Emperor Trajan plans to have a monument built for eternity: the Forum Trajanum. It is supposed to become the biggest and most glorious Emperor's forum that the Roman world has ever seen — not only in order to demonstrate his success as Princeps Optimus in an imposing manner, but also to foster the well-being and the fame of the honorable citizens of Rome.In the game Forum Trajanum, each player governs a Colonia, founded by Trajan himself, and thus is the head of one of the highest-ranking cities in the entire Roman Empire. While the players try to optimally develop their own Colonia, they should not fail in supporting the Emperor's building project to the best of their abilities at the same time. The player who is most successful in doing so will — after expiry of their term of office — be admitted to the small circle of illustrious and mighty personalities surrounding the Emperor.While Eperor Trajan is constructiong the biggest and most magnificent Emperor's forum in the history of Rome, each player is building up a Colonia in the province, far from the capital. A Colonia is a city in the format of a grid that is newly established by imperial decree. But as the Forum Trajanum is supposed to become the new outstanding landmark in Rome, Emperor and senate expect you to do nothing less than develop your Colonia into an important center of your province too.In the game Forum Trajanum you try to govern your Colonia in the best possible way, while you also need to maintain contact with Rome to ensure support form the capital ande the Emperor. Each round, you strive to reveal the best building sites in the street grid of your Colonia board and, with this, gain important resources and additional abilities through special citizens. Then you can carry out a building action in order to get valuable victory points and other favorable privileges.