Kings of Dust is a tactical card game that has a dynamic playing field that is similar to games like Magic The Gathering or Hearth Stone. Level up your Hero with class cards. Class cards change the way your Hero is played and can turn the tide of battle. Equip stronger equipment and summon powerful minions to help you reign destruction down on your opponent.
To win the game, you must bring the enemy Hero to zero Health Points. If a Hero is defeated, all of the Hero's minions will be destroyed as well. So play wisely!
GETTING STARTED
Determine First Player - Flip a 5/10 Damage token included in the game, if it lands on 10 the player that Flipped goes first, if it lands on 5 the player that Flipped goes
second.
Select Your Deck - Starting in turn order, each player selects a Hero Deck. There ore 4 Hero decks in the King of Dust base game. Find the Hero card in the deck and place it facing the enemy Hero card(See rules for battlefield placement). Shuffle, the remaining cards and place the shuffled deck face down.
Draw up - The first player starts the game with 5 cards, the second player starts with 6 cards. (In 3 or 4 player games, both the third and fourth player starts with 7 cards.)
Start Your Turn - At the start of your turn, Draw a card from your deck and gain 3 action points. (Look at the back of a Hero card to see free actions a player can take on their turn.)
Play Your Cards - Based on the card costs and action points you have available, choose which cards to play and resolve any damage or effects.
End Your Turn - After you have spent your action points, if you can not make any other actions or generate more action points your turn is over. Let the other player know your turn is over. The next player will now start their turn.
Players can not have more than 7 cards in their hand when they end their turn. If you have more than 7 You must discard the extra cards. You don't get anything when discarding this way.
—description from the designer
- rich narrative with lore and visions
- deep card-driven strategy and deck-building
- varied locations and exploration mechanics
- high complexity and long learning curve
- heavy rules that can hinder streaming and first-time players
- potential for decision paralysis during live play
- kingdom restoration, exploration, diplomacy, and survival in a changing world
- A fantasy realm in the Lothian bogs, post-collapse kingdom seeking restoration and peace
- story-driven campaign with Book of Secrets entries, visions, and dynamic events
- Tainted Grail
- Gloomhaven
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- combat resolution via cards — combat sequences use card effects with health/time costs
- Combat: Deck/Hand — combat sequences use card effects with health/time costs
- Deck-building / card-driven actions — players build and use cards to drive diplomacy, exploration, and combat options
- diplomacy and persuasion — negotiation mechanics with cards and NPCs that affect quest progress
- exploration and location discovery — move between locations via waystones and bog crossings with random events
- Negotiation — negotiation mechanics with cards and NPCs that affect quest progress
- Time management — a day/night style time track with end-of-day effects and timers
- visions and lore cards (Book of Secrets) — discover lore entries that alter the map and provide new objectives
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Kings of Ruin are boss-like encounters.
- This is basically I got screwed by selling the candle, but that gave me like so much magic.
- Literally the definition of gaming insanity.
- Don't eat the mushrooms.
- That was messed up, man.
- We could have probably worked something else out, but we're going to continue.