Guild Wars 2

Hello, all!

So, the other day I decided that I needed a board game for roleplaying purposes, and instead of going with something cliched and possibly non-lore friendly, I created one from scratch. It at first started simply as a name and basic idea, and then when people expressed interest in actually playing it, I had to come up with some rules!
After I hatched the idea, I played it a few times to get the hang of it and threw in some minor tweaks. The result should be a fully-functioning strategy board game, and I thought I’d share my creation! With roleplaying in mind, I kept the layout simple to make it easy to play while RPing, so all you will need is a scrap of paper and a writing utensil. A pen and a pencil will make it easier, but one or the other will suffice.

Layout and Set-up
To start, use a pen to draw a circle on a scrap of paper. Bisect the circle down the middle, then draw two more bisections, splitting the circle into six roughly equal pie pieces. These pieces will now be referred to as ‘domains’.
In each domain, write the name (or an abbreviation, if space is short) of each of the six human Gods. Start at any point and go clockwise, naming them in the following order.

• Grenth
• Kormir
• Balthazar
• Melandru
• Lyssa
• Dwayna
  The actual location of the Gods does not matter, only their relative position to one another.

That’s it! The board is finished!

If roleplaying, the board itself is usually a small cube or short rectangular box. On the top side is a circular pattern emblazoned in six colours. The patterns vary from set to set, some more stylized than others, but all include the six roughly equal domains colour-coded for their gods. Dwayna, blue; Grenth, green; Kormir, orange; Balthazar, red; Melandru, yellow; Lyssa, purple. In each coloured domain there are six holes.
The set also comes with six dozen coloured pieces. The pieces sit comfortably in the holes much like Chinese Checkers, with 3/4 of the piece resting atop the hole for ease of manipulation. There are twelve pieces of each colour, split into two equal groups of a light and a dark shade. (e.g., there are six light green and six dark green Grenth pieces.)
Finally, there is a reference sheet, usually either laminated or carved on a plaque. Printed on it are the God Powers covered below.

Basic Rules
The game is traditionally for two players, but two teams may play, as well.
Flip a coin to determine the starting player. He picks his preferred shade for the game (using either the lighter or the darker pieces) and places any one piece in its corresponding domain. The second player then places her piece in the same fashion, and so on. A player cannot place a piece in the same domain twice in succession, but she can alternate between two domains. Use your pencil to keep track of the pieces. An efficient way to do this is to use the players’ initials to indicate a piece. You will be removing some of these pieces and later replacing them, so the pencil is handy to keep things neat. If you drew the ‘board’ in pen, you can erase the ‘pieces’ without disturbing the ‘board’.
The object of the game is to fully control any one domain by having all six of your pieces in it. If any domain is filled fully with mixed pieces, (belonging to both players), the domain is reset, and all pieces are removed.
That is the entirety of basic gameplay! The intricacies come in once you start placing pieces and building towards a win.

Advanced Rules
Opposing Gods
Note: This rule can easily sneak up on you, and requires a careful eye to keep in check, so it is possible to skip it for beginners.

Each God has his or her equal and opposite. If at any time one player controls the same number of pieces in play for two opposing Gods, all those pieces are removed from the board. This happens regardless of the state of control of a domain (i.e., mixed or unmixed.)
Dwayna <-> Balthazar
Lyssa <-> Kormir
Grenth <-> Melandru

God Powers
These powers are what will help you win the game. If roleplaying, this list is what is printed on the reference sheet, as you are not expected to memorize all of the powers right away.
God Powers activate when you own two (2) or four (4) tokens respectively in a domain. They only activate once per move, but not limited to activation on your normal turn. In addition, Powers only activate when you own complete control of a domain. Even one of your opponent’s pieces in a domain will nullify any Power activation.
God Powers are not optional unless specified as such.

Some examples for clarification:

• Player 1 has four uncontested pieces in Kormir from last turn, and places another piece in Lyssa. Kormir’s ‘four-power’ does not activate again.
• Player 2 activates a Power which lets her place a piece, and she chooses to place it in Balthazar, bringing her total in Balthazar to an uncontested two. Balthazar’s ‘two-power’ then activates.
• Player 1 places a piece in Melandru which brings his total to four, however player 2 already owns one piece in Melandru. No Power activates.

Lyssa
2: Mirror Mask. Place two (2) pieces in their respective domains, one of yours and one of your opponent’s.
4: Echoing Laughter. Place four (4) pieces of your choice belonging to either you or your opponent in their respective domains. Limit one (1) per domain. If you choose to place all four pieces as your opponent’s, she skips her next turn.

Melandru
2: Sheltered Roots. These two (2) pieces can no longer be removed for the rest of the game, except by Early Grave. (Optional)
4: Wild Growth. On your next turn, place two (2) pieces instead of one (1).

Dwayna
2: Healing Touch. Place one (1) piece into its respective domain.
4: Shining Bulwark. For the next two (2) turns after this one, your opponent cannot place any pieces in a domain of your choosing.

Grenth
2: Grip of Entropy. Your opponent skips his next turn.
4: Early Grave. Remove all pieces from any domain. (Optional)

Kormir
2: Mercy. All domains (excluding Kormir’s) containing fewer than three (3) pieces total are reduced to one (1) piece, which belongs to the first player who laid claim to that domain this game. (Optional)
4: Judgment. All domains (including Kormir’s) containing more than three (3) pieces total are reduced to one (1) piece, which belongs to the first player who laid claim to that domain this game.

Balthazar
2: Furious Hammer. Remove one (1) piece from any domain.
4: Brimstone Effigy. Place any colour piece in any domain. (Optional)

Tips and Strategy
If you’ve paid attention, you have have figured out that the game is impossible to win by normal placement. If you somehow manage to place five pieces in a domain uncontested, your opponent can block your win by placing one piece in that domain on his next turn, forcing it to reset. Therefore, the only way to win is to set up chain reactions with the God Powers. Picture Connect Four, or even advanced Tic-Tac-Toe play. If you brute force your way there, victory will elude you. Try being creative, and setting up a game-winning combination of Powers, as it is doubtful that your opponent will let you set up a win using only one. Think ahead, and and try to plan your next moves before you get backed into a corner.
(Example: Jim has four with Lyssa, four with Grenth, and one with Balthazar. Mary, however, has one with Lyssa to block. Jim puts a piece with Balthazar, and uses Furious Hammer to remove Mary’s piece with Lyssa, which then activates Echoing Laughter. He uses this to place one piece with Grenth, one with Lyssa, and the other two randomly. This brings his totals to five with both Lyssa and Grenth. Unless she has a power handy, Mary cannot stop Jim from winning on his next turn.)

The observant will also have noticed that three of the Gods have more offensive powers, and other three are more defensive. Grenth, Balthazar and Kormir’s powers focus on controlling the flow of the game, while Dwayna, Melandru and Lyssa’s powers are about moving into winning positions. While it may seem like gunning straight for Dwayna, Melandru and Lyssa is the best way to win, leaving the controlling powers uncontested will see you quickly losing footing. Striking a balance between offense and defense will ensure you have some control over the game while you vie for your winning combo. Remember, however, that the Opposing Gods rule makes this delicate balance even more treacherous. To help you visualize, opposing Gods are placed on opposite sides of the board.

In the opening moves of the game, it may be tempting to immediately block the first domain your opponent chooses. Remember, however, that she cannot place a piece in that domain until her third turn, so you won’t have to face a ‘two-power’ just yet. Try instead to spread control over the board – if the first four pieces placed all go to different domains, I assure you the game will be an interesting one.

For an easier (or faster) game, try playing with 2 pieces per turn instead of 1! This is also a fun ‘house rule’ if you are playing in teams.

Tips for Specific Powers
Some of the powers may seem useless or unbeatable, but some careful thought has gone into each, and for every Power, there is a counter – usually held by the opposing God. The four-piece Powers are intentionally strong. The game is balanced such that winning is difficult, but not unreachable, and the offensive four-piece Powers are your best shot.
Shining Bulwark ruining your day? Remember that it only prevents placement of your pieces. It will not stop Furious Hammer from smashing an inevitable win into dust.
Wild Growth seems an easy setup to victory, but if Grip of Entropy forces you to skip the turn you were going to use to win, that victory will turn to ashes in your mouth quickly.

Be careful with Kormir’s powers. Both Kormir and Lyssa’s powers are doubled-edged, and can end up hurting you more than helping if you’re not careful. Judgment can seriously bite you in the kitty if you keep cycling it as it is not optional. (If you’re wondering, it is possible to win the game with Kormir, but you have to be sneaky.) If your opponent controls Kormir and you’re worried about a queued Judgment ruining your win-combo, try using Echoing Laughter to force Judgment early, then using the remaining pieces to set up your win in the same turn.

On that note, it is important to mention that Powers activate immediately. If you are placing or removing pieces with a Power that does so multiple times, any Powers activated interrupt the sequence with immediate action before the sequence continues.
(Example: Bill has three with Melandru and three with Grenth. He places one with Melandru, and on his next turn places his first Wild Growh piece with Grenth. Early Grave activates immediately, and he wipes Lyssa free of pieces, then he can choose his second Wild Growth piece.)
The exception to this rule is with other sequence Powers. In this case, the sequence Power activates after the first sequence is done.
(Example: Jenny has three with Lyssa and three with Melandru. She places one with Melandru, and on her next turn places her first Wild Growth piece with Lyssa. Echoing Laughter activates only after Jenny places her second Wild Growth piece.)

Brimstone Effigy may seem underwhelming, but it is the only Power in the game that can transcend the rule for placing pieces in their appropriate domain. If you take your opponent’s last Dwayna piece and put it with Kormir, it not only ruins his chance of victory with Dwayna, but it does so until he can get his piece back from where it’s stuck with Kormir – easier said than done.

Closing and Permissions
This game is still new, and may need minor tweaking, but I believe it’s mostly solid and balanced. I will keep checking this space if you wish to ask questions, post suggestions, ‘house rules’, or strategies!

Feel free to play this game either in- or out-of-game, but if you do so, please tell me how your game went! Either PM me on these forums, or send me a tell in-game! If you post the rules of Six Gods’ Wrath outside of the game itself, please refer back to this original post, or credit me with my account name.

Enjoy, and happy gaming! :)