Kobold Quest: Dust & Devils

You don't need to read a rulebook. You don't need to watch a tutorial. You need a d20, a pile of cards, and absolutely no regard for your own survival.

Here's everything you need to know.

THE GOLDEN RULE:

Rule 1: Have Fun.
If any other rule breaks this rule — revisit it.

Your DM makes almost no rolls.
When monsters attack, you roll to defend. The DM only picks up a die to build suspense — and won't tell you the result until it matters.

THE BASICS

You are a kobold.

Small. Scrappy. Wildly underqualified for whatever you're about to attempt.

At the Start of the game, each player gets:
1 Class Card
3 Item Cards

You have 1 hit point. You will die. Probably more than once. That's fine. Death is a career change not a tragedy — you'll be back next round with a new class, new items, and fresh enthusiasm for making the same mistakes differently.

YOUR TURN

Each turn you have 2 Actions. Use them in any order. Use the same one twice if you want.

MOVE — Travel up to 6 squares (30') across the map.

BANG — Make an attack. Roll a d20. If you hit, add as many weapon cards as you want and roll for damage.

INTERACT — Talk to an NPC, examine an object, do something clever with the environment.

LOOT — Roll the loot die. Draw that many item cards.

USE ITEM — Play a non-weapon item card from your hand.

CLASS ABILITY — Use a special ability from your Class Card.

ITEMS

Every item is one use. Don't hoard them. Don't save them for later. Later might not exist.

You can hold up to 10 item cards at any time.

There is no trading. Kobolds are greedy. This is canon.

INSTANTS

Instant cards are free actions playable at ANY time — on your turn, someone else's turn, mid-combat, mid-sentence. They don't cost an Action.

An Instant played at the right moment can change everything.
An Instant played at the wrong moment is usually funnier.

ROLLING THE DICE

When you attempt any action, the DM sets a secret difficulty. You roll a d20. Meet or beat it — success. Miss it — chaos.

DIFFICULTY GUIDE:

  • Easy: 10

  • Moderate: 15

  • Difficult: 17

  • Pull a Chaingun from a top hat: 20

Should you succeed — tell everyone what happens. The DM might add a "Yes, but..." to keep things interesting.

When you fail — something unexpected happens. Where did that dynamite land? Who got hit by that ricochet? Failure is never boring in Devil's Gulch.

COMBAT

Attacking:
Announce your target. Roll a d20 against the enemy's difficulty:

  • Grunt: 10

  • Tough Grunt: 13

  • Mini Boss or Boss: 15

Hit? Then declare your weapons. Drop as many weapon cards as you want into the attack. Each one adds the specified amount of Damage Die to the roll.

EACH SUCCESSFUL ATTACK GETS 1 DAMAGE DIE BY DEFAULT


Example Attack: The total damage dice of combining each of the cards below would be a Total of 4 Damage Dice

(+1 by default, +2 for the Cactibat, and +1 for the crowbar)

DEALING DAMAGE:

Damage Dice:
Roll all your dice. Each die is its own result.

  • 4-6: 1 damage. ✓

  • 1-3: Deflected. Describe what happened. Make it interesting.


DEFENSE / DEFENDING FROM AN ATTACK:


When an enemy attacks YOU — you roll to defend. The DM never rolls attacks. The action is always in your hands.

DYING

When you die:

  • Take a new Class Card

  • Draw 3 new item cards

  • Respawn at the Kobold Spawn Zone

  • Reinforcements arrive by Raptor

The Raptor delivers you to the nearest cover and immediately flees.

This is considered a feature not a bug.

A WORD ON MAGIC

Magic in Kobold Quest hits differently than most systems.

Magic is used to warp reality and has few bounds, rules, or limitations. The only true limitation is your imagination and the willpower to make it happen.

We call these Bluff Checks.

Convince the world it should shape itself to your will — and it will. The more ridiculous the bluff, the harder the check. The more spectacular the failure, the better the story.

Have fun. Don't worry about the backlash of failure.

Remember: Magic always happens.

It just may not happen the way you expected.

ONE LAST THING

The rules above fit on two pages because that's all you need.

Everything else — the stories, the moments, the legends — those come from you.

We build the playground. You write the legends.

Now go do something your kobold will be remembered for.

Even if it's just the way they died