Overview

In Living Forest, players are Spirits of Nature trying to save the Forest and its Sacred Tree from the devastating flames of Onibi. Each turn you draw Guardian Animal cards to form a Help Line, then use the Elements they provide to perform actions. There are three paths to victory: plant 12 different Protective Trees, collect 12 Sacred Flowers, or extinguish 12 Fires. The game uses a push-your-luck deck-building mechanism for the Guardian Animal draws.

Components

• 1 Circle of Spirits central board
• 4 Forest individual boards
• 1 Guardian Animal board
• 1 Fire Varan board
• 4 Spirit of Nature standees
• 1 Sacred Tree standee
• 14 starting Guardian Animal cards per Spirit (56 total)
• 23 Fire Varan cards
• 23 Level 1 Guardian Animal cards
• 16 Level 2 Guardian Animal cards
• 12 Level 3 Guardian Animal cards
• 39 Protective Tree tiles
• 4 starting Protective Tree tiles
• 2 Protective Tree dispensers
• 58 Fire tiles (values 2, 3, and 4) divided into 3 levels
• 20 Fragment tiles
• 12 Victory tiles (3 per Spirit of Nature)

Setup

1. Place the Circle of Spirits centrally.
2. Each player takes: 1 Forest board, 1 Spirit standee, 14 starting Guardian Animal cards, 3 Victory tiles, 1 starting Protective Tree tile.
3. Place starting Protective Tree in the centre of your Forest board. Place Victory tiles to the left.
4. Randomly choose first player; give them the Sacred Tree standee. Place standees on the Circle of Spirits on designated starting positions based on player count.
5. Shuffle your 14 starting Guardian Animal cards into a face-down personal draw stack.
6. Sort remaining Guardian Animal cards into 3 stacks by level (1/2/3). Shuffle each; place on Guardian Animal board. Reveal 4 cards per level as the reserve.
7. Sort Fire tiles by value (2/3/4); place on Guardian Animal board.
8. Place 1 Fire of value 2 in the centre of the Circle of Spirits.
9. Set up Protective Tree dispensers with tiles in ascending order (left to right).
   • 3 players: remove 1 tree each for values 3/4/5.
   • 2 players: remove 2 trees each for values 3/4/5 and 1 tree each for values 6/7/8.
10. Stack Fragment tiles and Fire Varan cards on the Fire Varan board.

Turn Structure

Each game turn has 3 phases:

Phase 1: Guardian Animals (Simultaneous)

All players draw simultaneously from their personal draw stack, revealing cards one at a time to form their Help Line.

• Stop anytime: You may stop drawing whenever you wish.
• Forced stop: If you reveal a card showing a third solitary symbol (Z) not cancelled by gregarious symbols (Y), you must stop. That card still closes your Help Line.
• Gregarious cancels Solitary: Each Y symbol cancels one Z symbol.
• Fire Varan cards: Count as solitary (Z) but provide no Elements.
• Fragment tiles: Discard a Fragment to either destroy a just-drawn Fire Varan (return it to its stack) or send a just-drawn card to your personal discard.
• When your draw stack is empty and you want to draw, shuffle your discard to form a new draw stack.

Phase 2: Actions (In Turn Order)

Starting with the player holding the Sacred Tree, proceeding clockwise.

Number of Actions:

• If Z - Y < 3 in your Help Line: 2 different Actions
• If Z - Y = 3 in your Help Line: only 1 Action

Action strength = total of corresponding Elements on your Help Line cards + your Forest board.

Phase 3: End of Game Turn

1. Onibi attacks you: Sum Fire tile values in Circle centre. Each Spirit compares their W total against this. If your W is strictly less, add Fire Varan cards to your discard equal to the number of Fire tiles in the centre.
2. Onibi attacks the Sacred Tree: Add new Fires to the centre: 1 value-2 Fire per Level 1 card taken this turn, 1 value-3 per Level 2, 1 value-4 per Level 3. Max 7 Fires in centre. If no Fires remain after attack, add 1 value-2 Fire.
3. New Guardian Animals arrive: Refill the reserve (4 per level).
4. Return Guardian Animals: Move all Help Line cards to personal discard.
5. Pass Sacred Tree: Give to next player clockwise.

Actions

Action	Element	Effect
Take a Fragment tile	Free	Take 1 Fragment tile; place next to Forest
Attract Guardian Animals	L (Lotus)	Take 1+ visible reserve cards with total cost <= your L total. Place on top of personal draw stack face-down.
Extinguish Fire	W (Water)	Pick 1+ Fire tiles from Circle centre with total value <= your W. Place next to Forest (number-side down).
Move on Circle of Spirits	S (Sun)	Move standee clockwise up to your S total rocks. Jump over occupied rocks (don’t count them). Take 1 Victory tile from each jumped Spirit. Trigger arrival rock bonus (additional Action). Must move at least 1 rock.
Plant Protective Tree	P (Plant)	Take exactly 1 Protective Tree with cost <= your P. Place on Forest adjacent (not diagonal) to an existing tree.

Protective Tree Bonuses

• Completing a row/column: Permanent Element bonus (1W, 1L, 1S, or 2N depending on position).
• Corner bonuses:
  • Top-left: additional Attract action with +3L
  • Top-right: additional Extinguish action with +2W
  • Bottom-left: pick 2 Fragment tiles
  • Bottom-right: pick 2 Fragment tiles
• All corner/row bonuses are additional Actions on top of your normal Actions.
• Planted trees permanently provide their Elements for all future turns.

Duplicate Action Rule

If your Help Line allows 2 Actions, you must choose 2 different Actions. However, a Protective Tree with a special duplicate symbol allows performing the same Action twice.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The game ends at the end of a complete Action phase when any Spirit of Nature has achieved at least one of:

1. 12 different Protective Trees (including starting tree and any Victory Tree tiles)
2. 12 Fires (count tiles, not values; includes Fire Victory tiles)
3. 12 Sacred Flowers (N) (count N symbols on Help Line, Forest board, and Flower Victory tiles)

If multiple Spirits complete a condition simultaneously, all three conditions are totaled for each. Highest combined total wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Fire Varan distribution: If insufficient Fire Varans for all affected Spirits, distribute evenly in turn order.
• Maximum 7 Fires in the Circle centre at any time.
• Victory tiles: When jumping a Spirit on the Circle, you take one of THEIR Victory tiles (your choice). These count toward the corresponding victory condition.
• Element N is only a victory condition — it is never spent on an action.
• Discard stack: You may consult your discard stack at any time during the Guardian Animals phase.
• Tree placement: Must be orthogonally adjacent to an existing tree (no diagonal).

Player Reference

Elements: | Symbol | Element | Used For | |——–|———|———-| | L | Lotus | Attracting Guardian Animals | | W | Water | Extinguishing Fires | | P | Plant | Planting Protective Trees | | S | Sun | Moving on Circle of Spirits | | N | Sacred Flower | Victory condition only (12 to win) |

Push-Your-Luck Drawing:

• Z (Solitary): bad — 3 uncancelled = only 1 Action
• Y (Gregarious): good — cancels 1 Z each
• Fragment tile: discard to destroy/redirect a drawn card

Victory Conditions (need 12 of any one):

1. Different Protective Trees planted
2. Fire tiles extinguished (count tiles, not values)
3. Sacred Flowers (N symbols visible)