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Game Wars [Civilization]: Graghari

Setting: Virtual fantasy universe filled with rival civilizations

Tone: Survival realism strategy

Number of players: 1 per game (see below)

Player role: Leader

Power scale: Civilizations start small and vulnerable with potential to grow

First Scene will be: Login screen

Introduction

Players from across the world login to a high-risk online RPG as leaders of civilizations. As leader, you are tasked with bringing greatness to those who follow you and forge a great kingdom that dwarfs all others by way of military might, powerful Gen (the game’s equivalent to magic), cunning politics, or technological breakthroughs.

But beware of other civilizations led by players with similar goals. One never knows whether a rival civilization is controlled by another human player or by the narrator. Not all civilizations can thrive - as surely as the mighty will prosper, so too will the weak be eliminated.

Procedure

The first thing you’ll do is pick your Nature. This represents the civilization you will lead in Game Wars. The choices offered are by no means representative of every civilization in Game Wars. Feel free to create new civilizations with the create nature option, as long as their six attributes (melee, ranged, gen, etc.) add up to no more than 30, and they have no more than 4 unique abilities. All new races are subject to narrator approval.

Next, you’ll pick your leader’s Strength, Weakness, and Goal. These can all be modified, or you can make entirely new ones to fit with your leader’s concept. Note that these cards apply only to the leader you play as, and not to the civilization as a whole.

Finally, you’ll pick a name and picture for your leader. If you’re having trouble finding a fitting image, you can describe his or her appearance to me and I’ll try to find you something from my art library. Also, your leader’s description doesn’t have to say too much or get into specifics. You’ll choose your starting location and other things like that in the first “Login” scene.

Rules

The structure of Game Wars [Civilization] is distinct from other Storium games in key ways. Most importantly, each player is alone within their own, separate Storium game. So only one player per game. The player interacts privately with the narrator, often in the form of multiple-choice dialogues rather than the challenges common to Storium. Strength, weakness, goal, and asset cards are only used in specific situations when dealing with other civilizations or other unique challenges involving your leader.

The player will encounter other civilizations, some of which are controlled by the narrator and some of which are controlled by other players. Though many distinct one-on-one games of Game Wars [Civilization] are taking place, they are all happening simultaneously in the same game world. Only the narrator knows which civilizations are controlled by real players and which are “NPC” civilizations. In this way, players can never be sure of another civilization’s true nature or intentions.

Finally, understand that, unlike other Storium games, Game Wars [Civilization] has explicit winners and losers. Each civilization’s population, morale, food, and other resources are constantly tracked. When leaders make bad choices, their citizens die and the civilization suffers. When challenges arise, a civilization’s stats and unique abilities determine how they’ll be affected. Make no mistake: a leader’s actions have consequences on his or her civilization. When a civilization is defeated, that player’s game will be retired.

By contrast, a civilization can achieve victory in a number of ways. Once a player wins, he or she will be given the option to retire and allow the narrator to take control of his or her civilization. These are the explicit ways in which winners can be determined:

First, if a single civilization ever controls 75% of all claimed territory in Game Wars, its leader will be declared the winner.

Second, if a leader is ever elected as the World Ruler by all other civilizations, he or she will be declared the winner.

Third, if no other civilizations are controlled by real players, the last real player standing will be declared the winner.

Fourth, if a civilization’s technology advances to the point where it can locate and travel to Earth within the game universe, its leader will be declared the winner.

Technical

Further questions can be asked of the narrator at any time. The pace of the game may vary, as all civilizations must input decisions before time can progress. On that note, it may behoove you not to attempt to discover who else is playing Game Wars [Civilization], as they will be motivated to keep their civilization’s secrets to themselves. With all that said, have fun and may the greatest civilization rule them all.

Hosted and narrated by: C R (chancels)

Started 07/28/14. Scenes played: 4

License: Community License