Save the sky-port

Before you begin

• Print out the ‘Save the sky-port’ sheets. Each player will need 18 exploration cards, an Arkanaut Ironclad Airship, and 18 aether-gold tokens. You’ll need two dice for each small group.
• You may want to print them on card so they last longer – people could also stick the paper print-outs onto the card before they play.

Set the scene

High above the Mortal Realms, the floating cities of the Kharadron Overlords make the clouds their home. Held aloft by a magical lighter-than-air substance called aether-gold (also known as sky-gold), each soaring sky-port needs a constant supply of aether-gold to prevent it from crashing to the ground.

Barak-Urbaz, also known as the Market City, is close to catastrophe. If they don’t get a new supply of aether-gold soon, they’ll plummet to the ground below. In this game, you’ll have to launch your ship and mine as much aether-gold as possible to save the citizens of Barak-Urbaz.

Their future is in your hands. Fly safe!

Prepare to play

1. The person leading the activity should use the information above to introduce the Kharadron Overloads, their floating cities, and the danger Barak-Urbaz faces.
2. The person leading the activity should give everyone a ‘Save the sky-port’ sheet.
3. Everyone should cut out their exploration cards, shuffle them, and put them face down in a pile to make their exploration deck.

Play the game

1. Everyone should get into pairs or small group. Each small group should get two dice.
2. Each group should decide how many rounds they’ll play. How many times will everyone set out to gather sky-gold?
3. The first player should turn the top card of their exploration deck over and place it in front of them.
4. The first player should roll both dice. They should choose one, and move their ship token onto the space in the exploration card that matches the number on the dice (for example, if they chose a dice that landed on four, they should move their ship onto the fourth space).
5. If their ship’s landed on blue skies and clouds, their journey continues safety (for now, at least). If their ship’s landed on a meteor, it crashes! The player can’t collect any more sky-gold and is out of the game. If their ship moves onto golden clouds, they should collect a sky-gold token.
6. The first player should decide whether to return to the sky-port, or go again. If they go again, they should repeat steps three to six. Players should collect one piece of sky-gold for every three exploration cards their ship moves onto.
7. When the player chooses to return to the sky-port (or if they run out of exploration cards), they should count their sky-gold tokens to find their score.
8. The next player should take their turn by repeating steps three to seven.
9. Everyone should take it in turns to head out to collect sky-gold until they’ve all played the number of rounds they agreed in step two. Everyone should count their sky-gold. The person with the most is the winner.