Daggers Brink
Written and illustrated by Jamie "Themo" Richards.
Daggers Brink is a fast paced, dice and card combat game in which 3-6 players compete to remain the last man standing. Set in the Daggers Brink tavern where the ale is strong and disputes are settled at the point of a dagger players are advised to keep one hand on their tankard and the other on their hilt as they eat, drink and regale their fellow patrons with tales of glory... ever alert for that one word that heralds the start of an all in brawl... "challenge".
Daggers Brink is the first and smallest of our projects and is a simple concept with solid game mechanics. Each game turn is separated into two phases, the "Draw phase" in which players draw and discard from the deck to build attributes and the "Combat phase" in which players fight it out with dice using the attribute cards held in their hands.
Development Stage
Daggers Brink is near completion, with copies being sent out for play testing and review. Minor changes were made in response to The Game Crafter's "sanity test" to the booklet and store page. Print and play versions of the booklet and cards are available for download in my store page at The Game Crafter.
Rules
Daggers brink is a quick moving dice and cards game which is very simple to learn and can be played with 3-6 players. The game consists of 2 phases, the draw phase in which players build their attributes by drawing from the deck then discarding and the combat phase in which players use those attributes to fight it out with dice. Before the game begins each player is given 3 combat tokens and the game ends when only one player remains in possession of one of these tokens. The duration of the game can be increased or decreased by simply adding or subtracting the amount of combat tokens players begin the game with.
The 86 card game deck contains 7 +1 bonus, +2 bonus and +3 bonus cards for each of the 4 attributes as well as 2 wildcards. A wildcard grants a +1 bonus to all 4 attributes. A player with no bonus from cards is considered to have a value of 1 for each of these attributes. After the game begins the players 4 attribute values are equal to 1 + the total value of bonuses for that attribute held in the players hand. For example... A player with the above hand would have a Speed of 3 (base value 1, +1 from the speed bonus card and +1 from the wildcard), a Health of 5 (base value 1, +3 from the health bonus card and +1 from the wildcard), a Defend of 3 and an attack of 4.
To determine which player will act as the dealer first each player rolls 4 6-sided dice. The player with the highest combined value will deal first. During the first phase of each turn (known as the draw phase) the dealer shuffles the deck and deals each player 5 cards face down before placing the deck face down in the center of the table and placing the top card face up beside it to form the discard pile. The player to the dealers left then draws one card from the top of either the deck or the discard pile and places it into their hand before picking a card from their hand and placing it face up on top of the discard pile (ending their turn). The next player to the left does the same and this continues until all players have drawn at least once. After all players have drawn at least once they may chose to forgo drawing and discarding during their turn to declare a challenge, signifying that they are happy with their hand and ready for the combat phase. The game continues as normal until it is once more the challengers turn, at which point all players lay their cards face up in front of them and the combat phase begins.
During the combat phase the order in which players will act is determined by the speed attribute. The player with the highest speed will act first, then the player with the next highest speed and so on. Players with an equal speed attribute will determine which of those players acts first with a roll of 4 6-sided dice. When it is a players turn he may declare an attack on another player. This may be done once per turn only, or the player may choose to not attack at all. The attacking player then rolls a number of dice equal to his attack attribute. Each roll of a 4,5 or 6 is considered to be a "hit", a 1,2 or 3 is considered a "miss". The player being attacked then rolls a number of dice equal his defend attribute and removes one of the attackers hits for each roll of 4,5 or 6. The defender then loses 1 point of health for each remaining hit. Should the amount of health lost be equal to or greater than the defenders health attribute, the defender is considered "wounded" and loses a combat token and can not attack or be attacked again this turn. Should a player lose all of his combat tokens he will be eliminated from the game. The loss of health points from each players attacks is not cumulative, every time a player defends or attacks they do so with health equal to their health attribute. Players holding one or both of the wildcards may chose to discard them when declaring an attack or when an attack is declared against them. Doing so allows the player to chose one card from the hand of the player he is in combat with and adding it to the discard pile. If both attacker and defender discard a wildcard then the defending player is always first to choose his opponents discard. Once each player has had their turn, all cards are discarded and the player to the dealers left picks up all cards and another draw phase begins. The game is won once only one player remains in possession of a combat token.
Should the deck become depleted during the draw phase, all cards in the discard pile other than the top card (which remains face up next to the deck) are added to the deck and reshuffled.
