SFR, Inc.

[J.T.Silversmith]

I have been playing Dragon Dice since it came out in 1995, and have been playing with a number of house rules since then. I have loved the game, and I finally got around to creating an account and posting. I thought I would start with a few ideas I had that I thought would make using monsters easier, or at least a little more fun. Unfortunately it has been years since I had a regular group to play with, so I have not really had a chance to play test any of these ideas. Feel free to try them yourself and tell me what you think. Most of these are meant to be a little light hearted, so I won't be offended if you tell me I am crazy. I have also included some variants you could try, if you can think of some others feel free to add them here.

I think a simple way to get more use out of monsters is with a new spell. Polymorph was one of my favorite spells from my D&D years, and I was a little sad it never made it into Dragon Dice. I thought 3 or 4 points of magic would be reasonable since it is essentially a temporary promotion. I also really wanted it to be used as a cantrip.
Polymorph
Polymorph spell: Casting cost 4 (must be one of the same colors as the target die)
The target 3 health unit is transformed into a monster until the end of your next turn.
Trade the 3 health unit for a monster (of the same color) from your dead pool. The 3 health unit is sent to the summoning pool. At the end of your next turn, or if the monster is killed, it is sent to the dead pool, and the 3 health unit is returned to the army it came from.
Variations
• A three heath unit can be transformed into a monster that only matches one color, but the spell only lasts until the beginning of your next turn.
• A three heath unit can be transformed into a monster does not match any colors, but the spell only lasts until the end of your turn.

One of a monsters problems is that they are rather vulnerable to certain attacks, and are too hard to bring back from the dead. So what if they were a lot harder to kill, or even immortal? You should only try this one if you are very familiar with the rules, I suspect it could get infuriating for newbies very quickly, and I don't want to make new players hate the game.
Immortal Monsters
Monsters are unique extremely rare and powerful immortal beings. They are notoriously difficult to kill because almost any wounds are healed in moments. Only a great hero, powerful spells, or rare magic items have a chance of defeating them. Nothing can stop them for long.
• Each player can only include one monster in their armies.
• Each players monster should be different.
• At the beginning of your turn, any monster in your DUA is moved to your reserves.
• If a monster is dealt 4 health of normal damage it is sent to the reserves, not the DUA.
• A monster is only sent to the DUA when it is dealt 4 damage, either from SAIs, magic, or damage from an item or artifact.
• The Decapitate or Impale SAI will bury the monster.
• The only way to defeat a monster is to kill and bury it, and even that is not enough to stop it forever. At the beginning of your turn, roll all monsters in the BUA, any that roll IDs ,Regenerate,or Rise from the Ashes go to the DUA.
Variations
• 8 points of normal damage sends a monster to the DUA. (To give 1 and 2 health units a chance)
• All players can have 2 (or 3) monsters, but they must be in separate armies.
• Kill the beast! The first player to bury the opponents monster wins!

This variation is stolen... er I mean inspired from the Monster Rancher Video Game. You get two for the price of one here. A simple version to add monster training to a normal Dragon Dice game, or its own advanced mini game.
Monster Trainers
Take a monster, train it hard, and make it stronger than usual. These are simple rules for integrating monster training into a dragon dice game.
• A player who wants to begin training a monster must have a monster at a terrain at the 8th face.
• Add a minor terrain to the army with his monster using the standard rules.
• Roll the minor terrain, if the disaster is rolled, resolve as a normal disaster and remove the minor terrain from play.
• During the Action phase declare that the monster is beginning training. While the monster trains, it is “at” the minor terrain by its self, and can not do anything other than train. The monster is considered its own army, separate from any of your other dice at that terrain.
• On your next turn you may begin training. To train your monster, roll the minor terrain, this will indicate what the monster needs to roll to complete the training, Missile, Melee, magic, saves, or maneuvers. If the minor terrain rolls an ID icon you can choose what you want to roll for. If the minor terrain rolls a Disaster, the monster looses the last bonus it gained, and the minor terrain is removed from play.
• If the monster gets a result of what it was training for it gets a +1 token.
• Each +1 adds 1 to the result of all dice rolls the monster makes once training is ended.
• You can voluntarily end training at the beginning of your turn by removing the minor terrain from play.
• While the rest of your army is at the major terrain protecting your monster, it cannot be attacked or targeted by SAIs or spells. If all of your other units at that terrain are killed, the monster immediately ends its training, and may be targeted as usual. The minor terrain remains in play as normal.
Monster Trainer mini game
A more detailed version of the monster trainer rules played as an independent game.
To play each player must have a monster, a major terrain die, a minor terrain die, pencil and paper.
Set up
• The players determine the number of turns that will be spent training the monster. (10-20 is probably a good starting point.)
• Each player writes ID, Melee, Missile, Magic, Maneuver, Saves, SAI across the top of their paper.
• Each player takes turns training their monster. Both the minor terrain die, and the monster are rolled. When the Monster’s icons match the minor terrain, it is considered a success. If the minor terrain rolls a sword, any melee, SAI that does melee damage or ID counts as a success. If the minor terrain rolls an ID it is a bonus to whatever is rolled. If a SAI can be counted as two types (like fly) add 1 to each. The disaster face is counted as a SAI and any SAI is a success. Tally the number of successes in each category.
• Each success counts as +1 to those results during the battle phase. Each ID bonus increases the health of the monster. Each SAI bonus increases the value of all the SAIs. After training you might have a list like this: ID+1, Melee+3, Missile, Magic, Maneuver, Saves+4, SAI+2
This would mean your monster has 5 health, melee icons are worth 7 health of damage, missile, magic, and maneuver are worth 4, saves are worth 8 and any SAI is worth 6.
Battle phase
• Each player rolls their monster, the player with the highest maneuvers goes first. If there is a tie after both players bonuses are added, roll again. If both results are the same number but one is from a SAI and one is normal maneuvers, the player with the SAI wins.
• The winner decides if he wants to go first, or chooses the terrain fought at.
• The player with the next highest roll will then choose the terrain or go first.
• The player who goes first rolls the terrain.
• The first player then decides if he wants to maneuver. If he does, he rolls to maneuver, and his opponents roll to oppose (as in normal Dragon Dice).
• If he wins he can turn the terrain die to whatever face he wants. The 8th face still lets you choose any type of attack, but it does not double saves or maneuvers.
• The acting player then rolls to attack (following normal rules).
• Dealing damage is a little different than standard rules. Rather than ignoring damage less than its health, a monsters health is counted as hit points, and any damage is subtracted from the total, and written on a piece of paper. For example the attacking monster rolls 4 melee with a +3 he has seven points. If the defending monster rolls 4saves with a +2 (six points), the defending monster is dealt 1 hit and subtracts it from its total.
• Each player takes turns maneuvering and then attacking until there is only one monster standing.
• Spells like Breath of life add (heal) one point of damage per casting,
The battle phase should be almost exactly like a normal dragon dice game except there is only one terrain, and one army per player. There are no reserves, no dragons or dragon-kin, no magic items, and no minor terrains. Some monsters will not be able to use their racial abilities, because of this. I intended this to be a fast paced quick game, and you might want to consider a maximum time limit on each players turn (especially during magic).
Variations
• Get a bunch of players together and have a tournament.
• Give the winner a prize, like a magic item or spellcard their monster can use in the next tournament.
• Spellcards represent a potion or item that has the effect of the spell, and can be used once, at any time during the battle.
• Start all monsters with 1’s in everything, and train them from infancy.
• Let the trainer state aloud what he wants to train for, rather than rolling the minor terrain, and then roll his monster.
• Choose an official record keeper, have a big tournament, start monsters at all 1s, train 10 turns, fight, train 10 turns, fight, etc. and come back another day and do it some more.
• Play Monster trainer then use your new monster in a regular Dragon Dice game. Make things even more interesting, and make your monster an Immortal monster.

This one is a totally toung in cheek parody of Pokemon.
Monster Dueling
Keep your monsters in your pocket, and have duels with them in your dragon dice game.
• All Players put 6 monsters in their summoning pool.
• As part of your march, point to another player at the same terrain and say “I challenge you to a Monster Battle”
• If they accept the challenge each player chooses one monster to be his champion and places it at the terrain. The other monsters are considered in reserves.
• Only the two selected monsters fight, all other dice at the terrain watch the fun.
• Roll for maneuvers to see who goes first. If there is a tie, roll again. If both results are the same number but one is from a SAI and one is normal maneuvers, the player with the SAI wins.
• The winning player takes a turn, maneuvering, and then attacking, using the standard rules.
• If the opponents die is killed, it is sent to the summoning pool, and a new one is chosen from reserves and is placed at the terrain. Both monsters roll for maneuvers to see who goes next.
• If the target survives, it is your opponents turn.
• On your turn you can trade monsters instead of maneuvering, but then it is your opponents turn.
• Take turns back and forth, until one player doesn’t have any more monsters.
• The looser hangs his head in humiliating defeat, and the victor adds all his surviving monsters to his normal army.
• Play resumes as normal
Variations
• Combining it with the monster trainer rules could be fun.

Anyhow, tell me what you think.