Overview

Delve: The Dice Game is a solo dungeon-crawling dice game. The player controls a party of four adventurers descending through a dungeon, fighting six groups of monsters in sequence. The game uses a Yahtzee-style dice-rolling mechanic with tactical allocation – you roll six dice up to three times per round, then distribute your results among your heroes to deal damage and heal. The goal is to survive all six encounters with at least one party member still standing.

Components

• 6 standard six-sided dice
• Paper and pencil (to track hero and monster health)
• Adventure cards/sheets describing the dungeon encounters

Setup

1. Select an adventure (the base game includes two starting adventures).
2. Record each of the four adventurers and their starting health/abilities.
3. Note the six monster groups you will face in order.
4. Gather 6 dice and something to track health.

Turn Structure

Each encounter (room) plays out in rounds:

1. Roll Phase: Roll all 6 dice. You may set aside any dice and re-roll the rest up to 2 more times (3 rolls total, Yahtzee-style).
2. Allocation Phase: Distribute your final dice results among your four adventurers to activate their abilities (attack, heal, defend).
3. Monster Attack Phase: The current monster group attacks your party.
4. Repeat rounds until the monsters are defeated or all heroes are dead.

Actions

Rolling Dice

• Roll 6 dice up to 3 times per round, keeping any dice you wish between rolls.
• Different dice combinations activate different abilities for each hero.

Allocating Dice to Heroes

• Each adventurer has unique abilities triggered by specific dice values or combinations.
• You decide how to split your dice results among your heroes – you might focus on maximum damage or spread effort to include healing.

Hero Abilities

• Each of the four adventurers has distinct strengths: some excel at damage, others at healing or defense.
• Matching the right dice to the right hero is the core tactical decision.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

• Win: Defeat all 6 monster groups with at least one adventurer still alive.
• Loss: All four adventurers are killed before completing the dungeon.
• The game can also be scored by how many adventurers survive and their remaining health.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Dead Adventurers: Once an adventurer reaches 0 health, they are eliminated and can no longer receive dice allocations.
• Monster Variety: Each of the 6 monster groups has different health totals and attack patterns.
• Advanced Delve: Additional rules and adventures are available for increased difficulty and variety.
• Dice Allocation Strategy: You can “shoot for healing” or “try for maximum damage” – the tradeoff between sustaining your party and eliminating threats quickly is the core tension.

Player Reference

Round: Roll 6 dice (up to 3 rolls) → Allocate dice to heroes → Resolve hero abilities → Monster attacks

Win: Survive all 6 encounters with at least 1 hero alive

Key Decision: How to split dice results between damage and healing across 4 heroes