Description

SUMMARY
All but one of the players will take on the role of a hero (who are part of the same guild) that is participating in a great competition known as “The Dungeon Games”. These events, created by the world’s greatest magicians, are pulse-pounding, unpredictable and timed. Each player will need to make use of every round they have available to them, either trying to complete the main objective or grabbing “Arcane Keys” that are scattered around the environment for some vital extra points. The last player will take on the special role of Storyteller, who uses the prewritten adventures (or their own) to run the story the other players participate in. They function as a referee of sorts, playing all the NPCs and baddies in the combat (in Dice Odyssey, the Storyteller will try to defeat the heroes in combat by choosing a good combination of baddies and selecting their actions carefully). The game is composed of 2 main systems, Exploration and Combat.

EXPLORATION SYSTEM
Each adventure will give the players a set number of rounds to complete it in. When a player takes a turn, he will tell the Storyteller what he plans to do, it’s up to the Storyteller to gauge how many rounds it would take to accomplish it. Another simple element that makes this game feel completely unique are the Arcane Keys. They are collectables that are scattered everywhere, each one having some sort of puzzle or trial involved in getting to it. The Arcane Keys allow more opportunities for each person on the team to be helpful. For example, if the main objective requires Stealth and Athletics, then the Arcane Keys that are close by, will be Wits and Lore based. At every moment, all attributes are useful, and Arcane Keys are the main reason why.

Whenever a player attempts to do something difficult, they will have to roll dice to see if they are successful. The number of dice they roll is determined by the attribute the Storyteller says is needed for the task and how many of that type of Attribute Card they have. For example, if a player needs to push a large sleeping giant out of the way, the Storyteller will tell him it will take an athletics roll, and what number he will have to roll to be successful, in this case, a 6. The player will look to see if he has an athletics Attribute Card, and will roll an additional die for each that he has. The base roll being 3 dice. There are 8 attributes; Athletics, Dungeoneering, Fortitude, Lore, Luck, Stealth, Vigilance and Wits. On each Attribute Card there is also some sort of boon, perhaps for Fortitude, a hero may have “Bark Skin”. This element can be used creatively to help the player throughout the quest, and ultimately is up to the Storyteller. Generally, the rule is, if they can explain how they are using it for a task, they can convert the Attribute Card to a different type. Using the card above “Bark Skin (Fortitude)”, a player hides next to a tree after stripping down. This could convert the Attribute Card from Fortitude to Stealth for the use of that one roll.

COMBAT SYSTEM
In most RPGs, heroes have some base stats that do not change, such as HP, defense, attacks, etc. But in Dice Odyssey, players can change their heroes “base stats”. Imagine a normally defensive, tough hero, who is putting his guard down to do extra damage this turn, in Dice Odyssey, that means he would have chosen a different Combat Card this turn. Players begin combat by assessing the baddies they are fighting, their teammates strengths and weaknesses and from that, what Combat Card would be most appropriate. Most heroes have 5 different Combat Cards, and can swap between those cards during the game by buying them at the store.

After the baddies have been laid out, the players will also each grab 4 of the dice from their bags and roll them to see which of their Loot Cards they can use this round of combat. Each point rolled on a die, will allow the player to activate that many points on the corresponding Loot Card. For example, if they roll a 1 on a Fey die, they can pick which Fey card they want to activate (if they have more than one) and then pick which of the 3 (1 point) powers they want to use. If they were to roll a 2 instead, they could choose 2 (1 point) powers on that card. The Loot Cards serve as an add-on to the player's Combat Card. After 2 uses the Loot Cards break, at which point, you have to discard it and put one of your dice of that type back in the main bag.
There is more to the combat system, but this covers most of it.

CONCLUSION
If the players are able to finish the main quest in the time allotted, they receive a point for each Arcane Key they were able to escape with. Depending on how many points they have, the heroes will be in 1st – 5th place. The actual victory is if they are able to complete the mission at all, the bonus points serve as a high score mechanic. It is also fun to replay the same quest to see if you can get the number one spot!