How to Play Scoundrel: a SOLO DUNGEON CRAWL with a deck of cards!

Sorry if this was already answered. But why did you die with those two aces? You could've just run away right?

Whats the name of the playing card deck ?

Could you not run from the last room? Only two runs per game?

I thought of a chaotic idea for this game

You could keep the jokers in and call them Jesters, when one pops up when consumed (like a health potion) the rest of the deck gets shuffled
it makes it a bit of a double edged sword, cause if you made some calculated runs it messes them up but if youve made panic runs then it helps give you a better fighting chance later in the game

Ok so, since we're doing homebrew, here are my suggestions based on other comments and my gameplay:

- Add jokers but instead of being merchants (which are too powerful) they are magical imps that rearrange the dungeon and let you shuffle the deck. Useful if you got a couple bad rooms you fled from and would like them to go away. You can also discard am imp if you don't want to shuffle.

- Add red aces. These are treasures. You can use them to bribe one enemy to leave you alone in exchange for the treasure. Bonus points if you get to carry one out of the dungeon yourself.

- Add red jacks. They are blacksmiths, they can fix your weapon by removing one monster card from it. You can only use the services of one blacksmith per room. If you also happen to have a treasure, you can give it to the blacksmith and he will do an extra fine job on your weapon, removing all monster cards from it.

I found that playing with blacksmiths and merchants was a bit too easy so I tried to balance it out a bit.

I just saw this and along with some other comments I decided to be funny and add a fae tricksters made a percentage table that you roll when you see them it can be bad or good.
1-15:Random health(roll the d20)
16-30:Roll a d6 add that to health
31-45:Destroys a random card on that room with a d4
46-60:Steals your weapon
61-75:Roll a d6 and subtract that health
76-90:Destroys the closest help card
91-100:Full health

I need to come back and watch this when it's not bedtime

Here's how I play based off the comments I've seen

Diamond face cards can fix your weapon (or add to its damage if it's at full durability)

Heart face cards are shields

Jokers are merchants who can exchange a weapon's durability for health (if you have a 10 of diamonds and the lowest card is a 3, it'll restore 3 health, not 10), and health for weapons

I'm not sure what to do with the aces though

Man, I was playing the game, and it's around the beginning of the game. I had a 10 equipped and just fought a Jack. Next 3 cards, 3 equipment cards 8, 7, & 5 plus 9 potion I'm running in full health. So I say to myself I ain't going to waste all this I'll run. Next 4 cards 2 Aces, 1 King, & 2 of clovers. ☠️☠️☠️

Can you discard weapons you find or do you have to equip them? Say if I find a room of 3 weapons and 1 monster, do I have to equip each one?

I have thought of a way to use all the cards!

Diamond picture cards: merchants (credit to @romanallgeier4661)
Each removes a number of the lowest monsters on your weapon
Jack removes 1, Q 2, K 3. Discarded after use

For example, if you have a weapon that has been used against K, J, 6 and 3, using the Q of diamonds would remove the 3 and 6.

Ace of diamonds: weapon enchant
Allows you to fight monsters of lower or the same as the previously fought monster. If both black sevens appear, you can fight them both! Discarded with the weapon it’s equipped on



Heart picture cards: HP bonuses

Each picture card adds 1-3 HP. A new picture card must replace the old one. For example, if you’re on full health and draw the king of hearts, you now have 23 HP! The cards can be placed in different positions to indicate their HP.

King 3/3 HP: face up, right way up
King 2/3 HP: face up, sideways
King 1/3 HP: face down, sideways
Queen 2/2 HP: face up, right way up
Queen 1/2 HP: face up, sideways
KQJ 0 HP: face down (and you’ve lost)

Ace of hearts: full HP refill, but discard your weapon


Red joker: merchant (credit to @4TheWizard)
Discard your current weapon for HP.
HP gained is the lower of your weapon number or it’s last defeated monster. e.g a five with a defeated ace would get you 5 HP, but a five with a defeated 2 would only get you 2 HP.


Black joker: thief
Discard your current weapon, or fight the joker as if it were the strength of your weapon’s last defeated monster. For example, if you have a 7 weapon that has defeated a 10, the joker will have a strength of 10. If the weapon has not defeated any monsters, the joker is automatically defeated, but your weapon can now only fight its own level or lower.



Other options for jokers could be to shuffle the deck, or to exchange your discard pile for the same number of cards in the deck at random.

jokers can be used as trap rooms in a way. red joker allows you to discard a room (as you have noticed a trap and used it against enemies), black jokers force you to clear the room (you didn't notice the trap and you can't escape, not with enemies going after you)

Cool game. Wonder how we could make a 2 player version. I figure co-op would be played with 2 decks and you take turns. Either 1 card at a time or 1 room at a time.
For a 1v1, the game would need to change dramatically, but I'd like to keep the effects of the suits the same. Something to do in between EDH games.

Image this with the 78 tarot card deck. The possibilities are crazy. The hanged man, the soul, the fool, the burning tower. Some many interesting possibilities and rulesets. Also the 4 other suits for monsters and weapons, and room for bosses and events to boot😵‍💫

I love the format of this, the best way to learn a game is to see it played

Man i just discovered your channel with this video and I gotta say this is a gem! What a fantastic game, I started playing it and found myself 3 hours later and soooo many runs on my back! Thanks!!!!

can you use one card in the room and than run?

the game could benefit from some bananas, maybe an egg

Here’s an idea for people with multiple D20’s: Each D20 is a different character with different classes
So for example:
Infantry- No Modifier
Tank- Takes .5 damage from Even value cards, but also can’t heal
Glass Cannon- Heals double on cards <5 and hits with +2 damage, but also takes damage X2 from <=9

Why didn't you run in the last round with 2 Ace?

can you run from a room that you’ve gotten rid of 1 or 2 cards?

One more thought:
There could be a pretty neat situational play, if you include one more set of rules:
When the last enemy card on a weapon is a 2, you can use that weapon to fight an Ace, but the weapon must be destroyed in doing so.

That could be a way to make the 2s interesting, the Aces less thwompy, and adds some more strategy on how long you want to hold out on swapping weapons because the Ace is coming soon

If you go this approach, a spin-down die like what's used in Magic: The Gathering would def help speed up your gameplay. You'd save so much time looking for die faces every time you take damage!

I've got one of those Kamigawa fat pack spindowns!

How can you start a new room even if monsters are still in the room?

Sorry if i missed something... but why didn't you run the round you died?

Maybe the face card hearts could be armor?
J: +1 Q: +2 K: +3 armor, take that much less damage the next time you take damage, then -1 to the value? until its broken? that seems interesting

I won my first hand 🎉🎉

I see you kamigawa d20

I have a weird obsession with playing cards. I have like 18 decks of cards in my home right now so I'm always down for new card games

This, while really unusual in a good way, is honestly something I'm definitely gonna give a fair shot at. Will update once ive played it a bit ♡

Random knowledge my brain needs for a good night sleep

How do we handle rooms with more than 2 health potions. Do we have to run or can we discard one of them instead of using it if we can't run?

I also thought about house ruling for a bit. Maybe by making running away a bit more flexible it could be balanced a bit. Only taking one or two cards and running afterwards, could allow you to thin out a couple of monsters or at least get a healthboost in a room full of potions before skipping the rest. Maybe you could also make it a multi layer experience if you doesnt start of with all black face cards. Maybe starting with just numbers and adding in the jacks after the first, the queens after, then kings and finally Aces as the boss. So you need 5 runs/worlds/floors to complete the game. Maybe you can take one of the same red face cards and also add them as a kind of skill tree. With the rule set of some of the house rules here in the comments or just with the basic rules. Getting a weapon or healing jack after the first floor for example and adding the evil jacks as monsters and so on. Alternatively you could add the red joker as a merchant or a black joker as a blacksmith either selling weapons when used or clearing a couple of monsters from the weapon currently in use. Just some ideas. Hope someone finds them enjoyable

What iiiiiiif the aces continue to do 14 damage but for the weapon usage they act as a 1 and therefore can be used as a weapons final attack? 👀

I had fun with the game but i was kinda missing bosses so i included jokers (and red aces) Both jokers have 10 power and a bonus effect. Red joker has +power equal to power of any cards still in the room. Black joker turns all the cards in that room black (if killed they revert back). To balance it out i added red aces. Ace of hearts heals you to full health and ace of diamonds is a "legendary" 14 power weapon.

To decrease the difficulty you can add heart and/or diamond face cards to the deck to act as companions. When picked up they act as 1/2/3 temporary health that must be used first. Any non-lethal damage to companions is ignored.

So far i have not won against the joker+ace mode on max difficulty (no red faces added to deck)

Why didnt he run at the last room of the game

I played using just 1 scape and no restriction with the number of health potions. The game runs beautifuly

I just discovered this video, and indeed this game, the other night. I really have to say, being able to just have a dungeon crawl experience with nothing but a deck of cards and one die (or a dice roller, why not) is unique and enjoyable. For something that demands attention and time to kill, it's grand. I think I'll keep the Jokers in the deck, though, to serve as House Rules cards. Thank you!

banger game

Great vid, very cool design with simple mechanics! Impressed with the strategic depth of it.

After about 10 games with only the odd win, I added the jokers as 15 attack monsters, the Queen of Hearts as a full health potion, and the Jack of Diamonds as a weapon that can defeat anything without taking damage, but still degrades as a normal weapon would. Took another 10 games to find a win there.

Seems there's lots of room for design flexibility with the spare cards from what I can see in the comments.

I think I thought of something that will make this game better!!!!

I kept all the red face cards and gave them different roles.
For the jacks just read @4TheWizard comment on merchants as it was genius
For the kings they now let you take the first red card of their suit (the king of hearts lets you take the first potion and put it in your inventory (more info on it later)).
The queens now accompany you in battle (based on their strength in chess) but you have to give them a weapon and they last until they die (so if you give a queen a level 4 weapon and they face a level 5 monster they take 5 damage and deal 4).
The inventory is simple
Only 1 red card can be placed at any time.

Can you start a room and then decide you want to run from what’s remaining? For example can I fight one monster and then run from the other 3? Also I ran into a situation where all that was left in the room were two weapons but I wanted to keep my current one. Do I have to equip a new weapon in this case or can I just discard one of the weapons in the room?

What happens if you are in a room with multiple heart cards? You choose to take one now there are 3 left…you can’t use anymore and you can’t run…so you have to discard them?

What happens if you are in a room with multiple heart cards? You choose to take one now there are 3 left…you can’t use anymore and you can’t run…so you have to discard them?