Mini Rogue

A game by Paolo Di Stefano and Gabriel Gendron · Print and Play 1.2.1

What is Mini Rogue?

Mini Rogue is a microgame profoundly inspired by roguelikes and roleplaying games. Monsters, hazards, treasures, bosses, dungeons, random rooms and encounters are all featured in Mini Rogue.

We suggest naming your brave adventurer and using the score sheet to keep track of all your game results (See SCORING SHEET).

Game Components

Nine cards (7 Room cards, 1 Character Stats card, and 1 Dungeon card)
One Scoring sheet
This rulebook

The following components need to be supplied by the player:

Four 6 sided dice
Eight tokens (we recommend small wood cubes, size 8 mm / 0.31 in)

Object of the Game

In this solitaire game, you play as an adventurer that delves into a dungeon, room after room, area after area, level after level, to loot the Og's Blood: a fabled and mysterious ruby gemstone.

Each area of the dungeon is laid out as a branching of rooms. Each time you face two rooms, you’ll have to choose one. You will resolve each encounter by rolling dice, and decide on how to pursue the adventure.

In each room, you may encounter a monster, nd a treasure, discover a resting area, meet a merchant, dodge traps, or face other surprising events. Each level ends with a powerful boss monster that you’ll have to defeat to continue onto to the next level. You win the game if you can reach the last room of the Dungeon and defeat the final Boss Monster.

Setup

Place the Character Stats card face up in front of you; far enough so that you have space for cards between you and the Character card. All the stats and equipment of your adventurer are tracked on the Character card.
Set your Character’s starting stats according to the level of difficulty you wish. You will keep track of each stat by moving the tokens accordingly. For your first game, we recommend starting with the Normal difficulty.

Difficulty	Armor	HP	Gold	Food
Casual	1	5	5	6
Normal	0	5	3	6
Hard	0	4	2	5
Impossible	0	3	1	3

Place the Dungeon card face up, next to the Character card. Place one token on the first Dungeon Area space. This token represents your adventurer. Set aside a token for the monster’s HP on the Dungeon card. Whenever facing a Monster, track its health on this card.
Set aside the two remaining tokens. They are used to keep track of acquired Spells later in the game.
Take one die and keep it nearby; this is your first unlocked die used to resolve encounters. The other three are still locked, set them aside for now (see EXPERIENCE AND RANKS).

You are now ready to delve into this mysterious dungeon...

The Dungeon

The Dungeon that you will explore will be unique in every game, but its core structure remains as follows:

The Dungeon contains ve Levels. The deeper the Level, the harder the game will be from 1 down to 5.
Each of the Levels contains two to four Areas, starting in Area 1 down to 14. For example, the 3rd Level, called the Undead Catacombs, contains Areas 5,6 and 7 that you will explore.
Every turn, you’ll explore an Area that is comprised of six Room cards (see ROOM CARDS) then delve deeper to the next Area (see DELVING PHASE).

Character Stats

Your Character possesses multiple attributes:

Experience Points (XP): like in many roleplaying games, your character will level up. Gaining XP leads to reaching a higher character Rank, which unlocks additional combat dice. Your adventurer begins the game at Rank 1, with one available die and no XP earned yet.

Armor: every point of Armor reduces the damage from a Monster by 1.

Health Points (HP): these points represent your character’s life. If its value ever reaches zero you’ve lost the game. In addition to those stats, you will also keep track of Gold pieces, Food rations, and Spells acquired.

At all times, your character stats may never be greater than the values printed on the card.

Experience Points and Ranks

As you grow in experience, so does your fighting skill.

Experience Points are gained in a variety of ways like defeating Monsters and Bosses, reinforcing your weapon, or finding special equipment. By acquiring XP, you will reach higher character Ranks and unlock additional combat dice. The more dice you roll in combat, the more damage you’ll deal.

	Rank 1	Rank 2	Rank 3	Rank 4
No. of unlocked die	1	2	3	4
XP needed to reach the next Rank	6 XP	12 XP	18 XP	n/a

To keep track of the XP you earn, you will use a die set aside that is not unlocked yet. When you gain your first XP, take one of the dice set aside and put it on your Character card’s XP track on the Rank 2 slot with the die’s face to 1.

Every time you earn additional XP, update the die’s face value accordingly. Once you’ve gained the amount of XP required to reach the next Rank (see Experience Table above), the die on the XP track unlocks and is added to your hand of available combat dice, and the XP resets to zero. Any remainder of the XP earned for the Rank reached carries over to another locked die. Place this die on the lowest slot of the XP track (the Rank 2 slot).

For example, Mary is Rank 1, and she has 5 XP. She has one die on face 5 in the rst slot of the XP track to re ect this. Mary then proceeds to kill a Boss Monster and earns 2 XP. She now has 7 XP in total. She changes the face of her locked die to 6 and since it is the required amount of XP to reach Rank 2, it is immediately unlocked and added to her hand. She now has two unlocked dice. The 1 XP that’s left is not lost as it is tracked with another locked die by placing it on the Rank 2 slot with the die’s face to 1.

To be able to track large numbers of XP, like for Rank 3 and up, you will have to move up your die on the XP track. Each slot on this track amounts to 6 XP. Once your dice gets to face 6, the next XP gained will move your dice to the next slot above and start back to face 1. For example, Oscar is Rank 2, and he has 5 XP. He has one dice on the first slot of the Experience track. Oscar kills a monster and gets 2 XP. He now has 7 XP. He then takes the dice used for tracking XP and places it on its 6 face and then moves it to the next Experience track slot labeled Rank 3, on the 1 face.

Once you’ve reached Rank 4 and thus unlocked the fourth and last die, any number of gained XP gives you 1 HP instead. For example, after defeating a Level 5 monster, 3 XP are normally gained. If your character is Rank 4, only 1 HP will be gained. Also, note that you may lose XP if you stumble on a Trap. This could even make you lose a Rank and you’d be forced to return a die to the XP track until you have gained back the necessary XP to unlock the die again.

Skill Checks

Some encounters in Mini Rogue require you to perform a character Skill Check after resolving them. To perform a Skill Check; roll one die and check if the value is less than or equal to your Character’s Rank. If so, you ignore the potential trap you were facing or may influence your fate. Remember, each new game begins with your Character at Rank 1.

For example, Martha is Rank 2, and must avoid a Mold Miasma trap. She has to roll a 1 or a 2 to evade it.

Turn Sequence

Each turn you will guide your Character through a single Dungeon Area, starting from the entrance to the exit. Each Area contains Rooms that need to be resolved one at a time before going forward. Here is a game turn in detail:

Prepare phase

Take the Room cards, and set aside the Boss Monster card.
Shu e the Room cards, and place them, face down, in the following manner: a. Create four columns of 1 card each, side by side, face down. b. On the second and fourth columns, add one more card, under the previous card. c. If you are in the last Dungeon Area of a Level, add the Boss Monster card face up in a fifth column.
The entrance is the rst card from the rst column.

Hack and Slash Phase

Reveal then resolve the Room card in the rst column (see ROOM CARDS).
Once resolved, reveal both Room cards of the next column. You must now make a choice on which of the two cards you will resolve. 6. Once resolved, go to the next column, and repeat the pattern: for each column, you will resolve only one card.

Delving Phase

Once all columns have been resolved, consume 1 Food ration (see CHARACTER STATS) and update the Food track accordingly. If you have no Food left at the beginning of the Delving Phase and thus cannot consume any, your adventurer immediately loses 2 HP.
Advance your Character token to the next Dungeon Area on the Dungeon card. If you have not reached the 14th and last Dungeon Area, a new turn begins. Otherwise, see END OF THE GAME.

Room Cards

Each Room card that you’ll explore has a unique way of being resolved. Let’s take a detailed look at them.

Monster card

Untold monstrosities are now the protectors of this derelict place; still, you are determined in your quest for the Og’s Blood. Whenever you face a Monster, you’ll have to ght it. Each party takes a turn at attacking the other. It is a ght to the death, and whoever loses all its HP dies horribly. 1. Set the Monster’s health on the Dungeon card with the token. The amount of HP of the Monster is the sum of the current Dungeon Area plus 1d6. For example, you must ght a Monster in Area 12. You then roll a 3, the Monster’s HP is 15 (12 + 3). 2. Perform the Combat sequence (see COMBAT). 3. Outcome: a. If your Character died, this is the end of the game. b. If you managed to defeat the Monster, rejoice! You can now reap the rewards. The amount of XP you win depends on the current Level as speci ed on the Monster card. Update your XP dice accordingly.

Boss Monster card

These fallen titans were once great Lords. Only cats and hags know their original identities, for their names have been forsaken.

Set the Boss Monster’s health on the Dungeon card with the token. The amount of HP of the Boss Monster depends on the current Level as indicated on its card. Perform the Combat sequence like on the Monster card.
Outcome: a. If your adventurer died, this is the end of the game. b. If you managed to defeat the Boss, rejoice! You can now reap the rewards. The amount of Gold and XP you win depends on the current Level indicated on the Boss Monster card. Update your XP dice and Gold track accordingly. Once done, it’s Treasure time, roll a die and see the Treasure card for reference.

Treasure card

On your journey, you will find forgotten stashes of loot in varying quantities. Monsters still protect the most valuable treasures in the dungeon.

When you resolve the Treasure card, not only will you find some Gold pieces, but you also have a chance to find special items.

If you’ve defeated any Monster earlier in this Area, you gain 2 Gold pieces. Otherwise, you only gain 1 Gold piece. Move your Gold token accordingly. You then roll a die and if the result is a 5 or more, you’ve found a special item. Roll again to determine which item you have found. Depending on what you have found, you must store certain items on your Character card.

You can store a limit of 2 Spells maximum, place a token on your Character card to keep track of a found Spell.
You may have the same Spell twice.
You may always discard any Spell already owned to make place for a new Spell.

Treasure	Effect
1: Armor Piece	Immediately gain 1 Armor.
2: Better Weapon	Immediately gain 2 XP.
3: Fireball Spell	In combat, inflict 8 damage to a Monster
4: Ice Spell	In combat, freeze a Monster for one turn. The Monster does not counterattack.
5: Poison Spell	In Combat, for the remainder of the Combat sequence, inflict 5 extra damage per turn.
6: Healing Spell	Gain 8 HP in Combat or before resolving a Room card.

Merchant card

Some unsettling beings that call themselves merchants can be seen wandering in the dungeon. Surely a peculiar place for them to be doing business.

When you encounter the Merchant card, you may spend any number of Gold pieces to purchase items that will improve your Armor, Food, HP as well as Spells. You may buy or sell any number of items on your turn, as long as you have the money. It is never mandatory; you may skip the Merchant card if needed.

Items	Buying Price / Selling Price	Effect
Ration	1Gold / -	Gain 1 Food.
Health Potion	1Gold / -	Gain 1 HP.
Big Health Potion	3Gold / -	Gain 4 HP.
Armor Piece	6 Gold / 3 Gold	Gain 1 Armor.
Any 1 Spell	8 Gold / 4 Gold	Gain any 1 Spell.

Resting card

Every man needs respite, for death could come anytime soon.

When resting, you may choose only one of the available options on the Resting card. Update your stats accordingly.

Event card

You may even stumble upon items of great assistance. With skill and experience, the better you’ll know where to look.

When you resolve the Event card, roll one die and look up the result on the card. You may then perform a Skill Check (see SKILL CHECK). If the Skill Check is successful, you will be able to influence the outcome of your Event die roll result by +1 or 1. Update your Character stats accordingly.

For example, Oscar rolls the die to see what event he’ll encounter and gets a result of 3. He is at Rank 1 and performs a Skill Check to see if he can influence his fate. He successfully rolls a 1 on his dice; he can modify his Event roll. He may now choose between results 2,3 and 4 respectively. He decides to go for the 4th event and updates his XP die.

Events	Effect
1: Found Ration	You don’t know what this meat is, and you don’t care. Gain 1 Food.
2: Found Health Potion	A Monster’s favorite drink. Might as well drink a sip too. Gain 2 HP.
3: Found Loot	You’ve found a coin hidden in a crack between two stones. Gain 2 Gold.
4: Found Whetstone	You’ve found a Monster’s blade sharpening tools. Gain 2 XP.
5: Found Armor	A piece of armor found on a Monster’s carcass. Gain 1 Armor.
	Fight!
	Monster HP: current Dungeon Area + 1d6
6: Monster	Monster Damage: current Dungeon Level x 2
	Monster Reward: 2 XP

Trap card

Dungeon means danger, and danger sometimes means traps. Many adventurers perished not through combat, but through lack of scrutiny.

When you resolve the Trap card, you must first roll the die and see what lethal trap you face. You may then perform a Skill Check (see SKILL CHECK). If the Skill Check is successful, you’ve evaded the trap and move on to the next Room unscathed. If the Skill Check was unsuccessful, a trap was activated and you must update your Character stats accordingly. If you cannot suffer the penalty, you must lose 2 HP instead.

Traps	Description
1: Mold Miasma	A terrible stench seems to have added a layer of white and blue hair on your meat. Lose 1 Food ration.
2: Tripwire	You tripped and fell hard to the ground. A Gold piece was ejected from your bag. Lose 1 Gold.
3: Acid Mist	Powerful acid falls from the ceiling and damages your equipment. Lose 1 Armor.
4: Spring Blades	You walked on a pressure plate and jumped just in time to avoid losing your head. Lose 1 HP.
5: Moving Walls	Moving walls were about to crush you, but you sacrificed your sword to save yourself. Lose 1 XP.
6: Pit	You fell into a hole and landed a Level below. You broke a bone. Lose 2 HP and move your character token to the dungeon Area directly under the current one. (i.e. if your character is currently in Area 10, move it immediately to Area 13) No food is consumed by falling. Don’t reshuffle the cards, and resume play on the next column. Exception: On Level 5, lose 2 HP only.

Combat

Whenever you face a Monster or Boss, you’ll enter Combat. Each party takes a turn at attacking the other. Your Character always attacks first and once your attack is done, your adventurer will defend against the monster’s counterattack. It is a fight to the death, and whoever loses all its HP dies horribly.

Here’s the Combat sequence in greater details:

Attack Phase

Roll all your Unlocked dice.
Discard any dice that Missed. If you rolled a 1, your die is a Miss and no damage is dealt with this die. You must discard it temporarily until the next Attack Phase (after the Monster counterattacks).
You may reroll any dice that landed Critical hits. If you rolled a 6, your die is a Critical hit and you may reroll this die. Add the new die result to the previous value, unless your new roll is a 1. In this case, your result is now a Miss and no damage is dealt with this die. Rerolling is risky!
Repeat step 2 and 3, rerolling any Critical Hits until you are satis ed with your results or no more rerolls can happen, and discarding any Missed rolls. If you are not satis ed, you may now perform one or more Feats (see FEATS).
Add all values together to determine the amount of damage you will in ict to the Monster, and apply it to its HP.
You may now use any one Spell you have in your possession. Once a spell is used, it is consumed and discarded. Set its token aside.

For example, you roll three dice and get 1, 5 and 6. You will discard the dice with 1, keep the dice with 5, and you’ll probably want to reroll the dice with 6. After rerolling the dice with 6, you get a 1. This dice is then discarded too. The only damage you will deal is the dice with 5, so only 5 points of damage will be removed from the Monster’s health.

Another example: you roll three dice and get 1, 5 and 6, you will discard the dice with 1, set aside the dice with 5, and you’ll probably want to reroll the dice with 6. After rerolling the dice with 6, you get a 3. The damage dealt is 5, and 6 + 3 (roll + reroll), so 14 points of damage will be removed from the Monster’s health.

Defense Phase

After Attacking, if you did not kill the Monster (or Boss Monster), it will counterattack. You suffer the damage points indicated on the Monster card. However, if you have Armor, you protect yourself from some of the damage received. For each Armor point you possess, a damage point is negated.

For example, if you are facing a monster from Level 3, you will suffer 6 points of damage. However, you have an Armor rating of 2, so you are only receiving 4 (6 - 2) points of damage.

Repeat the Combat sequence of Attack and Defense until either you or the Monster is dead.

Feats

It is possible for your adventurer to change the outcome of an attack, with the energy of despair. Doing so, though, has a cost.

Whenever you Attack, you may reroll any die result rolled, even a miss, by reducing your Character’s HP by 2 points or your XP by 1 point.
You may only reroll a die once per Attack phase. Once a die has been rerolled through a Feat, you must accept its result (unless the new result is a 6, as per normal combat rules).
You don’t have to execute multiple Feats reroll all at once; you may always look at the result of a single rerolled die before choosing to perform another Feat.

End of the Game

If you have reached the last room of the Dungeon and defeated the nal Boss Monster, the Og’s Blood is now yours! You have won the game! Congratulations!

Why is it again that you were so drawn to this gemstone? ... Do you still remember why you came to this dungeon in the first place?

Oh, sorry, you died, right? Mini Rogue can sometimes be a punishingly hard game. Nevertheless, you’ve faced great odds, found great loot, and kicked ass! You should totally tweet us your nal score!

Tweet to @_mountaingold with the #minirogue hashtag, and add your score! (See SCORING SHEET)

The Dungeon Keys Variant

Reaching the Og's Blood is no easy task, the Dungeon Keys needed to unlock each level are hidden behind trapped rooms that only the nest rogue can loot.

Designer note: this variant introduces another layer of tension and long term decision making to the game. We encourage you to play the game with this variant for an extra challenge.

Setup: To play this variant you will need to introduce an extra token (preferably of a different color) that will act as the Key. Set aside this token at the same place you would place your locked dice for example.

The Dungeon Level Key: Once per Dungeon Level, you MUST resolve at least one Trap room card in order to find the Key to the next Level. You do not need to succeed the Skill Check to get the Key. Once you have resolved a Trap card in the Level, take the Key token and place it on your Character Stats card, as a reminder that you have found it. If you fall in a Pit trap, you still get the Key, even if you change Levels.

Once you have resolved a Trap room and found the Key, any other trap that you encounter in the current Level are resolved as per the normal rules. You only need to find the Key once per Level.

During the Delving phase of the last Area of the Level, unlock the Door to the next Level after you have consumed Food. Remove the Key token from your Character Stats card and set it aside once more. You must now find the Key for the new Level.

Scoring Sheet

Your Adventurer’s Name:

Difficulty Level

Area Reached x3

Bosses Slain x2

Rank x2

Health x 2

Gold x2

Spells x 1

Armor x 1

Food x1

Final Score:

Difficulty Level Bonus Victory Points:

Casual: 0VP

Normal: 2VP

Hard: 4VP

Nightmare: 6VP

Gamebooks