Overview

Dark Souls: The Board Game is a cooperative dungeon crawl for 1-4 players based on the Dark Souls video game series. Players control Chosen Undead characters who explore tile-based dungeons, fight enemies in tactical encounters, and ultimately face bosses. When a character dies, the whole party returns to the bonfire and all enemies reset. Players must learn enemy attack patterns, manage limited resources (Sparks, Estus Flasks, Souls), and equip better gear to progress. The game culminates in a Mini Boss fight followed by a Main Boss fight.

Components

• 4 character miniatures (Assassin, Herald, Knight, Warrior) with player boards and starting equipment
• Enemy miniatures: 2 Sentinels, 3 Silver Knight Swordsmen, 3 Silver Knight Greatbowmen, 2 Large Hollow Soldiers, 3 Hollow Soldiers, 3 Crossbow Hollows
• Mini Boss: Boreal Outrider Knight (with Health dial, boss data card, behaviour cards, treasure)
• Main Bosses: Dancer of the Boreal Valley, Dragon Slayer Ornstein & Executioner Smough
• Treasure Deck: 13 Starting Equipment, 40 Class-Specific, 60 Common, 10 Legendary, 18 Boss treasure cards
• Encounter Deck: 12 each of Level 1, 2, 3 cards
• Dice: 5 Black, 4 Blue, 2 Orange, 4 Green Dodge
• Tokens: Aggro, First Activation, Wounds, Fog Gate, Treasure Chests, Gravestones, Barrels, Traps, Luck, Heroic Action, Estus Flask, Ember, Souls, Spark Dial
• Cubes: 32 Damage (red), 32 Stamina (black), 16 Level Up (white)
• Condition tokens: 5 each of Bleed, Poison, Frostbite, Stagger
• Tiles: 1 Bonfire, 6 Exploration, 1 Mini Boss, 1 Main Boss

Setup

1. Place Bonfire tile; set Mini Boss and Main Boss tiles aside. Shuffle 6 exploration tiles, lay out 4 around the Bonfire with aligned doorways. Place Fog Gate on farthest tile.
2. Set Spark dial: 5 Sparks (1 player), 4 (2 players), 3 (3 players), 2 (4 players).
3. Choose Mini Boss; set aside its model, Health dial, data card, behaviour cards, treasure.
4. Separate encounter cards by level; place 1 facedown per tile matching boss data card’s difficulty progression (lower near Bonfire, higher farther).
5. Each player selects a character, takes model, player board, starting equipment. Place 1 Estus Flask, 1 Heroic Action, 1 Luck token on board. Place Level Up tokens at Base stats.
6. Build Treasure Deck from common + class-specific cards; place on Bonfire tile.
7. Set up all remaining tokens within reach.

Turn Structure

Exploration Phase

Characters move from the Bonfire tile through doorways to explore. When entering a tile with a facedown encounter card, an encounter begins.

Encounter Structure

Encounters alternate between character activations and enemy activations:

1. Character Activations: Each character activates once per round. During activation, a character can move, attack, use items, dodge, and block. Characters use Stamina from their endurance bar to perform actions.
2. Enemy Activations: After all characters activate, enemies activate based on their data cards. Enemies follow specific AI targeting (closest character, highest taunt, etc.).
3. Repeat until all enemies are defeated or a character dies.

After Encounters

• Defeated enemies drop Souls (currency for leveling up and buying equipment).
• If all enemies are defeated, place treasure chests and gravestones for rewards.
• If a character dies, the party resets to the Bonfire and loses 1 Spark.

Actions

Character Actions (during activation)

• Move: Move 1 node per movement point. Costs Stamina.
• Attack: Use a weapon’s action. Place Stamina cubes on endurance bar equal to the attack’s cost, then roll dice. Damage equals dice results after modifiers.
• Block: When attacked, spend Stamina to block. Roll dice matching shield’s block value.
• Dodge: When attacked, spend Stamina to dodge. Roll green dodge dice; successes avoid damage.
• Use Estus Flask: Remove all black (Stamina) and red (Damage) cubes from endurance bar. One use per Bonfire rest.
• Use Heroic Action: Class-specific powerful ability. One use per Bonfire rest.
• Use Luck Token: Reroll 1 die in any attack, block, or dodge roll. One use per Bonfire rest.

Bonfire Actions

• Rest: All characters return to Bonfire. Estus Flasks, Heroic Actions, and Luck refill. All enemies and encounters reset. Costs 1 Spark.
• Visit Blacksmith Andre: Spend Souls to purchase equipment from Treasure Deck or add Upgrades.
• Visit Firekeeper: Spend Souls to level up stats (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith).

Scoring / Victory Conditions

• Win: Defeat the Main Boss.
• Lose: The Spark dial reaches 0, and then a character is killed (no more rests available).

Boss Encounters

• Boss uses a Health dial tracking HP.
• Boss behaviour is driven by shuffled Behaviour Cards flipped each activation, dictating movement and attacks.
• Bosses have arcs (front, rear, left, right) that determine which characters are targeted.
• After defeating the Mini Boss: reset tiles, select Main Boss, add Transposed and Legendary treasures to deck.
• Defeating the Main Boss wins the game.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Endurance Bar: Stamina (black cubes) and Damage (red cubes) share the same bar. When the bar fills completely, the character dies.
• Node Limit: Max 3 models per node. If exceeded, push 1 model. Only 1 boss per node.
• Range: Measured in nodes. Range 0 = same node. Range ∞ = unlimited.
• Aggro Token: Goes to the character who attacked most recently. Some enemies target the aggro holder.
• Ember Tokens: Found in treasure deck. While held, reduce damage by 1 if suffering 3+ from a single attack. Discarded when resting at Bonfire.
• Conditions: Bleed, Poison, Frostbite, Stagger each have specific effects that persist until cleared.
• Pushing: When a node exceeds its limit, the active player chooses which model to push to an adjacent node.
• Terrain: Barrels, Gravestones, Trap tokens placed on terrain nodes during encounter setup. Traps trigger when models move onto them.
• Sparks by player count: 1P=5, 2P=4, 3P=3, 4P=2. Each rest or party wipe costs 1 Spark.
• Treasure Chests: After clearing an encounter, spend Souls to draw from Treasure Deck (2 Souls per draw).
• Campaign Rules: Optional multi-session play with progression tracking.

Player Reference

Spark Counts: 1P=5, 2P=4, 3P=3, 4P=2

Character Stats: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith (determine equipment requirements)

Dice Colors:

• Black: Standard attack dice
• Blue: Better attack dice
• Orange: Best attack dice
• Green: Dodge dice

Game Flow:

1. Explore tiles from Bonfire outward
2. Encounter enemies on each tile
3. Defeat all enemies → collect Souls and treasure
4. Return to Bonfire to rest/shop/level up (costs 1 Spark, resets enemies)
5. Defeat Mini Boss → reset, add better treasure
6. Explore new tiles, defeat Main Boss → WIN

Key Resources:

• Souls: Currency for leveling and buying gear
• Sparks: Limited lives/rests
• Estus Flask: Full heal (once per rest)
• Luck: Reroll (once per rest)
• Heroic Action: Class ability (once per rest)