The official rules for Gloomhaven are great for people who enjoy formalized systems and min-maxing, notsomuch for kids. These Family Rules include guidelines for streamlining play, rebalancing narrative and interaction over micromanagement.
These rules are not in any way official nor endorsed by anyone associated with Gloomhaven.
A more print-friendly version of this document is maintained in this Google Doc.
- Apps & Resources
- Discussion Points
- Stacking the Decks
- Character Classes
- Simplified Monster AI
- House Rules
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Gloomhaven Campaign Tracker
Google Play Store for Android, also available in the Windows store
This replaces your paper character sheets, and also does a good job tracking which scenarios unlock which others. Careful though—since it doesn’t back up data to a cloud service, if your device is reset you will lose everything!
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Gloomhaven Helper
esotericsoftware.com/gloomhaven-helper, available for multiple platforms
Good for eliminating the need to manually manage many of the tokens and trackers. Also has a nice interface which works well on a shared tablet or laptop visible to the entire gaming table.
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Reddit Class Resources for Gloomhaven
Super helpful walkthroughs for each and every class, along with card photos, tactics, deck suggestions, etc.
Some of the concepts around dungeon crawlers might not be obvious to kids. Here are a few places where kids could get tripped up.
The classic RPG roles are worth talking through:
- Tank: holds the attention of the monsters so others can do damage. Usually has either a large health pool or reliable means of mitigating or avoiding damage.
- Damage: can do more damage than the tank, but can’t take as many hits.
- Support: doesn’t do much damage, but helps out everyone by healing, buffing, etc.
It might be helpful to bring in pop culture references such as:
| Area | Tank | Damage | Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marvel | Captain America, Thor | Black Widow, Iron Man | Scarlet Witch, Ant Man |
| DC | Wonder Woman, Superman | Aquaman, Harley Quinn | The Flash, Batman |
| Lord of the Rings | Gimli, Boromir | Legolas, Aragorn | Gandalf, Samwise |
| Harry Potter | Hagrid, Ginny, Dumbledore | Hermione, McGonagall, Molly | Harry, Snape, Ron |
Related conversations might include melee versus range and single-target versus cleave versus area-of-effect.
Going first isn’t always a good thing! Monsters are going to run toward whoever goes first, so kids playing fast classes can feel picked on. Before each round, talk through the current layout, where the monsters are, etc.
Talking points around initiative might include:
- Having 1 fast card and 1 slow card, to keep your options open.
- Really fast cards let you attack monsters or block them before they can act.
- Slow cards mean you get to see what everyone else does first, which can be helpful for support and damage classes.
Randomness can be an excellent teaching tool, but can also remove agency and can lead to imbalanced experience. Here are a few things parents can do to keep things smooth.
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Personal Quests
Instead of picking these randomly, filter the available quests down to a small pool. Favor quests that require specific locations or non-elite monsters. Avoid quests that reward envelopes instead of new character classes.
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Abilities
The difference between "discard" and "lose" might be tricky to understand at first. When helping kids build their decks, encourage them to avoid loss cards for the first few games.
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Board Setup
It may help to put out all of the monsters for the entire scenario at once. This ruins some of the surprise, but allows for more conversations around planning as a family.
Each character class has its own play style and feel. Some of these work better for kids, while some are better for parents. The difficulty scale is:
- Easy: Straightforward to play and easy to teach. Probably appropriate for all ages.
- Tricky: May have a few points that trip up less experienced players, but once you've got that down you'll probably have fun.
- Medium: Requires more strategy. More appropriate as a second character.
- Hard: Likely not fun for kids, but may be appropriate for adults.
| Class | Difficulty | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Brute | Easy | Great for kids, but also fun for parents who want to play a dumb tank with kids who are in support roles. "Smash! Heals, please!" |
| Tinkerer | Easy | A good support character appropriate for kids and adults. Won’t get to kill as many monsters at low levels, but has some fun toys. |
| Spellweaver | Tricky | Typical glass cannon: high damage but low health. The card recovery mechanic makes this a good choice for older kids, while younger kids may find it frustrating. |
| Scoundrel | Tricky | Hard to play in small groups, but could be fun when balanced against a more traditional tank. |
| Cragheart | Easy | Can lead to creative play around obstacles. Can damage other players at higher levels, which might lead to interesting family discussions. |
| Mindthief | Tricky | Low impact, especially at low levels. Not recommended for young kids, but the mind control mechanic might be helpful for parents to get the kids out of jams. |
| Sun | Easy | Straightforward support and off-tank. Good for kids, especially with role play. |
| Three Spears | Medium | Great for teens, especially at high levels. But hard to play at low levels, and doesn’t go great with every group composition. |
| Circles | Tricky | Maybe a little tricky or detail-oriented for young kids, but very straightforward to play. |
| Eclipse | Easy | Straightforward and easy to play—appropriate for all ages. |
| Cthulhu | Hard | Very tricky to play, especially since it can damage other players. Not recommended for most kids. |
| Lightning Bolt | Tricky | Can be played as melee damage by a less experienced player, or as a tank with a twist by a more advanced player. May be frustrating for young kids, but likely a good challenge for them once they're comfortable thinking of health as a manageable resource. |
| Music Note | Easy | Would likely be frustrating for kids, but a great addition to any party composition for a parent—especially one who is making dinner and wants to take quick turns while still participating and helping everyone else out. |
| Angry Face | Tricky | Straightforward play, but the situational cards might frustrate some players. |
| Saw | Hard | The ability cards may lead to mature discussions. Intended for more advanced players, or for parents who want to help the flow of the game without being too obvious. |
| Triangles | Hard | Likely very frustrating for young kids. Only recommended for kids who have played through several characters, and for families who don’t mind micromanaging the element tokens. |
| Two-Minis / Phoenix | Tricky | A small learning curve, but absolutely great for kids, especially younger ones just learning. Also good for parents who want to be able to off-tank to keep an eye on the flow of the game. |
- Monsters prioritize summons over player characters.
- Monsters won’t move if they can attack without moving.
- Ranged monsters will back off.
Mix, match, or ignore these adjustments to the official rules.
| Rule | Details |
|---|---|
| Share the Wealth | Monsters no longer drop coins. Instead, track the number of non-summoned monsters killed, multiply by their gold value at the end, and divide up evenly. |
| Opportunistic | If using Share the Wealth, make any Loot action a bonus to the default Move or Attack. For example, plain Loot becomes Move 3 (default 2 plus 1) or Attack 3, while Loot+2 becomes Move 4 or Attack 4. |
| Remember the Chest | Treasure tiles are auto-looted at the end of the scenario. Discuss as a family who should get the treasure. |
| Nerf! | Remove green (positive) modifier cards from the monster deck. |
| Strike True | Remove red (negative) modifier cards from the player modifier decks. |
| Level Playing Field | Ignore Advantage and Disadvantage for both players and monsters, including Strengthen and Muddle effects. |
| Tag Team | Kids may swap initiatives with each other for an entire turn. This can help kids who play classes with very low initiatives feel less picked-on by monsters. |
| Talk It Through | Instead of choosing cards in secret, players talk through their available cards and decide on a course of action before each round. |