Duels Rules

 

Who would win a fight between Romeo & Hamlet? What if Juliet had to face off against Lady Macbeth? 

 

• Notice that the deck is intended to be used as a supplement to a D&D 5e game, but if you don’t have a game going on, why not just have characters from Shakespeare fight each other?

• Things you’ll need: this deck, a set of polyhedral dice

  • If you do not have a set of polyhedral dice, there’s an app for that (“Dice & Dragons” is free, or you can search for an online roller with your preferred search engine)

• In the grand tradition of D&D, you can use whatever rules might be fun for you–there’s no way to play wrong if everyone’s having fun–but here is a simplified example

 

1. Pick the characters that you’d like to have battle; the example will be for a 1v1 duel, but you can pick as many as you like, and have them fight in groups. You can do this by yourself, or find a friend, or find many friends!

   1. We’re fighting two ambitious Kings: Macbeth and Richard III

2. Roll for initiative: Roll a d20 and add the number beneath Dex on each character; this determines who gets to go first.

   1. Ex. Macbeth rolls a 15 and has a +1 Dex: 16. Richard rolls a 12 and has a +2 Dex: 14–Macbeth gets to go first.

3. Fight! Each card has attacks, skills, and on it. Each turn, choose the one you think will be best!

   1. Ex. Macbeth has three actions to choose from: a basic attack with his greatsword, a protective blessing that can only be used once a day, and Thunderous Smite, which will make an attack stronger next turn. 

      1. He chooses his basic attack. Roll a d20, add the bonus that is given (in this case, +7 to hit): He gets a 14. +7 is 21. 

      2. We compare this to Richard’s AC (armor class), which is 17. 21’s bigger, so it’s a hit!

      3. To decide how much damage it does, you can either use the 12 listed (the average), or roll 2d6 and add 5. We’re gamblers here, so he chooses to roll… and gets a 3 on those two dice! That’s 7 damage total.

      4. Take that damage off of Richard’s HP (hit points): 92 - 7 = 85… and there’s his turn! On to the disreputable King of England

   2. Richard chooses, from his actions, to Blight his rival.

      1. To see if it works, we’ll make a d20 roll. He gets a 9. In this case, it’s listed as being answered by a Constitution save from Macbeth, so he’ll have to roll a d20 as well. Macbeth rolls a 10, and he has a +1 Con, so it’s an 11. He saves!

      2. Not all is terrible for Richard, as the spell lists that Macbeth will still take half damage. Go ahead and roll that big 8 d8. He gets 46 total, which means the Thane of Glamis, Cawdor, and King Thereafter takes 23 damage. 110 - 23 = 87 HP left. 

4. Keep going until someone dies! Will Macbeth remain unbested by a man of woman born? Will Richard call for his horse and ride away into the sunset, retaining his crown? Only you and the dice will know. 

 

There are lots of ways to make things more involved, if you like. 

 

• Fight with more characters!

• If you have the Dungeons & Shakespeare Item Deck, why not give them some armaments?

• If you want to take those distances on the card into account, why not make a little map?

• Start telling a story around what’s happening in the fight!

 

Keep going!

 

If you find you need more knowledge about spells, weapons, or other additional rules, during your fight, www.dndbeyond.com is a free resource! It’ll probably have more than you need.

 

Oh, and congratulations: you’re playing Dungeons & Dragons. Nerd. :)