Hoyostans Adventure TCG
How to Play
Table of Contents
Setting up the game
How many players?
Decide the amount of players. The game can be played solo or with friends.
There are a lot of moving parts, so playing with a Game Master, while optional, may improve the experience, as they can help keep track of everything.
The game master’s task is keeping an eye on the game’s progress, reading out Campaign information, and providing extra customised input where a Campaign allows it.
If you are playing this on Screentop.gg and this is your first time playing, it’s recommended to follow this short Tutorial Mission to learn the controls and some basic concepts: (Tutorial to be added).
Or see a short list of basic controls here: Screentop Controls
Tips:
- Press the star in the top left to make the room ‘persistent’ so it won’t disappear. This way, you can continue the game at a later date.
- At the bottom left you can switch to another Surface.
- Make use of ctrl+C and ctrl+V to copy cards from the Characters and Cards and Enemies and Cards Surfaces
- You can select the circular player UI boards and central Adventure Board and spin them with E
- Inspect cards with Spacebar
Starting an Adventure
First Campaign
If you are starting a new adventure and a first campaign, you must first perform the ‘start-up procedure’. It’s very simple, so we’ll walk through it!
Each player gets a ‘starter kit’ to begin the game with. On Screentop, these cards will be prepped for each player on starting the room. These cards should include:
- Weapon cards
- Unarmed: Basic Training – Punch
- Unarmed: Basic Training – Kick
- Unarmed: Basic Training – Guard
- Unarmed: Basic Training – Focus
- Unarmed: Basic Training – Withdraw
- Unarmed: Basic Training – Discombobulate
- Memory cards
- Fu Hua’s Tutoring – Exam Prep
- Duty of the Dragon Lady – Pouting Physician
- Little Floating Guide – Best Companion
- A Clown’s Musings – Imagine!
- Captive of the Sea – Alone Together
- Character kit: Wendy – Fleet Cadet (MECH)
- Face card
- Status card
- ‘Flying’ status
- Action Cards: Airjet Engine, Wind Cannon, Personal Reflector, Free Bird
- Weapon Card: Pistol: Proto Pistol – Temporary Overclocking
Once each player has confirmed they have their starter kit, they will get a second character from the gacha!
Open the ‘Gacha’ Surface and find your player number. Select the ‘Characters’ stack on the beginner banner. Shuffle the stack, and flip the top card. Congratulations, this is your second character!
Repeat the process for Weapons and Memories. Use the gacha 10 times total to supplement your collection.
You can view the character’s kit on the ‘Characters and Cards’ Surface. Copy the contents of their kit to your inventory on the Adventure screen.
Finally, players may choose their third character from the starter options themselves.
The current options are:
- Eden – Brightest Star (IMG)
- Captain – Quantic Voyager (QUA)
- Bronya Zaychik – Integrated Weaponmaiden (MECH)
- Amber – Outrider (BIO)
- Asta – Deep Space Observer (PSY)
- Lyle Collodi – Total Bro (PSY)
- Luocha – Mystery Merchant (IMG)
- Qingque – Diligent Gambler (QUA)
Next we check the set up for Ship and Crew. These should already be slotted into your Ship UI by default.
- Ship slot: Hyperion
- Captain slot: Captain
- Board AI slot: AI-chan
Continuing after a completed Campaign
After finishing a Campaign, players have the option to start a new Campaign with their current set up. In this case, simply skip all of the starter set up, keep your cards, and pick a Campaign from the list.
Some Campaigns may have additional instructions for continued games.
Adventure Rules
After completing the Campaign Set Up, you can play the Adventure. On this adventure, you will flip adventure tokens and reveal a number. This number represents unique content listed on the specific Campaign’s page.
There are several different types of adventure tokens to encounter:
- General Events
- Combat Events
- Dark Space Events
- SAWCE Stations
- Worlds
- Missions
- Campaign
Playing a Turn
Step 1:
Set your AP to the current Speed of your ship.
Step 2:
Draw 4 tokens from the Adventure Tokens and place them face down on the board.
Step 3:
Spend AP to flip a token. Follow the Campaign’s instructions depending on the type of token and the number listed on the token.
Step 4:
Continue until AP hits 0 or manually end the turn. You lose 1 Energy and the turn ends.
Step 5:
Next player starts their turn. Adventure Tokens that have been placed on the board remain on the board. Select the board and press E to spin it to the next player.
Players may freely take notes to help them track the story.
Adventure Tokens
General Events
These are general story events you can encounter. They may affect ship health, ship damage, ship speed, inventory, wealth, character health…. Some events may require the player to make a decision. It is recommended to play ‘blind’ and not reveal the results of a decision before the player commits.
They can have a variety of positive and negative effects. The exact contents of an event are found under the corresponding number of the campaign’s page.
Combat Events
Simple combat scenarios. The exact contents of a combat event are found under the corresponding number of the campaign’s page.
Combat events typically list up to 4 enemies to place directly into combat
‘Reserve’ refers to enemies that replace any enemy that is knocked out during battle.
‘Waves’ refer to groups of new enemies that are placed into combat when the entire current enemy team is wiped out.
More info under ‘Battle Rules’
Dark Space Events
Dark Space events are typically rarer than general events. They tend to have simpler contents with more extreme outcomes, positive or negative.
SAWCE Stations
These places can be visited to spend earned currency to recover ship health or energy, or on gacha for new weapons, memories and characters.
Worlds
Worlds present their own special types of events and stores, depending on the Campaign.
Unless stated otherwise, worlds remain on the map after the token is flipped.
Missions
Optional extra objectives the player can pick up. When you gain a mission, you must select to correct Mission card representing the character or organisation that granted the mission.
Completing missions nets extra rewards. If a mission is not completed by the end of the Campaign, it is discarded. Missions are universal. Any player may complete it, and all players get the reward when it’s completed.
Campaign
Campaign tokens advance the story of the Campaign. Some Campaign tokens can only be done in a specific order, sometimes they can be done in any order. The Campaign page will tell you how to proceed each time.
Landing Team
Select your UI circle and press E twice to spin it and switch between your Ship and Landing Crew.
The Landing Team consists of 3-7 characters, depending on the Ship’s current stats. The Landing Team can be expanded through crew effects and other cards.
A player may have more characters in their collection than the Landing Team contains. The Landing Team must contain at minimum 3 characters. Characters that were knocked out still count.
The Landing Team can be changed at the start of new Acts in a Campaign, or at certain Stations and Worlds.
When the player enters battle, 3 characters from the Landing Team may participate. After battle, their Health is not reset. Shields are reset.
Tip: At the bottom of each Character UI, there is a small black square. This is a ‘handle’ that can be used to move the UI so you can easily swap characters from the battle trio to the reserve.
Crew
The ship has an amount of Dorms, a Captain slot and a Board AI slot.
Crew Members are assigned to the Ship for additional effects and abilities.
In the current version of the game, only the Captain and Board AI slots can be used. Dorms are currently not in the game.
Winning and Losing
Winning:
Throughout a Campaign, several triggers move forward the story depending on the Campaign. Finish the story to win the game.
Losing:
If a player’s ship health hits 0 or a player’s energy hits 0, the player is stranded and cannot play turns until they are rescued. If all players are stranded, the game ends and the players lose the campaign.
If all of a player’s Landing Team is knocked out, the player is kicked out of whatever event they were in. They cannot interact with Adventure Tokens other than Station, and must forfeit their turn if they have no options.
Battle Rules
Card Types
Enemy Card
Cards portraying the enemies in the game.
On the bottom left they display their Type, Health, Toughness and Speed.
On the top right they display the various actions they can take.
On the bottom right they display the order in which they take actions.
Some enemies will have special actions that activate at the start of battle or the enemy’s defeat.
Character Face Card
Cards portraying the playable characters. These can be moved up to indicate the character is Active, or flipped to indicate the character is knocked out.
The colour of the card is tied to the character’s Type.
Character Stats Card
Cards portraying the playable characters’ base stats and passive ability.
They also indicate which types of weapon cards may be used when this character is Active.
Character Actions
Cards portraying the playable characters’ abilities.
These cards can only be played if their character is Active.
When played, the AP cost is detracted from the available AP. If there’s not enough AP, the card cannot be played.
E Cost is detracted from Energy. If the character does not have enough Energy, the card cannot be played.
Charge is added to the character’s Energy after playing the card.
Weapon Actions
These Action Cards can only be played if the Active Character has the proficiency to use the listed weapon type.
When played, the AP cost is detracted from the available AP. If there’s not enough AP, the card cannot be played.
E Cost is detracted from Energy. If the character does not have enough Energy, the card cannot be played.
Charge is added to the character’s Energy after playing the card.
Memory Actions
These Action Cards can only be played by any character. If they are played, they are removed from the Action Stack and cannot be played again during this battle.
When played, the AP cost is detracted from the available AP. If there’s not enough AP, the card cannot be played.
E Cost is detracted from Energy. If the character does not have enough Energy, the card cannot be played.
Charge is added to the character’s Energy after playing the card.
Summons
Cards with special effects that are spawned in by Actions. They are placed on the Field Effects area, and remain there until the REMOVE condition is met.
Field Cards
Weapon Actions, Character Actions or Memory Actions that are played directly to the Field Effects area, and remain there until the REMOVE condition is met
Statusses
These cards denote special effects active on the character or enemy. Their details are listed in the Guides section, or can be found by flipping over the card. They remain until the REMOVE condition is met, or they are cleansed.
Setting Up Combat
Check the enemies listed in the encounter. Place the correct Enemy cards in their slots, and give them the correct amount of Health.
If you are the player who triggered the battle or this is a Boss
- Select the 3 characters from the Landing Team you wish to use in this battle. If you don’t have 3 characters that aren’t knocked out available, pick a knocked out one to bring along.
- Pick 3 Character Action Cards per character. You cannot use duplicates.
- Pick 6 Weapon Action Cards. You cannot use duplicates.
- Pick 5 Memory Action Cards. You may use duplicates.
- Put the chosen Action cards together and shuffle. This is your Action Stack.
- Draw 6 cards from the Action Stack to your hand.
- Choose an Active Character to start with.
If you are not the player who triggered the battle and this is not a Boss
You are a Support Player for this battle.
- Select the 1 character from the Landing Team you wish to use in this battle.
- Pick 3 Character Action Cards. You cannot use duplicates.
- Pick 3 Weapon Action Cards. You cannot use duplicates.
- Pick 3 Memory Action Cards. You may use duplicates.
- Put the chosen Action cards together and shuffle. This is your Action Stack.
- Draw 6 cards from the Action Stack to your hand.
Playing a Turn
- Set your AP to the Active Character’s Speed. Support Players have half speed (rounded up)
- Spend AP to play cards or perform Extra Actions.
- Increase Energy by the Charge Value on cards played. Decrease Energy by the Energy Cost on cards played. You cannot play cards you don’t have enough Energy for.
- End your turn.
Players play in clockwise order, starting with the player that triggered the combat. After all players had their turn, the enemies have their turn.
Extra Actions:
1 AP: Move a card from your hand to the Discard pile, and draw a new card from the Action Stack.
2AP: Switch Active character. Active Character can only be switched once during a turn. Cards that switch the Active Character cannot be played if a character has already been switched this turn.
The First Turn
Regular Players have half Speed (rounded up). Support players have a set Speed of 2.
Playing an Enemy Turn
From left to right, play for each enemy. As many times as the enemy has Speed, execute the appropriate action listed in their ‘Sequence’ and move their turn counter forward. When the enemy reaches the end of their cycle, restart it from the beginning and reset their turn counter.
Every player is labelled 1 to 4. Next to the enemies is a small stack of Priority Cards.
If this is not a boss battle, take 3 copies for the player that triggered combat, and 1 copy for each supporting player. If this is a boss battle, take 1 copy for each player.
Shuffle the stack and flip the top. This is the player who will be attacked this turn.
Attacks that are stated to deal damage to all characters in the team will damage characters for all players.
Passives and Field Effects!
At the start and end of every turn, check up on the Character Passives and any Action Cards or Summons that have been played to the Field. These may have effects you must take into account.
Rolling Damage
When rolling an attack, compare the dice results with the Health or Shield bar.
Listed on a Health or Shield bar are ‘weaknesses’. These are possible dice results to compare with.
If a result matches a weakness, this is a HIT. When a subject takes a HIT, this is added to their HITS bar. Results on the HIT bar prevent the corresponding weakness from being HIT again.
Duplicate weaknesses can be HIT as many times as they are listed.
Guaranteed HITS will hit the first available weakness from right to left. If no weakness is available for the damage type, the guaranteed HIT fails and is discarded.
Damage Types
Physical Damage
All attacks are emelee or ranged. If this is not specified, the player may choose either.
Melee or ranged may interact with different buffs and defenses.
Melee or Ranged
Physical Damage is rolled with white dice. Only white dice results can be HIT by Physical Damage.
Elemental attacks use coloured dice and can score on the matching coloured weaknesses or on white weaknesses.
True Damage
True attacks use black dice and can score on black weaknesses, any colour weaknesses and white weaknesses.
Elemental Damage
Type Counter
On the right side of the bar, Type Counter weaknesses are listed. These weaknesses can not be HIT under normal circumstances.
Only attacks that are performed with ‘Type Counter Active’ can hit these weaknesses. Type Counter can be activated through various effects.
When Type Counter is active, only attacks from entities with a type strong against the target can hit the Type Counter weaknesses.
Type Counter HITS will be placed on the right side of the HIT bar, and are counted with precedence over other types of HITS.
Health and Shield
Characters and Enemies have a predetermined starting Health. They also have a Toughness value. If their HIT bar has as many HITS as their Toughness value, discard all the HITS and remove a Health bar. If there are no Health bars left, the subject is knocked out.
When a Character is knocked out, flip their Face card to represent this. The character can not act or be targetted.
Shields function similar to Health bars. Shields have a standard toughness of 1, but may be layered on top of one another. To denote the correct Shield Type, place a die of the corresponding colour in the ‘Element’ slot. Shields of different elements can stack.
The X weakness counts for any Shield Type that has an X listed on the Shield Counter card.
The broken shield symbol denotes weaknesses that may be HIT by the elements depicted as a broken shield on the Shield Counter card.
The intact shield symbol on the Shield Counter card denotes elements the shield is immune to.
The Type for Type Counter is also listed on the card.
End of Battle
When rolling an attack, compare the dice results with the Health or Shield bar.
Listed on a Health or Shield bar are ‘weaknesses’. These are possible dice results to compare with.
If a result matches a weakness, this is a HIT. When a subject takes a HIT, this is added to their HITS bar. Results on the HIT bar prevent the corresponding weakness from being HIT again.
Duplicate weaknesses can be HIT as many times as they are listed.
When all enemies are defeated or all characters from non-Support players are knocked out, the battle ends. HITS and Status Effects are removed from player characters. Their Health count or knocked out state carries over into the Adventure.