Fury of Dracula
Encyclopedia
The Fury of Dracula is a board game
designed by Stephen Hand and published by Games Workshop
in 1987
. Fantasy Flight Games
released an updated version in 2006
as Fury of Dracula.
’s novel, Dracula
. One player takes the role of Count Dracula
while the remaining players take the roles of Hunters Abraham Van Helsing
, Dr John Seward
and Lord Godalming
. Fantasy Flight Games
added Mina Harker
as a fourth hunter in the 2006 release. Seeking revenge for the past, Dracula attempts to build an army of vampires throughout Europe. The Hunters, following clues Dracula has left behind, have joined together to destroy Dracula before he can succeed.
s, bat
s, armed minions, fledgling vampires, fog
, storm
s and plagues) and gathering weapons and equipment (such as rifles, stake
s, garlic
and holy wafers) for the eventual showdown.
The Hunters can move by sea, road or rail, while Dracula is permitted to move by sea or road only. Moving by rail permits the Hunters to cover a greater distance than they could by road, but requires a die roll, which can result from them being delayed a turn (held over by travelling papers) to moving up to three towns connected by a railway.
The basic combat options are Fist, Dodge and Escape. In addition, the Hunters and Dracula's mortal agents get an additional combat option for each weapon they possess. Dracula's combat options vary greatly depending on the time of day; if caught during the day, his player only had access to the basic options. During the night, his available options more than doubled to reflect his supernatural powers.
Players are not permitted to use the same combat option twice in consecutive rounds (although a hunter with two weapons of the same type would be permitted to use them alternately in consecutive rounds).
In the first edition, the time of combat was chosen by die roll, although various cards played by either side could force a particular time of day. The second edition includes a day/night cycle that advances incrementally each turn. Combat is conducted according to the time of day indicated on the track.
In the first edition, all Hunters started with 12 wounds and would be eliminated from the game if their Wounds were reduced to zero.
Each Hunter in the second edition has a different wound total. If their Wounds are reduced to zero the hunters must recuperate at the Hospital of St Joseph and St Mary, but may continue to play.
Some combat or encounter results with vampires or Dracula can give a Hunter a Bite Token. While under the effects of a bite, certain event cards become playable. These events can be beneficial or detrimental. In addition, the Hunter suffers penalties in combat against Dracula. Being bitten a second time results in the hunter becoming a vampire; he is eliminated from the game and given to the Dracula player as a generic vampire encounter.
In the second edition, being bitten twice no longer eliminates the character from the game; they are sent to the Hospital of St Joseph and St Mary to recover. In addition, the character Mina Harker begins with a Bite Token (received in the novel) and as such these "bitten only" events are usable from the very beginning of the game. Van Helsing is resistant to bites and can withstand three before being sent to the hospital.
Dracula has 12 Blood Points (15 in the second edition), the equivalent of Wounds. Again, combat and certain event cards can cause him to lose blood, but the player can also spend Blood Points to activate special abilities. In addition, whenever the Dracula player embarked on a sea voyage, he lost a Blood Point, reflecting his weakness to running water and the lack of easy prey to feed from while at sea.
In the first edition of the game, when the Dracula player lost all their Blood Points, he enters Blood Death. Blood Death represents Dracula's base survival instinct; he must retreat to Castle Dracula by the quickest route possible and he must escape every encounter as soon as possible. He can no longer win the game (although he may be able to force a draw) and if he takes an additional 12 points of damage while in Blood Death, he is destroyed, resulting in a Hunter's major victory.
In the second edition of the game, the Dracula player is simply destroyed when he is reduced to zero Blood Points, although a variety of events and special abilities make it much easier to recover blood than in the first edition. In addition, Dracula can no longer be killed outright by a single attack. Suffering a killed result in combat reduces his Blood Points to a predetermined amount on his character sheet (0, 5 and 10 blood) and combat continues.
It was not unusual for both sides to be able to simultaneously claim minor victories. Play normally continued until a major victory condition had been fulfilled or the Dracula player was unable to continue (by entering Blood Death, then subsequently hiding successfully in Castle Dracula).
In the second edition, the varying degrees of victory have been eliminated. The Hunters win if they are able to kill Dracula. Dracula wins if he is able to advance the Vampire track to 6, by 'killing' hunters, maturing vampire encounters, and surviving a complete day/night cycle.
Characters in the second edition receive different abilities, for example Van Helsing's ability to withstand an additional bite or Godalming's Wealth ability, allowing him to reroll any train movement die roll, plus their number of Wounds are different, for example 12 for Godalming and 8 for Van Helsing.
Due to the differences in Dracula's movement in the second edition, only his six previous locations can contain any encounters. As he moves along the map, the oldest location moves further down the track until it reaches the seventh position, where he can mature the encounter or discard it.
Maturing the encounter has varying effects dependent on the encounter itself - it could discarded without effect or in the case of vampires, increase the Vampire track by two, bringing him closer to winning the game.
The second edition adds the Resolve system to the Hunters. Every time the Day/Night track advances to a new day, in addition to Dracula gaining a Vampire track point, the Hunters gain 1 Resolve point. Resolve can be spent to reveal Dracula's oldest location, allow an individual hunter to take an extra turn, or heal a single hunter.
The second edition also clearly states there should be punishment for cheating by the Dracula player, whether intentionally or accidentally. The suggested punishment is a clearing of Dracula's trail to one location, revealing his current location and suffering blood point loss equal to a killed result or leaving him on 1 blood point if this would destroy him.
From the 2006 Rulebook:
, eventually submitting the finished project to Games Workshop in the summer of 1986. Although Workshop liked the game, they put the game on hold while they focused on stronger products, offering Hand a choice of waiting for a suitable production gap to appear, or converting the game to fit into the Warhammer Fantasy World. Games Workshop ultimately produced The Fury of Dracula and released it in the autumn of 1987.
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
designed by Stephen Hand and published by Games Workshop
Games Workshop
Games Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000...
in 1987
1987 in games
This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and table-top role-playing games published in 1987. For video and console games, see 1987 in video gaming.-Game awards given in 1987:...
. Fantasy Flight Games
Fantasy Flight Games
Fantasy Flight Games is a Roseville, Minnesota-based game company that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games. Fantasy Flight Publishing was founded in 1995 by its CEO, Christian T. Petersen. Since the release of its first game product in 1997, the company has been doing...
released an updated version in 2006
2006 in games
This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and table-top role-playing games published in 2006. For video and console games, see 2006 in video gaming....
as Fury of Dracula.
Theme
The game takes place in Europe during 1898, eight years after the events in Bram StokerBram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
’s novel, Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
. One player takes the role of Count Dracula
Count Dracula
Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and archetypal vampire. Some aspects of his character have been inspired by the 15th century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler...
while the remaining players take the roles of Hunters Abraham Van Helsing
Abraham Van Helsing
Professor Abraham van Helsing is a protagonist from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.Van Helsing is a Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc." The character is best known as a...
, Dr John Seward
John Seward
John Seward, M.D. is a fictional character appearing in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.-In the novel:Seward is the administrator of an insane asylum not far from Count Dracula's first English home, Carfax. Throughout the novel, Seward conducts ambitious interviews with one of his patients,...
and Lord Godalming
Arthur Holmwood
Arthur Holmwood is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.-In the novel:He is engaged to Lucy Westenra, and is best friends with the other two men who proposed to her on the very same day — Quincey Morris and Doctor John Seward...
. Fantasy Flight Games
Fantasy Flight Games
Fantasy Flight Games is a Roseville, Minnesota-based game company that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games. Fantasy Flight Publishing was founded in 1995 by its CEO, Christian T. Petersen. Since the release of its first game product in 1997, the company has been doing...
added Mina Harker
Mina Harker
Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's 1897 horror novel Dracula.- In the novel :She begins the story as Miss Mina Murray, a young school mistress who is engaged to Jonathan Harker, and best friends with Lucy Westenra...
as a fourth hunter in the 2006 release. Seeking revenge for the past, Dracula attempts to build an army of vampires throughout Europe. The Hunters, following clues Dracula has left behind, have joined together to destroy Dracula before he can succeed.
Gameplay
The Hunter players move openly across the game board, which is a stylised map of late 19th century Europe, while the Dracula player moves in secret. In the original, this is done using a small board of his own hidden behind a screen. In the new version, the player uses a trail of face-down cards, each representing a location on the board. By various means the Hunters deduce and uncover Dracula's path, hopefully overcoming whatever obstacles he has placed along the way (including wolves, ratRat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s, bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s, armed minions, fledgling vampires, fog
Fog
Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated...
, storm
Storm
A storm is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather...
s and plagues) and gathering weapons and equipment (such as rifles, stake
Stake
Stake may refer to:* @stake, a computer services company* Equity stake, a share or interest in a business or investment* "Stake", a tent peg* Stake -Military:* Sudis , a fortification carried by Roman legionaries...
s, garlic
Garlic
Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...
and holy wafers) for the eventual showdown.
The Hunters can move by sea, road or rail, while Dracula is permitted to move by sea or road only. Moving by rail permits the Hunters to cover a greater distance than they could by road, but requires a die roll, which can result from them being delayed a turn (held over by travelling papers) to moving up to three towns connected by a railway.
Combat
Combat is performed on a round by round basis. Combatants first choose a combat option in secret then each side rolls a six sided die for initiative. Chosen combat options are revealed and the results of the options and initiative are cross referenced on the appropriate chart to determine the winner for the round. The second edition moves this information onto the combat options themselves, which are now small cards instead of cardboard counters, removing the need to consult a chart. If any of the protagonists are still alive, the procedure repeats itself until one side is dead or successfully retreats.The basic combat options are Fist, Dodge and Escape. In addition, the Hunters and Dracula's mortal agents get an additional combat option for each weapon they possess. Dracula's combat options vary greatly depending on the time of day; if caught during the day, his player only had access to the basic options. During the night, his available options more than doubled to reflect his supernatural powers.
Players are not permitted to use the same combat option twice in consecutive rounds (although a hunter with two weapons of the same type would be permitted to use them alternately in consecutive rounds).
In the first edition, the time of combat was chosen by die roll, although various cards played by either side could force a particular time of day. The second edition includes a day/night cycle that advances incrementally each turn. Combat is conducted according to the time of day indicated on the track.
Wounds/Blood and Bites
Each Hunter has a number of Wounds, representing the amount of injuries they can sustain. Combat, encounters and certain event cards can cause damage to the Hunter, causing them to lose Wounds. Wounds can be recovered by using event cards or by resting.In the first edition, all Hunters started with 12 wounds and would be eliminated from the game if their Wounds were reduced to zero.
Each Hunter in the second edition has a different wound total. If their Wounds are reduced to zero the hunters must recuperate at the Hospital of St Joseph and St Mary, but may continue to play.
Some combat or encounter results with vampires or Dracula can give a Hunter a Bite Token. While under the effects of a bite, certain event cards become playable. These events can be beneficial or detrimental. In addition, the Hunter suffers penalties in combat against Dracula. Being bitten a second time results in the hunter becoming a vampire; he is eliminated from the game and given to the Dracula player as a generic vampire encounter.
In the second edition, being bitten twice no longer eliminates the character from the game; they are sent to the Hospital of St Joseph and St Mary to recover. In addition, the character Mina Harker begins with a Bite Token (received in the novel) and as such these "bitten only" events are usable from the very beginning of the game. Van Helsing is resistant to bites and can withstand three before being sent to the hospital.
Dracula has 12 Blood Points (15 in the second edition), the equivalent of Wounds. Again, combat and certain event cards can cause him to lose blood, but the player can also spend Blood Points to activate special abilities. In addition, whenever the Dracula player embarked on a sea voyage, he lost a Blood Point, reflecting his weakness to running water and the lack of easy prey to feed from while at sea.
In the first edition of the game, when the Dracula player lost all their Blood Points, he enters Blood Death. Blood Death represents Dracula's base survival instinct; he must retreat to Castle Dracula by the quickest route possible and he must escape every encounter as soon as possible. He can no longer win the game (although he may be able to force a draw) and if he takes an additional 12 points of damage while in Blood Death, he is destroyed, resulting in a Hunter's major victory.
In the second edition of the game, the Dracula player is simply destroyed when he is reduced to zero Blood Points, although a variety of events and special abilities make it much easier to recover blood than in the first edition. In addition, Dracula can no longer be killed outright by a single attack. Suffering a killed result in combat reduces his Blood Points to a predetermined amount on his character sheet (0, 5 and 10 blood) and combat continues.
Victory conditions
In the original, rather than a simple winner declared by whichever side was still alive at the end of the game, the original version had a number of differing victory conditions. Once they had been fulfilled, either side could declare they had won. The victory conditions varied from minor to major in nature, with the minor victories generally being easier to achieve. For example, the Hunter players could claim a minor victory if they had forced Dracula to flee to Castle Dracula, but failed to kill him before he successfully hid; Dracula's base cowardice has betrayed him.It was not unusual for both sides to be able to simultaneously claim minor victories. Play normally continued until a major victory condition had been fulfilled or the Dracula player was unable to continue (by entering Blood Death, then subsequently hiding successfully in Castle Dracula).
In the second edition, the varying degrees of victory have been eliminated. The Hunters win if they are able to kill Dracula. Dracula wins if he is able to advance the Vampire track to 6, by 'killing' hunters, maturing vampire encounters, and surviving a complete day/night cycle.
Other differences between 1987 version and 2006 version
In the first edition, character differences were limited: Godalming received a +1 to first round initiative against Dracula's minions and a -1 against Dracula himself, while Van Helsing received the inverse and Seward received no modifiers.Characters in the second edition receive different abilities, for example Van Helsing's ability to withstand an additional bite or Godalming's Wealth ability, allowing him to reroll any train movement die roll, plus their number of Wounds are different, for example 12 for Godalming and 8 for Van Helsing.
Due to the differences in Dracula's movement in the second edition, only his six previous locations can contain any encounters. As he moves along the map, the oldest location moves further down the track until it reaches the seventh position, where he can mature the encounter or discard it.
Maturing the encounter has varying effects dependent on the encounter itself - it could discarded without effect or in the case of vampires, increase the Vampire track by two, bringing him closer to winning the game.
The second edition adds the Resolve system to the Hunters. Every time the Day/Night track advances to a new day, in addition to Dracula gaining a Vampire track point, the Hunters gain 1 Resolve point. Resolve can be spent to reveal Dracula's oldest location, allow an individual hunter to take an extra turn, or heal a single hunter.
The second edition also clearly states there should be punishment for cheating by the Dracula player, whether intentionally or accidentally. The suggested punishment is a clearing of Dracula's trail to one location, revealing his current location and suffering blood point loss equal to a killed result or leaving him on 1 blood point if this would destroy him.
Credits
From the 1987 Rulebook:- Designer: Stephen Hand
- Rules Editor: Mike Brunton
- Graphic Design: Bil Sedgwick
- Board Art: Colin Dixon
- Counter Art: Dave Andrews
- Character Illustrations: Martin McKenna, Colin Dixon, Dave Andrews
- Paste-up: Heidi Allman, Dave Clemmett, Dave Oliver
- Playtesters: Mandy Wooton, Andrew Colclough, Colin Hand, Matther Tudor & Co, Alan Merret, Graeme Davis, Bil Sedgwick, Jervis Johnson, Sean Masterson, Charles Elliot, Tim Pollard
- Box Art: Jim BurnsJim BurnsJim Burns is a Welsh artist born in Cardiff, Wales.In 1966 he joined the Royal Air Force, but soon thereafter he left and signed up at the Newport School of Art for a year's foundation course....
From the 2006 Rulebook:
- Designer: Stephen Hand
- Second Edition Development: Kevin Wilson
- Rules: Kevin Wilson
- Editing: James Torr
- Graphic Design: Andrew Navaro, Scott Nicely
- Art Direction: Kevin Wilson, AndrewNavaro
- Flavor Text: Dan Clark
- Lead Playtester for this Edition: Tony Doepner
- Playtesting for this Edition: Rodger Bernstein, Matthew B. Cary, Pat Harrigan, Evan Kinne, Thyme Ludwig, Devin Nordberg, Laura Robeson, Daniel Scheppard, John Skogerboe, Jason Allan Lee Smith, Tim Uren, Thor Wright, and FFG staff.
- Executive Developer: Greg Benage
- Publisher: Christian T. Petersen
History
Disappointed in the limited availability of horror boardgames, Stephen Hand began the initial treatment of his Dracula-based horror game in 1985. He had originally conceived it as a two-game set entitled Dracula: Fact and Fiction, one part fantasy game, and one part a dry, historical simulation of Vlad the Impaler's Turkish campaigns. Hand ran out of time and shelved the project. A short time later, he resurrected the project after receiving encouragement from Marc GascoigneMarc Gascoigne
Marc Gascoigne is a British author and editor.He is the editor, author or co-author of more than fifty books and gaming related titles, notably various Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, Shadowrun novels and adventures, Earthdawn novels and adventures, the original Games Workshop Judge Dredd roleplaying...
, eventually submitting the finished project to Games Workshop in the summer of 1986. Although Workshop liked the game, they put the game on hold while they focused on stronger products, offering Hand a choice of waiting for a suitable production gap to appear, or converting the game to fit into the Warhammer Fantasy World. Games Workshop ultimately produced The Fury of Dracula and released it in the autumn of 1987.
External links
- Official Fury of Dracula page at Fantasy Flight Games
- Fury of Dracula Rules Booklet, Fantasy Flight Games website