UNOFFICIAL

TOMB Rules
For a clearer TOMB
Russell Newstrom
10/18/2008

An expanded and clarified TOMB rulebook.

CONTENTS
1 Forward ................................................................
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1.1 Game Contents ................................................................

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1.2 Background ................................................................

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2 GOAL ................................................................
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3 SETUP ................................................................
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4 The Basics ................................................................

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4.1 Card Types ................................................................

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4.1.1 Prayers ................................................................................................................................................................. 5

4.1.2 Spells ................................................................................................................................................................... 5
4.1.3 Items (aka Blacksmith Cards) ............................................................................................................................... 6
4.1.4 Tactics (aka Bar Cards) ........................................................................................................................................ 6
4.1.5 Treasure ............................................................................................................................................................... 6
4.1.6 Monsters............................................................................................................................................................... 6
4.1.7 Traps .................................................................................................................................................................... 6
4.2 Actions ................................................................
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4.2.1 Turn ...................................................................................................................................................................... 6

4.2.2 React .................................................................................................................................................................... 7
4.2.3 Battle .................................................................................................................................................................... 7
4.3 Traits................................................................
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4.3.1 Triggered .............................................................................................................................................................. 7

4.3.2 Ongoing ................................................................................................................................................................ 7
4.3.3 Keyword ............................................................................................................................................................... 7
4.4 Rolls/Attributes ................................................................
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4.4.1 Basic (default)....................................................................................................................................................... 8

4.4.2 Target Number (TN) ............................................................................................................................................. 8
4.4.3 Opposed ............................................................................................................................................................... 8
4.5 Important Definitions ................................................................
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4.5.1 Turn ...................................................................................................................................................................... 8

4.5.2 Use ....................................................................................................................................................................... 8
5 TURN ................................................................
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5.1 Free Actions ................................................................

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5.1.1 Share.................................................................................................................................................................... 8
5.1.2 Bank ..................................................................................................................................................................... 9
5.1.3 Rest ...................................................................................................................................................................... 9
5.2 Turn Actions ................................................................
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5.2.1 Act ........................................................................................................................................................................ 9

5.2.2 Draw ..................................................................................................................................................................... 9
5.2.3 Recruit .................................................................................................................................................................. 9
 5.2.4 Move .................................................................................................................................................................... 9
5.2.5 Heal .................................................................................................................................................................... 10
5.2.6 Pickpocket .......................................................................................................................................................... 10
5.2.7 Return to the Inn (Flee) ....................................................................................................................................... 10
5.2.8 Play a Card......................................................................................................................................................... 10
5.2.9 Raid a Crypt ....................................................................................................................................................... 10
6 RAID ................................................................
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6.1 General Rules ................................................................

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6.1.1 No Raiders ......................................................................................................................................................... 11

6.1.2 Empty Crypts ...................................................................................................................................................... 11
6.1.3 Traitors ............................................................................................................................................................... 11
6.2 Begin the Raid................................................................
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6.3 Traps................................
Traps................................................................
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6.4 Pre-
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6.5 Combat ................................................................

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6.6 Battle Actions

Actions................................................................
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6.6.1 Attack ................................................................................................................................................................. 12

6.6.2 Return to the Inn (Flee) ....................................................................................................................................... 13
6.6.3 Act ...................................................................................................................................................................... 13
6.6.4 Play a Card......................................................................................................................................................... 13
6.7 Resolution ................................................................
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7 Other Rules ................................................................

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7.1 Death ................................................................

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7.1.1 Characters .......................................................................................................................................................... 13

7.1.2 Monsters............................................................................................................................................................. 13
7.2 Attachments ................................................................
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7.3 Timing................................
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1 Forward
For 2–6 Players

Ages 12 to Adult

Playing Time: 60 minutes

1.1 Game Contents

• Tomb Board (double-sided)
• Inn Board
• Character Bag
• Character Poster
• 6 Adventuring Party Markers
• 84 Characters
• 40 Character Stands
• 25 Spell Deck Cards
• 25 Prayer Deck Cards
• 25 Item Deck Cards
• 25 Tactics Deck Cards
• 200 Crypt Deck Cards
• 21 Tomb Dice (7 Green, 7 Blue, 7 Red)
• 48 Wound/Tomb Tokens

1.2 Background
In Tomb, each player is a mercenary captain, forming and controlling his own
adventuring party to explore the crypts of an ancient Tomb. Each crypt holds traps,
monsters, and treasure. As the game advances, the adventuring party ebbs and flows in
strength until the last crypt is emptied and the Tomb is completed.

2 GOAL
To bank as many XP points as possible before the game ends!

XP is found on Monsters, Traps, and Treasures found within the Tomb. All XP on cards in your
party, and in your XP bank, are counted toward your XP total at the end of the game.

The game ends when all the Crypts in Tomb are cleared!
3 SETUP
1. Select a side of the Tomb map to play — Goldenaxe Catacombs or Tomb of the
Overseers. If this is your first time playing, we recommend the Goldenaxe Catacombs.
2. Place the Character pieces in the bag for use as the Character Pool.
3. Place the Inn Board next to the Tomb Board.
4. Shuffle the Item, Prayer, Spell, and Tactics Decks, and place each on their respective
locations on the Inn Board.
5. Shuffle the Crypt Deck and set it to the side of the board. There are enough Crypt Cards
to have a deck on each side of the table.
6. Determine the order of play by having each Player roll all seven Blue Tomb Dice. The
Player with the most successes (highest number of Tomb Dice with showing <axes>)
becomes Player One and selects an Adventuring Party Marker and places it on the Inn
Board. Re-roll ties. Play then proceeds in clockwise order.
7. Each Player draws three cards from the Crypt Deck.
8. Starting with Player One and continuing in clockwise order, each player places a Crypt
Card face down in any of the open Crypts and then draws a new Crypt Card. A crypt is
considered open until it has a number of cards in it equal to the number on the Crypt
Door, at which point it cannot hold any more Crypt Cards.
9. Once all of the Crypts are full, the Tomb is ready for exploration and the unused Crypt
Cards are discarded.

4 The Basics

4.1 Card Types

The following are general descriptions, for more information see: RAID\Traps (Traps),
RAID\Combat (Monsters), Other Rules\Attachments (Everything else).

4.1.1 Prayers
Prayers use holy incantations to provide: attribute bonuses/penalties,
healing/resurrection, and various utility effects.

These are also “Inn Cards.”

4.1.2 Spells
Spells use arcane power to provide: movement bonuses/penalties, direct
damage, and other utility effects.

These are also “Inn Cards.”

 4.1.3 Items (aka Blacksmith Cards)
Items include general equipment necessary for raiding a tomb: weapons, armor,
and a few odds and ends.

These are also “Inn Cards.”

4.1.4 Tactics (aka Bar Cards)

Tactics are those tricky plots and ideas that can help a party get through (or into)
sticky situations: scouting (move/recon/traps), harassment, and utility effects.

These are also “Inn Cards.”

Treasure
4.1.5 Trea sure
Treasures are that shiny loot just waiting for your party to pick up! These items
tend to be as powerful as they are ancient.

These are also “Crypt Cards,” which provide XP!

4.1.6 Monsters
Monsters are the guys, girls, and horrifying blobs standing between you and the
treasure. Why are they just loitering in crypts? Who knows? All you need to
know is that they are mean and won’t let you near the shiny!

These are also “Crypt Cards,” which provide XP!

4.1.7 Traps
Traps are those nefarious and deadly mechanisms put in seemingly every cavern
full of treasure to dissuade would be adventurers from doing what adventurers
would like to be doing, taking the treasure! Of course a non-would be adventurer
like yourself is entirely undaunted by atomizing blasts of energy or sucking black
sand… right?

These are also “Crypt Cards,” which provide XP!

4.2 Actions
There are three types of actions: “Turn”, “React”, and “Battle”. All actions start with one
of these three tags (or a combination thereof).

4.2.1 Turn
These actions may be used as your full turn action (see “TURN\Turn Actions”).
 4.2.2 React
These actions always have a trigger followed by a comma. Reacts may only be
used when their trigger is met and must be used immediately (or held until they
are triggered again). (see “Other Rules\Timing”)

You may play any number of reacts on any turn so long as their triggers are met.
The one exception is that you may not play any action (including reacts) during a
combat where none of your Characters are present (see “RAID\Battle Actions”).

4.2.3 Battle
These actions may be used as your battle action (see “RAID\Battle Actions”).

All actions on Prayers, Spells, Items, and Tactics may only be used once per turn. All
actions are optional (including Reacts).

Cards in XP banks may not be affected by any action or trait unless specifically
mentioned in the action or trait.

4.3 Traits
Some cards have text that is not an action (there is no action tag see SYNTAX\Actions),
this is known as a trait. Traits are not optional or limited to one use per turn and come in
several varieties.

4.3.1 Triggered
These traits react to a trigger.

4.3.2 Ongoing
These traits have an ongoing effect. Weapon bonuses are a type of ongoing
trait.

4.3.3 Keyword
These traits are descriptive of the card (generally found on Items and Treasure).

Keywords are always located by themselves above all other text on the card (in the box
just below the picture). Triggered and ongoing traits are determined by context.

Cards in XP banks may not be affected by any action or trait unless specifically
mentioned in the action or trait.

4.4 Rolls/Attributes
Each Character and Monster has 4 attributes: Attack, Skill, Magic, and Holiness. Each
attribute has three numbers (blank is zero) associated with it, one for each color of die
(green, blue, and red).
 Before making a roll, add up the character(s)’ base dice plus any bonuses, in the
specified attribute(s). Roll the appropriate number and color of dice then count the
number of axes (successes) rolled. This number may be used in a number of ways:

Basic
4.4.1 Basic (default)
The number is used directly.

4.4.2 Target Number (TN)

The number determines if a roll is successful or not (the TN is the minimum
number of axes necessary to succeed at the roll).

4.4.3 Opposed
Two rolls are made in opposition, whichever roll has more axes wins. Ties go to
the “defending” roll by default (whoever did not initiate the action).

Combined Rolls - Sometimes cards will call for a roll using more than one Character; in
such a case add together the dice from all the relevant attributes, characters, and
bonuses.

4.5 Important Definitions

4.5.1 Turn
The time from the start of one player’s turn to the start of the next player’s turn.
Whenever a card or rule references a turn, this is what it is referencing.

4.5.2 Use
A card is only “used” when an action on the card is taken. Cards without any
actions on them may not be “used” (although you may still attach them and gain
bonuses from their traits).

5 TURN

5.1 Free Actions

Take ANY/ALL of the following Standard Actions at the start of your turn (before taking
any Turn actions).

5.1.1 Share
Free: Move attached cards between Characters and/or your inventory. (See
“Other Rules\Attachments”)
 5.1.2 Bank
Free: If you are in the Inn, you may turn in conquered Monsters, Traps, and
Treasures. These are added to your XP bank used to determine your score at
the end of the game.

5.1.3 Rest
Free: If you are in the Inn, you may remove all wound tokens from your party.

5.2 Turn Actions

Take ONE Turn action from the following Standard Actions.

5.2.1 Act
(Variable): Take an action on a Character in your party or one of their attached
cards.

This action matches the type specified on the action being used (Turn, Battle, or
React).

5.2.2 Draw
Turn: If you are in the Inn, you may draw two cards in any combination from
cards in the Inn (Prayers, Spells, Items, and Tactics).

Prayers, Spells, and Tactics are drawn facedown into your hand.

You may draw cards that you cannot play (i.e. Drawing Prayers if your party has
no holiness).

Item cards must be attached immediately (See “Other Rules\Attachments”)

5.2.3 Recruit
Turn: If you are in the Inn, and have less than 5 Characters in your party, you
may recruit one available Character from the Inn. When you recruit a Character
you draw one Inn card into your hand based on the Character’s class as follows:

• Cleric- Prayer
• Wizard- Spell

If a Character has more than one class, draw cards from each appropriate deck.

5.2.4 Move
Turn: Move up to 10 spaces in the Tomb. If you are in the Inn, start from the
stairs, otherwise start from your current location.
 Each consecutive space must be adjacent (and not diagonal) to the previous
space. You may not move through walls!

5.2.5 Heal
Turn: Make a combined holiness roll using all your clerics, remove that many
wounds from your party.

5.2.6 Pickpocket
Turn: If you are in the Tomb, have a rogue, and are within move distance from
another party with Items and/or Treasures, pick a player with a party within your
move distance. The other player picks one Character in his party to try and
“catch” your rogue. Make a contested skill roll between your rogue and the other
Character. If you succeed, you may attach one Item or Treasure from the other
party. If you fail, the other Character may make an attack roll; inflicting that many
wounds on your rogue (this is an attack). If the rogue dies, all his attached cards
go into the other player’s hand (items must be attached immediately). (See
“Other Rules\Attachments”)

5.2.7 Return to the Inn (Flee)

Turn/Battle: Move your party to the Inn ignoring your current location and
movement. You may bank any Treasure attached to your party.

If you cannot move to the Inn, move to the staircase. If you cannot move to
either, then you may not use this action.

5.2.8 Play a Card

(Variable): Pick a Character in your party and a card in your hand. Attach the
card to the Character and resolve all effects of the action.

This action matches the type specified on the card being played (Turn, Battle, or
React).

You may not pick a Character that cannot attach the card (See “Other
Rules\Attachments”)

5.2.9 Raid a Crypt

Turn: If you are on a crypt door, you may raid the adjacent crypt (see “RAID”).

6 RAID
When a party chooses to “Raid a Crypt”, the raid begins.
• Raiding Party/Player (Raider) - This is the party/player that has chosen to raid the crypt.
 • Crypt Master (CM) - This is the player to the left or right of the Raider (determined by the
symbol on the Crypt Door). The CM’s job is to make the raid as difficult as possible for
the Raider. He resolves the Traps, and controls the Monster Party.

6.1 General Rules

6.1.1 No Raiders
If, at the beginning of any Combat Round, there are no Raiders in the crypt, the
raid ends. The CM removes all wounds from Monsters, and places all
unresolved Traps, undefeated Monsters, and unclaimed Treasures back onto the
crypt facedown. All Inn cards attached to Monsters are discarded. End the
raider’s turn.

6.1.2 Empty Crypts

If a crypt is ever emptied, it immediately becomes a hallway (but its walls
remain).

6.1.3 Traitors
Whenever a Character joins the Monster Party he is considered a Monster (and
not a Character) until he leaves the Monster Party.

Whenever a Monster joins a Player Party he is considered a Character (and not

a Monster) until he leaves the Player Party.

In both cases, all references to "Monsters" may be replaced with "Characters"

and vice versa as the controlling player (the CM for Monster Parties and the
Player for Player Parties) sees fit. This also applies to all cards attached to
Monsters (in Monster Parties).

6.2 Begin the Raid

1. The CM draws all the Crypt cards (facedown).
2. The Raider moves into the Crypt (move the party token).
3. Begin resolving Traps.

6.3 Traps
The CM resolves all Traps.

1. If there are no Traps, begin Pre-Combat.

2. The CM chooses any Trap to resolve.
3. The CM declares that “There are Traps!”
4. The CM reads the first and second lines of the Trap, telling the Raider how many
Characters may attempt to disarm the Trap, and what attribute is used, but not
the Target Number (TN).
5. The Raider selects which Character(s) make the TN roll to disarm the Trap.
 • If the Raider succeeds, the Trap is added to his party’s XP bank.
• If the Raider fails, he suffers the failure effects listed on the Trap and the Trap is
discarded (not banked!).
6. The Raider may exit the crypt if he wants (move the party to the crypt door).
7. Repeat from 1.

6.4 Pre-
Pre-Combat
1. If there are no Monsters, begin Resolution.
2. The CM declares that “There are Monsters!”
3. The Raider may exit the crypt if he wants (move the party to the crypt door).
4. The CM flips over all Monsters.
5. The Monsters are “revealed.”
6. Begin Combat.

6.5 Combat
The CM begins the combat round.

All Monsters and Characters may take a maximum of one Battle action each round of
combat!

1. If there are no Monsters, begin Resolution.

2. Begin a new round of combat.
3. The CM selects a Monster to legally take a Battle action (if able).
4. The Raider selects a Character to legally take a Battle action (if able).
5. Repeat from step 3 until no Character or Monster may legally take a Battle
action.
6. Repeat from step 1.

6.6 Battle Actions

Battle Actions may only be played in Combat.

A player may only take actions if at least one of his party members is in the Combat.
This includes the CM except where indicated.

Actions may not target Characters not in the Combat, during any Combat.

6.6.1 Attack
Battle: One Character in your party rolls Attack inflicting that many wounds
against one target Monster of the Raider’s choice. A Character may not attack
someone in his own party, or anyone not in this combat.

The CM may use this action to have Monsters attack the Raider’s Party.
 6.6.2 Return to the Inn (Flee
Flee))
(See “TURN\Turn Actions”)

6.6.3 Act
(See “TURN\Turn Actions”)

The CM may use this action for Monsters and their Attachments.

6.6.4 Play a Card

(See “TURN\Turn Actions”)

6.7 Resolution
1. If all the Traps and Monsters are defeated, the Raider may bank or immediately
attach all Treasure. (See “Other Rules\Attachments”)
2. The Raider “exits the crypt” (which is a hallway, see RAID\General Rules), the party
token stays in the empty crypt.
3. End the Raider’s turn.

7 Other Rules

7.1 Death

7.1.1 Characters
If a Character ever has more wounds than he has hit points, he is discarded to
the graveyard (do NOT add him to the Character pool). Discard all cards
attached to the Character when he dies (including Treasure). That Character is
considered “dead.”

When a Character dies, another Character is added to the Inn from the Character
pool (the unused Characters not already in the Inn).

If a player’s entire party dies:

1. The party token moves to the Inn.

2. The party draws (not recruits!) one Character from the Character Pool.

When a party dies, the banked XP is unaffected.

7.1.2 Monsters
If a Monster ever has more wounds than he has hit points, he is immediately
added the raider’s XP bank. Discard all cards attached to the Monster when he
dies (including Treasure). That Monster is considered “dead.”
7.2 Attachments
Attachments
The following restrictions apply when attaching cards:

• A Character may not have multiples of the same keyword attached (such as two
“weapon”, or two “armor”).
• Prayers may only be attached by Characters with at least 1 die of holiness (any
color).
• Spells may only be attached by Characters with at least 1 die of magic (any color).
• Only Spells, Prayers, Items, Tactics, and Treasures may ever be attached to a
Character.

If you ever fail to meet the above restrictions you must move Attachments to other
Characters in your party until all restrictions are met. If you cannot do this, you must
discard the minimum number of cards (of your choice) to meet all restrictions.

There is no explicit limit to the number of cards that may be attached to a single
Character.

7.3 Timing
Sometimes different card effects (generally traits and reacts) happen at the same time.
In such a case, use the following guidelines when resolving such conflicts:

1. Traits always go before reactions.

If there is still a conflict then…

2. Starting with whoever is currently taking their turn, each player selects one of his
traits/reacts to happen next and passes to the left until all the traits/reacts in question
have resolved. Each trait/react fully resolves before the next one begins.

Sometimes a triggered trait or react may result in a player drawing more reacts to the
same trigger, these reacts may be resolved in the same way as multiple reacts to the
same trigger (see above).