PnP Review: Cavern

1-99 players

Designer: Brad Hiscock

Artist: Peter Zalba

Publisher: Conviveal Games

This game takes us, surprisingly enough, to a cavern to look for treasures, fight enemies, and use all of our courage and guile to make it out. But is this adventure as thrilling as it sounds or do are we kept in the dark?

Gameplay

On player’s turns, you roll a d20 for movement. That movement can be 2 or 3 spaces and either only orthogonal or diagonal as well. Dark and rough spaces cost more to leave, and you can only ever go on each space twice. Then you can get equipment or weapons, face enemies, or roll for events, like finding the exit or fighting the boss.

Fighting is easy, just roll the d20 and try to beat the foe’s target number. All enemies are static, just varying the level. You only get one shot, and take 1 damage if you don’t succeed. Game ends when you find and decide to go out of the exit. Then you can either keep your level and try the next level, or just count the points.

Solo Gameplay

This game plays the same either solo or multiplayer. The only difference is comparing the scores to each opponent or to a table.

Components

First thing I noticed in the game is how gorgeous the art is. Instead of going for the usual minimalistic or simplistic look most one page pnp games, Cavern opts for a full graphic design with unique well rendered backs for each map and great iconography.

However, usability was not well thought. A lot of information is relegated to the rulebook only, and it’s information that needs to be consulted fairly often. With the real state on each map, a lot could have been added to ease up the play. My main gripe is the lack of a table for the events, since they only happen once. A way to keep track of which happen and to mark them on the map was critical, and it’s missing.

Conclusion

Cavern is, without a doubt, a fun game. It’s a light and quick exploration game, where you have to plan how much you risk and how much if enough. However, there are a great number of one page games on the market, and specifically there are a few with the same theme and feel of Cavern. And, with that, Cavern feels that it was not cooked long enough. It lacks polish on the structure and lacks a impending sense of tension and time crunch.

Score: 6 / 10