Elemental: Pen & Paper Rules

Version 0.51: Last Updated November 11, 2009.

 

The Map

1351_001

The Rules

 

I.                    The Sovereign

a.       Default Power of 5.

b.      Default Essence of 15.

                                                               i.      Essence determines the max amount of mana the player can store.

                                                             ii.      Mana is collected by controlling a shard or through technologies that allows the sovereign to generate it on his own.

II.                  The Map

a.       Fertile Land

                                                               i.      Denoted by “F” on the map.

                                                             ii.      Provides 5 food if a farm is built on it.

b.      Metal

                                                               i.      Denoted by “M” on the map.

                                                             ii.      Will support 1 knight if mine is built.

c.       Shards

                                                               i.      Denoted by A, B, C, D, E on the map.

                                                             ii.      Provide mana for spells.

d.      Dragons

                                                               i.      Denoted by (X) on the map.

                                                             ii.      Provides a dragon to the player who can win him over.

e.      Ruins

                                                               i.      Denoted by a (*) on the map.

                                                             ii.      Draws an event card.

III.                Cities

a.       Drains 3 essence from sovereign to create.

b.      Default Power is 1.

c.       Can have 4 improvements built.

d.      Improvements

                                                               i.      Farm  (on fertile land)

                                                             ii.      Mine (on metal resource)

                                                            iii.      Mana Collector (on shard)

                                                           iv.      Barracks

1.       Required to produce units.

                                                             v.      Tower of Sorcery

1.       Provides 1 point of spell research per turn

                                                           vi.      University

1.       Provides 1 point of technology research per turn

                                                          vii.      Bazaar

1.       Provides 1 gold per turn.

                                                        viii.      Palace

1.       Provides 1 prestige point per turn.

e.      Units

                                                               i.      Soldier

1.       Default power of 1.

2.       Costs 1 gold per turn.

3.       Takes 1 turn to build.

4.       Consumes 1 food resource per turn.

                                                             ii.      Knight

1.       Default power of 3

2.       Costs 1 gold per turn.

3.       Requires 1 dedicated metal resource

4.       Takes 1 turn to build.

5.       Consumes 1 food resource per turn.

                                                            iii.      Dragon

1.       Default power of 10

2.       Can only be obtained by a player that has collected 20 prestige points.

f.        Technologies

                                                               i.      Warfare

1.       10 research points

2.       Adds 1 power to all units.

                                                             ii.      Civilization

1.       10 research points

2.       All cities give 1 gold to player

                                                            iii.      Adventure

1.       10 research points

2.       Required to communicate with dragons

                                                           iv.      Magic

1.       10 research points

2.       Gives player 1 generic mana per turn.

g.       Spells (all cost 10 spell points to research)

                                                               i.      Improve Power

1.       Permanently boosts power of an army by 1 point per use.

2.       Consumes 8 mana of any kind

                                                             ii.      Destroy City

1.       Eliminates a city

2.       Requires control of 4 different shards plus 8 mana of any kind.

                                                            iii.      Combat

1.       Improves power of any army by 2 points for 1 turn.

2.       Requires control of 1 shard plus 5 mana.

                                                           iv.      Appear Prestigious

1.       Adds 10 prestige to your current total for 1 turn.

2.       Requires control of 2 shards plus 8 mana.

                                                             v.      Spell of Mastery

1.       Win the game

2.       Requires control of 5 shards plus 9 mana.

                                                           vi.      Haste

1.       Permanently Increases the speed of an army by 1

2.       Requires control of 2 shards and 6 mana

h.      How combat works

                                                               i.      Two armies meet, the one with higher power wins.

                                                             ii.      If both armies have the same power, the attacker wins.

 

From this, we will begin playing out a stripped down version of Elemental together in real-time. 

The 5 players are:

 

Once all 5 players comment, we shall begin. :)

70,979 views 29 replies
Reply #1 Top

Woo Hoo!

Where do I start and how much mana do I start with?

"In the land emerges Rishkith, a Channeler who seeks the magical power of the Elemental Shards. His Power and Ambition are destined to leave a mark upon the lands of Elemental"

Reply #2 Top

Reply #3 Top

How much of this is going to be visible to non-players? Sounds like something I'd like to follow........

Reply #4 Top

It's all public.

Reply #5 Top

Two more questions.

What does food do for us?

Do we know what stats the Dragon has?

Reply #6 Top

Cute meeples Frogboy!  Where'd they come from?

Reply #7 Top

This is going to be fun to track. 

Do improvements have any gold cost?

Since this is public let the strategizing begin.  I say zoom for the dragons.  No pesky shards required!

Reply #8 Top

Something I forgot to mention: A military unit requires a food resource to support. 

Reply #9 Top

Im sure all questions will be answered in time, guys lol im just psyched to hear that its all gonna be public |-)  

Reply #10 Top

I'm ready when you are boss. Need a little info first. How much can we do on our first turn or per turn? Is it like this?:

Move Sovereign 5 paces east, build city.    ?

I see 4 pieces on your map there. There should be 5 right? Also, I thought you were playing with us? :)

This looks very interesting. I can't wait to kill you all :). Can we Ally with each other, do some limited research etc etc? If we have enough prestige can we obtain more then one dragon working for us or is that too much of a advantage?

P.S. can I have a Red piece please? It's my favorite color. If not Red then I'll take Black. Anything but yellow. Damn I HATE yellow. It's all shiny and happy and bright....yuck.

Reply #11 Top

Oh, had an idea. It might take a minute but seeing as how the paper is in a grid it could have number and letter coordinates, I.E. A1, A2, A3, etc etc like the board game "Battleship". That could make it easier to move around the map in a situation like this. Just a thought.

Note: Sorry for the double post.

Reply #12 Top

P.S. can I have a Red piece please? It's my favorite color. If not Red then I'll take Black. Anything but yellow. Damn I HATE yellow. It's all shiny and happy and bright....yuck.
End of quote

Lol i wouldn't be surprised if Brad gave you yellow just for that raven ^_^'  

Reply #13 Top

Quoting RisingLegend, reply 12

P.S. can I have a Red piece please? It's my favorite color. If not Red then I'll take Black. Anything but yellow. Damn I HATE yellow. It's all shiny and happy and bright....yuck.


Lol i wouldn't be surprised if Brad gave you yellow just for that raven  
End of RisingLegend's quote

SSSHHHHH, don't give him any ideas damnit :P

Reply #14 Top

Just a thought,

 

Perhaps the winning army should loose hitpoints equal to the strength of loosing army.  Winner always has 1 Str at end of battle.

Otherwise 1 knight can mow down an unlimited number of soldiers, or it just becomes a race to a dragon, as first dragon is unkillable without another dragon.

 

Zanzibar

 

 

Reply #15 Top

Other questions:

1) How many turns does it take to build each improvement?  Assume you can only be building 1 improvement per city per turn.  I suggest:    

i.      Farm  (on fertile land) - 2 turns

                                                 ii.      Mine (on metal resource) - 2 turns

                                                            iii.      Mana Collector (on shard) - 2 turns

                                                           iv.      Barracks - 2 turns

                                                             v.      Tower of Sorcery - 3 turns

                                                           vi.      University - 3 turns

                                                          vii.      Bazaar - 3 turns

                                                        viii.      Palace - 4 turns

2) As I don't see any movement values, can I suggest the following movement: Soldier & Soverign - 1 square, Knights 2 squares, Dragon 3 squares

 

-Zanzibar

Reply #17 Top

If it doesn't say otherwise, it's 1 turn.

Reply #18 Top

After decades of mischief,   Climber the Great Wanderer acquired the ability to manipulate Essence, the secret of all secrets.   Vowed to end the suffering of his kinsmen, he is now travelling to the NE of the Left continent in search of fertile land.  He is determined to rejuvenate this hostile land from there.

(Not sure where the 5th piece is, I'll prefer the black piece as my starting city location)

==
Questions.  Frogboy, pls clarify..
1.     “Requires 1 dedicated metal resource”:  There are only 3 “M” on the map.  Does it means only a total of 3 Knights are possible amongst all players?
2.    There is no mention of whether 1 shard produces 1 mana per turn.  Let me assume so, but correct me if other wise.
3.    According to some other Frogboy posts, I assume Food is needed to support/expand population.

 

Reply #19 Top

Holy crap, I just read this. OK, reading the rules. Didn't know I had been picked.

Reply #20 Top

Atris the ancient grey paladin, after spending years focusing his will in the high mountains becomes a earthly conduit for essence and so descends to claim his kingdom and reunite the world under his rule.

(I take Yellow as my starting place, if that is how this works. Please correct me if I make a rule error.)

EDIT: Yeah I know Atris isn't my handle but MagicwillNZ is hardly a fitting name for a channeler.

CURRENT STATS

Essence = 15

Reply #21 Top

I will take the blue next to the ocean. Also I read that ravenX was talking smack and says he is going to win, but that is strange how can he and I both win? Huhhh? ... :)

Reply #22 Top

DELETED TO PREVENT CONFUSION

Reply #23 Top

I'm sad I didn't get in.   Oh well.  

 

This is different from what I imagined.  Are the turns being posted right here in the journal?   (i.e. should the rest of us only read and talk about whats going on elsewhere in a normal thread?)

Reply #24 Top

if everything is in the open, then someone else could take upon them to run more games based on the experiences from this one.

Reply #25 Top

Quoting MagicwillNZ, reply 22
[OK assuming that my starting location is OK and that I understand the rules, I'll go ahead and describe what I will do the first turn, because I don't think turn order is all that significant on the first turn. Otherwise I'll delete this post to avoid confusion. I'll also describe some of my moves in advance in case I miss a post and so I don't miss a turn. ]

TURN 1

Descending from the mountains, the Grey Paladin gathers his followers to erect the first buildings that will become Fortitude. He teaches them the value of knowledge and the sanctity of understanding, and so they first build not one but two great places of learning. He also teaches them the value of commerce, so they begin the foundations of two markets. Meanwhile, their leader travels north, drawn by the promise of magic.

IN GAME TERMS:

I found a city, costing 3 essence. I will dub this here city Fortitude. I will queue up these improvements assuming I have the option to demolish buildings to be built: University, University, Bazaar, Bazaar. Assuming the sovereign doesn't need to be positioned on a city to build improvements, next turn I will move my sovereign north toward the shard. In case I forget, I will begin researching Warfare once I finish my first university.

CURRENT STATS

Essence 12.
End of MagicwillNZ's quote

That's a good post and a good first move. I think we should wait for Frogboy to tell us where we start officially though shouldn't we? Just guessing here. As soon as he says go and tells me where I start I'll have my first "turn" ready.