Runebound is a game i find lends itself well to solo play, even though it's not exactly stated in the rules how it works. You can use the doom track, but I find it horrible, and play instead with a modified version of the Midnight expansion Threat Track. Several people have asked me about this so I decided to document it here, along with other rule changes. -------------------------------------------------THE STANDARD RULES You will need the Threat Track from the Midnight expansion to play (or if you don't have it just make it yourself - you should be able to find pictures and details of it on FFGs website). Additional setup Set the Threat level to 0, and the threat difficulty to whatever you like - I recommend starting at 20 and lowering it by 1 each time you beat the game. Begin with 0 doom tokens in your pool. Playing Play the game exactly as normal, including standard knockout and winning conditions. The only difference is there is now a Step 6, the Threat roll. Step 6: Threat roll This step comes each turn after the experience step. Make a Threat Roll by rolling 2 dice and adding any doom tokens you have in your pool. If this roll is equal to or higher than the Threat Difficulty, increase the Threat Level by 1 and discard all doom tokens you have accumulated from your pool. If this roll is below the Threat Difficulty, add one doom token to your pool. If the Threat Level ever goes past 10 (i.e. your on 10 and your Threat Roll is over the Threat Difficulty) you INSTANTLY lose the game – there is no ‘endgame’ under these rules (unless otherwise noted.) That’s all there is to it. The sections that follow deal with the different adventures and expansions. -------------------------------------------------RISE OF THE DRAGON LORDS This adventure (aka the base game) is played using the standard rules. Card exceptions are noted below. Adventure Cards Atavax: The reward for this card is 2 gold, and you may skip over Step 6: Threat Roll this turn. The Sky Full of Wasps: This card’s reward is 2 gold reward, and the card is kept. It may be discarded at a later time during the movement step to change any one movement die to a side of your choosing. -------------------------------------------------ISLE OF DREAD There are no changes needed to play Isle of Dread solo. Where the rules state for the 'player on your left' to place your piece somewhere, simply choose a location randomly. That's it! -------------------------------------------------RELICS OF LEGEND No new rules. Cards function as normal with exceptions noted below.
Market Cards Banner of the Lion: As long as there are at least two exhaustion on this card, any mountain symbols you roll on the movement dice are wild, and can be used to move into any other space. Banner of the Ram: Place 1 exhaustion on this card each time you defeat a blue or red challenge. Banner of the Wolf: As long as there are at least 3 exhaustion on this card, the “Before Combat” section of any challenge cards are ignored. Note that this is not optional – if the cards “Before Combat” section was beneficial, too bad. -------------------------------------------------ARTIFACTS AND ALLIES No new rules. Cards function as normal with exceptions noted below. Market Cards Cloak of Useful items: Before moving, activate to purchase any 1 item from any town market stack. Guardian Dog: If your hero is knocked out, the Guardian Dog may test mind (11). If it passes, you do not lose any gold or an item due to the knockout. Robe of Time and Space: Before moving, activate to ‘borrow’ an ally from one of the market decks for 1 gold. This Ally does not count against your normal Ally limit. After the challenge is resolved, return the Ally to it’s market deck with no wound or stamina markers, UNLESS the Ally was killed, in which case discard it. Sister of Mercy: If you are knocked out, the sister of Mercy receives the experience counters described on her card. Sister of Vengeance: If you defeat an encounter with at least 5 wounds, the sister of Vengeance receives the experience counters described on her card. Vestments of Kellos: Rather than taking an Ally off another Hero, you can take one off a market stack from a city within 4 spaces of where you are for this combat only(This Ally does not count against your normal Ally limit). After the Challenge is resolved, even if the Ally was killed, the Ally is returned to the market stack without any wound or stamina tokens. Sphere of Vision: The Sphere will allow you to immediately ignore any Encounters that you draw if you wish. If you do choose to take the encounter, you may re-roll any failed skilled roll on that card once per skill roll you need to make. -------------------------------------------------TERRORS OF THE TOMB No new rules. Cards function as normal with exceptions noted below. Adventure Cards A Hero of Old Awakens: Shuffle and randomly draw an unused hero card. You may now take that Hero as an Ally for free if you wish. Ignore the Hero’s special abilities. Curse of the True Name: If you succeed in the diplomacy test, simply discard the card. Doppelshadow: If you fail the resistance test, add a gold counter to the card and fight the Doppelshadow again. Each time you defeat the Doppelshadow you must re-roll the Resistance test adding +4 to the roll for each gold counter that is on the card. When you finally make the Resistance roll, discard the card and all the gold counters on it. Horde of Ghouls: In addition to the 3 gold reward, if you defeat this challenge during “before combat” you may take the Horde of Ghouls as an Ally. Subtract 10 from all their Stats to get there Ally combat values. The Horde of Ghouls may never receive healing once taken as an Ally.
-------------------------------------------------THE DARK FOREST No new rules. Cards function as normal with exceptions noted below. Adventure Cards Bandit King of Blackthorn: The cards reward is to either take 6 gold or make the spirit Diplomacy (19) test. If this succeeds take the card. As a Before Combat action you may discard this card to inflict 2 wounds damage on a challenge in a forest or swamp space. Bandits of Blackthorn: The cards reward is to either take 2 gold or make the spirit Diplomacy (15) test. If this succeeds take the card. As a Before Combat action you may discard this card to inflict 1 wounds damage on a challenge in a forest or swamp space. Dark Spirit of the Wood: Before combat you may take X wounds (which cannot be cancelled) from this challenge. For every wound you take make a spirit Resist (14) test, and remove one Doom counter from the pool for each success. Foul Nymph: This cards reward is now take this card. Discard this card during your movement step to move into an adjacent swamp space for free. Gift of the Fey: If you succeed in the test, you may discard this card at any time to re-roll one of your own 10-sided dice. Razorwing Larva: The cards reward is to either take 2 gold or take the card. You may discard this card during your movement step to remove 2 stamina from yourself and all your allies. Scavenger Fey: Take the item from any market stack rather than from another hero. Spore Spire: The cards reward is now to take the card. You may discard this card during your movement phase to remove one wound. Toll Collector: Test spirit Diplomacy (12) . If you succeed, take 2 gold then discard this card. If you fail simply discard the card. -------------------------------------------------CROWN OF ELDER KINGS Set up and play the game according to the Solo and CoEK rules with the changes noted below. Your Opponent In this adventure you will be pitted against another hero who is also striving to become an Elder King During setup shuffle the remaining hero cards and draw one – this is the hero you will be up against (referred to hereby as your opponent). Obviously when your opponent makes skill tests or fights you will have to roll the dice for them. As the Threat Level is raised your opponent will become more powerful, add experience tokens as detailed on the following table the FIRST time the threat level reaches that value: TL 2 : Add a +2 Mind, +2 Body, +2 Spirit token TL 4 : Add a +2 Mind, +2 Body, +2 Spirit, +2 Exhaustion, +1 Wound token TL 6 : Add a +2 Mind, +2 Body, +2 Spirit token TL 8 : Add a +2 Mind, +2 Body, +2 Spirit, +2 Exhaustion, +1 Wound token TL 9 : Your opponent has collected 3 vassals, initiate the end game. When fighting your opponent, use the standard PvP rules. Your opponent is armed with unholy gauntlets, which allows him to attack every round of combat. He or she will not use any other items or allies, but will use their special abilities if they are combat related, and will fight to the best of his or her abilities, spending exhaustion anytime it makes sense to do so. The Endgame There are 2 ways for the endgame to begin: 1) If you collect a set of 3 vassals as described in the CoEK rules At the end of that turn discard any Dragon Lord cards you have collected, and select up to 3 Vassals for your
opponent to fight, discard all exhaustion and wounds from your hero and refresh all of your items. Your opponent will fight all the vassals in the order you choose, and then if still alive will fight your hero. 2) As soon as the Threat Level reaches 9 You were too slow and your opponent has collected a set of Vassals before you did. Discard all exhaustion and wounds from your hero, refresh all of your items and draw 3 cards from the blue deck. You first must defeat these 3 challenges, then fight your opponent. If your opponent is killed, you win the game. If your hero is killed, you lose! Adventure Cards Guardian of…: Owning the Guardian of a city entitles you to a 1 gold discount when buying items from that city. The Folly of Heroes: Your opponent must immediately make a skill test in their highest rated skill as described on the card. If this test fails, you may lower the current Threat Level by 1 (minimum of 0). There Can Be Only One: Immediately enter into combat with your opponent. If you win, you may lower the current Threat Level by 1 (minimum of 0). -------------------------------------------------THE SCEPTER OF KYROS Set up and play the game according to the Solo and TSoK rules with the changes noted below. Setup During setup place Blue adventure counters on the red adventure spaces – these are now treated as blue adventure spaces. This will make it a bit easier to get to the 8 giants you need to defeat to initiate the endgame. Both Frostgate and Greyhaven start the game with three items in their market stack, rather than just one. The Endgame The endgame is played as normal, with Giants appearing in Frostgate and Greyhaven. Note that during the endgame the threat track is still in effect, so if the threat level passes 10 before you defeat the 2 endgame giants, you lose! To decide what experience counters each Giant Lord receives, roll 1d10 on the following table (once for each card in their market stack.) If you roll the same counter more than once simply re-roll. 1 - 2 : + 2 Mind 3 - 4 : + 2 Body 5 – 6 : +2 Spirit 7 – 8 : + 2 Stamina 9 – 10 : + 1 Wounds A Giant Lord will use all of the items in its town’s market stack to the best of it’s abilities. If you kill both Giant Lords, you win the game. --------------------------------------------------------------------------MIDNIGHT Set up and play the game according to the Solo and Midnight rules with the changes noted below. Game Setup Step 3: Randomly determine who the Night King you will be fighting is. Step 4: The black mirrors are assigned to each stronghold randomly. This can easily be done by drawing them from a cup or bag one at a time. Step 5: As in normal Solo rules, it’s recommended that the threat difficulty be 20 unless you want a really tough adventure.
Step 6: The game begins with one patrol active. This patrol begins in the stronghold with the '3' black mirror. Night King Turn Sequence Step 3: The player rolls for patrol movement as normal. The patrol must move towards your hero as far as it is able to using the rolled results as efficiently as possible. If a patrol reaches your hero it always attacks. Step 4:Each turn, the Night King gains gold equal to your current level; put the gold pieces on his sheet. If the Night King now has =< 10 gold coins, it will spend 10 gold as follows; Roll a 10 sided die: Even Number: The Night King improves his shadow power by 1 level. If he already is at level 4, he will spawn a patrol instead. Odd Number: The Night King will spawn a new patrol in the stronghold closest to you. If there are already 5 patrols on the board, he will improve his shadow level instead. The Night King will never buy combat counters. Patrols If a patrol attacks your hero, continue drawing from the deck according to your current level until you draw a card that is a minion of the Night King. That card will be the patrol that attacks you. For example, if you are fighting against Jahzir, are currently level 3 and a patrol reaches you, draw from the yellow deck until you draw either a warlord, soldier or Orc for the patrol. Hero Turn Step 3 - Night King Influence Roll: This works as follows. Take a number of movement dice equal to you level (maximum of 5). Roll all of these dice for range - for each terrain symbol he rolls that matches the Night Kings terrain type for range will be added to the cards range value. All dice that don’t roll this terrain are picked up and now rolled for Melee. Dice that match the melee symbol are added to the cards Melee value, and any dice that did not match are now rolled for a third time for magic. Any dice that match the magic terrain symbol are added to the cards magic value, and the dice that did not are removed. The night king never re-rolls. Assaulting Strongholds The Night King Influences combat here exactly as he does with other challenges, as explained above. The restriction on a hero only attacking on one combat phase when assaulting strongholds does not apply the player may attack in as many phases as his level allows him, as if it were a regular challenge. Winning the Game You win the game by destroying black mirror counters with a total value of at least 3 before the threat level passes 10. -------------------------------------------------CHAMPIONS OF KELLOS No new rules. Cards function as normal. -------------------------------------------------WALKERS OF THE WILD No new rules. Cards function as normal with exceptions noted below. Market Cards Mirror of Copying: Discard to copy and immediately gain the benefit of an Activate-to-Use or Discard-toUse effect of an item found in any Market Stack.
-------------------------------------------------DRAKES AND DRAGONSPAWN No new rules. Cards function as normal with exceptions noted below. Adventure Cards Orphan of the Dragon: You may chose two numbers between 1 and 10 and roll 1d10. If the number rolled is one you chose you get a +2 Stamina experience counter. Scavengers of the Sky: While this card is in play, when you defeat a Challenge your Hero must test mind Spot (15). If he fails see the penalty on the card. Scion of the Dragon: You may chose two numbers between 1 and 10 and roll 1d10. If the number rolled is one you chose you get a +1 Life experience counter. Trademaster of Tamalir: Your hero makes a spirit Diplomacy test (15). If he passes he becomes the Tradesmaster of Tamalir . While this card is in play the Tradesmaster of Tamalir gains 2 gold each time the Threat Level goes up. -------------------------------------------------SHADOWS OF MARGATH No new rules. Cards function as normal with exceptions noted below. Adventure Cards A Thief in the Night: Treat this card as if it had just been played on you. Champions of Greyhaven: Bid and any amount of Gold, then roll 1d10. If your bid equals or exceeds this roll you become Champion of Greyhaven , see the card for effects. Then discard all of the Gold you bid, even if you did not become Champion of Greyhaven. Curse of Ash: Treat this card as if it had just been played on you, it will effect the next three skill tests and/or combat rolls you make. Emissary of Forge: While this card is in play during your Market step if you are in a city make a mind Tinker (15) test. If you pass gain 1 gold. Harpy Huntress: Instead of the player to your left moving you, move your piece up to three spaces so that it is as far away from any town as possible. If there is more than one space to chose from determine randomly. Torrential Rains: Treat this card as if it had just been played on you, it will effect you for three turns. Words of Dissension: Treat this card as if it had just been played on you. -------------------------------------------------AVATARS OF KELNOV Play according to the standard AoK rules. Cards function as normal with exceptions noted below. Adventure Cards Alms for the Church: Ignore the bidding part of the card, simply place however much gold you want upon it. Remember that if the card is replaced all its remaining gold goes to the bank! Avatar of Death: The reward now reads "After a battle in which an Ally died, activate and roll 1d10. On a 1-5 the Ally is resurrected with no life or exhaustion tokens." Avatar of Destruction: The reward now takes effect when one of your Allies is wounded. Avatar of Greed: The reward now reads "Activate to buy all Items at half the normal price this turn (round up)." Avatar of Loss: The reward now reads "After using a Discard-to-Use Item you may activate this card and roll 1d10. On a 1-5 do not discard the item." Avatar of War: The reward now takes effect when your hero inflicts wounds rather than another player's.
-------------------------------------------------THE CULT OF THE RUNE Set up and play the game according to the Solo and TCotR rules with the changes noted below. Game Setup Since doom counters are used as corruption markers, you will need to use stones or buttons to represent the doom counters, otherwise just record them on a piece of paper. Victory Conditions Ignore the bonus point scoring, you only get victory points equal to the cards experience point value. Gameplay Rather than move one space, the cult will move 3 spaces a turn (one at a time). You may choose which space the cult marker moves to if there is a choice, however if the opportunity occurs to move it into your heroes space then you must. Each time the Threat Level goes up, all flipped counters are re-flipped back to their original side, the cultists have gone into hiding! The only exception to this rule are counters either on or adjacent to the cult marker which remain in the state they were in. This means you need to aggressively go after the cultists as the cult marker flips them rather than dally about waiting. Ending the Game You win if: - You obtain 26 victory points. You lose if: - The Threat Level passes 10. - You are killed due to over branding. --------------------------------------------------------------------------SANDS OF AL-KALIM Set up and play the game according to the Solo and Sands of Al-Kalim rules with the changes noted below. Winning the Game You must complete 4 quests before the Threat Level reaches 10, or you lose. Drawing Legendary Quests Whenever the Threat Level is raised, take the top card in each Legendary deck and put it at the bottom on that deck. In this way the quests you can choose from will cycle throughout the game. Moving the Sandstorm When the sandstorm first appears you may place it in any orientation you wish. For every hex the Sandstorm needs to move roll a 1d10. On an even number it follows the left arrow, on an odd number it follows the right arrow on the marker. Survival Gear When you use a piece of Survival gear it is returned to the box. In other words, the component limit tells you how much survival gear you may buy during the whole game. Adventure Cards
Chaos Beast: If you are knocked out by this challenge gather all of your experience counters, mix them up and choose one without looking - this is the experience counter you lose. Then roll 1d10 on the below table to see what it is replaced with: 1-2: +2 mind 3-4: +2 body 5-6: +2 spirit 7-8: +1 life 9-10: +2 stamina Devolved Orc: If you are forced to take this card, ignore the bit about being adjacent to another hero and instead make the mind Resist (15) roll after you complete your next challenge. If you pass discard this card, if you fail discard this card but then immediately draw other challenge card of the same color as the one you just fought and fight it. You get no reward for beating this second card, but still get the experience as normal. Legendary Cards: Merchant of Mystery: Instead of gaining abilities from another player, the card may gain the ability of the topmost Legendary Artifact card of the Legendary Artifacts deck. Lamp of the Djinni Instead of gaining abilities from another player, the card may gain the ability of the topmost Legendary card from any of the Legendary Cards decks. -------------------------------------------------RITUALS AND RUNES No new rules. Cards function as normal. -------------------------------------------------WEAPONS OF LEGEND No new rules. Cards function as normal. -------------------------------------------------TRAPS AND TREASURES Adventure Cards Sudden Seperation: If you lose your next turn, you must still make a Threat Roll to see if the Threat Level rises as normal. -------------------------------------------------BEASTS AND BANDITS Adventure Cards Guild Wars: Card functions the same as written, except you still draw a market card in towns you are not a member of. Join the Band: Test body Endure (15). If you fail discard this card. If you succeed, take this card. Each yellow challenge you defeat is worth an additional gold coin reward. -------------------------------------------------THE SEVEN SCIONS
Set up and play the game according to the rules found in The Seven Scions. Ignore the threat track rules as this variant has it's own clock anyway. I have added a few modifications below to mix the game up a bit since there is only 1 player. Winning the Game You must kill the Scion at the end of the game. If he kills you, you lose! Scion Counters Each Scion counter may only be taken ONCE. If you discard the counter due to either using it, or because an event card was drawn, that counter is returned to the box and no longer used. Sleeping Scions Agents of the Storm Lords attempt to seal the Scions in their tombs to stop them awakening when their master approaches. Each time the storm counter travels off the top of the market stack (ie just before a storm event) roll on the following table to see if the agents have managed to seal a Scion's tomb: 1 - The Archer 2 - The Trickster 3 - The Protector 4 - The Archmage 5 - The crusader 6 - The Barbarian 7-10 - None If the scion rolled is still slumbering, place a doom counter on it - that scion may not be awakened. If you roll "none", a scion who already has a doom token on him or a scion you have already awakened then nothing happens. Furthermore, if you ever discard a Scion, either voluntarily or because it's killed, place a doom token on it. That Scion may not be reawakened for the rest of the game. Scion Cards The Protector: To awaken the protector, you must be only 1 life away from being knocked out, and the yellow storm deck must be empty (ie the next storm card you will face will either be blue or silver.) -------------------------------------------------THE CATACLYSM Set up and play the game according to the Solo and The Cataclysm rules with the changes noted below. Winning the Game In order to win the game you must collect 18 points before the threat track passes 10. If the threat track passes 10 and you haven't reached 18 points, the curse overcomes the land and you lose. Defeating a Level 3 Curse Anytime you defeat a level 3 curse, you may clear the Doom pool of any Doom tokens you have, and lower the current threat level by one - you have managed to delay the dark forces of the curse. Curse Cards Mind Riders: If you fail the Resist test, take a spare mind, body and spirit counter and use these to randomly decide which round you and your allies attack in this combat round (draw one out of a bag for each character). Summon the Four Winds: You must touch the all four sides of the board to pass this quest. The Ashen Phoenix: Instead of facing Challenge Cards of all players, face the Yellow Challenge cards you yourself have collected, following the same refresh, experience and reward rules as on the card. The Scavengers: Instead of the hero on your left moving your hero, move them in a random direction (use
dice to determine which direction.) --------------------------------------------------------------------------The Frozen Wastes Set up and play the game according to the Solo and Frozen Wastes rules with the changes noted below. Winning the Game You must either defeat Arshan in combat or find and deliver Princes Taira as per Frozen Wastes’ rules. Note that when you find the Princes some additional rules take effect, as noted below. Survival Gear When you use a piece of Survival gear it is returned to the box. In other words, the component limit tells you how much survival gear you may buy during the whole game. Legend Cards Each time the threat level rises, roll a die and discard the face up legendary item in the line that corresponds to that number, drawing another one to replace it. If you roll a number higher than 6 no changes to the lineup are made. Threat Track When the threat track reaches 6, the cold becomes even more bone chilling. The ‘harsh conditions’ variant immediately comes into play for the rest of the game (page 14 of frozen wastes rulebook). Escort the Princess When you discover the Princess, the Icewyrm Queen sends out her minions to stop you! While you are escorting the princess, the Travel Hazard rules are in effect (page 10 of the Runebound rulebook) with the following rule changes: - Your hero level (number of experience counters you have +1) will determine the challenge color as follows: LEVEL : COLOR 1 : Green 2-3 : Yellow 4-5 : Blue 6+ : Red - Discard any Encounters and Events you draw; you must face a challenge. - You do not get any rewards or experience for defeating these challenges. - If you make with the princes to Green Vale, you must automatically face a Red Card there (treat this card as if it were a travel hazard). If you defeat this then you will win the game. Not that these travel hazard rules are only in effect while you escort the princess. If you lose her they cease taking effect until such a time as you find her again. Adventure Cards Whenever a card comes into play that states “All activated flare crystals are removed from the board”, roll 1d10. You must now discard a combination of Rumor Tokens and Princes Clue cards equaling that amount if possible. You may decide how to split the discards between the two types as you wish, but once you have chosen the number of each to be discarded, the discards themselves are random. For example if you rolled ‘7’ you could chose to discard 2 rumor tokens and 5 prices cards. The actual token and princes cards to be discarded however are done randomly.
