In The Staufer Dynasty, the players are nobles in the 12th century, accompanying Henry VI on his tour of the areas of Europe brought under control by the Staufer family, an area that included much of modern-day Germany, from the Baltic Sea in the north to Sicily in the south. You're eager to improve your own lot in the land by placing envoys and nobles in positions of power in the six regions represented in this game.
The game lasts five rounds with each player having three actions per round. Players take actions in order of their family members on the action board from top to bottom; on a turn you either take a supply action (moving to one side of the action board) or a move/deploy action (moving to the other side).
For a supply action, you pick one of the spaces on the supply table, move the indicated number of envoys and nobles from the province to your personal court, then claim any chests underneath that space. The treasure chests come in different colors, with each color having a different function in the game: the brown treasure chests score points based on how many you collect, the orange ones provide immediate points or figures, the blue ones provide a one-shot bonus, and the purple ones let you collect one of the privilege cards on display. The privilege cards often modify other actions or give you a bonus for doing a particular thing.