Table of Contents
The Rules of Disruption
The Purpose of Disruption
Disruption was created by Reese Holland on Jan 29th and 30th, 2016, during Global Game Jam 2016. This was not done at a designated GGJ16 location so it does not count as an official entry, but the creation of the game did not start until the theme “Ritual” was assessed, and the diversifiers “Comic Book Colors,” “No retreat, no surrender,” and “One hand tied behind my back“ all apply to the completed project as well!
The Story of Disruption
Disruption is the story of a powerful summoner who gains power by purging evil from the realm. As fate would have it, the world’s evil is gathered in one place for one final effort to curse the lands of all who oppose them, bringing death to the living and unlife to the dead. This ritual must be disrupted, and your role as the Summoner is to do just that.
The path to the ritual site is paved with peril, as horrific abominations of accursed magic stand in your way. But for each of them that is struck down, the Summoner’s strength grows, giving them the power to summon allies to aid in battle. Coordinating with summoned allies can be tricky, but a helping hand is always welcome in the fight against the accursed ones.
The Rules of Disruption
General Overview
- Disruption is played by attempting to defeat 10 rounds of combat against Ritual Defenders with a combination of die rolls and ally assistance. The value of the die rolls and ally must be higher than the value of the Ritual Defenders in order to win the encounter.
- Winning 10 encounters results in victory – losing 3 encounters results in defeat.
- The first 5 wins are against single Ritual Defenders, where the player is meant to accumulate powerful allies. Losing against a single means the next battle will also be a single.
- Against single Ritual Defenders, 2d6 or 1d6 + one ally may be used.
- The second set of 5 wins must be against a pair of Ritual Defenders, which is where the powerful allies are likely needed for victory.
- Against two Ritual Defenders, 2d6 is always rolled, and an optional ally may be used, but having no ally means a third die is not rolled.
- Winning a single Ritual Defender encounter with solely the value of a die roll, or solely with the value of an ally, grants 1 draw from the Major Summoned Allies deck. Requiring both the ally and die roll to overcome the enemy value only grants a Minor Summoned Ally.
- Winning a two Ritual Defender encounter with solely the value of the die rolls, or solely with the value of an ally, grants 1 draw from the Major Summoned Allies deck. Requiring both the ally and both die rolls to overcome the enemy value only grants a Minor Summoned Ally.
- Breaking even creates a tie, which requires a new roll with the same amount of dice used as the previous roll. The new roll replaces the values of the previous roll to determine the value of the victory or defeat, and if a major or minor summoned ally should be provided.
- 3 Minor Summoned Allies may be traded in at any time for a Major Summoned Ally draw.
- Against a single Ritual Defender, the player’s range is 2d6 (2-12) without an ally, or 1d6+a range of 1 to 5 (2-11) with a minor summoned ally, or 1d6+6 to 10 (7-16) for a major summoned ally. Single Ritual Defenders only have a possible range of 1-10 power.
- Against two Ritual Defenders, the player’s range is still 2d6 (2-12) without an ally, but an ally may be added to the two rolls resulting in a range of 2d6+a range of 1 to 5 (3-17) with a minor summoned ally, or 2d6+a range of 6 to 10 (8-22) with a major summoned ally. Two Ritual Defenders have a range from 2-20. If the player has no major summoned allies, they may play two minor summoned allies if the Ritual Defenders total a value of 17 or higher.
Preparing for Gameplay
Materials required for play:
Six-sided die [d6] (two if possible, otherwise one can be rolled twice)
All cards A-10 from a standard 52-card poker deck
Optionally, one 10-sided die [d10] for the Accursed Joker
Prepare the game board by separating the red cards from black cards. All red cards A-10 go in a stack together, this is the Ritual Defenders Deck. To the right beside it is where the Ritual Defenders Graveyard is located, and defeated Ritual Defenders will go there face-up.
All black cards A-5 are separated from cards 6-10. The A-5 deck is Minor Summoned Allies, and the 6-10 deck is Major Summoned Allies. Beside them is the Summoned Allies Graveyard, where Minor Summoned Allies and Major Summoned Allies that were used in a battle will be placed when the battle is over.
Shuffle each deck thoroughly, then place the Minor Summoned Allies and Major Summoned Allies decks above and below one another to the right, and Ritual Defenders Deck to the left.
Draw 3 Minor Summoned Ally cards and place them in the player’s hand. At any time throughout the game, 3 Minor Summoned Allies can be traded in for a single draw from the Major Summoned Ally deck.
Gameplay is now ready to begin.
Order of Operations
- Place 1 card from the Ritual Defenders Deck and place it face-up in the center of the table.
- Choose to play an ally at this time, or to roll two dice.
- Roll and add the sum of the dice rolls, or one die roll and one summoned ally if an ally is used in the encounter. If the sum of this value is at or above that of the Ritual Defender, the battle has been won by the player. If it is below the value of the Ritual Defender, the battle is considered to be lost, and the player suffers a defeat. If the total of two die rolls, or total of a die roll and a Minor or Major Summoned Ally, is exactly the value of the Ritual Defender, the result is a draw, and the player must roll again and use that result to determine how the encounter is resolved. Either way, any ally that was summoned is placed in the summoned ally graveyard.
On victory, place the Ritual Defender face down into the Ritual Defender Graveyard. If the ally or die roll value, or the total of two die rolls with no ally, exceeds the total Ritual Defender value, a Major Summoned Ally card is drawn and added to the player’s hand. If the combined value of the Minor Summoned Ally or Major Summoned Ally and die roll are needed to win, a Minor Summoned Ally is drawn.On defeat, move the winning Ritual Defender face up to the left of the Defender deck. This represents 1 defeat.
- Repeat steps 1, 2, and 3, until the player has defeated five Ritual Defenders.
After 5 wins, all remaining battles are against two Ritual Defenders, who share the sum total of their values as the target Ritual Defender value. In battles against two Ritual Defenders, the player always rolls 2d6 and has the option to bring an ally without impacting the number of die rolls. If the player has no major summoned allies, they may play two minor summoned allies if the Ritual Defenders total a value of 17 or higher. Being defeated by two Ritual Defenders at once only counts as one defeat.
At ten wins, the Ritual Defenders have been defeated, and the Summoner succeeds in the disruption! The value of all remaining allies in the player’s hand, plus 5 for the player winning, minus 2 for each defeat that has been suffered, is the resulting score for the playthrough.
Optional Variation
Accursed Joker – Include 2 Joker cards in the Ritual Defenders Deck. Roll a 10-sided die when it appears, and that is the value that represents this Ritual Defender. If both are drawn at the same time, use the 10-sided die’s roll value for both, such that both Accursed Jokers will be the exact same value of one another.
No Dice, No Problem!
If the player has no six-sided dice, JQK cards may be used to represent them. Put the red JQK cards together in a small deck, and the black JQK cards in another small deck. Shuffle them separately before drawing whenever a die roll is needed. Use the following values for the resulting draws:
Black Card | Red Card | Die Value |
Jack of Clubs | Jack of Hearts | 1 |
Queen of Clubs | Queen of Hearts | 2 |
King of Clubs | King of Hearts | 3 |
Jack of Spades | Jack of Diamonds | 4 |
Queen of Spades | Queen of Diamonds | 5 |
King of Spades | King of Diamonds | 6 |
And lacking a ten-sided die for the Accursed Joker, the JKQ cards can be brought together after removing the Jack of Clubs and Jack of Hearts, shuffle them, and use the following values for the card which is drawn. Separate the cards back into the small decks from the above chart afterwards.
Card | Value | Card | Value |
Queen of Hearts | 1 | Queen of Clubs | 6 |
King of Hearts | 2 | King of Clubs | 7 |
Jack of Diamonds | 3 | Jack of Spades | 8 |
Queen of Diamonds | 4 | Queen of Spades | 9 |
King of Diamonds | 5 | King of Spades | 10 |