I wanted to discuss each of the 15 types of card decks that you will find in UnderQuest. I will not go into a lot of depth, but will instead try to give a clear understanding of the function each deck serves.
Abominations – This deck will be used to increase the difficulty of an enemy. It will be split down the middle with a “prefix” side and a “suffix” side. Certain events, like drawing a combat card as the second card during exploration, will cause you to have to either add a prefix or suffix to the enemy. In rare cases you will battle a mini boss and that will simply have you add both. You just tuck the unused side of the Abomination card under the Enemy card. Both sides will add a whole host of things to the enemy, like immunities to certain attacks, extra health, magical attacks, and more. So instead of a simple goblin, you might face off against a mini boss that is a “Fire” Goblin “of Skal” and he might add fire damage to his attacks and have the ability to heal himself.
Dungeon Deck – This deck will work much like the dungeon deck in Iron Helm, with a couple of twists. More details to come.
Bosses – This is exactly what it sounds like. This deck will house a few bosses for you to deal with at the games end.
Enemies Deck – This deck will include all the standard enemies in the game. With the addition of the Abominations deck there will be countless enemy combinations that you may have to deal with. If you fight an enemy as the first card, you simply battle the base enemy card, but if it is the second card, you will have to add a prefix from the Abomination deck. This replaces the mechanic in Iron Helm that simply added more health to the foe or made them hit a little harder with their initial attack.
Incantations – UnderQuest will have magic! Incantations will come from 4 schools of magic including Fire, Ice, Holy, and Healing. You will have a number of these incantations memorized at the beginning of the adventure. You will spend a required amount of grit (the new form of energy) to cast them and then they are flipped over and cannot be used again until you meditate at the campsite. These are one time use cards and quite powerful, but you can relearn them during your adventure at the campsite. In order to use incantations, you will also need a required Skill card, plus each incantation will require a different rank in your Mind stat to even use it. Certain classes will start with the Skill to cast incantations. Any adventurer will be able to learn the skill down the road by spending favor, but they must remember that the best incantations require a high Mind stat.
Ingredients – While you may find some prepared potions in your travels, you are much more likely to find ingredients, which can by combined to create a host effects such as healing, curing poison, generating grit, or more.
Quest Cards – These cards are earned in particular ways. Maybe you find all three part of a sword and then are able to grab the indicated quest card and actually wield that weapon. Maybe you find a companion or pet along the way. Story elements like this will be handled with the Quest deck. I have story-driven campaigns in the works that will have their own Quest deck that will be numbered and you will work your way through the deck as the story unfolds. When playing the standard version of the game you will be asked to read from the random encounters book, but in campaign mode, you will instead work your way through a special Quest deck in order.
Race/Class (Not Shown) – These will be double-sided cards, each with a race on one side and a class on the other, much like what I did in Tin Helm.
Revelations – UnderQuest will use a resolution deck much like the one used in Dustrunner to determine many things like attack damage, bonus treasure, combat initiative, and more. Combat in UnderQuest will be a mix of many things I have used in the past, but it will feel completely fresh and challenging.
Scourges – If you obtain enough curse or stress tokens, you may end up with a scourge. These come in many forms from the physical (clouded vision, shaking hands, etc.) to the mental (overconfidence, greed, dire fear, etc.) and will alter how you must deal with certain situations. Curing scourges will also not be easy or cheap.
Skills – Skills will fall into three main categories based on the three character stats in the game including Agility, Brawn, and Mind. These will include many things like Fleet-Footed, Sharp Aim, Berserk, Sword Master, Fire Incantations (Novice), and more. You will start with a skill or two, but will be able to earn new skills by spending favor points that you will earn in many ways, but typically through combat. In Iron Helm you traded in a number of enemy corpses to gain a new skill. The issue was that some enemies are much stronger than others. In UnderQuest you will gain favor in combat based of the difficulty of your foe.
Star Signs – During character creation you will choose a race and a class, but you will also pick a star sign. These will add an additional layer to your character and make them that much more unique.
Trappings – These are items you can purchase before, and in between, adventures. They range from simple weapons to rations and tools. You may also obtain a trapping during an encounter during play, but typically they are bought from the trader at the inn.
Treasure – What is a dungeon crawl without treasure? This deck will include the majority of the best items and equipment in the game and can be found on the corpses of your foes, in chests, or may be sold by a wandering merchant.
Trinkets – You will still find gold in UnderQuest, but more likely you will find a trinket. Trinkets are items of value that an enemy may be carrying or you may find during a random encounter. Trinkets could include items like a smoking pipe, a pouch of pearls, an ivory comb, a silver candlestick, or more. They will each have a set gold value and can be used as gold during trade or in any circumstance that requires gold. Additionally, you may find parts of a particular object in the Trinkets deck and if you collect them all, you will get that item.
Well, that is all for now. I just wanted to share a little bit about UnderQuest with all of you. Cheers!
Grey Gnome Games 