Tosk

OVERVIEW

Tosk is a strategic playing card duel between two rivals, each fighting for glory in the Tournament of Sacred Kings. In this clash of steel and stamina, players attack and defend with precision, unleash powerful techniques, and manage their fatigue to stay one step ahead. The first to reduce their opponent’s hit points to zero wins the battle!

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COMPONENTS

Use one standard deck of playing cards that have pips in the center of the A–10, plus both Jokers.

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SETUP

Give each player a Joker to represent their champion. Both players start with 20 hit points (HP). Give each player a pair of 10s to track their hit points by covering up pips on those cards as hit points are lost. Shuffle the deck and deal cards to each player up to the maximum hand size of six cards.

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PLAYING THE GAME

Play continues over a series of rounds until a player’s hit points reach zero.

Each round has three phases — Strategy, Combat, and Recover. Both players complete each phase at the same time and must wait for each other before proceeding.

1: STRATEGY

Play any number of cards face down, as long as their total cost doesn’t exceed your stamina (STA) capacity of 13.

Actions (A–9): Every action costs stamina equal to its rank to play. Note: Aces have a rank of 1. An action provides attack (ATK) equal to its number of outer pips (on one side) and defense (DEF) equal to its number of inner pips. Example: Playing 3♣ & 9♦ costs 12 STA for 4 ATK / 4 DEF.

Techniques (J, Q, K): Every technique costs 3 stamina to play. A technique doubles the values of a played action of the same suit. Example: Playing 5♣ & J♣ costs 8 STA for 2 ATK / 1 DEF → 4 ATK / 2 DEF. Note: You cannot use multiple techniques to boost the same action.

2: COMBAT

Reveal your played cards and total the attack and defense of your actions including boosts from any techniques. If your attack is greater than your opponent’s defense, reduce their hit points by the difference.

3: RECOVER

a. Discard

Discard all played cards.

Heal: You may discard up to 3 cards from your hand to restore 1 lost hit point each (up to 3 HP).

b. Draw

Draw cards equal to your unspent stamina up to the maximum hand size of six cards. Note: If the deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile to form a new one.

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END OF GAME

The game ends when a player has reduced their opponent’s hit points to zero and wins the battle.

If both players have reduced each other’s hit points to zero in the same round, the player that dealt more damage in the round wins the battle. If still tied, enter sudden death — the next player to deal more damage than their opponent wins the battle.

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ADVANCED GAMEPLAY

Add more tactical depth to the game with these optional rules that reward clever card combinations.

Force

When you play two or more cards of the same rank, gain a +1 bonus to the stat(s) those cards provide for each match beyond the first. Example: Playing 2, 2 for 5 ATK (base 4 + 1 bonus). 

Momentum

When you play two or more cards of consecutive rank, reduce their total stamina cost by 1 for each step in the sequence. Example: Playing 2, 3, 4 lowers their total cost by 2 — from 9 to 7.

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VARIANTS

Alter the game’s difficulty using any combination of these optional rules.

Advanced Techniques — A technique doubles the values of an action of the same color instead.

Battle-weary — Stamina capacity is 11 and maximum hand size is 5 cards instead.

Potent Healing — You may discard up to 2 cards from your hand to restore 2 lost hit points each instead (up to 4 HP).