You are a goblin land baron and member of the Hut Barons guild -- purveyors of magical real estate for weefolk, bigfolk, and everyone in between. Laid out in a square grid, the buildings of Cartref possess magical effects that vary depending on their residents. Use your wits and magic to amass the greatest wealth in the budding city of Cartref.
On your turn, take 2 actions from the following options. (A) Build a new building and invoke the magic of adjacent goblin buildings. (B) Fulfill a guild Mandate and invoke the magic of bigfolk (human) buildings. (C) Impel the gnomes in one of your gnomish buildings to use their magic. (D) Purify the bad karma (pollution) emitted by the buildings so that you can invoke them again.
Players score Mandates (objective cards) twice -- once when initially fulfilled and again at the game's end. This creates the tension of a race while also provides a framework for strategic planning through the very last turn.
—description from the publisher