Paupers’ Ladder
60m - 90m
2 - 4 Players
Ages 14+
Contents - Description
Garolium Scraggart, beloved ruler of the people, has died. Despite an upbringing of real hardship she rose to the highest rank in the royal court and did what she could to make sure the poorest in Brighthelm were not forgotten. She died too young, her work half done.
A tournament has been announced to find her successor. Brave knights have travelled down royal highways. Bold paladins have knocked on royal doors. So too have bards, lords and heroes. All looking to take over Scraggart’s reign and rule the realm to their desires.
And every one of them has been sent back to whence they came.
Because Garolium herself had devised the tournament. It was the last thing she did, and she decreed it would only be open to those of the most limited means. Those whose potential had been locked by the chains of ill-fortune and poverty. Brighthelm’s paupers. She had spent her whole life building their ladder and nobody was going to kick it away.
•••
Play a pauper in Garolium’s tournament. Along with your bird companion, explore the wild and treacherous land of Brighthelm as you strive to learn three of the five virtues: generosity, fellowship, bravery, knowledge, and magnificence. Battle a bestiary of creatures, undertake quests, find ingredients to craft powerful recipes, and discover the sights and wonders of an exciting new world along the way. But beware! You’re not the only pauper in town…
In Paupers’ Ladder, the land of Brighthelm is illustrated with a playing board and over 400 cards depicting equipment, quests, recipes, monsters, ingredients, encounters, cities, villages and more besides.
•••
HOW TO PLAY
The aim of Paupers’ Ladder is to learn any 3 of the 5 Virtues. Virtues are learned in different ways. For instance, you learn the Virtue of generosity by discarding a certain amount of gems from your purse. When a player has learned 3 Virtues, they have won the game.
You control 2 characters: your Pauper, and their Bird companion.
• PAUPER
There are 8 different Paupers to choose from, and each has their own unique piece of starting equipment. Your Pauper’s character card is where you’ll keep track of your progress towards learning Virtues.
• BIRD
There are 4 different Birds to choose from. Birds start the game untrained. You can pay to train your Bird to learn a unique ability.
PLAYING YOUR TURN
On your turn you use both your Pauper and your Bird, in either order. Each character may move from the Region they occupy into any adjoining Region, or stay where they are. Paupers’ can pay to travel extra Regions. Your character now explores the Region they occupy.
When a Region is explored, you choose to either:
• Play a card that’s already in that Region by following the instructions on it.
• Draw a card from the top of that Region’s deck, place it there and follow its instructions.
The Region card you play will be one of the following:
• EVENT
Events include things like friendly citizens, equipment and villages.
• HAZARDS
Hazards are creatures and traps that must be fought.
• INGREDIENTS
Ingredients are used by your Pauper to learn recipes.
When you have moved and explored with both your Pauper and your Bird, play continues to the next player.
Additional information
| Ages | 14+ |
|---|---|
| Players | 2 Players, 3 Players, 4 Players |
| Play Time | 60m – 90m |
| Designer | Paul Stapleton |
| Mechanics | Deck, Bag, and Pool Building, Open Drafting, Area Movement, Pick-up and Deliver, Set Collection |
| Theme | Fighting, Exploration, Fantasy |
| Publisher | Bedsit Games |
Video
Ratings
Meeple on Board Rating
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jimmyff
What a wonderful world Paul has created! The game sends you on adventures looking for items in a race against the other players. It's quick and simple to learn (I easily taught my nephews aged 9 & 11). By the end of the game it ramps up so you'll have lots to keep track of in terms of items, quests etc. I've picked up some of the equally lovely mini-expansions which are great little modular bits to provide variety. I recently picked up the Cobbled Isles which I'm dying to dive in to! If you're a fan of games like Talisman then I think this game is verging on an essential edition to your collection!
Mythologem
Extremely pleased. This is a charming little game - in the very much league of a Talisman, say: old school sandboxy - just packed with many Good Ideas. Among which: 1) splitted character: you control both a pauper meeple + a pet, this doubles your actions per turn, speeding the game up, while still keeping your turn quick 2) control over victory condition: 3 out of 5 of your choice; this way you can react to the ever changing board/luck of the draw 3) combat system: I dig it, being a mix of individual deck-based fixed numbers + mods (including the luck of the dice); we've already seen it (ex. Relic, or Combat Commander Europe etc) but the Good Idea here is telling a story (ex. if you're fighting along the coast, a patrol ship comes to your aid) - plain cool 4) the overall setting: it is calm and relaxing, peaceful, even when you're fighting against a Dragon; part of this Good Idea is the core design of being Positive: each turn you're gaining something (gold, trophy, recipe ....), but if you lose a fight, rather than negatively trashing a life token (as in other games) you simply don't gain anything; that's a very positive way of playing, you're not punished, you simply don't gain up. Really good. There are some minor quibbles (regions get choked from time to time, and some quests requiring very specific tiles to show up may be too slow to solve if you're short of luck)... but the overall impression is overly Positive. A wonderful design. Perfect for the Spring/Summer time. I do hope to see a 2nd edition with some minor card errors fixed. Meanwhile I'm really looking forward some expansion! Rate :star::star::star:
Zubera
In the age of overproduced games to hide their mediocrity this gem dazzles. Simple but rich in nuances, this game is not only charming but very funny.