
- BGG rating
- 9.2
Dungeon Draft: Pirates & Paladins Expansion
- 2–5 players
- 30–60 min
- Complexity 2.0/5
- 2025

2017
Rules assistance for Dungeon Draft
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
For 2 players

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Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Dungeon Draft is a board game released in 2017 for 2–5 players, 30–45 minutes per game, and ages 8 and up. It was designed by Justin Gary and its main mechanics are Hand Management, Turn Order: Progressive, and Closed Drafting.
Over the course of four rounds in Dungeon Draft, 2-5 players draft heroes and weapons — using gold to pay for them — then use them to defeat monsters, acquire additional gold, and complete quests in an effort to earn the most experience points (XP). Set-up: At the beginning of the game each player is dealt 5 Quest cards. Then, each player selects 3 of their Quests to keep and returns the remainder facedown to the bottom of the Quest Deck. Each round players draft a 7 card hand. Cards are passed either clockwise or counter clockwise depending on the round. Players then take turns playing as many cards as they can from their hand, provided they have the resources to do so. Randomly determine which player will play first during the Play Phase. The starting player will alternate in a clockwise fashion during each of the four rounds. Playing Cards: To play Heroes and Weapons, players must spend Gold equal to the Gold Cost in the upper left corner of the card. Spent Gold is returned to the common pool of available Gold. Heroes and Weapons remain in front of you when played. Some Heroes and Weapons have special text abilities that take effect when played. All Heroes and Weapons will only have effects that last for the remainder of the round, with the exception of providing Attack, Gold, and XP (i.e. ignore everything but the numbers and symbols on the left side of the card during future rounds). Class Icons: Each Hero and Weapon has a class. Classes are indicated by card color and icon. Class is very important! Many powers on Heroes and Weapons can only be used if you control enough cards of the appropriate class. Monsters To defeat Monsters, players must have Attack equal to or greater than the Monster Attack Cost in the upper left corner of the card. Attack is not “spent” like Gold, so a player can defeat any number of Monsters whose Attack Cost is lower than or equal to the combined Attack of all cards you control. Some Monsters have a text box with special effects on the card. After you defeat one of these Monsters, follow the instructions and then put the Monster into the Draft Deck Discard Pile. Some Monsters have XP or Gold values on the card. After you defeat one of these Monsters, take the corresponding XP and/or Gold from the corresponding pool and then put the Monster into the Draft Deck Discard Pile. Quests To play Quests, players must have Heroes and Weapons of the appropriate class. Quests have no cost other than this requirement. Unlike Heroes and Weapons, Quest Cards may have abilities that can be used over multiple rounds. End of Turn Once a player has finished playing any cards they wish to play (and has the resources to play), they must: • Discard all unplayed Draft Cards to the Draft Deck Discard Pile (do not discard Quest Cards OR played Heroes and Weapons). • Gain 5 Gold plus additional Gold equal to the total Gold Production on all cards in front of you. • Play passes to the next player. End of Round Once all players have completed the Play Phase, the next round will begin. In each round, the starting player will rotate clockwise (i.e. the player who played second in the previous round will start the next round). TIP: At the end of each round, it is helpful to stack all of your played Heroes and Weapons so that only their icons are visible. This clears room for the next round’s cards and helps to avoid confusion since only the icon powers remain in effect for future rounds. After four rounds have been completed, players tally up XP to determine the winner. The player with the most XP at the end of the game is the winner! Huzzah!
Dungeon Draft supports 2–5 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Dungeon Draft is 30–45 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Dungeon Draft for ages 8 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Dungeon Draft has a complexity rating of 1.9 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Dungeon Draft belongs to these categories: Card Game and Fantasy. Its main mechanics are Hand Management, Turn Order: Progressive, and Closed Drafting. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Dungeon Draft are: Justin Gary. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Dungeon Draft as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.