Charting the Uncharted
CHAPTER 9.1
The dark corners and dungeons of the world are as vast and varied as the imaginations of the dark masters who fashion them anew or bend existing structures to their corrupt will. Whilst many an adventurer has succeeded in exploring these ruinous castles and cavernous dwellings and so commit their layouts to official record, there are many yet where an adventurers have not returned and more still that are simply undiscovered and unexplored - their depths yet to charter.
​
Uncharted Dungeons
​
This guide outlines the rules and practices for building a custom dungeon using the Uncharted Dungeons cards. It's presented here as listed in clear and separate sections, defining the necessary steps per section.
​
Additionally, where confusion or conflicts were encountered in the printed rules of the Adv. Companion a Note or *Custom Rule* has been added to provide clearer decision-making or improve the experience of a custom dungeon.
​
Placing Tiles & Zones
​
All dungeons begin with a 2x2 square "Starting Area" tile that the Heroes are placed on.
Sort Uncharted Dungeon cards into their alphabetical groups (there are 8 groups, lettered A - H) and shuffle these as separate sub-decks.
Draw 1 Uncharted Dungeon card from each sub-deck to form the new Dungeon deck.
Shuffle the newly formed Dungeon deck and draw the top 4 cards to generate the zones available in the dungeon.
​
After the 1st Dungeon zone is placed adjacent to the Starting Area, roll 1d6 to define where the doors to the next zone are placed. The rolled d6 result is matched to the dice values displayed on the current zone card and this defines the side of the tiles that doors will be placed. Set doors beside EVERY GREEN arrow on that side of the current zone.
Subsequent new zones are placed once Heroes have opened the door leading to a new zone.
When ready to place a new zone, draw the next card from the Dungeon deck.
New zones are placed next to the previous zone, beginning from the RED arrow on the new zone card.
Placing Map Traps
After laying a zone tile, draw the top Event card to determine if any map traps exist.
If the Event card states YES, shuffle the trap counters (active & blank counters) face down and place 3 of them in the existing zone on a designated spot (RED circle).
​
**CUSTOM RULE** Minions can still be placed on a map trap.
​
Placing Enemy Minions​
Draw the top Event card, place Minions up to the Level value displayed on the card.
All models/Minions should be of the same type (same line in bestiary).
Maximum of 4 Minions from one Event card drawn.
If you cannot place more than 1 Minion from a card (e.g. Level value too low), draw a 2nd Event card and additionally place Minions up to that Level value aswell (Minions can be different from the 1st card).
Place models/Minions on designated spots, if no spaces left then those models are placed in the next zone in addition to those defined by next Event card turned.
**CUSTOM RULE** Placement of models/Minions should be in designated places with priority assigned as close as possible to:
1) the zones exit doors (if more than 1 exit door is available, place atleast 1 Minion beside each door before moving to priority 2) below e.g. if there are 3 exit doors in a zone, place 1 Minion as close as possible to each door before placing any next to a treasure chest).
2) placed treasure chest,
3) Repeat priorities 1 + 2 for any remaining models to be placed.
**CUSTOM RULE** Models/Minions can be selected from 2 different lines in the bestiary (but must be of the same race).
**CUSTOM RULE** Require a standard Raise Dead Limits value set for a created Uncharted Dungeon:
Skeleton Warriors = 4
Skeleton Archers = 2
Revenants = 2
An AI Overlord will always choose to Raise the toughest (highest level) Minion possible within the Raise Dead Limit.
​
Placing Enemy Bosses
Bosses are never placed in the 1st zone.
Chance of Boss appearing is when the Event card drawn displays a Level value of 3 or 6. If this occurs, roll 1d6 and where the result is equal to or greater than the Level value (3 or 6) then a Boss can be added.
Note: There are 8 chances from 24 Event cards for the chance to place a Boss.
If 2 Event cards have had to be drawn to place Minions in a zone, then a Boss could be placed for each Event card (pending successful d6 rolls as described above).
If the final zone is reached by Heroes without a Boss being placed, they are always placed in the final zone (in addition to other Minions as defined by the Event card drawn).
​
**CUSTOM RULE** If no designated spots are left for Boss placement, the Boss replaces an already placed Minion model.
Overlord Command Cards
The Overlord gets 3 Command cards per zone for a basic/default dungeon.
To make the game easier for Heroes, increase Overlord Command cards to 4 per zone.
​
Note: Remember that the Overlord takes 3 Command cards into their starter deck during setup, which for a basic/default 4x Zone dungeon leaves 9 turns as the game timer.
e.g. (4zones x 3cards) - 3cards starter deck = 9cards for timer
​
DEFAULT FORMULA: (No. Zones x3) - 3 = Overlord Command Card Draw Deck and Starting Hand
​
Note: If playing with the Invisible Overlord rules, the standard Overlord Command Card Deck is constructed as normal but only used as a timer, discarding a card each turn as normal.
​
Overlord Commands
per Turn
This is dependent on the cumulative levels of the Heroes being used. The general rule to follow is:
​
Total Hero Level = 0-8
Overlord Commands per Turn = 2
​
Total Hero Level = 9-16
Overlord Commands per Turn = 2
​
Total Hero Level = 17+
​Overlord Commands per Turn = 4
​
Lock Types & Lock Traps
​
Defined by an Event card drawn when the first Hero moves adjacent to a door or chest.
Treasure
Once a chest is successfully opened, draw an Event card to define the treasure contained inside it.
Victory Conditions
For Heroes:
Defined by drawing an Event card at the start of the game and sharing the information on that card with the rest of the Hero players. Keep this information hidden from the Overlord.
Note: If a Victory Condition cannot be met due to some of it's conditions never occurring on the generated map, use alternative Victory Condition of: Kill all inhabitants before timer runs out.
​
For the Overlord:
Cripple one Hero or stall them long enough that there are no Overlord Command Cards left to draw.
Future Development Ideas
1) Enemy Minion Difficulty Scale
Need to change the max Level value displayed on the drawn Event Card as a zone can become far too difficult for low-level heroes if having to fight minions of total Level = 15.
Therefore, apply a default, formula level cap, examples as:
a) Max. 4 Minion/model limit per zone setup
b) Max. Minion Level Cap = Avg. Hero Level + 2
example A: Hero Levels of 0,0,0,0 = Avg of 0 + 2, so Max Minion Level Cap in a zone is Level 2 each
example B: Hero Levels of 1,2,3,1 = Avg of 1.75 + 2, so Max Minion Level Cap in a zone is Level 4 (3.75 Rnd Up)
example C: Hero Levels of 1,1,4,4 = Avg of 2.5 + 2, so Max Minion Level Cap in a zone is Level 5 (4.5 Rnd Up)
​
2) Enemy Boss Difficulty Scale
Consider a default, level cap formula for Bosses:
If only using 1 Boss:
Avg. Hero Level + 1 Level for each Hero in party
example A: Hero Levels of 0,0,0,0 = Avg of 0 + 4 (4x party members), so Max Boss Level can be Level 4
example B: Hero Levels of 1,2,3,1 = Avg of 1.75 + 4 (4x Party members), so Max Boss Level can be Level 6 (5.75 Rnd Up)
example C: Hero Levels of 1,1,4 = Avg of 2 + 3, (3x Party members), so Max Boss Level can be Level 5
If using 2 Bosses:
Avg. Hero Level + 1 Level
example A: Hero Levels of 0,0,0,0 = Avg of 0 + 1, so Max Boss Level for both can be Level 1
​
3) Improved Victory Conditions
New Victory Conditions need added, especially with theme, such as escape the dungeon after opening a chest etc.