The other Gridhood games around here seem to be pretty thoroughly dead. So, with some trepidation... I'm gonna try and run one.
I've only known this game as a player. I'm lifting the rules mostly off of TricMagic's Gridhood, but I'm having to make stuff up where I'm unclear on the established rules. Please gripe at me if you note any glaring discrepancies.
Superdorf's compendium of all things Gridhood!
Basic RulesAs a god, you can directly influence the world through the expenditure of faith points, or FP. You begin the game with 3 FP, and gain 1 FP per turn. You gain additional FP through the prayers of your worshippers, and through the spread of your influence of choice (or aspect) throughout the world.
When you create your god, choose a name, a color, and an aspect. Your aspect is a single word; when that aspect triggers in-game, you gain FP. (An aspect that triggers regularly can make you very powerful indeed; choose yours wisely!)
On your turn, you may spend FP to perform one or more of the following actions:
3 FP: Create a basic tile in the void.
2 FP: Destroy an unoccupied basic tile.
2 FP: Add a modifier to a tile. Modifiers are generally temporary, and will wear off over time.
5+ FP: Create an artifact. The more advanced or powerful your artifact is, the more it will cost to create.
1 FP: Destroy a tile or an artifact that you created.
Additional actions will be added as the game progresses. God actions resolve in sequence of post, and cannot negate another god's action. Destruction applies after all actions are completed.
A basic tile is a mundane expanse of land of a certain climate type: rocky plains, deserts, tundras, grasslands, woodlands, and the like.
When creating a basic tile, you may only specify a climate. Such specifications as "rich in metal" or "river" are modifiers, and must be added separately.
As a civilization, you must find a way to survive and thrive alongside the (potentially hostile) civilizations of your fellow Bay12ers, in a world governed by the whims of its deities (who are also Bay12ers, and also potentially hostile.) Life is hard for you, but you've got one thing going in your favor: the gods need you. Your prayers can make a god strong, and if you get on that god's good side... it can make you strong.
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Creating a Civ
When creating a civilization, choose a name, a color, and an aspect. Your aspect is a single word; your aspect indicates the thing your civilization is best at. You gain a bonus to research technologies related to your aspect. Choose wisely!
Optionally, you may take one boon and one bane when creating your civilization. These are racial or cultural traits that work for and against you: "naturally strong", "naturally frail", "intelligent", "slow-witted", and the like. The possibilities here are many; be creative!
Should you choose to take a boon and bane, the two must be relatively equal in scale, at my discretion. I'm alright with a little cheese, but ludicrous amounts of such will be frowned upon.
Finally, you must choose a tile to settle on. Void tiles cannot be settled; should there be no uninhabited solid tiles in the world, you will have to wait for a god to create one.
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Civ Actions
As a civilization, you accomplish the necessary tasks for survival through the allocation of workers. Each worker can perform one of the following actions per turn:
- Forage your home tile or an adjacent tile for food. (A tile diagonal to your home tile is not considered adjacent to it!)
- Research a technology for which you have the necessary prerequisites.
- Build a construction for which you have the necessary technology.
- Pray to a god. Each worker praying to a god generates 1 FP for that god.
You may assign multiple workers to a single action. Doing so will increase the rate at which that action is completed, or the likelihood that it is successful. The number of different actions your workers may perform in a turn is governed by logistics points, or LP. Your workers can only perform as many separate actions as you have LP.
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Resource Management
Workers need food to survive. Each worker consumes one unit of food every turn. Food is deducted from your stores at the end of each turn; should a worker die, that worker will not consume any food that turn.
Workers desire shelter, and will become unhappy if they do not have it. Unhappy workers may refuse to work, or even rebel against you! Fortunately for you, your civilization begins the game with the "Primitive House Creation" technology, or an equivalent. Primitive houses hold 1 worker apiece. Make sure you have enough!
You begin the game with 5 workers, 10 primitive houses, 10 units of food, and 10 logistics points. On your turn, you may produce additional workers at a cost of 3 food units per worker.
Generally speaking, a turn is resolved in the following order:
God actions
Civ actions
Food deduction
Should two or more actions conflict, they will be resolved in order of post.
Should a god not have sufficient FP to complete all its posted actions, those actions will be resolved in order of post.
Additional RulesIn addition to the actions specified in the Basic Rules, a god may spend FP to perform one or more of the following actions:
3 FP: Make a tile modifier permanent.
5+ FP: Make a permanent supernatural change to a tile. These changes have much more variance than modifiers.
5+ FP: Create a Special Tile. Unlike Basic Tiles, which must take the form of mundane climates, a Special Tile is inherently
supernatural and thus may take any number of forms and possess one or more permanent magical effects from creation.
1+ FP: Bestow a supernatural effect upon a mortal. This effect may be blessing, curse, or anything in between, and varies in cost
depending on its power.
The Abundant Food modifier increases the Lushness of a tile, making foraging in that area more profitable. Multiple Abundant Food modifiers can be stacked on the same tile.
If a tile is already especially lush when modified, or if multiple Abundant Food modifiers have already been stacked on that tile, the tile may reach maximum food density. Should a tile reach maximum food density, further applications of the Abundant Food modifier will simply refresh old Abundant Food modifiers and, to some extent, replenish the food reserves of the island.
A water tile is a tile wherein all ways into or out of the tile are blocked by an expanse of water sufficiently wide and deep to prevent normal travel. Water tiles may not be entered without a technology or boon that specifically allows such. Unless there is a suitable landmass on the water tile, it cannot be settled by a civilization unless that civilization has some kind of workaround, such as an Amphibious boon.
These rules are, as always, subject to change over time; more options will become available to both gods and civs as the game progresses.