Meatshields are inexpensive, down-on-their-luck hirelings whose sole purpose in the game are to soak up combat damage on behalf of the Adventurers. (They don't know that, though. They're just in it to earn some quick cash by acting as porters and such.)
The Meatshield tokens should be placed face-down, or in an opaque container like a bag or cup, before play starts. These rules refer to this pile/bag/cup as the . To assemble them, simply paste them to heavy paper or cardstock (thicker is better) and cut them out. Unless re-scaled during printing, each token measures 1x1 Imperial Inch.
While Trading in a {:TOWN:}, any number of random Meatshield Tokens may be drawn in lieu of that many Loot cards. Meatshields may be hired for {{gp 2}} each and belong to the Adventurer who hired them, but may be traded exactly like equipment. A party may have any number of Meatshields in their employ at a time. Any Meatshields which are not hired are returned to the .
In a {:SETTLEMENT:}, Meathshields may be purchased as a new Rest Action played similarly to Trading: draw a number of random Meatshield Tokens equal to the Settlement's Danger Level (the higher the danger, the more desperate people are to leave!), +1 if the {:SETTLEMENT:} is {:EXPLORED:}, and the Adventurers may hire them as if they were Trading.
Reduce their cost to {{gp 1}}, in particular when playing with only one character.
When playing with only a single character, start the game with 3 Meatshields drawn randomly from the .
Rather than drawing Meatshields in place of Loot to purchase, draw a number of random Meatshields equal to the {:TOWN:} Level, +1 if the {:TOWN:} is {:EXPLORED:}.
When trading a Meatshield between Adventurers, the Meatshield demands re-evaluation of their contract: trading them costs {{gp 1}} per Meatshield, paid by either Adventurer.
If a Meatshield is removed from play for any reason (e.g., he/she/it is killed), return the token to the .
If a Meatshield's employer is killed, the Meatshield immediately abandons the party, returning to the safety of the .
During each combat, one Meatshield token may participate at a time. At the very start of each Combat Round, if no Meatshields are deployed, the party may deploy a single Meatshield token.
During the Establish Targets phase of each combat round, Monsters with a targeting priority which matches the one on that token will target that token instead of an Adventurer.
The ↓↑ priority is adapted from the Mean Streets expansion and, in the context of a Meatshield, means that the Meatshield is considered to have both the highest and lowest score for its attribute. Thus the ↓↑STR Meatshield will be targeted by Monsters who target either the lowest, the highest, or both lowest and highest STR. In the case of Mean Streets monsters which target both, the Meatshield will be attacked only once.
All Meatshield combat is resolved after all Adventurers have taken their turn. Monsters automatically hit Meatshields and Meatshields do no damage to their attackers. Meatshields are beneath the notice of Monsters which target {:TARGET_ALL:}, so Meatshields are not damaged by such attacks.
To increase the difficulty slightly, Meatshields may be damaged by {:TARGET_ALL:} attacks. Note, however, that if the Meatshield is killed this way, any Monsters assigned to them are not reassigned until the Establish Targets phase of the next combat round.
There are two options for handling Meatshield damage, depending on the level of difficulty players are looking for:
Meatshields may be abandoned by the party at any time. Simply return them to the .
Whether or not effects which target an Adventurer's equipment, e.g., the Acidic Monster ability, treat Meatshields as equipment must be agreed upon by the player(s). If no agreement is made in advance, assume that Meatshields are not affected by such effects. (It might, however, be more humorous, in a dark sort of way, if they are!)
Monsters which steal {{gp}} are out of luck if they target a Meatshield, as Meatshields have no money (if they did, they wouldn't take such a dead-end job).
Meatshields are unaffected by any game effects, e.g., Monster Entry Effects, unless noted otherwise in these rules or the players rule otherwise.
Some random options and variant rules:
Further discussions and variants might (or might not) eventually appear in this page's announcement thread on BGG.
Of course, feel free to introduce whatever options make it the most fun for you.
Below is an overview of version changes (from newest to oldest), noting that the version is not updated for purely cosmetic/layout changes. We use (more or less) the "Semantic Versioning" numbering conventions. The 2nd digit in the version number (the 2 in 1.2.3) is increased when significant rules are added or existing ones significantly modified. The final digit indicates "patches" - clarifications and rewordings or minor additions to existing rules. It seems unlikely that the first digit will ever be incremented, as that would indicate a major overhaul.