Continuing this series on the Gods of Wandrossa mini-game for my Patrons, I thought I might expand upon what a God can do in a day and how it all works within the game. If you’re just tuning in, be sure to read the two previous parts of the Gods of Wandrossa series:
Playtest Content
The material here is presented for playtesting and to spark your imagination. These game mechanics are in draft form, usable in your campaign but not refined by final game design and editing. They aren’t officially part of the game.
Constructive feedback is welcome and appreciated in either comments or social media. If you can give me a valid reason with examples why something is off, 9/10 I’m likely to make changes to the content and credit you for doing so. Otherwise, feedback without anything to back it up gets ignored (or at most a smile emoji like this 🙂 ) Thanks!
Gods of Wandrossa Design Notes
This is how I want this to work. Each day, the gods of Wandrossa (aka the patrons) can take one action, one bonus action, and one reaction just like during a combat round of 5e. Those actions allow the god to change different elements of the Wandrossa campaign setting.
Big events–such as creating new life, changing the terrain, etc.–will be done through lesser aspect features as well as divine powers, in addition to “sign on” bonuses.
However, the “basic” events such as building temples, improving settlements, creating conflicts, etc. will be free daily. Some of these actions require the god to use its might to accomplish.
The way it will work is that the patron announces their intention for the day in the comments section of the daily announcement. For example:
I wish to create a conflict at Bygrove. My might is +4 and I have a +1 bonus to my might for creating a new creature last year.
Bygrove is a small city with a defensive value of 7. That god alone would not be able to do too much harm in Bygrove. However, if another lesser deity joined in the conflict and applied its might (as a reply to the comment), the total might would be 9 on the side of the offense.
Then, other gods could oppose the conflict. A greater deity could apply its might to oppose those creating the conflict. Its might is 6 so it would reduce the instigators total might down to 3, which is not enough to do damage to Bygrove. And so on.
A big part of the game is that gods will have to work together to accomplish certain tasks. With the exception of higher level gods, most things are difficult to accomplish. Because there are no dice rolls, the game is very much like the classic board game Diplomacy in a lot of ways. It all comes down to negotiating with your fellow gods and plenty of backstabbing.
TL;DR this is going to be fun. 🙂
The Order of Events
A typical year in Wandrossa involves gods influencing the people, creatures, and even the terrain of Wandrossa. The game organizes the chaos of godly events into days and months. A day represents one year in game time, and a month is a 20-year cycle (no actions on Saturdays and Sundays).
During a day, each patron takes their turns simultaneously, declaring actions on the Call to Action (CTA) thread. At the end of the day, during the resolution phase, the order of actions is determined by all of the god’s initiative values. Once all of the actions are organized, and any conflicts are resolved, the results are posted the following evening in a new CTA thread.
Events Step by Step
- Call to Action. The daily call to action (CTA) thread is posted on Patreon at 12am CST. In addition, the results from the day before are posted in the header for this thread.
- Declare Actions. All patrons can declare actions by commenting on the CTA or responding to the action of another patron. Actions must be declared before 9pm CST every day in order to count. If a patron posts more actions than they are allowed to, only the earliest posted action counts. A patron may not delete or edit its action without prior Overdeity approval or the action will be disqualified for the day.
- Resolution Phase. During the resolution phase, the day’s actions are organized by initiative order. Then, the results are cataloged and the information is updated. The results are added to the next day’s CTA thread.
- New Day. A new day begins with a new CTA announcing the previous day’s results.
Call to Action
Monday through Friday at 12am CST (U.S. Central Time), the Call to Action thread is posted in the Patreon channel. It is open to patrons only (of any tier). The Call To Action not only signifies the start of action declarations from the patrons but also has three vital pieces of information. Before declaring actions for the day, be sure to review the information as it may affect the outcome of your action.
Previous Day’s Results
The previous day’s results are posted in the CTA thread. This details everything that occurred the day before. The results are final and cannot be changed once posted.
Random Occurrences
Random occurrences may happen. These are announced by the Overdeity to add a random dynamic to the game. These could be a meteor crashing into the area, a forest fire, or even the introduction of a new type of monster. Each random occurrence will be detailed as it occurs.
Map Updates
If there are any major changes to the maps, the map will be updated and posted for all patrons to reference.
Declare Actions
Once the CTA is posted, you can declare your action. To declare an action, you must post a comment on the CTA thread for that day before the hours of 12am CST and 9pm CST.
The most common actions you can take are described in the “Daily Actions” section later in this article. Many domain features and other abilities provide additional options for your action.
You can forgo declaring an action on a day. If you do not declare an action, you automatically take the Rest action as described in “Daily Actions.”
Bonus Actions
Various domain features, divine powers, chosen ones, and other abilities let you take an additional action on your turn called a bonus action. Chosen ones, for example, allows you to move your Chosen One and clear a dungeon, gather an artifact or defend a settlement. You can take a bonus action only when a special ability, divine power, or other feature of the game states that you can do something as a bonus action. You otherwise don’t have a bonus action to take.
You can take only one bonus action per day, so you must choose which bonus action to use when you have more than one available.
Like your normal action, your bonus action must be declared between 12am CST and 9pm CST on the current CTA thread.
Reactions
Certain special abilities, powers, and situations allow you to take a special action called a reaction. A reaction is a response to a trigger of some kind, which can occur in your normal Initiative order or at the same time as another god’s initiative order.
When you take a reaction, you can’t take another one until the next day.
Other Daily Actions
During the day, you can still vote in polls, comment on lore-building threads, and engage with the rest of the patrons. None of these conflict with the events for the day.
Daily Actions
When you declare your action each day, you can take one of the actions presented here, an action you gained from your class or a special feature, or an action that you improvise.
Assist/Oppose
You can assist or oppose another god’s conflict or improvement action by replying to its declared action thread. If you declare that you are assisting the declared action you add your might to the action’s conflict pool or improvement pool respectively. If you declare that you are opposing the declared action you subtract your might to the conflict or improvement pool. Assisting and opposing happens in the same initiative order as the original declared action
For example:
Dave declares that he is going to create a conflict in Bygrove, adding his 4 might to the conflict pool. Bygrove has a defensive value of 7, therefore, Dave will need help in order to make the conflict successful.
Tracy declares that she will assist Dave, adding her own 4 might to the conflict pool. The conflict pool is now 8 which would be enough for Dave and Tracy to succeed in the Bygrove conflict.
However, JD declares that he will oppose Dave, subtracting his 2 might from the conflict pool. The conflict pool is now 6, which isn’t enough for Dave and Tracy to succeed in Bygrove.
Build/Improve Temple
Choose a settlement. Your followers build a 1st-level temple in that settlement. If you already have a temple in the settlement, increase the temple’s level by 1. In order to improve a temple beyond the first level, you must have a minimum amount of might: 3 might to build a 2nd-level temple, 4 might to build a 3rd-level temple, and 5 might to build a 4th-level temple. The other gods cannot assist or oppose you in building a temple.
Conflict
A conflict involves starting a battle, coup, or causing general trouble somewhere in Wandrossa. See the “Conflicts” section for the rules that govern conflicts.
Certain features, such as the Extra Conflict feature of the War domain, allow you to declare more than one conflict each day.
Convert
When you declare a conversion action, you must choose another god or choose agnostics. You cannot choose a god that has taken the Rest action for the year.
- If you choose another god, its follower count is reduced by an amount equal to 10 times your might bonus. You gain a number of followers equal to the amount the other god lost.
- If you choose agnostics, you gain a number of followers equal to 5 times your might bonus.
Divine Intervention
Choose a settlement. You increase the settlement’s satisfaction score by an amount equal to your might.
Divine Power
You can use one of your divine powers. Each divine power has an implementation time, which specifies whether the god must use an action, a reaction, or bonus action to use the power. Most divine powers have an implementation time of 1 action, so a god often uses his or her daily action to use such a power.
Improve Settlement
You can direct the production of that village so long as it is able to do so. Choose a settlement that has one of your temples in it and declare how you will improve it, selecting one of the options below. You create an improvement pool and add your might to the improvement pool. Other gods can assist or oppose the improvement by replying to the pool. To complete the improvement, the build pool must have a total of 5 might or more during the resolution phase. You cannot improve a settlement if it is under the effects of civil unrest. Choose one of the following improvements:
- Build Mine (10 Wealth). Place a mine on 1 mountain hex within the settlement’s area of effect.
- Clear Forest. Replace 1 forest hex with 1 grassland hex. Increase the settlement’s wealth by 5.
- Build Road (5 Wealth). Add 1 road hex.
- Farm (5 Wealth). Change 1 grassland hex within the settlement’s area of influence into a farm hex. Increase the settlement’s food supply by 300.
- Build Lumber Mill (10 Wealth). Place a lumber mill on 1 forest hex within the settlement’s area of effect.
- Improve Defenses (X Wealth). The settlement’s DV score increases by 1, and its satisfaction score decreases by 1. The wealth cost to upgrade defenses is equal to the settlement’s new DV.
- Emigrate. The population of the settlement increases by 100.
Protect
Choose a settlement. The settlement’s DV increases by an amount equal to your might until the end of the day.
Rest
When you declare the Rest action, you are immune to conversion attempts for the day. If you do not declare an action for the day, you automatically take the Rest action.
Conflict
Whether it’s an armed incursion, an uprising, or even an assassination attempt on a leader, a conflict has a simple structure.
- Choose a target. Pick a settlement, improvement, or another area of interest.
- Declare the desired outcome. In addition to declaring the conflict, the attacker must also declare his or her desired outcome. Choose one of the following: Destruction, Overthrow, or Raze Temple.
- Create an attack pool. When you declare the target, you create an attack pool. You add your might into the attack pool. If the target is a settlement that you have a temple in, you add a bonus equal to the temple’s level to the pool. In addition, powers, special abilities, and other effects can apply penalties or bonus to the attack pool.
- Receive help/opposition. Gods that have not yet used their action can assist you by adding an amount equal to their might to the attack pool. Similarly, gods can use their action can oppose you by subtracting an amount equal to their might from the attack pool.
Resolution
At the end of each day, the Overdeity determines the results of all of the declared actions.
Initiative
The Overdeity organizes all actions by the real-time that the action was declared. Assist and oppose actions are considered to happen simultaneously with the declared action.
For example:
Dave declares that he is improving Eltun’s defenses at 1:13pm CST. He adds 4 might to the improvement pool. If successful, Eltun’s defenses increase by 2, its wealth decreases by 1, and its satisfaction decreases by 1. Eltun’s current defenses are 5.
JD declares that he is creating a conflict in Eltun at 2:45pm CST, adding his 6 might to the conflict pool.
Tracy declares that she is assisting Dave’s improvements in Bygrove at 5:32pm CST, adding her 4 might to the improvement pool. Although her assist came in an hour later, it’s counted as happening at the same time as Dave’s action.
During the resolution phase, Dave’s improvement action happens first. Thanks to Tracy’s assist, the total might in the improvement pool is 8, which is enough to increase Eltun’s defenses by 2, making it 7.
JD’s conflict action occurs next, however, it happened after Eltun’s defenses were upgraded. The conflict pool was only 6, which wasn’t enough to overcome Eltun’s upgrade defenses.
Conflict Resolution
Each conflict is resolved in initiative order as noted above. Compare the attack pool to the location’s DV. If the attack pool is greater than the DV, the attackers have an attack surplus. Otherwise, nothing happens.
Attack Surplus
The attack surplus is the amount the attack pool exceeds a location’s DV. If there is an attack surplus, resolve the conflict outcome as detailed below.
Conflict Outcomes
Below are the possible outcomes for a conflict.
Destruction. When you choose to destroy a settlement, the following happens:
- Reduce the settlement’s DV score by 1 for every 1 point of attack surplus.
- Reduce the settlement’s Wealth score by 1 for every 1 point of attack surplus.
- Reduce the settlement’s Population by 100 for every 1 point of attack surplus.
Overthrow. If your attack surplus (see below) is greater than or equal to the settlement’s rank, its leaders are killed or cast out and you put new leaders in place. The new leaders can be one of your chosen ones or an NPC selected by the Overdeity.
Raze. Choose an improvement or a temple within the settlement or its area of influence. For temples: if your attack surplus is greater than or equal to the target temple’s level, it is destroyed in the conflict. Otherwise, it remains. For locations, destroy one location.
Action Resolutions
All other actions are resolved in initiative order.
Results
After all actions and conflicts are resolved, the results are placed into the daily log and released the following day at 12am CST.
New Followers
Gods gain followers for actions they took during the day as well as temples, powers, and other special abilities they might have.
- All gods that took an action receive 10 new followers.
- A god receives 10 new followers for every temple level the god has. For example, if a god has one 4th-level temple and 2 1st-level temples, the god gains 60 followers.
- The god gains or loses followers from conversions.
Settlement Updates
Settlements are updated using the following protocol:
- Adjust Stats. Any changes to the settlement’s stats caused by the gods’ actions are made.
- Collect Income. The settlement’s Wealth increases by an amount equal to its income.
- Feed Population. If the settlement’s food supply is less than its population, the settlement’s satisfaction score is reduced by 1 point for every 100 population it can’t feed (minimum of 1). A settlement can use its wealth to feed its population at a rate of 1 Wealth cost per 100 food.
- Civil Unrest Results. If a settlement is under the effects of civil unrest, refer to the civil unrest chart to determine the results.
- Increase/Decrease Population. The settlement’s population increases or decreases by an amount equal to its current population times its growth rate.
Geographical Changes
Any actions that changed the geography of the region are added to the map.
Next: Domains (for real this time)
This is more or less the core engine of the game. I’ll need to clean up the rules a little I’m sure and it’ll need some playtesting, but I’m pretty stoked with what’s here so far.
It’s only $3 to get started. Just $3 to become a God!
Art by Wizards of the Coast.