Rulebook · Chapter 2 of 17

2.0 Components

General Rule

"Death Maze" consists of this Rulebook and 346 tiles. You will also need one or more ordinary six-sided dice. If that isn't possible, players can use tokens numbered 1 through 6, placing them in a container (e.g. a plastic cup) and randomly drawing one whenever a die roll is called for. If the rules call for a roll of two or three dice (such situations do occur), you can simply draw a token two or three times. Just remember to return the token to the container after each draw.

Detailed Rules

[2.1] The game has no board. The players build it themselves, laying tiles one after another as they explore the maze. Tiles placed in sequence must match one another, meaning a corridor must connect to a corridor, and a doorway to a doorway.

For the rest of this rulebook, one such tile (i.e. a room or corridor piece) will be called a segment of the maze.

[2.2] The 346 tiles included with the game represent: corridors, rooms (empty or containing finds), the characters that make up the party, and monsters. Six tiles standing in for a die are also included.

Examples:

Monster (tile):

flowchart LR
    zr["agility — 5w"] --> token(["monster symbol<br/>BLACK KNIGHT"])
    bron["weapon"] --> token
    token --> kod["1+4"]

  • agility — 5w: the monster's agility value.

  • weapon: the weapon the monster uses.

  • 1+4: the monster's strength code — the number of dice to roll (here: 1), and after the "+", the bonus added to the result (here: +4).

  • room: a segment with a chamber surrounded by walls; doorways in the walls,

  • corridor: a segment with a stretch of corridor,

  • other tiles: party, maze gate, Black Gate,

  • finds: fountain, statue, trap door, mirror, furniture, altar, work of art, stairs.

[2.3] The rules of the game are built so as to allow players to freely modify them and/or formulate their own house rules not found in this rulebook.

Players need not rigidly stick to the rules as presented. Quite the opposite: we encourage changing them whenever all the players agree that doing so will benefit the game.

This fairly wide latitude for interpretation exists in part because "Death Maze" belongs to a type of game in which it is impossible to rigidly codify every situation that may arise during play. In unclear situations not covered by this rulebook, simply use common sense, or (if you prefer) a roll of the dice.