The Sorcerer's Cave
A guided first expedition. Version 1.2.1, solo edition: you lead one company; any rivals are computer players.
How to begin
Press Play on the game's tile to open the illustrated cover. Choose New Expedition to open setup, or Continue expedition to return to an unfinished game in this browser. The cover also has How to Play, this tutorial and the PDF manual.
Your company stands at the Cave Mouth, the glowing square in the middle of the map. The left panel describes your turn, your company and where you are; the right panel holds every control.
Controls
| Action | Mouse or touch | Keyboard |
|---|---|---|
| Move | Click or tap a square outlined in amber | ↑←↓→ or WASD |
| Stairs | The ▼ Down and ▲ Up buttons | Page Down / Page Up |
| Fight | Choose a champion, press Fight | F |
| End turn | The End turn button | E |
| Pan the map | Drag | - |
| Zoom | Wheel, pinch, or the + and − buttons | + / - |
| Other levels | The Level tabs above the map | - |
Hover over any square to see what is there. Tab moves between buttons and Enter presses them. The Sound button cycles Off, Low, Medium and High.
Turn order
Companies take turns in order: yours first, then each rival. A round ends when every company still in the cave has moved, and the round counter in the header advances. At the start of your turn underground, a wandering monster may find you; the deeper you are and the later it is, the likelier this becomes. During your turn you have three moves and may fight, persuade, recruit, take or drop treasure, open chests, use magic and trade, in any order. Press End turn when you are done. Rivals then act; the Speed buttons (Normal, Fast, Instant) set how quickly you watch them.
Movement
Each step through an open passage costs one move. Step into darkness and a new cave tile is drawn and laid there. Passages only join where both tiles are open, so some ways turn out to be walled off. Chambers, caverns, halls and grottoes hold encounters; plain passages are usually empty. A Stairway Down leads to the next level (there are four). You cannot move on while a monster or hostile folk bar your square: fight them, persuade them, or flee. Fleeing takes you back the way you came, ends your moves, and risks a parting blow on each companion. At the start of a turn you may instead spend the whole turn searching a wall for a hidden passage (it succeeds on 4 or more on a die). When the deck of 68 tiles runs out, nothing more can be explored.
Combat and scoring
Pick a champion. Their fight value, plus 1 for each other unwounded companion (up to +3), plus any bonuses (Veteran rank, a Magic Sword, a wizard, a priest or amulet against the undead, allied companies on the same square), plus two dice, is set against the foe's fight value plus two dice. The panel shows the exact sum and the odds before you commit, and the fight slate shows the result afterwards.
- Win: the foe is destroyed and may leave treasure. Your champion gains experience: three wins make a Veteran (+1), six a Champion (+2).
- Lose: your champion is wounded. A wounded companion fights at −1 and a second wound kills. An Enchanted Shield shatters to save a wound; a Basilisk's gaze kills outright.
- Tie: the struggle goes on; fight again or flee.
Scoring: when you leave the cave you score the value of the treasure you carry, plus 2 for every companion still with you, plus 20 if your company slew the Sorcerer. Unopened chests and magic items score nothing, and your company can only carry so much (most companions carry two items, a Dwarf three, a Wizard one).
Winning conditions
Return to the Cave Mouth and press Leave the cave; the page asks you to confirm and shows the score you would bank. When the last company has left (or the cave is sealed) the game ends. With rivals, you win by having the single highest score. Alone, you win by escaping with any score at all. The Sorcerer, waiting somewhere on level 4 with fight 9, is the richest prize: his Orb is worth 80, he carries two magic talismans, and slaying him adds 20 more.
Losing conditions
You lose if a rival scores higher, if your whole company is slain, or if your company is still underground when the final round ends: the Sorcerer seals the cave and everything inside is lost. Warnings appear in the chronicle when three rounds remain. Watch the round counter and the distance back to the Cave Mouth; a Scroll of Escape carries you there instantly.
Saving and restarting
The game saves itself after every action, in this browser. Close the tab whenever you like; next time, choose Continue expedition on the cover. A finished game clears its save. Press Cover in the header to return to the title page without ending your expedition; computer turns pause while the cover or a dialog is open. Press New Game in the header to open setup and start again. Choose a fixed Seed on the setup screen to replay exactly the same cave.
Single-player saves from versions 1.1.0 and 1.2.0 resume in this version. The cave rules and save format are unchanged.
The full rules and every table are in the PDF manual (rules edition 1.2.0).