Comments

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

Viewing most recent comments 1 to 21 of 68 · Next page · Last page

Played this solo for an afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed it, will probably try it again with some friends later :)


I definitely started my drawings too small, so I'll get some bigger paper next time, lol.
(+1)

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.

(3 edits) (+3)

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?

(1 edit)

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!

(+1)

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

(3 edits) (+1)

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)
  • 4 Daemonkind (Daemonfolk, imp, teifling)
  • 5 Feyfolk (Satyr, Faerie, Eladrin, Kitsune, Firbolg, Fey multi-race etc)
  • 6 Reptilian (tortle, lizardfolk, kobold, wyvaran, grippli, serpentfolk)
  • 7 Multi-race (roll again to determine which races dominate, or 'standard' RPG style Human/Half-Elf/Gnome/Dwarf/Halfling mixture)
  • 8 Smallfolk (Hobbits, Darklings, Halflings, Gnomes, Forest Gnomes, Svirfneblin)
  • 9 Humans (Cultural, hybrid cultures, custom)
  • 10 Dwarves (hill dwarves, mountain dwarves, duergar, surface dwarves, dwarf-multi-race)
  • 11 Elves (Wood Elves, High Elves, Drow, Grey Elves, custom, Elf multi-race)
  • 12 Other humanoid (Dragonborn, Elemental Genasi, Shifters, Kitsune, Aasimar, other)
  • 13 Human dominant multi-race (roll 1d6 for number of other races present)
  • 14 Animalfolk (Ratfolk, Mousefolk, Bearfolk, Leonin, Tabaxi, Herengon, Gnoll, Vanara, Tanukifolk)
  • 15 Greenskins (goblin, orc, hobgoblin, monkey goblin, deep goblin greenskin multi-race)
  • 16 Birdfolk (Tengu, Aarakocra, Owlin)
  • 17 Giantkind (ogre, giants, golems, goliath, troll)
  • 18 ‘Monstrous’ (centuar, bugbear, minotuar, gargoyle, orang-pendak)

Of course, people are free to use this or variate of it! Credit goes to Nook for the original idea :P

(+1)

Another session, another custom table, this time a 2d6 Neighbours table:

  • 2 Hive/Swarm (Spider’s nest, giant insects, giant rodents)
  • 3 Deamonspawn/Deamonic Being
  • 4 Sentient Beasts/Creatures (Giant Eagles, Wyverns, Ancient Golems, Manticores, Pandas etc)
  • 5 Faction - Peaceful City State/Monastery City (create and fortify and prosperity)
  • 6 Tribe/Clan (roll for race, or are they Fey crossed from the Feywild Realm?)
  • 7 Faction - Minor Kingdom/Nation (create and add 1 additional settlement)
  • 8 Faction - Order/Cult (Sect of chronomancers with a tower? Religious cult with an isolated fort? Knights order with their own temple/castle?)
  • 9 Powerful Magic/Occult/Undead (Mad Wizard, Disruptive druid, Necromancer, an ambitious Vampire? In a tower, fortress, grove, lair, castle…)
  • 10 Legendary Creature (Hydra, Aelder Dragon, Kraken, Giant Tanuki etc)   
  • 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!

I love it!

(+4)

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!

(+1)

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!

(2 edits)

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.

(+1)

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 :)

(+1)(-1)

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!

(-1)

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

(+1)

Got it fixed, thanks for letting me know!

(1 edit) (+6)

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!

(1 edit) (+1)

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.

ooh nice, is that with Incarnate?

(+1)

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?

(+1)

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. 😁

(+2)

How's the progress on the final update going so far pal?

(+1)

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) 

(+1)

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.

(+2)

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  

(+1)

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.

(+1)

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.

(1 edit)

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.

Oh and for all the trouble. This is the world of Athis which i created on Inkarnate with the continental update.
(-4)

I downloaded what I thought was the game, but only got a PDF file. How do I access the game?

(+1)

The pdf is the rules for the game.  It’s played with pen, paper, & dice.

(1 edit) (+1)(-1)

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. 😬

(+1)

That's great, nicely done Elodin!

(-1)

Thanks! :D

(+2)

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?

(+3)

yes, I plan on getting one more update out before calling it done.  

(+1)

Here's the final islands of Devois. I hope you enjoy. DEVOIS

Viewing most recent comments 1 to 21 of 68 · Next page · Last page