Game Objective

In Keep the Heroes Out!, you control a Monster Clan that must protect the Treasures of the dungeon from hordes of Heroes trying to loot them. The goal is to survive all Wave attacks from the Guild and prevent any Treasure of value 4 from being looted. If the Guild Deck runs out on the second wave without the value‑4 treasure being taken, all players win. If at any point a Treasure of value 4 is looted, all players lose immediately.

Setup

1. Choose a scenario in the Dungeon Book and set up the dungeon exactly as described.
2. Place all Treasure Tokens face down and shuffle them. If the scenario calls for placing a treasure in a room, draw it randomly from the stack.
3. Shuffle the Beast, Potion, Equipment, and Scroll cards to create the Loot Deck. Place it beside the dungeon, face down, and reveal the first 5 cards. Whenever a card is acquired, immediately reveal the top card of the deck and fill the empty spot.
4. Shuffle the Warrior, Rogue, Mage, and Archer cards together with the chosen scenario cards to create the Guild Deck. Place it beside the dungeon.
5. Set aside all remaining tokens and keep them within reach of all players. This set is the Supply. When a token is discarded, it returns to the Supply.
6. For each player, choose a Monster Clan. Take the Clan cards, Tactics cards, and the corresponding monsters. Place the monsters in the room indicated on the Clan card in any arrangement you like.
7. For each Clan, shuffle the corresponding Tactics cards and place them face down next to the Clan card. Draw the first 5 cards and put them in hand.
8. Decide the Difficulty Level (Family, Challenger, or Hardcore). Place the Guild Deck on top of the chosen Difficulty Level piece. Every time a player ends their turn, draw and resolve the number of Guild cards indicated by the difficulty level.
9. The player with the fewest monsters in their Clan receives the Active Player Token.

Game Flow

The game progresses in active player turns. Each turn consists of five phases, in order:

1. Play the cards in your hand
2. Renew the Loot
3. Cleanup and Maintenance
4. Hero Invasion
5. End your turn

After the Hero Invasion phase, if the game has not ended, the Active Player Token passes to the player on your left, who then begins their turn. In a 4‑player game, each round contains 4 hero invasions (one per turn).

Phase 1 – Play the cards in your hand

Cards are played one at a time. When you reveal a card, resolve its actions in any order, using any of your monsters. If your Tactics Deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile to create a new deck.

Phase 2 – Renew the Loot

You may discard a Tactics card from your hand to renew 1 to 5 Loot cards. Place the discarded cards at the bottom of the Loot deck and reveal new cards from the top to fill the empty spots. You can repeat this action as many times as you like, but each time you must discard a Tactics card.

Phase 3 – Cleanup and Maintenance

Move all played cards to the discard pile. If you have fewer than 5 cards in hand, draw from your Tactics Deck until you have 5. If the deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile (Tactics and Loot cards) to create a new deck.

Phase 4 – Hero Invasion

Based on the Difficulty Level and the current Wave, reveal and resolve the number of Guild cards indicated. If the deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile and start the second wave. If you reach the end of the second wave without the value‑4 treasure being looted, you win. If a Guild card is a Hero, it is summoned into two rooms matching the room type of the card. If it is a Scenario card, follow the specific scenario rules.

Phase 5 – End your turn

After resolving all Guild cards, if the game has not ended, pass the Active Player Token to the next player.

Actions and How to Play

Actions are resolved individually, in the order you choose, and can be split among multiple monsters. If an action requires a token and none are left in the Supply, the action cannot be performed.

• Activate – Deal 1 damage to a Hero in the same room. If vitality reaches zero, discard the hero.
• Melee Attack – Move a monster to an adjacent room (passage or portal). You may bring a resource or a trap token with it.
• Move – Deal 1 damage to a Hero in an adjacent room connected by a passage.
• Ranged Attack – Draw a card from your Tactics Deck and put it in hand.
• Draw – Place a Trap token in the same room.
• Trap – When a hero attacks in the same room, use this action to reduce damage by 1.
• Defend – Place a Completed Portal token in the same room.
• Portal – Place the corresponding resource token in the same room.
• Place a Resource – Summon monsters into rooms matching the described type.
• Ambush – Look at the first 3 cards of your Tactics Deck, put the ones that match the described action into hand, and discard the rest.
• Reinforce – If the left action succeeds, you may perform the right action at no cost.
• Combo – When an action is separated by “/”, choose to execute the group on the left or the right.
• Choose Wisely – All monsters in the same room perform the described action.
• Swarm – Renew the Loot (as in Phase 2).

Special Rooms

• Laboratory – You can try your luck by sending a hero to the Cells.
• Cells – Exhausted heroes that arrive here immediately use their abilities.
• Builder – You can build new rooms using coins from the Chest.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends in two situations:

1. Victory – When the Guild Deck ends on the second wave without the Treasure of value 4 being looted.
2. Defeat – When, at any time, the Treasure of value 4 is looted.

There is no additional scoring beyond these win/loss conditions. The goal is to survive the hero waves, not to accumulate points.

Tips for Winning

• Focus on acquiring Loot cards with Activate actions to use your special ability frequently.
• Use your Clan’s special ability to place new monsters in the dungeon when you need to reinforce defense.
• Manage the Supply – Keep resource and trap tokens available in the right rooms so other players can acquire Loot cards in future turns.