Take the Role of a Slayer Trying to Regain Honor in ‘Doomseeker’
Take a look at how gameplay works in the upcoming Warhammer boardgame that is all Trollslayers all the time.
Doomseeker, which features some of the Old World’s favorite heroes, launches August 2nd at GenCon. The folks from Ninja Division tell us more about the game and how its played…
Doomseeker is a flavorful and brutal game for 2-4 players. In it, each player assumes the role of a slayer, a dwarf who has been dishonored and must seek their death in glorious combat in order to right their wrongs. During the game, players take turns defeating monsters, called dooms, and gaining renown. When there are no more dooms to fight, the game ends and the player with the most renown has won the game! If your slayer is killed in honorable combat, have no fear, this can earn you even more renown and you may still win the game.
At the start of the game, each player chooses a slayer. Your slayer is your character for the game, and it lists your wounds, strength, and any special abilities.
In addition to your slayer, you will also randomly receive a grudge, face down. Your grudge represents your slayer’s overall goal (other than an honorable death, of course) and will remain secret until the end of the game, at which point it is revealed in order to gain additional renown. This keeps players on their toes, and makes the game remain tense until the final doom is defeated.
Once everyone has a slayer and a grudge, set up the battlefield by flipping over five dooms and five treasure cards. Generally, dooms and treasures will always be replaced on the battlefield from the relevant deck once they are defeated or discarded. Each player also receives a hand of five fate cards.
Now that the game is set up, it’s time to seek your doom! On your turn, the first thing you do is draw a fate card, and then you choose a doom to fight. Once you have chosen a doom, each player will have a chance to play one of their fate cards. Fate cards influence the fight in some way. Other players may use their fate cards to hinder you, help you (for a price), or even knock you out of the way to fight the doom in your place!
Once each player (including the one doing the fighting) has had a chance to play a fate card, the slayer fights the doom. To do so, they roll a six-sided die and add their strength (along with any modifiers). If the result is equal to or greater than the doom’s strength, the doom is defeated and added to the slayer’s scored pile! If the result is lower than the doom’s strength, the doom is discarded and the slayer suffers a wound.
When you defeat a doom, you gain an amount of gold listed by the doom’s card. This gold may be spent to purchase treasure from the shop. Any treasure purchased in this way is placed in front of you, and will aid you on your journey to death and glory.
Naturally, slayers will die in glorious combat as the game continues. If a slayer suffers a number of wounds equal to those shown on their card, the slayer has died. The doom that killed the slayer is added to the slayer’s scored pile (it is assumed the slayer and the doom killed each other in a cataclysmic fight) and, if it is an epic doom, it will even be worth additional renown.
Dead slayers may still impact the game! They may still play fate cards during the battles of living slayers. And, although they may not fight dooms themselves, they may bet on the outcomes of the fights of the living. When a dead slayer plays a fate card, they may also discard a rune token (rune tokens are gained from fate cards, dooms, and other effects) in order to bet on whether the living slayer will win or lose the fight. If they bet correctly, they gain one renown!
Once there are no more dooms in the doom deck, the game ends, and each slayer counts their renown. Renown is gained for the dooms the slayer has scored, successfully betting on the outcomes of fights while they were dead, and other game effects. Most importantly, renown is scored from the slayer’s secret grudge. Your grudge is the only way to gain renown during the game without your opponent’s knowing, so it is always an exciting moment to see which grudge each player had. The player with the most renown wins the game!
Doomseeker is a stream-lined, combat-driven game in which you can achieve a glorious death, influence the fate of your friends, and even bet on whether or not they will survive. It is steeped in the vibrant story of Warhammer’s old world, but it is also just as fun and exciting for people new to gaming as well!
