Druids of Edora

How to play Druids of Edora: objective and turn summary

The goal is to score the most prestige points. You earn prestige during the game by competing at shrines, enclosing fire pits, connecting matching dolmens and using actions. A substantial amount can also arrive at final scoring through the Knowledge track, medicinal-herb progress, stone tablets and your amulet.

On every ordinary turn you resolve seven stages in order: 1. Move; 2. Place a die; 3. Competition; 4. Perform the action; 5. Fire; 6. Dolmens; 7. Medicinal herbs. You do not choose just one of those seven stages. You follow the sequence and apply each stage when it is relevant.

Movement and placing a die require provisions. This is the core resource tension: a distant shrine might have an attractive action, but traveling there and committing a high die can cost substantially more than visiting a nearby shrine with a low die. If you cannot make a legal move and placement, there is an emergency alternative discussed below.

A first game is easier if the seven-stage reference remains visible and everybody announces the third, fifth and sixth stages before passing. The network bonuses can be forgotten when attention is focused on the selected shrine action.

Game setup: modular board, dice, provisions and player count

Assemble the frame and its nine square forest pieces to form a board with 24 shrines. The reverse and front sides determine how many action fields a shrine contains. Follow the rulebook’s player-count instructions: two-player games use the reverse sides; four-player games use the front sides; and three-player games mix the two sides as directed.

Place the overview board and the Oracle site next to the forest. Display the stone tablets and six Oracle stones, put colored dolmens in the marked positions around the frame, and make the gemstones, mistletoe, fire tiles, potions and provisions available. Pair colored dolmens according to the printed setup; their positions matter because players will connect matching pairs by chains of occupied shrines.

Each player receives 13 dice, six standing stones, six runestones, two player boards, a playing figure and scoring markers, a sickle, 12 medicinal-herb tiles, one stone tablet and 15 starting provisions.

Roll four of your dice and keep them in your personal supply. Roll the other nine and store them with their rolled values on the overview board. You can obtain those reserve dice later, but normally do not reroll them. Shuffle and place the 12 herbs in the specified positions on your board.

The Druid Master, who starts the game, is the player with the highest total on their four available dice, with the published procedure breaking ties. Starting locations are selected in reverse order so that the first player is not also guaranteed the best starting position.

Step 1: moving through the forest and paying provisions

Your playing figure travels from shrine to shrine along the connected forest paths. The movement cost is one provision for each shrine visited, plus one for every dark forest area crossed. You pay for the whole route, including its destination shrine; you cannot end movement on a path or in the forest itself.

Example: a route that enters three shrines and passes through two dark forest sections costs five provisions. A shorter route might cost less even if it does not offer the most appealing action field. The board is modular, so there is no universally cheapest route between two named places.

On your first turn, you have a special movement rule: move from your starting position to its adjacent shrine without paying provisions. All later normal turns use standard movement and cost.

Several player figures may be at one shrine at the same time, but your dice cannot occupy the same shrine twice. Passing through an already-used shrine is allowed; stopping and placing a second die there is not. That restriction was clarified in the official English v1.1 revised rulebook.

Step 2: placing a die and choosing an action field

After movement, take one of your available personal dice and put it on a free action square at your destination shrine. Pay as many provisions as the number of pips on the die. A value 2 costs two provisions; a value 6 costs six. The action selected depends on the field you occupy, not simply on the dice’s face.

Every shrine has a limited number of action fields appropriate to the number of players. You may have only one die of your color at any single shrine. If you already visited a shrine earlier, you can pass through it during movement but you cannot stop there and perform its action again by placing another die.

Most action effects are independent of the die’s number. A high die is not automatically stronger for collecting provisions or advancing the sickle; its high value mainly affects placement cost, competition and certain runestone rewards. This is why the starting roll creates a planning puzzle rather than simply ranking dice from best to worst.

Even if you choose not to perform the depicted action—or cannot benefit from it—you still pay for placing the die. Do not mistakenly skip the cost because an action would be wasted.

Step 3: competition and the Knowledge tie-breaker

After you place a die, if more than one player has dice at that shrine, compare the values. The highest die earns two prestige points. If the top values tie, the player whose Knowledge marker is further along the Knowledge track wins. If those markers share a space, the marker placed higher in the stack has priority.

Worked example: a shrine has an opposing die valued 4. You place a 5, paying five provisions, and now your die is the highest. You receive the competition reward. If you instead place another 4, check Knowledge order. This rule explains why progressing along the Knowledge track matters during play as well as at the end.

Competition is not the same as permanently owning the shrine. An opponent may place a higher die at the same shrine on a later turn, changing which piece survives final shrine scoring. The immediate competition award and the eventual scoring of a shrine are separate opportunities.

Step 4: the eight shrine actions explained

After placing your die and resolving competition, perform the action shown on its specific square. The game provides eight general action types:

1. Take provisions or reserve dice: choose 12 provisions from supply or bring three of your stored dice into your personal supply, retaining their values.
2. Advance Knowledge: move the Knowledge marker two or three spaces according to that action field.
3. Advance the sickle: move your sickle two or three spaces, which may unlock medicinal-herb pairs.
4. Take a stone tablet: select one displayed tablet, take the adjacent Oracle-stone bonuses and replenish the display.
5. Take mistletoe and brew potions: collect the number of mistletoe shown and, at that action, exchange it for potions as permitted.
6. Add a gem to your amulet: choose a gem type you do not yet have and take the relevant bonus with the multiplier of the chosen action space.
7. Erect a standing stone: permanently place one beside the shrine and gain its current and accumulated player-board bonuses.
8. Erect a runestone: permanently place one beside the shrine and gain a bonus that depends on the just-placed die’s value.

These are paraphrases of the action categories, not replacements for individual tile or potion wording. The full rules text explains the different icons, potions and tablet conditions. Unlike the other general actions, erecting a runestone makes the die’s printed number directly relevant to the reward.

Step 5: enclosing fire pits for extra bonuses

Fire pits occupy spaces between the forest shrines. At the end of your shrine action, check whether your own dice now occupy every shrine adjacent to an unclaimed fire pit. Depending on the fire pit, that may require a group of two, three or four shrines.

If you are the first to form the full enclosure, take all the corresponding two, three or four printed bonuses. Then cover the fire pit with a fire tile. It is no longer available to anyone else. The adjoining shrines do not have to connect to each other through paths to count as an enclosure.

One die placement may complete multiple fire pits, so check all spaces around your newly occupied shrine. A small extra benefit here can outperform the immediate shrine action, especially if you are also unlocking a Knowledge marker or reserve die through the fire bonuses.

Beginner check: it is your dice positions, not your playing figure’s route, that determine whether you have enclosed a fire pit.

Step 6: connecting matching dolmens

Matching colored dolmens sit around the outside of the forest. To claim a pair, create a continuous chain of shrines containing your dice, connected by the legal forest pathways, between those two matching dolmens. For the reward, count the dice along the shortest completed link that satisfies the condition.

When you complete the link, remove the two colored dolmens and keep them. Earn two prestige points for each of your dice required by the link. The first three completed links across the game also earn special beige dolmens and an extra eight, six or four prestige points, respectively.

As with fire pits, a single placement may complete more than one connection. You cannot count a chain that merely seems adjacent in the illustration; the shrines must be linked by actual pathways. Dolmen awards reward coherent network planning, not just having many dice anywhere on the board.

Completed dolmens can also matter for certain stone-tablet goals, so keep them visible in front of you rather than returning them to the general supply.

Step 7: medicinal herbs and lasting upgrades

When you advance your sickle far enough to release herbs, move the newly released pair from the main player board to the smaller board at the end of the turn. Turn one tile face up to become active and leave the other face down and inactive. If you release more than one pair, resolve each pair in the same way.

Active medicinal herbs create ongoing powers. Examples include gaining extra provisions when taking the relevant action, advancing Knowledge further, gaining a bonus when brewing mistletoe potions or improving the gemstone action’s multiplier. Others let you change a die value by up to two before placement or move to another shrine within the same clearing for a set cost.

Read the timing on each herb carefully: some affect only the named action, not a similar-looking bonus awarded from a fire pit, standing stone or gemstone. In particular, an herb that boosts your ‘take provisions’ action does not necessarily boost every small provisions reward.

Unlocking the sickle track can serve two purposes at once: active upgrades during the game and prestige from sickle progress at final scoring. The strongest herb combination depends on which actions you expect to repeat and how many turns remain.

Runestones versus standing stones: a useful distinction

Standing stones provide a growing engine. Erect one permanently next to a shrine, claim its listed bonus, and then take the set of bonuses uncovered under standing stones already removed from your board. Building several makes later standing-stone actions increasingly productive, provided the game lasts long enough.

Runestones instead reward a specific die placement. Their printed benefit uses the die’s numerical value. Depending on the chosen runestone, the rulebook either calculates a benefit from the die minus one or multiplies the die by one, two or three for the chosen resource.

Example: a runestone that awards prestige equal to twice the die value gives 10 prestige from a 5. A runestone that awards mistletoe equal to the die value minus one gives four mistletoe from that 5. This illustrates why placing a high die can be a good move even though it costs more provisions.

Both stone types remain physically beside their shrines until final scoring. They can become associated with the player who wins that shrine’s final die comparison; erecting a stone does not guarantee that it remains part of your final shrine multiplier.

Druid in Distress: what if you cannot pay or have no dice?

If you cannot perform an ordinary turn because you have insufficient usable dice or provisions, the game provides the Druid in Distress emergency alternative. Instead of your normal movement and die placement, take six provisions and one stored die from your reserve—or two prestige if there is no reserve die left.

This is a useful safety valve, but it normally sacrifices a turn of board development. You might remain behind in reaching contested shrines, connecting dolmens or completing fire enclosures.

Planning example: if you have just one die valued 6 and two provisions, look for an affordable resource action earlier rather than assuming the emergency move can be used to place that die and activate a shrine immediately. The emergency action is an alternative to the normal turn, not a free resource payment before it.

Having one die and enough provisions available for your next turn reduces the risk of losing tempo. Keep the value of your remaining personal dice in view rather than just counting how many you own.

Druids of Edora final scoring: all five categories

The game ends after the round in which at least one player places their last remaining die, with everyone finishing the current round so players get an equal number of turns. Score prestige earned during play and then add five final categories:

1. Remaining materials: one prestige for every six provisions, for each unused mistletoe, and for each remaining die in your personal supply or reserve.
2. Sickle advancement: score the final marker band, from zero up to 20 prestige.
3. Completed stone tablets: receive 10 prestige per completed tablet.
4. Amulet: score the completed gemstone layers, including the bonus for filling the specified left-hand group; the exact printed combinations can award substantial prestige.
5. Shrine supremacy: this is the critical multiplier calculation detailed below.

For shrine supremacy, compare the dice at every shrine and leave only the highest. Break tied values by Knowledge order. The player who owns the surviving die takes that die and all standing stones and runestones next to the shrine, irrespective of who built the stones. Count the pieces you collected this way and multiply by your Knowledge track’s current multiplier: 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4.

Worked example: you finish with eight winning dice and four stones beside those controlled shrines: 12 pieces. Your Knowledge multiplier is 3, so you score 36 prestige in this category. If you have the same 12 pieces but your Knowledge multiplier is 1, you gain only 12. Losing dice in shrine comparisons are removed before counting.

The winner is whoever has the most overall prestige. Under the official tie-break rule, the tied player further back on the Knowledge track wins, an unintuitive reversal of the Knowledge priority used to break shrine dice ties.

Beginner strategy: making your dice and travel budget work

1. Budget both movement and placement. A desirable shrine three spaces away with a value-six die may require more provisions than you can comfortably spare. Add the route cost before committing.
2. Use high dice where they matter. Runestone effects and shrine competitions give higher values a concrete payoff. For basic resource actions, a low die is often enough and costs less.
3. Grow the Knowledge multiplier. Shrine supremacy counts both your surviving dice and adjacent stones, so increasing Knowledge can multiply many pieces at once.
4. Watch fire-pit and dolmen patterns. A single well-placed die might close an enclosure, complete a network and still activate a useful shrine. These layered rewards often beat a stand-alone action.
5. Do not collect reserve dice too late. If you never bring a stored die into your personal supply, you cannot place it and benefit from its positional effect.
6. Balance the sickle and amulet projects. Their endgame awards are meaningful, but chasing a distant final threshold could be weaker than a near-certain runestone or fire-pit reward.
7. Avoid emergency turns. Keep your next move’s provisions and die value in mind; running out of either costs an opportunity for the normal board engine.

These are original strategic deductions from the official mechanisms, not universal best moves or claims of personal playtesting. Modular layouts, starting dice and competition change which priorities are practical.

Rules version 1.1: the shrine-placement clarification

The English revised v1.1 rules explicitly clarify a restriction that prompted questions from players: you may move through a shrine that already contains your own die, but you cannot end movement there and perform the action again. The limit is one die of each player’s color per shrine.

This matters because a shrine may have several action squares in a game with three or four players. More free squares do not mean you personally can revisit it and claim a second square in a later turn. Available squares are for different players.

Ravensburger published the corrected English rulebook as version 1.1. If the physical copy in your game omits this point or uses confusing placement language, use the publisher-uploaded corrected rulebook and the searchable base rules together. The restriction is consistent with the game’s one-die-per-color competition and area-control system.

Player counts, replayability and optional setup variants

The modular forest changes with the number of players. At two players, all 17 board parts use their reverse faces; at four, use the front; at three, mix sides in the rulebook’s arrangement. The number of action squares at the shrines scales with the group, so the available competition remains appropriate.

After learning the core game, the rulebook proposes optional methods to reduce randomness: draw three face-down stone tablets and choose one; give everyone the same medicinal-herb order; let everyone arrange the herb order themselves; or let the Druid Master set the values of the nine reserve dice for all players.

These variants change the starting information and controllability but do not make the game cooperative or introduce a new scoring system. If you want more control over your early plan, the shared-dice-values variant is worth considering. If you prefer adapting to a distinctive personal puzzle, use the normal initial rolls.

For another Stefan Feld strategy guide, see The Castles of Burgundy. Both reward efficient action chaining, but Edora’s persistent die values, map movement costs, and network scoring create a distinct challenge.

Druids of Edora FAQ

How many players can play Druids of Edora?

The official game supports two to four players. There is no official solo mode in the base-game rules.

How long does a game take?

Ravensburger lists 60–90 minutes, though the first play may take longer while players learn the action icons and five scoring categories.

Do you reroll the dice every turn?

No. All 13 dice are rolled at the start, four available and nine stored. Their values normally remain fixed unless a special effect changes them.

How many dice can I have at one shrine?

Only one die of your color. Revised rules v1.1 clarify that you may pass through a previously activated shrine but not end movement there for a second action.

How do you pay to place a die?

Pay provisions equal to the die’s face value. A value-four die costs four provisions in addition to any movement cost.

Who wins a shrine competition?

The highest-valued die wins. For tied values, compare Knowledge markers, using their position in the marker stack if necessary.

What happens when you surround a fire pit?

The first player with dice in all adjoining shrines receives the printed bonuses and covers the fire pit, making it unavailable to rivals.

How do you connect dolmens?

Build an unbroken chain of your dice along connected shrine pathways between two matching colored dolmens. Score the link using its shortest valid path.

What is Druid in Distress?

An emergency alternative to the ordinary turn that grants provisions and a stored die, or points when no stored dice remain.

How does the game end?

When someone places their last die, finish the round so everyone has taken the same number of turns. Then perform all five final scoring steps.

Does the Knowledge track score only its printed points?

No. It primarily supplies a 0–4 multiplier to the final count of surviving shrine dice and stones, as well as breaking ties in shrine competition.

What breaks a final prestige tie?

The player further back on the Knowledge track wins, according to the official endgame rule.

Official sources and editorial notes

Ravensburger — official Druids of Edora product and specifications

Ravensburger-hosted English manual (PDF)

Ravensburger-uploaded English revised rulebook v1.1 (BoardGameGeek files)

RulesPal — searchable English base-game rulebook text

Details checked October 16, 2026. The primary rules are based on the published English manual, with version 1.1’s placement clarification identified explicitly. This is an independently written overview, not a claim of hands-on playtesting. Strategy suggestions and arithmetic examples are editorial explanations, not new rulebook requirements. No official card or box art is reproduced without permission.