An entry for the January 2009 TRO
Challenge
By Pallando
0.
Contents
P2 0 Contents
1 Basics
2 Equipment
P3 3 Structure
4 Aim
of the Game
P4 5 Setup
6 Creation
P5 7 Struggle
for Survival
P7 8 The
Last Battle
P8 9 All
good things come to an end
1.
Basics
Players: 3
– 6
Ages: 16+
Duration: About
1 hour, but players can choose to make it shorter or longer.
Genre: Roleplaying (Strategic
Storytelling)
Titanomachy
is like a cross between Credo and Baron Münchhausen. Do you have what it takes to survive and grow
as a God, or will you be written out of the story of creation?
2. Equipment
o
18
land cards
o
150
resource counters (can make do with far fewer)
o
36
divine attributes
o
6
initial deities, 1 throne
o
6
dice (6 sided)
o
paper
and pencils
o
rule
booklet & handouts
3. Structure
In
Titanomachy you are a God or Goddess in an unspecified part of the ancient
world. Some of your believers have
recently entered a land controlled by an established but tired pantheon of
existing Gods. Their story of creation
does not mention you, and so must obviously be wrong or incomplete. This should be changed!
Your will in
the heavens is mirrored by the actions and success of your believers in the
world below. If you are destined to defeat another deity, then your version of
the tale of the battle will win out in the minds and hearts of the people of
the land, and that deity will in truth be so defeated. As the Gods contest, the story of creation
will be altered and added to. Some will
rise and others fall, as the new and old pantheons struggle for dominance,
leading to an inevitable final battle - the clash of the titans.
The land
consists of 6 areas: Cities, Plains, Forest, Mountains, Coast and Boarders.
Each area
contains 3 population sub-groups; the upper, middle and lower classes, giving
18 distinct communities. Each community
starts off with pre-determined levels of faith, force and finances available to
them, but these resources can be increased, and they can be used to spread your
worship and influence. The upper class
has the best finances. The lower class
is most numerous and so can field the largest forces. Faith varies on a scale:
0.
militant
atheist
1.
agnostic
2.
does
believe, but doesn’t do much more than enjoy feast days
3.
committed
laity
4.
average
monk or kibbutz member
5.
warrior
of god, would lay down their life
6.
saint
or hero
Resources cannot
go above 6.
4. Aim
of the Game
The aim of
the game is to have fun. However, as
some people find achieving objectives fun, you are encouraged to set some, and
write them down in order to give yourself bragging rights at the end of the
game. The harder and more specific an
objective, the greater the opposition and the more stylishly it was achieved, the
greater the rights. How you do this is
up to you, but one enjoyable way is to, as a group, write several objectives (including
a few contradictory ones, or ones only a single player can achieve at a time),
number them, agree ‘bragging points’ for each (more to the harder ones), then
allocate two or three of them to each player (this can be done randomly and in
secret, or openly as dares – objectives revealed from the start score
double). Drawing numbers from a hat,
rolling dice or dealing tarot cards may be a useful. It is in the style of the game to do things
with atmosphere and ceremony. There are
some suggestions for objectives at the end, but making up some of your own ones
to add in is highly recommended. You can
use this mechanism to vary the style of play between cooperative and
competitive, depending on the mood of the players.
5. Setup
a) Allocate
one starting community, at random, to each player
b) Lay out
the 6 initial gods, each with their 6 initial attributes, and deal out the
remaining communities between them, starting with the chief god, Zeos (marked
by the throne).
c) Put the
initial resource markers on each community card. Alternatively, to save on time and markers,
lay the community cards out at an angle, and only straighten it and fill a
card’s resource slots when it varies from the initial allocation. Different coloured markers can be used for
different resource types, but this is not essential, just pretty.
d) If you
have not already done so, read the rules and initial creation myth, then
allocate objectives.
You are now
ready to start roleplaying. Time in....
6. Creation
You are now
ready to create your deity. From now on,
everything you do should be done in the manner of your chosen deity, and other
players should be addressed by their deity’s name, with titles as appropriate. If your deity is a secretive witty sort, they
might use kennings. So “warrior” becomes
“feeder of ravens” becomes “feeder of Odin’s bird” becomes “feeder of the bird
of the rider of Sleipnir” becomes “feeder of the bird of the rider of the 8
legged horse”, etc. Is your deity eloquent? Boastful?
Plain spoken but constructive?
A deity needs
a name and a symbol. A symbol is usually
an animal that shares their nature or an item they wear or possess, and usually
one that features in their story. Above
all, a deity needs a story. Who created
them, how and why? What justifies their
prime attribute?
Split the
resources from player communities roughly evenly and have each player hold
their share in their hand. Go around and
introduce your deities. The order is not
important, so you can start with whoever is ready (if you disagree, roll two
dice). You may interrupt the story of
another deity, in the manner of Baron Münchhausen, if you want to clarify or
improve anything, or just particularly feel like it. Once a deity has made their modifications to
the initial creation myth to introduce themselves as someone’s sister, spilt
semen or severed organ, later players may not entirely write them out. This stage must end with all the players
introduced into the mythos as minor deities of the old pantheon.
Once the
introductions have been made (or as they go along), the players use the
resources in their hands to reward the other players for their story, giving
faith, force or finances as seems appropriate.
Each player then gets to choose a single divine attribute (the winning
of which was justified by the story) and take it from one of the original
pantheon. If two deities want the same
attribute, the player who was granted the most resources wins.
Write down
your deity’s initial name (it may change) on a piece of paper in front of you,
angled so the other players can see it, and place the attribute on it.
7. Struggle
for Survival
Play proceeds
clockwise. The player whose turn it is
gets one normal action for each community loyal to them, before passing control
onto the next player. Free actions may
be taken at any time, once per round, including during another player’s turn in
response to that player declaring an action and before dice are rolled.
Free Action: Banking
Transfer any
amount of finance between two communities you control.
Free Action: Mercenaries
A community
may hire mercenaries to fight for it, at a price of 2 finance per
mercenary. They only stay for one round
(but don’t need to be returned if they died in battle during the round).
Action: Travel
A community
may send preachers and builders of temples to another community you control, in
the same or an adjoining area, in order to attempt to improve their faith. This costs the initiating community 1
finance. Both sides then roll one die
per faith point. If the initiator gets a
higher total than the target, the target community gains 1 faith point.
Action: Trade
A community
may trade with a community of the same class in an adjoining area, loyal to a
different deity, unless they refuse. If
the trade happens, each community gets 1 finance. An NPC will refuse only if you are a declared
enemy (ie you have attacked them using force).
Action: Teach
A community
may attempt to teach about your worship to a community of the same class in an
adjoining area, loyal to a different deity.
Both sides roll one die per faith point.
If tie : no effect
If lose : you lose 1 faith point
If win : target looses 1 faith point
If win by 5 or more: you
may also gain an attribute
If
win by 10 or more: you also
gain control of the target !
To gain an
attribute from the target’s controlling deity, you must tell the story of the
teaching – a new deed or event, an interaction between the gods, that explains
the transfer. This does not need to be
long (30 seconds to a minute is fine), but should be entertaining (or good
story material) and fit the existing myth.
You need at least one “Hear hear”, “Amen”, “Preach it, bro” or similar
from another player to confirm successful transfer.
Action: Train
A community
may spend 1 finance in order to gain 1 force.
Action: Tariff
Roll your
forces against the finances of a community in the same area. If you win, decrease the target’s finances by
1. Otherwise reduce your forces by 1.
Action: Trouble
Roll your faith
against the force of a community in the same area. If you win, decrease the target’s force by 1.
Otherwise reduce your faith by 1.
Action: Tempt
Roll your
finances against the faith of a community in the same area. If you win, decrease the target’s faith by 1.
Otherwise reduce your finances by 1.
Action: Civil War
It might be a
revolt by the lower classes. It might be
a military coup. It might be a purge and
overthrow of democracy. Either way,
temples are going to get burnt. Declare
the civil war from one community targeting a second. The other communities then declares whether
to aid, oppose or stay neutral. An NPC
community will never aid you, but will oppose only if you attack another NPC,
unless that NPC is a declared traditional enemy of theirs. (Zeos and Kylos won’t aid each other. Manep and Gaia don’t see eye to eye. And Selune and Rapol have waged entire wars
against each other.)
Once the
battle lines are drawn up, work out which side has the higher total
resources. If the declarer has, they
win. Otherwise they lose and the target
wins. But there are losses. The loser’s community is transferred to the
winner, and the winner gains 1 faith point.
But all the loser’s resources are discarded, and the winner must discard
the same number of resources as the loser had.
If there is an ally on the losing side, they lose all resources but not
their community. If there is an ally on
the winning side, they share in the losses equally (until declarer or ally runs
out, at which point all further losses come from the other one); but the ally
also gains 1 faith point.
If you gain a
community, you may also gain an attribute from the loser’s controller. (See
Action: Teach for how this is done.)
The Struggle for Survival stage ends
when any of the following conditions are met:
A)
One
of the 6 older deities loses their last community
B)
One
of the 6 older deities loses their last attribute
C)
One
of the newer deities challenges another deity to a duel
A duel is
resolved by the challenged choosing a resource type, and both sides rolling one
die per resource they have of that type on any community they control. Winner takes all.
Either way,
there is a spent deity (The Defeated), and the one responsible (The Victor).
8. The
Last Battle
The first
thing that happens is the narration of what happens to The Defeated by The
Victor. Are they demonised? (Their story recast so it appears they were
never really a god, just a minor figure such as a hero, nature spirit or
demon). Are they imprisoned and being
punished for an eternity somewhere (and if so, how and for what?). Or were they slain? And if so, by what great trick or feat of
arms, and what happened to their remains?
The Victor gains the prime attribute and identity of The Defeated (eg
Sun or Sea), a title of their choice (eg “the Archer”), and the option of
changing their name, taking the name of The Defeated or fusing the two. Any remaining attributes they can also take
or they can be magnanimous and leave The Defeated with a minor attribute and
leave to flee to other lands.
Secondly the
chief god (the god from the old pantheon with the most resources will become
the new chief if the old chief has just been defeated), will arouse the gods to
fight off this incursion of new gods. He
will demand that all ally with him and submit to his authority. At this point players take a faith token from
their largest community, hold it behind their back then reveal their hand on the
count of three. If their hand contains
the token, they give it to the chief god in tribute, and will be on his or her
side during the upcoming battle. If
their hand is empty, they are declaring their open defiance. If at least one player declares their
defiance, then the battle is on.
Thirdly the old pantheon and allies will offer
the new pantheon a choice of terms:
A)
Honourable
Duelling
B)
Hearts
& Minds
C)
Total
War
The new
pantheon must choose one, and the choice is writ upon the world stone and shalt
be binding lest the world crack asunder and all return to the void.
Honourable Duelling
The old
pantheon and new pantheon take it in turns to pick a champion who challenges a
member from the other pantheon to a duel.
The deities thus defeated are considered to be on the sidelines. This keeps going until one pantheon has no
active deities left. The victorious
pantheon can then write history how they like, including unlikely rescues from
the stomachs and such like, to retrieve their fallen comrades.
Hearts & Minds
As per the
Struggle for Survival, but the only permissible actions are Trade, Travel and
Teaching. Old deities now also get goes,
and will Teach where the odds are on their side. Defeated deities will remain on the sidelines
until either victory or stalemate is reached, or the deity with the attribute
“Peace” or “Story” brokers a merging of the two pantheons.
Total War
Each area
votes which side to be on, communities voting by rolling their military and
adding their total for or against. The
areas then line up on two sides, and the total military of each side fights it
out in one bloody battle. The priests of the losing side are all slaughtered.
9. All
good things come to an end
If the new
pantheon won, the throne indicating the chief deity of the pantheon should get
passed to the one with the most attributes or, if that is tied, to the one with
the most communities or, if that is also tied, to the one with the most
resources or, if that is tied, to the one with the highest total faith or, if
that is tied, to the one with the longest beard. J
Seriously,
don’t be mechanistic about this. It
should be obvious by acclaim (and if it isn’t, how long will your new pantheon
last?), but failing that, use the Golden Rule:
Any time a rule is unclear or broken, Just Role Play It !
Ideally for
this part mead should be passed around in a horn. (*NOT* provided with game).
Each player
in turn does A Toast, A Boast and An Oath.
A Toast – praise for the fallen, or for the
actions of another player
A Boast – reveal objectives and, in
character, praise your deity
An Oath – make a promise. This can be anything you intend to keep,
including that you will help to pack the game away or that one day you will
play it again and do greater things still !
Addenda
I hope you have
enjoyed reading this and, even more, that you will enjoy playing it.
Please add
feedback about it to:
http://www.toothycat.net/wiki/wiki.pl?Pallando/Titanomachy
I have made liberal use of other people’s research and
artwork, so please do not charge people money for this, or claim it as your own
work. Thank you.