Dungeon Lords First Game: Setup and Play Guide

By Czech Games Edition | Published: 2026-10-27

Category: How-to Guides

Learn how to set up and play Dungeon Lords for the first time. This step-by-step guide covers turn order, monster placement, and key rules to start strong.

Quick Answer

Set up the game board, choose your dungeon lord, and follow the four phases each year. Focus on efficient resource gathering and trap placement to survive the adventurer attacks.

Why Dungeon Lords Is Not a Typical Eurogame

Dungeon Lords is a worker-placement game with a twist: you are the villain, and your goal is to build a dungeon that will repel invading adventurers. The game is known for its tight resource competition and the need to make tough choices every turn. You will often have to decide between grabbing a resource you need or blocking an opponent from getting it.

The game is also asymmetrical in difficulty. The rulebook suggests a first game without the 'evil' events to ease you in, but even then, the puzzle is challenging. Expect to lose your first game, but use it as a learning experience for future plays.

Understanding the Turn Order and Phases

Each year in Dungeon Lords is divided into four phases: Planning, Event, Action, and Adventure. During the Planning phase, you secretly choose one of your minions to go first in the Action phase. This is crucial because turn order determines who gets first pick of actions on the board.

The Event phase introduces random events that can affect all players, such as gaining resources or losing imps. The Action phase is where you place your minions to take actions like digging rooms, hiring monsters, or building traps. Finally, the Adventure phase is when adventurers attack your dungeon, and you must defend it.

The Importance of the Evil Track

Your evil level is a double-edged sword. The more evil you become, the stronger the adventurers that come to your dungeon. However, some actions require a certain evil level, and being evil can give you advantages like better monsters or more gold.

As a beginner, try to keep your evil level moderate. This will attract weaker adventurers while still allowing you to take useful evil actions. Avoid maxing out your evil until you are confident in your defense capabilities.

Step-by-Step Setup and Play for Your First Game

Set Up the Game Board: Place the main board in the center. Sort the room tiles, monster tiles, trap tiles, and event cards into separate piles. Each player chooses a color and takes the corresponding dungeon lord board, imps, minions, and starting resources as shown in the rulebook. Check that each player has the correct starting gold and imps before starting.
Prepare the Adventurer Deck: Separate the adventurer cards into easy, medium, and hard sets. For your first game, use only the easy set to learn the mechanics. Shuffle and place them face down near the board. Using only easy adventurers is a common mistake; it makes the game more manageable for beginners.
Understand the Action Board: The action board shows all possible actions you can take, such as digging rooms, hiring monsters, setting traps, and gaining gold. Each action space can be used by only one minion per turn, so you must compete for the best spots. Before your first turn, review each action space to know what is available and plan your priorities.
Learn the Turn Order Mechanics: During the Planning phase, each player secretly chooses one of their three minions to be the first player for the Action phase. The chosen minion is placed on the turn order track. The order determines who picks actions first, so choose wisely based on your strategy. A common mistake is always picking the same minion; vary your choice to adapt to the game state.
Play the Action Phase: In turn order, each player places one minion on an available action space and resolves its effect. You can also pass to gain gold. Continue until all minions are placed. Remember that you can place on spaces already occupied by an opponent, but you must pay them a gold coin as compensation. Be careful with paying compensation; it can drain your resources if you are not strategic.
Resolve the Adventure Phase: After the Action phase, adventurers attack your dungeon. Reveal adventurer cards and compare their strength to your dungeon's defense (monsters and traps). If the adventurer's strength is higher, you lose imps or take damage. If you defend successfully, you gain points. Always ensure you have enough defense to handle the adventurers you attract; otherwise, you may lose valuable imps.
Score and Continue: At the end of each year, score points for your constructed rooms, captured monsters, and remaining imps. Then, start the next year with new resources and events. The game ends after two years, and the player with the most points wins. Keep an eye on the end-game scoring; sometimes it is better to focus on points than on defense in the final year.

Product Facts

Dungeon Lords: In Dungeon Lords, competition for resources is stiff, and sometimes you have to get a bit evil to get what you want - and the more evil you get, the stronger the adventurers your dungeon attracts. This means you must balance your evil level carefully: being too evil early can lead to overwhelming adventurer attacks, so plan your evil actions strategically.
Dungeon Lords