Rule Book Version 1.05
Forest Hunters strives to be a simple & accessible game that anyone can play! The game was created so players could build decks to be as simple or complex as desired.
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This easy-to-understand trading card game has a straight-forward structure open to flexibility. Decks and games can be made to be as basic or as intricate as players want them to be.
Character Cards
Character Cards are the first kind of cards in the game.
These cards are played into Character Card Zones.
Battle Points (BP) show the points used in battle.
Shield Points (SHD) show the health of a character card.
When you battle an opponent’s character card, you subtract your character card’s BP from the SHD of their character card, and that value becomes the new SHD of their card. When the SHD of a card goes to zero, it is sent to the discard pile.
Many character cards have effects and symbols describing the actions you can do when the card is played or on your field. When a character card has a play condition, it must be fulfilled any time you play it to your field.
Support Cards
Support Cards are the second kind of cards in the game. These cards are played into the Support Card Zones. These cards can be used to give you an advantage and progress the game forward.
After a support card is played and it’s effect has been used, it is sent to your discard pile. Some support cards have card symbols such as a house or an infinity sign that indicate they stay on the field after they are played.
The Symbols on the card can also describe how the card is used. Some support cards can also be character card type specific.
Card Types and Symbols
There are 10 total Character Card types in the game. These card types can interact with each other via card effects on other character cards or support cards. Character cards that you can choose the type will sometimes show what types you can choose from on the card.
Some cards have a symbol on the bottom right corner giving it additional deck building or effect rules.
If it has a number, then you can play up to that many cards in your deck.
If it has a symbol, that means it has a specific effect or game mechanic.
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These symbols will be in the bottom right corner of the card. On support cards, some will have character card types corresponding to the effect.
The Deck
Each player deck contains 10 character cards and 10 Support cards.
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You can only have one copy of each character card and support card name and effect in your deck, unless otherwise stated by card symbol. So you must play 20 different cards in your deck.​​
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If a card of yours is in your opponent’s possession and it leaves the field, it returns to your deck or discard pile.
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​While you have no cards in your deck to draw, play continues without drawing cards. Play continues until all players run out of cards in their deck. When this happens, the player with the highest health wins. If players have the same amount of heath, the game is a draw.
The Playing Field
The playing field has 3 Character card zones and 3 support card zones. You can only have up to 3 of each card on your field at a time. Some effects allow players to add additional zones to their field.
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When cards return to your field but there are not enough zones for the cards to return to, the remaining cards go to the discard pile.
Starting the Game
All players start the game with five hearts. Players cannot have more than five hearts. To win the game, you must get your opponent’s health to 0.
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To deal damage to your opponent’s health, you can battle your opponent directly while they have no character cards on their field, or by specific card effects.
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When beginning the game, all players draw five cards for their opening hand and determine who will be starting.
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During the first turn of the game, the turn player cannot battle with their character cards.
Turn Progression
Draw 1 Card To Start Turn
During the draw phase, if you
have four or more cards in
your hand and you have no character cards you can play,
you can shuffle all cards in
your hand into the deck and
draw that many cards -1. This
effect can be used more than
once during the draw phase, if needed.
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Card Phase
During this phase you can
play up to any 3 cards from
your hand.
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Battle Phase
During this phase, you can
battle with your character cards. Each character card on
your field can only battle once, but there are card effects that change this.​
If your opponent has no character cards on the field, you can battle your opponent directly. However, you can only
battle your opponent directly once per turn.
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After the Battle Phase, the turn ends. You cannot play any more cards from your hand after the Battle Phase.
Battle Phase Rules
There are two types of battle that can occur:
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Character Card vs Character Card
While your opponent has a character card on their field, you can only battle their character cards.
When you battle, subtract your character card’s BP from the SHD of their character card, and that value becomes the new SHD of the opponent’s character card.
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Character Card vs Opponent
When an opponent does not have any character
cards on their field, you can battle them directly with your character card(s).
You can only deal one heart of damage to your opponent once during your turn.​
3+ Player Games
1v1v1+ Rules:
Determine a player to go first, play then follows clockwise to the next player after their turn is over.
Max player health is decreased by one for each added player in the game (4 hearts for 3 players, etc.).
Players cannot battle until all players have finished their first turn. During battle, the player battling can choose which opponent to battle.
The player using card effects that apply to a singular opponent can choose which opponent it affects.
Play continues after a player’s health has reached zero, and the last player standing wins.
Players who have reached zero health are out of
the game, even if a player plays a card that increases player health.
If multiple players have effects that happen at the same time, the order in which the effects are used follows the order of play.
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Team Games
Decide who will be playing together. The teams will share a field with 5 character card zones and 5 support card zones, along with a shared discard pile. Players do not share health, decks, or hands.
Determine a player to go first, then determine the player on the opposite team that goes second. The
third player is on the opposite team as the second, etc.
Players can battle with all character cards on the shared field. When battling players directly, players can choose which player they are battling.
Players can battle all members on a team directly during their turn, once each.
If a player reaches zero health, the remaining player
on the team will play during the dead player’s turn.
Card Effect Specifics
The game can get complicated at times while using card effects. Here is a guide to make things easier:
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Effects are used in the order that
they are played.
If multiple effects are triggered simultaneously, the player must declare the order in which card effects will be used.
If different players have effects that are triggered simultaneously, the turn player’s effect is prioritized.
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Effects that specify ‘Your opponent’s’ in 3+ player games specify only one opponent.
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There are card effects that will ‘cancel’ other card
effects that are trying to be used. When this happens, the entire effect cannot be applied.
If there is a card or effect that cancels another effect, that card is prioritized.
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Card effects that specify “Once during your turn” or “Once per turn” can only be used once during that turn, regardless if the card leaves the field and returns during that turn.
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There are optional and
mandatory card effects.
If a card says “you can” that means the effect isn’t mandatory and you do not have to use that effect.
If the card does not say “you can,” it is a mandatory
effect and must happen (If the mandatory effect
cannot happen, then the card cannot be played).
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Effects can sometimes have
2 parts, or a ‘cost.’
In most cases, if A happens, then B happens
(If A is canceled then B will not happen).
If A is mandatory and B is optional, then you can
opt not to do B.
If A is optional and B is mandatory, after A you must
do B (If you cannot do B, then you cannot do A).
If both A and B are mandatory then you must be
able to fulfill both A and B to use the effect.
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When continuous support card effects are applied to a singular character card, that effect can’t be transferred until that character card leaves the field.
Face-Down Cards
When a card goes to the discard pile face-down it can’t be used. When a card effect involves a specific card in your discard pile (like playing a specific type character card or adding a support card to hand), you can’t choose face-down cards in your discard pile. Also, when a card is sent to the discard pile face-down and has a discard pile effect, that effect cannot be used.
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Face-down cards can be retrieved from your discard
pile with card effects that target specifically face- down cards. Cards that shuffle cards in your discard pile into your deck cannot target face-down cards, unless specified on the card.
Hand Traps
A Hand Trap is denoted by this symbol.
These cards use their effect by discarding them from your hand.
These effects can be used during any turn, as long as the conditions are met.
You can only play a max of one Hand Trap of each card type (one character card and/or one support card) in your deck.
Additional Tips and Tricks!
Many rules can be changed by a card effect. This makes the game more flexible to change, but it can also make it more confusing if you aren’t keeping up.
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The BP and SHD can change very frequently, it is recommended to write them down as you play the cards and keep track of all changes.
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Cards with effects that require you to roll a die will always be a D-6.
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In these early stages of the game with play testing cards, rules and effects are subject to change.
Card Mechanics
Combination
A combination card is denoted by this symbol.
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In order to play a combination card, the conditions on the card must be met first.
After the combination card is played, stack the desired character cards underneath the combination support card in a character card zone, as shown above. Then, calculate the combination card’s BP and SHD.
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Once the BP and SHD of the combination card have been calculated, the combination card remains on the field in a character card zone, with the chosen character cards stacked underneath, as shown above.
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Character card type of combinations are determined by the cards used. If they are all the same type, it becomes that type. Otherwise, the combination would have no type.
Leaving The Field
As shown in the picture above, when the combination card leaves the field, the cards used in the combination are returned to their original position.
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When there are not enough zones for all the combined cards to return to, the remaining character cards go to the discard pile.
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Cards that are combined from the discard pile can use their discard pile effect when they return to the discard pile.
Cards combined from the deck are shuffled back into the deck when the combination card leaves the field.
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Additional Rules
Cards underneath a combination have their effects cancelled, unless otherwise specified on the card.
Some character cards also have combination effects, but rather than using a ‘Combination’ card, combine using the character card itself.
Capturing
A Capture card is denoted by this symbol.
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Similar to the combination mechanic, the captured cards are sent below the support card/character card.
You can only play a max of one Capture card of each card type (one character card and/or support card) in your deck.
Captured cards return to their original position when
the card with the capturing effect leaves the field.
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If a captured character card returns to the field,
but the owner’s character card zones are full, the captured character card goes to the discard pile instead.
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Captured cards that return to the discard pile and have an effect when they go to the discard pile can use those effects.
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Additionally, cards that are captured have their effects canceled, unless otherwise specified on the card.
