Thunderstone Advance rules summary

Object: Players use a deckbuilding mechanic to acquire hero, weapon, item, spell, and villager cards. The
cards are used to defeat monsters in the dungeon which are worth Victory Points (VP). The player with the
most VP at game end wins.

Epic Variant Setup:

1. Give each player 6 Regular, 2 Longspear, 2 Torch, and 2 Thunderstone Shard cards to shuffle to form
their deck of 12 Basic cards.
2. Select the side of the game board to use. The Wilderness side is easier than the Dungeon side.
3. Place three copies per player of each basic card (Regular, Longspear, and Torch) on their slots on the
board face up. Place all extra basic cards back into the box.
4. Shuffle equal stacks of weapon, item, spell, and villager cards and place them on their slots on the
board face up.
5. Shuffle equal stacks of level 1 heroes and place them on their slots on the board face up.
6. Set aside the level 2 and 3 heroes for leveling up.
7. Place the Soulstolen horde monsters back into the box.
8. Draw a random Thunderstone Bearer and show it to all players.
Shuffle the level 1, 2, and 3 monsters into separate stacks.
Shuffle four level 3 monsters in with the Thunderstone Bearer as the bottom of the dungeon deck.
Place six more level 3 monsters on top of the deck.
Place ten level 2 monsters on top of the deck.
Place four level 1 monsters per player on top of the deck.
Place the deck on the Dungeon Deck slot and fill the empty ranks of the dungeon hall from left to right.
Ignore any Raid or Breach effects on these initial monsters.
9. Shuffle the curse and familiar decks and place them on their slots on the board.
10. Place the pile of Thunderstone XP tokens near the village.
11. Each player draws 6 cards from their decks.
12. Randomly determine the starting player.

Game Play: During your turn, you are the active player. Choose one of the following actions:
• Visit the Village
• Enter the Dungeon
• Prepare – place any number of cards from your hand on top of your deck in any order
• Rest – choose one card in your hand and destroy it
End your turn by discarding any cards remaining in your hand and drawing a new hand of 6 cards.
Shuffle your discard pile whenever you need to draw cards and your deck is empty.
When a card is destroyed, remove it from the game [EXC: curses and basic cards]. Basic cards (Regular,
Longspear, and Torch) that are destroyed are placed back on their village stacks [EXC: if destroyed from a
village stack, they are removed from the game].

Visit the Village: Place your cards face up on the table and perform the following steps in order:
1. All of your cards go into the village, whether you want them to or not.
2. Use any Village abilities that you wish (optional) and use all Trophy effects (mandatory) in any
order.
3. Use the gold value of your cards to buy one hero, village, or basic card (optional).
4. Spend XP to level up one or more heroes in your hand.
Village abilities – you do not need to declare them in advance, nor do you need to use them.
You cannot use a given Village ability more than once unless it is a Repeat Village ability.
A card that is discarded by a Village ability is placed in your discard pile immediately.
 A card that is destroyed by a Village ability is removed from the game immediately.
You cannot destroy a card that has already been used for its Village ability unless the card in question is
destroying itself.
Buy 1 Card – you cannot include the gold value (the number in the gold coin symbol in the upper left of
most cards) of any cards that you discarded or destroyed.
You can only buy a card that is on top of a stack. Each card has a limited supply.
Place your purchased card onto your discard pile. Unspent gold is lost.
Level Up – select a hero card in your hand and pay its XP cost (the number in the bottom left of each hero
card) to level it up. Then destroy the hero card and place a copy of the matching hero at the next higher
level onto your discard pile. A level 3 hero cannot be leveled up any further.
You cannot skip a hero’s level. You cannot level the same hero twice in the same turn.
Regulars are level 0 heroes. They can be leveled up into any available level 1 hero.
Epic Variant Rule: all players gain “Village: Name 1 card. Move all copies of that card on top of a village
or hero stack to the bottom of that stack.” This is not a Repeat ability.

Enter the Dungeon: Place your cards face up on the table and perform the following steps in order:
1. All of your cards go into the dungeon, whether you want them to or not.
2. Use any Dungeon abilities and equip any weapons that you wish (optional), and use all Trophy
effects (mandatory) in any order.
3. Choose a monster to fight.
4. Resolve any Battle effects on the target monster.
5. If you defeat the monster, add its card to your discard pile and gain the XP it provides.
6. If you do not defeat the monster, it retreats to the bottom of the dungeon deck.
7. Resolve any Aftermath effects on the target monster, whether you won or lost.
8. If you defeated the monster, you may use any Spoils abilities.
9. Refill the dungeon hall by sliding any monsters down to fill the empty ranks.
Dungeon abilities – you do not need to declare them in advance, nor do you need to use them.
You cannot use a given Dungeon ability more than once unless it is a Repeat Dungeon ability.
A card that is discarded by a Dungeon ability is placed in your discard pile immediately.
A card that is destroyed by a Dungeon ability is removed from the game immediately.
You cannot destroy a card that has been used for its Dungeon ability unless the card in question is
destroying itself.
Weapons – a weapon must be equipped to a hero in order to use its Dungeon abilities.
To equip a weapon, the hero must have Strength > the weapon’s Weight (these are numbers in an icon
of blocks in the upper left side of these cards).
Each hero can only equip one weapon per turn. Once equipped, the hero cannot equip another, even if
the weapon gets discarded or destroyed.
If an equipped weapon gets destroyed or unequipped, you lose the benefits of its traits. An unequipped
weapon cannot be equipped to another hero.
All other types of cards (items, spells, etc.) automatically add their capabilities, even if you have no
heroes.
Ranks and Darkness – the position furthest from the dungeon deck is rank 1. The rank increases by 1 for
each step closer to the deck. If a card leaves the dungeon hall for any reason, shift cards from higher
ranks to lower ranks, then fill the empty ranks from the top of the dungeon deck, starting with the
lowest rank.
The base Darkness is equal to the rank of that position in the dungeon hall. If a monster has a trait that
modifies the Darkness, add this to the basic Darkness.
Count the total light that your hand produces (numbers in the lantern icons on the left side of some
cards) except for unequipped weapons.
Subtract your Light from the Darkness. If the total is < 0, you suffer no penalty. Extra light provides
no bonus.
 If any Darkness remains, reduce your Total Attack Value by the value next to the remaining Darkness
on the dungeon board. This will be -1 or -2 Attack per point of Darkness depending on chosen
dungeon board.
Battle Effects – cards that are destroyed by the monster’s Battle effects are immediately destroyed and their
assistance is lost. Any cards gained by Battle effects are placed onto your discard pile.
Whether or not a card in your hand can participate in the combat, it can still be destroyed by Battle
effects (e.g., a weapon that cannot be equipped by any of your heroes can still be destroyed).
If a card reduces your Attack without specifying the type, you choose whether it reduces your Physical
Attack or your Magic Attack. This choice cannot reduce an Attack Value below zero.
Winning and Losing – if the Total Attack Value of your party is > the Health of the monster (in the shield
icon in the upper right of the monster’s card), the monster is defeated.
If you did not defeat the monster, place the monster’s card at the bottom of the dungeon deck.
If you defeated the monster, place it on your discard pile. When drawn into your hand in the future,
monster cards may supply you with gold value, Light, and/or Trophy effects.
Take a number of XP tokens from the pool equal to the XP value of the monster (the number in the
bottom left of each monster card) and add them to your pile.
Apply any Aftermath effects, regardless of who won.
Spoils – if you were victorious and a card present in the fight has a Spoils ability, you may immediately use
that ability [EXC: you cannot use the Spoils of monster cards in your hand].
If the Spoils allows you to buy a card, you may use the total gold value of all cards still in your hand to
make that buy from the village. If you earn multiple buys from Spoils abilities in one turn, use the total
gold value of your hand for each buy.
Raid Effects – when you fill the dungeon hall and a monster with a Raid effect is turned face up, the effect
occurs immediately. If a decision needs to be made for the effect, the active player makes the decision.
Raid effects are ignored during setup.
Breach Effects – when a monster with a Breach effect reaches rank 1 of the dungeon hall, the effect occurs
immediately. The effect only happens once, unless the monster leaves rank 1 and returns.
Breach effects are ignored during setup.

Familiars: Once per game, as a Spoils ability after you defeat a monster, you may draw a familiar from the
top of the familiar deck. You may only have one familiar. Once taken, it is yours for the rest of the game.
Place the familiar in front of you, face up.
Each ability on the card has an XP score. You may use any or all of these abilities in a turn.
You must have unspent XP tokens > an ability’s score to use it.
The XP are not spent – they just need to be available.
Discard the familiar at the end of any turn in which you used one or more of its abilities.
When you draw your familiar from your deck, place it face up in front of you. Do not draw a replacement
card.

React Abilities: These can be played during any player’s turn – each once per turn.
Multiple copies of the same card can be used during a single turn.

Global Effects: A monster’s Global effect remains in play as long as its monster is in the dungeon hall.
Multiple Global effects of the same type stack.

Guardians: These powerful monsters are immune to any ability or effect that would cause them to leave
the dungeon hall, or change their position in it, until they are defeated.
Guardians are never placed at the bottom of the dungeon deck if you did not defeat them.
The Thunderstone Bearer cannot be defeated if another non-Thunderstone Bearer Guardian remains in the
dungeon hall.
Curses: When gained by an effect, they are placed onto your discard pile.
Curse cards are not affected by any monster trait or effect that does not specifically target curses.
Curse cards are special cards, not village or monster cards.
When destroyed, curse cards are placed at the bottom of the curse deck, face down, for re-use.
When curse cards are given to multiple players, start to the left of the active player.

Zero and No Value: Physical Attack, Magic Attack, Total Attack Value, and Strength cannot be reduced
below zero.
“No value” is not the same as zero (e.g., if you must discard a card with a gold value, you must choose a
card with a gold value of zero or greater – you cannot choose a card with no gold icon).

Traits:
Cannot Be Fought Unless [Something] – you cannot choose to fight this monster unless you have the thing
present.
Darkness +/- – this modifies the monster’s base Darkness.
Darkness Cannot Be Reduced – the Darkness for this monster will always equal (or exceed) its rank in the
dungeon hall. Light and other card effects that reduce Darkness have no effect.
Immune to [Something] – all of that thing’s Attack Values (that are not directly applied to other specific
heroes) are reduced to zero. Other traits or abilities of that something cannot target or affect this
monster. Non-interactive effects and abilities, such as Light or keywords, are not affected by this trait.
[Something] Required – your party must have the thing to be able to defeat this monster. You may still
choose to attack the monster to force it to the bottom of the dungeon deck.
Will Not Leave the Hall – the monster is immune to any card effect that would cause it to leave the
dungeon hall. It will not be placed at the bottom of the dungeon deck if you did not defeat it. It is only
removed from the dungeon hall if defeated in battle.

Treasures: If using treasures, shuffle them into the monster deck.

When revealed while refilling the hall, place the treasure in an open rank as usual. Reveal another card and
place it on top of the treasure. If it is another treasure, draw again, and so on until a monster is placed on
top.
When fighting that monster, it gains the treasure’s abilities above the line on the treasure card(s).
If you defeat the monster, the treasure goes to your discard pile. When drawn, use the text and abilities
below the line on the treasure.
If you do not defeat the monster or it leaves the hall for any reason, remove the treasure(s) underneath from
the game.

Ending the Game: If the active player defeats the Thunderstone Bearer, the game ends at the end of that
player’s turn.
Each player counts the VP in their hand, deck, and discard pile. Note that some village cards and high-
level heroes are also worth XP.
The player with the most VP wins. If tied, the tied player with the Thunderstone Bearer wins. If none of
the tied players has the Thunderstone Bearer, the tied player with the most XP wins.
The game also ends if the Thunderstone Bearer reaches rank 1 of the dungeon hall. If that happens, the
game ends at the end of the current player’s turn. Count VP as per above.

When using Classic Thunderstone cards: Attack has become Physical Attack.
Darkness replaces Light penalty.
Regulars are easier to level up than Militia.
Battle actions on monsters that destroy cards now occur as Aftermath effects (unless stated otherwise).