Vast: The Crystal Caverns

To set up the Ghoul, first, place the Ghoul piece, Ghoul dice, and Ghoul discs near the player board. Next, shuffle the Terror cards to form the Terror deck. After that, place the Fury cube at the zero space on the Fury track. At the start of the Ghoul's first turn, he is placed on any unoccupied Dark tile. If no such tile exists, one is placed.

The Ghoul wins by gaining Fury equal to 7 plus the number of players, then escaping the Cave by entering the Entrance tile. The Ghoul gains Fury by attacking other players and collecting Treasures.

The Ghoul is sixth in turn order, going after the Thief but before the Ghost. His turn consists of three phases: Roll and Set Stats, Move and Act, and Set Defense. His turn ends after his third phase. During the Roll and Set Stats phase, if the Ghoul has any discs on his Attack space, they are removed and returned to the supply. Next, the three Ghoul dice are rolled. If the sum of all three dice is 7 or less, he draws a Terror card. Next, he chooses two dice and sets aside the third. The die with the higher value is the Ghoul's Movement Points for the turn. The die with the lower value is the Ghoul's Attack Points. Using Movement Points throughout the turn can be tracked with the die. As for Attack, the Ghoul places Ghoul discs equal to the number of his Attack Points on the Attack space. If Attack Points are ever gained, additional Ghoul discs can be added to this space. Then, the die showing Attack Points is set aside. During the Move and Act phase, the Ghoul moves to an adjacent space by spending one Movement Point. He may enter both Lit and Dark tiles, but Dark tiles are not revealed when he enters them. The Ghoul may spend an additional Movement Point to move through a wall. If the Ghoul enters a space with any number of other player pieces and he does not immediately attack, he must spend one additional Movement Point. If he enters a space with a player that he cannot attack, he must spend an additional Movement Point, regardless of whether or not he attacks another player on that tile. As the Ghoul moves throughout the Cave, he will try to gather Treasures. He may spend two Movement Points to collect a Treasure or Dragon Gem on his space. This is per piece collected. If a Dragon Gem is collected, the Dragon die is rolled. The Ghoul skitters if the center tile is affected, and the Gem is returned to the Dragon. Otherwise, a Treasure token is taken from the Cave supply, and the Gem is returned to the Dragon. If a Treasure token is collected, it is placed on the Treasure space on the player board. During his turn, the Ghoul can choose to attack players on the same space. He does this by spending Ghoul discs equal to 1 plus the target's Defense. The Ghoul cannot attack the same player piece more than once during the same turn. Whenever the Ghoul attacks, an effect is dealt to a player. For example, when attacked, the Goblin Tribe must scatter. After resolving any attack, the Ghoul gains one Fury, then skitters. During the Set Defense phase, however many Ghoul discs remaining on the Ghoul's Attack space are now considered his Defense. If no discs remain, then his Defense is zero.

Fury is the Ghoul's anger and power. He gains this whenever he attacks a player, and whenever he has collected two Treasure tokens. This cube is moved as he gains Fury, and on every even space, he earns a Terror card. Whenever a Terror card is drawn, it is placed face up near the player board. Each card has two effects: either a persistent or once-per-turn effect, and a once-per-game effect. A persistent effect, like the first option on Cheat, allows the Ghoul to roll dice again. A once-per-turn effect, like the first option on Chase, allows the Ghoul an additional Movement. If the Ghoul ever decides to use a once-per-game effect of a card, it is removed from the game. The Ghoul is not able to use both of a card's effects on the same turn. Additionally, he cannot use multiple once-per-game effects of an identical card on the same turn.

The Ghoul's turn ends after his third phase. Before we get into how other players affect our little friend, let's talk about this little thing you've heard so much about: the skitter. After the Ghoul resolves an attack, or after he is attacked by another player, he immediately skitters. The player he attacked, or who attacked him, announces a Dark tile symbol: Fangs, Bones, or Eye. The announced symbol type must be in existence on the map, and one of the tiles must be unoccupied. The Ghoul then places his figure on any one of the unoccupied Dark tiles of that type. If the attack did not involve another player, such as smashing a Crystal in a game with no Cave player, then the symbol is chosen by matching the symbol on top of the Cave tile stack. During the collapse, a Dark tile symbol is randomly selected using tiles that have already collapsed. If no unoccupied Dark tile exists, he must be placed on an unoccupied space surrounding the Entrance tile.