Dragonfire takes place across a number of Scenes, as determined by the selected Adventure. Game play follows the basic outline described below, although some Adventures can modify these rather heavily for new and enjoyable experiences.

The party — the players involved in the current game — start by selecting their characters and setting up their decks based upon those characters, as well as the encounter decks for the selected Adventure. Players will also need to determine who will be the party leader — the player in charge of the Dragonfire deck.

After setup, each player will face an encounter; a given monster or, in some instances, a non-player character (such cards are part of the Adventurers Encounter Deck). Each player takes a complete turn in order, moving to the left from the party leader. Once the last player has taken their turn, the round ends.

On your turn, you follow these steps in order:

You can choose to move into or out of a Location Encounter and then resolve any “at the start of your turn” effects. You then play as many or as few cards as you wish. (During this step others may play cards with ‘Assist’ effects to help you). Once all cards have been played, the effects from card texts are applied. After all card text effects are applied, you then deal damage (from those cards played that also include damage) to encounters. Now it’s the monsters’ (or NPCs’) turn and the encounter(s) facing you attack and deal damage. If you’re in a Location, and it deals damage, you’ll take that as well. If your Hit Points drop to 0, you become Stunned and take an Exhausted token; your turn is immediately over. During the Replenish phase, if you have three or fewer cards in your hand, you automatically draw two cards. If you have enough gold — including any gold paid out for encounters you defeated earlier in your turn — you may purchase any number of cards from the Market. Unlike most deckbuilder games, these more powerful cards go immediately into your hand!

Your turn ends after you have completed all of these steps.

The Dragonfire deck represents the low, steady beat of orc drums in dark cavern depths; the clatter of hoofs on cobblestone in pursuit; the spidery claws grasping at your cloak in the tangled wood. It is the driving pressure that keeps the game exciting, growing ever more dangerous the longer you take. At any moment, the orcs might appear; the horse might thunder into view; the claws might snap the cloak tight against your throat.

In other words, adventuring is dangerous work. You’ve got to get in, dispatch the evil, and get out fast. If you let the Dragonfire level creep up, you’ll find yourselves flooded with monsters.

The Dragonfire level is equal to the number of cards in the Dragonfire discard. Many effects in the game, including those on Dragonfire cards, depend on whether the Dragonfire level is at or above a particular threshold. As it shows on the displayed Dragonfire card, if there are four cards in the Dragonfire discard, and the 'Surging Evil' Dragonfire event is active, then all black encounter cards facing players would heal all levels (if they’d taken any damage).

Before the start of the next round, the party player discards the Dragonfire card on top of that deck, increasing the Dragonfire level by 1. Then a new Dragonfire card is revealed: the flavor text is read aloud, then any effects from the card’s text is applied (based on the encounters and characters in play, as well as the Dragonfire level). Then the Dragon player starts the next round by taking their turn.

If all encounters have been defeated at the end of any player’s turn, that round immediately ends — that Scene has been completed. The revealed Dragonfire card is buried on the bottom of that deck; it doesn’t increase the Dragonfire level.

After a Scene ends, there is a Short Rest, during which you and all the players can heal Hit Points, purchase cards, and/or remove Exhausted tokens. Once the Short Rest is done, a new Scene begins with newly revealed encounters. However, unlike the first Scene where encounters were all revealed from a Primary Deck (an easier deck), starting with the second Scene, you reveal a number of encounters from the Secondary Deck (a harder deck) equal to the Dragonfire level. You then fill any remaining encounters that need to be revealed from the Primary Deck. This means that the longer it takes you to defeat the game, the higher the Dragonfire level and the more harder encounters come into play. If players complete all the Scenes in the Adventure, they complete that Adventure and win the game!

That’s not all, of course. One-off games are fantastic, and the game works great in that style. However, as with tabletop roleplaying games, Dragonfire embraces campaign play, where characters increase in abilities across multiple games. As characters advance through a variety of Adventures, they become more experienced in not only how to survive, but to complete even the most difficult situations. This is represented through Experience Points (XP). Experience points unlock a variety of equipment, abilities, and expertise, represented by Feature stickers, which are purchased and applied directly to the Character card for ongoing effects. Finally, as players complete Adventures, they gain access to fantastical and wondrous treasures that unlock even greater powers during a game, which come in the form of Magic Item cards.

That’s just a very quick walk through of a game turn and round. There’s so much more to experience in each game of Dragonfire. If you’re interested in more details, check out www.dragonfirethegame.com, where a weekly blog will take you into behind-the-scenes details surrounding this coming deckbuilder.

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Randall N. Bills has led the development and publication of hundreds of novels, sourcebooks, rulebooks, box sets, game aides and more. He’s currently the Managing Developer for Catalyst Game Labs, overseeing the strategic development of the perennial BattleTech and Shadowrun properties, while managing the rollout of Catalyst Game Labs’ new line of table top games, including core development on Dragonfire.