HUNGER CHAIN — Rulebook

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Banana Joe Games presents

Hunt the monsters that roam the world, and craft what they drop into your next weapon.

Rulebook based on Rules v1.0 · card game · rules in progress

Monsters roam the world of Hunger Chain. You hunt them down, harvest what they drop, and turn those parts into the gear that lets you hunt something bigger.

1 The Food Chain

Hunger Chain is a card game built around a single loop: a monster spawns, you bring it down, and the carcass becomes a Material you can use. You spend those Materials to craft Equipment for your hunter and Items to carry into the next fight. Take on Quests posted on the board, sell what you don't need, and bank Reward Points along the way.

Some monsters spawn freely. Others are evolutions of weaker ones, and only show up once the chain has moved up a rung. The bigger the threat, the better the drop.

2 The Core Loop

Hunt. Defeat a Monster on the board. Once it is down, it stops being a Monster and becomes the Material listed as its Drop.
Harvest. Keep that Drop, or sell it for the Reward Points printed on the card.
Craft. Discard a matching Drop or Material to build Equipment for your hunter, or to make an Item.
Clear Quests. Hunt the monsters a Quest asks for, or deliver the Drop it wants, and collect its Reward.

3 The Five Card Types

Monsterthe prey

The creatures roaming the world. Defeat one and it becomes its Drop.

Questthe bounty

A request to hunt monsters or deliver a Drop, paid in Reward Points.

Equipmentyour hunter

The character you control and their gear. Crafted from monster Drops.

Itemone use

Crafted effects you spend Action Points to use.

Materialthe fuel

Spawns on the board. Collect, then consume for a power up.

Rules in progress. This rulebook covers the cards as written in Rules v1.0. Set up, turn order, combat resolution and how the game ends are still being designed, and will be added here as they are finalised.

There are five types of card in Hunger Chain. Each one reads the same way every time, so once you know the anatomy you can pick up any card and know what it does.

1 Monster

The monsters roaming around in the world. Whenever a Monster is defeated it is no longer a Monster, just the Material named as its Drop.

On the card	What it means
Name	The name of the card.
Attack Abilities	The attacks the Monster can perform.
Toughness	The Monster's Toughness value.
Permanent Abilities / Lore	Special abilities that are always active. You may also find some of the monster's lore here.
Drop	The Material you get by defeating the Monster. Exchange this card to craft Items and Equipment with a matching Required Drop.
Reward	The Reward Points you get by selling this Monster's Drop.
Threat Level	How strong the Monster is overall. It sets which monsters spawn freely and which are evolutions of others.

2 Equipment

Equipment cards represent the character you control during the game and their gear. You always start with a grade 1 Equipment. Craft a new one by discarding a Monster card whose Drop matches the Required Drop.

On the card	What it means
Attack	The attack abilities your character uses in combat.
Grade	The level of the card. You always start with a grade 1 Equipment.
Toughness	Added to your Hero's base stats.
Abilities	Special abilities your character can use, or special rules that affect them.
Required Drop	The Material or Materials you need to craft this Equipment.

3 Item

Items give you various effects, described on the card. To use one, spend Action Points equal to its Cost. To get an Item, craft it by discarding a Material that matches its Required Drop.

On the card	What it means
Effect	What the Item does, as written on the card.
Cost	The Action Points you spend to use it.
Required Drop	The Material you discard to craft it.

4 Material

Materials spawn on the board. Collect them, then consume them for various power ups. A Material is discarded on use and its effect lasts only until the end of the turn it is used in, but it is often what makes a monster killable in the first place.

Consumed on use, with the effect lasting until the end of that turn.
Often indispensable for taking down almost any monster.
Some Materials carry a Reward, the Reward Points you can get by selling them.
A defeated Monster's Drop is a Material too, so the same card you craft with can be sold instead.

5 Quest

Quests are requests that send players after specific monsters or drops in exchange for a Reward. They come in two kinds, and the next tab covers them in full.

Quests get their own tab. See Quests for Hunt versus Retrieve, Targets, Encounters and Rewards.

A Quest is a job posted to the board. Whichever kind it is, clearing it pays out a Reward in Reward Points.

1 Two Kinds of Quest

Huntred

Asks you to hunt one or more Monsters, and lets you keep the Drop. Every monster on the list must be defeated after the Quest is posted. The monsters you have to defeat are the main Targets.

Retrieveblue

Asks you to deliver a specific Drop, so you don't get to keep it. You can use Drops you got earlier, even if the Quest wasn't posted at the time. The main Target is any monster that has the required Drop.

2 Targets and Encounters

Main Targets are what clears the Quest: the monsters to defeat on a Hunt, or any monster with the required Drop on a Retrieve.
Encounters are other monsters listed on the card that you don't need to defeat to clear it, but that may spawn anyway.

3 Reward

Every Quest carries a numerical value called the Reward: the Reward Points you collect if you clear it.

Hunt keeps, Retrieve gives. A Hunt Quest leaves the Drop in your hands. A Retrieve Quest takes the Drop as the price of clearing it, but it accepts Drops you already had.

Everything you make comes from something you killed or picked up. Drops and Materials are the raw stock; Reward Points are what you bank.

1 Drops and Materials

When a Monster is defeated it becomes the Material printed as its Drop. Materials also spawn on the board on their own. Either way, a Material is a card you can spend, consume, or sell.

2 Crafting

Craft Equipment

Discard a Monster card whose Drop matches the Equipment's Required Drop. You always start from a grade 1 Equipment.

Craft an Item

Discard a Material that matches the Item's Required Drop. Once made, spend Action Points equal to its Cost to use it.

3 Reward Points

Reward Points are what you earn across the hunt. There are two ways to get them:

Sell a Drop or Material that carries a Reward, instead of crafting with it.
Clear a Quest and collect the Reward Points listed on the card.

Spend or sell. A Drop with a Reward is a choice every time: feed it into a craft, or cash it in. You rarely have enough to do both.

★ Glossary

The terms the cards use, in one place.

Term	Meaning
Drop	The Material a Monster becomes when defeated. Used to craft, or sold for Reward Points.
Material	A card that spawns on the board (or comes from a Drop). Consumed on use; the effect lasts to the end of the turn.
Required Drop	The Material an Equipment or Item needs in order to be crafted.
Toughness	A defensive value. Monsters carry their own; Equipment adds to your Hero's base stats.
Threat Level	A Monster's overall strength. Sets which spawn freely and which are evolutions of others.
Reward / Reward Points	The score you bank by selling Drops and Materials or clearing Quests.
Action Points	What you spend to use an Item, equal to its Cost.
Grade	An Equipment's level. You start with a grade 1 Equipment.
Hero	The character you control, represented by your Equipment and its added Toughness.
Main Target	What clears a Quest: the monsters to defeat (Hunt) or any monster with the required Drop (Retrieve).
Encounter	A monster a Quest lists that may spawn but is not needed to clear it.
Hunt Quest	Red. Defeat the listed monsters and keep the Drop.
Retrieve Quest	Blue. Deliver a required Drop; earlier Drops count.

Not here yet. Set up, the turn sequence, how combat is resolved and the victory condition are still in design. They will be added to this rulebook once Rules v1.0 grows past the cards.