Chapter 3: Basic Rules and Concepts.​
This chapter aims to educate players and readers on the basic rules and concepts of Ludicrous Ludo. These rules, concepts, and mechanics are often discussed throughout the book and frequently appear in gameplay. It also hopes to include information you would expect, such as needed materials, a game-end condition, and a winning condition. This chapter also contains mechanics related to movement, health, and types of damage.
3.1 Party Ability Stats:    

Party ability stats affect many aspects of this game. Chapter 18 will discuss it further. It is essential to understand that they could range from -2 to +2, and stats are often added to various things in the game.
3.2 Movement:    

Like regular Ludo, rolling a die and moving are significant parts of Ludicrous Ludo and are the one thing truly required to win the game. At the end of each of your turns (or at least most of them, this will be discussed later), you roll a d6 and make what is considered a movement roll. Unlike other phases of your turn (more on that later), this part of your turn is compulsory.

    For a movement roll, roll a d6 and move one of your pieces on the pathway or home area that many spaces clockwise. After this, your turn is over. If you can move a piece, then you must move at least one of them, even if you do not want to. If you cannot make any legal moves, your movement phase ends early without moving, and your turn ends. The following are rules that a movement must follow:
  • Your pieces cannot jump over other pieces of the same color.
  • More than two pieces of the same color cannot share the same space.
  • You can only move your pieces up to the number of spaces left in your home area.
  • In cases in which your pieces get to or have to move backwards, they may not move backwards past their own start space.

When you roll a 6 on a movement roll, you may make another movement roll before your turn ends. Movements from these rolls must follow all the same movement rules. These rules do not apply to bonus die rolls, which are used as a bonus action when your bonus die is full.

If you roll another 6 and every subsequent 6 on the same turn, you must make a type of saving throw. The goal for the saving throw is equal to the number of 6s that were rolled for movement rolls on this turn. You add your speed modifier to the roll. If it succeeds, you may continue as normal. If it fails, you may still move your pieces, but cannot make any more movement rolls for that turn. Bonus die rolls are unable to gain an additional roll from moving a specific number.
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Finally, some actions, spells, and other rules might tell you to skip your movement roll when using these actions, spells, or rules. When you do so, your movement roll for that turn is skipped, meaning you do not make one. After your movement phase, your turn ends.
3.3 Moving Pieces Out of Your Yard:

Instead of moving a piece of the pathway or home area, if you have any, you may move a piece from your yard onto your start space. Your start space is the solid-colored space adjacent to your yard, corresponding to your chosen color. It could be facing either way when initially placed out (more on that later). A piece that moves out of its yard is now considered on the pathway. To do so, you must roll either a 1 or a 6 on the movement roll, and moving a piece out of your yard consumes all of the spaces that could be used from the roll. You may not do this with a 1 or 6 from a bonus die roll. If you use a 6 to move a piece out of the yard, you still get to use your additional movement roll.

If all of your pieces are in your yard, you may have up to three chances on the movement phase of your turn to roll a 1 or a 6 on your movement phase. This ruling is known as the “three tries” rule. If you still cannot roll either of those numbers, your turn ends without moving a piece out of your yard.
3.4 Status Conditions:

A status condition affects either one or more party members or your entire party. Chapter 24 will discuss this concept further. All that is important to know now is that pieces becoming “unconscious” or “stressed” relate to the mechanics around it. Here is a relevant status condition:
  • Unconscious: an unconscious piece cannot take actions, bonus actions, reactions, pivotal moments, or even move or turn around. Also, if an unconscious piece takes any damage or three rounds pass without being revived, then that piece is eliminated.
3.5 Health:

Health, also known as HP, determines how much damage your party can take before one or more of your pieces becomes unconscious or eliminated. The entire party shares health to make the game more straightforward to manage. The single HP stat is deducted if any piece on the pathway is damaged. For the health stat, your maximum is 10 + your constitution modifier. The total value at any time may not exceed this maximum.

At the beginning of the game, your party’s HP starts at the party’s health point maximum. Your party’s HP also resets to its maximum when one or more pieces become unconscious from the stat hitting zero. Whenever your party takes damage, it is deducted from the current party’s health. If multiple pieces take damage from a single interaction, the total damage of all of the party’s pieces involved is applied.

​On the party sheet is an area for recording the party’s current health. I designed the area for either the number to be written regularly or for the player to place a die there. It might be wise to use a die in this area, as a party’s HP could change often throughout a match. A d12 could be useful in general, but a d10 or even d8 could be used for parties with lower constitution modifiers.

When the party’s HP hits zero, whichever piece on the pathway that took the final blow, the blow that knocked it down to zero, becomes unconscious and gains the unconscious status condition. See the status condition list for more information on this status condition. If multiple pieces are involved in this blow, the player who controls them chooses one of them to become unconscious.
3.6 Damage Types:    

Multiple types of damage could be dealt with in Ludicrous Ludo. One of the most important distinctions is between attack damage and natural damage. The difference between the two determines who rolls the dice, if any, when a piece or creator takes damage. For the attack type, the owning player or creature that is dealing the damage rolls the dice to find out how much damage is dealt. If it is a creature that is doing the damage, the player with the god token rolls, even if it is against their own party. If it is the natural type, the player whose piece is receiving the damage rolls the dice to find out how much damage is dealt. If it is a creature receiving this type, then the player with the god token makes the roll.

There is another distinction in damage between normal and pure. The distinction means that there are a total of four different types of damage that someone could place within a 2x2 matrix. These are normal attack, normal natural, pure attack, and pure natural. Some damage is predetermined and not dependent on dice rolls, in which case the type would either just be normal or pure.

The most common type is normal damage. There are no special rules related to it, and it simply lowers the opponent’s HP while often giving a chance to stun. If the rules do not specify a particular type, it is assumed to be this. 

​Another type is pure damage, which does everything normal damage does, except that the mortal form cannot be reduced or prevented after it is dealt. It is typically more likely to be fully implemented due to this stipulation.
3.7 Elimination:    

​A piece is eliminated when it has the unconscious status condition and is either not revived within three turns of gaining the status condition or takes any damage while unconscious. In rare cases, a situation could instantly eliminate a piece without that piece becoming unconscious. One case of this happening is if a piece takes more than 20 damage past 0 HP. When a piece is eliminated, it is sent back to the yard and must be returned to the start space to continue along the pathway.
3.8 Range:    

For most actions and other rules and mechanics with a listed range, some rules determine what entities are or are not in range. Range refers to the distance at which it can target pieces. Range is measured in spaces. If it could only target the space in front of the creature or piece, it has a range of 1. The number goes up for every additional space. 

Something with a range cannot go through corners or great divides unless said otherwise. Also, it stops at the first piece that the piece is facing, unless otherwise specified. Something with range may not target pieces in their home area or yard. Finally, the piece or creature that is performing the action or rule with a range must be facing its target, unless said otherwise.

Some rules and mechanics with ranges can target multiple pieces within a single interaction. If multiple pieces are affected, apply the rules and effects to the ones that are closest to the source. If there are targets on both sides of the source, for rules and effects that have ranges on both sides, it first targets the piece that the source is facing. The rules listed in this paragraph apply unless otherwise stated.
3.9 Retaliation:    

When a player makes an attack (weapon attack, punch, or attacking spell), whether successful or unsuccessful, that piece that was attacked gets to make an attack on those opponent's pieces without using a reaction. Retaliations may only be done with pieces that are facing the attacker. Damage or attacks due to the collateral damage rule do not trigger retaliations. A piece may not retaliate if it has the stunned, unconscious, or restrained status conditions.
3.10 Specific Beats General:    

Some game elements, such as abilities from classes, may break the game's general rules. In these cases, it is an exception to the rest of the game's rules. If a specific rule contradicts a general rule, the specific rule wins.
3.11 End and Winning Conditions:

In regular Ludo, the first player to move all their pieces into their home triangle wins. Since more than two friendly pieces cannot occupy the same space anymore, there is a new win condition in Ludicrous Ludo. A player must achieve both of the following:
  • All four of your pieces are within your home.
  • At least one of those pieces is in the triangular space of your home area.