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!
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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!