Monsters & Minions bring Roll Player to a whole other scale! In addition to building up your perfect character, you’ll hunt Minions to gather information about the Monster you’ll fight at the end of the game. IMO, it’s a definite expansion must-have.
New Monsters & Minions Features
Dice
This expansion brings several new dice, the first being Combat Dice that you’ll roll to battle Minions during a Hunt and the Monster during the final battle. These are smaller, transparent orange dice. The second new dice are the Boost Dice, representing hidden physical, mental, or magical boosts for a character; their value ranges from three to eight. They are transparent dice you may draw from the draw bag. The game also adds 7 Additional Attribute Dice – one in each color.
Cards
Monster Cards – In each game, you’ll be fighting one of six monsters included in this expansion. Each Monster has a Strength value that you must beat as a minimum and a unique ability during Monster Combat. Refer to the Bling section of this post to view the Lenticular Monster cards! There are sets for both multiplayer and solitaire games.
Adventure Cards – Each Monster comes with nine Adventure cards that blend into a unique combination of Location, Obstacle and Attack. These cards are the same size as the smaller character Alignment cards. During the game’s Market phase, you may elect to hunt Minions that reveal this Adventure information about the Monster battle.
Minion Cards – 26 Minion Cards give you a chance to Hunt and kill the minions to gain information and Honor for the upcoming Monster battle. Beautiful (if you could call Minions beautiful) artwork adorns these cards.
In addition to the new Cards, Monsters & Minions has additional Market Cards, Class/Alignment/Backstory cards, and new tarot-sized Player Aid and Cost Summary cards.
Tokens
In your Minion battles, you’ll gain either Honor or Injury Tokens, which add or subtract from your combat roll during the Monster combat. You’ll also gain Experience Point Cubes (XP) by defeating Minions or through other effects. XP has many beneficial uses. Finally, a new Start Player Token tracks whose turn it is. The Hero Tome allows you to record your character’s details at the end of the game.
You also receive six new Character Sheets – Bastja (cat-people), Construct (robotic being), Dark Elf, Gnome, and Wrathborn.
How to Play Roll Player Monsters & Minions
Follow the base game setup, including the additional 11 Boost Dice and extra Attribute Dice in the dice bag. Choose a monster, being sure to exclude any monster whose color matches any current player colors. Randomly select the Monster’s Adventure cards – and set one Location, Obstacle and Attack card facedown. Like Market cards, you’ll separate and shuffle the Minion cards into single-dot and double-dot cards. Place them facedown in one stack, remove the top seven cards to the box, and reveal the top card face up.
Gameplay Sequence
Gameplay follows the base game, with the Roll and Dice phase remaining the same and the Cleanup Phase revealing new Market cards equal to the number of players plus two instead of plus one. The main difference is in the Market Phase, where you may do the following:
- Buy a card from the Market
- Discord a card from the Market and gain 2 Gold
- Go on a Hunt
Going On a Hunt
Choose either the faceup top card of the Minion deck or pay three gold to reveal a new Minion card. Take 1 Combat Die plus any additional Combat Dice allowed by the Minion you’re fighting. Hire Mercenaries (extra Combat Dice) for 3 XP or 5 Gold.
Roll the Combat Dice and total – you may re-roll any dice by spending 1 XP per die. Gain the reward based on your final result. If your reward level includes the trophy symbol, you killed the Minion! Keep it near your area. Take a Location token and peek at the Location Adventure card for your first Trophy. For the following two trophies, take the Obstacle token and look at the Obstacle card, and the same for the final Attack Adventure card. If you already have three Adventure tokens, gain 1 XP instead.
If it doesn’t include the trophy symbol, place the Minion card on the bottom of the deck, as it survived and ran away.
Finally, reveal the top card of the Minion deck and place it face-up on the deck.
Experience Points (XP)
Check the new Cost Summary cards on how to Gain and Spend XP and gold.
Strategy Tips
Strive to successfully hunt at least three Minions, revealing all the Adventure information about the upcoming Monster fight. If you don’t earn an Adventure card, you do not gain its benefits, even if you meet the requirements. However, don’t just focus on the hunt! Try to get a nice balance of cards – weapons, armor, traits, skills, and scrolls. These cards will help you through the game and end-game scoring.
Game End and Final Scoring
Once all players have filled their Character Sheets with 18 dice, proceed to the end of game phase. Character creation phase of the game is now complete. It’s time to confront the Monster! Take this time to spend any XP taking Attribute Actions or discarding injury tokens.
Create Dice Pools
All players gain 1 Combat Die. Then Resolve the Adventure Cards, in turn, starting with the Location card, Obstacle card, and finally the Attack card. Only players who have earned the matching Adventure token are eligible for the benefit of that card. You may hire mercenaries (extra Combat Dice) for 3 XP or 5 Gold each.
Monster Combat
It’s finally time for the epic battle! You’ll be fighting one of the following Monsters: Chimera, Demon, Dragon, Giant Troll, Kraken or Vampire. Each player rolls the Combat Dice they accumulated and totals the result to calculate the power of their attack.
Roll Player Monsters & Minions Final Scoring
As in the base game, score Reputation Stars, starting with their Monster Combat, and proceeding with the Reputation gained. The player with the most Reputation wins!
Monsters & Minions Bling
I love the Roll Player Lenticular Monster Cards for this expansion and the next Fiends & Familiars expansion. Each Monster has a different Ability/Strength compared to the base Monster, doubling the Monster fighting experience. I made a video showing the Lenticular “animations” for each Monster.
Also available are Roll Player: Monsters & Minions – Lock Up Pack, which includes six new cards – 2 Market cards and 4 Minion cards to add to your game.
Summary for Roll Player Monsters & Minions
If you own the Roll Player base game, you’ll want to add Monsters & Minions expansion! I find myself addicted to hunting those Minions, and the new XP cubes help me buy additional Attribute actions to gain the perfect Attributes. But don’t forget to keep your game balanced; you’ll score best if you purchase cards from the Market.
The Solo Mode is super easy and fun, I haven’t gotten the best score “title” yet, but usually get somewhere in the 30s.
Have you tried Roll Player Monsters & Minions expansion? Do you also consider it crucial to your Roll Player experience? Comment below and come back soon for the Fiends & Familiars expansion review!