Whether you are playing by yourself, would prefer a change in difficulty, or want to play a free-form story with or against your friends, there are several adjustments that can be made to the game to accommodate your needs. Of course, if none of these changes are enough for you, the joy of a physical board game is that you can make your own house rules. The official rule book contains suggestions for playing solo, a Hard Mode and Story Mode difficulty, and two Free Roam modes to play with or against other players outside of the standard Campaigns.
Playing SoloEdit
If you are unable to gather a group of friends to play with you, you can still play the game all by yourself with the addition of a single rule:
- At the beginning of the game, draw an additional character card and place it upside down beside your own character card. After every turn, the Starting Player token is moved from one character card to the other, starting with your own. During turns that start with the Starting Player token on the upside down character card, no Event card is drawn. If any Roaming Monster would move towards the Starting Player, they won't move when the Starting Player token is on the upside down character card.
Free Roam ModeEdit
A non-canon Free Roam mode is available for you to create your own unique stories and enjoy the beauty and perils of the home of the Nords. The free roam mode doesn't take place in a specific timeline, which allows for references to the Great War and dragon encounters to happen simultaneously.
To start a new Free Roam game, draw all 5 Free Roam Events to begin creating the Free Roam Event deck. To this deck you may add any - or all - of the following cards:
- From Campaign 1 Chapter 1: A Call to Arms, Contract on Cultists, Vampires on the Road, Horse Thief, Daedric Invasion, and Conspiracy!.
- From Campaign 1 Chapter 2: Unemployed Soldiers and The Rise of the Vampires.
- From Campaign 1 Chapter 3: Trolls from the North, Trolls Migrating, Thalmor Assault, and Daedra Research.
- From Campaign 2 Chapter 1: Thalmor Patrols, Vigilance Intensifies, Rain, Unrest, Crossed Communications, and Rumors.
- From Campaign 2 Chapter 2: Coming Back to Life and Patrols.
- From Campaign 2 Chapter 3: Alduin's Call, Influence of Boethiah, The Gates are Opening, and Hunted.
The more Events you add to your Event deck, the more difficult your game will be. Consider this when creating your Event deck. To play the game, add any Mini Campaigns you want. The more Mini Campaigns you add, the more difficult and rewarding the game will become. All Mini Campaigns can be added together to create a really large, challenging game. Each player starts the game with 2 Equipment cards of their choice and with their Player Figure on any Stronghold. When exploring a new Dungeon, shuffle all Dungeon Challenge cards, draw a card, and follow the card's instructions to build the new Dungeon. Remember you can still save your game using your Save Game boxes at any point.
While playing in Free Roam mode implies you have an infinite amount of time to play, the game can still end if any of the following happen:
- You are instructed to place a Roaming Monster on the board and there are no more Roaming Monsters of that type available.
- You are instructed to place a Roaming Monster on the board and there are no spaces available on the board.
- All Strongholds are Rioting.
Main Quests are not used in Free Roam Mode.
Free Roam Competitive ModeEdit
To play Free Roam mode as a competitive game, players need to track their score by accumulating Threat tokens on their Character cards. To earn 3 Threat tokens a player must:
- Successfully complete a Personal Quest.
- Successfully complete a World Quest unassisted.
- Deal the final blow on the last Encounter of a Dungeon.
- Gain a Legendary Skill.
To earn 2 Threat tokens a player must:
- Deal the final blow when facing a Roaming Monster.
- Level Up.
- Complete a World Quest with other players.
To earn 1 Threat token a player must:
- Deal the final blow on an Encounter from a Quest card.
Whenever any of the following happens, the player loses 2 Threat tokens:
- Being critically injured in combat.
- Fail a Quest.
- Degrade a Stronghold, except if this is the result of drawing an Event card.
The game ends when any game event prompts a player to add Threat, and there are no more Threat tokens remaining. The player with the most Threat tokens on their character card wins the game.
Shorter GamesEdit
If you're looking to have a shorter game of the Free Roam Competitive Mode, remove 25 Threat tokens from the game before starting.
Hard ModeEdit
To play the game in Hard Mode, you just need to make any - or all - of the following adjustments to the game:
- Add the 5 Events labelled as "Free Roam" to the game, in any Chapter of their respective Campaigns.
- Add as many Mini Campaigns as you want to the game.
- When sneaking in combat, do not add the standard three dice to the roll.
- Whenever a Quest is failed, all the Threat tokens in that Quest must be reassigned to other active cards or to Strongholds.
The more adjustments you make, the harder the game will become.
Story ModeEdit
If you're looking for a more relaxed experience and you want to enjoy the unfolding of the events more than focusing on the challenges, here are some official adjustments you can try:
- When rolling Skill Tests - including combat - roll an extra die.
- When drawing an Event card that adds 2 Threat, reduce the number by 1.
- Restoring Strongholds costs 3 Septims.