A family game where three knights attempt to steal gems and escape with their lives while the ogre tries to protect his home and treasures from theft.

Rules of Play

Game Components
1 Game Map
1 Accessories Bag
1 Deck of Magic Scroll Cards
1 Ogre Token & 3 Knight Tokens
1 Black Die & 7 Red Dice
12 Armor Chips
12 Colored Gems
Booster Deck
The booster deck of additional magic scroll cards (sold separately) can be used instead of the standard deck or combined with the standard deck, in part or in whole, to vary the game play experience. The color of the scroll name is different for each deck so that you can separate the cards later if you like.
Definitions of Game Terms
OGRE is the person playing the ogre token.
KNIGHT is a person playing a knight token.
PLAYER is any person, ogre or knight.
ACTIVE PLAYER is the person whose turn it is.
COMBATANTS are the knight and ogre currently fighting a battle.
TOKEN is the game piece you move through the castle map.
GEMS are the colored stones the players collect while playing the game.
MAGIC SCROLL is a card from the standard deck or booster deck.
EMPTY ROOM is any room on the map, except a Gate or Throne room, that did not contain a gem, ogre, or knight when the active player's turn began.
Setting Up The Game
Orient the castle map so that the corner with the ogre picture points to the player who has chosen to be the ogre. The other three players will be knights of the color pointing toward them. Place the tokens in their matching colored rooms on the map.

The ogre places one gem in each of the twelve round treasure rooms on the map. This can be done randomly or in any pattern the ogre chooses. After all, it is the ogre's castle and the ogre's treasure.

Give each knight two armor chips to represent the strength of their armor at the start of the game. The ogre has no armor at the start of the game. All players may add and lose armor chips throughout the game, depending on events.

Shuffle the deck of magic scroll cards and deal three to each player. Players should not reveal these cards to each other until they are used.

The black die is the movement die and is held by the active player during their turn. Passing the black die to the next player indicates that your turn is over and the next player's turn has begun.

Red dice are for general use.

The ogre, having heard a disturbance, goes first. Play moves clockwise unless changed by game events.

During their turn, the active player will move their token, draw a magic scroll card from the deck, use magic scroll cards on themselves or other players, and even do battle. In general, these events need not follow any specific sequence but some magic scroll cards must be played before or after or during certain events. Sometimes magic scroll cards can fly fast and furious, especially in combat, so keep your attention on what's happening, even when you're not the active player!
Movement
The active player rolls the black die to determine how many spaces their token will move this turn. This is called a Movement Roll. Each room on the map is a space and hallways connect the rooms. A token cannot move from one room into another unless a hallway connects them. Certain magic scrolls may affect or replace your movement roll or permit otherwise illegal moves.

A player must move the full count of their movement roll if possible. Certain situations, however, will end a player's movement prematurely:
(1) a player may not enter the same room more than once on the same turn,
(2) a knight may not enter a room occupied by another knight,
(3) a knight may not enter a treasure room containing a gem of a different color,
(4) a knight may not enter the ogre's throne room,
(5) the ogre may not enter a knight's gate room,
(6) the ogre may not enter a treasure room containing a gem,
(7) a knight's movement ends, and battle begins, when the knight enters a room occupied by the ogre,
(8) the ogre's movement ends, and battle begins, when the ogre enters a room occupied by a knight,
(9) a knight's movement ends when the knight enters a treasure room containing a matching-color gem.
When a knight enters a room containing a gem of their matching color, or captures a matching-color gem in battle with the ogre, the knight places the gem in their gate room so that all players can see how many gems that knight has collected.

The ogre may only gather gems by capturing them from knights through combat. When the ogre captures a gem, it is placed in the ogre's throne room so that all players can see how many gems the ogre has retrieved.
Magic Scrolls
When a player ends their movement in an empty room they draw one magic scroll card from the deck. A room is not empty if it contained a gem, ogre, or knight when the player's turn began.

Magic scroll cards change the basic rules and conditions of the game and players will collect and use many magic scroll cards throughout the game. The text on each magic scroll card describes when the card can be used, whom it affects, and the magic scroll's effect.

At times, several players may use magic scroll cards in a flurry as they each try to affect a situation for their own reasons.

We tried to make the text on the magic scroll cards clear but brief. So, if a disagreement arises over what the card means, or if there might be a different interpretation, or some hidden effect, just use the most simple and obvious meaning. Keep the game fun and light, y'all.

Example of Magic Scroll Use
The ogre is about to roll the movement die when the red knight plays a FREEZE scroll because the ogre is too close and may try to fight him this turn. Freeze Scroll
The blue knight plays a NEGATE scroll because the red knight already has three gems and she hopes the ogre will fight him.

The red knight is a little upset by this but can't do anything about it.		 Negate Scroll
The ogre does, indeed, want to battle the red knight so he rolls the black die hoping for a 3 or higher, and gets a 1. Dang! Not enough to get to the red Knight.

However, the ogre plays a NIMBLE scroll on himself so he can reach the red knight after all.		 Nimble Scroll
The ogre is about to move his token to the red knight's room when the yellow knight plays a WANDER scroll and moves the ogre's token toward the blue knight instead just for fun. Wander Scroll
Battle
The ogre and a knight fight it out whenever one moves into a room occupied by the other. A knight will never battle another knight.

Under normal circumstances, a knight determines his battle score by rolling two red dice, adding the numbers together, then adding one point each for any armor chips the knight has received. The ogre does the same thing but rolls three red dice instead of two.

The combatants can change the battle scores by playing certain magic scroll cards and uninvolved players may find it useful to play magic scroll cards of their own to affect the battle.

Pay attention to the wording of the magic scroll cards to see if the card you want to play has to be used before the battle dice have been rolled or after.

After the battle rolls have been made and the scores adjusted by any appropriate armor chips and magic scroll cards, the player with the highest total is the winner. If the scores are tied then the battle is re-rolled, with the same magical adjustments, until a winner is determined.

If the ogre wins the battle then the knight surrenders one gem from their gate room to the ogre. If the knight wins then the ogre surrenders one gem of the knight's color to the knight. If the loser has no gems to surrender then the winner gains nothing.

The active player, the one who still holds the black movement die, rolls the black die again and moves that number of spaces away from the room where the battle occurred. During this type of movement active player may not move into a room occupied by any other token or gem but they do collect a magic scroll card after moving away from battle.

Example of Battle Process
The ogre enters the room occupied by the red knight. The red knight has two red gems in his gate room and the ogre has one red gem, one blue gem, and two yellow gems in his throne room.

Before the battle begins, the red knight plays a MASTERY scroll on himself. Mastery Scroll
The ogre, thinking the knight is now too powerful, plays a WEAKNESS scroll on the red knight... Weakness Scroll
...and a STRENGTH scroll on himself. Strength Scroll
The yellow knight is mad at the ogre because it took two of her gems earlier in the game, so she aids the red knight by playing an ARMOR scroll on the red knight... Armor Scroll
...and a RUST scroll on the ogre. Rust Scroll

The red knight will roll three dice for this battle...a knight's normal 2 dice plus 2 dice from the MASTERY scroll minus 1 die from the WEAKNESS scroll. He had four armor chips before the battle began and the ARMOR scroll played by the yellow knight gave him one more. The red knight rolls a 5 and a 2 and a 2 then adds his 5 armor points for a total of 14.

The ogre will roll four dice for this battle...the ogre's normal 3 dice plus 1 die from the STRENGTH scroll. The ogre had one armor chip but the RUST scroll played by the yellow knight took that away. The ogre rolls 6 and a 4 and a 3 and a 1. The ogre has no armor bonus so his total is also 14. A tie!

When a tie occurs, the combatants would normally re-roll the battle until a winner is determined and in each re-roll all of the same pluses and minuses from the magic scroll cards would apply. However, this time it's a little different because...

...the blue knight quickly plays a FUMBLE scroll on the ogre and its battle score drops to 13. The ogre loses. Fumble Scroll

The red knight is now the winner so the ogre gives the red knight one red gem from the ogre's throne room.

The ogre is still the active player, so, even though he lost the battle, he gets to roll the black die again and move away from the room where the battle took place.
Winning The Game
A knight wins the game by being the first one to enter his matching-color gate room while it contains all four of his matching-color gems. Example: the red knight enters the red gate room while it contains all four red gems.

The ogre wins the game by entering his green throne room while it contains six gems of any color combination.

Game Design by W. David MacKenzie & Fred MacKenzie
Art by Matthew Silber

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