Combat

Setup

When combat starts, the leader should prepare the battlefield. Any flat surface will do, floor, kitchen table, a large book sitting on your lap.

On the one side there are the heroes and their companions (if they have any). 

On the other side are the monsters. The positioning of the monsters should be in rows, such that the weakest “chump” monsters are in the front, and bigger monsters and bosses are in the back. This will present a challenge to the heroes as they will have to work through the waves of weaker monsters in order to get to the big bad ones at the back. Of course, Ranger can use bow and arrow to shoot at any monster, potentially knocking out some of the threats from afar.

Here's an example of combat setup, with Knight, Ranger, and Buzz on the left side, and three rows of monsters, Goblins, Skeletons, and Skeleton King, on the right side. 

Initiative

Usually it will be understood as part of the gameplay which side attacks first. Perhaps heroes snuck upon unsuspecting monsters and that gives heroes the initiative. Or, monsters have set up an ambush and monsters get an initiative. If it’s not clear who goes first, both sides should roll a dice, and whoever gets the bigger number goes first.

 

Attacking and Damage

The side whose turn it is attacks the other side in any order they wish. Monsters can attack any of the hero characters (or companions), and heroes have to work through the waves.

In order to perform a successful attack, the attacking character first announces which opposing character it is attacking. Then, the player rolls one dice 🎲. In case of monsters attacking, they add their 🗡️power to the dice roll. In case of heroes attacking, they add their primary attribute to the dice roll (💪for Knight, ✋for Ranger, and so on). The resulting number is compared to the defendant’s 🛡️armour value. If the result is equal to or higher, the attack was successful and one wound is dealt to the defendant. 

Once a character has accrued 💔 wounds equal to the amount of ❤️ hearts they have, the character is removed from the board. It’s up to the leader to describe how does that removal look like, as some kids perhaps are not OK with the concept of killing. Perhaps the monster simply runs away. It’s up to you to play it by ear and to know what your kids are OK with.

Each character attacks only once on their turn, of course. There is a Potion of Speed which gives heroes double attack, and being stunned means the character skips their turn recovering from the stun.

Any 💔wounds received in combat persist, and heroes carry those wounds with them until they are healed.

Example:

Let’s pretend an Orc (🗡️1 🛡️4 ❤️2 ) is fighting a Skeleton (🗡️1 🛡️5 ❤️3).

Orc goes first, throws a dice and gets 4. To that 4, Orc adds his 🗡️1, and that totals 5. Since Skeleton has an 🛡️5, this means the Orc managed to hit the poor Skeleton. Luckily, Skeleton has ❤️3, so this one 💔wound means our Orc has still some work to do before defeating the Skeleton. Provided that the Skeleton doesn’t get him first!

 

 

Important note: the point of the game is for kids to have fun. This means that leaders should be a little bit forgiving and strategic in choosing which hero the monsters are attacking. Don’t gang up all monsters onto one hero, you’ll easily defeat just one target. Spread out the damage, create a feeling like heroes are under threat, but try to keep them alive. 

 

Using items in combat

There are various consumable items that can be used during combat. In order to keep things simple, these can be used any time players want to, and they don’t use up the action normally reserved for attacking. It’s a free action. Players can use as many items as they wish — if they want to throw Everbloom Dart, and then drink Healing Potion, that’s perfectly fine. Players can also freely trade items during combat. If someone really needs a Healing Potion, heroes can just quickly toss it from one hero to another.

Read more about Healing in a dedicated chapter.

 

Escaping combat

If heroes see that the combat is not going well, they can decide to escape. The escape should not carry with it any penalty, unless the leader decides to perhaps give one last scratch to the escaping heroes or similar. But it should always be possible for heroes to escape, regroup, heal their wounds, rethink their strategy, maybe get some more magical items, and then return to the fight. It’s up to the leader to decide what happens when the fight restarts, do the monsters also regenerate back to the starting position, or they start wounded & in lesser numbers.

 

Improvisation

Ultimately, this is a role playing game where situation can change at any moment. Leaders will sometimes need to improvise in order to keep the fun going. If the heroes are in a really bad spot, perhaps out of nowhere a companion Buzz can appear and heal their wounds. Or, before some death blow is dealt by the monsters, heroes can quickly swap Ring of Health to give that one extra ❤️ that would allow the badly wounded hero to live. Maybe the monsters hear the call of their superiors and decide to escape, giving the heroes a miraculous win! Again, keep in mind that fun for the kids is the point.