Caverna: The Forgotten Folk — How to Play

Goal of the Game

In Caverna: The Forgotten Peoples, players control different peoples (such as dwarves, goblins, or dark elves) competing for limited resources to build their communities. The objective is to develop your civilization, explore territories, and accumulate victory points (VP) through construction, farming, and other strategic actions. The game ends after a specific number of rounds (consult the manual for details on this section), and the player with the most VP wins.

Setup

Consult the manual for details on this section. The provided context does not describe the complete setup, but mentions components such as:

• 8 People Boards (each with unique abilities)
• 32 Furniture Pieces (replacing base game pieces)
• Mushroom, Jewel-Fruit, and Goblin Tokens
• Additional Gold Coins

Gameplay Flow

The game is divided into rounds with specific phases (consult the manual for the complete structure). Some mentioned elements include:

• Worker/Goblin Allocation: Goblins are allocated after the other players, in increasing order of weapon strength.
• Harvest Phase: Occurs at the start of each harvest, with specific effects for some peoples.
• Expeditions: Some peoples have access to alternative loot items.

Actions and How to Play

Each people has exclusive actions. Here are some highlighted in the context:

Goblin Actions

• Lazy: They allocate last, based on weapon strength.
• Clumsy: When taking cumulative goods, they return 1 good to the reserve.
• Incompetent: Weapons cost +2 ore (e.g., 3 ore = strength 1).
• Goblin Housing: Costs 2 wood + 1 stone; the Goblin counts as an adult person.

Dark Elf Actions

• Limited to a total of 6 People.
• Deep Mines: Gain 1 ruby when placing a mine in a normal tunnel.
• Do not score VP for housing in the scoring.

General Actions

• Mushroom Farming: Only in empty caverns.
• Piece Projection: Some peoples gain goods by placing pieces "outside" the board.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends after a defined number of rounds (consult the manual). In the point count:

• Some peoples ignore penalties for unused spaces (e.g., Disinterest in Nature).
• Dark Elves do not score VP for housing.
• Goblins suffer specific restrictions in weapon manufacturing.

The player with the most VP wins. In case of a tie, consult the manual.

Tips for Winning

1. Explore your people's unique abilities: For example, Goblins can expand quickly with cheap housing, while Dark Elves focus on ruby mining.
2. Manage resources carefully: Goblins must plan for the extra cost of weapons, and peoples with Master Crafters can substitute wood for stone/ore.
3. Take advantage of piece projections: Peoples like Mountain Dwarves gain gold when placing pieces outside the mountain.