From: Jay Schindler Subject: Lords of Creation: a Populous variant Greetings; fellow r.g.b.ers I dusted off my copy of Lords of Creation the other day and said to myself: This is a really decent game with interesting strategy. I enjoy it, and the time length would be fine with a little added to it. Like Richard Hutnik suggested on rec.games.board, it could become a Populous: The Boardgame, with a few additions. I have generated the following additions, and would appreciate feedback from r.g.b.ers... Lords of Creation: the Populous variant I came up with the idea of awarding extra powers to players as they built more and more altars to their "God". One new power could be chosen from a set of powers as each player reached 1, 3, 6, and 10 altars. These powers would be represented/explained on cards. If they lost altars below the critical number they would lose the card and power associated with it. Here's my list of "Populous-like" powers: With 1 altar, choose one of the following cards for an additional power: a)Desert Migration: Can migrate across (not remain in) deserts b)Mountain Migration: Can migrate across (not remain in) mountains c)Ocean Migration: Can migrate across (not remain in) ocean to/from ANY terrain d)Live in Desert: Can populate desert terrain e)Live in Mountains: Can populate mountain terrain With 3 altars, choose one of the following cards for an additional power: a)Fertility: When placing pieces onto the board, add one more piece than the number on the card b)Flexibility: Can hold 11 cards in your hand instead of 7 c)Foresight: After all other players have turned up their cards, then play your card from your hand d)Cultured: May begin one civilization (barbarian to civilized) of your own in a new location each turn e)Regressive: May turn all civilized in ONE of your own hexes (not an altar space) back into barbarians each turn With 6 altars, choose one of the following cards for an additional power: (each of these powers can be used only once per turn; turn over card when used) a)Avalanche: can depopulate 1 space adjacent to or in a mountain space, even your own b)Flood: can depopulate 1 space adjacent to or in an ocean space, even your own c)Fire: can depopulate 1 space only in a forest or grassland space, even your own d)Raise/Lower Land: can switch places of one tile for another in one of following pairs: sea and island; hills and mountain. (Populations on spaces DON’T move.) e)Bless/Curse Land: can switch places of one tile for another in one of following pairs: desert and grassland; grassland and forest. (Populations on spaces DON’T move.) With 10 altars, choose one of the following cards for an additional power: (each of these powers can be used only once per turn; turn over card when used) a)Declare Truce: Select one opponent. They cannot attack nor civilize your populace this round. You cannot attack nor civilize their populace this round b)Civilized Raids: Your civilized may attack adjacent spaces, but cannot move into the space c)Berserker Attack: Rolling a double does not end your attacks. Continue attacks until satisfied. d)Strong Defense: On defense, roll 2 dice instead of one. If either die succeeds, defense succeeds in reducing attacker by 1 AND offense attack isn’t successful that one round of the attack. e)Strong Attack: A 5 or greater succeeds when attacking into the same terrain, and a 7 or greater succeeds when attacking into a different terrain. Doubles end attacks. I'll admit right up front that I have not playtested these for balance, and there may be combinations that lead to runaway wins. Part of the reason for sharing this list is to get some feedback about my list, and maybe entice some thinking about other Populous-like abilities. I will be doing some playtesting at upcoming gaming conventions. I intend to prepare a graphical card set for these powers and try some of them out at the conventions. If playtesting proves these Populour-like powers to be fun, I'll share a set of the graphical cards on r.g.b. for others to use with their copy of Lords of Creation Again, suggestions of big imbalances or other possible powers would be helpful. Please provide some feedback about any/all of these Populous-like powers and thoughts about their impact on Lords of Creation. If you want to do it through regular email, feel free to use that channel also. Jay Schindler jayvs1@attbi.com