The Pulp-Fantasy Jazzpunk Skirmish Game of Legendary Heroes and Legendary Loot

Prohibition!

The year is 1921. Congress of the United Realms has just passed a new law banning the use of all destructive magics, and has placed bounties on all mystical artifacts.

Teams of Runerunners quickly formed to hunt down and collect these magical items, getting paid a hefty sum for retrieving them.

Government officials, merchant guilds, museum curators and black market mob bosses of Sanctuary City are trying to collect as many items as they can, offering jobs to teams of Runerunners.

This is where you come in! Form your team, grab the loot, and go get paid! Get in and get out fast, but watch out for other Runerunners, they won’t share bounties.

How to Play Runerunners

Getting Started

This page is a summary of how the game plays. Keep in mind this is just a summary and the game itself is much more in depth with a robust story driven campaign system as well as quick custom games. Click here if you would like to download the preview rules PDF.

There will be many pre-made scenarios in the rulebook for you to choose from, but many players prefer to create the own. In a custom game, you can set up your board however you want, the object is to collect as much loot as possible.

First you will need to set up your map using at least 4 of the double sided board tiles. They can be arranged in a variety of ways to create a unique map every time! Here are a few examples:

Choosing Teams

Premade scenarios will tell you which team members to use, but if you are creating your own game from scratch, you will choose them randomly. Both players roll a dice and whoever scores the highest can choose his first Runerunner from the miniatures included in the box. Then, the other player selects one. Both players alternate selecting a new team member until both sides have at least 3 members. You can have 4 or 5 members per team if you wish.

Game Turns

Most games last for 6 full game turns. Over the course of a turn, you and your opponent will alternate activating one Runerunner on your team at a time until all have had a chance to go. Then, the next turn begins. At the beginning of each turn, both players roll a dice and whoever scores the highest gets to activate first.

Actions

When you activate one of your Runerunners, they receive a number of actions equal to their Stamina attribute. After you perform all of your actions, then your opponent will be able to activate one of his. When all Runerunners have been activated once, the Game Turn ends and the next one begins allowing you to activate your Runerunners again. Some of the actions you can perform are:

Move – You may move an amount of spaces equal to your Speed attribute for every Move action performed.

Attack – Defeating your enemies in combat can sometimes be the easiest way to acquire lots of loot.

Investigate – If you have a Search token in a space next to you, you can investigate to see if there is any loot nearby.

Pick Up Loot – Runerunners drop loot tokens after they are defeated. You can use this action to remove the token and draw a loot card.

Steal – You don’t always have to slay your enemies to get their loot, sometimes it’s easier to lighten a powerful enemy’s pockets instead of trying to defeat them in combat.

Change Equipment – You can use this action to equip any Loot Cards you find if you would like to use them.

Consume Item – If your Runerunners have a consumable item in their possession, such as a potion or bottle of booze, they use this action to consume it.

Cast a Spell – Some Runerunners have knowledge of mystical arts, or may have acquired a scroll or grimoire. Even though Magic is outlawed, it doesn’t mean they will never cast a spell especially in the heat of battle. Saying a prayer, casting a spell, or using a special ability will count as one action.

Investigating

Your Runerunners’ job is to retrieve as many lost or stolen magical artifacts as possible and return them to whoever posted the job. This could be anyone from museum curators to government officials to back-alley mob bosses. Your games will have at least two search tokens placed on it for each Runerunner in the game, so with a minimum of 3 members per team, there will be at least 12 different locations where these missing artifacts could be stashed away.

When one of your Runerunners is in a space next to a Search token, he can investigate the area by rolling an amount of dice equal to his Intellect attribute. For every 6 you roll, you may draw one Loot Card and assign it to him. Sometimes he will find junk or basic weapons, or set off a booby-trap – you never know what your investigations could uncover!

Attacking & Stealing

When dealing with other Runerunner teams, you have the option of trying to take them out of action, or ripping loot right out of their hands and making off with the goods. Both attacking and stealing are done using your Combat skills, however while some characters can attack from a distance, you may only steal from an enemy in a space next to you (unless you happen to have a mechanical, retractable arm like Sprockit!).

In order to attack or steal, roll an amount of dice equal to your Combat skill. You will need to hit a target number of 4, but this may change depending on certain skills or conditions in the game. Keep track of each of your dice that reached or exceeded the target number.

Now your opponent will need to defend himself, what we call a Saving Throw. He will roll an amount of dice equal to his character’s Defense. His target number will be the attacking character’s Strength. He will also have to roll enough saves to match the amount of hits. For example, if the attacker got 2 successful his, the defender will need to have 2 of his Defense dice roll at or above the attacker’s Strength.

If your opponent is unable to defend himself, you have the option of injuring him or stealing if you are next to him. If you injure him, he will receive one Wound token. If he gets enough Wound tokens to match his Health, he will be removed from play. If you would like to steal, instead of being hurt you will be allowed to take any Loot Card he is carrying. For best results, you should only steal an item if you have enough actions left to run away!

How to Win

After 6 full game turns, the Runerunners will leave the map and head back to their hideouts with all of the treasures they found. The Loot Cards your surviving team members have in their possession are worth a number of points equal to their rarity level. Common items are worth 1 point each, Uncommon are worth 2 points, Rare are worth 3 points, Epic are worth 4 points and Legendary are worth 5 points. Some scenarios will have additional victory conditions that will award even more points, such as taking out an enemy team leader, or finding a very specific and powerful item. Add up the points for each of your cards, and whoever has the most points is the winner!