Betting/Wagering

Depending upon the number of players, each player receives 1 or 2 knights. Each of these knights lists a series of dice pips on the card, some of which are red in color. These red numbers are the knights defensive abilities, and he will block these numbers if rolled by an opponent during a competition. For instance, Upollonius Wolkenburg has a 1, 2 and 3 in red. Thus, he will block one of each of these numbers each time dice are rolled by an opponent in a competition. Some knights have less numbers in red, but they usually have a greater attack strength, meaning they can roll more dice in combat. This mechanism borrows very heavily from many role playing and fantasy games.

In addition to these 'defense' numbers and the attack dice chart, each knight card also has charts for prizes won (1 - 15) and damage points (1 - 10). There are also nice illustrations on each card ... about the only kind thing I can say about the game.

Each player also receives a 'lady' card. Each lady possesses a number of characteristics, including hair color, build, height and personality. When granting her favor to a knight (which is indicated by placing a corresponding token onto a knight card), the idea is to seek out a knight who desires similar characteristics in a lady.

The start player challenges an opposing knight with one of his knights. A challenge cannot be refused. These two enter battle, which involves each player tossing a number of dice equal to their attack strength into the tournament field. In mounted combat, any 1's, 2's or 3's thrown strike a blow, unless these are blocked by the opponent. If any of these dice strike, the knight falls from his horse and the knight suffers hit points equal to the number of blows which were landed. If only one knight is struck and falls from his horse, the opponent wins and earns a prize for himself and for his lady. If both knights fall from their horse, then the match continues on foot. This involves more dice rolling, but 4's, 5's and 6's now strike. This continues until one knight concedes or reaches 10 damage points, at which time he is out of the tournament (and out of the game).

The next player in turn order then challenges a knight. This process is repeated until there is only one healthy knight remaining. The round then ends and victory points are doled out to the knight and lady who won the most prizes. There are also potential bonuses which add to the players' scores.

Description from the publisher:

You and your wicked companions have spent the day pillaging the countryside and "dealing" with meddlesome adventurers. It's about time you kicked back with a pint at the evil equivalent of The Red Dragon Inn — The Black Dragon Depths, a nefarious tavern hidden deep in the catacombs below Greyport. No more heroes this time. Now you get to play as the bad guys!

The Red Dragon Inn 6: Villains is a standalone expansion to The Red Dragon Inn series of games. In this game, you and up to three of your friends play as evil villains celebrating the defeat of your archenemies at a wild fantasy party. You gamble, brawl, and drink the night away as you compete to be the last villain standing at the end of the night.

DESCRIPTION: Players take on hidden roles competing for influence in this ingenious tip of the hat to Liar's Dice.

GENERAL INFO: A bluffing game with dice for 2-6 players that plays in less than 30 minutes.

THEME: It is 1492, the church is without a pope. With the shadows to thank, the Borgia family is at the peak of their power. In a week the Cardinals will gather for the Conclave. With your reputation you could never win the seat, but you may be able to control who does!

HOOK: It's like Coup meets Liar's Dice! A quick and glorious game of lies and deceit! Richly thematic and completely immersive.

WINNING CONDITION: Having secretly controlled the Cardinal who has the most influence at the end of the game.

MECHANICS: Players are randomly given an identity at the beginning of the game. It is imperative that they keep their identity secret from the other players. These identities represent the Cardinal who they want to gain the most influence.

6 cards representing Cardinals, are randomly placed in an ascending ladder-like line up. A Cardinals position on this ladder determines how much, if any, influence they will gain at the end of the turn.

Using dice and bluffing in a similar fashion to Liar's Dice, players will be able to manipulate a Cardinal's position on the ladder; or manipulate how much influence they have; or even accuse another player of the Cardinal they are controlling.

At the end of the game, if another player has accurately paired you with a Rumor Card, one that matches your secret identity, you lose; regardless of how much influence you may have acquired for your Cardinal.

In Celestia, a revamped version of Cloud 9, you board an aircraft with a team of adventurers to perform many trips through the cities of Celestia and recover their wonderful treasures. Your journey will not be safe, but you will attempt to be the richest adventurer by collecting the most precious treasures!

At the beginning of a journey, all players place their pawns within the aircraft; the players start the game with six cards in hand (or eight depending on the number of players). At the beginning of each round, one player is chosen to be the captain of the trip and he rolls 2-4 dice to discover the challenges that they will face: fog, lightning bolts, killer birds, or pirates. He must then play the appropriate cards — a compass, a lightning arrester, a foghorn, or even cannons — to continue on the journey and reach the next city. But before the captain plays the appropriate cards, each player must decide whether to stay within the aircraft:

If you exit, you're guaranteed the victory points that come from exploring the current city.
If you stay on board, you hope to make it to the next city in order to catch more precious treasures. If the captain can't overcome the challenge, though, everyone comes crashing down empty-handed and you'll need to begin a new trip with all passengers on board.

During the journey, each adventurer can try to pull out of the game with fabulous objects (a jetpack, astronomy glasses, etc.) or by changing the trip (modifying the travel or abandoning an explorer in the city). As soon as a player earns treasure worth at least fifty points, the game ends and this player wins.

Liar's Dice is a dice game where each player is given five dice and cup to roll and hide them with. Players make successively higher declarations regarding the results of all the dice remaining in the game, e.g. "there are ten sixes". However, someone can always contest the bid. When that happens, all the dice are revealed and either the bidder or the caller loses dice, depending on who was correct. The last player with dice is the winner.

As a public domain dice game there are a number of variants or similar games called Liar's Dice. This includes one that is often played with Poker Dice, and differs from the marketed versions in that players only declare on their own hand's value (as opposed to all dice being in play), using poker-hand values.