like Evil tonight. Let's play Dungeon Lords!

So You Want to Be a Dungeon Lord

Dungeon Lords is one of the more recent games from brilliant designer Vlaada Chvatil (Space Alert, Galaxy Trucker, Through the Ages, et al.). It recently received a sequel-of-sorts in the despicably-titled Dungeon Petz, which I hear is a good game despite that Z. Many of Vlaada's games have a recurrent "plan then execution" theme, where the execution half typically consists of watching as your best-laid plains go miserably awry. Space Alert is the best example of this, but that game is realtime and ill-suited for forum play. Dungeon Lords also runs in this same style. It helps to have a sense of humor as you watch yourself crash and burn.

In Dungeon Lords, you play the role of a dungeon lord trainee seeking to get his Dungeon Lord's License. You have two years to make the best dungeon possible. At the end of each year, some pesky adventurers will raid your dungeon for gold and glory.

I'm looking for four players. If you're interested, sign up!

Dem Rules

Here is a concise pocket-size edition of these rules. It's an excellent reference, although the scoring details are omitted.

Broad overview

Here's how you play Dungeon Lords:

1. All players simultaneously and secretly pick three actions to perform. They then perform those actions. Repeat this step three more times (for a total of four times).
2. Adventurers attack: players defend their dungeons by deploying traps and monsters.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2.
4. Score and see who wins.

That's it! That is all you need to do in order to play.

Of course, the rules surrounding those actions can be complicated. Let's dive in.

Resources

You begin the game with three of almost everything: 3 Food, 3 Gold, 3 Imps, and 3 Tunnels, arranged as in the picture below:



Those brown plus signs are tunnels. The top center tunnel also serves as the entrance to your dungeon.

Here's the main game board, linked because you'll want to view it at the Large size. On the right is the Evilometer. At the start of the game, everyone is at the bright spot on the Evilometer (fifth space from the bottom). Being eeeeeevil will move you towards the dark end of the board, but be careful! If you ever move on or past the dark space with the sword and helmet, you incur the wrath of the mighty paladin, who will absolutely wreck you unless you really know what you're doing. You can't get rid of the paladin once you've caught his interest! Be careful!

• Food is used to recruit monsters and imps. The Poisoned Meal trap also consumes food.
• Gold is used to buy traps, food, and imps and to pay taxes, among other miscellaneous uses.
• Evil is used to recruit monsters and obtain food.
• Imps are used to dig tunnels, mine gold, and staff production rooms.
• Traps are used to damage and halt the progress of adventurers.
• Monsters are also used to damage adventurers.
• Tunnels and rooms are the composition of your dungeon.

Actions

In the center of the main game board are the actions you can take. From left to right, these are Food, Publicity, Tunnels, Gold, Imps, Traps, Monsters, and Rooms.

Actions are selected simultaneously. Then, starting with the starting player, each player places a minion on the first available space corresponding to his first action, then the second, then the third.

There are four players and three slots per action. This means that if all four players try to take the same action, the last player to take the action will be blocked. The biggest, most important skill in Dungeon Lords is to anticipate your opponents' actions to maximize the efficiency of your actions.

Food

The food action gives you... food.

I. The first minion into town pays 1 Gold for 2 Food. How civil!
II. The second minion into town decides to steal 3 Food, accruing 1 Evil.
III. The third minion kills all of the villagers and takes their stuff, including 3 Food and 1 Gold. This is 2 Evil 4 U.

Publicity

The publicity action lets you recoup some of your reputation, moving you further away from the black end of the Evilometer.

I. The first minion manages to rein in 1 Evil and do a little espionage on the side. Peek at a spell card.
II. Not to be outdone, the second minion runs the streets telling everyone not to believe the paladin's lies. This convinces everyone that you are not 2 Evil after all.
III. The third minion runs a comprehensive ad campaign. For 1 Gold, the minion manages to remove 2 Evil from your reputation and let you peek at a spell card.

Tunnels

The tunnel action puts your imps to work mining new tunnels for your dungeon. You cannot dig a 2x2 square of tunnels due to structural integrity concerns.

I. Employ up to two imps to dig that many tunnels.
II. Employ up to three imps to dig that many tunnels.
III. Dungeon regulations require a foreimp to watch over a group this large. Employ up to five imps to dig that many tunnels minus one.

Gold

The gold action puts your imps to work digging for gold in existing tunnels. Imps that were used on the tunnel action aren't available to mine for gold.

I. Employ up to two imps (max. one per tunnel) to gain that much gold.
II. Employ up to three imps (max. one per tunnel) to gain that much gold.
III. Dungeon regulations require a foreimp to watch over a group this large. Employ up to five imps to gain that much gold minus one.

Imps

Imps are easy to hire. Once you lure them into your dungeon, they never leave and you never have to feed them again.

I. Pay 1 Food to recruit 1 Imp.
II. Pay 2 Food to recruit 2 Imps.
III. Pay 1 Food and 1 Gold to recruit 2 Imps.

Traps

Traps are a low-cost method of keeping your dungeon safe from pesky adventurers.

I. The first minion pays 1 Gold for 1 Trap.
II. The goblins are so excited by their first sale of the day that they give away 1 Trap to the next minion.
III. Realizing that they have made a mistake, the goblins redouble their efforts in the name of profit. The third minion pays 2 Gold for 2 Traps.

In the second year of the game, when you draw traps, you draw one more trap and choose one to discard.

Monsters

Each season, three monsters are available for purchase. If you pay a monster's recruitment cost, you can hire it to fight off adventurers. Unlike other actions, the monster action is processed last-to-first, as described below.

I. The first minion gets last pick.
II. The second minion picks before the first minion.
III. The third minion picks first, but must pay 1 Food on top of the recruitment cost.

You must pay 1 Gold to take this as your first action. That's in addition to any other costs. You don't incur this cost if you choose not to take the action or if you queue it into the second or third action slot.

Rooms

Each season, two rooms are available to build. Rooms must replace a tunnel when built and you may not place two rooms adjacent to each other. Like the monster action, the room action is processed last-to-first.

I. The first minion gets a free room if there's one available after the others have picked.
II. The second minion pays 1 Gold for a room after the third minion has picked.
III. The third minion pays 1 Gold for first pick of a room.

In the first year, all of the rooms are production rooms: insert the specified number of imps and you get a thing in return. (Note: I highly recommend getting a production room. I can't stress this enough.) In the second year, rooms are all about combat and scoring. First-year rooms can only be placed in certain locations, while second-year rooms are unconstrained.


Game Flow

Here's the progress board, chock full of information and once again too small in its original size. Here you can see the gameflow over the course of a year. The game starts in the winter. Each season proceeds as follows:

1. Rooms and monsters for this season are revealed. [Winter, spring, and summer only] Next season's adventurers and special event are shown.
2. Players choose their actions. Actions are resolved.
3. Players may assign unemployed imps to production rooms. In the second year, a production room may be used twice in one season if it is staffed with enough imps. Players' second and third actions are shifted into the unavailable slots; they may not be chosen again next round.
4. [Spring, summer, and fall only] A special event occurs. This is either taxation (pay 1 gold per 2 tunnels/rooms in your dungeon, rounded down), monster payday (pay monster recruitment cost for each monster or dismiss it), or a random event.
5. [Spring, summer, and fall only] Adventurers are assigned to players: the most evil player gets the strongest adventurer.
6. Imps return home. The starting player token passes to the next player.

At the end of four seasons, adventurers invade the dungeon. Players must contend with a party of three adventurers (plus the paladin, where appropriate). After the adventuring phase, a second year is played; at the end of the second adventuring phase, players score and the game ends.


Adventurers and Combat

There are five kinds of adventurers.

• Warriors have no special powers, but they have more HP than other adventurers and always join at the front of the party.
• Rogues reduce the damage dealt by traps. For each trap symbol the party has, traps deal 1 point less damage. This reduction is applied starting at the front of the party.
• Clerics heal the party after each combat. For each heart symbol the party has, remove 1 point of damage after each combat. Healing is applied starting at the front of the party. On rounds where the party does not fight monsters, clerics don't heal.
• Wizards allow the party to cast powerful spells. When a spell card resolves, check the number of magic symbols the party has. If the number of magic symbols is equal to or greater than the round number, the spell is cast. (You need one symbol on the first round, two on the second, etc.)
• The paladin has the strengths of all four standard adventurers. He has 5 HP, always goes at the front of your party, and has a trap symbol, a heart symbol, and a magic symbol. The second-year paladin has two of each symbol and 8 HP.

At the end of each year, the adventurers invade. The adventuring phase lasts for four rounds or until the dungeon is completely conquered or the party is defeated. Each round proceeds as follows:

1. Move the adventurers to the unconquered tunnel or room closest to the dungeon entrance. If there's a tie, the player chooses where to place the adventurers (and may change this choice each round).
2. Players choose traps and monsters.
3. Players may play a trap card. If the adventurers are in a room, it costs 1 Gold to bait the trap. The trap does its thing.
4. If the current round's spell card is a quick spell, it resolves.
5. Players may play a monster and any number of ghosts. If the adventurers are in a room, players may play two monsters and any number of ghosts instead. Most monsters can only attack once per year.
6. If the current round's spell card is a slow spell, it resolves.
7. If conquering was not prevented, adventurers take fatigue damage as listed on the spell card.
8. If any adventurers are still alive, they conquer the tunnel or room. It can no longer be used, but still counts as part of the dungeon (e.g. for taxation). Move one space towards the happy end of the Evilometer.
9. Repeat until you've got a prison full of adventurers. If for some reason you have no unconquered dungeon, skip steps 1, 2, and 4; instead of conquering, adventurers free an imprisoned adventurer. You have probably lost the game at this point, but hopefully you had fun doing it. (I have never seen this happen.) If your dungeon is conquered and no imprisoned adventurers remain, the adventurers leave.

The manual (available online) has some excellent examples to guide you through combat. I'll do my best to guide you through the action when it comes up, so you don't actually have to do any extracurricular research to play.


Scoring

After the second year's combat, scores are tallied. Everyone who received a positive score receives his or her Dungeon Lord's license, but only one player can be the true Underlord.

Conquered dungeon: Each conquered tile is worth -2 points.
Red marks: Each red mark (earned by refusing to pay taxes) is worth -3 points.
Rooms: Each unconquered room is worth 2 points.
Monsters: Each non-ghost monster is worth 1 point.
Adventurers: Each imprisoned adventurer is worth 2 points.
Paladins: Each imprisoned paladin is worth 5 points.
Bonus rooms: Certain rooms provide bonus points.

The following titles are worth 3 points. If there is a tie, then each player who shares the title receives 2 points instead.

The Lord of Dark Deeds: Awarded to the most evil player.
The Lord of Halls: Awarded to the player with the most rooms (conquered and unconquered).
The Tunnellord: Awarded to the player with the most tunnels (conquered and unconquered).
The Monsterlord: Awarded to the player with the most non-ghost monsters.
The Lord of Imps: Awarded to the player with the most imps.
The Lord of Riches: Awarded to the player with the most stuff (gold + traps + food).
The Battlelord: Awarded to the player with the fewest conquered tiles.

Players

1. Cait
2. Kjara
3. Gerad
4. Aerdan

This game is balls hard.

Put me down as an alternate; I'll play if you end up short on people or someone drops out. I don't wanna steal spots in all the board game LPs!

Oh hey, a signup thread that's not already full? I'm definitely in on this.

As a mad god (just ask my players!), it's incumbent upon me to join.

I'm going to regret this, aren't I.

If you don't mind having someone who's never played before and may stumble occasionally, I will join as well. I'm happy to step out if someone else really wants to play, but it's been a day and a half and I got my courage up enough.

One slot's left! Don't be shy. You don't have to know what you're doing.

Karma's a bitch.

If there are any slots left I'd be happy to join (not sure if Torzelbaum was joining or not). I'll be keeping Gerad company as someone else who has never played this before.

Go right ahead. I wasn't asking to join - I was merely commenting on the proceedings. One day I hope to join in all the reindeer fun of LPing but for now I just have too many other things to do. About all I can do is spare a little bit of time to read the LPs and maybe throw in a comment or two.

OK! Here's our player order:

Cait
Kjara
Gerad
Aerdan

This will change each season, but for winter, year 1, Cait is our starting player. This means that Cait has the token that breaks ties on evilness -- in case of a tie, the starting player is least evil and the final player is most evil.

Here's what I need from you: Randomly pick one action. Then pick another action (non-randomly). These two actions are unavailable during winter 1. This is public knowledge, so post them in-thread.

On the topic of which action to choose: you will not both mine and tunnel during winter 1, so one of those is a safe pick. You can do without publicity. I do not recommend choosing rooms or monsters.

This will be my GM Advice color. Feel free to ignore it completely.

You may also PM me your winter 1 actions at any time. It is not necessary (and perhaps inadvisable) to do so before I reveal the monsters, rooms, adventurers, and event.

OK, so are we supposed to roll a die for the first action we can't use, and then we get to pick the second? Just want to make sure I've got this right.

Right. Roll a die, draw a card, use your website of choice, whatever. The second card is your pick.

Random: Gold
Choice: Traps

Random: Publicity.
Choice: Tunnel.

Random: Tunnel.
Choice: Publicity.

Random: Tunnel
Choice: Food

Just want to say, the thread title makes a variant of "I feel pretty" start going through my head whenever I see it.

Winter 1

The following monsters are available for purchase:
Goblin - 1 Food
The goblin attacks the lead adventurer for 2. If it manages to eliminate the
lead adventurer, it gets so excited that it also attacks the next adventurer in line for 1.

Slime - 1 Food
The slime can either attack the entire party for 1 each or it can slurp around the party’s ankles and hold them in place.
If you choose the second option, the party does not conquer (or accumulate
fatigue) this round. The slime will still be knocked out, but it does not count as an attack. Priests will not heal the party unless a different monster (or ghost) attacked this round.

Troll - 2 Food
When you hire a troll, you get a Troll Token which can be used instead of an Imp Figure in a production room. The troll does not help with digging tunnels or mining gold and does not count as an imp during scoring. If you lose your troll, you have to return the Troll Token.

A troll attacks the lead adventurer for 3. If you pay 1 Food, it will attack for
4. It fights better on a full stomach.

Now that you've seen half of the year 1 lineup, here's the other half:

The ghost (1 Evil) attacks any adventurer except the first for 2. If there is only one adventurer, the ghost does nothing. Ghosts don't count towards the battle limit.

The witch (1 Food, 1 Evil) attacks the lead adventurer for 4 or any two adventurers for 1 each. This can be the same adventurer twice.

The vampire (2 Evil) attacks any adventurer for 3 or attacks any adventurer for 2 without being knocked out (meaning it can be reused this year). Vampires can't attack priests, but can still attack paladins.


The following rooms are available for purchase:

Mint (3 Imps -> 1 Gold)
The mint is not strictly legal. You must place it in the lower half of your dungeon to keep it from prying eyes.

Magic Room (2 Imps, 1 Food -> 1 Imp)
Send in two imps and a romantic dinner, and out come three. It’s magic!

The new Imp Figure shows up in your Imp Den immediately, so it can also be used in production. And yes, even in this room you can use Troll Tokens. What can we say? They just really like imps.

The Magic Room must be placed in one of the eight center tiles of your dungeon.


An event approaches
At the end of spring 1, it will be payday. Pay your monsters' recruitment costs or lose them and gain 1 Evil.


Adventurers!
An adventuring party has been sighted in the local tavern. From weakest to strongest:

Wizard (3 HP, *)
Priest (3 HP, *)
Thief (3 HP, *)
Thief (3 HP, **)

What a weak bunch, huh? Whoever is most evil among you at the end of spring 1 will get the two-icon thief.


Status
All players have 3 imps, 3 gold, 3 food, 5 evil, and a dungeon that looks like this:



Unavailable Actions
Cait: Tunnel, Publicity
Kjara: Gold, Traps
Gerad: Tunnel, Food
Aerdan: Tunnel, Publicity

Submit your winter 1 actions via PM now. Make sure to clearly mark which is your first, second, and third action.

In choosing your actions, keep the following in mind:
- If all four of you choose the same action, the last one to choose it is going to get screwed out of that action. Keep an eye on what everyone else has unavailable to avoid this -- if even one player has that as an unavailable action, then you're safe.
- The actions you choose for your second and third slots will become your unavailable actions for next season.
- Even though Cait gets the first action, everyone else gets their first action before Cait's second action.

If you have any questions about what you're doing, please ask!

I think of the old Ragu Chicken Tonight commercial instead. I wish I had yours instead.

That was the actual reference, but I wish I had gone with that, too.

Winter 1 actions
Cait: Room, Imps, Food
Kjara: Imps, Room, Food
Gerad: Gold, Monster, Publicity
Aerdan: Monster, Gold, Room

Minions go here:
Food: Cait, Kjara
Publicity: Gerad
Tunnel:
Gold: Gerad, Aerdan
Imps: Kjara, Cait
Traps:
Monster: Aerdan, Gerad
Room: Cait, Kjara, Aerdan


The long version:
Cait pays 1 Gold for 2 Food.
Kjara pays 1 Evil for 3 Food.
Gerad loses 1 Evil and peeks at a spell card. It's almost always in your best interest to peek at the first spell card first, etc. If you don't specify otherwise, I'll send them to you in order.
Gerad sends 2 Imps to mine 2 Gold. Again, unless you specify otherwise, I'll assume you want the full amount.
Aerdan sends 3 Imps to mine 3 Gold.
Kjara pays 1 Food for 1 Imp.
Cait pays 2 Food for 2 Imps.
Gerad gets first pick at a monster.
Aerdan pays 1 Gold for selecting Monster as his first action and has second pick at a monster.
Aerdan has first pick at paying 1 Gold for a room.
Kjara has second pick at paying 1 Gold for a room.
Cait gets a free room if Aerdan or Kjara passes.


Status

What I need from you
Gerad: Pick a monster.
Aerdan: Confirm that you want the Magic Room. Pick a monster after Gerad does.
Kjara: Pick a room after Aerdan. If you choose to pass, you may put Imps in your unavailable action slot instead of Room.
Cait: Pick a room in the event that it's still possible to do so.

If you buy a room, let me know where to place it. But since none of you tunneled, the Mint has only one legal placement. It's usually better to keep rooms away from the entrance, so my recommendation is to put the Magic Room in the third row as well.

I assume these are fine public?

In the interest of speed, I'll say I'll take whatever room remains(assuming Aerdan doesn't pass), put into the 3rd row.

As clarification, what did you mean by: "If you choose to pass, you may put Imps in your unavailable action slot instead of Room." (is that just how one would pass, or is there some benefit for doing this?)

Nevermind on that, reread the rules.

I would like the slime, please.

Kjara: yes, public is good, although if you're waiting on others' decisions, you can confirm via PM.

Aerdan, do you still want Magic Room/Troll? And do you want to mine only two gold so you can staff your Magic Room this round?

Cait, looks like you're out a room this season. Would you like to put Imps or Room in the unavailable slot?

Doesn't he have to put Imps, since the action he didn't use (room) was also his first action or am I reading the rules wrong?

I'm gonna continue with Troll & Magic Room, and yes I want two imps working with the third doin' the nasty with the troll. �.�

Right, the only one I can take back is Rooms. Which I shall.

Spring 1

End of Winter
Gerad peeks at the first combat card (check your PMs). Aerdan loses 1 Gold for only mining with two imps. Gerad pays 1 Food for a Slime. Aerdan pays 2 Food for a Troll. Aerdan pays 1 Gold for a room. Kjara pays 1 Gold for a room.

Aerdan produces an Imp. Kjara produces a Gold. Kjara, you didn't explicitly state this, but I will assume you want to produce things if you don't say otherwise. All imps return home and are ready to work.

Kjara is now the starting player.

The following monsters are available for purchase:
Slime - 1 Food (see winter 1)
Witch - 1 Food, 1 Evil
Witch - 1 Food, 1 Evil
The witch attacks the lead adventurer for 4 or any two adventurers for 1 each. (This can be the same adventurer twice.)


The following rooms are available for purchase:
Souvenir Room (3 Imps -> 1 Gold)
Place this room in the upper half of your dungeon to attract paying customers.

Tunnel Room (2 Imps -> 1 Tunnel)
Place this room somewhere around the perimeter of your dungeon area. Tunnels it creates can be placed anywhere as if you had taken the Tunnels action. By default, the dungeon entrance is the only place you can put this. That is also the first space adventurers will conquer, so if you are interested in this room, you may want to dig a new home for it first.


An event approaches
At the end of this season, it will be payday. Pay your monsters' recruitment costs or lose them and gain 1 Evil.

At the end of autumn, it's special event time. This year: Earthquake! Each player must discard two tunnels or rooms. All remaining dungeon tiles must have a direct connection to the entrance. This can be a nasty one. Be sure to tunnel before the end of autumn.

Since spring is payday and autumn is special event, that means that winter's event will be taxation (pay 1 Gold per 2 dungeon tiles, rounded up).


Adventurers!
These adventurers will pick a dungeon at the end of the season:

Lv1 Wizard (3 HP, *)
Lv1 Priest (3 HP, *)
Lv1 Thief (3 HP, *)
Lv2 Thief (3 HP, **)

And the following new adventurers are ready to go for autumn:

Lv3 Thief (4 HP, *)
Lv3 Wizard (4 HP, *)
Lv3 Warrior (4 HP)
Lv4 Priest (4 HP, **)

It is pure coincidence that this is a generally tougher set.


Status

Unavailable Actions
Kjara: Room, Food
Gerad: Monster, Publicity
Aerdan: Gold, Room
Cait: Imps, Food

Submit your spring 1 actions via PM now.

In choosing your actions, keep the following in mind:
- You need to be able to pay your monsters' costs again at the end of this season. This is especially important for Aerdan, who has no food at the moment.
- Keep an eye on the upcoming special events. The next few rounds are going to put a strain on your resources.

How did I go from 5 gold in the last update to 4 gold now? Did the slime cost me gold as well as food?

No, but the room did Possibly I had my wires crossed. Thanks for double-checking.