Heroica is a series of sets based around common dungeon crawl motifs - the games have the players attempting to battle their way across a board defeating various monsters along the way and collecting power-ups and other treasures.

As sold, the games are designed for around 1-4 players; some sets have less "player" pieces, however alternative rules suggest one player could play all the monsters.

The game is based around the "Microfig" scale characters.

Heroes

Each hero has a different special melee or ranged skill that can be used during their moves or when in combat when the die lands showing the Heroica Shield.

Each set comes with a number of heroes including:

• Barbarian
  Melee: Defeat ALL adjacent monsters and move 1 space.
• Wizard
  Ranged: Defeat a monster up to 4 spaces away, even around corners.
• Ninja
  Melee: Defeat the monster and take 1 gold from the store.
• Knight
  Ranged: Move up to 2 spaces and defeat an adjacent monster (charge).
• Druid
  Ranged: Restore full health.
• Ranger
  Ranged: Move 1 space and defeat a monster up to 5 spaces away in a straight line (bow shot).

Monsters

The monsters have different strengths ranging from 1 to 3.

Each set comes with a themed set of monsters including:

• Goblins
  • King - 3 Strength
  • General - 3 Strength
  • Guardian - 2 Strength
  • Warrior - 1 Strength
• Dark Druids - 3 Strength
• Werewolves - 2 Strength
• Golems
  • Lord - 3 Strength
  • Guardian - 2 Strength
• Spiders - 1 Strength
• Bats - 1 Strength

Movement

In the basic games, the monsters are static, and the heroes are moved by the player's dice rolls. The die has four different plates on it:

• One side showing 1
• Two sides showing 2
• Two sides showing 3
• One side showing the Heroica Shield - the hero may move 4 spaces OR use their ranged skill

If the player ends her movement in a space occupied by another hero, she should move the hero forward to the first available space.

The player should collect any items in spaces the hero has moved through, and they should be stored in their hero pack.

If the player moves into a space next to a monster, she MUST end her move and fight the monster.

Combat

When a hero moves into a space next to a monster, the outcome is decided by a single dice roll:

• Heroica Shield
  Defeat the monster or use your hero's melee skill.
• Sword
  Defeat the monster.
• Skull
  Lose health equal to the monster's strength AND move back 1 space away from the monster.
• Sword & Skull
  Defeat the monster AND lose health equal to the monster's strength AND move back 1 space away from the monster.

If the player moves into a space next to two or more monsters, he chooses which one to fight first, and if he wins, the player immediately fights the next monster.

Each hero starts with 4 points of health. If they lose all their health, they are temporarily defeated and must spend one or more turns healing. Healing is done by rolling the die and restoring health up to the number rolled. The player must continue rolling until he has restored full health, he can then roll and move as normal on his next turn. This healing technique can only be used when the hero has lost all it's health.

Items and Weapons

During the game, players can find items such as potions (Life (restore 2 health), Luck (re-roll the die), Speed (move up to 4 extra spaces) and Strength (defeat an adjacent monster)), treasure chests (which can contain traps), gold and keys.

Keys are used to open locked doors (and MUST be left in the door once it's unlocked). A hero can only carry ONE key at a time.

Gold can be used to purchase additional weapons which give the players hero additional ranged or melee skills.

Each weapon costs 3 gold to purchase, and can be sold back to the store for 2 gold.

• Axe
  Melee: Defeat ALL adjacent monsters
• Wand
  Ranged: Defeat a monster up to 3 spaces away, even around corners
• Staff
  Ranged: Restore up to 2 health
• Bow
  Ranged: Defeat a monster up to 5 spaces away in a straight line
• Dagger
  Melee: Defeat the monster and take one gold from the store
• Sword
  Ranged: Move 1 space and defeat an adjacent monster