Scoundrel beta 0.1

Scoundrel is a dungeon-crawler roguelike based on poker cards. Your goal is to clear all the rooms in a dungeon without losing all your health.

At the beginning of the game, you enter a room in a dungeon. Each room contains four random poker cards in its field.

In each room, you will have two options: run or clear the room.

When you run, all cards in the current room are placed at the bottom of the deck in random order, so you can deal with them later. You cannot run in two consecutive rooms.

You start clearing the room when a card is selected, and lose the option to run until the next room.

A room is cleared when you have successfully selected three cards and survived. The one remaining card will carry over to the next room.

In the new room, you will encounter four new cards if you ran previously, or three new cards plus the leftover card if you cleared the previous room.

In the final room, you cannot run and must select all the cards in any order you choose.

The game ends when you have cleared all the rooms or when you lose all your health. If you clear all the rooms in the dungeon and survive, you win.

Tutorials

For more information you can also consult these tutorials. Gameplay mechanics might be different, but they are almost the same:

Official rules: http://www.stfj.net/art/2011/Scoundrel.pdf

English video tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fP-QLtWQZs

Tutorial en español: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElqsT6OhZYg

Cards

Cards can be monsters (spades and clubs), weapons (diamonds), or potions (hearts). The power of each card is equal to its number. For face cards and aces: J equals 11, Q equals 12, K equals 13, and A equals 14.

Health

You have a maximum of 20 health points.

When a monster damages you, you lose health points equal to the damage taken.

When you drink a potion, if allowed, you regain an amount of health equal to its power, but never exceeding your maximum health.

Monsters

Spades and clubs are monster cards. These cards may damage you when selected.

You can fight monsters barehanded, taking full damage, or with a weapon, if allowed, reducing part or all of the damage.

A monster is defeated when you select it and survive.

Monster cards range from 2 to A in each suit.

Weapons

Diamonds are weapon cards. These cards help you fight monsters.

You start the dungeon with no weapon equipped. You equip a weapon by selecting it. Only one weapon can be equipped at a time.

When you select a monster, if a weapon is equipped, you'll be asked whether to fight barehanded or with the weapon.

If you fight barehanded, you take full damage. If you use the weapon, damage taken equals the monster's power minus the weapon's power, which may fully cancel the damage.

Weapons degrade with use. You can only use a weapon to fight a monster weaker than the last one defeated with it. If you select a monster equal to or stronger than the previous one, you’ll automatically fight barehanded.

Equipping a new weapon replaces and eliminates the old one, also removing its defeated monsters.

Weapon cards range from 2 to 10.

Potions

Hearts are potion cards. These cards restore health points.

The amount restored equals the potion's power, up to your maximum health.

Only one potion can be used per room. If you select a second potion in the same room, it will have no effect — even if you previously drank a potion at full health, then took damage, and tried to drink another, the second potion will still not heal you.

Potion cards range from 2 to 10.

© 2011, Zach Gage and Kurt Bieg