ELEMENTS
The Captain's Edition
In the maelstrom of chaos at the beginning of all things, the five great elements played their games of fate to see who would shape the world to come.Elements is a mafialike game for five players. Each player plays an element secretly assigned to them: fire, air, water, earth and wood. Each element is naturally allied with two other elements and is enemy with two other elements. A player wins when both their enemies are dead and they are still alive.
The allegiances are as you'd expect:
Fire is allied with Air and Earth, enemy to Water and Wood.
Air is allied with Fire and Water, enemy to Earth and Wood.
Water is allied with Air and Wood, enemy to Fire and Earth.
Wood is allied with Water and Earth, enemy to Air and Fire.
Earth is allied with Wood and Fire, enemy to Water and Air.
Each day every player may take two actions, which must be either an attack or a protect. Each player may cast both an attack and a protect. They may instead cast two attacks or two protects, but doing so exhausts the player (see below). No player may cast more than one action on the same target, nor are they allowed to target themselves.
Each element has one or more special powers (listed below) which can alter the gameplay. In addition to these abilities, every element has the ability to start up a private chat with one other player of their choosing.
When a player dies, they may choose one other player to be privately informed whether the deceased was an enemy or an ally of theirs, but their true element is not revealed until the end.
Resolving AttacksAt the end of the day, all abilities are resolved and the total attacks and protects are tallied. Each protect nullifies one attack, (unless stated otherwise).
If a player suffers only 1 attack, then they are injured for the following day instead of killed. If a player suffers 2 or more attacks, or if they suffer at least one attack while injured, then they die.
An injured player may only take 1 action. (If they survive a day while injured, they are no longer injured on the following day) All players are publicly informed when a player is injured at the end of the day.
Injuries are announced publicly when they happen.
Exhaustion (and injury)
The first day will start with all players exhausted.An exhausted player can take only 1 action. Exhaustion lasts for one day, and then expires.
A player that is both exhausted and injured may still take 1 action.
A player that is either exhausted or injured may still register 2 actions, but only one of them will function. If the player does not specify which one is "real", then the most recently cast action will be chosen. The actual actions taken will be shown accurately in the final tally.
While all players are publicly informed when a player is injured, they are never informed when a player is exhausted, or when or if they may have healed from an injury.
Faking Exhaustion: Players may fake exhaustion by PMing the mod with their intent to do so. Faking exhaustion allows a player to register two actions, and then have one of them fail, as if they were exhausted. You cannot both fake exhaustion and use a secret action in the same day.
Feints (Secret Actions) Each player may register a single secret or conditional action with the mod, specifying which of their actions to change, what to change it to, and the conditions under which it will change. This is only executed at day end, and it will cause the user to become exhausted for the next day.
Other than the effects, there will be no indication that you performed a feint.
You cannot Feint in a way that would cause you to become exhausted more than once, or if you are already exhausted.
Each player has a number of abilities they may choose from.
Abilities in italics are automatic and are taken in addition to the ones that a player chooses. Abilities marked with a [W] are weaknesses.
Abilities marked with
(Active) must be activated by sending a PM to the mod before the end of the day. They will take effect at the end of the day.
Abilities marked with
(Immediate) must be activated by sending a PM to the mod before the end of the day. They take effect upon the next mod update.
Water - Pick 2 abilities:
- Defender: Using two protects does not make you exhausted.
- Sentinel (Active): When activated, your attacks do nothing, and your protects are worth double. You must have placed at least one attack to use this ability. (This effect resolves before effects that convert attacks to protects and vice-versa)
- Saturate (Active): When activated, you die at the end of day. A player of your choosing inherits one of your abilities (but not this one), and you now win if that player wins. That player becomes an enemy of fire if they were not already an enemy of fire. You must be both exhausted and injured to use this ability. If you use this ability on Fire, it fails and you die.
- Douse: Each of your protects nullifies one attack made by fire in addition to their normal effect. Attacks made by you are doubled against fire.
Fire - Pick 3 abilities:
- Intensity: Using two attacks does not make you exhausted.
- Inferno (Active): When activated, your protect does nothing, and one of your attacks is worth double. You must have placed at least one protect action to use this ability.
- Wildfire (Active): When activated, your protect does nothing, and anyone who protects the target of your attack suffers one extra attack from you. You may use both Inferno and Wildfire in the same turn, but doing so exhausts you.
- Sapping Heat (Active): Players you protect become exhausted.
Air - Pick 3 abilities:
- Relief (Immediate): Once per day, you can cure a player of exhaustion (including yourself).
- Insubstantial (Active): Either or both of your actions (attacks/protects) can have no effect if you so choose.
- Ephemeral (Active): Feinting does not cause you to become exhausted. You may feint even if you are exhausted.
- Fan the Flames (Active): Target a player. That player takes one additional damage if they are attacked by fire. This ability does not work on water.
Earth - Pick 2 abilities:
- Hard as Rock: You must be injured before you can be killed.
- Unyielding: You may still take two actions if exhausted or injured. If you are BOTH exhausted and injured, then you may only take 1 action.
- Crush: Players you attack are always injured, even if they are protected from all attacks. You must be capable of using two actions in order for this ability to function. This ability cannot inflict a killing blow. It's only effect is that your target will be injured at the start of the following day.
- [W]Erosion: Water's protects count as attacks when cast on you.
Wood - Pick 2 abilities:
- Renewal (Immediate): Once per day, you can heal an injured player. This will cause you to be exhausted on the next day. You cannot use this ability if you are exhausted.
- Thorns (Active): Anyone who attacks the target of your protection will suffer one attack from you. This effect cannot inflict a killing blow.
- Growth: For each day that both begins and ends with you neither exhausted nor injured, you gain an extra one-shot action.
- Rainfall: Water's attacks count as protects against you.
- [W]Flammable: If you protect fire, you will be injured. (If you are already injured, this effect won't kill you. But if you suffer injury from another source today, you will die)
- All valid Attack votes must be contain the name of the person the player wishes to attack in red, like: notquitethere, or attack notquitethere
- All valid Protect votes must contain the name of the person the player wishes to attack in green, like: notquitethere, or protect notquitethere
- Unattack, unvote, unvote or unprotect to remove your votes.
- You cannot target the same player with more than one action
- None of your secret decisions will be revealed, even if you die
- The day ends when all votes are given, or when no new votes are placed for two days (if you have voted then your vote is no longer counted as new, no matter how many times you change it)
- Modifying posts in this thread is forbidden. Do what you like on quicktopic
- Private messaging is not allowed outside of the quicktopics
- Fakeclaims are allowed and encouraged
- Once all votes have been placed, the day will end within 24 hours.
- No quoting of private messages from the mod is allowed.
Disclaimer: This game is highly experimental, and may be poorly balanced or not balanced at all. Those who can exploit the confusion to their advantage will likely thrive, regardless of what element they started with.
Disclaimer 2: Rule Zero is in effect: I reserve the right to alter the rules during the game in order to keep the game fun, interesting, and playable.
Players:1. Nerjin
2. notquitethere
3. Griffinpup
4. RangerCado
5. Deathsword
Replacements List:1. Tiruin
Spoiled Spectators:1. TheWetSheep
Credit to
notquitethere for the original idea, the structure of the OP, and inspiration garnered from playing the first iteration of his game.