Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Somerset rules version 1.0

In more serious news, the amazing husband of my incredible cousin passed away from cancer earlier this week. You will be missed, Jon. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you, Mindy.





For the past few days I have been working on typing up the preliminary instructions for Somerset. I have included them below.


Somerset
Somerset: the lush green country where the mythological Camelot resided. You and the other players will take on roles of ancient leaders in the city, each with peasants, knights, and wizards to do your bidding. As the years pass and the countryside grows, so too must your ability to build towns and villages, advance in the government, construct personal buildings, and use your wizards to cast magical spells, all in the goal of becoming the richest ruler.

A game for 2-5 players, ages 12 and up.

Goal of the game: Have the most money when the game ends.

Different ways to get money include: having other players use your country tiles, advancing in the government, getting money from the bank, having a large spell book, constructing buildings, and having your country tiles touch Camelot and other players’ tiles.

Game End: The game will end after the round when one of the following conditions is met: (a) All country tiles have been built. (b) A player builds their sixteenth country tile. (c) A player builds their eighth building.

Set Up: Take the Camelot city tiles depending on the number of players you have. Always use the ones labeled 2+, and use the ones with 3+ for a three or more player game and those with 4+ for a four or more player game. Place these face up on the table in a random arrangement. Note: all tiles must be connected by at least one road; one part of the board cannot be inaccessible to another part.

All country tiles are laid face up nearby so that all players may see and access them.

Every player takes all of their workers, roads, and claim markers. The government track is set out, and each player puts one claim marker on the left-most column of the government track.

Each player gets one Residence building card and one random spell card; this will be their starting hand. The two decks are then shuffled separately and placed near the board. The magic tokens, coins, and resources are also placed nearby.

Pick a starting player. That player will receive 5 coins. The player to his left will receive 1 more coin (6), the player to his left one more (7), and so forth all the way around the table.

First Round: For the first round, each player will take one of their peasants and one of their knights. Pick a starting player. That player will place one of these two workers of his and place it on a city tile, taking that action. The player to his left then places one of his workers on an unoccupied city tile, taking that action. Continue around clockwise until everyone has placed both of their workers.

These workers are now in the city and from now on can only move according to normal moving rules, which are:
·      A Peasant must only move exactly one tile.
·      A knight must move exactly two tiles.
·      A wizard must move exactly three tiles.
·      A piece can only move from one tile to another tile adjacent to it if roads are connecting them, or they have a personal road built connecting them. (And no blockades are in the way.)
·      A piece may not pass through nor land on a tile that already has one of that player’s workers in it.

Between Rounds: In between every round (but not after the last) is a building period where every player, starting with the starting player and going clockwise, may build exactly one country tile or one personal building, and purchase any spells from their hand.

They may build either a tile or a building, but not both. Players may always purchase as many spells from their hand as they wish, paying the cost and laying the cards down into their spell book. Players may pass if they do not wish to build anything.

Stand up all workers that are laying down (to show they have not moved yet this round). You are now ready to begin the next round.

Regular Round Gameplay: Starting with the current starting player and going clockwise, players will move one of their workers to a new tile, and either performs the action it lands on or does nothing. If they do nothing, they still must lay down their worker.

Once a worker has been moved, lay it down flat to show that that action has already been taken this round, and that that worker has already moved. Each tile’s action may be taken only once per round, although the tile may still be passed through. A worker may take an action on a tile where there is another worker standing up on it. Once all players have moved all of their current workers, the round ends.

End of Game: Play continues like this until one of the following occur:
a)     All country tiles have been built.
b)    A player builds their sixteenth country tile.
c)     A player builds their eighth building.

After one of these conditions is met, the round finishes as normal. Coins are then totaled.

Scoring: Players score coins based on the following:
1.     The player’s current coins are totaled.
2.     A player will score coins per country tile they have built as follows: For each of their country tiles, if it is touching the City of Camelot, it scores one coin. Each tile will also score one coin per country tile touching it that belongs to another player.
3.     The player with the largest Book of Spells (who has the most spell cards in front of them, not in their hand) will get 12 coins. The player with the second largest will get 8; the third largest 4, and the fourth largest 2. In case of a tie, evenly divide the coins of the respective tiers among the tied players (rounding down if necessary).

The player with the most money at the end wins! If tied, the tied player with the most resources left wins. If still tied, all tied players share the victory.

Building country tiles and personal buildings: When a player buys either a country tile or a personal building, they pay the resource cost found in the upper-left corner, giving those resources from in front of them back to the supply.

When a player buys a country tile, it must come from the general supply near the board. It must be placed so that it touches at least two tiles already in play. Also, at least one of its road connections must touch another tile’s road connection so that it’s accessible.

When a country tile is built, the player places one of their claim markers in the upper-left circle, covering the cost. That tile is now his for the rest of the game. Whenever another player’s worker lands on that tile, the player that built it receives one coin from the bank. Thus it might be a good idea to buy tiles your opponents would want to use repeatedly, and build them near your opponents’ workers.

Every time you build a personal building, the building card must come from your hand. When you build your first building, immediately receive one coin from the bank. When you build your second, receive two coins. When you build your third, get three coins, fourth, four coins, and so forth.

Roads and Barricades: A player has exactly six roads. These are used for both roads and barricades. If a player tries to build another road or barricade, they must reuse a road or barricade they already have on the board by picking it up and moving it to its new spot.

Roads are placed between two tiles perpendicular to the space between them, on the non-road side of one of those tiles. Thus the road will connect those two tiles for that player, allowing workers of that player to pass from one tile to the other like normal.

Barricades are placed between two tiles parallel to the space between them, usually where the roads already connect. This barricade prevents movement from one tile to the next for all players except the player that built it. However, a barricade cannot be built in a place that would completely block off a section of the current board from the other via road connections. At least one normal road must exist somewhere to connect all tiles together. If the barricade is built over a player’s road that road no longer functions, and no roads may be built over a barricade.

Spells: A player may only cast spells if they have at least one wizard. Until a player gets a wizard, they will not be able to cast any spells they lay down from their hand, although they may still lay them down to create a spell book. A player may only cast spells from those spells he has in front of him, not in his hand; they must be first bought in between rounds.


When you cast a spell, you must use up the amount of magic crystals required, giving them back to the supply from in front of you. Resolve all effects of the spell before the next player goes.

No comments:

Post a Comment