A simple tactical war game for use on a Virtual Gaming Table.
The objective...
Be the first to destroy the opposing Brood Mother and claim the land for the propagation of your Brood.
You begin as a simple organism that feeds on an energy source called Plasmid. You desire nothing more than to feed on Plasmid and reproduce and would happily consume the stuff for eternity. There's a problem though. Another organism, much like yourself, has invaded your territory and begun harvesting your precious plasmid resources. There's only one solution. Kill, or be killed.
To achieve her ends, a Brood Mother begins to mutate and produces new breeds of her simple spawn workers. The warrior caste of the slime world have come. These warriors will be the Brood Mother's main way of taking out the competition and you'll be in control of their development as you seek dominance over the area.
There is not enough Plasmid to share.
You must destroy the opposing Brood Mother before she destroys you.
Playing the Game
The Brood Mother is a token that occupies a 3x3 section of the grid.
The spawns occupy one square each.
Stats for a basic spawn: [1 Attack/ 1 Defense/ 2 Move] (1/1/2) A basic spawn can raise these stats through various means during play. No stat can ever be raised higher than 10.
Each Brood Mother gains 10 Plasmid per turn that can be spent on creating more spawns, increasing stats, or gaining additional powers.
The game can be played on any map with a grid. Heck, use a chess board if you have to.
Actions that can be performed on a turn.
1: Gain 10 Plasmid
2: Spend Plasmid
3: Move Spawn
4: Attack Spawn
5: Attack Brood Mother
Descriptions of Actions
Gain 10 Plasmid - This is what you spend for growing and improving your army of spawn. You gain 10 Plasmid per turn. Your Brood Mother can store a maximum of 50 Plasmid at one time.
Spend Plasmid - Plasmid can be spent on mutations and new spawn
It costs 5 Plasmid to create a new spawn. Spawns come into play anywhere within the Brood Mother's Sphere of Influence.
It costs 1 Plasmid to increase any single stat of an existing spawn that is within 1 square of the Brood Mother or a Plasmid Font.
Mutate Spawn - Special, See below
Evolve Brood Mother
Move Spawn - A spawn's movement rate determines how many squares it is allowed to move in a single turn.
Treat diagonals on a 1-2-1 basis.
A spawn may not move or attack on the same turn it is created.
A spawn may not move out of a square that is threatened by an opponent without provoking a free Attack of Impunity from the opposing piece. Attacks of Impunity are like free shots. Your spawn does not die if the opponent staves off the attack.
A spawn's movement can not be raised higher than 10.
A basic spawn can either move and attack, or attack and then move. It cannot move, attack, and then move again in the same turn unless a mutation allows this to occur.
Attack Spawn - You can attack an opponent's spawn that is within range of your own spawn. A basic spawn has a melee range of 1 square and can attack once per round.
- Declare your attacking spawn and your intended target.
- The attacker and defender each roll a 2d6.
- The attacker adds the attack rating of his attacking spawn to his roll.
- The defender adds the defense rating of his defending spawn to his own roll.
- Whoever ends up with the lowest score removes his defeated spawn from the game and gains +3 points to distribute among its attributes (Absorbtion).
- In the result of a tie on an attack roll, the defender may choose to allow the combat to end and move on with the turn or, he can counter attack.
- On a counter attack, be sure to use the appropriate stat bonuses.
Attack Brood Mother
The Brood Mother is stationary.
She can not move but she can defend and attack.
When a Brood mother attacks, it affects all enemy spawn within her Sphere of Influence.
Her attack and defense scores are 10/10/0. She gains +1/+1 to her stats for each of her allied spawns on the field. Her stats are not capped at 10 and may be raised infinitely.
A Brood Mother has 5 life points.
A successful attack reduces that number by 1.
A Brood Mother may never have more than 5 Life Points.
Any additional Life points gained after she is at full health are converted into Plasmid at a 1:1 ratio.
When a Brood Mother is reduced to zero life points, she has been destroyed and the opposing brood wins the game.
The Brood Mother may create spawn anywhere within her Sphere of Influence. An unevolved Brood Mother has a Sphere of Influence of 1 square.
A spawn that is within its Brood Mother's Sphere of Influence gains a +2/+2/+0 to its stats. This bonus may not raise either of the spawn's stats above 10.
The Brood Mother may absorb any adjacent spawn that she created in order to add 5 Plasmid to her bank. She can not absorb and create spawn in the same turn.
The Brood Mother may regain Life Points by spending Plasmid on herself. The Plasmid cost for regaining Life Points varies and can make for a shorter or longer game depending on which version is selected.
Fast Game - Spending 15 Plasmid allows the Brood Mother to regenerate 1 Life Point
Standard Game - Spending 10 Plasmid allows the Brood Mother to regenerate 1 Life Point
Campaign - Spending 5 Plasmid allows the Brood Mother to regenerate 1 Life Point
Mutation of the Spawn
A spawn evolves when it reaches a total of 15 points total across all three abilities. A second mutation can occur when a spawn has a total of 30 points. The spawn then would have two special abilities. A spawn must be within the Brood Mother's Sphere of Influence or next to a Plasmid Font in order to mutate. Mutations of your own spawn can only occur on your own turn.
At each evolution, the player may choose one of the following abilities to apply to the growing spawn.
- Feeding Frenzy: If an attacker with this power kills an enemy spawn, he may immediately make another attack on any adjacent spawn or against an adjacent Brood Mother. This applies to Attacks of Impunity as well.
- Spring Attack: Move, attack, then move again (normal play allows for move and attack, with any remaining move points being forfeit)
- Spore Slinger: This spawn can now launch a ranged attack at a target two or three squares away without suffering defeat for a loss or being subject to a counter attack on a draw. It has the drawback of being very ineffective at close melee combat. If engaged in melee with an opponent within one square's range, it gets no bonus to its attack or defense roll.
- Retributive Strike: If this spawn is defeated, all spawns within one square distance must roll a d6. On a result of 1 or 2, the adjacent spawns die with the defeated spawn as it explodes in a furious uproar. A big bang. A retributive strike effects Brood Mothers as well. Brood Mothers lose 1 Life Point if in range of a retributive strike effect with no save allowed on her part.
- Mitosis: This spore splits into two spores with the attributes 3/3/3
- Plasmid Font: This spawn has all stats save its defense reduced to zero permanently and can no longer attack. It can still defend and to lose a melee attack against a Plasmid Font still destroys the attacker. The Plasmid Font produces 2 Plasmid per turn. Any ally standing within 1 square of a Plasmid Font is treated as though it is next to the Brood Mother and gains a +2/+2/+0 to its stats. The Brood Mother may also bestow stat bonuses to allied spawn and summon them into being through the Plasmid Font.
- Armor Piercer: When attacking, reduce the target's retaliation roll by 3. No effect when defending.
- Armored Spawn: When defending, reduce the attacker's attack roll by 3. No effect when attacking.
- Resilient Spawn: The spawn gains an 1 life point. This means that it must be killed twice. If Retributive Strike is combined with this, it only activates when it dies for good.
- Poison Carrier: At the start of your turn, all enemy spawn adjacent to this spawn lose -2/-2/-2 to their stats. Brood Mothers, Proxies, and Plasmid Fonts are immune. If a Poison Carrier reduces a either of a unit's stat to below 0, the unit dies, and that the poison carrier gets the three points as normal
- Life-Giving Spawn: If an allied spawn adjacent to this spawn would die, roll a d6. On a 5 or 6, the spawn lives. Brood Mothers, Proxies and Plasmid Fonts are immune. Life Giving Spawn have no effect on a spawn that dies from a Poison Carrier's venom.
- Leader Spawn: Spawn gives +2/+2/+0 to adjacent units
Spore Slingers CAN counter other spore clinger attacks
Fix the FF/RS issue
Brood Mother Evolution
(25 Plasmid Cost, 2 per queen, must choose a different upgrade each time)
- Regenerate: The Brood Mother regenerates 1 Life per turn
- Expand Influence: Increase Sphere of Influence to 3 squares
- Spawn Boost: Spawn that remain within the Brood Mother's Sphere of Influence now gain +4/+4/+0 instead of +2/+2/+0
- Levitation: Gives the Brood Mother a move of 2
- Fortify: Increase the Brood Mother's attack and defense by 3
- Subversion: Allows the Brood Mother to produce and eject a Seed of Subversion at a ranged target. She may only hold one seed at a time. In exchange for 10 plasmid, the Brood Mother may target a spawn within 3 squares of herself. Both players involved roll 2d6's each without modifiers. If the Brood Mother rolls higher, the targeted spawn is subverted to her control. If the targeted spawn rolls higher, it is left unaffected.
- Fontification: Forces a Plasmid Font to evolve into a Brood Proxy. The font now receives 3 plasmid per turn to add to the Plasmid Pool. It can take one Brood Mother mutation when enough plasmid is stored. It gains +5 attack. An optional additional rule that makes for a longer game follows. Only use this additional rule for a Brood Proxy if you've got a lot of time to was-- er, spare. If the original is killed while a proxy is still alive, the proxy immediately mutates to become a full-fledged Brood Mother.
Written By
Ao/Duvik/A. Ponder
Rules Assistance
Erin
Playtesters
December -Alpha
SoberIrishman -Alpha
Erin -Alpha
Inspired By
an offhand comment from TheTallestDwarf in www.thetangledweb.net IRC Chat Room located at irc.darkmyst.org #thetangledweb
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