Cadaver
Cadaver Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Setup
To set up the game remove two of each resource card (Potions, Magical Scrolls and Spare Brains) and place them in the center of the table in three Resource Piles: Potions, Scrolls and Brains. Now shuffle the remaining deck and deal each player a hand of five cards. The player who is closest to death goes first.
Table setup diagram: Deck, and Resource Bank (Potions, Magical Scrolls and Spare Brains).
Turns
Each player's turn has three phases which must be followed in order: Laying, Drawing and Trading. Once these are complete the player's turn is over and play passes clockwise to the next player.
Laying
The player may lay up to two cards. How and where the player may lay the cards depends on the card type. The player can discard cards but this counts as laying.
- Corpses are laid in the area in front of the player. Cards laid in this area are owned by the player that laid them. Each Corpse requires three Resources to Raise it. These are shown by the symbols at the top of the Corpse.
- Resources are laid on Corpses. When the correct three Resources are laid, the player has Raised that Corpse. Raised Corpses are turned sideward to show that they are no longer in play and put in a scoring pile for use at the end of the game. The used Resources are returned to the bottom of the Resource Piles.
- Accomplices are dubious individuals who allow you to draw Resources from the Resource Piles. When players lay an Accomplice card they place it down in front of them to show that they own it. During the drawing phase any player who owns an Accomplice card may choose to draw cards from the Resource Pile that corresponds to the Resource that the Accomplice is holding.
- Ghouls are laid by the player and then immediately discarded. Laying a Ghoul allows a player to take any Corpse or Accomplice that an opponent owns and place it in front of themselves to show that they now own it. Any Resources or Coffin Lids on the card are also moved.
- Coffin Lids are laid on top of any Corpse, Accomplice or one of the Resource Piles. The Coffin Lid stops all players from using the cards underneath it until it is removed.
- Keys are laid on top of Coffin Lids, then both cards are discarded.
- Amulet has two uses. It can be used for a wild card Resource. E.g. you may discard the Amulet to replace a Potion, Scroll or Brain card. Also you can lay an Amulet outside of your turn to stop the effect of a Ghoul. Discard both cards.
Drawing
If after laying a player has less than five cards in their hand, they may draw cards from the deck, or Resource Pile if they have the right Accomplice, until they reach five. You are allowed to have more than 5 cards in your hand, which may happen after trading.
Trading
At the end of a player's turn they may trade some cards from their hand with one other player who agrees to the trade.
Discarding
You may discard up to 2 cards in your turn. A discard costs you a card lay. E.g. if you discarded a card you could play 1 card from your hand. If you discarded 2 cards from your hand you may not play any cards. After discarding up to 2 cards you may redraw back to 5 cards.
Dawn
The drawing of the final card from the deck signals that it is dawn. Players now have only one turn each remaining. During this final turn players may trade before they lay and they may lay as many cards as they like, then they are out of the game.
Scoring
Players arrange the Raised Corpses from their Scoring Pile into sets worth different amounts of points. No single Corpse can be in more than one set. The player with the most points wins the game!
- A set of three different Corpses is worth 7 points.
- A set of three of the same Corpses is worth 5 points.
- The Abomination Corpse is worth 3 points.
- An individual Corpse is worth 1 point.