From: mschnei1@isd.net Subject: Titan variant This variant may be called either "Double Titan" or "Son of Titan". Reason: to give newbies a slight break; and to balance the game a bit. (Titan is normally a "runaway" game with one guy getting ahead and never looking back.) Double Titan is also recommended for variants with expanded boards. You're a Titan. So is your twin brother (or son, or heir, or "longtime companion", or whatever) and you're going to divvy up the world between you. Instead of starting with an angel stack and a Titan stack, you start with two Titan stacks (the 2nd represented by one of the blank chits - I *ass*ume every game came with 7 or 8 blank counters like mine did - or by another color Titan, or lastly, by an upsidedown legion marker if nothing else is available). ---effect of the above: Players must EARN their first angel. This balances the game in early rounds by preventing players with miserable luck on the first few movement rolls from being attacked by another player's Titan stack calling in an angel. At the very least, they can now expect to be left alone until their initial stacks have split once again. Additional Option (best for three- or two-player games): You start with THREE stacks, the third with an angel), split into equal numbers in your starting tower. You receive three of each basic creature - which means, yes, you COULD recruit a warbear or minotaur on your first turn! This is a LOT of fun, especially for those pleased by the aesthetic presence of high level creatures on the board which often never appear in a game of Titan. Don't you just love grabbing a huge gobful of dice and slamming three centaurs to the mat in one roll? Hey, if you aren't MURDERING things, it's not a "real" wargame! ---effect of the above: lessens the overwhelming superiority of jungle and brush creatures in mid game by allowing center region creatures a jumps start before bazillions of gorgans and behemoths are rampaging around the board. The game also "constipates" more quickly, so movement strategy is important. Earning experience: If you have TWO Titans, they go up levels in staggared fashion. At 100 points, your legion-colored Titan goes up to 7 dice. At 200 pts, the other Titan goes up to 7 dice, and so on. If you have only ONE Titan (the other lost in battle), it goes up a level at each hundred point threshold after the other is lost. ---effect of the above: A player who loses one Titan early through lousy luck can become a formidable presence if he accumulates enough points to have a very strong Titan while the other players are splitting experience between two of them. Losing a Titan in battle: If a player has two Titans, they fight as ordinary creatures in battle, with the entire engagement proceeding to its conclusion after the secondary Titan is slain. The victor simply receives points as normal for victory plus recruits and angels, if any, as usual. But if you lose your second Titan, the game is over for you and your opponant tallies up points as he would in normal Titan and acquires your legion counters. If a player loses his legion-colored Titan, the other Titan counter is switched for it in any subsequent encounter or Tower recruit in which the remaining Titan is displayed (this is merely for aesthetic purposes). Remember: only one stack may teleport during a player's turn, so none of this "I rolled a six and will take two warlocks!" nonsense on the first turn. * * * * * Comments? -- "It is an affront to treat falsehood with complacency." - Thomas Paine