Hi, i thought i might as well ask here. So i love the last updat to this game but as i expressed in a previous comment i dislike that tribes and bandits have been put together into one. Again, there is a big distinction between a tribe and bandits, so i always used an older version of Mappa Imperium for the Neighbours development section. Small problem though, i kinda lost the PDF of the older version. Does anyone remember the distinct tables of Tribes and Bandits or maybe even has a PDF. I'll probably eventually make some tables my own but having the old tables would be a massive help.
If you have any interest in map drawing or worldbuilding this is a 10/10 recommendation.
Good game flow with clear instructions. For the most part, you follow along in one direction. It's very clear what you should be doing and there isn't too much page flipping. Playing the game, it feels very polished. I liked the pacing (which is adjustable) and the definitive end achievable within session. The PDF is hyperlinked together in a very convenient way, which helps with the game flow.
My only complaint is that I wish there was a more printer-friendly version so that I could go completely offline.
Overall this game is above and beyond for a PWYW product. Truly a hidden gem.
Truly a hidden gem, and it's amazing you offer it for free. I tipped what I could, and genuinely believe it's worth it. I played through with a few variations on some of the rules and outcomes.
I solo played for 7 different factions, and here was the world I created via Inkarnate...
Olympios, Year 39 of the 7th Era.
Here are some variations which made solo play even more active...
--HERO UNITS-- When the dice results say "A hero arrives" or "Place a monument to a hero" instead, I created a Hero unit (monarch, adventurer, general, etc) and they acted like a free military settlement, simulating an influential party or a strong military force. When getting the "War" option, you get to move your Hero next to the settlement you're trying to capture, essentially camping in their territory. Obviously, as people they aren't just sitting in one spot for dozens of years, but their placements on the map might be considered "where they were recorded to have been" during periods of history.
Whenever a faction rolls to attack your settlements, if the Hero does not have any settlement between them and the attacked settlement, then that faction MUST attack the Hero instead. Similarly, monsters, wizards, bandits/pirates, and swarms must all roll on the War chart against the Hero if their own actions would allow them to destroy a settlement. Heroes being "captured" as a settlement, simply means the hero perishes in battle. Monsters and Swarms don't get the benefits of creating a Hero by these rules, but bandits/pirates do, as well as minor factions. Magic Users are essentially already Heroes but with special rules, and their attacks on the War table can create new Heroes too (or perhaps they convert/blackmail/brainwash the original hero).
As an era ends, all heroes are removed -- this can either mean they die of old age, or simply that time has marched on and their heyday is passed.
--ERA VII, AGE OF STRIFE-- This is basically a continuation of the game that allows it to go on indefinitely. In Era 7, empires are struggling against tumultuous times. Everything is up for grabs, and the weak are seeking to overthrow their neighbors. It consists of the same 60 year (6 Turn) format for Era 4-6 in a normal length game. On their Turn, a major faction rolls once on the Age of Empires table, implements the result, and then immediately rolls once on the Age of Collapse table, also implementing the result.
Once that is done, EVERY Neighbor that has been generated by that faction gets to roll on the Neighbor's Develop table. Swarms don't get to do this (unless you want them to, but they alter the world a bit too much and are quite OP). It can be cumbersome to track each faction's neighbors, as I had 7 "players" each with their own cultures and neighbors, but it definitely made for an engaging mapmaking session. You are free to adjust which neighbors get to do this and which don't -- your Age of Strife could be an era of mythical monsters acting on every turn, leading to an inevitable clash of titans as they perhaps roll on the War table against one another; or it could be an era in which a rapidly invading monstrous swarm consumes kingdom after kingdom.
When the Age of Strife ends, it simply begins again, allowing for infinite play and any number of variations to it you'd like. Time and history continue to march on, and everyone suffers as they continue to vie for power or struggle toward a stable life.
--WARLIKE NEIGHBORS-- I modified the Cults, Tribes, Hives, and Minor Factions once they enter the Age of Strife. Before then, most of the game plays out as written in the rulebook. But once we've passed the Age of Collapse, these groups become more warlike because just like the main factions, they now act on every turn as well.
Cults. On a roll of 5 or 6, the cult will go to War. Their target can be determined by you (if it makes sense lore-wise) or you can randomize it by assigning a number to any amount of neighbors and rolling as many d6 as needed to get that number. This also means that if you are using the Hero rule listed above, Cults can create a Hero for themselves if they roll high (or their attacker rolls low) during the War as well.
Tribes. On a 5, tribal societies may create a floating village as usual, or even a coastal settlement. But pirates will create a small fleet that functions the same way as a Hero unit, and bandits will create a Hero unit. Obviously, these must be dealt with before the pirates or bandits can be dealt with, making it that much harder to uproot and destroy these sources of lawlessness.
Hives. On a 4, the Hive can attack as usual, but must roll on the War table. Attack results of 6 will not create a Hero unit, but will create an extra infestation nearby instead. On my own map, I have several infestations of "Snakemen of Thulsa" and Crom does not seem to favor any attempt at stopping them. To hell with him!
Minor Factions. On a 5, they don't build anything unique, instead, they go to War. Like with Cults above, the target can be determined by you, or you can randomize the target by assigning numbers to neighbors and rolling as many d6 needed to get one of those numbers. Also, when Minor Factions roll to develop and get a 4 or 6, if those options are not possible (no nearby tribes, or no unconnected neighbors), you can decide if they go to War or simply skip their turn.
These all have led me to create a world using Mappa Imperium that continues to evolve and thrive. Honestly, I was just making a pseudo-classical, sword and sandal, kinda-Mediterranean world and now it's managed to randomly generate so many mythical moments and heroic achievements for each empire.
Inkarnate is really good. I pay a $5 subscription for more content, but the free content is good as well. Mostly you can paint the terrain, draw landmasses (you can even set how uneven coastlines will be), and place assets like mountains, towns, text, images, etc. With the subscription it lets you upload your own assets as well. There is a way to take notes if you want to worldbuild and describe each place, but it isn't too robust -- just drop a pin and it opens a window to type. It has different genre of maps as well, such as a more archaic theme, or a top-down battle map style for DnD.
I bought this game before I had an itch.io account and accidentally got rid of the PDF. Is there anywayto redownload it or do I need to pay the $10 again? At the time I didn't realize that it was associated with itch.io and I'd need your account to reaccess it. This is so much fun by the way, I did this with my 5th grade class and they loved it. Made map reading so much fun!
When you click "download" there's a link that says "no thanks, just take me to the downloads". That will take you back in to get the PDF.
It's a free game, the $10 is more of a tip (which I greatly appreciate!) Itch.io allows me to do a Pay What You Want system, so if you wish you can toss a few bucks my way but it's certainly not necessary.
-Michael
Also, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I would love to see the map if you don't mind sharing it here :D
Hey Nook! Happy to be finally getting with my group to be playing this. We decided to do an eastern style map/theme (part of which is here). Just finished the (reletively) new Age of Myth - hugely fun!!! We included local Spirits and Dieties to reflect regional folklore.
We decided to do our own 3d6 Race table, to include Multi-race, and to suit our Pathfinder/DnD sensibilities:
3 Themed Choice (based on geography, gods, features, theme)
11 Kaiju/Cthulhu-esque being (realised from the ocean depths, perched atop a distant peak, or deep in the desert?)
12 Spirit/Deity/Avatar awoken and materialised… (roll to create - residing on a holy site, in an ancient ruin, a deep cavern? Benevolent, pragmatic, or hostile?)
This is to suit our preferences as a group. Feel free to use/adapt!
Are you open to someone making / posting expansions or alternate rules to this? Obviously free + with credit. I love this game so much and have played several solo games in the past few days, but I'm trying to make alternate rules for godless realms by replacing gods with magic systems, among some other alternate tables and stuff, and it seems a shame not to share it
Not quite the same size. Working on in Samsung Notes on my tablet, which is why I put in the line on the left (in case I accidentally slide the world over).
This is the end of Era 1. I decided not to add anything after the 8 rolls. That empty spot in #3's big island leaves a bit of room for them to grow/discover, depending on later Eras.
Did have one mess up early on where I put #3's hills in #2 and #3's river in #2, but I caught it the next round and corrected course. XD
Will post another image once I'm done mangling this poor map with my chicken scratch notes for the other Eras. Love how organically the world grew just based on a few rolls!
Just a small question. Why did you put Pirates/Bandits and Tribes together? Both are very destinct and i have found myselve wondering how to explain why a tribe would build a floating city, etc. It´s not really critice, i´m just curious.
I originally had them separate, but the rolls ended up being very similar and decided to combine them into one. Also, combining them helped put all of that "neighbors develop" section onto one page.
For a little idea help, you could think of a tribe strapping together some rafts and building the town (like Lake-town from LOTR), and if you don't see them putting it in the sea then just use a river or lake.
Of course, you can always re-roll if it doesn't fit. I won't say anything :)
I just had a nice long solo game and I still love this game to death. Bless you Nookrium for bringing so many of my favorite things together into something that not only can be super fun to play, but can also be used for worldbuilding. Might even turn the session I just played into a short campaign :). The only problem I found was in Era 4, the hyperlink in "11 Expansion" takes me to page 8, not page 9, however that is such a small detail that it had 0 effect on my enjoyment. Keep up the fantastic work man.
Fun little step I added in my solo run: At the end of each era after the first, for each region (so each player), I created an idiom around what was currently known of the world. A saying for local customs.
For instance, and mind that these are rather Chinese in nature due to this run being used to develop a wuxia setting... "I'll see you at Niangmukan" is a way to tell someone their goal is unattainable. It refers to the sacred site of one of the celestial beings established in the second age, which is so remote as to be considered mythical.
In another example, "awakened by a fulurong on the side of the road" is a reference to an animal chosen as one of the "resources" of my world, whose horns naturally balance qi around it. In other words, this idiom is a fancy way of describing a windfall.
I'm really digging this step because it helps add that little bit of extra oomph to the lore, so I figured I'd share in case anyone else wanted to take on a similar approach.
Gotta say, Nookrium, this has really come along. I took your game from a few revisions back and molded it into something a bit different to come up with a world map for my D&D campaign that my players might be more invested in.
Still haven't actually played with them yet, but that's how it goes. Besides, it's not like I'm going to publish or anything. I just really like this game and wanted to suit my needs a little better.
This latest update only helps that go that much smoother. Thank you!
Edit: Would I be able to get the Homebrewery Source code for this? I've been working with that program for a while now and it'd make my work so much easier. Either way, you have my thanks!
Just built my first map! The program I used online was free but did let me make paths or draw small lines but otherwise it was great!Loved how it came out!
I did want to mention that the Era charts don’t say to use 3d6 for the charts. I just happened to notice how high the charts went in number and fixed my rolls.
yes it is! I love the program. It was a lot of fun to use and it has a notes section to it that I can add markers to the map for so I know what resources are where and how each city came about with what race. I actually broke down and got the years subscription to be able to really define my map. I plan on making more just for the fun of it! I love world building and storytelling!
Incarnate....I actually broke down and got the subscription since I loved it so much. I keep tweaking things on my map and adding ‘history’ and resource notes about this little world I made. Maybe one day I’ll host a home brew campaign for it. 😁
Hey Nookrium, don´t want to seem rude, but didn´t you say you wanted to bring one more update out in a comment down below, or was that the continental update. Just wondering.
Sorry it's slow going, but I'm working on it. Rather than put out a few smaller updates I decided to lump them all in together for one big final release update. Here's a sneak peek at what I've been up to
Amazing. I sort of expected you to bring out one last large update. I´m already intrigued by the Leadership rules. Take your time, then it will be good for sure. One last question though. How far, would you say, is this update in develepmont? Around 60 - 70 percent or less/more. Keep up the good work.
Nice. One last question to which you may not have an answer yet. Do you expect the update to come out any time soon or do you need another month or two. Don´t worry about it, if you can´t answer that question.
I have made a map in WorldBox v0.94 through Mappa Imperium!
I had to adapt things a little based on the biomes & races available in WorldBox, but overall it is the same. Except, the gameplay part I get to do Worldbox style! 😁
Geography
1. Hills
2. Desert
3. Forest
4. Mountains
5. Geyser
6. Acid Geyser
7. Volcano
8. Ice Tower
9. Flame Tower
10. River
11. Lake
Factions
1. Humans
2. Elves
3. Orcs
4. Dwarves
Minor Factions
1. Rats
2. Undead (Necromancer + Skeletons)
3. Druids
4. Snowmen
There sure were a lot of rolls for the Ice Towers. 😬
I have actually been throwing in a few extra bells and whistles regarding technological advances (Based on access to local resources). Worldbuilding currently with stone age elves who only have access to flint, fish, and salt. They are currently dealing with a territorial wingless dragon who happens to fancy a spot they dedicated to their River God.
Sorry it has taken me so long to respond. I broke my leg and I have been laid up for a while. Theres really nothing much to it. For example I start out in the stone age and I just go through the process of learning what is needed to advance to the bronze age, like metallurgy and access to copper and tin.
Hey Nook. I've spent the last month creating this map on and off, backporting in updates as you've released them and I'm very pleased with the result.
Since finishing I've drafted a design document to use the map to play a sort of card-driven board game. a game within a game sort of thing, itself based upon mappa imperium's rules. The idea is still in its infancy but I'll let you know if anything ever comes of it.
Thank you for all your hard work making mappa imperium, it's scratched my civilization building/observing itch in a way very few other games ever have.
Hey Nook! kuya_mencias from youtube here. I kind of homebrewed a lot based on my experience. Like an advantage system for War, where the players list down their advantages to gain +1 and said advantages canceled out if the opposition has an advantage themselves. And free actions every era to allow the player to declare war or create a settlement. I also allowed them to reroll if they don't like the outcome.
I have played the game four times. Twice finished solo. One unfinished solo. And the last with a group of friends. Here's the world me and my friends played, Davois. (My friends and I pretended to be Gods. And skipped the Pantheon part because it would just prolong the game. xD) (Also this game took almost an entire week of on and off play.)
ElMoe, God of Rivers, Seas, and Lakes favors the Goldiland Empire, a people of Giantkind. They harvest the Arcane Trees, their leaves are smoked to expand the mind of the user, amplifying magic. Their neighbors to the north whom they trade a lot are the Republic, composed of demonkind called Blanca who has a fishery of the Healing fish. They are plagued by a cult that has summoned their ancestor, The Great Old One, to the continent. To the south is the Deadmines Company, composed of greedy Orc miners who left their homes for greener pastures. And Halfling refugees and Goat tribesmen formed a confederacy for their shared experience with being forced out of their home. On the southern side divided by the Glowing Mountains, the Arillo States, a demonkind theocracy who separated from the Republic, settled down near the Glowing Mountains which they believed that their god Arillo, brother to Blanca, resides. The original goatfolk tribe exploits the glowing stones from the mountains. However, a new group of goatfolk has separated again on the other side of the river. And lastly, a reclusive goatfolk mage has taken residence nearby for the last 2 centuries or so.
Auzare, God of the Night, has favored the Orcs. They are surrounded by a great forest with dire wolves as black as the night called Shadow Wolves. (He is kind of not finished yet because of midterms. xD)
Waipurga, Goddess of something grim. (I hate playing with this guy because he power games but I had the last laugh. xD) His people, the Dragonborn, live on an island, surrounded by a bigger island with jungles surrounded by a desert. (See! He has competition in mind.) His dragonborn people subjugated the only other neighbor he has the halflings. All the bad neighbors, a necromancer, Pentafish, and Waterdragon live outside the bigger island. (Again. Power gamer.) The only entrance to his island is guarded by the Goldiland empire who heard the pleas of the halflings from the Confederacy. In return for helping the halflings reclaim their homeland, the giants could exploit the gold and silver fishes that populate the inlet and the shadow foxes that roam outside the desert. No one can come in and out without the permission of the Goldiland empire.
Reman, God of Wisdom and Knowledge, favors the Birdfolk. (He only played Era IV and stopped playing making me take the reigns of his islands. That's why it has the same art style as the center continent.) Reman Reborn, God of Wisdom and Knowledge, (Secretly ElMoe) favors the bird folk Imperials. Their great empire although situated on the tip of the Northern islands holds great riches from the resources exploited like the Lightning crystals that amplify lightning magic, healing trees, and Giant Eagles perching on top of the mountains. Their colony the Revolutionists has separated from the Empire after the injustice of wealth distribution. While the Empire prospers twice, the Revolutionists were fighting the Jungle Elves - their greatest rival since the colony was founded. So they had enough and separated. Scoring victories and reclaiming land that the elves took from them. A group of pacifistic Revolutionaries has formed a Separatist settlement on the other side of the jungle away from all the fighting and death that both sides bring to each other. A similar group of jungle elves journeyed north and settled near the tip of the great lake away from all the bloodshed and war. To the north lives tieflings who are fighting electric snakes that slither in the wetlands that they call home. To the west lives catfolk who herds sheep that grows silk.
I'm planning on playing this with my DND group to create their world. I plan on homebrewing some rules that the players are playing the gods they create and have that woven throughout the storyline. I sort of wanted to fuse this with the Dawn of Worlds game. I hope in future versions, the pantheon portion of this is elaborated a bit more. Otherwise, thanks Nook! This is great!
Finished my first game of this. It was fun and did create some fun stories. I found the Pantheon didn't add much for me. One of my starting faction had a rebellion and then lost over half of their remaining settlements. I made the Rebels the primary after that, then the original group joined with the rebels. It did make me want to play with a friend but I suck at drawing.
I did a single player season with just one player and I noticed a few things that could be improved or better explained
Let's start with the first thing that happens.
I got a hive and it rolled a “Spawn” action in Age of Discovery. When it says to create a new legendary monster near “friend or foe” is this monster considered part of that hive if it’s set to be a friend? Like should be to consider part of the hive faction?
When a legendary monster spawns another legendary monster does that new legendary monster get a turn or does it have to wait until the next era? Also is this new legendary monster a part of a faction. Because in the same game we had 5 legendary monsters all part of the same faction. Like I feel like something is slightly off.
Also when this did become an issue we noticed two things. First Heroes are present in the game, but only for monuments. It would be nice if said heroes could be characters and get actions. It also would be nice if the heroes had a good chance to kill a legendary monster. Cause again in that game a ton of legendary monsters and i'm sure you can guess how that went. Lol
Also some things need to be a little more clear cause it confused us. Like if a legendary monster spawns a cult, does it belong to the monster? When you are about to get a shrine for a legendary monster what does that do? Is it just for art?
Also other than heroes that should be a thing in the future, what about things such as relationships and all that? Sometimes it’s not super clear in some situations on what the relationships should be between some nations. Maybe add to this too at one point?
Overall I like the game though, even though it can be a little confusing at times. Look forward to see what you come up with.
Many of the rules are written to be a bit on the vague side so the "rules" don't box you in to something that doesn't work with your story. If you come across some gray areas then just do what fits best.
For any roll that creates a new faction I would consider them a completely new entity, however, there's a few instances where you could consider them merged. The hive creating a monster is one of those instances, it could be a new queen that still lives with the hive, or, you could treat it as an ally that still rolls separately between ages but treats the hive as an ally and works together. Basically, it's up to whoever rolls to create the story and meaning of that result.
There are a few things that are meant to be map "beautifiers" and the shrine would be one of them. Little things like monuments, shrines, & landmarks to help add some fantasy character to the map.
You can also use shrines as an excuse to get your gods more involved in the story. The Pantheon section doesn't really do anything for the game unless you choose to use them. They are there to help you get ideas and create stories for certain groups. (New cult pops up and have a god of the moon. Maybe they're werebeasts?)
Heroes is something I've been thinking about for a long time but I haven't figured the best way to implement them. Either way, they'll be more for story than actually doing much to sway a roll or faction.
Thanks for the questions, I hope I've been somewhat helpful.
I'm in the middle of an epic world-creation with the help of Mappa Imperium, and I thought a cool addition could be ruling government systems. A simple roll for a monarchy, a triumvirate, an aristocracy, a democracy, etc. This is just for more flavor and storytelling depth. At least that's what I'm going to use it for. :D
Here's a sneak peek of my world in the Fourth Era. I started out with 4 Prime factions but upgraded any hostile factions or tribes to a Prime faction once they entered the game. So now I have 16 Prime factions. Like I said, it's EPIC. And it's taking forever.... xD
I created a world with 4 factions together with my son of 5. In the northwest lived greenskins, lizards in the northeast and two factions of dwarfs in the south. Their was also a catfolk tribe and lots of pirates. My creativity with names is a bit lacking. But it was fun.
I created this map after finding your video of the game on YouTube, so I'm posting my map, as requested. Started with 1 human kingdom and 1 giant kingdom. Ended with 5 human kingdoms, 1 orc tribe, 1 dwarf thanedom, and 4 kinds of giants. Very cool!
This game is so much fun even using just pen and paper. I played it with my cousins and so far we have created different worlds with each other.
My suggestion is that if it is possible to add more variety in the settlement table (if possible), a way for gods to affect the world (optional) and more dynamics with the other players in the expansion face of the game.
Overall, it is a great game for great people with great imaginations.
I really love this game. One problem though: the Game Length Table on page 15 uses Eras 3-5 when G&G update has pushed those previous Eras up by one, so it should be Eras 4-6. Are you holding off on changing the table because you have future updates in mind?
Hi, I am the one who was translating this into Spanish, I found some errors that were mentioned in the translation, I have already finished the translation, I have a draft to show you if you are convinced, where can I send it to you?
I enjoyed this game as a little solo afternoon. From your comments section I found Campaign Cartographer and look forward to doing this game again and putting it up on there when I get round to it.
I would say the pantheon could be integrated a bit more - perhaps things like specific diety influences on the world.
I didn't do the war / fall at the end because I was playing solo and didn't want a ravaged world on the already very full map I had but it also looks good.
Thanks! I’ll be adding a few more things in to hopefully add more pantheon integration. As of right now it’s more of an optional thing to add a bit more story into your world.
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I am so excited to play this game! Do you have a more printer-friendly version by chance, maybe without the background?
I do now! Thanks for asking for it and reminding me, I should have had something more printer friendly done a long time ago.
Hi, i thought i might as well ask here. So i love the last updat to this game but as i expressed in a previous comment i dislike that tribes and bandits have been put together into one. Again, there is a big distinction between a tribe and bandits, so i always used an older version of Mappa Imperium for the Neighbours development section. Small problem though, i kinda lost the PDF of the older version. Does anyone remember the distinct tables of Tribes and Bandits or maybe even has a PDF. I'll probably eventually make some tables my own but having the old tables would be a massive help.
This one?
Yes. That is the one. Thank you very much :3
Played this solo for an afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed it, will probably try it again with some friends later :)
If you have any interest in map drawing or worldbuilding this is a 10/10 recommendation.
Good game flow with clear instructions. For the most part, you follow along in one direction. It's very clear what you should be doing and there isn't too much page flipping. Playing the game, it feels very polished. I liked the pacing (which is adjustable) and the definitive end achievable within session. The PDF is hyperlinked together in a very convenient way, which helps with the game flow.
My only complaint is that I wish there was a more printer-friendly version so that I could go completely offline.
Overall this game is above and beyond for a PWYW product. Truly a hidden gem.
Truly a hidden gem, and it's amazing you offer it for free. I tipped what I could, and genuinely believe it's worth it. I played through with a few variations on some of the rules and outcomes.
I solo played for 7 different factions, and here was the world I created via Inkarnate...
Olympios, Year 39 of the 7th Era.
Here are some variations which made solo play even more active...
--HERO UNITS--
When the dice results say "A hero arrives" or "Place a monument to a hero" instead, I created a Hero unit (monarch, adventurer, general, etc) and they acted like a free military settlement, simulating an influential party or a strong military force. When getting the "War" option, you get to move your Hero next to the settlement you're trying to capture, essentially camping in their territory. Obviously, as people they aren't just sitting in one spot for dozens of years, but their placements on the map might be considered "where they were recorded to have been" during periods of history.
Whenever a faction rolls to attack your settlements, if the Hero does not have any settlement between them and the attacked settlement, then that faction MUST attack the Hero instead. Similarly, monsters, wizards, bandits/pirates, and swarms must all roll on the War chart against the Hero if their own actions would allow them to destroy a settlement. Heroes being "captured" as a settlement, simply means the hero perishes in battle. Monsters and Swarms don't get the benefits of creating a Hero by these rules, but bandits/pirates do, as well as minor factions. Magic Users are essentially already Heroes but with special rules, and their attacks on the War table can create new Heroes too (or perhaps they convert/blackmail/brainwash the original hero).
As an era ends, all heroes are removed -- this can either mean they die of old age, or simply that time has marched on and their heyday is passed.
--ERA VII, AGE OF STRIFE--
This is basically a continuation of the game that allows it to go on indefinitely. In Era 7, empires are struggling against tumultuous times. Everything is up for grabs, and the weak are seeking to overthrow their neighbors. It consists of the same 60 year (6 Turn) format for Era 4-6 in a normal length game. On their Turn, a major faction rolls once on the Age of Empires table, implements the result, and then immediately rolls once on the Age of Collapse table, also implementing the result.
Once that is done, EVERY Neighbor that has been generated by that faction gets to roll on the Neighbor's Develop table. Swarms don't get to do this (unless you want them to, but they alter the world a bit too much and are quite OP). It can be cumbersome to track each faction's neighbors, as I had 7 "players" each with their own cultures and neighbors, but it definitely made for an engaging mapmaking session. You are free to adjust which neighbors get to do this and which don't -- your Age of Strife could be an era of mythical monsters acting on every turn, leading to an inevitable clash of titans as they perhaps roll on the War table against one another; or it could be an era in which a rapidly invading monstrous swarm consumes kingdom after kingdom.
When the Age of Strife ends, it simply begins again, allowing for infinite play and any number of variations to it you'd like. Time and history continue to march on, and everyone suffers as they continue to vie for power or struggle toward a stable life.
--WARLIKE NEIGHBORS--
I modified the Cults, Tribes, Hives, and Minor Factions once they enter the Age of Strife. Before then, most of the game plays out as written in the rulebook. But once we've passed the Age of Collapse, these groups become more warlike because just like the main factions, they now act on every turn as well.
Cults. On a roll of 5 or 6, the cult will go to War. Their target can be determined by you (if it makes sense lore-wise) or you can randomize it by assigning a number to any amount of neighbors and rolling as many d6 as needed to get that number. This also means that if you are using the Hero rule listed above, Cults can create a Hero for themselves if they roll high (or their attacker rolls low) during the War as well.
Tribes. On a 5, tribal societies may create a floating village as usual, or even a coastal settlement. But pirates will create a small fleet that functions the same way as a Hero unit, and bandits will create a Hero unit. Obviously, these must be dealt with before the pirates or bandits can be dealt with, making it that much harder to uproot and destroy these sources of lawlessness.
Hives. On a 4, the Hive can attack as usual, but must roll on the War table. Attack results of 6 will not create a Hero unit, but will create an extra infestation nearby instead. On my own map, I have several infestations of "Snakemen of Thulsa" and Crom does not seem to favor any attempt at stopping them. To hell with him!
Minor Factions. On a 5, they don't build anything unique, instead, they go to War. Like with Cults above, the target can be determined by you, or you can randomize the target by assigning numbers to neighbors and rolling as many d6 needed to get one of those numbers. Also, when Minor Factions roll to develop and get a 4 or 6, if those options are not possible (no nearby tribes, or no unconnected neighbors), you can decide if they go to War or simply skip their turn.
These all have led me to create a world using Mappa Imperium that continues to evolve and thrive. Honestly, I was just making a pseudo-classical, sword and sandal, kinda-Mediterranean world and now it's managed to randomly generate so many mythical moments and heroic achievements for each empire.
This is awesome! Love the Sword and sandal theme.
This Inkarnate makes cool maps. I've been using wonderdraft and finding it... quite slow to make it look good.
How is Inkarnate?
Inkarnate is really good. I pay a $5 subscription for more content, but the free content is good as well. Mostly you can paint the terrain, draw landmasses (you can even set how uneven coastlines will be), and place assets like mountains, towns, text, images, etc. With the subscription it lets you upload your own assets as well. There is a way to take notes if you want to worldbuild and describe each place, but it isn't too robust -- just drop a pin and it opens a window to type. It has different genre of maps as well, such as a more archaic theme, or a top-down battle map style for DnD.
I am making a Fallout thing for personal use with this as my biggest inspiration, thanks
Update: it is mostly done, completely unplayable without having made it, might fix that one day and release it
I bought this game before I had an itch.io account and accidentally got rid of the PDF. Is there anywayto redownload it or do I need to pay the $10 again? At the time I didn't realize that it was associated with itch.io and I'd need your account to reaccess it. This is so much fun by the way, I did this with my 5th grade class and they loved it. Made map reading so much fun!
When you click "download" there's a link that says "no thanks, just take me to the downloads". That will take you back in to get the PDF.
It's a free game, the $10 is more of a tip (which I greatly appreciate!) Itch.io allows me to do a Pay What You Want system, so if you wish you can toss a few bucks my way but it's certainly not necessary.
-Michael
Also, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I would love to see the map if you don't mind sharing it here :D
Hey Nook! Happy to be finally getting with my group to be playing this. We decided to do an eastern style map/theme (part of which is here). Just finished the (reletively) new Age of Myth - hugely fun!!! We included local Spirits and Dieties to reflect regional folklore.
We decided to do our own 3d6 Race table, to include Multi-race, and to suit our Pathfinder/DnD sensibilities:
Of course, people are free to use this or variate of it! Credit goes to Nook for the original idea :P
Another session, another custom table, this time a 2d6 Neighbours table:
This is to suit our preferences as a group. Feel free to use/adapt!
I love it!
Are you open to someone making / posting expansions or alternate rules to this? Obviously free + with credit. I love this game so much and have played several solo games in the past few days, but I'm trying to make alternate rules for godless realms by replacing gods with magic systems, among some other alternate tables and stuff, and it seems a shame not to share it
Of course, I'm very curious to see what you come up with!
Solo game with three Home Regions.
Not quite the same size. Working on in Samsung Notes on my tablet, which is why I put in the line on the left (in case I accidentally slide the world over).
This is the end of Era 1. I decided not to add anything after the 8 rolls. That empty spot in #3's big island leaves a bit of room for them to grow/discover, depending on later Eras.
Did have one mess up early on where I put #3's hills in #2 and #3's river in #2, but I caught it the next round and corrected course. XD
Will post another image once I'm done mangling this poor map with my chicken scratch notes for the other Eras. Love how organically the world grew just based on a few rolls!
Just a small question. Why did you put Pirates/Bandits and Tribes together? Both are very destinct and i have found myselve wondering how to explain why a tribe would build a floating city, etc. It´s not really critice, i´m just curious.
I originally had them separate, but the rolls ended up being very similar and decided to combine them into one. Also, combining them helped put all of that "neighbors develop" section onto one page.
For a little idea help, you could think of a tribe strapping together some rafts and building the town (like Lake-town from LOTR), and if you don't see them putting it in the sea then just use a river or lake.
Of course, you can always re-roll if it doesn't fit. I won't say anything :)
I just had a nice long solo game and I still love this game to death. Bless you Nookrium for bringing so many of my favorite things together into something that not only can be super fun to play, but can also be used for worldbuilding. Might even turn the session I just played into a short campaign :). The only problem I found was in Era 4, the hyperlink in "11 Expansion" takes me to page 8, not page 9, however that is such a small detail that it had 0 effect on my enjoyment. Keep up the fantastic work man.
Thank you! Sorry I missed this comment somehow, I'll get that hyperlink fixed soon!
on the 5.2 Neighbors Develop page, under the "Tribe / Bandits / Pirates" there is no have a 4th option, just 1,2,3,5,6
Got it fixed, thanks for letting me know!
Fun little step I added in my solo run: At the end of each era after the first, for each region (so each player), I created an idiom around what was currently known of the world. A saying for local customs.
For instance, and mind that these are rather Chinese in nature due to this run being used to develop a wuxia setting... "I'll see you at Niangmukan" is a way to tell someone their goal is unattainable. It refers to the sacred site of one of the celestial beings established in the second age, which is so remote as to be considered mythical.
In another example, "awakened by a fulurong on the side of the road" is a reference to an animal chosen as one of the "resources" of my world, whose horns naturally balance qi around it. In other words, this idiom is a fancy way of describing a windfall.
I'm really digging this step because it helps add that little bit of extra oomph to the lore, so I figured I'd share in case anyone else wanted to take on a similar approach.
that is most excellent
This is great!
Gotta say, Nookrium, this has really come along. I took your game from a few revisions back and molded it into something a bit different to come up with a world map for my D&D campaign that my players might be more invested in.
Still haven't actually played with them yet, but that's how it goes. Besides, it's not like I'm going to publish or anything. I just really like this game and wanted to suit my needs a little better.
This latest update only helps that go that much smoother. Thank you!
Edit: Would I be able to get the Homebrewery Source code for this? I've been working with that program for a while now and it'd make my work so much easier. Either way, you have my thanks!
I did want to mention that the Era charts don’t say to use 3d6 for the charts. I just happened to notice how high the charts went in number and fixed my rolls.
ooh nice, is that with Incarnate?
yes it is! I love the program. It was a lot of fun to use and it has a notes section to it that I can add markers to the map for so I know what resources are where and how each city came about with what race. I actually broke down and got the years subscription to be able to really define my map. I plan on making more just for the fun of it! I love world building and storytelling!
Yeah, what program is that?
Incarnate....I actually broke down and got the subscription since I loved it so much. I keep tweaking things on my map and adding ‘history’ and resource notes about this little world I made. Maybe one day I’ll host a home brew campaign for it. 😁
How's the progress on the final update going so far pal?
still truckin’ along. Since this will be the final update I’m trying to make it a big one. shouldn’t be too much longer though (hopefully)
Hey Nookrium, don´t want to seem rude, but didn´t you say you wanted to bring one more update out in a comment down below, or was that the continental update. Just wondering.
Sorry it's slow going, but I'm working on it. Rather than put out a few smaller updates I decided to lump them all in together for one big final release update. Here's a sneak peek at what I've been up to
Amazing. I sort of expected you to bring out one last large update. I´m already intrigued by the Leadership rules. Take your time, then it will be good for sure. One last question though. How far, would you say, is this update in develepmont? Around 60 - 70 percent or less/more. Keep up the good work.
60 to 70 is pretty accurate. I mostly just have some testing to do and a few things to draw in to pretty it up.
Nice. One last question to which you may not have an answer yet. Do you expect the update to come out any time soon or do you need another month or two. Don´t worry about it, if you can´t answer that question.
I downloaded what I thought was the game, but only got a PDF file. How do I access the game?
The pdf is the rules for the game. It’s played with pen, paper, & dice.
I have made a map in WorldBox v0.94 through Mappa Imperium!
I had to adapt things a little based on the biomes & races available in WorldBox, but overall it is the same. Except, the gameplay part I get to do Worldbox style! 😁
Geography
1. Hills
2. Desert
3. Forest
4. Mountains
5. Geyser
6. Acid Geyser
7. Volcano
8. Ice Tower
9. Flame Tower
10. River
11. Lake
Factions
1. Humans
2. Elves
3. Orcs
4. Dwarves
Minor Factions
1. Rats
2. Undead (Necromancer + Skeletons)
3. Druids
4. Snowmen
There sure were a lot of rolls for the Ice Towers. 😬
That's great, nicely done Elodin!
Thanks! :D
I have actually been throwing in a few extra bells and whistles regarding technological advances (Based on access to local resources). Worldbuilding currently with stone age elves who only have access to flint, fish, and salt. They are currently dealing with a territorial wingless dragon who happens to fancy a spot they dedicated to their River God.
May you fancy sharing them with us? Maybe on the official discord server?
By some chance can you make a pdf for that?
Sorry it has taken me so long to respond. I broke my leg and I have been laid up for a while. Theres really nothing much to it. For example I start out in the stone age and I just go through the process of learning what is needed to advance to the bronze age, like metallurgy and access to copper and tin.
Will their be any more updates to this?
yes, I plan on getting one more update out before calling it done.
Here's the final islands of Devois. I hope you enjoy. DEVOIS
love the game, maybe add more biomes like tundra, snow?
Hey Nook. I've spent the last month creating this map on and off, backporting in updates as you've released them and I'm very pleased with the result.
Since finishing I've drafted a design document to use the map to play a sort of card-driven board game. a game within a game sort of thing, itself based upon mappa imperium's rules. The idea is still in its infancy but I'll let you know if anything ever comes of it.
Thank you for all your hard work making mappa imperium, it's scratched my civilization building/observing itch in a way very few other games ever have.
Your map is incredible! I look forward to hearing about this card game :D
I kind of homebrewed a lot based on my experience. Like an advantage system for War, where the players list down their advantages to gain +1 and said advantages canceled out if the opposition has an advantage themselves. And free actions every era to allow the player to declare war or create a settlement. I also allowed them to reroll if they don't like the outcome.
I have played the game four times. Twice finished solo. One unfinished solo. And the last with a group of friends. Here's the world me and my friends played, Davois. (My friends and I pretended to be Gods. And skipped the Pantheon part because it would just prolong the game. xD) (Also this game took almost an entire week of on and off play.)
ElMoe, God of Rivers, Seas, and Lakes favors the Goldiland Empire, a people of Giantkind. They harvest the Arcane Trees, their leaves are smoked to expand the mind of the user, amplifying magic. Their neighbors to the north whom they trade a lot are the Republic, composed of demonkind called Blanca who has a fishery of the Healing fish. They are plagued by a cult that has summoned their ancestor, The Great Old One, to the continent. To the south is the Deadmines Company, composed of greedy Orc miners who left their homes for greener pastures. And Halfling refugees and Goat tribesmen formed a confederacy for their shared experience with being forced out of their home. On the southern side divided by the Glowing Mountains, the Arillo States, a demonkind theocracy who separated from the Republic, settled down near the Glowing Mountains which they believed that their god Arillo, brother to Blanca, resides. The original goatfolk tribe exploits the glowing stones from the mountains. However, a new group of goatfolk has separated again on the other side of the river. And lastly, a reclusive goatfolk mage has taken residence nearby for the last 2 centuries or so.
Auzare, God of the Night, has favored the Orcs. They are surrounded by a great forest with dire wolves as black as the night called Shadow Wolves. (He is kind of not finished yet because of midterms. xD)
Waipurga, Goddess of something grim. (I hate playing with this guy because he power games but I had the last laugh. xD) His people, the Dragonborn, live on an island, surrounded by a bigger island with jungles surrounded by a desert. (See! He has competition in mind.) His dragonborn people subjugated the only other neighbor he has the halflings. All the bad neighbors, a necromancer, Pentafish, and Waterdragon live outside the bigger island. (Again. Power gamer.) The only entrance to his island is guarded by the Goldiland empire who heard the pleas of the halflings from the Confederacy. In return for helping the halflings reclaim their homeland, the giants could exploit the gold and silver fishes that populate the inlet and the shadow foxes that roam outside the desert. No one can come in and out without the permission of the Goldiland empire.
Reman, God of Wisdom and Knowledge, favors the Birdfolk. (He only played Era IV and stopped playing making me take the reigns of his islands. That's why it has the same art style as the center continent.)
Reman Reborn, God of Wisdom and Knowledge, (Secretly ElMoe) favors the bird folk Imperials. Their great empire although situated on the tip of the Northern islands holds great riches from the resources exploited like the Lightning crystals that amplify lightning magic, healing trees, and Giant Eagles perching on top of the mountains. Their colony the Revolutionists has separated from the Empire after the injustice of wealth distribution. While the Empire prospers twice, the Revolutionists were fighting the Jungle Elves - their greatest rival since the colony was founded. So they had enough and separated. Scoring victories and reclaiming land that the elves took from them. A group of pacifistic Revolutionaries has formed a Separatist settlement on the other side of the jungle away from all the fighting and death that both sides bring to each other. A similar group of jungle elves journeyed north and settled near the tip of the great lake away from all the bloodshed and war. To the north lives tieflings who are fighting electric snakes that slither in the wetlands that they call home. To the west lives catfolk who herds sheep that grows silk.I'm planning on playing this with my DND group to create their world. I plan on homebrewing some rules that the players are playing the gods they create and have that woven throughout the storyline. I sort of wanted to fuse this with the Dawn of Worlds game. I hope in future versions, the pantheon portion of this is elaborated a bit more. Otherwise, thanks Nook! This is great!
That's great! I hope to hear how it goes over!
Finished my first game of this. It was fun and did create some fun stories. I found the Pantheon didn't add much for me. One of my starting faction had a rebellion and then lost over half of their remaining settlements. I made the Rebels the primary after that, then the original group joined with the rebels.
It did make me want to play with a friend but I suck at drawing.
I did a single player season with just one player and I noticed a few things that could be improved or better explained Let's start with the first thing that happens.
I got a hive and it rolled a “Spawn” action in Age of Discovery. When it says to create a new legendary monster near “friend or foe” is this monster considered part of that hive if it’s set to be a friend? Like should be to consider part of the hive faction?
When a legendary monster spawns another legendary monster does that new legendary monster get a turn or does it have to wait until the next era? Also is this new legendary monster a part of a faction. Because in the same game we had 5 legendary monsters all part of the same faction. Like I feel like something is slightly off.
Also when this did become an issue we noticed two things. First Heroes are present in the game, but only for monuments. It would be nice if said heroes could be characters and get actions. It also would be nice if the heroes had a good chance to kill a legendary monster. Cause again in that game a ton of legendary monsters and i'm sure you can guess how that went. Lol
Also some things need to be a little more clear cause it confused us. Like if a legendary monster spawns a cult, does it belong to the monster? When you are about to get a shrine for a legendary monster what does that do? Is it just for art?
Also other than heroes that should be a thing in the future, what about things such as relationships and all that? Sometimes it’s not super clear in some situations on what the relationships should be between some nations. Maybe add to this too at one point?
Overall I like the game though, even though it can be a little confusing at times. Look forward to see what you come up with.
Many of the rules are written to be a bit on the vague side so the "rules" don't box you in to something that doesn't work with your story. If you come across some gray areas then just do what fits best.
For any roll that creates a new faction I would consider them a completely new entity, however, there's a few instances where you could consider them merged. The hive creating a monster is one of those instances, it could be a new queen that still lives with the hive, or, you could treat it as an ally that still rolls separately between ages but treats the hive as an ally and works together. Basically, it's up to whoever rolls to create the story and meaning of that result.
There are a few things that are meant to be map "beautifiers" and the shrine would be one of them. Little things like monuments, shrines, & landmarks to help add some fantasy character to the map.
You can also use shrines as an excuse to get your gods more involved in the story. The Pantheon section doesn't really do anything for the game unless you choose to use them. They are there to help you get ideas and create stories for certain groups. (New cult pops up and have a god of the moon. Maybe they're werebeasts?)
Heroes is something I've been thinking about for a long time but I haven't figured the best way to implement them. Either way, they'll be more for story than actually doing much to sway a roll or faction.
Thanks for the questions, I hope I've been somewhat helpful.
-Nook
Hey Nook,
I'm in the middle of an epic world-creation with the help of Mappa Imperium, and I thought a cool addition could be ruling government systems. A simple roll for a monarchy, a triumvirate, an aristocracy, a democracy, etc. This is just for more flavor and storytelling depth. At least that's what I'm going to use it for. :D
Here's a sneak peek of my world in the Fourth Era. I started out with 4 Prime factions but upgraded any hostile factions or tribes to a Prime faction once they entered the game. So now I have 16 Prime factions. Like I said, it's EPIC. And it's taking forever.... xD
Fantastic looking map! That’s going to take forever, lol!
I like the idea of adding a government system, a simple roll could add a lot of story into the empires. Good idea!
I created a world with 4 factions together with my son of 5. In the northwest lived greenskins, lizards in the northeast and two factions of dwarfs in the south. Their was also a catfolk tribe and lots of pirates. My creativity with names is a bit lacking. But it was fun.
Great map! I love seeing how the pen & paper ones turn out.
How’d your 5 year old take it? I’m not sure mine would be patient enough. :)
I created this map after finding your video of the game on YouTube, so I'm posting my map, as requested. Started with 1 human kingdom and 1 giant kingdom. Ended with 5 human kingdoms, 1 orc tribe, 1 dwarf thanedom, and 4 kinds of giants. Very cool!
How did you paint the map?
It was created in Inkarnate, the map making web app.
Nice! Did you use the free Inkarnate assets or do you own the subscription?
Those blue Dragons are unfortunately exclusive to the paid version, though red ones are free
This game is so much fun even using just pen and paper. I played it with my cousins and so far we have created different worlds with each other.
My suggestion is that if it is possible to add more variety in the settlement table (if possible), a way for gods to affect the world (optional) and more dynamics with the other players in the expansion face of the game.
Overall, it is a great game for great people with great imaginations.
There should be an option for a race/species to be destroyed, except for a single lost city.
I really love this game. One problem though: the Game Length Table on page 15 uses Eras 3-5 when G&G update has pushed those previous Eras up by one, so it should be Eras 4-6. Are you holding off on changing the table because you have future updates in mind?
I will be updating the eras a bit next time, but that was just a mistake.
Fixed now, thank you!
Hi, I am the one who was translating this into Spanish, I found some errors that were mentioned in the translation, I have already finished the translation, I have a draft to show you if you are convinced, where can I send it to you?
You can use the email in the pdf, thanks again!
I enjoyed this game as a little solo afternoon. From your comments section I found Campaign Cartographer and look forward to doing this game again and putting it up on there when I get round to it.
I would say the pantheon could be integrated a bit more - perhaps things like specific diety influences on the world.
I didn't do the war / fall at the end because I was playing solo and didn't want a ravaged world on the already very full map I had but it also looks good.
Thanks!
Thanks! I’ll be adding a few more things in to hopefully add more pantheon integration. As of right now it’s more of an optional thing to add a bit more story into your world.