Table of Contents

Thieves of the Black Keep

Thieves of the Black KeepVersion 3
Game Crafter page
Shop page
hidden_movement_finalists_judges_sheet.xlsx

Criteria

Blurb

Be the first thief to steal the treasure, alert guards to thwart the other thieves. Don't get caught.

Rulebook

33mb PDF - Version 3

Number of Players

2 to 6 (limit of 3 to keep the game under $35 for the competition)

Components

Advanced Components

Setup

Advanced Setup

Choosing Guards

Choosing guards for map tiles depends on the level of difficulty you want in the game and which guard variants you wish to use-

Easy difficulty As the basic game.
Medium difficulty Include one guard variant
Hard difficulty Include more than one guard variant

Starting the Game

Winning the Game

To win the game your thief must-
1) Reach the Vault Hex without being caught by a guard.
2) Reveal your hidden Treasure Card.
3) Reach an Outside Hex on the Map Tile marked with your Exit Thief Card. You must do this while suffering the restrictions of your Treasure and without being caught by a guard.
4) Play a movement Thief Card to move off the Outside Hex on that map tile and get away into the night.
The Vault Hex The Vault Hex.

Once your thief reaches this hex, you reveal your Treasure card as you've now stolen the treasure. The treasure will effect your thief once you leave this hex, so a good time to Rest if you can. You may now win the game by leaving the map tile marked with your Exit Thief Card

Outside Hexes

Outside Hexes A hex is defined as an Outside Hex and therefore a legitimate way for a thief to enter2) or exit3) the Keep if:

In the illustration on the right, Outside Hexes are shown with a purple border.

Each Turn

  1. Initiative Phase
    • Change First Player
      • The player that now goes first is the one clockwise to the previous first player
  2. Resource Phase
    • Remove any Thief Markers that are out of the line of sight of any guard and any Resting Thief Markers.
    • Place 5 Guard cards face up so every player can see them.Gold Coin
    • In order players spend Thief Cards with the Gold Coin symbol to buy Guard cards.
      • You may buy a face up Guard Card, or an unknown face down card from the deck of Guard Cards
        • A face up Guard card costs between one and three Gold Coins as shown on the card.
        • A face down card from the deck costs two gold coins.
      • Spent Thief Cards are placed face up in front of the player such that other players can see what they are. Spent cards are not stacked, but placed side by side so they can all be seen. Only Thief cards can be spent, not Guard cards.
      • Bought Guard cards go into a player's deck immediately.
      • A player may buy as many Guard cards in their turn as they can afford.
      • Bought Guard cards are not replaced, so some players may not be able to buy face up cards in this phase.
      • Face up cards that aren't bought are discarded to the Guard Discard pile.
  3. Movement Phases
    • Repeat the following phases five times.
    1. Guards Movement Phase
      • In player order, each player moves the guard(s) on the map tile they are responsible for. The first thief that moves onto the Vault Map Tile is also responsible for initially placing and subsequently moving the guard on that tile from now on.
        • Guards move according to their type and status.
          • Stationary (blue meeple) guards rotate clockwise one hex side.
          • Patrolling (green meeple) guards move along their patrol route one hex, facing the next hex they will move into. If they reach the end of the route, they turn around.
          • Wandering (red meeple) guards move one hex in the direction of the red arrow and face the nex hex they will move into.
      • Guards check to see if they spot a thief, or if they fulfil their patrol route or the conditions to change their status.
    2. Players Movement Phase
      1. Each player secretly plays one card face down in front of them from their deck. This card will be either a Thief Card or a Guard Card
        1. Thief Cards allow you to move, hide, get your cards back (see Resting) or Pick Pocket a guard.
        2. Guard Cards modify guard behaviour or give your thief temporary advantages.
      2. Once all players have played a card (Thief or Guard) the cards are turned face up, resolved in player order, and then put in the line of spent cards in front of the player.
        • If the card played is invalid (ie a special move, but the thief is not next to a special space), the thief remains stationary.
        • If a Guard card is played, the player's thief remains stationary. Guard cards are moved to the Guard Card discard pile after their effects cease.
      3. Players secretly update their Location Dial to their current location.
      4. Guards check to see if they spot a thief, or if they fulfil their patrol route or the conditions to change their status.

Movement

Movement with Thief Cards

In this example -

the red thief at H2 can only move to a different map tile by playing the Nor-East, East or Run card

the green thief at D5 can move to any of the green hexes by playing a Run card. Note - they can't move into the wall or the special hex.
In this example -

the red thief at H2 can only move into the special hex G2 by playing the Rope Arrow card

the green thief at D5 can move to -
* C5 or D4 (blue arrows) by playing a Nor-West card
* D4 or E5 (white arrows) by playing a Nor-East card
* E5 or E6 (green arrows) by playing an East card
* E6 or D6 (purple arrows) by playing a Sou-East card
* C6 or D6 (yellow arrows) by playing a Sou-West card
* C5 or C6 (red arrows) by playing a West card

Spotting a Thief

Guards usually only look straight ahead unless they are on a higher alert status. See Line of Sight.

Thieves only see each other if they are Spotted by a guard first, or if the thief rests and reveals their location. A thief cannot reveal the location of another thief.

Getting Cards Back

When a Guard Card is played, it is expended and placed into the Guard Card discard pile - only to be reshuffled later if you run out of Guard Cards. Thief Cards that have been played or spent in the Resources Phase are face up in front of the player. They remain there until the Thief Rests.

Resting

When you play a Rest Thief Card in your Players Movement Phase.

  1. Reveal your Location Dial so other players see where your thief actually is.
  2. Move your Thief Marker to the revealed location and lay it on its side. You have revealed your location to the other players, but not to the guards.
  3. Retrieve all your spent Thief Cards and put them back in your deck. This is the only way you get Thief Cards back.
  4. On the next Resource Phase if your Thief Marker is still showing where you rested (it may have been moved if your thief has been spotted since then), remove it from the map tile.
    • If a guard moves onto a resting Thief Marker-
      • and your thief is not there, remove it from the map.
      • and your thief is still there, the guard captures you.

Pick Pocketing

You may sneak up on a guard and pick their pocket. Your thief must be adjacent to a guard, and out of line of sight of that guard (but may be in line of sight of any other guard).

  1. During the Players Movement Phase, play the Pick Pocket card.
  2. Reveal your Location Dial so other players see where your thief actually is.
  3. Move your Thief Marker to the revealed location. You have revealed your location to everyone - guards and players. If you are in line of sight of a guard, you are now spotted and will be pursued.
  4. Take the top facedown card from the Guard Cards deck and place it in your deck.

Guards

See hmgguard

Appendices

1)
of components from the Gamecrafter website
2)
at the start of the game
3)
to win the game