Gates of Lethe

A cooperative dice-bag climb out of the underworld, for 1–4 heroes.

Clear the Drowned Halls, take a break, clear the Stair of Ash, take another break, then defeat the Gate's boss and every remaining minion. You win together. The moment any hero reaches their wound limit, everyone loses.

Draft different heroes in seat order. Each takes their four kit cards with the printed dice supplies, eight Energy dice in their bag, and one healing potion. Give the party-lead marker to seat 1. Shuffle the minion cards. Set aside one caster/support card and its matching die for encounter 2, and another pair for encounter 3, in two labeled packets beside those encounter decks. These pairs are outside the current minion and summon reserve.

Reveal one boss and max(2, hero count) minions, including a fighter and a caster/support. In encounters 2 and 3, use that encounter's reserved caster for the mandatory support position. Draw the fighter and additional minions from the remaining shuffled pool. Minions form an ordered frontline with the boss behind them. Every enemy has its own intention die.

The box contains four heroes, sixteen kit cards, twenty dice treasures, eleven bosses, three copies of each of six minion types, ten equipment cards (two copies of five kinds), four potions, bag dice, an ordinary combat d6, wound/status counters, and a lead marker. Cards and labeled dice carry every rule; nothing requires a screen. Hover or press and hold a card/die to inspect its full text and face table in the simulation.

An enemy defeated before acting does nothing. Summoned enemies first act next round. The lead enters choices after party discussion; the marker never makes anyone an automatic target. Enemies act after each individual hero, using the same public intention faces throughout the round. Their Attack/Trample modifiers reset before each enemy cycle; round-long hero effects remain. Clearing the encounter ends the round early and passes the lead before the break or win.

The board is laid out like a table with fixed places for everything.

The board highlights what you can press in six ways, and never more than two at once: the ring on a die you can press, a card in your row lifted when you can buy it, a dashed pad on a target, a brightened plate (or ally) you have chosen as the blocker, a lunge from an enemy that is about to attack, and the numbered strike arrows. Lifting a card you are picking in the draft, or one you are letting go of, is part of choosing and is not counted among the six.

The strike arrows show what landed: one arrow for each packet of damage that landed, numbered in order, none for a Dodge, and each set replaced by the next exchange.

Hold any card, die or plate to read it in full. Closing the reading puts the table back as it was and keeps your plan.

Roll: draw and roll five dice. If your bag empties, shuffle your spent pile back into it and finish the draw. Second Chance rerolls another die for free; its boosted face gives one more free reroll: press the die to reroll. Mirror of Lethe costs 2 energy from the showing roll and rerolls an enemy intention, or all intentions when boosted. A trick's debt is paid when keeping the roll; you cannot reroll an Energy die if losing it could leave that debt unpaid. Keeping banks all Energy less debt, spends those dice and tricks, and leaves abilities and summons. With no usable trick, the roll is kept automatically.

Buy: after you keep the roll, the fight is open. You may buy at most one die from your card row until you plan your first die. Once a die is planned, buying closes for this turn, even if you pick that die back up. The die goes into your bag and cannot appear in this turn's already-made roll. The card stays; its supply drops by one.

Abilities: press a rolled source, then its target, or press an untargeted source once. Plan in order, remove an entry or cancel an armed source freely within the displayed edit allowance, then press Fight on the dock. Nothing costs energy or changes wounds before confirmation. Resolve every entry in order, including heals/summons after the final enemy falls. An entry finding no valid effect costs nothing but still spends its die. Empower costs 2 additional energy for one unboosted planned ability or summon, using its boosted line: press the +2 token on a planned die; press it again to take it off. It cannot empower Roll tricks or potions. There is no universal Attack or Heal.

Potion: during your own Abilities phase, plan its single use to remove 3 wounds from a chosen wounded hero, including yourself, without energy. Discard it when used. It never refills.

Attack: your hero attacks once, then each living ally attacks once in slot order, including allies summoned this turn. Each deals its printed Attack for free. Press Attack to commit; rolls then resolve. Attacking does not prevent blocking later. Zero Attack deals no damage. Unused dice become spent and unused energy is lost when your turn ends.

Before each standard attack, choose its automatic recipient: the leftmost living minion, or boss with no minions. Without Trample, excess damage is lost. With Trample, damage remaining after a minion falls continues through minions to the boss, applying each recipient's defenses.

Ashfire and Backstab explicitly choose any enemy behind the line. Last Word and Poisoned Knife must hit the frontline while it remains. Intention manipulation can choose any enemy. Area spells hit every enemy.

Armor N subtracts N from every damage packet, minimum zero, including spell/area damage. Remaining damage consumes that defender's prevention tokens, then adds wounds. Wounds persist until healed. At its wound limit an enemy is defeated permanently; an ally is destroyed and its die becomes spent.

Dodge X+ rolls an ordinary d6 against a standard attack. A result at least X cancels the whole attack, including Trample. Natural 1 fails and natural 6 succeeds. Dodge bonuses add to the roll, stack to at most +2, and expire next round. Ability damage and splash cannot be dodged. Confirm before rolling; canceling or reconnecting cannot give another roll.

Choose one blocker for each whole enemy attack. A living defender can block several attacks; blockers do not retaliate. An ally takes the whole packet and ordinary excess is lost if it dies. Enemy Trample sends the excess to that ally's owner, who applies their own defenses. An ally does not consume its owner's prevention. Choose the next blocker after the preceding result.

Power improves only quantities printed + Power, never ordinary Attack, ally stats, or fixed group healing. Weakened reduces a hero's next standard Attack by 1, minimum zero; consume it at that Attack phase, even at zero Attack. Reapplication does not stack.

Ability previews show exact costs, wounds, buffs, and defeats. Attacks against Dodge show odds and damage on failure; later targets can depend on the roll. The preview does not promise an exact final board. Rolled results are recorded.

Buy costs determine supply: cost 2 holds four dice, cost 3 three, cost 4 two. Use and summon costs below are separate from buying. Boosts cost the same.

A warrior.

A rogue.

A mage.

A summoner, with the most ally-heavy kit in the game.

Every die has six faces.

An Energy face is banked when you keep the roll: every Energy face showing then, whatever die it is on. A die showing an ability or Summon face gives no energy; plan it in the Abilities, or it goes to your spent pile at the end of your turn.

A card die's colour tells you its card's family: green for a kit ally, red for a kit ability, and blue for a treasure. Its Energy faces carry the card's emblem in a corner, so you can always tell which card a die belongs to.

Every card in your row holds a supply of its own dice. How many depends on its buy cost:

Once you have kept your roll, you may pay one card's buy cost from your energy. One die comes off that card and goes straight into your bag. Your roll is already made, so a die you buy cannot come up this turn; it can come up in your next draw. The card itself stays in your row. Buying does not leave the fight: you stay in the Abilities, with the energy you have left, until you plan your first die. After that, buying is closed for the turn.

A card with no dice left is sold out. A die you let go at the break goes back onto its card, and then you can buy it again (see Letting go).

Your card row is the shelf. A card lifted off the table with a price medallion on it is a card you can afford, and one press buys it. A card that stays flat is one you cannot buy now. The shelf shows how many of each card's dice are left on it; the action log records the die you bought.

The board shows your bag and your spent heap as counts, and the five dice of your roll in the tray beside them.

The reshuffle. When you need to draw and your bag is empty, your whole spent pile is shuffled back into your bag. The board shows the heap emptying into the bag, and the action log records the shuffle. This can happen in your Roll and at the break.

Each hero has four ally slots. Summon a die into the first free slot for its printed summon cost, Level 1 on an ordinary face or Level 2 when boosted or empowered. Keep the die showing that level. Copies are allowed. Allies stay between rounds and encounters, keeping wounds, until destroyed.

Each attacks separately in slot order. Before Wailing Choir attacks, identify the next living enemy after its original recipient in frontline-to-boss order. If its standard attack inflicts wounds, deal its printed splash to that neighbor; apply Armor, without Dodge. Grave Ward's Attack is zero. Legion Shade also brings the first spent Grieving Shade at Level 1 if a slot is free. Remembrance and Dirge can heal allies; the break does not.

After either of the first two encounters, each hero in seat order:

A dice treasure joins the next free card-row slot with its dice ready to buy. Equipment equips immediately in a separate single slot. Replacing equipment discards the old card; no spare inventory, trading, or mid-encounter switching. Each equipment kind has two copies and needs no die or energy:

Each common treasure has two physical copies, labeled A and B. Each copy holds its own matching dice supply, with the same letter printed on those dice. Keep both copies if offered; they occupy separate card-row slots. Buy and let go using that copy’s matching dice and stock. Their abilities, costs, and faces are identical.

A bigger bag is not always a better one. Letting go thins your bag, so your best dice come up more often.

Draw a boss from the encounter's deck. Wound limits are 8 / 12 / 16 for the Drowned Halls / Stair of Ash / Gate, plus 2 for each additional hero.

The first four are Drowned Halls bosses, the next four Stair of Ash bosses, and the last three Gatewardens. At Gate round 4 the boss gains +1 standard Attack; at round 7, +2 instead. Ability damage and minions never escalate.

There are three copies of every minion, each with its own die. Chainbearer, Marrow Guard, and Veil Skulker use fighter faces; the others caster faces.

Fighter faces: 1–2 heal themselves by 1; 3–4 grant +1 Attack; 5 grants Trample; 6 is their signature. Caster/support/summoner faces: 1–2 heal the most wounded living enemy by 1 + Power; 3–4 weaken a lead-chosen hero; 5 summons one Lost Soul; 6 is their signature. Enemy Attack still happens after abilities. Healing ties follow frontline order, then boss; it cannot revive defeated cards.

Summons take an unused physical card and matching die from the reserve and enter the first free frontline slot with zero wounds. They first act next round. Eight enemies including the boss is the limit. A full board or depleted Lost Soul reserve makes a summon fail visibly; defeated cards stay out.

The Sworn with Cleave has Attack 4 and Trample. A minion with Armor 1 and one wound capacity remaining absorbs 1 with Armor, takes 1 wound and falls; 2 damage continues to the next enemy. Later, the Thief blocking an Attack 3 dodges on 4–6; otherwise 3 wounds remain for prevention. Track these with printed cards, wound/bonus counters, and an ordinary d6. Equipment stays face up; used potions leave play. The simulation records the same rolls and outcomes.