• she/her

Recently appeared on this plane. Last seen: Posting (in a serif font) and/or casting spells. my icon and header image are turned around on purpose actually its not like i dont know how to fix it or anything. my age is private information but if you feel the need to know it presume i'm somewhere between 18 and the age you are and treat me accordingly


I'm working on designing a setting-building game (mainly because i've been in need of a project to work on), and thought i might as well share it with cohost. This is my first time designing a game, so any thoughts, comments, advice or criticism (both on mechanics and the way the rules themselves are presented) is welcome.

The Narrative Premise

This is a world still being made. You play as gods wandering the world, "making it up as you go along", so to speak. The world is empty, but you will fill it with wonders, guided by an ancient and strange library predating the beginning of the universe. You can already tell that this is going to be a strange place.

The Basic Rules

To play this game, you will need:

  • A lot of scraps of paper
  • A blank map, or just a scrap with some coastline scribbled onto it. This should be around a quarter the size or less of the map you want to have at the end of the game.
  • Drawing tools (pens or pencils)
  • Some sort of sticky tape or similar way of connecting multiple pieces of paper
  • Some wooden meeples, other board game pieces, or random trinkets used to represent the player characters.
  • A large amount of strange books, dice, cards, and other pieces raided from board games
  • If you want, any other kind of physical item that you want to guide the world you wanna make.
  • Probably a lot of desk and floor space.

I'm aware that this game might be more heavy on physical props compared to other similar games, but that's part of the design philosophy at play here.

Setup

First, assemble THE LIBRARY. This is a collection of physical books, trinkets, cards, dice, etc. used to guide and inspire the creative process. Then, lay down THE MAP. Start with the blank map, and place extra scraps of paper nearby so you can expand THE MAP as needed. Finally, each player selects an Idol, a piece to represent the god they will be playing as. This can be a board game meeple or just any kind of small trinket. Based on the Idol you chose, decide on a few details about the god you are playing as (possibly guided by THE LIBRARY as described later in the rules), and tell the table.

Structure of a turn

On a turn, you may either Move or Consult THE LIBRARY. To move, you just move your idol from on part of THE MAP to another, or from near the edge of THE MAP to somewhere outside, and stick a scrap of paper onto THE MAP (optionally drawing some more coastline to continue what you had already). Consulting THE LIBRARY is more complex, and is described below.

Consulting THE LIBRARY

First, choose an item from the library:

  • A book. Open to a random page. You may decide to bookmark it to save it for later, and open a new or the same book to a different page. You may only have two pages bookmarked at a time.
  • A deck of cards. Draw up to three cards. Use as many as you want, and keep the cards not used. You may only have two unused cards on your hand at a time. They don't need to come from the same deck.
  • One or more dice. If you have any kind of random table bookmarked, roll on that table. Otherwise, just roll the dice and go with whatever feeling the number you rolled gives you.
  • A trinket. This one's just sort of vibes-based. Go with the general feeling this item gives you, or maybe just place it directly onto THE MAP. The world really is your oister.

When you've consulted THE LIBRARY, you create something on THE MAP inspired by the result you got. Represent this either by drawing what you've created onto THE MAP, or with a game piece placed on it. Then, describe your creation.

Ending the game

When you've played for a bit, you hopefully have a map in front of you that looks messy and cobbled together, with tons of weird places and creatures and such. If you haven't, that's because this is a playtest and i don't know what i'm doing so you should respond and tell me what went wrong. Otherwise, you should just end the game when you feel like you've got a result you like.


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