Rules

Game of Banners 3

# The Rules of Engagement

This document covers the rules and mechanics of the game, along with examples. If you want Information on the world and people of the game, check out the accompanying ‘Lore of the Ashes’ document.

Note: GM’s Reserve the right to change these rules at any time to improve the game. We value your feedback on these rules.

## The Basics

In this game, you control a community of people who have survived the plague. You give orders to your forces and civilians alike, engage in diplomacy with other players, and aim to survive and thrive.

The game takes place over turns. Each turn lasts about 2 weeks in real life, and covers a span of 1 season (about 3 months) in-world. Each turn starts with players negotiating and planning. They then submit orders for movement of their units. Then you give orders to cities and units alike, including combat orders if needs be. You are given the results of these combats and orders by the GMs, and then it is back to negotiating and talking ready for the next turn.

## Resources, Assets, Settlements

### Resources

Your communities wealth, military power, and ability to do things is represented by 4 resources. These are generated each turn by various things you own, stored, and then used for various actions. The 4 resources are as follows:

Knowledge: Knowledge of the world, its history and people. Either things rediscovered from ancient times, or found out through experimentation and learning. This is spent to research stuff, scout out the world, and conduct engineering projects.

Gold: The wealth, art, and valuables your community owns. Often traded with others, used to pay soldiers and fund various actions

Labourers: The workers, engineers, and building materials of your realm.  Used for construction projects of all sorts, and various bits of research

Troops: The recruiters, weaponsmiths, and food supplies that allow you to equip soldiers. Used for recruiting forces and various other actions that need soldiers or guards.

### Cities

At the beginning of the game, each player may select a spot on the map to place a City. Each player gets 1 starting city at the start of the game, but may acquire more through conquest, diplomacy, or building more. Each City you own gives you 3 resources per turn. When placing your starting city or building a new one you can choose these resources, you cannot change this again. You may give one or more cities to another Player as a City action

### Assets

As well as cities, players control various other organisations, buildings, objects, and other things. These are collectively known as ‘Assets’. Some assets will generate resources each turn. Others will give bonuses in combat or diplomacy, or allow you to take actions you couldn't normally do. Some powerful ones will do multiple things.

Players begin the game with 3 assets, picked from the list below (no repeats):

* A landmark in your city that gives you +1 of a resource per turn (e.g. a forge that gives +1 Troops, a university that gives +1 Knowledge)
* An elite military unit, that gives a +10 combat bonus in a certain terrain or circumstance (e.g. marines that give +10 in battles on oceans, a general who gives +10 in battles when defending a city)
* An aspect of your culture or people, that gives +1 of a resource per turn (e.g. a valuing of craftsdwarfship gives +1 Labourers, a tendency to frugal living gives +1 Gold)
* A leader with a unique effect, discussed with GMs
* An aspect of your culture or people  with a unique effect, discussed with GMs.

Players can make more assets through the  ‘Build Settlement’ , ‘Research’, or ‘Create Asset’ Actions. The official costs for these actions may or may not be modified by GMs depending on the strength of the asset.

Often assets can also be given by or taken from NPCs, dug up from ancient ruins, or come as a result of player actions.

### Types of asset:

Landmark: built in a city, can’t be moved. (e.g. a college of bards, a holy cathedral). Often give a bonus to the city, or resources. Beware: if you lose the city, you lose the landmark.

Elites: a warrior or group of warriors attached to a force. Often gives a bonus to the unit it's attached to. (e.g. A dragon, a unit of knights, a trebuchet). Beware: in the case of a dire defeat, they may not survive.

Leader: A notable person, likely the leader of a city or your whole community. Based in a city, but can be moved to any other city as an action. Often gives a bonus, or resources (A sleepy king, a Senate of wise men). Beware: humans are fragile, daggers are not.

Organisation: A group or guild loyal to you. Often give general bonuses, or resources (A thieves guild, an order of priests). Beware: loyalty can change.

Relic: An important item, magic or otherwise. Often gives unique bonuses. (e.g. a magic sword, the bones of a saint). Beware: items can be stolen.

Discovery: Secret knowledge. Often give a general bonus, or let you do something you couldn’t already. (e.g. The knowledge of greek fire, the techniques for making wine). A copy can be given to another player as a city action.

Aspect: A part of your culture, people or philosophy. (e.g. a religious zeal towards combat, the fact your community is long lived craftsdwarfs.) Often gives general bonuses, or resources. Limit 1 per player.

### Settlements

Settlements are a specific type of asset, that exists as a town or village out in the world, outside of the protection of cities.

They are much cheaper than other assets, but are often harder to defend.

Settlements must often be built on specific locations, found through scouting. These locations are indicated as a grey version of the icon. Building them is done by moving a unit to this location, and taking the ‘Built Settlement’ Unit Action (you can alternatively use a city action for settlements neighbouring a city). Forts and ports don't require specific locations: move a unit wherever you want to make them.

The Following settlements can be built by players:

Other types of settlement do exist, but must be discovered or are unique.

## City actions and Trade

### City Actions

Every round each city you control may take an action from the below list. Every city action costs resources.

### Research

Research is a strategic action aimed at community advancement through the acquisition of knowledge, technology, or cultural assets.

Research can result in:

* Gaining assets, usually in the form of a 'Discovery' or an 'Aspect'.
* Acquiring knowledge, such as the location of an important item or city.
* Enhancing or modifying an existing asset.

When opting for a research action, consult with the Game Master (GM) to clarify your objectives. Your goal could be highly specific ("I want to develop Greek fire") or more general ("I want to improve combat effectiveness").

Some research projects may span over multiple turns and may require additional actions, costs, or collaboration with other players or NPC entities.

To complete the trade a player shall roll 1d100 to determine the success of the action. The player may be able to add a bonus from an asset that they own. Consult with a GM to determine if your asset can help and for the result.

### Trade

Players may trade with each other during the diplomacy phase. There is no limit on trading, however, players should be aware that one player may only receive one trade request at a time. Therefore, care must be taken, and trades must be followed upon in order to go through in some instances. If a trade is agreed upon and does not go through before diplomacy ends, players should immediately inform a GM so that the trade can be completed.

### Recruitment

When you take a recruitment action with a city, you may add the listed strength (25, 50, 100) to the strength of a unit within 1 square of the city. Alternatively, if you have less than 4 units, you make a new unit of the listed strength on the same tile as the city.

## Units, Unit actions and Combat

### Units & Movement

Your military forces are represented by ‘Units’. Units have a single value, Strength, that represents how powerful they are. At the start of the game, your city starts with an army of 50 strength. You may have a maximum of 4 units. Each unit may have a maximum strength of 999.

Units can move 90 miles, in any direction, regardless of the terrain. This means they can move to any of the indicated squares (as each square is 30 miles across):

One exception is that units on land cannot move onto water, and units on water cannot move onto land. They must stop on a coast square, and take the ‘Embark/Disembark’ Action.

Movement is done using a google form in your channel.

Forts/Cities:

Forts and cities block the movement of units. If a unit's movement takes it within the 3x3 square centred on another player's fort/city, the unit's movement immediately stops unless you have that player's permission. It can then only move out in the direction it entered the square, or attack the fort.

### Unit Actions:

After movement, each unit may take a single action from the list below. Some of them have costs in resources, others are free:

### Scouting

The scout action is how you discover things in the world. There are two main uses for this: revealing terrain features like high ground you can use to gain an advantage in combat, and discovering places of interest or spots to build settlements. Scouting reveals both pieces of information about a 3x3 square centred on the unit's current position.

## NPC Diplomacy

### Disposition

Each NPC will have opinions and attitudes towards each player. These vary along:

1. Friendly
2. Neutral
3. Hostile.

Friendly NPCs are more likely to positively interact with you, while hostile ones will be very difficult to persuade. Action in game will determine NPC disposition towards players. For example, if an NPC sees that a player is a warmonger, and the NPC is also a warmonger, then perhaps they will get along. Hostile actions will automatically set the disposition to Hostile, including against friends of the NPC. If the player and NPC have nothing in common, the disposition will default to Neutral.

### Methods of Interaction

Trade

* Players may attempt a trade with NPCs. To do so they must simply list what they would like from the NPC and what they would like in return.
* They must then make an interaction roll to determine success.
* Trades in favour of NPCs will automatically be accepted.

Changing Disposition

* Players may attempt to change the disposition of an NPC towards them.
* To do so they must write what they are doing exactly (gifts, words, apologies, etc...).
* They must then make an interaction roll to determine success.
* Generally if a player wishes, they may spend 1 resource for a +20 to the interaction roll.

Request Support

* Players may request an action from the NPC
* To do so they must write what exactly is their request. (go here, do this, allow this, change this... etc...)
* They must then make an interaction roll to determine success.

### Interaction Rolls

When making an interaction roll, players will be allowed to add modifiers as described within their assets. Each of these are cumulative and can be stacked.

Additionally, when players make their write up, a GM will be allowed to give up to +20 to any roll the player makes based on whether the player hit upon key aspects of the NPC, or touched on any core values. The GMs will also be able to add negatives to the rolls depending on the severity of the sacrifice requested. For example, if a player asks an NPC to go to war, there might be a -20 to the roll to reflect the potential annihilation.

### Interaction Roll Table

Friendly:

- 0 to 50: NPC does as asked without taking any risks or sacrifices.

- 51 to 94: NPC does what is asked with a minor risk or sacrifice.

- 95 to 100: NPC does what is asked with a major risk or sacrifice.

Neutral:

- 0 to 50: NPC offers no help, but does no harm.

- 51 to 94: NPC does what is asked without taking risks or sacrifices.

- 95 to 100: NPC does what is asked with a minor risk or sacrifice.

Hostile:

- 0 to 50: NPC opposes the player and might take risks to do so.

- 51 to 94: NPC offers no help, but does no harm.

- 95 to 100: NPC does what is asked without taking risks or sacrifices.

## Combat System: Impact%

### Overview

In this combat system, each commander controls a force with a single stat known as "Strength." This represents both the size and quality of the force. During each combat round, each side rolls a d100 and adds any relevant modifiers. The sum of the roll and the modifiers is called the "Impact." The damage that each force deals is equal to their impact as a percentage, multiplied by the strength of the unit.  This damage is dealt  to the opposing force’s strength, and determines the outcome.

Formula: Damage = (Impact/100)\*Strength

### Outcomes

1. Victory by Annihilation: One side is reduced to zero Strength, and the other side wins.

2. Mutual Destruction: Both sides reach zero Strength. The side that took the least damage survives with a Strength of 1 and wins. If the damage is equal, both sides are destroyed.

3. Retreat: Neither side reaches zero Strength, but the one that took the most damage must retreat. If the damage is equal, the GM will randomly decide the outcome.

Retreat:

A unit that loses and retreats, will move up to its movement to a square decided by GMs.

Advancing:

A unit that wins a battle may choose to move onto the empty square occupied by a unit it just defeated

### Examples

#### Example 1: Victory by Annihilation

Cyan vs. Nick

- Initial Stats: Cyan has 50 Strength. Nick has 40 Strength.

- Rolls: Cyan rolls a 70. Nick rolls a 60.

- Modifiers: Cyan has the high ground, adding a +10 modifier.

- Impact Calculation: Cyan has an 80 Impact (70 + 10). Nick has a 60 Impact.

- Damage Calculation:

 - Cyan deals 40 damage to Nick (80/100 \* 50).

 - Nick deals 24 damage to Cyan (60/100 \* 40).

- New Strength:

 - Cyan: 26 Strength (50 - 24)

 - Nick: 0 Strength (40 - 40)

- Outcome: Cyan wins the battle as Nick's Strength hits zero.

#### Example 2: Mutual Destruction

Jin vs. Palpatine

- Initial Stats: Jin has 20 Strength. Palpatine has 20 Strength.

- Rolls: Jin rolls a 100. Palpatine rolls a 100.

- Modifiers: Palpatine has a the high ground, adding a +10 modifier

- Impact Calculation: Jin has 100 Impact. Palpatine has 110 Impact.

- Damage Calculation:

 - Jin deals 20 damage to Palpatine (100/100 \* 20).

 - Palpatine deals 22 damage to Jin (110/100 \* 20).

- New Strength:

 - Jin: 0 Strength (20 - 22)

 - Palpatine: 0 Strength (20 - 20)

- Outcome: Both units are wiped out, but Palpatine's unit took less damage and survives with 1 Strength.

#### Example 3: Retreat

Nick vs. Cyan

- Initial Stats: Nick has 60 Strength. Cyan has 50 Strength.

- Rolls: Nick rolls a 40. Cyan rolls a 30.

- Modifiers: None.

- Impact Calculation: Nick has a 40 Impact. Cyan has a 30 Impact.

- Damage Calculation:

 - Nick deals 24 damage to Cyan (40/100 \* 60).

 - Cyan deals 15 damage to Nick (30/100 \* 50).

- New Strength:

 - Nick: 45 Strength (60 - 15)

 - Cyan: 26 Strength (50 - 24)

- Outcome: Cyan took more damage and must retreat, leaving Nick the winner of the battle.

### More than two units:

Units neighbouring either the unit which attacked, or the unit which was attacked, may also take part in the combat.

The strength of either side is pooled, and only a single die roll is made for each side, with any relevant modifiers added.

Damage dealt is proportionally distributed among all units on a side. I.E. if a unit of 100 and a unit of 10 takes 11 damage, they are reduced to strengths of 90 and 9.

In the event of an amount of damage that cant be evenly split, the remainder is allocated randomly.

In the event of ‘Mutual Destruction’, the surviving unit is the one which is the initial attacker/target.

### Modifiers:

The following modifiers will affect you during combat.

‘Attacker’ is whichever side initiated the attack, and defender that which didn't. If both sides attacked, neither is the defender.

### Attacking Cities/Forts

Attacks on cities and settlements have the following exceptions:

Garrison: Cities & Forts have a garrison. During combat in which the city/fort is attacked, these join the fight as a unit with a strength of 10 (even if there are no other defending units). They deal and take damage as usual, but reset to 10 strength at the start of each turn. This is to ensure that a tiny raiding force of 1 strength doesn't automatically take over a city. Garrisons do not take part in any other fights, even if the fight is next to a city/fort.

Behind the walls: A unit in the same space as a city/fort is considered to be ‘behind the walls’. An attack on it also counts as an attack on the city/fort.

Hold Your Ground: If a unit behind the walls of a city/fort loses combat and is forced to retreat, they can instead choose not to retreat, and the enemy cannot advance.