This document contains the rulebook for the board game Pandora's Dungeon. Players take on the role of one of five heroes trying to close Pandora's Box by fighting through monsters in an underground arena. As players defeat monsters, their hero will gain experience levels and stronger items to face tougher monsters, including five boss creatures guarding the box. The rulebook explains character abilities, gameplay mechanics like turns, leveling up, and combat, as well as providing charts for stats, monsters, loot, and more to reference while playing.
2.
Instruction Manual
Story
The evil box has been opened; should it remain open, the world will be swallowed in darkness.
However, not everything from the box is evil. When the box was opened, five heroes tied to the
box’s power emerged to battle the horrors unleashed. The first to emerge, a knight from Arthur's
legendary Round Table. The second, a notorious thief and scoundrel from the renaissance age
whose allegiance belonged to the highest bidder. The third, a Ronin warrior locked in the box as
punishment for betraying an emperor. The fourth, a feral druid from a land lost in time. Lastly, a
mage from the dawn of time who is rumored to be the creator of the box. A box made for a lost
love which would mistakenly corrupt its creator.
Game Explanation
Pandora’s Dungeon is a game where you get to play as one of five heroes, fighting their way down
an Atlantean gladiator pit to close Pandora’s Box. Throughout this game, you will encounter
monsters that are trying to destroy you and unique items that will help your hero. As you make
your down into the pits and kill monsters, your hero will become stronger and more formidable.
This will help you because at the center of this pit are five creatures of unspeakable terror that
guard Pandora’s Box; but if your hero is strong enough and you have the courage, you might be
able to save the world from the falling into darkness.
Pandora's Box. (2006). Retrieved April 19, 2015, from http://myths.e2bn.org/mythsandlegends/origins562pandorasbox.html
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4. Take the piles of cards, shuffle each deck, and lay them face down near the side of the playing
board.
Card setup
100 Blank cards have been included for the benefit of the player so that they may design and
adjust the total number of the different cards listed below in the charts section to their own
play style. We have included some sample art and card styles for how we have envisioned
the monsters of Pandora’s Box here at D3. We encourage your own creative process and as
such have left the art of the item cards completely up to you and how you envision them as
everyones taste for something simple like a sword can change drastically and hope you utilize
this opportunity.
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5. Player Turn Selection
To select who goes first: have all players roll a 6-sided die and whoever gets the highest number
goes first. The turn sequence will go clockwise from the player who goes first for the rest of the
game.
Characters
Selecting a character is easy. Remember the roll to see who goes first? Remember who won it?
Well, the person who is going last gets to pick who they want first. Below are the five characters
you can choose from. Remember, each character has a unique ability but that ability can only be
used once per fight. What does that mean? Suppose you get in a fight with a Golem and the fight
lasts three rounds. The special ability can be used anytime during that fight but only once. So
choose when to use it wisely.
Knight - The Knight is the most resilient of all the characters but does not deal as much damage.
He has the special ability Shielding, which may be used once per fight. When he activates this
ability, he takes half damage for two consecutive rounds. His counter is the Dragon.
Ronin - The Ronin is the most balanced of all the characters with a good mix of damage and
defense. He has the special ability to deal twice his regular damage once per fight. His counter is
the Oni.
Mage - The Mage deals the most damage out of all the characters but is easily wounded. The Mage
has the ability to stun his target once per fight, making them unable to take any action for one
round. His counter is the Mind Flayer.
Thief - The Thief, similar to the Mage in damage, but can take a more abuse. He has the ability to
avoid all damage for one round of combat per fight. His counter is the Shadow.
Druid - The Druid is a balanced character who can deal decent damage and take a bit as well. He
has the ability to heal himself (amount equal to his level) once per fight over 2 rounds. For
example, if the Druid is level 6 and activates this ability, he will heal for 6 HP each round for 2
rounds. His counter is the Shadow.
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6. Charts for the game
Below are a variety of charts, each with their own explanation of what they do and how they are
used. These charts are useful references. For instance, how much damage the Golem does. The
only chart that will need to be printed out is the “Character Class Sheet”. This chart helps keep
track of the various status changes that occur throughout the game. If you want to print out the
other charts, feel free or just keep this page open for reference. The charts are self-explanatory
but we added a few additional notes to help explain them.
Character Chart:
Level HP Attack Attack
Speed
Knight 1 15 1 1
2 (+)3 0 0
3 (+)3 0 0
4 (+)3 0 0
5 (+)4 (+)1 0
6 (+)4 0 0
7 (+)4 0 0
8 (+)6 (+)1 (+)1
9 (+)6 0 0
10 (+)6 0 0
Mage 1 10 2 1
2 (+)3 0 0
3 (+)3 0 0
4 (+)3 (+)1 0
5 (+)3 0 0
6 (+)4 0 0
7 (+)4 (+)1 0
8 (+)5 0 0
9 (+)5 0 0
10 (+)5 (+)1 0
Thief 1 12 1 2
2 (+)3 0 0
3 (+)3 0 0
4 (+)3 0 (+)1
5 (+)4 0 0
6 (+)4 0 0
7 (+)4 0 0
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8. 3 200
4 250
5 400
6 500
7 750
8 1000
9 2000
10 3000
Item chart:
Items
Effect # In Deck
Tomes +1
Permanent
Stat
5
Swords +2 Attack
For 5
Attacks
4
Gloves 2 Attack
Speed For 5
Rounds
4
Orbs +15 HP For
10 Rounds
4
Gold Gain Double Gold
In Next Find
1
Enemy
Movement
Put an
enemy in
front of an
opponent of
your
choosing.
2
Switch
Position
Switch spots
with
opponent of
choice.
2
Card Switch
(blind)
Take a card
from
opponent of
you
choosing.
2
Boost All Boost All
Stats by 2
for 7 Turns
2
Pandora's
Protection
Permanent
10 HP Boost
While Card
1
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10. 6 28 3 3 1000 0
7 35 3 3 1500 3
8 40 3 4 2000 1
9 46 4 4 3000 1
10 52 5 4 3500 1
R.O.U.S. 1 5 1 1 100 0
2 8 1 1 200 3
3 11 1 2 300 0
4 15 2 2 500 0
5 20 2 2 800 3
6 25 3 2 1000 0
7 32 3 3 1500 3
8 37 4 3 2000 1
9 41 4 4 3000 1
10 47 5 4 3500 1
Golem 1 8 1 1 100 0
2 13 2 1 200 0
3 18 2 1 300 3
4 23 3 1 500 0
5 27 5 1 800 3
6 34 5 1 1000 0
7 43 6 1 1500 0
8 50 6 2 2000 2
9 57 7 2 3000 1
10 64 9 2 3500 1
Boss chart:
HP Attack Attack
Speed
# In
Deck
Boss Ability Counter
Character
List
Dragon 180 20 1 1 Expose: When attacking
the knight the dragon
will always do full
damage
Counter
to Knight
Mind
Flayer
150 11 2 1 Clouded Mind: The mind
flayer Reduces the
mages attack speed by
1 and is immune to
stun.
Counter
to Mage
Oni 200 12 2 1 Parry: When attacked
by the Ronin, negate the
Ronins double damage
effect
Counter
to Ronin
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11. Vampire 180 19 1 1 Thin The Blood: When
facing the Druid the
vampire heals damage
to him equal to the
damage the Vampire
deals to the Druid
Counter
to Druid
Shadow 210 6 3 1 Furious: If the shadows
attack misses, The next
attack that deals
damage to the Thief will
do double damage
Counter
to Thief
Pandora’s
Box
1 Find this and Win!
Player Stats and Movement
In this section, we go over characters, their stats, how they work, and what they mean. As you
have seen from the charts, each character has three stats: attack, attack speed, and HP (short for
hit points). What does it all mean?
Attack:
The attack is your base damage. Plain and simple, whatever it says, that is the minimum damage
your character deals. For example, if Knight has an attack of four, Knight will deal four damage.
Next, your roll of the six-sided die will add bonus damage in conjunction to the base damage.
Attack speed:
this is where it gets tricky. Continuing with the Knight character who is dealing four damage, you
might be wondering how you can do more. Attack speed lets you do that. Suppose your character
has two attack speed on top of that attack of four. This means your character will hit twice each
round of attack, doing a total of eight damage! How cool is that?
Hit points:
Now we can talk about hit points (referred to as HP). HP is your lifeline, it tells you how much
damage your character can take before he/she dies. If your character has fifty HP, they can take a
total of fifty damage from the enemy monster before being considered dead. Always remember
how much damage your character sustains because once it goes to zero, you’re out of the game.
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12. Movement
So now that we have the basic stats down, let’s talk about how to move around. Each character
moves three spaces per turn. They must move three spaces. Players are allowed to move their
character back into the spaces previously occupied. They can move in any direction they choose
unless it is occupied by another character. Two characters cannot occupy the same space at the
same time.
Turns
Overview
Now for the fun part: a turn. So we have already selected the pick order and we know who is
going first. When that player is done moving their character three spaces, they will roll the
six-sided die talked about in the board setup. Depending on what the die lands on will determine
what will happen that turn. Here is how the die is categorized: If the die lands on one, three, or
five (odd), the player will take a card from the “encounter pile” for the section their character
currently occupies. If it lands on a two or four, you will consult the gold chart and receive gold as
outlined for your character's current level. Lastly, if it lands on a six, the player picks the top card
from the “loot pile”.
Which pile to pick a card from
How do you know where to grab the monster card from? Simply look down at the map. If your
character is in the first section, then you draw from the “encounter section one pile”. If your
character is in the second section, draw from the “encounter section two pile”, and so on and so
forth. When the player picks up the card, the character will fight that monster until either the
character or the monster is victorious.
Encounter
Suppose you pick up a monster card and it is a level three Blob. The player can choose to attempt
a disengage or fight. If the player chooses to fight, the character and the Blob will attack each
other with their attack, attack speed, die roll (if applicable), special ability (if applicable), and
item (if applicable) to calculate damage. After both the Blob and our intrepid hero have attacked
and if both are still alive, the round and turn for this player ends and the next player begins their
turn. The hero and Blob will continue another round after all other players have had their turn.
Winning an encounter: If the player should succeed to defeat the monster, they will receive the
gold from that kill (don’t worry, we will talk about gold and how to use it in a little). When the
monster is defeated, the player will take the card, put it back into the bottom of the encounter
section pile it was drawn from, and the character will heal back to full HP.
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13. Disengaging
You might be asking, “When I get into combat with a monster, do we fight to the death?” The
answer is no. The fighting is designed to continue for several rounds (although it is possible you
may kill the monster in the first round). Normally, characters will attack the monster and then
the monster will. If no one has falls, you allow the next player to do their things and wait till the
next round to finish off the monster. “But what if this monster is ugly and smells funny and I
don’t want to fight it?” We have a solution for that as well, it’s called “Disengaging”.
How to disengage
When a player decides to disengage from a monster, they first must declare it at the beginning of
the round (before attacking). After they have done so, the process gets a little tricky. First, they
will get no chance to attack, they will only get the opportunity to get away from the monster. Now
that the player has declared they are attempting a disengage, they will roll the die to see if they
get away from the monster.
How many rolls do they get and what happens to the monster while they roll? First, the number
of rolls they get depends on the character’s attack speed. If the player has an attack speed of two,
the player gets two rolls. The player needs to roll a five or higher on the six-sided die to succeed
in a disengage attempt. The player must roll the die one at a time because if they fail the roll, the
monster gets a free attack. Suppose, a player rolled out his first attempt to disengage and did not
roll a five or six. Then the monster will attack with its round damage. Suppose the player rolls a
six on his next roll. Then the character gets away and it is treated as if he defeated the monster
(but without the gold reward), the monster will go back to the bottom of its designated encounter
section pile and the character will get full HP.
Gold
This is explained a lot easier. If the player rolls a two or a four, they will consult the “Gold Loot”
chart to see how much gold they get for their level. For instance, if your character is level three,
look at the chart and see how much gold a character of level three receives. After the player
receives their gold, their turn is over.
Loot
it is easy as well. When a player rolls a six on the die, they get to draw one card from the top of
the loot pile. After they have done so, their turn is over. Note: Players may keep a maximum of
five loot cards in their hand at any time. If a player has five loot cards and gets to draw another,
the player must decide to discard one of the cards in their hand to the bottom of the loot pile.
Some of the loot cards have a charge on them and you may be wondering what they do. The
charge means how many times you can use that item’s effect. For example, the “sword” has a
charge of five. That means that for five separate rounds, your character can have two added to the
attack damage. Players can use one loot per round, which means only one charge per round.
Players do not have to use each charge in consecutive rounds. Remember to keep track of
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14. charges. You may use your loot in whichever order you want. Strategize! If you want to save them
for an important fight, then go for it!
Leveling
When a player has accumulated enough gold, they will be allowed to level their character. A
player will be allowed to level their character at the end of their turn. If a player wants to go from
level three to four, they will declare so before their turn is over and consult the chart to see if they
have enough gold. If they do they will increase their stats according to the chart labeled “Leveling
Chart”. Also, as an added bonus, the player will be able to increase one of the stats on their
character of their own choosing by one. If the character has an attack of four, they may increase it
to five. If they do not like the fact that their hero swings too slow, they can increase the attack
speed by one. But what if they want to increase their HP? That’s easy enough too, just remember
that for each point you put into your characters HP, it increases it by ten. Be sure to keep track of
this on the player chart
Goal of the Game
The Goal of the game is simple, get to the center of the board and find the card labeled “Pandora’s
Box”. Once a player gets to the center of the board, they will be allowed to draw a card from the
“Boss” pile. If the player gets the “Pandora’s Box” card, they win the game! However, if they draw
a boss from the pile, for example, the Dragon, they must fight this boss and will only be able to
select another Boss card when it is defeated. Just because a player reaches the center first and is
able to draw a card before anyone else doesn’t mean they will win. Likewise, if someone doesn’t
get “Pandora’s Box” on their first try, doesn’t mean they are out either. You never know what
secrets await while looking for Pandora’s Box.
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15. Our monster art examples
Kotaki, K. (n.d.). Centaur Picture. Retrieved April 17, 2015, fromhttp://digital-art-gallery.com/picture/2475
Maciak, L. (2014, March 10). Ravenflight Part 4: My Centaurs, Gnomes and Angels are Different. Retrieved April 17, 2015, from
http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/03/10/ravenflight-part-5-my-centaurs-gnomes-and-angels-are-different/
Ghost Ships and Cannibal Rats. (2014, January 25). Retrieved April 18, 2015, fromhttp://towerofthearchmage.blogspot.com/2014_01_01_archive.html
DavidRapozaArt. (2009). Skeleton. Retrieved April 17, 2015, fromhttp://haridimus.deviantart.com/art/Skeleton-132013760
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16. P., K. (2014, October 14). Terror Has No Shape! Chuck Russell’s THE BLOB (1988). Retrieved April 17, 2015, from
http://exploderbutton.com/exploder/terror-has-no-shape-chuck-russells-the-blob-1988/
(n.d.). Retrieved April 18, 2015, fromhttp://imgkid.com/chinese-dragon-concept-art.shtml
3D Concepts. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18, 2015, fromhttps://www.pinterest.com/sebrice/3d-concepts/
Silent-Black. (2009). Uzaki no Oni. Retrieved April 19, 2015, fromhttp://pamansazz.deviantart.com/art/Uzaki-no-Oni-132245836
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17. McCallum, R. (2009). Rob McCallum Art. Retrieved April 19, 2015, fromhttp://www.mccallumart.com/creatures.htm
Mask1985. (2013). Gmod Model - Dawnguard Vampire Lords. Retrieved April 18, 2015, from
http://mask1985.deviantart.com/art/Gmod-Model-Dawnguard-Vampire-Lords-356933682
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