You start in a area with a certain number of people. Or critters. Whatever you prefer. How a certain species looks like has no effect on the game.
You can start on one of the 4 availble areas. The forest, seaside, mountain, tundra.
Over time your species will gain sentiency point with which you can buy certain archetypes, or ideas.
You can buy:
General ideas (1 point)
Technology ideas (2 points)
War ideas (5 points)
Paranormal ideas (10 points)
I won't reveal them yet, because they are decided by the dice and you aren't supposed to know what you buy anyway. So this mechanic will be revealed on the go.
When the game starts you can do the following each turn:
- Designate an area, or item with the concepts of +, -, /, and * which mean beneficial, dangerous, uninportant and important. There are no restrictions on those, which means one item can be designated as both important and beneficial, but also as beneficial, dangerous, and unimportant at the same time.
- Put an idea into one's head. Whenever you wish (for example at the start of the turn, or whenever somebody finds anything interesting) you can put a tought into one's head. Those ideas are chosen by choosing a word. Any word. Really. I accept even babble of a 2 year old. But please use items, and actions only in the present time. Descriptions like "blue" are also good. Just remember - one word only
-Observe and watch. You can watch anyone's thought. And believe me it's important to know how somebody feels about something. You can also choose to observe a conversation held by two people. Or just wait for what they do.
TIPS: Now you might think, "how do I play this game if I don't control anyone?" Ever played majesty? Condition your people to aviod the bad and use the good. Also remember to be creative. You never know what happens when one of your critters finds a branch and what thoughts would make that certain critter create a trap or a spear out of that branch.
Example of a turn:
It can contain any number of actions, but bigger the turn, bigger the wait, so be reasonable
I designate branches north as important, beneficial.
I put "explore" into one of my critters.
When anyone comes close to those branches, I change their thought to "gather"
I designate the center of the map as beneficial, important, dangerous.
I also put "food" into anyone sitting iddly.
My output (I'll be doing ASCII draw)
One of the critters becomes curious about the world!
It goes off from others!
It stumbles on those branches, and deems them a great thing to show to others.
It gathers those branches and hauls them back to others.
The important, beneficial and dangerous area makes your critters nervous.
Two of them go into the middle of it, nervously. They think "guard"
Others are getting hungry. They do nothing else.
How the starting forest will look like: