Rules outline and phasing introduction. (Plus more)

The place to discuss all things Desperate Gods.
Post Reply
Jereth
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Mar 16, 2013 1:07 pm

Rules outline and phasing introduction. (Plus more)

Post by Jereth » Sat Mar 16, 2013 4:00 pm

After a bunch of play throughs and testing the mechanics of this great game we devised an order of operations for every aspect of the game, not unlike the phase concept in CCG’s such as Magic: The Gathering, Table Top games such as Warhammer, or pen and paper game like D&D. We did this to remove some of the chaos inherent to games of this nature. The concept is great but human interaction always leads to undesired effects.

There is an MS word file and regular text file attached to this post. It's easier to read all of this in those formats. So if it's a strain to read it here, please download one of the files.

All aspects of the game have been divided into phases (Beginning, Roll/Move, Location, Combat, Location 2, and end phase). They allow flexibility for all players, but create an order in which things take place as to prevent arguments of who did what and when. It should be noted that I have absolute death occurring at the end of phases rather than instantly, this is so triggered and passive life gaining effects have time to activate before death is final.

There are a couple things that needed to be ad-libbed as there were no rules for them such as location cards remaining active until the players next turn (ie. Town is town for an entire round). This also causes location cards to persist through missed turns. Please let me know if any of these should be corrected and the information will be added to the alternative rules section.

If you feel any of this detracts from the game play, please leave a comment on which part, why, and how it can be improved or changed. I spent a good 5 hours getting this ordered and readable, so any comments on how to make it simpler or any confusion you may have would be appreciated.

Keep in mind this is simply our take on playing this game. So give the game a few tries with this phasing outline and drop your feedback below.

-=Set Up-=

Code: Select all

I. Place three (3) cards from the town deck face up on the sale spaces above.
  A. These cards can be purchased when you are on the Town square.
  B. The Town shop may be refreshed anytime a player can buy equipment.
    1. One (1) silver may be paid to place current items to the bottom of the Town library.
    2. Three (3) new cards are placed in the sales squares.
    3. Priority of shop goes to active player, then in turn order.
      a. No player may refresh the shop until all players eligible have forfeit their option to buy current items.
II. Each player chooses a color and places their colored figures on Town square.
  A. Use the corresponding colored mat to hold your gold, equipment, and monster cards.
III. All players roll a die to see who goes first. 
  A. Ties are broken with additional die roles. 
-=Phases=-

Code: Select all

I. Beginning Phase.
  A. Reset location cards.
  B. Refill any Hit Points lost during opponent’s turns if in a Town.
  C. All players initiate buy, sell/repopulate town items/trade/store Gold in turn order.
  D. All players activate abilities in turn order. If an ability causes you to move, use proper phases.
  E. Any player with 0 life is moved to the Town square and silver is sent to limbo.

Code: Select all

II. Roll/Move Phase
  A. Active player rolls Two (2) dice.
  B. One die is picked and the player moves in a clockwise position unless rules have changed direction.
    1. A player passing the Town square may instead stop on the Town square.
    2. After passing into another level via a bridge, you must complete one full cycle to exit back up to the previous level.
      a. This does not apply if a rule moves you in the opposite direction.
  C. No card abilities may be used during move phase.
  D. During movement if a player passes other players, any player may interrupt the movement to start trade or combat.  
  E. Once trade or combat is complete movement continues provided the active player has Hit Points remaining.

Code: Select all

III. Location Phase
  A. All players activate abilities in turn order.
  B. Player follows the instructions on the square they have landed on.
    1. If the square calls for the player to draw cards, those cards are flipped face up.
      a. Cards are drawn from the same level as the square the active player is on.
        i. Vines for Wilderness.
        ii. Green for Level 1.
        iii. Purple for Level 2.
        iv. Orange of Level 3.
      b. If no cards for the current area are available pick in the following order:
        i. Pick from one level up.
        ii. Pick from one level down.
        iii. Pick from two levels up.
        iv. Pick from two levels down.
        v. Only pile left.
      c. Card Choice Order
        i. Draw all cards
        ii. Choice is made.
        iii. Unused cards are placed on the bottom of the library.
        iv. Card text activates. C. Enter Combat if required.
  D. If square requires a player to move to another square, movement happens instantly. 
    1. This movement may or may not trigger trades or player combat. This is up to the current players.
    2. Repeat steps A-D if active player has moved during this phase.
  E. All players activate abilities in turn order.
  F. Any player with 0 life is moved to the Town square and silver is sent to limbo.

Code: Select all

IV. Combat Phase
  A. All players activate abilities in turn order.
    1. Any movement abilities are resolved after combat.
  B. Player rolls die (or dice) against monster card.
  C. Passive abilities on cards activate.
  D. All players activate abilities in turn order. This may be used to modify or change combat dice rolls.
  E. Numbers are totaled and combat is decided.
    1. If the player wins all "On Win" abilities trigger in the order of the active player's choice.
    2. If the player loses all "On Lose" abilities trigger in the order of the active player's choice.
    3. Repeat 1 and 2 if necessary.
    4. Silver is given to player if player wins.
    5. Life if lost if player loses.
      a. In PvP tie rolls cause both players to lose life.
    6. If card battle, monster card enters the zone it is instructed to go to. Typically player's victory pile.
      a. If a monster card has come from another player’s victory pile, the card is still treated as a new encounter and will go to which ever zone it would normally.
  F. All players activate abilities in turn order.
  G. Any player with 0 life is moved to the Town square and silver is sent to limbo.
    1. For PVP return to step A if all combatants are still alive.

Code: Select all

V. Location Phase 2
  A. Activated if Active player changes location.
  B. Follow rules on Location Phase.

Code: Select all

VI. End Phase
  A. All players initiate buy/sell/repopulate town items/trade/ store gold in turn order.
  B. All players activate abilities in turn order. If an ability causes you to move, use proper phases.
  C. If any cards are for some reason still in play, place them to the bottoms of their respective libraries.
  D. Any players with 0 life is moved to the Town square and silver is sent to limbo.
  E. Refill any Hit Points lost during opponent’s turns if in a Town.
-=End Game and Victory Conditions=-

Code: Select all

I. The game ends when all monster cards have been exhausted.
II. All players add up the victory points defined by the skull on the monster cards in their victory pile.
III. The player with the highest total is the winner
IV. Tie breaker Variant (non-official): Players sell off current equipment as per sales rules. The player with the highest amount of silver breaks the tie.
-=NOTES:=-

Code: Select all

A.  All reference to coins are considered silver. Gold coins are worth 5 silver.
B. Players may only have a total of three (3) pieces of equipment.
  1. Equipment may be sold at towns for half their value rounded down but no less than one (1) silver.
C. Skipping a turn skips every phase.
D. If a player leaves the game all cards that player owned return to the bottoms of their respective libraries. Players may decide if gold goes to limbo or back to the Town stash.
E. Location cards act as the location until the beginning of the player’s next Beginning Phase.
  1. It is up to the player’s if all players can use these cards while in play.
F. When a card requires an opponent to make a choice, the player’s must decide if it is a community effort or the Active Player picks the opponent.
G. If you fail your roll in the “Swamp Tile” you must draw a monster card.
H. There are currently only 3 spell cards
  1. Scroll of Town
  2. Scroll of teleport
  3. Scroll of Smiting

-=Team Variant=-
With 4 players total (6 or more with future mods) there is no reason not to play this with teams. So I've gone a head and made some variants to the rules to make this smooth. This has very little play testing. Let me know how it works for you if you use it.

Code: Select all

I. Beginning Phase Additions
  A. Players on the same team may draw off of each other’s stored gold while in Town.
  B. Player’s on the same team may activate abilities during the other player’s turn, priority still going to the Active Player.
  C. Teammates may use each other’s equipment.

Code: Select all

II. Roll/Move Phase Additions
  A. During movement if a player passes a teammate with a mount, they may trade up the mount.
    1. If a player receives a mount mid move, they may instantly add their second die roll to their movement.
  B. A player may stop on a teammate rather than continue their movement.
    1. On their next turn, they finish their movement rather than roll dice.
  C. While the Active Player is moving past a teammate, they may pick up the team mates and move them with them.
    1. The teammate skips their next Roll/Move Phase and instead follows the rules text on the current square.

Code: Select all

III. Location Phase Additions
  A. Player’s on the same team may activate abilities during the other player’s turn, priority still going to the Active Player.
  B. Teammates may use each other’s equipment.

Code: Select all

IV. Combat Phase Additions
  A. If a team is on the same square for a monster battle both may participate in combat.
    1. Active player rolls for combat.
    2. Teammate rolls for combat.
    3. If the Active player loses but the teammate wins, the Active Player loses 1 hit point.
      a. “On Win” Card text triggers.
      b. “On Win” equipment only triggers for the teammate, not the active player.
    4. If both players lose, combat resolves as normal for both players.
    5. A victory resolves as if the Active Player had won regardless of who killed the monster.
  B. If a team is on the same squares for PvP combat, the opposing player(s) must beat both.
    1. Active player and opponent roll for combat with normal Hit Point loss.
    2. If Active Player loses, the Active Player’s teammate and the opponent then roll for combat.
    3. If one team member dies, the other team member inherits their silver.
    4. If both team members die, all silver is transferred to the opponent.

Code: Select all

VI. End Phase Additions
  A. Players on the same team may draw off of each other’s stored gold while in Town.
  B. Player’s on the same team may activate abilities during the other player’s turn, priority still going to the Active Player.
  C. Teammates may use each other’s equipment.

Code: Select all

VII. Game and Victory Condition Additions
  A. Teams add their victory totals together.

-=Alternative Rules=-
These are extra rules we have been tinkering with. They have a dramatic impact on game play and can be used to make the game more enjoyable, faster, or slower. Some work well together (such as Mounts and On board Limbo) some do not (like Camping and More life, More hurt). Mix and match and tell me what you think.

Code: Select all

I. Mounts
  A. For 10 gold a player may buy a mount at the town. The mount allows a player the choice to use both dice to move.

II. Forced Death
  A. If a player pays life to activate an ability that kills them, the player is instantly returned to town and silver is sent to limbo mid-phase. 

III. On board Limbo
  A. When a player dies for any reason their silver is dropped on the square they've died on.
  B. Any player landing on this square may pick up the gold.
    1. In PvP the winning player may pick up the gold after the combat phase.
  C. Silver is still considered in Limbo when floating on a square.

IV. Stacked Equipment
  A. If you have maxed inventory, you may put the next piece on top of a piece you already have.
  B. Only the top cards of every stack may be activated.
  C. Abilities that target equipment only target the top on the stack. Cards below are not considered in play until the current ability resolves.
  D. You may only sell the top cards.

V. Loot
  A. Killing another player allows you to take one piece of equipment or one monster card from their victory pile.

VI. Wide open spaces
  A.  You do not go to different encounter decks when an area has no cards left.
  B. Cleared areas grant the moving player an additional die to add to their movement.
    1. Players still 2 dice as part of the movement phase.
    2. An extra die is then rolled.
    3. Player picks one of the original dice and chooses to add the additional die roll.
    4. When used with the “Mounts” alternative, this grants the player moving a choice between 1, 2, or 3, dice.

VII. Always a fair fight.
   A.  You do not go to different encounter decks when an area has no cards left.
   B. Areas with no cards require you to fight generic monsters.
     1. Wilderness: 2 die monster with 1 silver reward.
     2. Level 1: 3 die monster with 2 silver reward.
     3. Level 2: 4 die monster with 3 silver reward.
     4. Level 3: 5 die monster with 4 silver reward.

VIII. Camping
  A. A player may chose to skip turns to replenish Hit Points.
    1. They skip one turn to build a camp.
    2. They then skip on additional turn to replenish 1 Hit Point.
  B. This can also be an alternative to getting set back to the Town square upon death.

IX. More life, More hurt
  A. Players now have 6 life.
    1. To keep track of this simply move the life token to the right of the circle to denote on Hit Point lost.
  B. If defeated by a monster or player the difference in the dice toss is your life lost.
    1. Example 1: Monster has 4 for combat die and player rolls a 2. The player loses 2 life. (4-2=2)
    2. Example 2: Dick and Jane fight. Dick rolls a 3 and Jane rolls a 4 with +1 from equipment. Bob loses 2 life. (5-3=2)
   C. Silver rewards increase by half the difference rounded down.
Attachments
Jereth's Desperate Gods Rules Outline.doc
Jereth's Desperate Gods Rules Outline MS Word
(46.5 KiB) Downloaded 790 times
Jereth's Desperate Gods Rules Outline.txt
Jereth's Desperate Gods Rules Outline Text File
(13.84 KiB) Downloaded 801 times

Grittenald
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 3:44 pm

Re: Rules outline and phasing introduction. (Plus more)

Post by Grittenald » Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:19 am

I noticed that no one has responded to this yet. I actually really like this ruleset! I will be trying it out on a game now and I will give you an updated opinion.

lorde
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2022 4:21 am

Re: Rules outline and phasing introduction. (Plus more)

Post by lorde » Fri Jul 21, 2023 1:54 am

I think following the rules you outline is also quite good and can bring many benefits. The Password Game

Post Reply