Dragon
Dice(tm) Solo Challenge
ver.
0.1
Submitted
by: ctaylor@interplay.com (Taylor Chris)
DCM refers
to the Dice Commander's Manual - the rules standard! Accept no substitute. Or
is the Revised Rules, if necessary.
| Table of
Contents |
1.0
Introduction
2.0
Building the Armies
3.0
Setting up the Terrain
4.0 The
Solo Challenge
5.0
Options
6.0
Credits
| 1.0
Introduction |
Dragon
Dice is a great multiplayer game, but there comes a time when you cannot find
opponents. These rules will provide a simple variation of the main rules that
can be played by only one player.
In this version
of the game, you will find that army construction becomes very critical. These
are good skills that will help you in any game of Dragon Dice.
The basic
idea is that the player will face a series of challenges. Each challenge will
find the player facing a different type of opponent. The player must conquer
all opponents, succeed at all the challenges, and fight the Dragons in a final
battle. Not the most original story, but hey, this is a dice game...
One nice
feature of the solo rules, especially for those players who have a large
collection of dice, is that you will see many dice that you would not normally
play with.
1.1 Object
of Dragon Dice Solo
------------------------------
The
player's object is to fight and defeat five different armies in a row, moving
from one terrain to the next. Each battle might see the player's army a little
hurt, and a fresh opponent. The idea is to reach and capture the fifth terrain
and then fight off a terrible Dragon attack! Defeating the Dragons, with even one
tiny unit remaining, means victory!
| 2.0
Building the Armies |
The player
will need to build a total of six armies: one for himself, and five opponents.
The first item of business is to set the size of the battles. Obviously, more dice
will take longer to play, but not necessarily the difficulty of the battle. The
player may choose from the following battle sizes:
|
Player |
Health |
Opponents
Health |
Number
of Dragons |
|
Small |
16 |
12 |
2 |
|
Medium |
24 |
18 |
3 |
|
Large |
35 |
24 |
4 |
The Player
Health refers to the number of health points the player gets to build his army
from (page 6, DCM). The Opponents Health line is the size of each of the five
opposing armies (see below). The Number of Dragons refers to the total number
of Dragons the player will have to fight in the final battle.
2.1
Player's Army
-----------------
Once the
player determines the size of his army, he should build it using the tournament
rules (no more than 50% magic dice). Magic Items and Artifacts are allowed, Dragonkin are not used. The player's army can be of any
racial makeup. Once you are done with it, set it aside for now.
2.2
Opponent's Armies
---------------------
You will
need to build five armies: Heavy, Light, Missile, Cavalry and Magic. Each army
must be of at least one race, but no more than two. If possible, you should
keep to one race. Only if you do not have enough dice should you expand to two
races.
Suggested
Makeup
|
Total |
Health |
Rare(s) |
Uncommons |
Commons |
|
Small |
12 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
|
Medium |
18 |
2 |
3 |
6 |
|
Large |
24 |
3 |
4 |
7 |
For
example, a small Firewalker Heavy opponent army would look like: 5x Guardians,
2x Watchers and 1x Sentinel. If you don't have enough of one commonality of
dice, substitute other dice within that same race and type.
2.21 Racial
Equivalents
-----------------------
Some of
the more recent races do not follow under the standard system.
Here is a
table of the equivalents:
|
|
Heavy |
Light |
Missile |
Cavalry |
Magic |
|
Undead |
Hvy Inf |
Lgt Inf |
--- |
Skirmisher |
Hvy Magic |
|
Frostwing |
Melee |
Lgt Msl |
Hvy Msl |
Cavalry |
Magic |
2.3
Dragons
-----------
Take the
number of Dragons based on the size of your game (2, 3, or 4) and set them
aside. These dragons can be randomly picked from your collection or be picked
in this order: Black, Red, Gold, Green and Blue; Wyrms
before Drakes. Dragons will _not_ fight each other, so different colors do not
matter.
| 3.0 Setting up the Terrain |
Pick one
of each type of terrain (Coastland, Swampland,
Minor
terrains are not used.
3.1
Determining the Order
-------------------------
Roll all
the terrain dice. The lowest roll becomes the first terrain,
the next highest roll becomes the second terrain, and so on. Reroll ties.
For
example: the five terrain dice are rolled. The results are: 1, 3, 3, 6, and 8. The 1 die becomes the first terrain, the two threes are re-rolled
(results: 4 and 5, the 4 becomes the second terrain and the 5 becomes the third
terrain), the 6 is the fourth terrain and the 8 is the last terrain.
The next
step will actually determine what number the terrain dice start on.
3.2 Set
the Starting Terrain Distance and Place Opponents
---------------------------------------------------------
The
terrain dice will start at the following levels:
|
|
Starting
Distance |
Opponent
Army |
|
First
Terrain |
Lowest
Missile |
Missile |
|
Second
Terrain |
Lowest
Melee |
Cavalry |
|
Third
Terrain |
Lowest
Melee + 1 |
Light |
|
Fourth
Terrain |
Lowest
Melee + 2 |
Heavy |
|
Fifth
Terrain |
Eighth
Face |
Magic |
Place the
opponent’s armies appropriately. Move the terrain dice to the proper starting
distance (lowest missile means start at 1 on the terrain die, and move it up
one number at a time until you come across the first missile symbol.) Move up
one additional face on the third terrain, and move up two additional faces on
the fourth terrain.
3.3
Starting the Game
---------------------
Place your
army at the first terrain. You are now ready to begin.
| 4.0 The Solo Challenge |
With all
armies placed at their proper terrains, the player may begin the challenge!
There will a total of six battles - the five opposing armies and the final
battle against a horde of attacking dragons. The player must defeat each army
in turn, and reserve enough units to defeat the final armies and the Dragons.
During
each battle, the player can only affect dice that are actually involved in the
battle. Dice at another terrain or in the player's reserves cannot be targeted.
4.1 Turn
Order
--------------
Each
battle consists of a series of turns, some of which are only done before or
after a battle and some that are repeated during the battle.
A. Set Reserves (4.2)
B. Player Attacks (4.3)
C. Opposing Army Attacks (4.4)
D. Player Attempts Maneuver (4.5)
[Repeat
steps B, C & D until the victory or loss conditions are met]
E. Heal
Dead Units (4.6)
F. Proceed to next terrain and
battle there, or if this was the fifth terrain, the final dragon battle (4.7)
The player
wins the first four battles by defeating all enemy units in the opposing army, or
maneuvering the terrain die to the eighth face. The fifth battle must be won
destroying all the enemy magicians in the opposing army.
The player
will lose if all their non-reserve units are killed and/or buried.
4.2 Set
Reserves
----------------
Before
each battle, the player may pull aside any number of dice (leaving at least one
health worth of dice at a battle.) These dice form the reserve and will not
take part in the upcoming battle. The player may change his reserve at the
beginning of each battle, but may not touch it during any particular battle.
Set the
reserve dice to one side. They may not be targeted by enemy units, spells or
taking for damage. They do not participate in any of the rolls.
They do
not count towards any remaining units of the player at a battle. The player
will lose the game when all non-reserve dice are killed at a battle.
Before a
battle starts, the player may retreat or reinforce to and from the reserves as
many units as he wishes.
4.3 Player
Attacks
------------------
The player
may now take an action based on the current ID of the terrain. If on a missile
ID, for example, the player may missile the opposing army (and only the
opposing army.) Obviously, the target of all missile attacks, melees, charges,
and spells will be the opposing army for this terrain.
All
standard rules apply. If the opfor ever rolls a Cantrip, see (4.41) and randomly pick a spell (don't worry
about the magic cost), outside of maneuvers, of course.
Missile:
The player rolls missile icons and ID icons and applies damage to the opposing
army (called "opfor" for the rest of this
section.) Then the player rolls the opfor for
defensive shields and ID icons. If the opfor takes
damage, refer to 4.31 (below) for instructions on how to resolve damage to the opfor dice. The opfor will
counterattack during their next turn (4.4)
Melee:
Roll as normal, apply damage (if any) and then roll the opfor
for a counterattack. You roll your defense and then apply damage as normal.
Charge:
Roll as normal, both your dice and then the opfor.
Count your melee and maneuvers as damage, subtract the opfor
shields/ID icons and apply any remaining damage. Meanwhile, apply all opfor melee icons as damage to your army.
Magic:
Magic may only be cast by your army if you control the eighth face of a terrain
(only possible during the fifth battle and the dragon attack), or if the
terrain is showing a Magic symbol (chasing after those pesky magicians in the
fifth battle.) Magic that targets terrain cannot be cast.
Routing is
never used.
4.4
Opposing Army Attacks
-------------------------
The opfor will roll depending on what battle you are fighting
(which type of units the opfor is using) and what the
terrain ID is.
First
Terrain: This missile army will obviously want to attack with missiles for as
long as possible. They will attack with missile weapons if the terrain symbol
permits, or use standard melee attacks if the player moves the terrain die up.
Second
Terrain: Cavalry armies will always charge when they have the chance. They will
never use regular melee attacks.
Third
Terrain: Light melee troops will alternate charges with melee attacks. Their
first attack will be a melee attack, their second will be a charge, the third
will return to a regular melee attack and so on.
Fourth
Terrain: Heavy melee troops will always use melee attacks. They will never
charge.
Fifth
Terrain: Magicians will cast spells. They will never use any sort of missile or
melee attack (they stay at the first face of their terrain and whimper loudly
when the player's army reaches that location.) See 4.41 for what spells the
Magicians will use.
4.41 Opfor Magic Attacks
------------------------
Roll the
magicians, count up all points of magic. Apply an ID results to the largest
color pool of magic. If possible to double (by either
doubling ID icons because of sympathetic terrain or burying your dead), do so.
If the opfor magicians bury your dead, they will bury
the maximum amount.
Opfor
magicians will cast random spells. Start with the largest color pool and work
your way down.
Pick up an
unused terrain die (one of the earlier battlefields will work just fine), and
roll it. Don't look at the terrain symbol, we only
care about the number that results (remember, the terrain is a d8). Consult the
chart below and look across to the color magic being cast:
|
Roll |
Gold |
Blue |
Red |
Green |
Black |
|
|
1-2 |
Transmute Rock to
Mud* |
Hailstorm#
|
Dancing Lights* |
Wall of Ice# |
Palsy* |
|
|
3-4 |
Dust to Dust* |
Breath
of Life# |
Spark of
Life# |
Flash Flood* |
Reanimate Dead# |
|
|
5-7 |
Stoneskin# |
Lightning
Strike* |
Ashstorm* |
Watery Double# |
Finger
of Death* |
|
|
8 |
Racial% |
Racial% |
Racial% |
Racial% |
Racial% |
|
*
Targeting your army, of course.
# Targeting the opfor army.
% See Racial spells (4.42) below.
Specific
Spell Notes:
Breath of
Life, Spark of Life, Reanimate Dead: Healing spell, see below.
Finger of
Death: Pump as much black magic remaining as possible into this spell and then
start targeting your units. You must attempt to use as many FoD
spells this way as possible.
Flash
Flood: This spell will push the player's army one terrain pip away from the opfor army.
Hailstorm:
Dump the remainder of the blue magic pool into this spell and target the
player's army.
In all
cases, you get to pick the target of a spell, using the following rules:
a) A die
in any army can only be targeted by more than one spell if all other dice have
already been targeted -or- if a spell that can be cast multiple times to
increase the effect is targeting this unit, and then only enough times to
actually affect the unit (no more, no less - if possible.)
b) Target
in this order: commons, uncommons, rares then monsters.
c) If it
is a healing spell, and the opfor have no dead units
available, reroll the spell.
d)
Remember that a player's magicians may always target as per the player's
instructions, as long as the spells cast are legally targeted.
Subtract
the amount of the spell targeted, and repeat rolling on the table until all
spell points have been spent or if a spell is rolled that requires too many
magic points to cast (do not reroll trying to get a
cheaper spell.)
Then
resolve the spells in any order that you choose.
4.42
Racial Spells
------------------
Many of
the races have unique racial spells. If you roll an 8 on the random spell
selection die (usually known as a terrain die), then the opfor
magician's will attempt to cast a racial-only spell. Pick a spell that only the
magicians in the opfor army can cast (the one that
you would pick if you were in their shoes) and target your army with it.
If you
choose not to use racial spells, pick the general spell that would hurt you the
most.
If you are
not capable of beating yourself in the face with the opfor
magic, then simply roll again (rerolling any further
results of 8) and cast that spell _for free!_, do not
reduce the magic pool.
4.5 Player
Attempts Maneuver
----------------------------
The player
can win the first four battles by maneuvering the terrain to the eighth face.
Opposing armies will never attempt to maneuver, but will always attempt to countermaneuver.
The player
does _not_ have to attempt to maneuver. It is always optional.
In the
first four battles, as soon as the player maneuvers the terrain die to the
eighth face, he wins. Remove the defeated opfor and
move on to the next battle. During these battles, the player can only move the
terrain die up, never down.
In the
fifth battle, the player can chase down the magicians army and attack them in
melee battle by maneuvering the terrain down to the first face. The player
cannot maneuver the die back up once he starts this charge.
Racial
terrain advantages are used as normal.
4.6 Heal
Dead Units
-------------------
Units that
have not been buried, but are in the dead pool might be returned to the
player's army in time for the next battle.
Roll all
the dead pool units.
Any unit
that rolls an ID, a SAI or a magic symbol returns to life and is placed back in
the player's army. This die may be immediately sent to reserves, as per the
normal (4.2) Set Reserves phase. Any other result- that unit is buried and
gone.
4.7 Final
Dragon
-----------------------
Once the
player has defeated the magicians in the fifth battle, the final Dragon battle
will begin.
The player
may (4.6) Heal Dead Units and draw all units from the Reserves (4.2), as per
normal rules.
If the player
ended the fifth battle on the eighth face of the terrain, they will start in
control of a City.
If the
player ended the fifth battle on the first face of the terrain (ie, they chased down and slaughtered the poor opfor magicians), then they will start there. During their
(4.3) Attack, their opponents (4.4) Attack (the Dragons) and during the normal
(4.5) Maneuver phase, the player may move the terrain die one step towards the
eighth face (running back towards the City), until the player reaches the
eighth face. As soon as the player maneuvers the terrain die to the eighth
face, the player takes control of the City. The maneuver takes place after each
Attack (ie, at the end of Player's Attack, and at the
end of the Dragon's Attack.)
4.71
Dragons of a different Color
---------------------------------
Dragons
will only attack the player. They will not attack each other, regardless of any
color differences.
4.72
Drakes
-----------
If a Drake
rolls a Wing, it will fly away immediately (after doing any tail damage). It
will automatically return at the beginning of the next Dragon Attack (it cannot
be targeted during the next Player's Attack.)
4.73
Attacking a Dragon
-----------------------
A Dragon
may be attacked by any number of ways:
First to
Seventh Faces: The Dragons may only be attacked by the attacks allowed by the
symbol currently showing on the terrain die.
Eighth
Face: The player rolls his entire army, and divides the attack into three
parts: missile, melee and magic. All missile results must be used to attack one
Dragon, all melee results must be used to attack another, and magic spells can
target any Dragon not currently being attack by missile or melee attacks.
4.731
Missile and Melee Attacks
-------------------------------
These work
normally against a Dragon (Dragon Slaying, pg 27, DCM).
4.732
Magic Attacks
-------------------
Spells can
be cast against Dragons. Only spells which provide defense to the player, or do
hit point damage will work. Spells which kill the target, or cause some sort of
secondary effect (Lightning Strike, for example) will only work on a Dragon if
it rolls a Belly. Spells which increase missile or melee attacks take effect
before the actual attack on a Dragon, even if all dice are rolled at the same
time.
4.74 SAI
Attacks
----------------
4.8
Winning the Game
--------------------
If the
player kills all Dragons, the player wins the solo Challenge.
Congratulations!
| 5.0
Options |
Options
are rules that are provided to create an additional challenge, balance the game
in a particular manner, or make a change to the game to better fit a player's
preference.
All of the
5.X rules are optional. Other rules could be created by the player to increase
his enjoyment of the game. They're your dice, no one is looking - go ahead!
5.1
Monsters
------------
The player
is certainly allowed to use Monsters in his army. The opposing armies could
also use Monsters, just replace four health worth of units with a randomly
selected monster and have at it! Monsters that have a majority of icons similar
to the opposing army type work best.
If
Monsters are used, then you should use the Monstrous Magical Resistance,
optional rule (page 154, DCM), for both you and the opfors.
5.2 No
Magic
------------
If you do
not want to opposing armies to use magic, then replace the army at the fifth
terrain with another Light army. They start in control of a City. During step
(4.5), the player may attempt to maneuver down the terrain. Remember that the opfor have double maneuvers until you wrest control of the
City. At the start of the Opponent's Attack step, the opfor
forces will attempt to regain control of the City (either attempting to
maneuver down if you are in control of the eighth face, or by attempting to
maneuver the terrain die up if it is on the seventh face.)
5.3 Promo
Dice (The King's Charge)
----------------------------------
The
various promo dice may be used. Most promo dice have some special abilities
that will add challenge to the game. Giving the opfor
an occasional DragonLord or DragonSlayer
will definitely increase the level of difficulty.
The King's
Die will give the player an additional (4.5) Player Attempts Maneuver step. If
the player has a King's Die in his army, then he may also attempt to maneuver
the terrain between his attack and the opponent's attack. Roll for maneuvers
normally.
5.4
Two-Player Challenge
------------------------
It's
possible to play the Solo Challenge with a friend. Have him pick out the
opposition armies (following all of the rules and guidelines suggested within
these rules), and then play them in order against you. The opfor
may still not maneuver the terrain, unless allowed by the rules.
5.5 Expert
Level
----------------
To
increase the challenge of this solo adventure, it is possible to use any or all
of these minor options:
increase
the number of health points the opfor armies may use.
decrease
the number of starting health points you may use.
randomly
pick your army.
start
all terrain dice on 1, and allow the opfor to make
missile attacks against you until you are in range.
increase
the number of Dragons during the final dragon battle.
use
Ancient White Dragons (page 154, DCM) in the final dragon battle.
Good luck!
| 6.0
Credits |
Dragon
Dice Solo Challenge is by CR Taylor.
Copyright 1997 Anarchy
Based on the Dragon Dice Collectible Dice Game from TSR, Inc.
Original Dragon
Dice rules by Lester Smith, with a revised design by David Eckelberry,
Dori Hein, & Bill Olmesdahl.
6.1 About
the Author
--------------------
CR Taylor
is a professional computer game designer. His former credits include: Stonekeep, Fallout and some smaller titles. He is currently
working on a strategy computer game, MAX2, from Interplay.
He is
married. Him and his wife are raising 1.5 children.
They live in
6.2
Contacting the Author
-------------------------
You can
reach the author at: anarchy@netcom.com