The various races of Yon have always enjoyed peace (except for an uncontested goblin raid or two) until a dragon appeared.

This dragon terrorized locals and livestock until several wannabe heroes rose up from the mud (truly, for they were mud farmers), and decided to end the evil.

Gathering companions and soldiers along the way, they fought their way to the Dragon's Keep until one hero defeated the dragon, restoring peace and unmelted cheese to the land. At least, that's how the story goes...


Components

  • 30 Soldier dice
  • 1 Event die
  • 10 Companion cards
  • 20 Magic Item cards
  • 5 Player mats
  • 1 Dragon
  • 5 Damage counters
  • A stockpile of Soldier tokens

Object of the Game

To be the first Wannabe to defeat the dragon! To do that, you'll need to recruit an army of at least 5,000 brave, yet foolish soldiers to follow you and become hero of Yon, with all the publishing rights contained therein.

First, some words you may need to know...


Farkle: The event that occurs when no scoring dice can be set aside on any given roll. Basically, it is the gaming equivalent of spilling hot coffee on your new suit of armor.

Wannabe noun: This is you and the other players sitting around you.


Card Types

Companion: These solitary figures have caught wind of your heroics and join your army, lending their assistance.

They can be used anytime during your turn, except as noted.



Magic Item: Items can be used anytime, except where as noted on the card. Items are discarded after use. (Yon promotes recycling for all its citizens).

Important: Players may only have one Magic Item at the end of any turn (exception: Sack of Holding).



Setup



Give each Wannabe a set of 6 dice (ideally in their favorite color) and a player mat.

Shuffle the Companion cards and Magic Item cards separately and place them in the center of the play area, facedown, to form separate decks (should any deck run out, shuffle the discard pile and form a new deck).

Place the Dragon near the decks and 3 Damage counters next to it. The Soldier tokens go into a stockpile.


Dragon Farkle is played in turns, going clockwise, starting with the one who brought the most snacks. Everyone gets a Companion card, which is placed faceup on each Wannabe's player mat.

Next, each Wannabe is dealt a Magic Item card, which is placed facedown in front of each Wannabe or held in hand - these cards are hidden from the other Wannabes.



Game Play

Each turn, a Wannabe has the option to attempt one of these actions during their turn:

  1. Recruiting new soldiers
  2. Brawling another Wannabe's army
  3. entering the Dragon's Keep in a Final Battle (with a minimum army of 5,000 soldiers).

For any action chosen, you will begin by rolling your six Soldier dice and the Event die. If you are able to, and choose to, continue rolling; you will most likely roll fewer Soldier dice, but you will always roll the Event die. What is the Event die? Glad you asked.

The Event die is a six-sided die that displays a Dragon side, a Rally side, and four Blank sides. You roll it anytime there is a Recruiting, Brawling, or Final Battle roll.


If a Blank side appears, there is no effect; score the roll as normal (just another day in Yon).


If the Dragon side appears with scoring dice, set aside ALL scoring dice, but don't set aside any Soldier tokens. The dragon flies in for a snack and eats any soldiers you would have gained from that roll.

You may then continue your action or choose to stop.

If the Dragon side appears during a Farkled roll (no scoring dice were rolled), you have evaded the dragon and may choose to ignore the Farkle and continue your action, or you may end your turn.


If the Rally side appears with scoring dice, there is a rally for your cause, allowing you to choose one of the following rewards:


  1. double the value of all scoring dice set aside for that roll OR
  2. draw a Magic Item from the deck, look at it, then set it aside facedown.

If the Rally side appears during a roll with no scoring dice, you Farkle as normal (except during the Final Battle, but more on that later).


Recruiting

After all, you need soldiers to face the dragon! Choose this action to recruit soldiers into your army. To begin, roll all dice. After each roll, you must set aside at least one scoring die, based on the Soldier table on your player mat.

Set aside the appropriate value in Soldier tokens from the stockpile (use the space above your player mat). This is how you keep track of how many soldiers may join your army.

You may then end your turn and add the Soldier tokens set above your player mat to your army (move them on your player mat) and possibly one Magic Item gained from the Event die, which ends your turn, or continue rolling the remaining Soldier dice and the Event die to try and increase your recruitment for the turn.

If, after scoring, you have set aside all your Soldier dice (including those eaten by the Dragon side), you may continue your turn by rolling all six Soldier dice and the Event die again, thus potentially adding soldiers to your previous rolls - but don't Farkle, as you will lose everything you have scored this turn.

If, during any roll, you cannot set aside any scoring dice, you Farkle, losing all potential soldiers and Magic Items gained that turn. Discard Magic Items and return Soldier tokens set aside back to the stockpile (nobody likes following a Farkler).




Brawling

Competition in Yon can get tense at times and would not be complete without a little friendly pub fight between armies every once in a while.

Choose this action to steal soldiers from an opponent's army as well as getting fresh soldiers who join your army after hearing of your victory. To begin, select another Wannabe to fight against.

Roll your Soldier dice and the Event die: as in Recruiting, you must set aside one or more scoring dice based on the Soldier table. You keep track of your Brawl attack score by setting aside the corresponding number of soldiers from the stockpile above the player mat (these Soldiers do not go into your army).

Also, the Event die acts the same way as in Recruiting (your soldiers can get eaten by a dragon, ignore a Farkle roll or you can double your score or draw Magic Items).

You then have the option to end your turn or continue your turn. If you end your turn, keep the Soldier tokens aside as a reminder of your Brawl attack score (any Magic Items gained are also kept aside for now), and it will be the defending Wannabe's turn to roll. Or, if you choose to continue, roll the remaining dice to try and increase your Brawl attack score attack.

If, during any roll, you cannot set aside any scoring dice, you Farkle, and your Brawl attack score is zero: discard any Magic Items and return all Soldier tokens back to the stockpile.

Once the attacker has stopped or Farkled, the defending Wannabe gets to... defend. He only rolls 5 Soldier dice and the Event die. However, all other rules apply as above. When the defending Wannabe stops rolling or Farkles, both scores are compared: the winner of the Brawl is the one with the highest Brawl attack score.



The winner receives soldiers from the losing army equal to the difference in scores, or as many soldiers as the loser can give.

The winner also receives an additional 500 new soldiers from the stockpile.

Finally, the winner also gets to keep one Magic Item that he gained during the brawl (remember, a Wannabe can only have one Magic Item at the end of any turn).



Final Battle

It is time to rid Yon of its most dangerous menace.

Choose this action to fight the dragon. If you do three damage to the dragon on your turn, you win the game.

The dragon resides in the Dragon's Keep. To enter it, you must possess an army of at least 5,000 soldiers at the beginning of your turn.

In the Final Battle, the Soldier and Event dice work a little differently. Scoring dice work against you and the Dragon and Rally sides only do damage to the dragon.

Farkling also works differently: it only happens when you roll no damage to the dragon and do not lose any soldiers (i.e. roll no scoring dice).

Finally, in a Final Battle, you keep rolling until you (a) defeat the dragon; (b) Farkle; or (c) lose your whole army (the dragon ate all of your soldiers).

To begin, you roll all the dice...what happens depends on what you roll on the Event die.

Dragon side - One damage to the dragon (flip a Damage counter over to the blood side); check the Soldier table and set aside ALL scoring dice (if any), losing that number of soldiers from your army back to the stockpile due to an unfortunate case of death, and continue your turn.


Rally side - Two damage to the dragon (flip two Damage counters over to the blood side); check the Soldier table and set aside ALL scoring dice (if any), losing that number of soldiers from your army back to the stockpile due to lost limbs, and continue your turn.


Blank side with Scoring Dice - Check the Soldier table and set aside ALL scoring dice, losing that number of soldiers from your army back to the stockpile due to fruitless sacrifice, and continue your turn.


Blank side with No Scoring Dice - Farkle and your turn ends.

If you fail to defeat the dragon on your turn, it regenerates all damage taken due to the incredible healing nature of freshly eaten soldiers.

Flip over all Damage counters to their normal side; the dragon always starts a Final Battle with no damage points.




Special Rules for the Dragon's Keep

If your turn ends during a Final Battle attempt, you are considered still inside the Dragon's Keep. You may attempt another Final Battle on your next turn, even if you possess fewer than 5,000 soldiers.

However, if you opt to Recruit or Brawl instead of battling the dragon on your next turn, you leave the Dragon's Keep and must again possess 5,000 or more soldiers before entering and attempting the Final Battle again.

If your army is fully destroyed while in the Dragon's Keep, you are inexplicably reincarnated outside the Dragon's Keep on your next turn with a new Companion drawn from the deck (the old one has new lodgings inside the dragon), but you keep your Magic Item (if you had one).

It is possible to have more than one Wannabe in the Dragon's Keep at the same time. The first Wannabe who does 3 damage to the dragon on their turn wins.

While you are in the Dragon's Keep, your army cannot participate in a Brawl (your soldiers are too busy trying not to be dragon food to worry about other armies).

Companion abilities work as normal both in and outside the Dragon's Keep (for instance, a Wannabe in or out of the Dragon's Keep can send Skree to scare another Wannabe's army, wherever they might be).


The Dragon of Legend Variant

What happens when you leave a dragon alone for too long? They tend to leave everything in ruin. There was once this dragon that desolated a tiny mountainside town named Dale... and right, the variant.

If you find the dragon too easy, simply use the extra Damage counters to bring the dragon to four, or even five (gasp!) points. To defeat the dragon, you need to deal that much damage to it in a single turn.


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