A single-player card game. You're trapped in the Temple of Glorb, navigating rooms, collecting four keys in order, and fighting your way through an army of Gleebs to escape. 64 cards, designed and balanced from scratch.
You became trapped in the Temple of Glorb. He's not exactly friendly, and neither is his conglomerate army of Gleebs. The goal: collect the four keys in order and defeat Glorb himself.
Glorb is a single-player card game — no opponent required. Just you, a shuffled deck, and a temple that gets harder to escape the longer you're in it.
Shuffle the 64-card deck and divide it into 4 piles of 13. Place them at the four corners — each pile is a direction in the temple.
Place 4 cards clockwise in a diamond to form a scene. You can avoid a scene by scooping all four cards to the bottom of that room's deck, but you can't avoid two scenes in a row. If you face the scene, you resolve 3 of the 4 cards one at a time. The remaining card carries over and becomes part of the next scene — its position tells you which room you move to next.
When you encounter a Gleeb you can fight barehanded (subtract its full value from your health) or with an equipped weapon.
Weapon combat has a twist: the Gleeb's power limits your sword's reach. Fight a 5-power Gleeb with a 12-power sword and that sword can now only kill things below power 5 — until you clear it. Armor prevents this degradation. The math keeps you managing your equipment carefully throughout the run.
Gleeb Princes are a special problem. They can't be killed until the boss battle — they just keep going back to the bottom of their room's deck. Unless you have The Magus, The King, or The Sun. Those can send Princes to the graveyard at any point in the game.
Four special cards change the texture of play.
The Moon: +1 health per scene it stays in play. Lets you scry one non-Gleeb card from its room.
The Sun: +1 health per scene. Can clear the entire scene including your equipped weapon. Stays 3 rounds and your health replenishes.
The King: Scry the top 6 cards of his room. Buy any card for 6 chi, or send any card to discard for 6.
The Magus: Draw the top 3 cards of his room. All Gleebs including Princes go to discard. Any Gleeb drawn can be equipped as a weapon.
When you're down to two room decks, the boss battle begins. Scenes expand to 4 cards. Princes can now be killed normally. Candles act as regular chi.
Glorb is the 14th Prince of Gleeb, power 15. Fight him straight, or spend 2 chi to equip him as a weapon — paying 2 chi at the start of each scene to keep him armed. Glorb attacks anything you ask for 2.
Collect all four keys. Defeat Glorb. Escape the temple.