New Player Guide: How Encounters Work

Second post in the new player series. This one is about encounters, the scripted story battles that teach the game and set up its characters. The tutorial is one of these, so if you've played it, you've already seen the system in action.

Rooms, not just matches

An encounter is a sequence of rooms. Some rooms are battles. Others are interludes: short story beats between fights where you catch your breath, read a little dialogue, and collect a reward. A room strip at the top of the screen shows where you are in the sequence, so you always know how much is left.

The tutorial, called Foundation, runs five rooms: three battles against Guild Master Tully with two interludes between them. Each battle adds one layer. The first is about deploying units and attacking. The second is about holding the line when Tully attacks you back. The third puts it all together and lets you off the leash.

The coach

During tutorial battles the game will sometimes stop and put up a small card of text. We call these coach beats. Each one explains the thing that is about to matter: what your fortress shield does, why a unit that just arrived can't attack yet, what the stack is when both players want to act at once. While a coach beat is up, the game only lets you do the thing it just explained, so you can't wander off the lesson.

Outside the coach beats, Tully talks. He's your opponent for all three fights, but he's teaching, not hunting. His deck is soft on purpose.

What you get out of it

The interludes hand you real cards. After the first battle you get Battle Mage Adept, a solid unit for your collection. After the second you get Hold Up!, an instant that cancels a spell, which is also your first taste of playing cards on your opponent's turn. Finish the whole encounter and LuEllen Trax joins your roster as a second commander.

Encounters and the Gauntlet

The tutorial and the Tavern Gauntlet are connected. If you start a run without finishing the tutorial, the Gauntlet adds a qualifier table at the front of the map: Tully again, with the same lessons, in a single condensed fight. Clear it and the game considers you taught. You can bribe your way past it for 25 gold, but the bribe doesn't count as learning, and the qualifier comes back on your next run.

So the short version: do the tutorial once, take the free cards and the commander, and every run after that starts at the real first table. The next post covers what actually happens during a turn.