Sunday, January 25, 2009

Two Nations

Two Nations” By: Cameron Lee


Materials: 2d6 (two six sided die) per player. Different colors between players are a must.


The Principal: Each player chooses a nation, and each nation has its own unique advantages. Players roll to increase their nations power, which is divided into three stats: Resources, Offensive Combat, and Defensive Combat. Players use these stats to help them improve, attack, and defend. Interactions between dice are also a big point in this game.


How to play:

Forenote: ALL rolls are to be made over the center of the board between the two nations. When rolling, hold your die about one foot over the center and simply release. This is important for game rules. If a player has to roll 2d6, they may choose to drop one at a time, or both at the same time.

  1. Each player chooses a nation.

  2. Both players roll 1d6 to determine who goes first. Highest number gets first roll.

    Offensive Rolls:

    1.) If a player chooses to attack the other nation, their resource bonus is put on hold and they cannot modify any of their country's stats.

    2.) The attacking player rolls 2d6 over the center of the board. They take the total of both dice and add it to their combat score. If a die lands off the board, only half the number of that die is added to the total for combat- If this happens, always round down if half the number isn't even. (1 becomes 0, 3 becomes 1, 5 becomes 2, etc.)

    3.) This will be the end of the attacking player's turn unless they want to use a special ability.

    The dice must be left in the exact place which they fell on the table.

    Defensive Rolls:

    1.) A defending nation takes a -1 on their resource roll if they choose to take a defensive roll, otherwise they gain their normal resource bonus.

    2.) If a player has an offensive roll placed against them, they have three rounds to defend themselves. If a player fails to beat the offensive after three rounds, they lose.

    3.) A player can choose not to defend themselves in order to modify their country's stats and gain a full resource roll. This will result in taking a defensive loss.

    4.) To defend, a player rolls 2d6 over the center of the board. Should their dice bump any of the attacking players dice, they gain half the number on it (again, round down if half isn't an even number). If their roll actually changes a number on the attacking players dice, they gain the full number.

    If the total of the defensive roll added to the Defensive Combat stat is less than the opposing player's Offensive Combat total (stat + roll), the defending player takes a defensive loss. If it is their third defensive loss, the player has lost the game.

    If, however, the defending player beats the opposing player's Offensive Combat total, all defensive losses are removed and the opposing player takes a loss in all their countries offensive stat equal to how much the defending player beat their Offensive Combat total.

    Modifying Your Country:

    1.) Each player has a resource roll. Once every two rounds, players make their countries resource roll. The number that they roll can be added to Offensive Combat, Defensive Combat, or both. If a player is attacking, they gain zero resources. If a player is defending, they roll their countries resource roll and subtract one.




Special Abilities:


Blitzkrieg (Germexico only) – “Germexico rapidly mobilizes for combat, giving the defending countries' defenses the slip.” Players using the Germexico country can't be defending or already on an offensive against their opponent when using this ability. Using this ability, the defending country cannot roll to defend themselves. Germexico rolls a standard combat roll and adds their Offensive Combat stat to it. If this is greater than the other countries base Defensive stat, the defending country takes a defensive loss.

If a Germexico Blitzkrieg fails, Germexico permanently loses 5 on its Offensive Combat stat.


Stronghold (Netherswiss only) - “Get diggin' or die!” Players using the Netherswiss country can choose to make a stronghold. The player must choose whether form a stronghold after the first defensive loss only.

Should the player successfully defend themselves for the second combat, they permanently lose -5 on their defensive stat.

Should they fail the second combat and get down to the final (third) combat, the defending player can drop their dice directly on top of the offensive players roll and take all roll bonuses accordingly. If they successfully defend, no penalties will be assigned to the Netherswiss.


Relic (Finnawa'ii only) - “It's so shiny!” The Finnawa'ii discovered a relic long ago that promised fortunes to their people. They can beckon it when they choose. Must be used out of combat.

Player takes all 4d6 and rolls them. Player can spend the total however they choose.


Races:


Germexico Netherswiss Finnawa'ii

Offensive: 6 4 3

Defensive: 3 5 4

Resource: 1+(1d6)/2 per 2 rounds 1+(1d6)/2 per 2 rounds (2d6)/2 per 2 rounds








Always round down! Sorry for the long instructions. Have fun and good luck!


The basic design ideals were to have a dice game but use the dice for more than just numbers.

4 comments:

  1. I think maybe listing the rules in order of play would be good, so players can take their turn as they read the instructions would make the instructions more easily understood.

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  2. Once again I agree with Kate here. The rules could stand to be order of play and perhaps an example turn. The rules felt cluttered and in a 15 minute game, I felt that it hurt the game to need to continually cite the rules.

    The concept of having to carefully roll the dice to get your rolls counted is fun and dangerous.

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  3. Cameron,

    While I was unable to see your game played, I agree with Kate and Karl that the rules are much too complex. I think the number of rules you have is small enough, but the mode of communication makes it a bit unclear. You may want to rewrite the rules such that order of play and turn actions are more clearly communicated. It may be useful to draw diagrams or other ways of communicating lots of information quickly and easily. The act of adding skill to the dice throw is a very interesting mechanic that you may want to continue to work with at a later time.

    -Devin Monnens

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  4. The rules were so confusing, I like the concept though! A RTS/RPG board game. I was, sad to say, lost for the entire play time watching Karl and Steven play.

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