I-Magi-Nation

In the nation of the I-Magi, the I-Magi-Nation, cunning wizards pick inattentive adventurers and throw them into their dungeons, only to see how long they can survive. Unfortunately, you are one of those adventurers and now you have to fight your way home, while they are scrying on you for their enjoyment.

What you need

• Grid paper
• A pen or a pencil
• 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d12, 1d20
• 1 Set of 5 Monster dice (available from Flying Buffallo Inc.)
• 3 Trap dice in different colors (e.g. red, green, blue; available from Flying Buffallo Inc.)
• 1 Corridor die (available from Flying Buffallo Inc.)
• 1 Treasure die (available from Flying Buffallo Inc.)

So you want to be a hero

Distribute the D4, the D8 and the D12 among your traits "Warrior“, "Explorer“ and "Scholar“. "Warrior" describes your skill with weapons and your general ability to hit in combat.

"Explorer" describes your ability to do all the sneaky stuff: dodging traps, hiding in shadows, finding treasure, remembering the dungeon. For details see the different sections below that make use of the Explorer trait.

"Scholar" describes your mental skill, required to cast spells.

The D20 represents your life. Set it to 20 at the start of the crawl. Though this number will vary throughout the crawl, you will never have more than 20 life.

The D6 is your multi-tool. It will be used for lots of things during the crawl.

Concerning your hero, it represents your combat equipment, i.e. your weapon as well as your armor. You decide, what your hero is wielding and wearing.

If you assigned the D8 to "Scholar", roll the D6 on the chart below for your starting spell. If you assigned the D12 to "Scholar" you may select any one of them. If you only assigned the D4 to "Scholar" you start out with no spells at all.

Spell List

(the X stands for the rolled success level. See "This is how you roll" below)

1. Fireball: Cause 1 point of damage at (2*X) targets in line of sight.
2. Lightning: Cause (2*X) points of damage at 1 target in line of sight.
3. Fog: Fills up to (2*X) squares of a section with fog, allowing you to pass unseen. You cannot do anything besides walking through squares with fog. Monsters will only attack you if there are squares in this section left, that are unaffected by the fog. The fog remains until you leave the affected section.
4. Shield: Reduces the damage of the next suffered attack by X.
5. Empower: Add X to your next dieroll. Must not be used to empower the next empower-spell.
6. Select any one spell from this list.

Write down which dice you have allocated to which trait and make sure to leave some space behind each trait, since you will gain boni to these values.

Also make sure to have some space where you write down the spells you have collected as well as their levels.

Now think up a weapon you are wielding and an armor you are wearing. Leave some space behind each item, since you'll have to keep track of the upgrades you'll find for them.

This is how you roll

Most of the stuff in I-Magi-Nation revolves around rolling dice and achieving levels of success. Here is, how it works:

Whenever you try to achieve something, you roll the according die and add boni if applicable. If your result is 1-3, you didn't achieve one single level of success.

• If your result is 4-7, you have achieved 1 level of success.
• If your result is 8-11, you have achieved 2 levels of success.
• If your result is 12 or more, you have achieved 3 levels of success. As simple as that.

See the following rules below to find out when to roll which die.

Delving down the dungeon

Take the grid paper and set your entry point to the dungeon at any point of the paper.

Note down the current level of the dungeon in a corner of the sheet, starting with level 1.

Now roll the dungeon die to see, what kind of a section you are facing.

A corridor is pretty self-explanatory: You've found a corridor that looks like the dungeon die's face. A door is the entry to a room.

Stairs either lead down or up (you decide .. yes, right: you decide!). When you move down, start a new sheet of gridpaper for the new level and start at the square that matches the position from the level above or below. If there already is an area you have explored before, you now have found a secret pathway. Congratulations!

Note: The "Stairs" result produce a 1x1 square of stairs.

You only find one section with stairs down per level. If you already found them and roll the stairs again, you run into a dead end: a 1x1 square that closes the current section. Roll for traps and encounters as usual, however you will encounter 1 group of monsters at most. Along with the dungeon die roll the D6 and add 3 to the result. This way you get a number between 4 and 9 that tells you the size of the current section in squares. It is however up to you to decide about the shape the section takes on (yeah, right: once again you decide!) While corridors usually are 1 square wide and a given number of squares long with one "entry" and one "exit", rooms may take on any kind of shape. And again you decide, how many exits the room may have.

I like to move it move it

You have got 3 paces of movement:

Sneaking, exploring, dashing.

When sneaking, you may move 1 square per turn. Refer to the section "Hide and seek“ below for further details on sneaking.

Your usual pace will be "exploring“. While exploring, you may move 2 squares per turn.

Every once in a while, you might want to run. While dashing, you move 3 squares per turn, however you do lose 1 temporary life due to dashing. Note down your life when you start to dash. You may rest (i.e. do nothing) wherever you wish to recover 1 temporary life up to the number you noted down when you started to dash.

You may opt to dash into uncharted territory. If you do, you may not defend versus any kind of trap you might trigger AND any encounter will immediately turn berserk versus you and stop you from dashing by attacking.

Should you ever be in need of extra speed, your memory of the dungeon comes in handy: As long as you move through territory already charted, you may roll your Explorer die and add the according bonus. For each level of success achieved, you may move 1 extra square.

It's a trap!

Upon entering a new section, the first thing you check is, whether you run into a trap or not: Roll all three trap dice at once.

The blue die shows the kind of trap that might or might not be there.

If the face of the green die matches the face of the blue die, a trap is actually there and does it's damage.

If the face of the red die matches the face of the blue die, too, the trap does double damage.

If not noted otherwise, you may roll your "Explorer" die and reduce the damage by the number of successlevels you rolled.

The possible traps are:

Flame: A fireball explodes. Take 2 damage. Each monster that is here, however, takes that damage, too.

Skull and bones: Acid Cloud. Take 1 damage for each square in this section that you pass. No monsters will be in this section, however the cloud will stay in place forever. Mark the section on your map accordingly. Your "Explorer" trait doesn't help from preventing that damage.

Broken Sword: Your weapon takes 2 points of "damage". For each damage you don't avert, you get a -1 each time you roll for damage. Note this down next to your weapon.

Lightning: Take 3 damage.

Spike Pit: A pit opens in front of you (draw it on the map). While monsters will not cross it, you may roll your "Explorer" die. If you achieved at least successlevel 2, you have crossed the pit safely. Otherwise you fall in and take 2 damage. To climb out, you need 1 successlevel on "Explorer". If you fail, you fall down again, taking another point of damage. Your movement must be at least "exploring“ if you want to cross a pit. You must not cross a pit sneaking.

Magic: Your armor gets weakend and takes 2 points of "damage". For each damage you don't avert, you get a -1 each time you try to avert combat damage. Note this down next to your armor.

Look who's talking

Roll the D6 and add the current dungeon level. The number of successlevels you have rolled indicates how many times you will roll the encounter die.

Have the following modifications to the encounter die in mind:

• On dungeon level 1, the level 3 encounters are replaced by level 1 encounters.
• On dungeon level 2, the level 3 encounters are replaced by level 2 encounters.
• On dungeon level 3, the encounters show up according to the facing of the die.
• On dungeon level 4, the level 1 encounters are replaced by level 2 encounters.
• On dungeon level 5, the level 1 encounters are replaced by level 3 encounters.
• On dungeon level 6 and on the levels below, only level 3 encounters will show up.

Now roll the according monster die along with the mood die and take half of the result of the D6 (round up) to see the number and the kind of monsters you are encountering as well as their attitude. Note: This time you don't roll the D6 for successlevels. So if you roll a 3 along with a skeleton, you encounter 2 skeletons!

The face of the mood die tells you, how the monsters are going to react to you:

• Friendly: These monsters will join you on your quest and fight on your side. Write them down on your character sheet.
• Neutral: These monsters don't care for you and try their best to stay out of harm's reach. As long as you don't attack them, they won't fight back either.
• Suspicious: These monsters are watching you. If you perform an action other than passing through this section with "exploring“ pace, they will turn "hostile“ and move in to attack.
• Hostile: You may attack them first. If you don't, they will move in to attack.
• Afraid: These monsters have ran away from you. You will encounter them again in the next section additionally to the regular encounter for that section. This time their mood will have switched to "suspicious“.
• Berserk: Those monsters are mad for blood. They will strike at you first before you fight back. Mark the location of the monsters on your map, since it might come in handy, when you try to run away from them (see "I like to move it move it“ above and "You like to – move it“ below)

There are different approaches to handle encounters.

For she who steps on the way of the sword

Draw your weapon and engage in combat.

Ususally you are the first one to attack the monsters (since you may decide, where the monsters are placed in the current section, you may move up to them and attack within one turn).

Exceptions are monsters that are in "Berserk" mood, "Hostile" monsters that you didn't attack first and "Suspicious" monsters that watch you performing an action other than passing through. Those monsters will approach you and attack as soon as they are in the same square as you, so you'll have to defend first before you strike back.

To attack roll at first your "Warrior" die and add the according bonus. The successlevel you have reached equals the number of targets you have hit. You may hit the same target multiple times, if your achieved successlevel permits you to do so.

Example: You have rolled a 9 with your "Warrior" die including your bonus. You may now hit 2 targets once or 1 target twice. For each target you have hit, roll the D6 and add your weapon modificator. For each successlevel reached, you have inflicted 1 point of damage. (Note: In the beginning you might hit monsters without actually damaging them!)

After your attack, the surviving monsters fight back.

Unless a monster's description says otherwise, the following rule of thumb counts:

Each monster has a number of lifepoints and deals an amount of damage according to its level. Damage is dealt automatically without the need for a to hit roll.

Example: A sekleton is a level 1 creature, so it crumbles to dust after 1 point of damage and it deals 1 point of damage each time it attacks. You may defend yourself versus each attacking monster separately. Roll the D6 and add your armor bonus to it. For each successlevel you have reached, reduce the recieved damage by 1.

Example of a combat:

You have encountered 3 skeletons (level 1 monsters). You use the D12 as your "Warrior" die and you have accumulated a +3 bonus to it as well as a +2 bonus to your weapon and a +1 bonus to your armor.

You attack by rolling the D12 – a 10 – and adding 3 up to a result of 13. That's 3 hits and since a skeleton "dies" after one hit, you decide to hit each of the sekeletons once. You now roll the D6 for damage: 3 (+2 = 5: 1 damage), 6 (+2 = 8: 2 damage) and a 1 (+2 = 3: 0 damage). The 5 finishes off 1 skeleton. The 8, even though it does 2 damage, only finishes off 1 skeleton, too, since both damagepoints come from one delivered hit. It's an overkill, if you want to put it like this. The 3 is not enough to actually deal damage: Even though you have hit the skeleton, it remains unhurt.

Now the remaining skeleton fights back: It is level 1, so it does 1 point of damage. You defend versus the attack by rolling the D6 again: A 1 (+1 = 2: 0 damage averted). You reduce the D20 by 1. (If you had rolled at least a 3, you would have averted that damage since 3+1 = 4: 1 level of success in defense.)

Now you attack again by rolling your D12 – a 6 – and add 3 up to a result of 9. That's 2 hits for 1 remaining skeletong. This should suffice! You roll for damage: A 4 (+2 = 6: 1 damage) – there goes the skeleton down. No need to roll further.

Monsters vs. monsters

If you have monsters with you that have joined you, they will engage in combat before you. Assign all of the damage they cause due to their level to opposing monsters. Disregard any special abilities in a combat of monsters vs. Monsters. Now assign all of the damage the opposing monsters do to "your" monsters. Note, that one monster can only attack one other monster, but one monster can be attacked by more than one monsters.

When you are done, calculate damage to the monsters done and remove them from battle in case the damage suffices. Continue as long as there are still monsters on your side.

Example: You have managed to gather 8 goblins around you. Now you are running into 3 vampires. You split up the goblins into 3 groups; 2 groups of 3 and 1 group of 2.

The goblin groups do their damage to the vampires, reducing the lifepoints of 2 vampires to 0 and of the last one to 1. The vampires in turn attack one goblin of each group, causing 3 points of damage - which is every time an overkill of 2 points.

2 Vampires crumble to dust and 3 of your goblins get killed.

Your remaining 5 goblins attack the last vampire standing. They cause 5 points of damage to the vampire, while the vampire causes his 3 points of damage to one goblin.

Your goblins have killed the three vamps, however there are only 4 of them left.

You may now continue with looting the vampires (see below "Scavenging“).

Hide and seek

For each group of monsters you are trying to sneak past, roll your "Explorer" die and add the according bonus.

The larger the monster groups are, the rather they'll detect you: For each monster in a group, you need to achieve 1 level of success. If you succeed, that group won't notice you. If you fail, all groups in this section turn "hostile“ and start advancing towards you in order to attack.

If there are more than 3 monsters in a group (see section "The Munsters“ below, description of the goblins), there is no chance for you to sneak past. They will take notice of you – no matter what. As long as you stay in a section, you need to check only once to find out whether the monsters take notice of you. If you leave that section and return later, you will have to check again. Note: Technically you may sneak past a suspicious group of monsters. However they will attack you if you fail, so just walking past them and leaving them in peace is the safer way.

It's a kind of magic

To cast a spell, roll your "Scholar" die, add the bonus from your "Scholar" trait AND add the level of the spell cast. The achieved successlevel affects the spell according to its description. Refer to the spell's description for its effect.

After you have cast a spell, any remaining monsters that are at least hostile will fight back.

While you may combine the "Warrior" and the "Scholar" way when fighting monsters (e.g. cast a spell on turn 1, whack some monsters in melee on turn 2 and cast another spell on turn 3 and so on..), you must NOT cast a spell while sneaking. Otherwise you'll reveal your position and any monsters in this section will immediately turn hostile and attack.

You like to – move it

Monsters may move, too. Usually they don't. Usually they just stay in their place and wait for you to encounter them. But if you decide to stop fighting and to run away from them instead, they turn berserk and start chasing you. A group of monsters (see section "Look who's talking“ below) moves its level in squares per turn. As soon as they catch up, they attack first and you may defend normally. Combat then takes place as usual until either you or the monsters die or you run away again. There are a couple of ways to get rid of chasing monsters (other than killing them:)

1. Find a Spike Pit and cross it. Monsters never cross spike pits.
2. Find a section flooded with water (or get out of it). While an octopus never leaves water, other monsters never move into water.
3. Reach the stairs leading up or down. When you have reached the stairs before the monsters have caught up, they will return to where you have encountered them in the first place.

Scavenging

If you have killed the monsters, you may loot them for treasure.

For each group of monsters you have wiped out, roll the "Explorer" die once and add the according bonus. The resulting level of success equals the number of how many times you may roll the treasure die.

The facing of the treasure die shows you, what you have found: * Weapon: increase your weapon bonus by +1 * Shield: increase your armor bonus by +1 * Magic Weapon: the first time you find a magic weapon, note down a magic weapon on your character sheet. Every consecutive time the die shows the magic weapon, increase its bonus by +1. A magic weapon never gets affected by the "Broken Sword“ trap. * Scroll: Refer to the table in section "So you want to be a hero“ to find out which spell you have fund. However, replace the result "6" with "Heroic Hymn: increase the bonus of 1 trait (player's choice) permanently by +1". If your "Scholar“ die is the D12, you may select any one of the spells from that list. If your "Scholar“ die is the D8, roll the D6 to determine, which spell you have found. If your "Scholar“ die is the D4, you only find the "Heroic Hymn“. If you find a scroll with a spell on it, that you do not know yet, write that spell on your spell list - you have learnt that spell now. If you already know that spell, its level increases by 1. "Heroic Hymn“ however is a one-time use. You may not learn this spell! * Gold: Regard the gold as some kind of a collectible wildcard. Keep track of it on your charactersheet. For five gold you may select any one option from the gold list below. * Jewel: Keep track of the jewels you've found on your charactersheet. Like gold, those are wildcards, but for more powerful stuff.

Gold trade-ins

• Weapon Power Up: Increase your weapon bonus by +2
• Armor Power Up: Increase your armor bonus by +2
• Magic Scroll: Roll with the D6 on the spell table above to recieve a random scroll. Ignore any results of "6"; reroll the die instead. Jewel trade-ins
• Magic Weapon Power Up: Increase the bonus of your magic weapon by +2
• Magical Armor: Add a magical bonus of +2 to your normal armor bonus. This magical bonus can never be affected by the "Magic“ trap.
• Magic Scroll: Pick any one of the five spells to either learn or to increase the spell's level.

Gold and Jewel trade-in

For 5 gold and 5 Jewels you'll get a potion of healing, that either restores your life points back up to 10 OR restores 5 life points, no matter to which limit.

For 10 gold and 10 Jewels you'll get a potion of healing, that restores your life points back up to 20.

The Munsters

Level 1:

• Skeleton: Magical guardians that protect certain areas. Always hostile.
• Bees: Don't really "like" you and only defend their territory. Always suspicious.
• Bats: Couldn't care less for you. Always neutral.
• Rats: Attack in swarms, know where to bite. You may not defend against their damage.
• Snake: Likes: Badger. Dislikes: Mushroom. Ooooh ..
• Goblin: Cowards. Come in crowds. Double the result when determining the number of encountered Goblins (i.e. take the full result of a D6 instead of only half the result).

Level 2:

• Crocodile: Bites. Everytime a crocodile attacks you, roll your "Warrior" die (no bonus here) and get at least 1 level of success. If you fail, you suffer one additional point of damage you may not defend against.
• Orc: Knows how to block your attacks. In melee you always do 1 less damage versus an orc. Octopus: Lives in water. The section you encounter the octopus in is flooded (mark the map accordingly). Roll your "Explorer" die (no bonus here) for each turn you spend moving through flooded squares. If you don't roll at least 1 success, you suffer 1 damage you may not defend against. Count results of "afraid" and "friendly" as "suspicios".
• Harpy: Siren's lure. Each turn you are fighting harpies, roll your "Sage" die (no bonus here). If you don't roll at least 1 success, you must not attack them. Always hostile.
• Mummy: Mummy's rot: If you don't fend off their attack fully, they do 1 additional point of damage. Always hostile.
• Cyclops: Throw a boulder: If you decide to attack cyclopses, each one starts the battle with throwing a boulder at you. The boulder does 2 points of damage and you may defend normally. After this, the battle begins according to the given rules.

Level 3:

• Dragon: Lives alone. There will never be more than 1 dragon in any encounter. Fiery breath: A dragon deals 3 damage in an attack you may not defend against. Due to his thick scales a dragon is immune to melee attacks.
• Mage: Is immune to all kinds of magic. Highly vulnerable to melee attacks. Whenever you attack a mage in melee, double your damage.
• Vampire: Drain life. You may defend against the first attack of a vampire the usual way. On every subsequent turn however, he sucks your lifeforce from you and deals 1 point of damgage you may not defend against instead of his normal damage. Always hostile.
• Balrog: Won't let you pass. Always Berserk.
• Roc: Likes to rol.
• Giant Spider: Has weaved webs all over the place and knows exactly where you are. No way you could sneak past a spider. Regards you as food. Always hostile.

Stairway to Haven

Once you are on dungeon level 10 and you find another stairway leading down, beyond that stairway you will find a long, long tunnel that leads you back up to the surface. Congratulations: You have escaped the labyrinth of the I-Magi.

Reference Sheet

Monsters and their specialties

• Balrog: Won't let you pass. Always Berserk. Bats: Always neutral.
• Bees: Always suspicios.
• Skeleton: Always hostile.
• Crocodile: Does 1 additional damage if you don't roll at least 1 level of success on „Warrior“ (no bonus).
• Cyclops: Starts combat by throwing a 2-damage boulder at you before you attack. Defend normally. Dragon: Never more than 1 dragon in an encounter. Deals 3 damage in an attack you may not defend against. Immune to melee attacks.
• Giant Spider: No way you could sneak past a spider. Always hostile.
• Goblin: Double the result when determining the number of encountered Goblins.
• Harpy: Each turn you are fighting harpies, roll your "Sage" die (no bonus here). If you don't roll at least 1 success, you must not attack them. Always hostile.
• Mage: Immune to all kinds of magic. Whenever you attack a mage in melee, double your damage. Mummy: Does 1 additional point of damage, if you don't fend off their attack fully, Always hostile. Octopus: This section is flooded (mark the map accordingly). Roll your "Explorer" die (no bonus) when crossing flooded squares. If you don't roll at least 1 success, suffer 1 damage you may not defend against. Count results of "afraid" and "friendly" as "suspicious".
• Orc: In melee you always do 1 less damage versus an orc.
• Rats: You may not defend against their damage.
• Vampire: Defend against the first attack of a vampire the usual way. On every subsequent turn however, does 1 point of damgage you may not defend against. Always hostile.

Spells

1. Fireball: Cause 1 point of damage at (2*X) targets in line of sight.
2. Lightning: Cause (2*X) points of damage at 1 target in line of sight.
3. Fog: Fills up to (2*X) squares of a section with fog, allowing you to pass unseen. You cannot do anything besides walking through squares with fog. Monsters will only attack you if there are squares in this section left, that are unaffected by the fog. The fog remains until you leave the affected section.
4. Shield: Reduces the damage of the next suffered attack by X.
5. Empower: Add X to your next dieroll. Must not be used to empower the next empower-spell.
6. Select any one spell from this list/Heroic Hymn: Increase the bonus of 1 trait (player's choice) permanently by +1

Gold trade-ins

• Weapon Power Up: Increase your weapon bonus by +2
• Armor Power Up: Increase your armor bonus by +2
• Magic Scroll: Roll with the D6 on the spell table above to recieve a random scroll. Ignore any results of "6"; reroll the die instead.

Jewel trade-ins

• Magic Weapon Power Up: Increase the bonus of your magic weapon by +2
• Magical Armor: Add a magical bonus of +2 to your normal armor bonus. This magical bonus can never be affected by the "Magic“ trap.
• Magic Scroll: Pick any one of the five spells to either learn or to increase the spell's level.

Gold an Jewel trade-in

For 5 gold and 5 Jewels you'll get a potion of healing, that either restores your life points back up to 10 OR restores 5 life points, no matter to which limit.

For 10 gold and 10 Jewels you'll get a potion of healing, that restores your life points back up to 20.