Welcome everyone to GridLand Survival 3In this version of GridLand Survival, you all are members of a species which has been transplanted from your home world to a new world that is strange, yet fairly similar to your home.
This game will not be as fantastical as Supernerd's game. but I will still try to be flexible.
I took Supernerd's version and I trimmed down anything I did not think I would need.
So i could start with a distilled version of the rules and expand it as needed. I will also add clarifications as the game progresses and I develop the mechanics further.
I am hoping for an organic mechanic design. That has entertaining surprise, but remains easy to understand.Introduction
Welcome to Gridland Survival! Its a variation of a series of games previously played on the MSPA forums and Chocolate Pi called Gridhood. The gimmick with this game is that it contains only one major civilization; of which each player is a member. The game will start off being fairly simple, with new rules being added as things happen. You will be hunting for food, exploring new lands, researching technology, fending off monster attacks and maybe participating in an election or something.
Previous knowledge of Gridhood is not required to fully enjoy this game.
Rules (More will be added later. All rules will be added to the first post)
Each player will get their own unique character which will generally be superior to the other members of the species. Player Avatars are always 100% loyal to the player controlling them. All Player Avatars can perform research in addition to performing a regular action. Player Avatars count as adults.
Food is the number one most essential resource for your survival. Each turn 1 food is eaten for every member of your species which remains under your control.(Abilities may change amount consumed.) You will ALWAYS want to have food available. Without food people will starve and eventually die.
If there is not enough food at the start of a turn, an amount of civilians equal to the food deficiency will take damage. Civilians may voluntarily choose not to eat; otherwise the GM will decide who eats and who does not. Consecutive turns without food will cause more damage to be taken.
Most of the map will start off being unknown. You may spend turns exploring a tile that is adjacent to a known tile to learn about it, or you may attempt to discover previously unknown aspects of land you already own. Scouting is potentially dangerous and can cause injury or death to your civilians. (Player Avatars will always survive this if they are uninjured).
The more presence your species has in a tile, the more effective exploration of that tile and adjacent tiles will be. When you attempt to explore a tile you will often discover keywords which give hints about what exists on the tile before you actually unlock the location on the map. You can attempt to travel into unknown lands and try to forage, but this is an extremely risky thing to do.
Each turn you may attempt to research something to grant your species a new ability, such as allowing you to harvest specific resources, build stuff etc. Research is done on a per player basis so multiple things can be researched at a time. Non Player Avatar members of your species can also partake in research.
Several members of your species can collaborate on research if they are in the same tile. Collaborating will reduce the amount of time it will take to complete a research. Note that if multiple civilians work on the same kind of research as individuals, you will unlock multiple similar techs.
You can try to research anything you want. Note that some technologies will probably be hard to get without first getting some prerequisite stuff. If a technology is going to take an unreasonably long amount of time to get such as Time Travel or Immortality or something, you will be notified about this so you can stop wasting turns on it.
You can get an estimate on how long it will take to finish researching something by the amount of question marks there are in the tech screen. One question mark means it will only take a few turns, Two question marks means it is either a difficult tech or you are missing prerequisites and it will take a fair bit longer. No more than five question marks will be displayed, but the scale goes beyond that. If a tech would have more than five question marks it will display as if it had five question marks, but can potentially require thousands of research points to complete or even be literally impossible to do. You will not be told if something is completely impossible or not.
Attempting to Research a prerequisite for a tech without specifying a proper tech name such as "Green Thumb Prerequisite", the research will only result in you getting a hint on what said prerequisite is.
Two adult civilians of opposite genders on the same tile can spend a turn to create eggs which will hatch into new civilians. The eggs may take several turns to hatch, during this time they will be especially vulnerable.
After hatching you will have some new civilians, but they will start in an adolescent state. These children will have low stats and are not especially intelligent. If they survive for a few more turns they will become adults which are generally quite useful.
Any player may tell civilians to do things. Civilians have a will of their own, but will generally take your suggestions seriously.
If a member of your species is problematic for whatever reason, you may disown them. A disowned civilian will not take from your food stockpile, but they will still exist. They may exhibit problematic behaviors, and you may also have diplomatic issues with other players if you didn't have a good reason to do that.
Non player controlled civilians will have a personality which will greatly affect the actions that they take.
Most civilians will have at least one ability which will grant them specific advantages. Note that genetics will be a major factor in determining this. Abilities will also affect how a civilian will generally behave.
If an item is not in a specific place, it will be in what is known as a Communal Inventory. This means any member of your civilization can access it, but it also means it can be stolen from any of your people or from any of your occupied tiles.
Tools and weapons in the Communal Inventory can only be used by one civilian each turn. If you used the tool on the previous turn you will generally be able to use it again in the current turn.
Some items are too heavy to be in the Communal Inventory. Such items will linger at a specific tile unless they are moved by a civilian. A civilian's encumbrance stat will determine how much they can carry in a single turn. Picking things up and dropping them is a free action.
Some items need special measures to contain. These items may wind up in a temporary inventory. A temporary inventory is the worst place to store an item; it will generally be lost when the next turn comes around.
If you want to add your own information to the inventory such as possible locations to find it or possible applications, simply post that you want to add this information in your action post. Note that any information not added by the GM will not necessarily be accurate. Notes cannot be added to items that do not exist.
When creatures and items are first discovered, they will start out being unnamed. Any member of your civilization may choose to give them a name. Your own species name may also be decided on.
If you want to rename an item, you will need at least one other player to agree upon the new name.
In your action post, you must specify the tile that you want to work in. Your action will most likely fail if you do not, even if the tile should be very obvious.
Signup Sheet
Here is the signup sheet. You will get five character abilities as well as one species ability. Character abilities can be summed up in a single word or you can give a short description of it. This can be physical traits, personality traits or whatever else you can think of. Feel free to be creative here. The first two abilities are positively weighted for inheritance.
I will be starting with 5 players but plan to add more on around turn 5 at the earliest. I will be steadily adding more players till I ether hit my limit or no one wants to join.
Prior to filling out the Signup Sheet...
There have been some changes made since the start of the game. You are not intended to pick from the list of pre-existing abilities. Every single one of the abilities on that list was initially created because it was on an application in the first place. While you are allowed to pick pre-existing skills, I formally discourage you from doing that. Bonus points for not picking the most common gender for your character.
There has been confusion with new players applying to join the game. To clarify, you are NOT supposed to include a description of what abilities do. Just include the names.
If you scroll down a bit you can see the first few player's application who signed up. I will also point out that it is recommended to create your own abilities as opposed to picking them from the list below. (Though it is probably acceptable if you pick a few abilities that already exist).
Note: The game has not started yet
before the first update please post to thread.
Also, it is preferred to send me a PM with the character sheet as opposed to posting it in the thread.
Name:
Gender:
Character Ability 1:
Character Ability 2:
Character Ability 3:
Character Ability 4:
Character Ability 5:
Species Ability:
GridLand 3 Encyclopedia:
Catlike Reflexes: Lower startle chance. Increased defense by 1.
Desert-dewlling:Reduced penalties for thirst. Decreased dry penalties for farming. Decreased heat penalties to labor.
Forager: Increased edible gathering yield. Increased gathering yield.(general.)
Magical:Increases Science when researching Magical Spells, Tech, and Theory. Also increases spell power.
Psionic: Allows telepathic communication and combat. All telepathic actions must be proceeded by #// and if it is communication be surrounded by quotes. May be used on non-intelligent beings but it may or may not be useful.
Researcher: Easier to find prerequisites. Increased speed when researching prerequisites to a previously attempted tech.
Alchemist:May experiment on gathered items to discover some of their properties. Experimentation can discover more if a process is described or you specify a tool or technology to assist you in your alchemy. Can combine non-edible items to produce alchemical solutions with different properties. Increased speed of reaserch for materials. Increased Science for chemical and science equipment tech.
Also Slightly Evil: Warps NPC opnions, makes certain creatures less hostile. Which NPCS are effected must be discovered through play.
Boss: Immune to instant kill effects.
Calm: Increases Focus. Decreases penalties for stressfull situtations, makes miscasts of spells less likely, decreases resistances to certain status effects.
Catperson: You posses Cat whiskers, ears, a thin layer of fur, and a long tail. You can keep your balence easier which situationally may provide bonuses to defense. You also have reduced penalties from darkness. less susceptible to food poisoning from meat.
Causes Fear: Witnessing this character causes creatures to flee. This ability also grants immunity to fear and resistance to Terror. Does not negatively affect allies.Riding this character gives the rider the same fear and terror protection.
Cold Lover: Cold related status, weather, and tile effects are less harmful to the Cold Lover. The Cold Lover also has reduced food consumption in certain unrevealed conditions.
Cook:Capable of combining edible items together to make food which can increase resistances to some eviromental hazards May also be able to process some items with better tools.
Durable: Increases Defense and HP, gives resistance or nullifies some low threat damage sources.
Evil:Reduces sprite reproduction. Increases strength by 1. Warps NPC opinions, makes certain creatures less hostile. Which NPCS are effected must be discovered through play.
Excitable: May choose to increase either your Labor, or Movement Limit by 1. It also reduces Focus. This makes it harder to use magic in stressful situations or unfamiliar territory.
Fast: Increases movement range by 1.
Fertile: May spend a turn with another creature of the same species to create eggs. This consumes both characters turns and cannot be used several turns in a row.
Free Research: Research is a free action for this unit, and does not need to relate to the task they are performing. Attempting to do an action you cannot do grants 1 free research point.
Fully Cybernetic: Incapable of reproduction. Increases Defense by 3. Massively Increased Health. Health does not regenerate. Health may not be healed by normal medicine. May be repaired. Has some items hidden in Your arms. Includes a flashlight of low quality light. Note: Flashlight may be maintained for no more than five turns in a row.
Genius: Increased Science for all research.
Guardian: Increased defense by 2. May buff another players in the same tiles defense who has less defense than you on any turn. May sacrifice your turn to increase your defense by 2 and take on any damage that up to two other characters might recieve on the next turn.(
Hunter: Bonus to Strength when hunting. Bonus to defense in partially explored areas.
Large:Increases Food consumption by 1, Improves outcome on wrestling attempts. Increases Defense, Capacity, Labor, and Strength by 1. Increases Health(HP)
Living Weapon: Strength increased by 3. Decreased capacity, and labor by 2. Farming is less effective.
Manakete: Can glide. Provides immunity to lava and fire damage. Increased defense by 1.
Pathfinder: Decreased penalties for unfamiliar territory. May guide another player to reduce their penalties in an area the possessor has visited at least once.
Petite: Decreases food consumption. only has to eat every other turn. Increases effect for cooked meals. Decreases labor, capacity, strength, and defense by 1.
Revolutionary:Increases strength by 2. Situationally Increases persuasion. Decreases Labor by 1
Scavenger: Massively Increases most non-edible gathering yeild actively(must be mentioned to come in to use) for reduced edible yeilds. Passively(even if not mentioned) increases non-edible yeilds of gather/forage actions without decreasing edible yeilds. Increases all yeilds from giant animal corpses and from Secret 1, Secret 2, and Secret 3.(automatic for secrets, otherwise the ability must be mentioned).
Shamanistic: Grants Spirit Sight. Spirit Sight allows the user to see the spirits in a tile when they gather, harvest, or travel through. Allows easier communication with sprites, and spirits. This ability increases the bonus to magic from favorable spirits. Increases penalties for unfamiliar territory. Increases bonus for familiar territory. Reduces prerequisites for relevent Individual-Tech. Increased Science when researching any relevenant Tech. Increased diplomacy with spirits, certain NPCs, Secret 2, and Secret 4. ere. The Spirit Sight may be exchanged for the more powerfull "Shaministic Spirit Dependance" Ability which increases the the drawbacks but massively multiplies the benefits.
Smart: May obtain information about objects and locations by investigating them as an action.
Stealthy:Decreases the chance of enemies spoting you. Increased Strength and defense in certain situations and tiles.
Strong: Increases Damage and carrying capacity.
Strong Opinions: This characters opinions cannot forcibly be altered, and has 100% loyalty to a specific player stated in the character list.
Smart: May obtain information about objects and locations by investigating them as an action. Also, the Research ability will not prevent threat detection for this character, and can be used in collaboration efforts.
Sky Jump: Negates most falling damage. allow the player to overcome some obstacles which reduce movement speed without slowing down.
Very Large: Increases Food Consumption by 2. Affects NPC opinions. Makes stealth very diffucult. Increases Defense, Capacity, Labor, and Strength by 2. Increases Equipment and move by 1. Animals nearly always flee. Stacks with Large.
Youthful: Makes interaction with NPCS that are not children or old easier. Also increases damage and carrying capacity slightly.
Male: Cannot produce eggs with other Males
Female: Cannot produce eggs with other Females
Alpha: 20 Health, 3 Attack, 2 Defense, 2 Move, 5 Science, 3 Labor, 8 Capacity, 3 Equipment. Strong Opinions, Free Research, Boss, Causes Fear, Fertile
Cybernetic:Removes fertile ability. Affects Npc interaction. Has a secret element.
Health: How much harm a character can take before dying. Current health will be tracked on the character list. A character dies if this drops to zero. A character may rest for a turn by not doing any work to restore 1 lost health per turn.
Attack: Damage dealt by this character is *Multiplied* by its attack stat.
Defense: Reduces damage taken from all sources by this amount.
Move: How many tiles a character can move in a turn. A character may act then move, OR move then act.
Science: How good a character is at research. This is how much research they contribute before modifiers.
Labor: How much labor a character can perform per turn. Used for actions such as building and foraging.
Capacity: How much a character can carry at a given time. A character can only move this many objects at once in a personal inventory.
Equipment: How much equipment a character can use at a given time.
Star(TricMagic): Female Alpha. Manakete, Excitable, Smart, Youthful, Petite
Jaynie Morgan(0cra_tr0per):Female Alpha. Cold lover, Catperson, Strong, Calm, Scavenger
Bernard(Supernerd): Male Alpha. Large, Very Large, Guardian, Strong, Durable
Dr. Diablito(Zazmio): Male Alpha. Evil, Genius, Stealthy, Fast, Cook
Texcoco(Maximum Spin): Male Alpha. Alchemist, Also Slightly Evil, Shamanistic, Hunter, Revolutionary
Caelum(dgr11897): Male/Cybernetic Alpha. Skyjump, Pathfinder, Fully cybernetic, living weapon, Fast
A vote on how quickly time flows.
-Fast(around eight in-game-years in thirty-three turns)
-medium
-slow(around around two in-game-years in thirty-three turns)
Finally vote on a Difficulty:
Pathetic Loser.
Normal
Hard
Punishing
Elite
Malicious
1st Circle
!!The Lake of!!
!!Fun!! (Please don't pick this if you don't want to be put through
torture Fun)
Note: Any difficultly lower than 1st circle may be changed by a 3/4 vote at any time. The difficulty may be increased at any difficulty by a majority vote.
Reducing the difficulty to Pathetic loser is only possible after a player character dies.
To start on the difficulty Pathetic Loser you must have a unanimous vote among starting players and have at least 2 wait-listed players support the idea before the first update.
