You read the title. There is no grid, so you'll need to refer to specific areas.
Yes. I did copy the original Bay12 gridhood rules, since I feel like using those. I have added the aspects mechanic other gridhood games use, though.
In this game you can choose to either play as a god or a civilization. The two things are mutually exclusive, meaning you can only be one thing at any given time. Civilization players need to work on areas to get resources and basically not die, while god players compete with eachother for mortal worship and make changes to the world.
Note that new rules will be added as the game progresses. If you want to do something that there are no rules for, that will probably trigger the creation of new rules that cover the aforementioned something.
Remember to check this post for the most current rules that are in effect. Don't be deceived by the seemingly basic beginning of the game.
Keep in mind that things do not officially exist until they appear on an update post. This means you cannot settle a civilization at an area until you actually see the area on the world map.
The game will update whenever the GM feels like it which will always be at least 24 hours after the last update*. If you fail to get your action in, the GM will not wait for you.
To start playing, you will need to pick a area on the map to start at. The area needs to be unoccupied and you cannot start on a blank area which means at least one god will need to exist before civilizations start popping up. You will need to decide on the following things: Civilization name, Civilization color, Civilization Trait, and Starting Area. Alternatively, if there is an inactive civilization player you can take over their civilization instead of making a new one from scratch. Your trait can be any word, which grants a bonus to actions involving the trait, similar to how gods gain FP when something involving their aspect is done.
Your new civilization will start with X amount of people in it. At the start of the game this number will be 5, but it may be higher if you join at a later time. You will also begin the game with 10 food. Your civilization will officially exist starting on the next turn.
Each turn, each person in a civilization can do one of the following things:
- Scavenge an area to find resources. At the beginning you will only be able to find the resource "Food" but this will probably change. You can only scavenge a area that is either on or adjacent to a area you control
- Pray to a God, generating 1 FP for that god.
- Attempt to research something. The more complicated a topic is, the longer it takes to figure it out. If you try to research something too complicated without the prerequisites, unpredictable things may happen instead of you getting the desired outcome.
- Attack another civilization. Note that defenders get an advantage in combat situations. The precise mechanics of combat are deliberately kept secret from players.
- Use a special action granted by a researched technology
If your civilization has tools, you must specify the amount of tools that are being used with an action if two or more actions are using the tools and there are not enough tools for everyone.
If a certain action requires "Labor" that means you need to have one of your people spend a turn working on that action.
Civilizations as a whole have a stat called "Logistics". If their logistics is not specified elsewhere then their logistics value is 5. Each turn you can reliably perform an amount of distinct actions equal to your logistics. For example, having 2 people forage at area A counts as one action, but having one person forage at A and another forage at B counts as two actions. You can perform more actions than your logistics allow, but random things can potentially go wrong if you go over the limit.
Civilizations now have a stat called "Housing". The home area for a civilization provides 10 housing on its own. If a civilization has more population than housing, unhappiness can be generated. Unhappiness can cause bad things to happen, and if it gets too bad a large amount of the population might leave to form a new civilization!
Civilizations now have a stat called "Loyalty". Bad things can happen if loyalty gets too low. If it ever reaches 0%, your civilization will be Done. As in, your civilization will no longer be a civilization. A smart new player who reads the rules and reads this paragraph will know that they can also start the game by liberating a area from a civilization with a low enough loyalty percentage to equal the housing capacity of the a civilization's area. Doing so will let them start with more than 5 people and every single tech owned by the civilization they started from! (Example, if area A has 5 capactiy and area B has 10 capacity, they can take area A if loyalty is 66% or lower, or area B if loyalty is 33% or lower)
Without technology, food can only be stolen by killing all members of a specific civilization that exist on a area.
If a tool requires resources to make, you must own all of the resources at the beginning of the construction process unless otherwise noted.
Take note of the "Common Knowledge" spoiler on each update post. The techs in that spoiler are available to all civilizations!
Every turn, your civilization will consume 1 food for each person in it. If there is not enough food people will starve and die.
At any time you may spend 3 food to create one new person for your civilization. Newly created units cannot work on the turn they are made.
Sometimes challenges will begin in a spoiler in the update posts. When a civilization completes the challenge, the challenge ends and all civilizations will immediately get a reward based on their progress and other factors.
Copyrighted research projects/structures are not allowed, because it's unoriginal, not because of legal concerns.
Should your civilization be wiped out, you can play as a god, but if your civilization died to a reason that isn't your own stupidity, you will be allowed to create a new civ from scratch.
To start playing, you merely need to announce that you exist as a god and provide a name for yourself, as well as an aspect, which can be any word which gives some FP if something related to the aspect happens. You will get 1 FP that you can immediately use.
All gods will gain 1 FP per turn, and additional FP for any mortals that pray to them. In the event that two gods attempt to affect a area in the same turn, the god that posted first takes precedence. Deliberately editing a post to affect a area after another player attempts to do something with the area is cheating, and should be reported to the GM if you notice it happening. If another god beats you to the area, your FP will not be lost.
You may collaborate with other gods to accomplish a single action. All gods involved in such an action need to reference the fact that it is a group action, including the names of each god they are working with.
FP may be used to do anything on the below list. Additional things will appear as the game progresses.
1 FP: Create a basic landscape area to replace any empty area. Things like Grasslands, Mountain, Ocean etc.
3 FP: Replace an existing landscape area with a new basic landscape area.
5 FP: Create an advanced landscape area with unique or special features. Can be used to replace a basic landscape area.
10 FP: Create an interactive landscape area. This area will do something when "Triggered". Any area that affects things outside the area must be at least this expensive.
30 FP: Create an Epic level area. There are limits on how what most areas can do, but an Epic area can break some of these limits. Don't forget to protect this investment, it would be a shame to throw away so much FP!
3 FP: Trigger the effect of an interactive area.
2 FP: Change the weather at an area. Does not destroy the landscape area.
8 FP: Change the weather at an area. Unlike the cheaper version, this effect can be meaningfully dangerous.
3 FP: Provide a civilization with 1 unit of a basic resource that they have access to.
X2 FP: An action may be a "Secret" action by sending a PM to the GM. Any secret actions will cost twice as much as a regular action. Secret actions cannot take priority over non-secret actions.
10 FP: Create a terrain change habit. Doing this lets you declare an area variant you want to modify and an area type to turn it into. Doing this permanently adjusts the cost of replacing the specified areas by 1. You need to remind the GM about this whenever you do it, or the discount is invalid.
50 FP: Become Greater God. This will remove the 50FP limit and allow you to gain even more FP! Note that doing this will remove your natural 1FP regeneration per turn, so make sure you are truly ready to be superior to other gods before you purchase this, lest you fade into obscurity.
X FP: An area may be protected to prevent other gods from messing it up. The amount of FP spent on protection must be a multiple of 2. If any god wants to change a protected area they must first break the protection. Breaking the protection of a area costs half of what it costs to set up the protection in the first place. If god A protects an area for 4 FP, god B can break the protection by spending 2 FP. You can modify then protect a area, or un-protect then modify a area in the same turn. You can dispel your own protections for free, but you cannot modify a area while it is still protected even if you protected it yourself.
10+ FP: Create an artifact that can be used by civilizations! Artifacts can have a wide variety of effects, which will be judged individually by the GM. Artifacts are treated as tools, and thus need someone to use them.
X FP: Destroy an artifact that you created. The cost to destroy it is a fifth of the cost to create it.
Copyrighted creations are not allowed, because it's unoriginal, not because of legal concerns.
Your action posts must include your god/civilization name in them.
For civilizations, you must declare which part of the map you want to forage (Even if there is only one area available). You must also reference a god by their proper name when praying.