Elden Ring: Nightreign

A Fan Boardgame

I made this thing without really thinking about what I could do with it and it isn’t completely polished and it isn’t completed in any tangible sense but I did do it and as confession for this absence of foresight I submit it now for your own esteemed perusal.

You could even play it, provided every saner diversion had been stripped away. Or as a last supper request before public execution. The rules and play are so tangled they might win you another week of reprieve while your baffled captors struggle to make sense of them.

If you’re a real sicko you can even finish this up, rename everything and present it as product of your own cleverness. I honestly wouldn’t even be mad. No publicity is bad publicity or whatever.

Limveld

Setting for our head-long sprint towards death. Each region is assigned a number between 1-20, and a d20 roll determines where on the map Vestiges (points of interest!) spring up, populated with monsters.

Roaming field bosses are treated similarly, and the odd treasure trove if you’re nasty

Easy Start Rules

Pick a Character
- Choose who you’ll play. Track Health and Focus (your resource).
- Set up your starter equipment.
Gather Your Party
- This game is built for three players.
- You’ll need everyone covering their role if you want to survive.
Seed the Map
- Draw a set of Points of Interest (Vestiges).
- Roll d20s for each to see where they appear on the map.
- Your party drops in on any one Vestige and immediately clashes with its denizens.
The Dice
- Dice are d8s and color-coded to what they do:
  - 🔴 Red → melee attacks, physical force.
  - 🔵 Blue → cleverness, magic, direct damage.
  - 🟢 Green → defense, armor, survival.
  - ⚪ White → support, healing, rare utility.
Combat
- All players pick a strategy, spend resources, and roll their dice pools at the same time.
- Each boss has a Threat number (on a d8) that you need to roll over to hit.
- Blue hits deal direct damage.
- If the boss survives, it immediately counterattacks — damage goes to whoever the party agrees takes the hit.
- Green and Red dice can block or mitigate incoming damage.
- Any leftover Red hits after defense become a second wave of damage against the boss.
- Repeat until somebody is dead.
Rewards
- Clear a Vestige to earn Runes and draw from its equipment pile.
- You can hold six armaments; arrange their passive and active abilities for best effect.
- Even if you’re stacked, clearing Vestiges grants latent passive powers, so progress is always worthwhile.
The World Timer
- The world closes in as you play:
  - At Turn 5, the rains begin.
  - By Turn 10, only one safe spot remains on the map. Roll randomly to find it. Get there or die.
- Survive long enough to face the Real Bad Creature at the safe spot. If you live through it, a new day begins.
Events
- Sometimes world events trigger.
- Sometimes luck deserts you and you must tread carefully.
- Other times the dice land your way and you crush the place.
Winning
- Make it to the Nightlord at the end of the third day and defeat it to win.
- Victory unlocks permanent relics that you can equip on your next run.

Slow-Start Rules

What follows are the ‘cards’ containing the bread and butter of the game. In theory you could print them out and arrange them in their intended decks for looking at or interacting with, but that would make you as much a kook as I am and this is time better spent reflecting on your life choices but hey.

Equipment in particular confers usable dice; a weapon with RRB on it adds two red dice and one blue to your party’s dice pool. R/B lets you choose which of the two (blue is usually the better choice because BLASTING but sometimes you’ll want the extra layer of protection a red die can afford)

Most cards will have a rarity associated with them, each rarity gets its own deck so people at least know what to expect in a general sense where effort and reward are considered, if not specifics.

Other signifiers are intended to provide guidance instead of limitation. The Wylder can certainly carry around a Staff or Sacred Seal, but as he isn’t suited for INT or FAI, he cannot cast these spells with enough effectiveness for them to even count.

All Ashes and Sorceries and Incants will cost Focus to use. A normal weapon attack can be made with anything you’ve got equipped, provided the armament is in your lane. You can forego the weapon attack to try and dodge or parry; dodge is more forgiving but parry is rewarding.

Bosses use their written abilities every turn. Nightlords will mess you up.

About covers it.