Kobolds! The winners are enslaved; the losers are eaten.

Adventurers are rather common in Trap Hill. I intend to make them randomly appear instead of loot at times while the kobolds feverishly dig for their hoards.

...I also intend to have kobold pirates and ninjas. And lucky people could get a kobold pirate/ninja or even kobold pirate/ninja/jiggolo

Kobolds! 0.2

Object:
The winner of the game is the tribe with the most expensive pile of loot when the Dig pile is exhausted.

Setup:
All players begin with two kobolds, their warren (playmat), and three Trick cards.

Turn order:

1. Declare orders
2. Resolve
• Digging
• Entrenching
• Attacking
• Recruiting
• Scheming

The orders:

Before orders are resolved, all players have a chance to play Trick cards on their own kobolds.

Digging:
Before dig orders are resolved, all players have a chance to play Trick cards on any player’s kobolds. Once Trick cards are resolved, all players roll a die for each kobold they have digging. On a result of 6+, that player reveals the top card from the Dig deck and follows the directions on the card. If there are not enough cards for all successful dig rolls, cards are distributed to those with the highest rolls.
*A successful dig awards one point of experience.*

Entrenching:
An entrenching kobold receives +2 on rolls against attackers.

Attacking:
Before attack orders are resolved, the attacking and defending players have a chance to play Trick cards on all kobolds capable of defense and all attackers. Most kobolds cannot attack other warrens; it takes a very wily kobold to survive the trek, thus making the Attack order available only to kobolds who have a profession that allows it.

Kobolds that did not Dig or Attack this turn are available for defense. The defending player nominates a kobold and the two players roll opposed dice. The losing kobold takes one point of damage. Defender wins ties. This process continues until there are no more defenders, the attacker is killed, or either the attacker or defender decides to retreat. If the attacker is successful in breaking the defensive line, he is able to fully equip himself with loot from the defender’s warren and return home to enrich his people.
*A successful attack awards one point of experience.*
*A successful defense awards one point of experience.*

Recruiting:
Recruiting is done to acquire more kobolds. To recruit, roll a die for each kobold given this order. On a result of 2x or greater, where x is the number of kobolds in the warren, add a kobold to the warren. Given this may allow the difficulty to increase in the middle of a recruiting phase, roll all recruiting dice one by one. The “soft” kobold cap in a warren is six thanks to this math, but certain kobolds are particularly adept at recruiting and can increase this.
*A successful recruit awards one point of experience.*

Scheming:
A player draws a Trick card for each Scheming kobold order resolved.

Certain professions grant a kobold special orders that can occur at different times in the order resolution phase. Refer to the logic of each order for proper timing. If a kobold has multiple special orders, a single Other order will allow all to be activated.

Rules for special orders coming soon.

Professions:

When a kobold reaches 1, 3, 6, and 10 points of experience, it levels up and gains a profession. When this happens, draw the top card of the Professions deck and apply it to the kobold.

Kobolds are prone to being hit over the head. Often. Whenever a kobold is dealt damage, it loses professions equal to the number of points of damage taken. If the kobold has less professions than damage taken, it is killed. Reset the experience of the damaged kobold to one below that needed to acquire its next profession (0, 2, or 5, respectively).

Allow me to explain the points you worry about.

In order to recruit a kobold, you need a roll on a d10 equal to 2x your current kobolds. With no bonuses, this sets your max kobolds to 6. With a cook, a priest, and a chief helping you, you can get 8 kobolds. I intend to have an item that can be equipped for +1 to rolls, but this will not be enough to get to 9 kobolds.

Kobolds gain new professions at 1, 3, and 6 experience. Given most experience-giving orders have a 50% or so success rate, I expect to see a level 4 kobold at turn 10-12, so professions will be applied slowly after the first one.

When damaged, a kobold loses its professions as hit points (because bonks on the head make you forget) and drops down in experience to one less than what is needed to level up. As such, a kobold chef warrior dealt one point of damage becomes a kobold chef with 2 experience, a kobold chef warrior dealt two points of damage becomes a kobold with 0 experience, and a kobold chef warrior dealt three points of damage dies.

I have fifteen professions, 3 of which are allowed to attack. This means 20% of your kobolds will have the ability to attack once they are all level 2. Of the remaining 80% that cannot attack, 20% of them (or 16% total) can attack at level 3, and of the final remaining 64%, 20% (or 12.8%) will be able to attack at level 4. As such, a full-size warren can throw just shy of 50% of its population at other warrens if ever allowed to fully grow. Given that attackers and diggers are susceptible to traps and that these two methods are the only ways to get victory points, the other players are utter fools if they allow another tribe to get to this point. (I do not plan on making all of the professions equally rare in the deck, but I do intend to use this percentage or lower for attackers. Lower allows me to have a treasure or two that grants attacking.)

The game's duration revolves around what is known as the Dig deck. Currently, it has 100 cards in it. When this is exhausted, the game ends at the end of the turn.

As these are kobolds, deceptive, trapbuilding, xenophobic, kill-everyone kobolds, a winning strategy of deception and hypocrisy mixed with care for your own people is exactly what I'm going for.

Your idea about action cards is very useful, though. I had considered having a playmat and having zones for each job. If one would make little piles of kobolds and toss a job card over each of the piles, there would be more unknown information for the other players to worry about. An excellent suggestion!

-Brad

Comments on specific cards or lack of facets would be appreciated. This is just a quick post-up using MSE and it thinks numbers are mana even when you put brackets around it to get it to shut up. Please ignore that in the few places where it happens.

Full Spoiler List for
Kobolds Dig Deck by Bradley Crouch

Adamantine Pickaxe
Dig — Equipment
Value: 5 gold
Equip: +3 to dig rolls

Alchemical Flask
Dig — Equipment Consumable
Value: 1 gold
Equip: Can use.
Use: Use only just before going into combat. The enemy is struck by a trap, evasion difficulty :6mana:, damage 1.

Ancient Kobold Spirit
Dig — Event
Your kobold stumbles across an ancient kobold spirit, who teaches him many long-forgotten tricks and traps.
2 experience is gained for this dig.

Ancient Scrolls
Dig — Consumable
Value: 1 gold
Use: Gain 1 experience.

Arcane Crystal
Dig — Treasure
Value: 2 gold

The Axepick
Dig — Equipment
Value: 6 gold
Equip: +2 to combat rolls, +2 to dig rolls

Blood of the Mountain
Dig — Treasure
Value: 5 gold

Boots of Elvenkind
Dig — Equipment
Value: 3 gold
Equip: +1 to trap evasion rolls

Discarded Coin Purse
Dig — Treasure
Value: 1 gold

Flawed Arcane Crystal
Dig — Treasure
Value: 1 gold

Glaive
Dig — Equipment Polearm
Value: 2 gold
Equip: +1 to defense rolls
Combine: Combine this with another Polearm. They become one item and add their bonuses together.

Halberd
Dig — Equipment Polearm
Value: 3 gold
Equip: +1 to combat rolls
Combine: Combine this with another Polearm. They become one item and add their bonuses together.

Incredibly Lifelike Statue
Dig — Treasure
Value: 2 gold

Lucky Charm
Dig — Equipment Consumable
Value: 2 gold
Equip: Prevents the next attack that would deal damage and is then discarded.

Mithral Pickaxe
Dig — Equipment
Value: 5 gold
Equip: The user makes two dig rolls per order, but receives a -1 penalty to those rolls.

More Shinier!
Dig — Treasure
Value: 2 gold

Most Shiniest!
Dig — Treasure
Value: 4 gold

Pesky Adventurers
Dig — Event
An adventurer [i](attack +:2mana:, hit points :2mana:, carrying capacity :2mana:, XP per kill 2)[/i] attacks each

kobold warren.
No experience is gained for this dig.

Phosphor Beetle Swarm
Dig — Event
A Phosphor Beetle [i](attack -:4mana:, hit points 1)[/i] attacks every kobold ordered to dig this turn.
No experience is gained for this dig.

Potion of Heroism
Dig — Consumable
Value: 1 gold
Use: One of your kobolds gets -2 to trap evasion and +2 to all other rolls this turn.

Potion of Speed
Dig — Consumable
Value: 2 gold
Use: One of your kobolds may use its profession abilities without being ordered to do so this turn.

Puddling Crycannon
Dig — Equipment Consumable
Value: 3 gold
Equip: Can use.
Use: Use only just before going into combat. The enemy is struck by a trap, evasion difficulty :8mana:, damage 2.

Rather Uncommon Candy
Dig — Consumable
Value: 3 gold
Use: One of your kobolds the experience needed to reach the next level.

REALLY Shiny Pickaxe
Dig — Equipment
Value: 2 gold
Equip: +2 to dig rolls

Shiny Pickaxe
Dig — Equipment
Value: 1 gold
Equip: +1 to dig rolls

Shiny!
Dig — Treasure
Value: 1 gold

Shiv of "Persuasion"
Dig — Equipment
Value: 2 gold
Equip: +1 to your recruiting rolls

Shortspear
Dig — Equipment Polearm
Value: 1 gold
Equip: +1 to defense rolls while entrenching
Combine: Combine this with another Polearm. They become one item and add their bonuses.

Spell Storing Shortsword
Dig — Equipment
Value: 4 gold
Equip: +1 to combat rolls, +2 if a Shaman or Priest

Swarm of Vampire Bats
Dig — Event
This trap strikes three times.
Evasion Difficulty: 3
Damage: 1
No experience is gained for this dig.

Tunnel Collapse!
Dig — Event
Evasion Difficulty: 5
Damage: 2
No experience is gained for this dig.

Unexplainable Treasure Chest
Dig — Treasure
Value: 4 gold

Visor Helmet
Dig — Equipment
Value: 2 gold
Equip: When damaged, roll a die. On a 6+, discard Visor Helmet and prevent that damage.

Voulge
Dig — Equipment Polearm
Value: 2 gold
Equip: +1 to attack rolls
Combine: Combine this with another Polearm. They become one item and add their bonuses together.

Weak Cavern
Dig — Event
Your kobolds have stumbled across a vein of weak and easy to dig stone. All of your kobolds ordered to dig may

dig again.
Experience is gained for this dig.