Hammer Head
2015-04-14, 03:39 PM
DIVINITY
Divinity is a game where you play a deity who collaborates with others of your kind in the shaping of a world. You raise mountains and create life, spur your followers into war, or guide them to utopia. In other game systems, vast wars and political dramas are the entire campaign, but in Divinity, these are basic units and the campaign is the destiny of an entire world. Want to control the winds of fate and the paths of mortals innumerable? Then let's play Divinity.
HOW THE GAME IS PLAYED
To begin playing Divinity, you need to first gather a group of three or more players together. Technically, you could play with as few as two gods, but we recommend going for more. Next you need materials, pen, paper, with one large sheet to represent the world, and dice. An assortment of four, six, eight, and twelve-sided dice are usually necessary. Once you have all these things and everyone is familiar with the rules of the game, you may begin the first round...
The Round: Starting with one player and moving clockwise around the table, players take turns rolling for power points and then spending those points on various powers. Once each player has gone, the round ends and the next one begins. Depending on what the player's decide, each round can represent anywhere from a single month to uncountable years, but, by default, a round in the Early Age is a millennium and a round in the Later Age is a year.
The World: The Early Age is dedicated to the development and shaping of the world, which is usually represented by a sheet of paper in the middle of the table. The paper starts out blank, meaning the world is covered in wasteland or some other unserviceable terrain. During the Early Age, each player gets three square inches to fill in on each of their turns. The Early Age lasts until there are no blank spots left on the map, so, the size of the map directly effects the time allowed for the Early Age. For an average Early Age in a five person game, we recommend a 10"x15" map. Alternately, if the map is for a planet, you can have a map projection outlined on the paper, and the Early Age ends when the map outline is full.
The Mortals: Once the world is made and the game moves on to the Later Age, players can begin creating their mortal races and directing their trials in the world. Each race requires life for it to be based on, which means that most players will have used the Create Life power in the Early Age. Keep this in mind. Most of the game is focused on the mortal races, after all.
The Narrative: But what is all this building up to? Well, that would be the narrative. Actions taken throughout the ages earn Miracle Points for the gods, which may then be spent on Miracles, Events, and Catastrophes, which can result in anything from the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, to the One Ring and it's round trip out of and back to Mount Doom. Catastrophes can even bring about apocalypses, which a game can survive multiples of. Whatever you want out of the narrative, you can achieve it, but be aware of the other gods all around, who seek to develop their own narratives and dramas in contrast to your own.
GODS
Though, before you even roll your first power roll, you must decide what kind of god you will be. Will you be a glorious god of the sunrise and a hard day's work? Or maybe the confident and aloof god of the dead? Heck, maybe you just wanna play Cthulhu. But pick your god type wisely, as it will largely affect how the game plays for you.
Sovereign: Examples of the Sovereign God would include Ptah, Odin, and Gaea. Usually considered the leaders of the divine pantheons or the creators of the world, a Sovereign is considered authoritative and vital, with almost guaranteed power. A Sovereign God's power roll is 2d12. The player then selects one of the dice and gains power points equal to the number on it.
Hero: Thor, Sobek, and Hephaestus are all fine examples of a Hero God. Usually described as warriors, the Hero also extends to many physical deities. Craftsmen, hunters, or messengers are all considered Hero Gods. Defined by their direct and honest approach to the world, the Hero rolls 2d8 for it's power roll, adding the results together to get their power points for the round.
Mystery: If you seek a Mystery god, look to Loki, Charon, or Thoth. Secretive, clever, or perhaps just underestimated, a Mystery God might not always act in the grandest way, but they can rearrange the balance of power with their devious nature. A Mystery God rolls 2d6 with explosions on 6 for it's power roll. So, the player rolls two six-sided dice, rolling an extra dice for each 6 rolled, and then again for every additional 6, until no 6 is rolled. The player then adds all the dice rolled together for their power points.
AGES
The game is divided into two Ages: the Early Age, where the world is formed, prophecies are spoken, and life begins, and the Later Age, where races rise up, wars are fought, and grand cities flourish. The Ages determine which powers the gods can manifest, each one containing five powers that are available to all gods while the game is in that Age.
Early Age: The Early Age is the beginning of a world, where the gods shape the land, etching out oceans and mountains, setting down leylines, summoning up weather patterns, even speaking prophecies and creating the first forms of life. The setting of a stage, the Early Age is vital, as everything that happens in the Later Age is based upon what happens during the Early Age. The five powers available during the Early Age are Shape Land, Shape Conditions, Set Leyline, Speak Prophecy, and Create Life. This is how they work:
Shape Land: Shape Land is a unique power, in that it costs no power points to manifest, but instead it can only be manifested three times during a player's turn. When manifested, the player selects a blank, 1 square inch area of the map and adds terrain to that area. Any terrain can be made, desert, mountain, ocean, caves, and even exotic land types, such as "giant amethyst crystals". General weather patterns are also under the control of this power. Nothing that lives, such as forests or coral reef, can be added, unless they've already been made by Create Life. Cost: 0pp
Shape Conditions: Shape Conditions functions much in the same way as Shape Land, except with additional benefits. First off, this power can be used an unlimited number of times each round. Second, Shape Conditions does not need to be placed on a blank part of the map, and can overwrite previous square inches of land. Third, this power places the affected inch of land under special conditions which, barring special intervention, prevents it from being occupied by any race or life not directly created by the god who manifested Shape Conditions. These conditions can be anything from acid rain, to mountains that float, to angels who hunt down anyone who enters the land. Cost: 6pp
Set Leyline: Many stories refer to things like "the Heart of the Land", "the Fountain of Youth", or "the Swamp of Despair". Focal locations of a story, often possessing inherent magical power. These are leylines, and they can change the game. This power costs a variable number of pp, starting at 9. When manifesting the Set Leyline power, the player selects a 1 square inch area of the map where no leyline exists yet, and a leyline is added to that location. Later, when a race settles that inch of land, that race's controller earns Miracle Points from the leyline. After every X rounds that the race holds the leyline without losing control of it, the controlling god earns 1 Miracle Point. X is 9 rounds, if 9 power points were spent to manifest this power. For every additional point spent, X decreases by 1, to a minimum of 2. So, for example, at 12pp, X is 6 rounds. Cost: 9pp-16pp
Speak Prophecy: There are a lot of epic stories which hinge around prophecy. So, naturally, as a deity, you can set down your own prophecy to be fulfilled in the distant future. The only thing is, a prophecy can be difficult to control. When manifesting this power, the player selects a second player, who then describes some circumstance or event in the rules of the game, such as "When one race holds all leylines, the prophecy is fulfilled" or "when a demigod is killed by another demigod controlled by the same god, the prophecy is fulfilled" or even "when a mortal becomes immortal and the rest of his race is destroyed in the same round, the prophecy is fulfilled". After the prophecy is described, any player besides the one who described it, may fulfill it (by taking action that directly results in the event taking place). When a prophecy is fulfilled, the god who fulfilled it immediately makes a power roll, but instead of earning pp, the player gains that many Miracle Points (plus a refund of however many Miracle Points were absolutely required to fulfill the prophecy). Prophecies are huge swings in power, so, for each god, there may only be one unfulfilled prophecy spoken by that god at a time. Cost: 10pp
Create Life: Create Life is the means of beginning life on the world, and can create anything from bugs and elephants, to algae and flowers, to even golems and spirits. This power has three possible options. With option 1, it allows the creation of one kind of life, such as whales, spruce trees, or northern wind kami, and prevents anyone else from utilizing that life, meaning that it spreads only into the lands you decide, and only you may create a race based off it. With option 2, it allows a wider subset of life, such as oceanic mammals, pine trees, or air kami, which are then openly available to all gods to spread into their lands or to base a race off of. With option 3, it allows a very wide set of life, such as mammals, trees, or kami, and grants each god their own subset of life in that set which they may treat as though they created it with the option 1 version of this power. Cost: 2pp
Later Age: The Later Age is the life of a world, where gods make their moves and weave together vast stories, bringing their children into the world, sparking wars and political dramas, and even bringing about demigods and their own avatars upon the world. Where the Early Age was the setting if the stage, the Later Age is the play itself, and contains the meat of the game, as everything centers around it. The five powers available during the Later Age are Create Race, Command Race, Advance Race, Create Demigod, and Create Avatar. This is how they work:
Create Race: Arguably the most important power in the game, Create Race allows the player to take a form of life they have access to, and raise it up into a race. Any race can be made this way. Ents, humans, and mermaids are all possible, as are whatever races you might make up yourself, such as a race of swirling swarms of flies. A god can create any number of races during a game, but the more they have, the more expensive it can be. A player's first race costs 9pp, and after that, each additional race costs 3 more points, cumulatively. So, the fifth race a god creates would cost 9pp + (3 x 4)pp = 21pp. On top of this, each race requires an upkeep of 1pp each turn, and, if that cost can't be paid, it rolls over to the next round. Races can also be created through Petitioners being brought down by Avatars. Cost: 9pp or more
Subraces: There is also a second way to use Create Race, and that is to create a subrace, which is essentially using another race instead of life as the origin point. This has it's benefits, as the subrace and parent race are closely tied together, with their lands usually being very close to one another, and their cultures being entwined enough that they can steal land and technology from each other much easier than between unrelated races. The rules for subraces are otherwise the same as the rules for races.
Command Race: One of the main events, Command Race allows a god to issue commands to any race they have created. The power breaks down into four subpowers: settle land, raise army, raise caravan, and form hub. Each one is based around interaction with other races, and most can result, one way or another, in earning Miracle Points. Cost: 4pp
Settle Land: Using Command Race this way directs the people of the race to inhabit a 1 square inch area of land. Perhaps they have nomadic tribes that stay in that general area, or maybe they set up several small villages and kingdoms throughout the land. Once the land is settled, it can produce caravans, armies, and hubs. This subpower does come with two caveats, though. First, any square inch that is settled must be connected to any land previously settled by that race. Second, if two or more inches of land become disconnected from one another, then the god who owns that land's race takes a 7 point hit on their next power roll after the disconnect happens. On the other side, for every fifth inch of land a race settles, the commanding god earns a Miracle Point.
Raise Army: With this subpower, an army is raised from a square inch of settled land. The army can take any form, from a thousand ratfolk soldiers with war engines, to a team of a hundred elite wizards. Each settled inch of land can support one army, and, if that army is destroyed, that inch of land cannot produce another army for two rounds hence. The army begins at the inch that it was raised from and can be directed, once per round, to defend, move, or attack. If it defends, it remains stationary, defending the square inch it occupies, until something impacts it. If it moves, it moves a single inch each round, plus an additional inch for each troop movement technology of the race. If directed to attack, it can attack either an adjacent army, or an adjacent inch of foreign settled land. To do the latter, it must first combat any army that defends that land. To determine the results of a combat between two armies, the attacking army rolls 2d6 and adds 1 for each attacking technology of the race, while the defending army rolls 2d6 and adds 1 for each defending technology of the race, plus an additional 2 if the army was defending an inch of land. The army which rolls higher is victorious. If the army attacks an undefended inch of land, then that land is taken, and can either be razed, or, if the attackers have adjacent settled land, converted. Every time land is taken, the attacking army generates a Miracle Point for it's god. Armies can generally swap between boats and land, but, if your group wants, you can make distinctions between land troops and fleets, where one is restricted to the land, and the other to the ocean. If you have further mediums of travel, you can further chop up the army designations as well.
Raise Caravan: With this subpower, a caravan is raised up from a square inch of settled land. A player can have as many caravans active as they want, but they work with units of "art", which they gather up from their native lands. A caravan can carry as much art as the controlling player wants, and each inch of settled land naturally generates 1 art plus an additional art for each art technology of the race. However, once art is gathered up, it's gone from the land, the only two ways for it to be replenished being through a foreign caravan or via a new art technology being developed. After starting in the inch it was created from, a caravan moves one inch each round, plus an additional inch for each trade movement technology of the race. When it passes through an inch of native land, it automatically gathers up however much art the commanding god wants, to a maximum of the art available in those inches, which would leave them empty. Then, when in a foreign settled land, the caravan can offer a trade. They can offer art in exchange for technology or Miracle Points, or offer technology or Miracle Points in exchange for art. Either way, they make an offer, such as "# art for # Miracle Points" or "a technology for # art", and then the god being offered this trade can either accept or decline. In the case of Miracle Points, if the trade is accepted, then the Miracle Points are generated on the spot and gifted to one of the gods, and neither god loses any Miracle Points. In the case of technology, if the trade is accepted, then the other race gains the technology in question, and the original race still has access to it as well. The arts on the other side are either imparted to the land to be picked up by later caravans, or gathered up from that land by the caravan. In this way, a caravan can travel back and forth between foreign lands, restocking on art via trades, and never really visit it's home. Art is essentially treated as money. A god cannot form a trade between two races it commands. Caravans can generally move between land and water movement freely, but, like with armies, this can be altered in your games as well.
Form Hub: With this subpower, the god forms a seat of power within an inch of settled land, such as a sacred gathering place or a metropolis. This is a hub, and just by virtue of existing, it can affect far distant things. Each hub comes with a single political leader, plus an additional political leader for each government technology of the race. A political leader is a very versatile unit, and can disband or outright steal armies and caravans, or convert nearby land to their race, so long as they face down against any hub of that race. A political leader does not need to move, and can conduct itself through messengers and speeches, able to control events across the entire world from their seat in the hub. If they wish to disband an army or caravan, then the political leader rolls 1d6 plus 1 for each political technology of the race, while the army or caravan rolls 2d6. If the political leader rolls higher, the army or caravan is disbanded. Controlling an army or caravan is much more difficult, and works just like disbanding, but the army or caravan rolls 3d6 instead of 2d6. If the political leader rolls higher, then the army or caravan is under the control of the commanding god for five rounds, though an army will not attack it's native land and a caravan must receive something in it's trades. If the political leader tries to convert an inch of settled land adjacent to it's own race's land, then the political leader rolls 2d6 plus 1 for each espionage technology of the race, while the foreign land rolls 2d6 plus 1 for each espionage technology of the race plus 1 for any unused political leaders in hubs the foreign race might have. If the political leader rolls higher, the land is converted. In all these cases, if the political leader rolls lower, there is no drawback beside the political leader having been used up. Once a political leader acts, that political leader is gone and cannot be reused. Though, if a hub runs out of political leaders, this power can be manifested again to replenish them, or create a new hub in another inch of land. This is the only use of Command Race that cannot directly generate Miracle Points.
Advance Race: Throughout the Command Race subpowers, there are many mentions of technology. Advance Race is the way these technologies are created. There are eight kinds of technology: art, attack, defend, troop movement, trade movement, government, political, and espionage. Each technology can be one or more kinds of technology. For example, giant slug riding as a technology can be both a troop movement and a trade movement technology. Or, perhaps medicine is an art, defending, and political technology. However, the more kinds a technology has, the more it costs. It begins at 4pp for one kind, and each additional kind of technology raises that cost by 2pp. Cost: 4pp-18pp
Create Demigod: A child of the gods, or a minion created by their will. Generally, a demigod is gifted with abilities above and beyond their mortal counterparts, such as super strength or incredible interpersonal skills. When manifested, one of three kinds of demigod is born within one race the god owns: warrior demigod, leader demigod, or trader demigod. During it's life, a warrior demigod gathers itself an army, or becomes an army itself. This army follows the same rules as the armies created through Command Race, but has no inch of land it was created from, and just spawns in any native land. The leader demigod functions like a hub, with great acts to use up instead of political leaders. Also, with both warrior and leader demigods, instead of the traditional 2d6 or 1d6 rolls, the child of a sovereign god rolls 2d12 or 2d6 and picks one dice for the result, the child of a hero god rolls 2d8 or 1d8, and the child of a mystery god rolls 2d6 or 1d6 with explosions on 6. The third option, the trader demigod, acts as a caravan, but with a full two inches worth of art already present. Cost: 8pp
Create Avatar: A god made flesh or a god's primary voice on the mortal coil. An avatar is the primary aspect of the commanding god, and it's presence in the world grants many benefits. First, at the beginning of each round, an avatar grants the commanding god one free use of the Command Race power, to be used on any race the god has created. Second, an avatar can, once during it's existence, create a race without the Commanding God needing to manifest Create Race, instead using up two sets of his petitioners, having them permanently descend to the world and become the race. Third, an avatar can seek out another god's avatar and interact with it. ThIs can go one of two ways. If the gods have a friendship between them, then they can team together and each gain free upkeep, in exchange for only acting every other round thereafter. Or, if the gods have a rivalry between them, they can fight against one another, each rolling their god's default power roll and whoever receives the lower roll is utterly destroyed. In the case of a one-way rivalry, the attacking avatar cannot be destroyed, but the defending avatar adds 4 to it's roll as it's only goal is to escape. A god can only have one avatar at a time, and they require an upkeep of 1pp each round, just like Races. Cost: 12pp
Apocalypse: Gods wield endless power. With their strength, they can blight entire nations, carve canyons into the world, and even raise mortals to a status near their own. Needless to say, they can sometimes get carried away. Enter the Apocalypse. Whenever sixty or more Miracle Points are spent inside three rounds (the current round and the last two rounds), an Apocalypse is triggered. Hellfire, great floods, and pillars of salt. Now, this sounds bad, but it can go either way, really. If the group decides it's fitting, obviously the Apocalypse can be the end of the world and the game, if the players decide. Then again, it might be a great cataclysm that reconfigures the entire world. In such a case, a couple of things happen. First, if the apocalypse takes place in the Later Age, then the apocalypse takes place very quickly, and disasters reduce the world back to a primordial state, each god selecting 9 square inches, which are then erased, returning to wasteland and a blank space on the map. Then, once things have calmed down, the age is swapped. Later Age becomes Early Age again, and Early Age fast forwards to Later Age, the game continuing forward from there. A game can have multiple Apocalypses during it's time, each time ushering in a new age. What these ages are like, is up to the players.
Divinity is a game where you play a deity who collaborates with others of your kind in the shaping of a world. You raise mountains and create life, spur your followers into war, or guide them to utopia. In other game systems, vast wars and political dramas are the entire campaign, but in Divinity, these are basic units and the campaign is the destiny of an entire world. Want to control the winds of fate and the paths of mortals innumerable? Then let's play Divinity.
HOW THE GAME IS PLAYED
To begin playing Divinity, you need to first gather a group of three or more players together. Technically, you could play with as few as two gods, but we recommend going for more. Next you need materials, pen, paper, with one large sheet to represent the world, and dice. An assortment of four, six, eight, and twelve-sided dice are usually necessary. Once you have all these things and everyone is familiar with the rules of the game, you may begin the first round...
The Round: Starting with one player and moving clockwise around the table, players take turns rolling for power points and then spending those points on various powers. Once each player has gone, the round ends and the next one begins. Depending on what the player's decide, each round can represent anywhere from a single month to uncountable years, but, by default, a round in the Early Age is a millennium and a round in the Later Age is a year.
The World: The Early Age is dedicated to the development and shaping of the world, which is usually represented by a sheet of paper in the middle of the table. The paper starts out blank, meaning the world is covered in wasteland or some other unserviceable terrain. During the Early Age, each player gets three square inches to fill in on each of their turns. The Early Age lasts until there are no blank spots left on the map, so, the size of the map directly effects the time allowed for the Early Age. For an average Early Age in a five person game, we recommend a 10"x15" map. Alternately, if the map is for a planet, you can have a map projection outlined on the paper, and the Early Age ends when the map outline is full.
The Mortals: Once the world is made and the game moves on to the Later Age, players can begin creating their mortal races and directing their trials in the world. Each race requires life for it to be based on, which means that most players will have used the Create Life power in the Early Age. Keep this in mind. Most of the game is focused on the mortal races, after all.
The Narrative: But what is all this building up to? Well, that would be the narrative. Actions taken throughout the ages earn Miracle Points for the gods, which may then be spent on Miracles, Events, and Catastrophes, which can result in anything from the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, to the One Ring and it's round trip out of and back to Mount Doom. Catastrophes can even bring about apocalypses, which a game can survive multiples of. Whatever you want out of the narrative, you can achieve it, but be aware of the other gods all around, who seek to develop their own narratives and dramas in contrast to your own.
GODS
Though, before you even roll your first power roll, you must decide what kind of god you will be. Will you be a glorious god of the sunrise and a hard day's work? Or maybe the confident and aloof god of the dead? Heck, maybe you just wanna play Cthulhu. But pick your god type wisely, as it will largely affect how the game plays for you.
Sovereign: Examples of the Sovereign God would include Ptah, Odin, and Gaea. Usually considered the leaders of the divine pantheons or the creators of the world, a Sovereign is considered authoritative and vital, with almost guaranteed power. A Sovereign God's power roll is 2d12. The player then selects one of the dice and gains power points equal to the number on it.
Hero: Thor, Sobek, and Hephaestus are all fine examples of a Hero God. Usually described as warriors, the Hero also extends to many physical deities. Craftsmen, hunters, or messengers are all considered Hero Gods. Defined by their direct and honest approach to the world, the Hero rolls 2d8 for it's power roll, adding the results together to get their power points for the round.
Mystery: If you seek a Mystery god, look to Loki, Charon, or Thoth. Secretive, clever, or perhaps just underestimated, a Mystery God might not always act in the grandest way, but they can rearrange the balance of power with their devious nature. A Mystery God rolls 2d6 with explosions on 6 for it's power roll. So, the player rolls two six-sided dice, rolling an extra dice for each 6 rolled, and then again for every additional 6, until no 6 is rolled. The player then adds all the dice rolled together for their power points.
AGES
The game is divided into two Ages: the Early Age, where the world is formed, prophecies are spoken, and life begins, and the Later Age, where races rise up, wars are fought, and grand cities flourish. The Ages determine which powers the gods can manifest, each one containing five powers that are available to all gods while the game is in that Age.
Early Age: The Early Age is the beginning of a world, where the gods shape the land, etching out oceans and mountains, setting down leylines, summoning up weather patterns, even speaking prophecies and creating the first forms of life. The setting of a stage, the Early Age is vital, as everything that happens in the Later Age is based upon what happens during the Early Age. The five powers available during the Early Age are Shape Land, Shape Conditions, Set Leyline, Speak Prophecy, and Create Life. This is how they work:
Shape Land: Shape Land is a unique power, in that it costs no power points to manifest, but instead it can only be manifested three times during a player's turn. When manifested, the player selects a blank, 1 square inch area of the map and adds terrain to that area. Any terrain can be made, desert, mountain, ocean, caves, and even exotic land types, such as "giant amethyst crystals". General weather patterns are also under the control of this power. Nothing that lives, such as forests or coral reef, can be added, unless they've already been made by Create Life. Cost: 0pp
Shape Conditions: Shape Conditions functions much in the same way as Shape Land, except with additional benefits. First off, this power can be used an unlimited number of times each round. Second, Shape Conditions does not need to be placed on a blank part of the map, and can overwrite previous square inches of land. Third, this power places the affected inch of land under special conditions which, barring special intervention, prevents it from being occupied by any race or life not directly created by the god who manifested Shape Conditions. These conditions can be anything from acid rain, to mountains that float, to angels who hunt down anyone who enters the land. Cost: 6pp
Set Leyline: Many stories refer to things like "the Heart of the Land", "the Fountain of Youth", or "the Swamp of Despair". Focal locations of a story, often possessing inherent magical power. These are leylines, and they can change the game. This power costs a variable number of pp, starting at 9. When manifesting the Set Leyline power, the player selects a 1 square inch area of the map where no leyline exists yet, and a leyline is added to that location. Later, when a race settles that inch of land, that race's controller earns Miracle Points from the leyline. After every X rounds that the race holds the leyline without losing control of it, the controlling god earns 1 Miracle Point. X is 9 rounds, if 9 power points were spent to manifest this power. For every additional point spent, X decreases by 1, to a minimum of 2. So, for example, at 12pp, X is 6 rounds. Cost: 9pp-16pp
Speak Prophecy: There are a lot of epic stories which hinge around prophecy. So, naturally, as a deity, you can set down your own prophecy to be fulfilled in the distant future. The only thing is, a prophecy can be difficult to control. When manifesting this power, the player selects a second player, who then describes some circumstance or event in the rules of the game, such as "When one race holds all leylines, the prophecy is fulfilled" or "when a demigod is killed by another demigod controlled by the same god, the prophecy is fulfilled" or even "when a mortal becomes immortal and the rest of his race is destroyed in the same round, the prophecy is fulfilled". After the prophecy is described, any player besides the one who described it, may fulfill it (by taking action that directly results in the event taking place). When a prophecy is fulfilled, the god who fulfilled it immediately makes a power roll, but instead of earning pp, the player gains that many Miracle Points (plus a refund of however many Miracle Points were absolutely required to fulfill the prophecy). Prophecies are huge swings in power, so, for each god, there may only be one unfulfilled prophecy spoken by that god at a time. Cost: 10pp
Create Life: Create Life is the means of beginning life on the world, and can create anything from bugs and elephants, to algae and flowers, to even golems and spirits. This power has three possible options. With option 1, it allows the creation of one kind of life, such as whales, spruce trees, or northern wind kami, and prevents anyone else from utilizing that life, meaning that it spreads only into the lands you decide, and only you may create a race based off it. With option 2, it allows a wider subset of life, such as oceanic mammals, pine trees, or air kami, which are then openly available to all gods to spread into their lands or to base a race off of. With option 3, it allows a very wide set of life, such as mammals, trees, or kami, and grants each god their own subset of life in that set which they may treat as though they created it with the option 1 version of this power. Cost: 2pp
Later Age: The Later Age is the life of a world, where gods make their moves and weave together vast stories, bringing their children into the world, sparking wars and political dramas, and even bringing about demigods and their own avatars upon the world. Where the Early Age was the setting if the stage, the Later Age is the play itself, and contains the meat of the game, as everything centers around it. The five powers available during the Later Age are Create Race, Command Race, Advance Race, Create Demigod, and Create Avatar. This is how they work:
Create Race: Arguably the most important power in the game, Create Race allows the player to take a form of life they have access to, and raise it up into a race. Any race can be made this way. Ents, humans, and mermaids are all possible, as are whatever races you might make up yourself, such as a race of swirling swarms of flies. A god can create any number of races during a game, but the more they have, the more expensive it can be. A player's first race costs 9pp, and after that, each additional race costs 3 more points, cumulatively. So, the fifth race a god creates would cost 9pp + (3 x 4)pp = 21pp. On top of this, each race requires an upkeep of 1pp each turn, and, if that cost can't be paid, it rolls over to the next round. Races can also be created through Petitioners being brought down by Avatars. Cost: 9pp or more
Subraces: There is also a second way to use Create Race, and that is to create a subrace, which is essentially using another race instead of life as the origin point. This has it's benefits, as the subrace and parent race are closely tied together, with their lands usually being very close to one another, and their cultures being entwined enough that they can steal land and technology from each other much easier than between unrelated races. The rules for subraces are otherwise the same as the rules for races.
Command Race: One of the main events, Command Race allows a god to issue commands to any race they have created. The power breaks down into four subpowers: settle land, raise army, raise caravan, and form hub. Each one is based around interaction with other races, and most can result, one way or another, in earning Miracle Points. Cost: 4pp
Settle Land: Using Command Race this way directs the people of the race to inhabit a 1 square inch area of land. Perhaps they have nomadic tribes that stay in that general area, or maybe they set up several small villages and kingdoms throughout the land. Once the land is settled, it can produce caravans, armies, and hubs. This subpower does come with two caveats, though. First, any square inch that is settled must be connected to any land previously settled by that race. Second, if two or more inches of land become disconnected from one another, then the god who owns that land's race takes a 7 point hit on their next power roll after the disconnect happens. On the other side, for every fifth inch of land a race settles, the commanding god earns a Miracle Point.
Raise Army: With this subpower, an army is raised from a square inch of settled land. The army can take any form, from a thousand ratfolk soldiers with war engines, to a team of a hundred elite wizards. Each settled inch of land can support one army, and, if that army is destroyed, that inch of land cannot produce another army for two rounds hence. The army begins at the inch that it was raised from and can be directed, once per round, to defend, move, or attack. If it defends, it remains stationary, defending the square inch it occupies, until something impacts it. If it moves, it moves a single inch each round, plus an additional inch for each troop movement technology of the race. If directed to attack, it can attack either an adjacent army, or an adjacent inch of foreign settled land. To do the latter, it must first combat any army that defends that land. To determine the results of a combat between two armies, the attacking army rolls 2d6 and adds 1 for each attacking technology of the race, while the defending army rolls 2d6 and adds 1 for each defending technology of the race, plus an additional 2 if the army was defending an inch of land. The army which rolls higher is victorious. If the army attacks an undefended inch of land, then that land is taken, and can either be razed, or, if the attackers have adjacent settled land, converted. Every time land is taken, the attacking army generates a Miracle Point for it's god. Armies can generally swap between boats and land, but, if your group wants, you can make distinctions between land troops and fleets, where one is restricted to the land, and the other to the ocean. If you have further mediums of travel, you can further chop up the army designations as well.
Raise Caravan: With this subpower, a caravan is raised up from a square inch of settled land. A player can have as many caravans active as they want, but they work with units of "art", which they gather up from their native lands. A caravan can carry as much art as the controlling player wants, and each inch of settled land naturally generates 1 art plus an additional art for each art technology of the race. However, once art is gathered up, it's gone from the land, the only two ways for it to be replenished being through a foreign caravan or via a new art technology being developed. After starting in the inch it was created from, a caravan moves one inch each round, plus an additional inch for each trade movement technology of the race. When it passes through an inch of native land, it automatically gathers up however much art the commanding god wants, to a maximum of the art available in those inches, which would leave them empty. Then, when in a foreign settled land, the caravan can offer a trade. They can offer art in exchange for technology or Miracle Points, or offer technology or Miracle Points in exchange for art. Either way, they make an offer, such as "# art for # Miracle Points" or "a technology for # art", and then the god being offered this trade can either accept or decline. In the case of Miracle Points, if the trade is accepted, then the Miracle Points are generated on the spot and gifted to one of the gods, and neither god loses any Miracle Points. In the case of technology, if the trade is accepted, then the other race gains the technology in question, and the original race still has access to it as well. The arts on the other side are either imparted to the land to be picked up by later caravans, or gathered up from that land by the caravan. In this way, a caravan can travel back and forth between foreign lands, restocking on art via trades, and never really visit it's home. Art is essentially treated as money. A god cannot form a trade between two races it commands. Caravans can generally move between land and water movement freely, but, like with armies, this can be altered in your games as well.
Form Hub: With this subpower, the god forms a seat of power within an inch of settled land, such as a sacred gathering place or a metropolis. This is a hub, and just by virtue of existing, it can affect far distant things. Each hub comes with a single political leader, plus an additional political leader for each government technology of the race. A political leader is a very versatile unit, and can disband or outright steal armies and caravans, or convert nearby land to their race, so long as they face down against any hub of that race. A political leader does not need to move, and can conduct itself through messengers and speeches, able to control events across the entire world from their seat in the hub. If they wish to disband an army or caravan, then the political leader rolls 1d6 plus 1 for each political technology of the race, while the army or caravan rolls 2d6. If the political leader rolls higher, the army or caravan is disbanded. Controlling an army or caravan is much more difficult, and works just like disbanding, but the army or caravan rolls 3d6 instead of 2d6. If the political leader rolls higher, then the army or caravan is under the control of the commanding god for five rounds, though an army will not attack it's native land and a caravan must receive something in it's trades. If the political leader tries to convert an inch of settled land adjacent to it's own race's land, then the political leader rolls 2d6 plus 1 for each espionage technology of the race, while the foreign land rolls 2d6 plus 1 for each espionage technology of the race plus 1 for any unused political leaders in hubs the foreign race might have. If the political leader rolls higher, the land is converted. In all these cases, if the political leader rolls lower, there is no drawback beside the political leader having been used up. Once a political leader acts, that political leader is gone and cannot be reused. Though, if a hub runs out of political leaders, this power can be manifested again to replenish them, or create a new hub in another inch of land. This is the only use of Command Race that cannot directly generate Miracle Points.
Advance Race: Throughout the Command Race subpowers, there are many mentions of technology. Advance Race is the way these technologies are created. There are eight kinds of technology: art, attack, defend, troop movement, trade movement, government, political, and espionage. Each technology can be one or more kinds of technology. For example, giant slug riding as a technology can be both a troop movement and a trade movement technology. Or, perhaps medicine is an art, defending, and political technology. However, the more kinds a technology has, the more it costs. It begins at 4pp for one kind, and each additional kind of technology raises that cost by 2pp. Cost: 4pp-18pp
Create Demigod: A child of the gods, or a minion created by their will. Generally, a demigod is gifted with abilities above and beyond their mortal counterparts, such as super strength or incredible interpersonal skills. When manifested, one of three kinds of demigod is born within one race the god owns: warrior demigod, leader demigod, or trader demigod. During it's life, a warrior demigod gathers itself an army, or becomes an army itself. This army follows the same rules as the armies created through Command Race, but has no inch of land it was created from, and just spawns in any native land. The leader demigod functions like a hub, with great acts to use up instead of political leaders. Also, with both warrior and leader demigods, instead of the traditional 2d6 or 1d6 rolls, the child of a sovereign god rolls 2d12 or 2d6 and picks one dice for the result, the child of a hero god rolls 2d8 or 1d8, and the child of a mystery god rolls 2d6 or 1d6 with explosions on 6. The third option, the trader demigod, acts as a caravan, but with a full two inches worth of art already present. Cost: 8pp
Create Avatar: A god made flesh or a god's primary voice on the mortal coil. An avatar is the primary aspect of the commanding god, and it's presence in the world grants many benefits. First, at the beginning of each round, an avatar grants the commanding god one free use of the Command Race power, to be used on any race the god has created. Second, an avatar can, once during it's existence, create a race without the Commanding God needing to manifest Create Race, instead using up two sets of his petitioners, having them permanently descend to the world and become the race. Third, an avatar can seek out another god's avatar and interact with it. ThIs can go one of two ways. If the gods have a friendship between them, then they can team together and each gain free upkeep, in exchange for only acting every other round thereafter. Or, if the gods have a rivalry between them, they can fight against one another, each rolling their god's default power roll and whoever receives the lower roll is utterly destroyed. In the case of a one-way rivalry, the attacking avatar cannot be destroyed, but the defending avatar adds 4 to it's roll as it's only goal is to escape. A god can only have one avatar at a time, and they require an upkeep of 1pp each round, just like Races. Cost: 12pp
Apocalypse: Gods wield endless power. With their strength, they can blight entire nations, carve canyons into the world, and even raise mortals to a status near their own. Needless to say, they can sometimes get carried away. Enter the Apocalypse. Whenever sixty or more Miracle Points are spent inside three rounds (the current round and the last two rounds), an Apocalypse is triggered. Hellfire, great floods, and pillars of salt. Now, this sounds bad, but it can go either way, really. If the group decides it's fitting, obviously the Apocalypse can be the end of the world and the game, if the players decide. Then again, it might be a great cataclysm that reconfigures the entire world. In such a case, a couple of things happen. First, if the apocalypse takes place in the Later Age, then the apocalypse takes place very quickly, and disasters reduce the world back to a primordial state, each god selecting 9 square inches, which are then erased, returning to wasteland and a blank space on the map. Then, once things have calmed down, the age is swapped. Later Age becomes Early Age again, and Early Age fast forwards to Later Age, the game continuing forward from there. A game can have multiple Apocalypses during it's time, each time ushering in a new age. What these ages are like, is up to the players.