Hmm, I worry about those ex-marine types, I really do.
Anyway here is the outline of how the Danny & Lawrence as-it-doesn't-have-a-game-world-attached-to-it-anymore CCG plays (c) Lawrence Profile Whitaker & Danny 333 Bourne
Apologies if this seems rambling, but it does make sense when someone shows you the cards and leads you through it. You'll just have to imagine the cards.
OBJECTIVE:
Each player plays a god, the object of the game is for a god to amass
enough influence so that he/she/it can manifest. In game terms a player
must have cards in play which produce 20 INFLUENCE.
Each god represents a pantheon (in the case of Glorantha) and so has a set of set-aside POWERS cards which can be used only by that pantheon. (Ie Humakt can't do resurrection, DX can't do lightning bolt etc).
OUTLINE:
Influence is generated mainly from CITY cards, but also from SPECIAL
LOCATIONS, HEROES and ARTIFACTS. The other types of cards are EVENTS,
POWERS, MONSTERS, ARMIES and TERRAINS.
(In the Elric incarnation, most cards played had a chaos number, representing the Cosmic Balance, perhaps in Glorantha this could be changed to an end of the age total or represent the Cosmic Balance).
The basic game play is to lay down city cards, defend them with armies or monsters, sack opponent's cities, travel to mystical locations and destroy opposing armies.
Each city card produces a certain amount of influence, each city card also
costs a certain amount of POWER to put into play. A god has a starting
power, which varies depending on the god. (More on power later). City cards
have a CATCHEMENT AREA and a RESOURCE MULTIPLIER. The catchement area is
the number of terrain cards that can be placed under a city card -
representing the city's local resources. The resource multiplier is just
that. Ie if there is one woods card placed on a city with a x3 resource
multiplier, then 3 tree resources are produced (useful for ships, siege
equipment, pole arms etc).
Cities have a location (the same as in Mythos) you can only play Lunar
regiments at cities in the lunar [red] location, stormbulls in an Orlanthi
[blue] location)
Obviously the cities must be defended, and so you need armies. Armies need to be built, and this costs resources (produced by the terrain cards placed in the catchement area). Armies that stay at home on garrison duty do not need to be maintained, armies that are on patrol or attacking any opponents' cards need to be maintained. Resource upkeep is the same as their initial placement cost. There are other ways round this, one is to use MONSTER cards. These can be brought into play either by the use of ARTIFACTS or brought directly into play at the cost of a god's personal POWER. (A Gloranthan example would be the Crimson Bat). These normally need no upkeep, but have far more difficult resource costs - the resources being PROVISIONS (food), MATERIALS (wood, stone & non-precious metals), MONEY(precious metals), and MAGIC. Few places create magic resources, only temples and some leaders do. A player can use these magic resources instead of personal POW to deploy a monster.
LEADER cards can be played only on city locations or armies. They have a positive effect in combat (see below). They rarely provide resources by themselves and produce no influence.
HERO cards can be played in the same way as Leaders, or can be used independently. They often produce magic resources as well as points of influence.
CARD PLAY QUICKY EXAMPLE:
Okay, so I drop Furthest as a city, it costs me 1 pow, has a x1 resource
multiplier, with a catchement area of 2 and an INFLUENCE value of 1 (not so
good). Next turn, I play a field and the turn after that a wood terrain
card on it which creates one provision and one material. I can then EXPLOIT
(aka tap, turn etc) to use those two provisions to build myself (ie play
from my hand) my regular army unit which has a COMBAT VALUE of 2. I use it
in city defence, so it doesn't not need to be maintained. Next turn I can
build another army unit which I send into the PATROL ZONE which has to be
maintained, but can intercept any attacking units before they reach my
cities, thus I can use no more resources until another city is played or my
unit on patrol dies/goes to garrison duty or I play an artifact which
generates extra resources or an event such as bumper harvest which
increases the provisions I get in (for example).
Different people can play the same city cards (it represents the factions' sphere of influence, not actual control). If you want to attack an opponent, you can do so straight away if they have units in the same region (ie I as Orlanth put a Sylilia city card down and then build a unit there, I can immediately attack anywhere in the lunar region). Any units in the patrol zone can be exploited (ie turned) to intercept, otherwise the attack gets through to the intended target. If you have no cities in the same region, then you have to deploy them and put them in the field (ie place them in the patrol region, exploited. Next turn they can then attack). For areas which are inaccessible except by sea, they have to be ferried by SHIPS built at city cards with a port icon. Combat works simply by comparing the COMBAT VALUES of any units opposing each other. Ideally, terrain cards can be played onto units to enhance attack/defence, but we've got a slight rules glitch there that we've not ironed out yet. Obviously the higher score beats the lower score. Units retain damage through markers, which can be removed by spending resources (it doesn't matter which type as long as it's at least one of the resource provisions to bring that card into play - ie I can use 2 provisions to take two damage off a unit which needs provisions and materials to bring into play. I couldn't use Money). Any player who successfully destroys a player's influence in a city gains POW equal to half the playing cost of the card, rounded down. (Ie if someone sacked Furthest in the above example, they would gain zero pow).
There is one other form of combat which is mainly reserved for special locations. Some locations have an intrinsic defence cost which the player who puts down that card must be able to overcome (it represents intrinsic garrison), thus a leader or hero or an army must be on a ship and then the location card is played.
That's the rough outline, if this strikes a cord with anyone I can present it in a more structured way to make it easier to understand.
Sorry to take up so much space, please e-mail me with ideas etc
DA KNEE & LOZ (by proxy)
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #115
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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