Mountain Goats: Legacy Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Material
• Overview: What Is Mountain Goats Saga?
  • Different Groups of Players
  • New Discoveries
  • Grandfather's Backpack
  • Memories
• Setup
  • General Setup
  • Chapter Setup
• Playing a Chapter
  • Sequence of a Turn
    • Moving Goats
• Ability Cards
  • Abilities
  • Discovering New Abilities
• Scoring a Mountain
  • Knocking Goats Down the Mountain
  • Empty Mountains
  • Clarifications on Scoring
• Bonus Cards
• Mountain Summits
  • Discovering New Summits
• Rule Cards
• Ending a Chapter: Final Scoring
• Recording the Course of the Game
  • 1. Chronicle
  • 2. Memories
  • 3. Grandfather's Backpack
  • 4. Next Chapter

Game Material

Starting material:

• 4 Bonus Cards
• 57 Scoring Cards
• 5 Markers (1 per player color)
• 30 Goats (6 per player color)
• 4 Dice
• 18 Mountain Cards
• 1 Adventure Book
• 1 Ability Board
• 10 sheets of "Chronicle"
• 1 "Grandfather's Backpack" box

Secret material — do not open until instructed to:

• 7 secret punch-out sheets
• 4 secret boxes

Overview: What Is Mountain Goats Saga?

In Mountain Goats Saga you experience the story of a goat family searching for a new home. The story unfolds over 10 games, which we call chapters. In each chapter you'll make new discoveries that change the rules — sometimes for the rest of the story.

Everything you discover along the way can be used to play Mountain Goats in standalone games again and again. You can also reset the game to its starting situation and begin the story anew. You will never destroy or permanently alter material (aside from the Chronicle), so you can play through the story as many times as you like.

If you run out of Chronicle sheets, you can download additional sheets at ostia-spiele.de.

Different Groups of Players

We recommend playing through the story with the same group throughout. However, it's entirely possible for people to join or sit out individual chapters — this has no effect on the story or the flow of the game. Simply carry out setup according to however many people are actually present for that chapter (see page 3).

New Discoveries

The Adventure Book asks you, in every chapter, to discover new cards, tiles, and other material. Discoveries have a letter and a number. To discover the new material, take the secret box or the secret punch-out board with the matching letter and remove the material with the matching code, or carefully punch it out of the sheet.

Don't look at any cards or tiles you haven't discovered yet!

After discovering the new material, put the boxes and punch-out sheets back in the game box.

Make sure everyone is familiar with the new material (it's best to read all the text aloud).

Grandfather's Backpack

Once material has been discovered, you carry it forward into future chapters. When you pack up the game, put all "active" discoveries into Grandfather's Backpack. That way, during setup for the next chapter, you'll know right away which material is in play.

Memories

When material becomes a Memory via the Adventure Book, it is permanently removed from the ongoing game and no longer placed in Grandfather's Backpack. Collect this material separately in the game box.

Setup

General Setup

1. Backpack: Take everything out of Grandfather's Backpack.
2. Mountain Cards: Lay out the Mountain Cards as shown. Turn them, as you prefer, to the side with small or large numbers.
3. Player Colors: Each take 6 Goats and 1 Marker of the same color. Place 1 of your Goats at the foot of each mountain, below the first Mountain Card. It doesn't matter which Goat you place on which mountain.
4. Scoring Cards: Sort the Scoring Cards by value and place each stack above the mountain with the matching number.
5. Bonus Cards: Lay out the 4 Bonus Cards as shown.
6. Dice: Whoever won the last chapter becomes the starting player and takes the 4 dice. Otherwise, whoever most recently reached a mountain summit begins.

Chapter Setup

7. Adventure Book: Open the Adventure Book to the page for the current chapter and read the introduction.
8. New Discoveries: Take the new material indicated in the Adventure Book.
9. Mountain Summits: Place the summit tile you just discovered above Mountain 9. In later chapters, place the summit tiles from Grandfather's Backpack onto Mountains 7 and 5 (see page 7).
10. Ability Cards: Lay out the Ability Board so everyone can see it clearly. Place newly discovered Ability Cards face up on the board. In later chapters, the starting player places 1 Ability Card of their choice from Grandfather's Backpack onto the board. The other card becomes a Memory (see page 5).
11. Rule Cards: Later on, you'll carry out additional setup steps for any Rule Cards that were in Grandfather's Backpack and that you've just newly discovered. Lay these cards out for everyone to see clearly (see page 7).

Playing a Chapter

Your goats climb the mountains to collect the Scoring Cards at the summit. A set of cards from every mountain earns you a Bonus Card.

At the end of the chapter, you add up all the values on your Scoring Cards and Bonus Cards. Whoever has the highest total wins the chapter!

Sequence of a Turn

Starting with the starting player, take turns clockwise. A turn consists of the following steps:

1. Roll: Roll all 4 dice once.

2. Use Abilities: Use goat symbols to use abilities on the Ability Board.

3. Move Goats: Split the dice into groups of 1 to 4 dice, however you like. For each group you form, you may move your goat up 1 space on the mountain matching the sum of that group.

4. Score Mountains: When a goat reaches the mountain summit (the topmost card of the mountain), take a Scoring Card from that mountain. If your goat is already standing on the summit, you may score that mountain again at any time by using dice whose sum matches the mountain's number.

Moving Goats

• You can combine steps 2 and 3 however you like.
• You can move each goat multiple times per turn.
• Goats can land on spaces occupied by other goats.
• You cannot split the number on a single die to form smaller numbers.
• You may let dice go unused (but not individual points).

Example: A group of dice showing 5 and 5 moves your goat on Mountain 10. It does not allow 2 moves on Mountain 5.

Ability Cards

You can use a die showing the goat symbol to activate an ability available on the Ability Board. If you have multiple goat symbols, you can use each one for the same ability or for a different one.

If you cannot or do not want to use any of the abilities on the cards, you can always use the goat symbol as a 1.

Abilities

• Die Number: each goat symbol you use for this ability takes on the shown value. All rules apply to this value.
• Move a Goat: for each goat symbol, you may move one of your goats that meets the requirement stated by the symbol 1 space up the mountain. Ignore the number on that space when doing so. Certain abilities explicitly allow you to move other players' goats as well.

Discovering New Abilities

At the start of every chapter (except chapter 1), you discover 1 new Ability Card. This card replaces 1 of the two cards from the previous chapter. The starting player decides which of the 2 existing abilities remains in play and which becomes a Memory (and is thereby permanently removed from the game).

IMPORTANT: Abilities and other effects can raise the value of a die above 6. It is still a single die, however, whose value cannot be split.

Scoring a Mountain

You score a mountain when one of your goats reaches the mountain summit (the topmost Mountain Card). If the goat is already standing on the summit and you use dice to form the mountain's number, you score the mountain again (without moving the goat).

You can score a mountain multiple times this way in the same turn. This applies to the turn in which you reach the summit, but also to any later turn.

Every time you score a mountain, take a Scoring Card from that mountain's stack. Lay your Scoring Cards face up in front of you so everyone can see them.

Knocking Goats Down the Mountain

There can only ever be one goat on the summit! When a goat reaches the summit, it knocks every other goat there all the way down to the foot of the mountain. Place the knocked-down goat back at the foot of that mountain, below the first Mountain Card.

From there, the goat can climb the mountain again.

Goats can never be moved further down than below the first Mountain Card. Ignore effects that would cause further downward movement.

Empty Mountains

Even if the stack of Scoring Cards at a mountain is empty, you can still move your goats up that mountain. You can still score the mountain, but you no longer receive Scoring Cards from the stack as usual.

This can still be useful, because it still counts as "scoring" and can therefore trigger effects from mountain summits or other effects.

Clarifications on Scoring

• If your goat is moved to the summit by a special effect (potentially even by another player), you receive a Scoring Card as usual and knock goats away from there.
• If multiple goats could score the same mountain at the same time, the person whose turn it is decides the order in which the goats are moved (and therefore receive Scoring Cards and knock other goats away).
• Goats cannot be moved beyond the summit. Ignore effects that would cause this.

Bonus Cards

For every complete set of 6 different Scoring Cards with values from 5 to 10, you immediately receive the highest still-available Bonus Card. Lay it face up in front of you for everyone to see.

You can receive multiple Bonus Cards if you complete multiple sets.

Mountain Summits

The mountain summit tiles trigger special effects on certain mountains.

• During-game effects change the rules for moving goats or for scoring on that mountain.
• Final-scoring effects change the value of the Scoring Cards from that mountain during final scoring. This affects all Scoring Cards with the same number as the mountain, regardless of how you acquired the Scoring Card.

Discovering New Summits

At the start of every chapter, you discover a new mountain summit, which you place above Mountain 9. The summit that was above Mountain 9 in the last chapter now moves to above Mountain 7, and the summit that was previously there moves to Mountain 5.

Summits above Mountain 5 become a Memory at the end of the chapter (and are removed from the ongoing game).

Note: Summits are not spaces. You can never move goats onto them.

Rule Cards

Rule Cards explain the setup and use of newly discovered material. When you discover new Rule Cards, treat them as part of this rulebook.

Like other discoveries, Rule Cards are kept in Grandfather's Backpack and carried forward into the following chapters.

You also carry forward all material belonging to that Rule Card (this is listed in the New Discoveries section of the same chapter). As soon as a Rule Card becomes a Memory, you also remove all of its associated material from the ongoing game.

Note: If there isn't enough room in Grandfather's Backpack, put only the Rule Card in it and keep the material separately in the game box. As long as the Rule Card is in Grandfather's Backpack, its associated material is still used.

Ending a Chapter: Final Scoring

A chapter ends when the Scoring Card stacks at any 3 mountains are empty, OR when none of the 4 Bonus Cards remain available.

Finish the current round so that everyone has had the same number of turns. Then add up the values on your Scoring Cards and Bonus Cards (don't forget the effects of mountain summits and other scoring rules!).

Whoever has the most points wins the chapter.

In case of a tie, among the people involved, whoever has more goats on mountain summits wins. If that is still tied, the goat on the summit of the mountain with the highest number decides.

Recording the Course of the Game

After final scoring, carry out the following steps:

1. Chronicle

Enter the following into the Chronicle:

• Game winner: the name of the person who won the chapter.
• Mountain summits: the codes of the two summit tiles on Mountains 7 and 9. You can ignore the summit on Mountain 5, since it becomes a Memory right away.
• Award: if the Adventure Book contains an award for this chapter and you met the requirement for it, mark this field.
• Next page: whoever won the chapter chooses the next chapter from the options in the Adventure Book. Note the corresponding page number of the new chapter in this column. Don't turn to it yet!

2. Memories

Look in the Adventure Book, in the "Memories" section for the chapter you just played, to see what material you need to remove from the ongoing game (this doesn't happen yet in chapters 1 and 2).

3. Grandfather's Backpack

If you don't want to continue playing right away and are packing up instead, put the following into Grandfather's Backpack:

• The Scoring Card stacks of all mountains.
• All Bonus Cards.
• The mountain summits on Mountains 7 and 9.
• The two Ability Cards from the board.
• All Rule Cards.

4. Next Chapter

When you want to play the next chapter, turn in the Adventure Book to the page you most recently noted in the Chronicle. Follow the setup steps on page 3 of this rulebook.

IMPORTANT: Keep your "Memories" in a safe place in the game box. Don't put them back into the secret boxes. You might still need them...