Rochester Gamers Community

From the publisher, Smirk & Dagger Games:

An artifact of untold power lies in your hands. To claim it, you must escape the caverns alive. No less than nine horrific beasts stand in your way - that, and the greed of the other Players.

Without teamwork, you'll never survive. Without betrayal, you'll never win.

Cutthroat Caverns is a 3-6 Player game, recommended for ages 12 and up, that takes about 1.5 to 2 hours to play. The game itself is completely card based with small stones to keep track of the Players Life Points, the Encounter number, and the Monster's Life Points.

Component wise, the game is comprised of the before mentioned stones to keep track of Life Points and Encounter numbers, the Encounter card that represents the Monster, Player cards with a Life Point track, and the playing cards. In addition, there are Prestige counters and various other little tokens that are used with some Encounters.

Player Card Types
There are three Player Card Types. These are Attack, Action, and Item cards. Attack cards represent tactics and direct damage. Action cards represent "gotchas", bonuses, and penalties in the game that must be played at certain times. Knowing when to play the Action card and who to play it on is vital to the Player's success. Items represent equipment that could help the Player. Most Items only last until they are used and all Items can be stolen. Unlike Attack and Action cards, however, Item cards are removed from the game once they are used. This means all of the Players have a very short supply of helpful Items. The longer they stay in the cavern, the less Items they will have that can help them.

Game Play
The game is played in encounters and rounds. There are nine encounters, one for each Monster, that measures the start and end of the game. The rounds are played within the encounter. There are no limits to the number of rounds per encounter. The encounter ends when either the Monster's Life Points are reduced to zero or there are no Players alive left to fight the Monster.

Each round, the Players are randomly dealt an Initiative card. This number indicates the turn sequence in which their playing cards will take effect for the round. It also determines who the Monster will attack. Each Monster has an "attack matrix" that determines who the Monster attacks, the amount of damage it deals to the Players, and how many Life Points the Monster has. Depending on the number of Players in the game, the Monster is either weaker or stronger.

After the Players are dealt their Initiative card, they select one Attack card from their hand to lay face down which represent the amount of damage they hope to do or represents a special tactic like slipping behind the Monster to do more damage the next round. Note that the card played and the Initiative card are still face down. This makes an element of bluffing and damage logistics necessary. Since only the Player who "kills" the Monster gets any points, you never want to make it easy for the other Players, or cheat yourself out of points.

Once all the Players have put a card face down next to their face down Initiative card, all of the Initiative cards are revealed, showing who goes first, second, and so on.

Here is where the game gets cutthroat. Now that all the Player know their turn order, they can use Action cards to disrupt the game play of others. For example, making another Player trip or do more or less damage. When it is the Players turn, any other Player can help or hinder. That is, as long as they have the cards.

At the end of the round, surviving Players receives one random card from the deck. The Initiative cards are shuffled and dealt, and the next round begins.

When the Monster or Encounter (because not all Encounters are Monsters) is dealt with, points are awarded to the Player who met the requirements to obtain the Prestige points, and the Players are dealt a number of cards to refill their hand to 7 cards. Players may opt to turn all of their unplayed cards for a fresh start. A new Encounter is revealed and the game continues.

Encounters
Encounters are either Monsters or something stranger. Monsters are straight forward. They do damage and attack random Players at the end of each round. Some Monsters get stronger as time goes on, making it important that the Players do not sit around. Some Encounters are riddles or mazes the Players must deal with before they can continue the game.

The Encounter is one of the most brilliant aspects of this game. Each Encounter comes with its own rules and design, making each Encounter different. The Players must continually shift their tactics to survive and win.

Combat
Combat is straight forward. Either the Player does or does not do damage to the Monster. If they do, the Monster's Life Points are reduce. Players have cards that allow them to redirect or ignore damage. Regardless, as long as the Player or Monster have any Life Points, they continue to play the game.

Victory Condition
Victory is given to the Player who is alive and has the most Prestige points after the ninth Encounter. The Prestige points were obtained when the Player gave the "killing blow" to the Monster. As you can see, it is not enough to simply survive.

Final Thoughts
Cutthroat Caverns is a personal favorite of mine for two reasons. First, it is fast and flexible. You can easily add your own Encounters and cards to the game without breaking the balance. Second, the game is always different. While the object is always the same, the Encounters are randomly selected from a big stack and randomly shuffled. This makes the game play differently each time.

Currently, Cutthroat Caverns has four future expansions (at the time this review was written) in plan. The core game and the future expansions are listed here.

• Cutthroat Caverns
• Cutthroat Caverns: Deeper & Darker
• Cutthroat Caverns: Relics and Ruin
• Cutthroat Caverns: Tombs and Tomes
• Cutthroat Caverns: Fresh Meat

If you would like to play this sometime, let me know. I am always up to go cavern exploring. I should also mention that Cutthroat Caverns will have a tournament at the 2009 Gamer's Reunion. If you plan on attending, signup!