Periodically people email me about their Dungeon Solitaire games, sometimes with questions, sometimes with reports of amazing games, and sometimes with their own creations and house rules. It’s always a joy to hear how people are enjoying the game, adapting it, and delving deep into everything Dungeon Solitaire has to offer.
Every once in a while, someone comes along who has delved very deep indeed, and over the last six months or so I’ve had the pleasure of hearing from one such Dungeon Solitaire super player. Bruno, from Quebec, has explored not only Dungeon Solitaire Campaign Mode and the ALL-IN rules using the Devil’s Playground expansion, but he’s developed his own set of house rules for playing massive LoS-DP Campaigns with his own custom-made cards and enviable table setup.
Bruno has graciously provided some notes and references for his house rule to share with you. And while you may find them difficult to immediately interpret if you haven’t delved into the rules as far as Bruno has, it will at least give you some idea just how far you can take this game. And if you’re developing your own set of House Rules for LoS-DP Campaigns, I highly recommend looking into Bruno’s Rules for some great ideas.
Note that Bruno’s original references were all in French, but he’s been kind enough to provide us with English versions. He has made a few corrections or addendums to his rules, and I’m including those as well. You can even download his scoresheet as a printable PDF. Enjoy!
Bruno’s Setup
Here is way too much info about my Dungeon Solitaire world.
Photo 1. My homemade deck.
Photo 2. A table setup.
Bruno’s House Rules Campaign Scoresheet
Bruno’s Notes
- Abacus to keep score of 10 HP.
- 5 tiles that I turn over when 13t or 15t is on the doom track, and 17-18-19t when a heavenly Gem is found (I don’t turn these last 3 often…)
- Checkers pieces to keep track of the house rules. Golden spell (natural color) and Dark Spell (dark brown).
- 1d10 (to roll for 6-7-8m+Full Armor), 1d4 (to roll for spells), and another dice to represent if a class is in play.
- One tarot deck for drawing in town (evaluating gems, maintaining party, expenses). Campaign Scoresheet Background info. Mine was mostly in French. I made one in English. English is my second language, so please forgive me if my English is not up to par. As for the Scoresheet itself, it is so packed with stats and info/reminders that it is mostly for personal use. It would be hard for someone else to know how to score his/her game! Still, everything is there and a passionate player could find his way in my dungeon!
- It is a double-sided scoresheet to score 40 games (19 on the first page, 21 on page 2).
- House rules are at the top of page 1.
- Then, the top Gray area would be to register the stats/records after the 40 games played.
- Then the scoresheet. I packed info in the header column and here, it gets confusing. Because of lack of space, info not pertaining to the column at hand can appear.
- And again, for lack of space, I had to improvise scoring places inside a column for secondary stats (for example, number of Skeins and gems, number of times I scored 4K or 3-Graces, etc.)
- Finally, at the bottom of page 2, a reminder of some important rules from the books. So, in the gray area at the top of page 1.
- (Arrow and infinity symbol) = Record number of consecutive exits
- (Top treasure) = Best single score from the column below
- (#3Ge-#3Sk) = Number of times I found all 3 Gems or all 3 Skeins
- (#Heavenly : Total Gem) = number of heavenly gems found: total number of gems found. For example: 1:40
- (#Skeins); total number of Skeins found
- (Top XP): Best single score from the column below
- (#2ndQ): Number of times I found a second Queen without effect
- (Top Score), for example, C1/45640/4 (Campaign/# of Heavenly Gem found/ best XP Score/Rank.
- (Keyhole): Number of times I found 16t-Shifting terrain without effect
- (#4K – #3 Graces): Number of times I found all 4K or all 3 Graces
- (54 diamond – 54 red shield): Number of times I found all 54 pts diamond or 54 pts red shield
- (% Exit): Number of exits divided by 40 games = %
- (number of turns total from exits divided by number of exits) = average number of turns per exit
- (#Golden spell- #Dark spell) = Number of spells accumulated
- (Top Death) = Simply to register your most common death. For example crpt 18% Clarification of the House rules about the Second Queen (Divine Favor) found without effect.
- I Turn a Queen, then trap-6. I win the turn, leave the Queen in the turn and pick up a Golden Spell (at the end of the turn) which I can use starting with the next turn or later.
- I turn a Queen, then the Dragon, then a second Queen. Here, the second Queen is not without effect. Per book rules, against a Dragon (and Lich, Abomination, Diabolical Machine, Hell Gate), a Divine Favor grants +1. It has an effect, so no Golden Spell in this case. Clarification of my previous email I gave an example to go for a Dark Spell (the missing 3-diamond). I forgot to mention that it was the last treasure missing to have all 54 pts of diamond.
Bruno’s Rules
The game is fantastic, and I tweaked two things that were a bit off.
- In LoS Campaign, we could find 110 points of treasure (excluding evaluating gems). In LoS-DP, 240 points! The result is that you have so much money that, in town, it removes all decisions from the game. Do I pay to remove crpt-curses, to maintain party, to recruit? Yes, Yes, Yes. I have so much money. Why not? In LoS Campaigns, I had to borrow a few times to keep going. It was stressful on the next delve to go further, find more treasures to get out of the red. Now, with so much money, that is another facet of the game that is not in play. I would add that in Campaign mode, some expeditions are really short. If I start with a crpt in the first few turns, I do get out quickly, sometimes in 3-5 turns. However, do that too many times, and you won’t have any money left. That is also not in play much because you quickly have so much money.
Solution? I increased all amounts by 50 % (except the Character ranks).
The game is tighter now. You’ve got to be careful with every decision in town (and have to risk more turns to find treasure/gp).
- The new character class “Magic User” is too powerful compared to the other classes, so that it renders them useless. Before, it was a tough decision to choose the right one (all classes were pretty even). And at rank4, you can take it a second time to have a total of +4d4 per expedition!
Solution? I removed that class from the game. However, overall, it is a tough game and we need all the help possible. The idea of the +d4 is great, so I included it in a way that brings many tough decisions into play. Hang on!
A. I added 7 ways of gaining a “Golden spell” that grants you each time a +1d4 (against any encounter or to gain 1-4HP).
If you can take into town:
- 3 gems (0/40)
- 3 Skeins (0/40)
- 100 points and more worth of treasure (excluding evaluating gems) (4/40)
- 4 Kings (0/40)
- 3 Graces (0/40)
- played more than 29 turns (0/40)
and
- Got a 2nd queen without effect (my dead card concept) on a turn (Golden spell earned at the end of the turn) (2/40)
I played 40 campaign games per book rules. In parentheses, I noted the number of times that situation could have occurred. So rarely. But now that I added the Golden Spell, there are many fun decisions in play to risk going for spells (and to better those stats).
- Do I play a Disarm mechanism (or even a blessing) against an easy 5trap? No. But what if there are the 4th King and the third Gem on the turn? If I get out alive, I will receive 2 Golden spells in town.
- Do I drop treasure one of my 4K and risk losing that Golden spell or do I battle to keep that option alive?
etc.
B. I added 7 ways of gaining a “Dark Spell” (remove to the bottom of the deck all of these: 1crpt + curses (Dungeon Plague/Dark Star) + 1 torch + 1 ration + regain all HP)! The jackpot!
- Find a Heavenly Gem (1/170)
- Have a perfect game: 3 Skeins-3 Gems (Never did it)
- 54 points (2-10 of diamond) (Never did it in LoS-DP)
- 54 points (2-10 of red shield) (Never did it in LoS-DP)
- Beat my own record of treasure points (100 points min.) (excluding evaluating gems)
- Beat my own record of consecutive exits (min. 10)
- Beat my own record of turns (min. 29)
So pretty much impossible. Hence, it does not tip the balance of the game. But bliss if you get one. Early on, the Records (5-6-7) will yield a few Dark Spells, but once a good record is set, it will be hard to gain it. Records to beat are set forever.
Again, many fun decisions and more memory will be in play. Let’s say that I missed the 3 of diamond on a previous turn. But I remember where it is and I turn the Portal. Do I go for it (but I still have to exit the dungeon to bring the proof into town) or go for a safer haul of magic items elsewhere that ensures that I will exit the dungeon?
Decisions pop up everywhere! I’ve made a nice detailed scoresheet to record all those stats. Love to get into town, do business, party a bit and register everything.
Finally, I kept my other dead card option from LoS campaign, 16t. If I turn it without effect (no Companions to kill or discards to shuffle), the shifting terrain creates a “keyhole exit”. I take the 16t in hand and I can play it to represent 1 turn for this expedition only. Obviously, it is to play it on the last turn to exit safely when things are tight.
I use nice wooden checker pieces (natural for Golden Spell, dark brown for Dark Spell) that I put on the table to represent what is available.
I think I’ve found the perfect setup. But then again, Dungeon Solitaire keeps expanding in my mind! So who knows! Thanks to you for having created that world.
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If it can be useful, I tweaked one rule pertaining to the Dark Spell. Before, #6 was Beat my own record of consecutive exits (min. 10).
I changed it to #5 for Every series of 10 Consecutive Exits.
To be clear, that would be 1 Dark Spell gained after 10 consecutive exits, another one after 20 consecutive exits and so on.
Correction #1
B. I added 7 ways of gaining a “Dark Spell” (remove to the bottom of the deck all of these: 1crpt + curses (Dungeon Plague/Dark Star) + 1 torch + 1 ration + regain all HP)! The jackpot!
- Find a Heavenly Gem
- Have a perfect game: 3 Skeins-3 Gems
- 54 points (2-10 of diamond)
- 54 points (2-10 of red shield)
- For every series of 10 consecutive exits
- Beat my own record of treasure points (100 points min.) (excluding evaluating gems)
- Beat my own record of turns (min. 29)
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Correction #2
As mention before, I had increased all amounts by 50 % (except the Character ranks-XP). However, I had forgotten to change the GP of the Noble ranks (castle upkeep).
Scoring Example
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