Goblin summoner 02, p.40
Goblin Summoner - 02, page 40
part #2 of Goblin Summoner Series
There are four different types of card in the game.
Monsters
Relics
Spells
Traps
Every card falls into one of these four categories. Monsters and relics remain in play when you use them, repeatedly impacting the game state. Spells and traps resolve their effect once and are then discarded. Every card has a mana cost, how much magical energy is required to use it. This is true across all card types.
Monsters and Relics will have a type associated with them. This type affects their mana cost when used in a deck with a matching affinity (see the deckbuilding rules for more.) When a deck shares a matching affinity to a type, reduce the printed mana cost by one. For example, a three-mana Goblin Soldier costs two mana when used in a goblin affinity deck. This change counts for deck building, as well as for any card that mentions a specific mana cost in its effect.
All spells, traps, and relics, along with some monsters, will have an effect. This effect impacts the game state in some way, made clear in the effect text itself. When effect text and the rules of the game conflict, the effect text always wins. Once a spell or trap has resolved its effect, it’s discarded.
Monsters will have three further details listed on them. Attack rating, defence rating, and hit points. Attack and defence ratings determine how good a monster is at dealing or avoiding damage, whilst its hit points are how much damage it can take before it is destroyed. (Destroyed cards are sent from play to the discard pile.) These numbers represent not just how strong a monster is, but how skilled as well. A giant might have very low defence because it’s very easy to hit, but several hit points to compensate.
Playing the game
A game of Goblin Summoner is divided into turns. During each turn, players will alternate taking actions until both players choose to pass in succession, at which point the turn ends and a new one begins. During the first turn of Goblin summoner, do the following things in order.
Randomly determine who has priority for that turn. That player will get to act first. At the end of each turn priority switches to the other player.
Shuffle your deck, then present it to your opponent, who may shuffle or cut it as they see fit then return it to you.
Draw three cards from the top and place them face down before you, without looking at them. These are your shield cards.
Draw four cards from your deck, this is your hand, keep the contents to yourself.
Give each player tokens matching the amount of mana available to them. It’s recommended you play with five mana each, though you can adjust this if you want to try duelling as a higher level spellcaster. Coins make excellent tokens for this.
The game is now set up. Beginning with the player with priority, players now alternate taking actions (listed in a moment) until both choose to pass. The turn then ends, and a new turn begins. On subsequent turns do the following things in order.
Draw two cards. If you cannot draw any cards shuffle the contents of your discard pile to create a new deck and then resume drawing cards.
Resolve any “start of turn effects” starting with the player with priority and alternating.
Restore mana up to your maximum, minus the cost of any monsters, relics, or traps in play. (For example, in a five mana game you have one relic with one mana cost, and one monster with two mana cost, then you would restore only two mana,)
Resume taking actions.
For reference, the end of turn sequence once both players pass is
Resolve any “end of turn” effects, starting with the player with priority and alternating.
Pass priority to the player without it.
Taking actions.
Players can take the following actions during a turn.
Play a card from hand – Spend the appropriate amount of mana to play a card from hand. Relics and monsters get placed before you and any relevant effects trigger, the cards remaining in play until destroyed. Spells resolve their effect immediately and are then placed in the discard pile. Traps are placed face down. Their effects will trigger when instructed to do so on the card itself. The mana cost of a trap is public knowledge and it’s recommended you mark it a counter of some kind such as a dice. When a trap’s effect triggers, it is then placed in the discard pile.
Play a shield card – Use one of your cards removed from your shield. (See shield rules.) Using cards from your shield costs no mana and when a shield card would go to the discard pile, it instead goes to your hand. You can only use each shield card once per turn. (For example, you cast a Lightning Blast from your shield cards. As a spell, it would go to the discard pile but is instead returned to your shield cards. You can’t use that Lightning Blast again until the next turn.
Declare an attack – Choose any number of your monsters and attack with them. Monsters can attack only once per turn and it’s recommended you mark which ones have attacked by turning them sideways. Monsters can attack other monsters or the enemy duellist. If enemy monsters are present, they must attack those monsters unless they have a rule that allows them to ignore them (such as flying). Add up the total attack rating of all attacking monsters. If it is equal or greater than the defence rating of a defending monster, it loses one hit point (regardless of how many individual monsters took part in an attack). If it has no hit points remaining, it is destroyed. When attacking a duellist, they will take one shield card and place it in their hand, attack rating is irrelevant in that situation.
Use an effect – Some monsters have effects that don’t trigger when they are summoned. Using these effects is an action. Resolve the effect as written. An effect can only be used once per turn.
Pass – Passing does nothing, effectively skipping your activation. Passing does not prevent you from performing an action once your opponent has completed theirs.
Use a feat or runic item – Feats are powerful effects that duellists learn as they level up, and runic items are enchanted pieces of equipment that imbue powerful abilities similar to feats to their bearer. Activating one of these effects is an action. Rules for runic items and feats aren’t included in this ruleset, but if players want to take them from the novel they can of course do so.
The Shield
The shield is a barrier of powerful arcane magic that protects duellists from harm. The shield can take three hits before breaking, rendering the duellist vulnerable to attack. The shield works by detecting hostile intent and a duellist can be injured by falling prey to a trap or tripping off a wall for example.
In a formal duel, duellists fight until all of their opponent’s shields are gone, the fatal blow not necessary. Duellists that take hits against their shield need not despair, as the magical energy released from protecting them imbues the cards forming the shield with powerful mana.
At the start of the game, three shield cards are placed face down in front of each player. Every time a player is attacked directly by one or more monsters, they take one card from their shield, look at it, then set it aside. In the novel, these cards glow gold and float next to a duellists hand but for the real world game it’s easier to set them away from your hand of cards to prevent confusion. You can only lose one card from your shield per attack action unless an effect says otherwise.
Empowered by the magic of your shield, these cards can be cast using the cast shield card action. Treat the printed mana cost of these cards as zero. Canny duellists will realise (as Gareth does in the story) that taking a hit on their shield early can give them a powerful advantage at the risk of being closer to losing at any moment.
Shield cards are not in your hand for the purposes of any effects. If an effect would discard a card from your shield, then it is not set aside. It goes to the discard pile and does not become a shield card.
When your third card is removed from your shield, then you immediately lose.
Deck Building
In the novel, the contents of a duellists deck are determined by their level and the skill points they have spent. Sadly, here on Earth, we don’t have access to the magical systems that underpin reality, so we have to make do with our best approximation.
I recommended that your deck is constructed of twenty-two cards, with a maximum mana value, after affinity of thirty-five. Astute readers will realise that this is the current state of Gareth’s deck at the end of the book. If you want to play a game with more power, you can of course increase these, though be warned the balance of the game might get worse the higher you go.
You should also choose an affinity for your deck when building it. This helps focus the kinds of monsters you want to use (though doesn’t limit at all. If you want to include an angel in your goblin deck you can, though it will cost more) and provide a general idea of the kind of strategy you might want to employ. Not all affinities are created equal. Monsters are born as I think of them, so some affinities have notably more than others. I will update the bestiary with each new novel, so make sure you’re on that newsletter to hear about the new cards!
Using skills, feats, and runic items.
As already mentioned, these basic rules don’t include several functions from the levelling system of the book. These functions exist to create exciting narrative moments and as we focus on Gareth and his friends the novel doesn’t even begin to explore the innumerable effects out there. If you and your opponent want to include them, then you can, the details for them are clearly listed in the novel. Be warned that there may be some distinctly more powerful strategies as a result.
And that’s all. These are very much the core rules to Goblin Summoner, and I hope to expand on them as we go into new exciting adventures. If you want to try a duel for yourself, grab the bestiary, print out some cards and get duelling.
Grab a copy of the bestiary here.
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Tracy Gregory, Goblin Summoner - 02
