Gauntlets & Goblins

Playtest

Contents
Introduction 1
Using Your Cards 1
Whats on a Card 1
Getting Started 1
Classes 1
Character Attributes 2
Travelling & Rest 2
Combat 2
Injury & Defeat 2
Magic 3
Running the Game 3
Treasure 3
Monsters & Other Foes 4
Print and Play Cards 5

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2017 Ian Gibson Games, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Introduction
Gauntlets & Goblins is a tabletop role-
playing game for the whole family. To put it
simply, role-playing is pretend. We imagine
the story we tell together and use the game
devices to determine the outcome of our
actions. Play is officiated by the Game Master,
or GM. This person determines the overall plot
of the adventure and acts as the players eyes
and ears. The GM controls all the people and
monsters the players meet along the way. As a
result, the GM should be someone older, or at
least someone who has had some experience
playing these sorts of games before attempting
to run a game for the first time. For more
information on GMing, see Running the Game.
Using Your Cards
The cards available to you will determine
what you can do, at least in part. Each player
may carry two blue cards and two green cards
(the number of red cards you can hold is
determined by the item card that grants you
spells). Should you obtain more that you can
carry, you will have to store them in town or sell
them to shops for other items.
Whats on a Card
A cards text will tell you how to use it.
If the card asks for a dice roll, there will be a
number on the top right that will tell you how
many dice youre allowed to roll. To succeed at
using the card, one of your dice needs to show a
marked side. If you dont have custom dice, you
can use a normal six-sided dice and roll a 4, 5,
or 6.
If the card asks for multiple dice,
sometimes youll have multiple successes, and
this is good. It may be important for very difficult
tasks, combat, or opposed rolls, but generally at
least one success means you are successful.
Getting Started
Each player will need a character. They
can determine who they want to be either before
picking a class, or after.
Classes
Classes in Gauntlets & Goblins are fairly
simple, each boiled down to a set of character
attributes and starting equipment. When
choosing a class, consider carefully what you
would like to do, but dont worry too much. If you
decide later that you want to do something else,
you can obtain different cards that will let you
branch out in new ways. Each class card lists the
starting items that come with it. Once you have
your cards and your persona, youre ready for
adventure.
Wait, what can I be? In the basic version of
Gauntlets & Goblins, all races, species, and
sentient objects are equal. No matter what
you want to be, elf, dwarf, or onion, all use
the same stats and equipment listed on the
class card given to them. Let your imagination
decide how a talking onion might use a magic
wand.

But theres no card for For things like

lanterns, rope, bits of bread, bear traps,
grappling hooks, or even a trusty ten foot
pole, just assume that each character has the
item as long as its within reason. If a player
would like to have something thats not exactly
typical, just make sure they say they have
it ahead of time. If the desired item is just
something you as a GM dont think theyd have
access to, go ahead and deny it.
Character Attributes
When interacting with the environment
or those that live there, you will often have to
roll tests of your characters abilities. Typically,
earning a single success will mean that the
action yields the desired result.
The attributes cover the following:
Muscle - tests involving the characters physical
prowess, whether speed, strength, or stamina.
Mask - tests involving the characters guile,
stealthiness, or cunning.
Book - tests involving the characters knowledge
or understanding.
Magnifying Glass - tests involving the
characters awareness or insight.
Lips - tests involving the characters ability to
persuade, lie, or inspire.
You want to do what? Sometimes players
come up with things that boggle the mind,
for good or ill. When such an event occurs
and youre just not sure what ability to have
them roll, pick a number of dice relative to
the challenge you believe appropriate. For
things you imagine they could do with some
regularity, for instance, two dice.
Travel & Rest
Along your journey, you will find times
where you need to rest. When you do so, you
flip all face-down cards face-up. You may also
decide to trade any cards you hold for cards you
are storing. You may also trade spell cards, if
you have any (See Magic for more information
on trading spells while resting).
Stored items are kept separate from a
characters ready equipment, but still in their
possession. Stored items can be traded with
other active equipment cards during a rest.
Combat
Fights are bound to happen as heroes
and villains clash. At the start of the session,
the GM should pick either clockwise or
counterclockwise. Once the players enter
combat, free play stops and everyone must
act in turns. Play starts with the player either to
the left or right of the GM (whichever way was
determined before play) and continues around
the table until the fight is over. At the start of the
next fight, play resumes with whoever is after the
person who ended the previous fight, until the
end of the session.
In combat, each player may move their
character a reasonable distance (typically
around 25 or 5 squares, if using a grid), as well
as use one blue equipment card or one red spell
card.
*Note: Some cards like Shields and Daggers act
outside the normal rules. Shields can be used
to block damage each time the user is attacked,
and daggers can be used once each turn for
free.
Melee weapons may only be used on
enemies within reach, while ranged weapons
can be used against foes up to about 8 squares
or 40.
Should play go the same direction every
time we play, or just stay the same within
a single sitting? Gamers love to optimize
benefit. If play always begins to the left of the
GM, you will find that players will compete to
sit there. By changing the direction of play
each time you start a new session, your
players will be less likely to fight over chairs.
Injury & Defeat
When a weapon is used and successes
are earned, you flip that many heart cards face
down for the character struck. Once all of their
heart cards are flipped face down, they fall
unconscious. In the event that the entire party
falls unconscious, we recommend that they find
themselves captured and in need of an escape
plan. In the case of monsters, they are defeated
in the manner appropriate. Once combat ends
and one side is victorious, they may flip all their
heart cards face up.
Magic
Gauntlets & Goblins is a game about
imagination. As such, the system has very
loose rules governing the use of magic. Certain
equipment cards, namely holy symbols and spell
books, grant characters red spell cards.
At the beginning of each day, a player
may elect to consider new spells. If they do so,
reveal spell cards from the spell deck equal to
the amount they are allowed by their gear. They
may choose to discard any spell they currently
have in favor of any spell so revealed. Once this
is done, take all discarded and non-chosen cards
and place them randomly at the bottom of the
spell deck.
During play, a character may cast any
spell they have as many times as they like. The
only restriction is that each spell may only be
active on one subject at a time. Casting a spell
while it is already active negates the original
effect.
Effects are deliberately loose. We
realize that this means that it can be difficult to
determine the correct ruling for certain things.
Just remember that youre playing a game to
have fun. If an action is questionable but fun,
rule in favor of fun.
Running the Game
Ultimately, what makes a good story is
down to personal tastes. That said, an adventure
needs a few things to get going. You need a
location, a goal, and an antagonist. Something
as simple as In a cave in the mountains there is
a dragon who has a magical cup that can cure
disease, and youre off. The story can be as
complex or simple as you like. Whats important
is that each player has fun being in that story,
and has a hand in writing it.
In rare circumstances, these adventures
will feature incredibly difficult tasks, or attribute
tests that are made in opposition to another
character. In these situations, a player may
need more than one success to gain a favorable
outcome. For an opposed roll, simply have
both participants roll and the one with more
successes wins the test, in the event of a tie, use
your best judgement when asking for more than
one success. Take into account the likelihood of
them being able to do what they want and try to
strike a reasonable balance. Some things are flat
out impossible and should be treated as such.
If faced with the Grand Canyon, a player who
wishes to jump it unaided should not expect any
chance of reaching the other side.
Treasure
Looting the dragons hoard is always
exciting. When your adventurers succeed in their
quest, if you feel it is appropriate, shuffle the
unused equipment and magic item cards into a
deck. Reveal one for each player and let them
take their pick. Note that if they end up with more
than they can carry (two blue and two green)
they have to choose cards to store.
When the party are somewhere they
can shop, you may reveal three cards to
represent the inventory of the shop (or more/less
depending on the relative wealth of the area).
Each player may trade their cards, stored or
held, for any of the cards in the stores inventory
one to one.
Even Basic Cards? Yes. Players may even
trade their starting cards one to one with
shops. If you feel that this is bit too generous,
you may say instead that shops only accept
starting equipment cards at two to one.
Monsters & Other Foes
Enemies that we face in Gauntlets &
Goblins are fairly abstract. A mere pile of heart
cards and some dice are all thats needed to stir
up trouble. What we recommend is that you take
the number of players and multiply by 3. For a
typical fight, the enemy side should have that
many each dice and heart cards.
Sometimes you wont simply throw
minions or mooks at the party. When you have a
monster with more dice than the lowest total of
heart cards possessed by the weakest character
in the party, you should take the excess dice and
spend them on special abilities. Note that these
abilities do not reduce the number of hearts the
creature has.
Examples include:

Ability Cost Description

Regeneration 1 Recover 1 heart at the start of its turn.

Characters dealt damage by this must succeed at a muscle test to act on their
Grab 1
turn.
Fear Aura 3 Characters must succeed at a 1 die test on their turn or run away.

Multi attack * Attack hits two targets at once.

Durable 2 Reduces all damage taken by 1

Spell 2 Has access to one spell card per 2 dice spent.

*After adjusting dice pool for all other abilites, reduce the remainder by
Print and Play Cards

The next few pages are our sample cards to get you playing. These images are not representi-
tive of the final product, nor does this pdf contain all the planned cards for the beginner box version of
the game.

We recommend using cardstock for the best results. Simply print each page on its own sheet
of paper and then cut along the lines. Youll then want to separate them into piles of spell, equipment,
and magic items for play.

If you would like to make the dice even easier to use, you can buy blank dice and then mark
half the faces with sticky label dots.