STEP 3: LEARN TO FIGHT
"You have found your footing. You know this land. You know how to move through it, how to gather what it offers. Now — let me show you something else. Strike This!"
MEET STUMPY
Before your first real enemy appears, you need to know how to fight.
Pona has placed something before you. It is not alive. It will not reason with you. But it will teach you everything you need to know.
Find the Stumpy punchout tile in your box. Choose a player to act as Stumpy’s Controller. That player places it on the board — anywhere they want.
Locate your Monster Deck. It looks like this.
In your Monster Deck, Stumpy has its own card. Pull that card out and set the rest of the Monster Deck aside.
Stumpy is a monster dummy. It has a monster card just like every other monster in the game. Pull it from the Monster Deck now and read it together.
Monster Cards
Every monster card has the same structure. Let's walk through it using Stumpy as your guide.
Name & Tier
Every monster has a name and a Tier. Tier tells you how powerful it is. Stumpy is Tier I — the lowest tier. A good place to start.
Stats
Four numbers. Same icons you have seen on your own character card.
HP — how much damage Stumpy can take before it is defeated. Stumpy has 10 HP. Write 10 in the HP field of the Circle zone on your monster mat now.
Move — how many tiles Stumpy moves on its turn. Stumpy moves 1.
Range — how many tiles away Stumpy can reach when it attacks. Stumpy has Range 1 — adjacent tiles only.
Attack — what it rolls when it attacks. Stumpy rolls 1d4.
Spawn - Where it goes
This tells you where the monster is placed when it enters the board. For Stumpy, the Controller decides. You already placed it. Done.
In future games, Spawn tells the Controller exactly where to place the monster the moment it is revealed — before they finish their turn.
Turn - What it does each round
This is the monster's AI. Read it every time it is the monster's turn. Follow it exactly.
Stumpy's Turn: If in range, attack. Otherwise move toward the nearest player; then attack if in range.
Simple. Stumpy wants to get close and hit you.
Trigger - What happens when it attacks
Some monsters have a special effect that fires when they attack. This is where extra danger lives.
Stumpy's Trigger: None.
Stumpy just deals damage. No surprises. That will not always be the case.
Defeat - What happens when it dies
When a monster reaches 0 HP it is Liberated — removed from the board. This section tells you what reward the defeating player earns.
Stumpy's Defeat: The player who defeated it gains 1 Ether.
The Monster Mat
Find your monster mat — the color-coded mat that belongs to your character.
Your monster mat has three zones: Monster 1, Monster 2, and Monster 3. Each zone has a shape — Circle, Square, Triangle. That shape is the stand you will use for that monster on the board.
Right now: Stumpy belongs to the Controller. The Controller slots the Stumpy card above the Circle zone on their monster mat. They write Stumpy's HP — 10 — in the HP field of that zone.
The Circle stand identifies Stumpy on the board as belonging to the Controller. The shape also tells you turn order — more on that when there are multiple monsters.
The Standee System
Every monster you control gets a colored stand. Your color is the color of your monster mat — it tells everyone at the table whose monster is whose.
The shape tells you turn order. Circle acts first. Square acts second. Triangle acts third.
When you draw a new monster during the game, it takes the next available shape in your sequence. Your first monster is always Circle. Your second is Square. Your third is Triangle.
For now, Stumpy is in the Circle stand. One monster. Simple.
How to Attack
"Do not overthink it, Shima. Find your range. Strike!"
Attacking is an Action. You spend your one Action for the turn to attack.
Here is how every attack resolves — against Stumpy, against any enemy, for the rest of the game:
Step 1 — Declare your target. Choose what you are attacking. It must be within your Range. Count the hex tiles between you and the target — not including the tile you are standing on. If that number is equal to or less than your Range stat, it is a valid target.
Step 2 — Roll your Attack die. Roll the die shown in your Attack stat on your character card. Add any modifiers from equipped cards or abilities.
Step 3 — Deal damage. The total is the damage you deal. All attacks in Fawnalore automatically hit — there is no miss chance. The roll determines how much damage, not whether it lands.
Step 4 — Reduce the target's HP. Subtract the damage from the target's current HP. Update the HP tracker on your monster mat.
Step 5 — Check for defeat. If the target's HP reaches 0 or below, it is defeated. Excess damage is ignored — it does not carry over.
Each player takes a turn attacking Stumpy. Stumpy’s Controller must take their turn last. You do not need to follow normal turn order right now — just go around the table. Each player:
Moves to Stumpy if not already in range
Declares Stumpy as their target
Rolls their Attack die
Deals that much damage to Stumpy
Updates the HP on the Controller's monster mat
If Stumpy’s HP reaches 0 at any point during this round, reset it to 10
The Monster’s Turn
You have been attacking Stumpy. Now you need to know what happens when the monster gets its turn.
After the Controller finishes their Clean Up Phase — discarding down to 7 cards and resolving any end-of-turn effects — Stumpy takes its turn.
The Controller reads Stumpy's Turn text and follows it exactly:
If in range, attack. Otherwise move toward the nearest player; then attack if in range.
If a player is within Range 1 of Stumpy: Stumpy attacks that player. The Controller rolls Stumpy's Attack die — 1d4. The result is the damage dealt to that player. That player reduces their HP on their character card accordingly.
If no player is within Range 1: Stumpy moves 1 tile toward the nearest player. If that movement puts a player in range, Stumpy then attacks.
When more than one monster is in play — which will happen in Episode 1 — each monster takes its turn in shape order. Circle acts first, then Square, then Triangle. The Controller resolves each one fully before moving to the next.
"Now you know what it feels like to be on both sides of a fight. Good. You will need that."
Practice Round
Reset Stumpy's HP to 10 on the monster mat.
Take a full round of real turns — Draw, Move, Act, Clean Up. Use your Action to attack Stumpy. After each player's Clean Up, the Controller resolves Stumpy's turn.
Play until Stumpy is defeated.
When Stumpy reaches 0 HP, move on to the next step.
Liberation
"Even a stump deserves a clean end."
When Stumpy reaches 0 HP it is Liberated.
Remove the Stumpy punchout from the board. Clear the HP from the Circle zone on the Controller's monster mat. Remove the Stumpy card from the mat.
The player who dealt the final blow gains 1 Ether — as shown on Stumpy's Defeat section.
Excess damage beyond 0 is ignored. If Stumpy had 2 HP and you dealt 5 damage, Stumpy is simply defeated. The extra 3 does not carry over to anything else.
"You are ready. More ready than you know."
You now know everything you need to play Fawnalore.
You know the world. You know how to move through it and gather what it offers. You know how to take a turn. You know how to fight.
What comes next is not a lesson. It is an adventure.