Faraway
Faraway Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 68 Region cards
- 45 Sanctuary cards
- 1 Score pad
Overview & Goal of the Game
In a game of Faraway, you play 8 cards in front of you, from left to right. They represent how you explore the continent. Each card is a Region, and in each of them you’ll discover the wonders the island can offer, and you will meet its denizens. They will ask you to explore the island for them, as they are looking for specific resources.
Each Region needs a set amount of time to explore. If you are quick to it, you will have a broader choice for what your next step is. However, taking your time can allow you to find Sanctuaries – hideaways giving you extra fame and bonuses to help you in future explorations.
At the end of the game, you travel all the way back, each denizen you satisfy the request of will give you fame. This calculation is done from right to left, contrary to the way you’ve placed the cards. The player with the most fame wins.
Setup
- Shuffle Region cards and deal 3 to each player, face down. Each player looks at their cards without revealing them. Place the Region deck in the center of the table.
- Reveal as many cards from the deck as there are players, plus one. For instance, if you play with 5 players, reveal six cards.
- Shuffle the Sanctuary cards into a face down deck. Place it besides the Region deck.
Advanced variant
Deal 5 Region cards to each player (instead of the normal 3).
Each player selects three cards before the game begins, and removes the other two, without showing them to the other players.
Shuffle the removed cards into the Region Deck, then reveal cards according to the number of players.
We recommend players to have played at least a game of Faraway before playing with this variant.
Areas
Each Region card represents a biome, which can be identified by a color, and a pattern in the frieze.
Each turn, you play one such card.
The exploration duration indicates how many hours are needed to explore this Region. Each card shows a unique number, from 1 to 68.
Exploration can happen in daytime or in nighttime. This can be relevant for certain quests.
Some cards might give you Clues, which are helpful, giving you access to better Sanctuaries.
Each denizen on a card gives you a quest that can give you fame at the end of the game. This quest is always on the lower portion of the card. The different quests types are listed on the player aid.
Regions may contain wonders of the mineral kingdom (uddu stones), of the animal kingdom (okiko chimera), or of the plant kingdom (goldlog thistle). These resources are useful for quests and are a prized sight for explorers.
A resource may be used to satisfy multiple requests and prerequisites.
Stones are more common than chimeras, and chimeras are more common than thistles.
Some quests may have a prerequisite you need to meet in order to gain fame for that quest. Validating a prerequisite is done at the end of the game, when scoring points. You need to have gathered the required resources in front of you, in the Region and/or Sanctuary cards.
Sanctuaries
The Sanctuaries can be found during the game.
They are added to your play area as you reach them.
In the upper part you can have bonuses that have an impact during the game (Clues) or at the end of the game (Resources, nighttime explorations).
In the lower part of some Sanctuaries, there will be side quests, granting extra fame.
Some Sanctuaries are linked to a Region type and its color. They count as a Region of that type when calculating the fame for certain quests.
Game Flow
A game lasts 8 rounds.
Each round is made of three phases:
The game ends after the 8th round. The player with the most fame wins (see Game End).
1. Exploring a Region
All players simultaneously choose a card from their hand and place it face down in front of them.
Then everyone reveals the card they have chosen and add it to their play area, to the right of the card they have played previously.
Note
We advise you to play in a straight line, but you may decide another layout to adapt to your environment and the size of your play area. The main idea is that you have to distinguish in which order you have played your cards.
2. Finding Sanctuaries
All players who have played a card with an Exploration duration higher than the Region card they have previously played find a Sanctuary.
Deal each player who has found a Sanctuary one Sanctuary card, plus one per Clue they possess.
All clues in a player’s play area are taken into account, whether on Region cards or Sanctuary cards.
Note
From all the Sanctuary cards a player receives on a turn, the player will choose one to add to their play area in the next phase.
Note
On the first round of the game, as no one has a Region card in play, no one can gain a Sanctuary.
3. End of the Exploration
During this phase, players act one after another, starting with the lowest exploration duration played during phase 1 of this round, and moving upwards.
The player who has played the smallest value starts, then the second lowest takes their turn, and so on until all players have played.
ON YOUR TURN, you first choose a Region card from those available in the center of the table. Add it to your hand to go back to 3 cards.
If you have received one or more Sanctuary cards on the previous phase, choose one (and only one). Add the chosen Sanctuary to your play area. You now benefit from its abilities.
Then, if you have leftover Sanctuary cards in hand, put them all under the Sanctuary deck, face down.
Note
Region cards taken by players are not replaced – players who play last will see their array of choices significantly reduced.
On the 8th (and last) round of the game, do not take a new card, as you do not have the possibility of playing more Regions.
You can, however, play a Sanctuary card this round if you have gained one or more Sanctuary cards in the previous phase.
Once everyone has played their turn, the remaining Region card in the center of the table is removed from the game.
Then reveal as many new Region cards as there are players, plus one.
If it is not the 8th round of the game, a new round begins. Otherwise, proceed to endgame scoring.
Game End
The game ends after the 8th round, when everyone has 8 Region cards. Add up all the fame for each player.
To make counting points easier, first flip all of your Region cards face down. Leave your Sanctuaries face up.
Reveal your Region cards one by one, starting with the last card you played, at the rightmost space of your play area. Proceed, card by card, towards the leftmost Region card of your play area.
For each Region card, calculate the fame the card gives you, taking into account all faceup Regions (counting itself) and all your Sanctuaries.
Note the scored fame on the score pad.
The Region cards you counted remain visible, and are taken into account for future revealed cards.
Sanctuaries
When all Region cards have been scored, count the fame awarded by your Sanctuary cards. Note the fame you scored with your Sanctuaries on the score pad.
Sum up all fame for each player. The player with the highest fame score wins the game.
In case of a tie for the first place, the tied player with the lowest exploration duration in their tableau wins the game.