How to Play Wrench
Zariah, Halden and Wrench are the three new allies being released this year. Over the last few weeks we’ve enjoyed introducing you to Zariah and Halden, but now it’s our little kobold’s turn to shine. Get ready to flip Red Dragon Inn up on its head!
Wrench is a squirrelly little guy that you wouldn’t expect to be much of an adventurer. He lacks the brawn to fight it out as well as any talent to “magic” his way out of a sticky situation. However, this little fellow makes up for all that with clever ingenuity.
Wrench, like many kobolds, has been engineering traps all his life. Unlike most of his kin, though, many of his traps integrate a surprising amount of of gnomish gadgetry, due, in part, to his subscription to Gnomish Inventors’ Quarterly.
Many of Wrench’s Action Cards are “Gizmos”, a new type of card that persists turn after turn. Gizmo cards are pretty obvious due to the fortitude track along their side. Gizmos come in two flavors:
Active: Active Gizmos are typically offensive, shooting darts or hurling drinks at other players at the end of Wrench’s Action Phase.
Passive: Passive Gizmos are usually defensive, shielding Wrench from Fortitude loss or Alcohol Content gain.
What makes Wrench a fun character to play, and a frightening one to behold, is playing out Gizmo after Gizmo, and stacking up a massive army of clockwork contraptions ready and willing to do your bidding!
So how do you deal with a run-away Wrench? You smash his contraptions! Each of his Gizmos have a fortitude track that ticks down once during each of Wrench’s Action Phases.However, other players can help those tracks tick down a bit faster by directing their Fortitude loss effects at them! Whenever you could cause Fortitude loss to a player, you may direct that effect at a Gizmo instead.
Each time one of Wrench’s Gizmos meets with a grisly, violent end, Wrench suffers Collateral Damage that he cannot avoid. Wrench’s worst nightmare is when Pooky goes on a rampage and he’s got a table full of one-Fortitude Gizmos!
Wrench is due out this Fall (Novemberish) along with Zariah, Halden and The Red Dragon Inn: 5. Get a jump on your friends and check out his complete rules here (PDF, 2 MB).