Team roles and gear
One choice at the start that changes how the same deck plays. A role is not a class with spells — it is how much gear a team carries, and which kind of gear pays it in full.
Gear: any card with a stat
A collectable, an ally or a question that carries attack, defense or vitality is gear. Attack and defense are recomputed from what the team is carrying; vitality is banked at the find and never re-read.
At the venue
The pack lists every gear card the team holds with what it is worth to them — carried or set down — and the HUD's attack and defense follow the carried set.
The rule
- Gear is a card of the collectable, ally or question kind with at least one stat. An enemy's numbers are the monster's, and a merchant with a point of defense is not gear.
- Attack and defense come off the carried gear, recomputed on every change. Vitality lands once, at the find, and is only ever clamped to the earned ceiling — recomputing it would be a free heal.
- Every trail has gear; roles are the switch that makes carrying it a choice.
You decide
- The stats on each card, and the gear tag that says which role it favours.
From the library
The pack below carries a lantern, a sword, a rope and a helm — probes tagged to match two invented roles, because the library's cards carry no tags to show the rule with.
The pick: one tap before the first card
A story with roles on offers 2 to 4. A team picks one before its first card, confirms it, and keeps it for the whole trail.
The question a roles trail asks before it hands over a single card. One tap, and it is answered for the whole hunt.
-
The Scout
Travels light. Lanterns, rope, anything that opens a way rather than wins a fight.
- 3 gear cards
- Favours tool
-
The Knight
Carries more and wears most of it. Plate, shields, anything that turns a blow.
- 5 gear cards
- Favours armor
At the venue
The pick screen names each role, its slot count and the gear it favours. Two taps — the role, then a confirmation — and every scan after that is played as that role. Both taps are plain forms, so no script is needed.
The rule
- There is no playing without a role on a roles trail: a team is sent to the pick from the board and from a scanned card alike until it has chosen.
- The pick is final for the trail. A second pick, or a pick after the first find, is refused.
- A story offers between 2 and 4 roles, each with a name, a description, a slot count and one favoured tag.
You decide
- The roles themselves — their names, what each favours, how much each carries. A Scout that travels light and a Knight that wears most of what it finds are two ways to play one deck.
From the library
The Scout and the Knight above are probes: a real story's roles are its author's own vocabulary, and its gear is tagged in the same words.
Slots: how much a team carries
A role carries 1 to 8 gear cards at once. A find at capacity arrives set down; a set-down card is still held, still opens locks, still scores and can still be sold — only its attack and defense go quiet.
The same team, four finds later. It carries 3, so the helm waits — still theirs, still scoring, still sellable, just quiet. The sword pays half because a sword is not a tool.
- Brass Lantern Defense 2
- Iron Sword Attack 2 of 5 blade — half to you
- Coil of Rope Defense 3
- Great Helm Set down Defense 2 of 4 armor — half to you
Held for the quest
A key never costs you a slot. It arms you all the same.
- The Cellar Key
At the venue
The pack shows what is carried and what is set down, with each card's worth to this role. The team rearranges the carried set as a whole and saves it; nothing else changes.
The rule
- A find or a purchase is never refused for want of a slot: the card arrives set down and stays the team's.
- Set down keeps everything but the numbers: the card still opens what it opens, still counts on the board, and can still be listed.
- The pack is saved as one carried set, never a toggle at a time, so it can never hold more than the slots allow.
- A quest key never spends a slot.
You decide
- The slot count per role, between 1 and 8. The playtest warns when no deck could ever fill a role's slots, because a slot count nobody meets is a rule nobody plays.
From the library
Four cards for three slots: the helm arrived last and waits, still theirs.
Favoured gear pays in full; the rest pays half
A card your role favours pays its whole attack and defense. Anything else pays half, rounded down. A card with no tag pays everybody in full.
At the venue
In the pack an off-tag card shows the halved number with the card's own beside it — the sword's 2 of 5 — so a team sees what its role costs it and what the card is worth to somebody else.
The rule
- The author tags gear — tool, armor, whatever the story calls it — and each role favours one tag.
- Favoured, or untagged: full attack and defense. Any other tag: half, rounded down, so an odd stat loses the extra point.
- The multiplier is applied when a card is found or the pack is saved, never at the moment a fight is dealt — the HUD already carries the answer.
You decide
- The tag on each gear card, in the story's own vocabulary; a role's favoured tag; and which cards go untagged and pay everybody.
From the library
The Iron Sword above is tagged blade and pays the Scout 2 of its 5 attack; the Coil of Rope carries no tag and pays everybody its 3.
A quest key is free
A card another card is locked behind never costs a slot and never carries a tag, so it always pays in full. You are made to hold it, so you are never taxed for it.
At the venue
Keys sit under their own heading in the pack, with the trail's own note that they cost no slot.
The rule
- A key cannot be set down and cannot be given a gear tag.
- The playtest warns about a key that carries a tag, because a tagged key would pay one role less for a card everybody has to hold.
You decide
- Which cards go into a lock — that is what makes them keys.
From the library
The Cellar Key under the pack above: held for the quest, costing no slot.
Roles are a story's switch, and a host's opt-out
A story turns roles on and names its 2 to 4. Every trail built from it asks for a pick, and a host can turn roles off on one trail without touching the story.
At the venue
With roles off, new teams carry everything and receive each card's full value. Teams that already chose a role keep its rules and access to their pack.
The rule
- Roles need RPG mode, like every mechanic that reads a stat.
- A role held by a team cannot be removed or have its slots or favoured tag changed. Its name and description can still be edited.
- The trail's switch is a plain opt-out: off on one trail, the story keeps its roles for the next.
You decide
- The story's switch and its roles; the trail's opt-out on the day.
From the library
The same deck runs with roles for the family afternoon and without them for the school group, from one story.
Run one this month.
- Free includes every ready-made story, printable codes and the leaderboard. No card, and it never expires.
- One trail at a time, and 3 teams on its board. A team is one phone, any number of people — and your own phone takes no place.
- A place frees when you press Reset the board. Finishing a hunt frees your trail slot for the next one.
- Paid plans add stories of your own and more daily players. Automatic daily resets start at 50 players. Upload your own card art.