Donsol

Overview

Dungeon crawler by John Eternal, created in 2015. This table follows the Varvara variant, according to the rules published on the author's wiki.

Preparation

• Complete deck of 52 cards + 2 Jokers (54 cards in total).
• Maximum health of 21.
• 4 revealed cards form the current room.

Table at the beginning of the game

Dungeon and room

Dungeon50 cards

You

Health 21 / 21 · no shield equipped.

What each card means

• ♣ Clubs, ♠ Spades and Jokers — Monsters. Numbers are worth their own value; Jack=11, Queen=13, King=15, Ace=17; Joker=21.

What each card means

Monsters ♣ ♠ and Jokers

7

11

13

15

17

21

Shields ♦

shield 7

Equip a shield to absorb some of the damage from monsters.

Potions ♥

cure 8

Heals life for the value of the card, up to a maximum of 21.

• ♦ Diamonds — Shields. Automatically protects while equipped. After the first use, the next monster must have a lower value than the previous one; equal or greater value breaks the shield and causes full damage. A new shield replaces the previous one.
• Red Figures and Aces (♥ and ♦) are worth 11, both for healing and defense.

Fight with shield

Shield and monster

shield 7

monster 15

15 − 7 = 8 damage. Afterwards, the shield requires a monster smaller than 15.

Broken shield

less than 15

monster 15

Equal value also breaks: you lose your shield and take 15 damage.

• ♥ Cups — Potions. Heal up to a maximum of 21. Consecutive potions do not heal: you have to face a monster or take a shield between them. The sequence continues when changing rooms.

Consecutive Potions

First potion

+8 health (up to a maximum of 21).

Another one soon after

No cure. Catching a monster or shield stops the sequence.

How to play

• Solve all four cards to reveal the next room.

Solving a room

Room

The next room only appears when all four cards have been resolved.

• With valid shield: damage = monster value minus defense (minimum zero). Without shield, or when it breaks: full damage.
• You can retreat with cards still in the room. If you escaped from the previous room, you need to resolve all the monsters before escaping again. The remaining cards are returned to the dungeon and are shuffled.

Retreat

Room

When escape is permitted, return the remaining cards, shuffle the dungeon, and reveal a new room.

Victory and defeat

• You win by resolving the last card in the dungeon and room with health above zero.
• You lose if your life reaches zero.

Source: Donsol Varvara — rules published by the author. The Famicom edition has different escape rules.