Thunderstone (card game)

Thunderstone

Box cover of Thunderstone Base Set
Designer(s)	Mike Elliott
Publisher(s)	Alderac Entertainment Group
Players	1 to 5 players
Age range	12 & up
Setup time	~30 minutes
Playing time	~60 minutes
Random chance	Medium
Skill(s) required	Resource Management Turn Decision

Thunderstone is a fantasy deck-building card game series designed by Mike Elliott, with artwork by Jason Engle. It was first published by Alderac Entertainment Group in 2009. Each card has dimensions of 6.3 cm x 8.8 cm (2.5in x 3.5in). It has been translated into several languages.

Gameplay involves building a deck of adventurers and equipment to defeat monsters. Each turn players must decide whether to visit the Village (to purchase cards, upgrade heroes and other actions), or if they will face a monster in the current dungeon (using the heroes and equipment in their hand). Defeated monsters are added to a player's deck as well, where they may contribute money and/or other bonuses when in hand.

Many game elements including the card layout have undergone a major redesign in 2012. This has caused the game series to continue under the new name Thunderstone Advance. Cards from the original series and the Advance series are compatible as they share the same back cover artwork. In the Thunderstone Advance series, each set comes with a handful of Thunderstone Bearers that act as monster bosses in the game.

Thunderstone Quest brings new play modes to the table. The game will tell a specific story with a series of pre-set dungeon tiles, monsters, heroes and support cards. Each will come with a series of mini-adventures and a story booklet that tells players what happens as they progress through the scenarios.

Once players have completed the quests they will be able to enjoy great replay value with the available selection of monsters, heroes, and support cards, as well as the new dungeon tiles, by choosing random set-ups before the start of play. Aside from heroes such as wizards, fighters, rogues, and clerics, cards will include supplies that heroes need like weapons, spells, items, or light to reach further into the dungeon.

The dungeon deck is created by combining several different groups of monsters together. Certain groups of monsters may be more or less susceptible to different hero types, so players have to take this into account when they choose what to buy.

The games denoted as B contain Base cards (Militia/Regulars, Daggers/Longspears, Torches, etc) and experience cards (tokens in Advance) and can therefore be played standalone.

1 Thunderstone card
5 Reference cards
32 Experience Point cards
38 Randomizer cards
80 Monster cards
90 Basic cards (including Disease)
132 Hero cards
152 Village cards

1 Thunderstone card
5 Reference cards
12 Trap cards
33 Randomizer cards
42 Basic cards (incl. extra Disease cards)
51 Monster cards
84 Hero cards
112 Village cards