New Player Guide: The Tavern Gauntlet
Fourth post in the new player series. The Gauntlet is the demo's core mode: one board, nine tables, and the Keeper waiting at the end of the row. This is how a run fits together.
Taking a seat
A run starts at the setup screen. Pick your banner (your faction), then a commander and a fortress from what you've unlocked. Your starter deck comes with the faction: 15 cards, tuned to work together. Hit Take a Seat and the tavern deals you a map.
Reading the map
The map is a spread of tables across the tavern. You play nine of them: an opening battle, six tables of your choosing through the middle, a guaranteed shop, and then the Keeper. The middle columns usually offer two or three tables each, connected by paths, so every run is a series of small route decisions.
The tables come in a few kinds:
- Battles are the bread and butter. Regular opponents with modest fortresses. Worth 18 gold and a card reward.
- Elites are named regulars with capital fortresses, 20 HP and shielded. Harder fights, but they pay 35 gold and, more importantly, an emblem: a passive bonus that lasts the whole run.
- Events are narrative stops. Someone offers you a deal, you pick an option, and the run changes a little. Some heal your fortress, some trade hit points for gold.
- Shops sell cards, consumables, and card removal. Removal matters more than it looks: a lean deck draws its good cards more often.
The rules of the run
Two numbers define a run: your fortress HP and your gold.
Your fortress starts at 20 HP and damage sticks between tables. Win a fight at 3 HP and you sit down at the next table with 3 HP. You'll never start a fight below 1, but there's no free healing between battles, so a sloppy win can cost you two tables later. Events and a couple of emblems are your main ways to patch up mid-run.
Gold starts at 50. Every cleared table pays out, and after most battles you also pick one of three cards to add to your deck. That's the run's engine: your deck and your options grow every table, and the opponents scale up to meet you.
Lose a fight and the run ends. That's the deal. But nothing you unlocked goes away, and every run moves the Ladder forward whether you win or lose. More on that in the next post.
The Keeper
The last table belongs to the Tavern Keeper: 25 HP, shielded, and a fight that changes gears partway through. The guaranteed shop right before is your last chance to spend down your gold, and you should. Gold left over at the end of a run buys nothing.
Beat the Keeper and the run is a win. Your winning deck gets framed in the Tavern Records, and you can take it out for another run later, exactly as you built it. The posts after this cover the Ladder, emblems and consumables, and how you eventually earn the right to build a deck from scratch.