Explorers of Navoria Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
  • Main Board Setup
  • Player Setup
• Gameplay
  • A) Recruit
  • Card Explanation
  • B) Gather
  • C) Income
  • D) Return
• Game End
• Round Summary

Components

• 1 main board
• 4 player boards
• 4 crown markers (1 in each colour)
• 36 trading post tokens (9 in each colour)
• 16 favour markers (4 in each colour)
• 54 goods tokens (18 each of 3 different types)
• 4 turn-order markers (1 in each colour)
• 12 exploration markers (3 in each colour)
• 60 townsfolk cards (12 of each type)
• 15 action tokens (3 of each type)
• 4 reference cards
• 10 favour tiles
• 1 draw bag

Setup

Main Board Setup

1. Place the main board in the centre of the table.
2. Place all goods tokens (weapons, minerals, & food) in piles near the game board within easy reach of all players.
3. Place all the action tokens into the bag. Note! in a 2 player game, only place 2 of each colour action token into the bag.
4. Prepare the townsfolk cards: Separate all the cards by colour and shuffle each deck. Place each deck on the matching space on the main board. Reveal the top 3 cards from each deck and create a display to the left of each deck.
5. Shuffle all the favour tiles and randomly draw 4. Place the tiles on the matching spaces on the main board at random. Return all the unused tiles to the box. They will not be used this game. Note! in a 2 player game, for a more competitive game, you may randomly replace one of the 4 drawn tiles with the blank tile.

Player Setup

Each player...

6. ...takes a player board and all the components of one colour.
7. ...places a trading post in each space on their player board.
8. ...places 1 exploration marker in the starting space of each exploration track on the main board.
9. ...places their crown marker on the "0" space of the crown track on the main board.
10. ...places their favour markers near their player board.
11. Randomly determine the first player and place their turn-order marker onto the space marked "1" on the turn-order compass on the main board. Proceeding clockwise around the table, the rest of the players place their markers.

Gameplay

Fellow Navorians, these strange new continents have caused quite a stir in the town and I need your help to investigate. We can't just allow continents to rise from the oceans without a permit! Recruit some townsfolk to join your team, then visit the town to gather supplies. You'll need all the help you can get on your journey. Yours faithfully, The Mayor

A game of Explorers of Navoria consists of 3 rounds, each composed of the following 4 phases in order:

A) Recruit B) Gather C) Income D) Return

Repeat these 4 phases in order each round.

At the end of the 3rd round, the game ends and final crowns are tallied up. The player with the most crowns wins the game.

Tied crowns results in a shared victory.

A) Recruit

The townsfolk of Navoria are eager to join you in your quest - they're always looking for the next adventure!

Beginning with the start player and proceeding according to the turn-order compass, either:

Take From the Bag

Draw 2 action tokens from the bag and choose one. Place it on the corresponding deck and recruit a face-up card from that display. Place the other action token into the town centre.

Resolve any immediate effects on the card (see page 8 for details) and place it into your tableau.

All cards players recruit are placed face-up in front of them into their tableau. They should be visible to all players, but the left sides with immediate effects can be overlapped to save space.

Example: Pete draws a red and a blue action token from the bag. He chooses the soldier (red) action token, places it on top of the soldier (red) deck, and recruits a revealed soldier (red) card. Soldier cards have no immediate effect, so he has nothing to resolve. He places the card into his tableau and places the blue agent into the town centre.

Take From the Town Centre

There must be at least one action token in the town centre to use this option. Otherwise, you must take from the bag instead.

Choose an action token in the town centre and place it on the corresponding deck. Recruit a face-up card of that colour from the display, resolve any immediate effects (see page 8 for details), and place it into your tableau.

Example: Yara chooses the merchant (blue) action token in the town centre and places it on top of the merchant (blue) deck. She recruits a revealed merchant (blue) card and checks it for an immediate effect. This card has none. Finally, she places it into her tableau for scoring during the income phase.

Note! Do not refill the display when you take a card. The display is only refilled in the return phase!

End of Phase

In a 2- or 3-player game, the recruit phase ends when each player has recruited 4 cards into their tableau this round.

In a 4-player game, the recruit phase ends after each player has recruited 3 cards into their tableau this round.

Card Explanation

Card Layout

Each card shows a species icon (top right), an effect (left side), and a category icon (bottom). The four species icons are sprite, human, goblin, and beast.

Favour

The first 2 players to collect 5 icons of each species win the favour of that species.

If you win the favour of a species, place your favour marker for that species in the highest unoccupied space of the matching favour tile on the main board.

You can only claim favour with each species once, even if you collect 10 icons.

Example: Barb has collected 5 beast icons, so she can claim the favour of that species. The first space on the beast favour tile is occupied by Greg's favour marker, so Barb claims the second space.

Merchant Cards (Blue)

Recruit these townsfolk to trade with the species of Navoria. Most merchant cards provide immediate crowns, and all provide income. Every income phase, each merchant gives 1 crown for each matching species icon in your tableau.

In the income phase, for each human/goblin/beast/sprite icon in your tableau, gain 1 crown.

Example: Greg has 2 merchant (blue) cards. During the income phase, he gains 5 crowns for the first card, since he has 5 beast icons. The second merchant card has the same effect, giving another 5 crowns.

Card Effect Timings

• A clock icon: Resolved at the end of the game.
• A coin/income icon: Resolved in the income phase.

All other card effects are resolved immediately after a card is recruited.

Builder Cards (Yellow)

Recruit these townsfolk to place a trading post, as well as gaining immediate rewards such as crowns, goods, or movement on the exploration tracks. Trading posts give your exploration markers a further starting point and give better contract bonuses (as explained on page 12).

Place a trading post token from your player board onto the next home space of the desert/forest/glacier track.

Follow these rules when building:

1. From the dock matching the territory on the card: Build the topmost trading post (i.e. build top to bottom from your board).
2. Your first trading post on each exploration track must be built on the space marked with the "1" home icon, and your second and third trading posts onto the spaces marked "2" and "3" respectively.

Example: Yara recruits a builder (yellow) card. First, she gains 2 crowns. Next, she builds a trading post onto the glacier track. She already has a trading post in position 1, so the new post is placed on position 2. She is able to do this even though her explorer has not yet reached this position.

You can build on a space even if there is already a trading post from another player in that space.

Each player can only build 1 trading post in each space for a total of 3 per territory.

You do not need to have reached the space with your explorer to build.

Soldier Cards (Red)

Recruit these townsfolk to garrison your trading posts. Every soldier (red) card grants you an end-game scoring condition based on how many trading posts you have built in their territory.

At the end of the game, each soldier (red) card in your tableau scores 2 crowns for each trading post you have built on the desert/forest/glacier track.

Note! Each soldier (red) card contains two of the same species icon. Count both icons for claiming favour with that species, and when scoring merchant (blue) cards in the income phase.

Example: At the end of the game, Barb has only one soldier (red) card in her tableau. This card gives 2 crowns for each trading post on the desert track. She has 2 trading posts on the desert track, so she scores 4 crowns.

Adventurer Cards (Purple)

Recruit these townsfolk to move your exploration marker one or two spaces forward on the specified exploration track. Some adventurer cards also give crowns. Adventurer cards give 1 crown during the income phase for each flag you have reached on all three exploration tracks.

Move your exploration marker forward one step on the desert/forest/glacier track.

Choose any of your exploration markers to move one step forward.

In the income phase, for each flag your exploration markers have reached or passed, gain 1 crown.

Example: The instant effect on this card means: "Gain 1 crown and move your forest exploration marker 2 steps forward." The income phase effect says: "For each flag your exploration markers have reached, gain 1 crown."

Example: Yara has 2 adventurer (purple) cards, so in the income phase she gains 2 crowns per flag reached. Barb has 1 adventurer (purple) card, so in the income phase she gains 1 crown per flag reached.

Example: During the income phase, Yara has reached 2 flags (1 on the glacier and 1 in the forest), and scores 4 crowns because she has two adventurer cards in her tableau. Barb has reached 3 flags (2 on the glacier and 1 in the desert). She has one adventurer card in her tableau and scores 3 crowns.

Treasure Bonus

Treasure can be found at the end of each exploration track! When your exploration marker reaches the end of any track, your marker stops, and you immediately gain the crowns shown on the treasure.

If there is any movement remaining, gain the crowns once again for each additional step of movement.

If your exploration marker is already at the treasure space and moves again by any means, gain the crowns once again for each additional step of movement.

Example: Barb recruits an adventurer (purple) card. The instant effect of the card lets her move her exploration marker forward on the forest exploration track 2 steps. The first step brings her exploration marker to the end of the track. She immediately gains 5 crowns. The second step does not advance the marker (since it's already at the end), but it does trigger the bonus 5 crowns again for a total of 10 crowns from this movement.

Artisan Cards (Green)

Recruit these townsfolk to collect goods. Most artisan cards give you crowns, and all provide you with food, minerals, and/or weapons for completing orders. Artisan cards in your tableau also give you more crowns when you complete orders.

Collect 1 food/mineral/weapon

On your player board are 3 docks for trading with the desert/forest/glacier territories.

Whenever you collect goods, you must distribute each good to a different dock of your choice. Once placed, you cannot change their position (i.e. you can never move goods from one dock to another).

Once a dock has goods matching the order (or in the case of the glacier dock, any one of the orders), you must immediately discard the goods to complete the order and gain the rewards.

On the left side of each dock are two basic rewards. You earn these rewards every time you fulfil that order. Advanced rewards on the right side become available after you build the trading post next to the printed reward.

• Forest Dock: 1 weapon, 1 mineral, and 1 food.
• Desert Dock: Any 4 goods.
• Glacier Dock: 3 weapons, 3 minerals, OR 3 food.

For each green card in your tableau, gain 1 crown.

Example: Pete recruits an artisan (green) card and resolves its effects immediately. First he gains 2 crowns.

Next, he collects one weapon and one food. He must choose a different dock for each good, so he puts the food on the forest dock and the weapon on the glacier dock.

Pete now has 3 weapons on his glacier dock, fulfilling its order. He discards those 3 weapons to the supply and gains the following rewards:

1. He advances his explorer marker on the glacier track 1 step.
2. He gains 1 crown for each artisan (green) card in his tableau.
3. He gains 1 crown.
4. He gains 1 crown again for each artisan card in his tableau.

Pete has 2 artisan cards in his tableau, so he gains a total of 5 crowns from this order (2 crowns from bonus 2, 1 crown from bonus 3, and 2 crowns from bonus 4).

Note! The advanced reward is not available because that trading post is still on the dock.

B) Gather

Get help from the town to gain crowns, gain goods, move your exploration markers, and even build trading posts.

Return any action tokens remaining in the town centre to the draw bag. They will not be used for the remainder of the round.

Starting with the last player and proceeding in reverse turn order (anticlockwise around the turn-order compass), take an action token from a deck and place it on an available matching space in the town, collecting the listed reward(s). This phase ends when all action tokens have been placed.

• x6 crown icon: Gain 6 crowns.
• Question-mark building icon: Build one of your trading posts on any exploration track.
• Sprite/question icon: Collect 1 good of any type AND advance any of your exploration markers by 1 step.
• Sprite/question icon (alternate): Collect 1 good of any type OR advance any of your exploration markers by 1 step.
• Two weapons + question icon: Collect 2 weapons and advance any of your exploration markers by 1 step.
• Two minerals + crown icon: Collect 2 minerals and gain 2 crowns.
• Two food + goods icon: Collect 2 food and 1 good of any type.

Any goods you gain in this phase are distributed to the dock of your choice immediately. If you gain more than one good, you must distribute them to different docks as normal.

If a dock has goods matching the order(s), immediately discard the goods to complete the order and gain the rewards as normal.

Example: In a 4 player game, Greg went last in the recruit phase, so he goes first in this phase. He returns an artisan (green) action token to the first space in the artisan (green) area and collects 2 food and 1 good of any type (he chooses a mineral). He places one food each on his forest and desert docks, and the mineral on his glacier dock. Pete is on the third turn-order space. So he returns a merchant (blue) action token to the first space in the merchant (blue) area and gains 6 crowns. Yara returns an adventurer (purple) action token to the second space in the adventurer (purple) area and chooses to advance her exploration marker one space in the desert track and gain 1 good of any type (he chooses a food). Barb is in the first space on the turn-order compass. She returns a soldier (red) action token to the first space in the soldier (red) area. She chooses to place one weapon on her desert dock, one on her glacier dock, and to advance her exploration marker one space in the forest track. Players continue assigning tokens in this way until all action tokens on all decks have been returned. Then the phase ends.

C) Income

Gain crowns as your species alliances and exploration achievements are recognised by The Mayor.

First, players earn income from all cards with the income-phase symbol in their tableau (merchant (blue) cards, see page 8; adventurer (purple) cards, see page 10). Then players earn exploration rewards for being furthest along the exploration tracks.

Exploration Rewards

The player whose exploration marker is furthest forward on each track will collect the first place reward of that track, second furthest will collect the second place reward, and so on. If 2 players are tied, all tied players earn that reward, and the next reward is skipped. If 3 players are tied, all tied players earn that reward, and the next 2 rewards are skipped.

The second-place bonus is only available in a 3- or 4-player game.

The third-place bonus is only available in a 4-player game.

Note! Any exploration that has not moved out of the starting position (marked with a compass) will not score any bonus, no matter their rank.

Example: Barb scores 3 points for being first in the glacier track. Pete and Greg are tied for second place, so each scores 2 points. Yara ranks fourth and scores no points.

D) Return

Exploring the new continents of Navoria is tiring work! Return to town for a rest and get ready to recruit more townsfolk.

Carry out the 4 steps below, then, start a new round with the recruit phase.

1. Return the exploration markers to the furthest trading post (see below).
2. Return all the action tokens to the bag.
3. Discard all cards remaining in the display and deal 3 new cards from each deck.
4. Adjust the turn order: crown order. Most crowns goes first, second most crowns goes second and so on (see below).

Follow the additional instructions below for returning explorer markers and adjusting turn order.

Return Exploration Markers

All exploration markers are moved back (or forward) to the furthest trading post of their colour on each exploration track. If a player has not built on a track, return their marker to the starting position.

Adjust Turn Order

The player with the most crowns becomes the new first player. Place their turn-order marker in the first space on the turn-order compass. Other players place their markers proceeding clockwise around the compass in crown order so that the player with the most crowns goes first, second most crowns goes second, and so on. In the case of tied crowns, maintain the relative order of the tied players from the previous round.

Example: Greg has no trading posts on the glacier track, so his marker returns to the starting space. Barb's marker goes back to space 2, and Pete's marker goes back to space 1 because that is where their furthest trading posts are. Yara did not move this round, but she did build another trading post, so she will advance to space 2.

Game End

Final Scoring

After the third income phase, the game ends. Proceed to final scoring. First, score all soldier (red) cards in your tableau (see page 9). Then, score all favour tiles (see page 8 for how to gain favour).

At the end of the game, check the end-game scoring condition of favour tiles. Each card in your tableau that matches this condition gives 2 or 3 crowns if you claimed favour first, and 1 or 2 crowns if you claimed favour second (depending on the tile). On the example tile, the condition is builder (yellow) and artisan (green) cards. The player whose favour marker is in the first space will score 2 points for each builder and each artisan card they have recruited. The player whose marker is second will score 1 point for each builder and each artisan card.

The player with the most crowns wins the game. In the case of a tie, the tied players share the victory.

Example: Barb now calculates her score from favour: Barb claimed favour with the beasts first, so she earns 3 crowns for each adventurer (purple) card. She has 2 adventurer cards in her tableau, so she scores 6 crowns. Barb was the second to claim favour with the humans, so she earns 1 crown for each artisan (green) card and 1 crown for each merchant (blue) card. She has 1 artisan card and 1 merchant card, so she scores 2 crowns.

Game design and artwork: Meng Chunlin English rulebook editing: Simon Milburn English rulebook proofreading: Will 'The Board Game Wizard' Brasher Special thanks to all our Kickstarter backers, volunteers, and other supporters and fans.

Round Summary

A) Recruit

From the bag: Randomly draw 2 action tokens. Place 1 on the matching deck and draft a card from that display into your tableau. Place the other token in the town centre. OR; From the town: Take an action token from the town centre and place it on the matching deck, then draft a card from that display into your tableau. In either case, resolve any instant effects on the recruited card before ending your turn.

In a 2- or 3-player game, this phase ends when each player has taken 4 cards. In a 4-player game, this phase ends when each player has taken 3 cards.

B) Gather

Starting with the last player and proceeding in reverse turn order (anticlockwise around the turn-order compass), take an action token from a deck and place it on an available matching space in the town, collecting the listed reward(s).

This phase ends when all action tokens have been placed.

C) Income

Earn income from all cards with the income-phase symbol in your tableau (merchant (blue) cards and adventurer (purple) cards). Then earn exploration rewards for being furthest along the exploration tracks.

D) Return

Move all exploration markers to your furthest trading post in each exploration track. Return all action tokens to the bag. Discard the remaining cards in all displays and flip new cards. Adjust the turn-order compass based on crown order.

Repeat phases A-D three times.

End of Game

After the third round, the game ends. Skip the return phase and proceed directly to final scoring. Score all soldier (red) cards in your tableau. Then score all four favour tiles. Tally up the crowns and the player with the most crowns wins the game. Tied crowns results in a shared victory.