Learn how to play Chronicles of Stampadia!

The Game Manual

Read this manual to know all you need to explore and fight in the world of Stampadia!

The Basics Video

Do you want to learn the basics of Chronicles of Stampadia quickly? There is a video tutorial for you here.

You can download the adventure The Diamond Rhombus Of The City that's played in the video here.

FAQs

Teleports

Q: I've found a room action that tells me to "move anywhere in room XX"... but I've not discovered room XX yet! Is that right?
A: Yes! Some teleports in Stampadia may lead you to undiscovered rooms. To execute the action, find the destination room in the Rooms Table, draw it on the map, and place the Hero Token in any valid position you like in that room. Remember that you must read a room description when your Hero Token enters it only, so don't read the destination room description before using the teleport!
Q: I moved the Hero Token on a gray numbered square to teleport in another room. Should I move the token on a gray numbered square in the destination room?
A: No. Teleports usually have a room action that says "move anywhere in room XX". So you may place the Hero Token anywhere that's valid: on an empty cell and nothing happens or, if you feel brave, on a gray numbered cell and trigger some room condition. After reading some destination room conditions, you will soon discover that there may be two-way teleports in Stampadia. You can still decide to teleport your Hero on the way back, giving that Portal feeling we all know. :)

Exploring

Q: I've no unexplored doors I can reach on my map but there are still rooms in the Rooms Table that I've not found. Why?
A: An old Stampadian proverb about completism says "Never trust the Rooms Table, the Equipment Scroll, and the Map!". On the adventure sheet there is a lot of fake stuff like enemies, doors, and rooms to avoid spoilers. So, If you never found a room it never existed. Or not?
Q: The exit I want to take leads to a room that doesn't exist or that doesn't connect with the previous one!
A: Try calculating the new room ID again. Then try double-checking your previous room position and size on the Rooms Table. If everything is right, please drop a line on the project Discord server here in the #cos-help-rules channel - You may have discovered a bug!

Fighting

Q: How many HP does an enemy with no HP checkbox on its symbol have?
A: No HP. So the enemy will die on the next damage he will get. In Stampadia the Hero and the enemies will die when they run out of HP and must get another damage. You can watch a better explanation of the health system in the basics video.
Q: Do I have to spend 1 gold when crossing a door in combat?
A: Yes, both when your hero or the enemies are moving. Keep an eye on the gold bar when trying to escape or get away for a ranged attack!
Q: How do I've to place my dice in combat on my turn?
A: First, look at the Hero Sheet section on the adventure sheet: your available actions are the two in the first column and the other pairs of actions that have a fully ticked group of XP checkboxes below. Then roll your 2 dice and discard all the rolled 1. If you don't have any dice left, you've to pass the turn to your enemies. If you have just one dice left, select any not empty action you can perform. If both dice are available, pick the higher one and place it on any not empty action you can perform. Then pick the lower one and place it on an available not empty action on the right of the previous dice and on a different row: if you placed your dice on the upper row, you've to place your second dice on the second row and vice versa. Then apply the effect of the selected actions in order from left to right as explained in the manual. Remember that you don't have to use all of your rolled dice, so you may decide to not play any dice and pass.
Q: How do I've to place enemy dice in enemy combat turn?
A: A step-by-step way to place the enemy dice:
  1. Roll 2 dice
  2. Discard the ones
  3. If there are no dice left the enemy turn ends.
  4. Pick the highest available dice...
    • Place it on the action that deals the most damage to your hero
    • If there is no way to deal damage, place it on the action that moves the hero within the range of most of the available attacks (i.e. the shortest range of its attacks)
    • If there is no way (or no need) to move the hero within an attack range, place it on the action that raises the defense the most
    • If there is no action, discard all of the enemy dice and the enemy turn is over
  5. If there are more dice available, go back to 4. Only the action that is on the right and the opposite row of the placed dice will be available.
It may happen that an enemy uses its highest dice on an attack on its second column if it deals damage with no movement needed, losing its second dice. Just make sure that the enemy deals the most damage and not just hits the hero: if the enemy can't deal damage, it will follow the priority list, trying to move if needed, and then defending.
Q: How do enemies with 4 circles work?
A: As their symbol doesn't appear on the Enemy Sheet, they work like enemies with no eyes: they only use the Any column of the Enemy Sheet to fight (i.e. the leftmost one). As with other enemies you've to strike all the enemy's circles and then deal a final blow, so you've to deal 5 damage to get rid of them.
Q: Can I activate gray squares while in combat?
A: Yes. Any current room rule in the Rooms Table applies in combat too.
Q: If I damage a 2-circles enemy, does it become a 1-circle enemy?
A: No, it stays a 2-circles enemy but with 1 HP less.

Adventure sheets

Q: Is it possible to access adventure sheets from previous days?
A: At the moment there is no official way to access older adventure sheets but the question is on the table from the very beginning of the project. This game wasn't thought of as a game the player rushes dungeon after dungeon, and I wanted to test the idea of players collecting and sharing adventure sheets (you can find parts of this concept in the Vs. Campaign explained in the manual). But the game has changed a lot since its launch so things may change in the future.
Q: But I want to collect all of the Chronicles of Stampadia adventure sheets!
A: Chronicles of Stampadia contents are selected and remixed daily, so any content you missed will probably return in the future. Feel free to scribble on the adventure sheet anything that comes to your mind while you play: your hero and enemies portraits, room details, tips on a specific room, routes, etc. Chronicles of Stampadia descriptions are often vague and features very simple gameplay. Get creative and imagine your own adventure - that's an adventure sheet that's worthy to be collected!

More

Q: How you're monetizing this game?
A: Chronicles of Stampadia is one of my hobby projects and, as for the others, I'm working on it in my spare time and it is released as opensource. I'm used to paying for hosting my stuff without getting anything back. So, yeah. I'm OK. If you find something I do that you like it's more than enough for me.
Q: I'd like to play this game... with cards!
A: You can play Travelers of Stampadia, Chronicles Of Stampadia's sequel! Just like this game, every day there is a new adventure to print and play with some pawns and a pencil! You can find that here. Oh, It's both in English and Italian this time!
Q: I have more questions!
A: Don't worry! There is a BGG page here. There's also a Discord server here - we talk about everything Stampadia there and you may ask questions about the rules in the #cos-help-rules channel.