The Cult of Kel'Quiroth and Other Happy Things

As promised, today's blog is detailing one of the new organizations in Ruin. I'm going to refer to them collectively as a "race" despite the fact that it is a composite organization of elves, humans, and many other species. The Cult of Kel'Quiroth is a semi-religious underground group that worships the Kel'Quiroth. The Kel'Quiroth are an ancient mythological beast in the world of Ruin, similar to our dragons (in their mythos, not in form or abilities). No one outside of the Cult truly believes that they are real.

The Symbol of The Kel'Quiroth

The Kel'Quiroth:
The Kel'Quiroth, commonly called the Kel, are an ancient race of burrowing wormlike creatures. Believed to have been as long as 200 meters, it is said that they could eat through solid stone. From what the cultist researchers have been able to figure out, the Kel had no faces, the front was just a giant hole ringed by teeth. The Kel have no brain, they have a central nervous system cord (think ganglia) that runs all the way through their bodies. They are, however, believed to have been greatly intelligent and capable of amazing destruction.

The Dogma and Structure of the Cult:
The main goal of the Cult of Kel'Quiroth is to perform "The Ritual of Awakening", a ceremony that they believe will reawaken the Kel'Quiroth, who the cult thinks will shower them with gifts and power. No-one actually knows what the ritual is, but The Cult is fervently researching it and trying to find out. Inside The Cult, structure is vary vague and tenuous, as it operates in small groups known as circles. The leader of each circle is in two circles, one of his underlings, another with other leaders of circles of similar rank. The circles go all the way up to "The Grand Master" who's never been seen, only rumored and whispered about in fear. The cult operates mostly in secret on the mainland, but on Zantille may move freely as there are no repercussions from rulers.

The Ranks, in order from lowest to highest:
Lay Worshipper- These are civilians with no special skills. They occasionally provide services like blacksmithing and such to The Cult, but their primary function in the cult is to pay dues that go to support The Cult's research efforts.
Arm of the Kel- These generally lower circle soldiers serve as the main body of The Cult's armed forces. The are usually armed with a sword and occasionally throwing daggers, and wear chain mail painted black with a ring of teeth on the front in white.
Lay Wizard- Lower and Middle circle wizards provide magical support for The Cult. They inspire and intimidate those around them with their abilities and are known for being petty and spiteful. A large number of these came over to Zantille, as the blood of magic users is believed to be one of the many components of The Ritual of Awakening
Feet of the Kel- Middle circle messengers, they are never allowed to see the contents of what they carry. They ride in a full body white robe emblazoned with a black Kel'Quiroth Symbol on the back. When in disguise, they generally wear brown cloaks, but in Zantille they operate in the open.
Hand of the Kel- These middle and upper middle circler combatants are the elite commandos of the Cult. There are skilled in both observation and elimination of threats. They often lead lower circles and command bands of Arms.
Eye of the Kel- The Eyes are Middle circle, but they never lead. The Eyes are almost always at the service of a powerful member of the upper circle. No-one but their controller and higher circles know which members of the cult are Eyes. The Eyes, in addition to spying on enemies and reporting their observations back to their controllers, also report infractions of other members that are against Cult code. They keep the cult in order, as no-one knows quite who might be an Eye.
Masters- The Masters lead upper circles and are supreme in their command of other Cultists. They are always masked and never let anyone but the Grand Master see their faces. They are responsible for finding out information on the Kel'Quiroth in the ruins of Zantille.
Superior- The Superior is the swift enforcer of justice among the upper ranks of the cult. He is the Grand Master's right-hand man and is the most skilled assassin in The Cult. He controls a good number of Eyes and receives all important information that comes into The Cult. It is rumored that he has seen the Grand Master's face. All that is known about The Superior is that he is an elf roughly 1000-1500 years old.
The Grand Master- No-one really knows much about the Grand Master, as he has never been seen undisguised by anyone except The Superior. He is a master of disguise, and frequently masquerades as a low-level Lay Wizard of Hand of Kel. His age is not known, and some even say that he was alive at the founding of the cult 6000 years ago, longer than the life span of even the healthiest elf.

The Cult In Zantille:
The Cult has gone to Zantille to explore the Ruin's there for more clues to beginning the Ritual of Awakening. Unbeknownst to anyone but The Superior, The Grand Master has disguised himself as an ordinary Master, and is personally leading a band into Zantille. He, in a vision, saw that there was a hibernating Kel'Quiroth underneath the continent of Zantille and is going to try to complete The Ritual there. He, however, is going to need several powerful artifacts and the final part of the Ritual to accomplish his goal.

Sample Cultists:
Here are a few sample Cult of Kel'Quiroth units. The first is a magical beast that the masters and eyes have tamed to deal with enemy Spellcasters. The second is a sample Lay Wizard.

Well, until next time, may you have happy dreams of murderous Kel'Quiroth cultists and their crazy plots.

This Week in Ruin

No, my week this week actually went quite nicely, and though I did do poorly on last week's Math quiz, this week's test seemed to be a small improvement (though practically anything can beat my atypical 20% score last week). Now that i have caught you up (sort of) to what the general format of Ruin is, let me give you some statistics about Ruin as it is so far. (green for good, red for bad)
3- # of games of Ruin that have been played to completion
3- # of people on the Ruin design team
40- the average # of minutes a game of ruin takes
53- # of assistants that are available to play with right now
12- # of explorers available right now
1786524- possible combination of 3 assistants and an Explorer (3 spots with 53 possibilities each and 1 with 12, so 53*53*53*12=1786524)

Wow. It was just like a little numerical Christmas.

This week in Ruin, a major development was made by Gavin. Gavin created a new mechanic that looks to be a focus of a large number of units inside the game. Gavin originally conceived of a unit he dubbed "The Clinger", a spider-like beast that attached onto its prey and slowly drained them of their life until its victim died or it was dislodged. However, under the current rules that we had, this kind of thing was incredibly hard to pull off, and would have never fit onto a single card. So we opened up an entire new space for design of units by creating the rules for attachment. We plan to have between 10-15 units that have the ability to attach onto other units. Some will be parasitic, some symbiotic, and others will just be piggybacking for a short while.

That generally sums up what happened this week in our development, as the attach mechanic was the most played around with thing in our designs this week. This weekend, I'll talk about our new kind of creature type (I'll give you hint it's not in Lord of the Rings, but is very heavy in H.P. Lovecraft) and what they bring to the table. If you are really interested in attaching rules, look below.



The rules for attaching are as follows.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXTREMELY TECHNICAL RULES DOCUMENT. IT IS NOT INTENDED FOR THE WEAK OF HEART. IF YOU HAVE A PRE-EXISTING CONDITION OR ARE A MEMBER OF THE GREEN PARTY, READ AHEAD AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Attaching

In Ruin, there are several cards that can Attach to, or “cling onto” other units. These units embody the idea of a small unit hanging onto a larger one. A unit can be attached to another unit, or attached by a unit. When the small unit is attached to the big one, the big one is not attached to the small one, it is considered attached by it. Though that may sound confusing, think of how a spider crawling on a car looks. The spider moves wherever the car moves, not the other way around.

Attached Dos and Don’ts: When a unit is attached to another unit, it may not move during the move phase, attack, cast spell or use abilities that do not expressly say, “You may play this ability (cast this spell) when attached to another unit” or “Play this ability (cast this spell) only when attached to another unit”. A unit attached to another unit may not be the target of attacks, spells, or abilities by the unit it is attached to. When you attack an enemy unit that you have an allied unit attached to, if you miss, but roll high enough to hit the DEF of the unit you have attached, deal the DMG to your unit.

Movement and Attached Units: A unit that is attached to another unit does not cause the unit attached by it to become engaged. A unit that is attached to another unit may not move on it’s own. However, when the unit attached by it moves, the attached unit moves as well. Any effect that would cause the attached unit or the unit attached by it to move causes them both to move. Ex: Gavin’s Clinger is attached to John’s Tyralith, Magiloth Ancient. John uses Tyralith’s Psychic Tunneling spell to move it to a dirt hex. The Clinger moves to that dirt hex as well, still attached.

Catching Everyone Up

This blog is just to catch everyone up to where we are in Ruin development. I originally started this blog over on my x-fire blog. So anyway, here are some basics for you.

Yes. This game is very complicated, and I am aware that it is difficult to learn. It is really fun though, and when we start our open testing, drop me an email or a comment and I'll let you know where you can go to play it.

Our Design Team:
Vincent- Vincent has been working on the Zantillan race and has designed a couple key rules. He hasn't yet had a chance to actually PLAY the game, but he's been busy recently.
Gavin- Gavin has been responsible for a large amount of the units and unit-based mechanics in the game. He brings a lot of great ideas to our team.
Me (John)- Ruin was my project baby for awhile, the idea I kicked around in my head but never had the guts to go through with. With some help from Vince and Gavin though, we finally have a semi-playable version that can be roughly tested and refined.

The Game:
Ruin is based off of the concept of two rival teams of explorers trying to explore an ancient ruin. On each side of the board, there is a powerful ancient artifact, which you try to take from your opponent by trickery or force. Ruin is set in a fantasy setting, which in addition to traditional fantasy themes (Elves and Goblins) introduces some new ones as well, such as the intelligent zombies known as the Zantillans. Ruin is played on a map made of up hexagonal tiles, on which players move around their units, attack, and cast spells.

This is one half of a Ruin map. The objects standing up represent walls and/or obstacles. Each player determines his half of the map off of a set of preset cards, shown below as well.




Anyway, units are divided into two main categories, Assistants and Explorers. Explorers are powerful, hard to destroy leaders and Assistants are...well...assisting them. A typical assistant card might look like this

That may look a little daunting, but bear with me. (bare or bear, either way)

The column on the left with the heading ATK (attack) refers to the offensive capabilities of the unit in melee combat. The base ATK is modified depending on a number of factors, primarily your numerical advantage and what terrain you are on. The types of terrain correspond with the color of the hex. ie: Green is Forest, Gray/Blue is Rock, Brown is Dirt. The deep blue is water. The DMG is the amount of damage you deal on a successful attack, which requires you to roll an EIGHT-sided dice, add your total bonus, then equal or exceed their total defense.

The second column is DEF (defense). This represents how well the unit can defend itself against attack. The unit above is an Elf, so it is adept at defense in its forest homeland, but weak in the open area of Dirt terrain.

Between the two columns are listed the name and type of the unit, along with a box that provides a description of the drawing that should later appear in that box. The art description sets the tone and mood of the unit, and provides information of the appearance of it.

Directly below the art description box is the abilities box. Each unit in Ruin is unique, so you can combine and create teams of them that are different and adaptable. The abilities can range from anything as simple as the bow and arrow attack shown above to complicated magical spells that can steal opponents' abilities. The italic text in parentheses is called reminder text. On units with few, reminder text helps newer players understand and use those abilities better. On the center bottom of the abilities box is printed whether the unit is an explorer or an assistant.

Now we close in on the last of the unit explanation things for now. In the DEF column there are two spots marked Life and SPD. Life is how much damage a unit can take. A fragile mage can withstand little damage, whereas an undead warrior can take brutal amounts of punishment before succumbing. A unit dies when its life is equal to or less than 0. If the unit is an Explorer, damage clears at the end of the turn, giving them combat superiority over the smaller Assistants. SPD is the number of hexes a unit can move in a turn.

WOW. that was a lot of information for you to take in. Pause for a second. Take a breather. Perhaps listen to a soothing song or two. Now we continue.

Many people, well really just a couple, have asked why we're using 8sided dice for Ruin. The answer is actually pretty simple. A six sided dice has too little variety, as a single point of bonus on it would be much more powerful than on an 8sided dice. however, on dice above 8 sides, you have numbers that may get above 10, which is something casual players tend to avoid if they can.

Alright! The Final Thing for this Post.

Phases of the Turn:
A turn of Ruin is divided into several parts, or phases. Each of these phases is then divided into further parts, called steps. This is a breakdown of the steps and phases in a turn with a basic explanation of what happens in each step and phase.

Beginning Phase
-Beginning of turn step: this is when affects that trigger at the beginning of turn trigger. Abilities may be played here
-Reinforcement Step: IF you have less than 1 explorer and/or less than three assistants out, put the top cards of those decks into play on your spawn space until you have 3 assistants and 1 explorer. If your spawn space has reached the maximum unit limit (2 of your units), you may put your units into play on an adjacent unoccupied hex. If you have no cards left in both of those decks, and no units in play, you lose the game. Abilities may be played here

Main Phase 1
-This is either a Move Phase or a Combat Phase
Main Phase 2
-This is either a Move Phase or a Combat Phase, whichever one Main Phase 1 wasn’t

End of Turn Phase
End of Turn Step: Effects that trigger at end of turn trigger here, and a spell that lasts X turns will lose one of those turns during this step.Abilities may be played here
Damage Clear Step: Damage Clears off of Explorers during this step. Abilities cannot be played during this step

Main Phases Explained:
During the first main phase, you choose whether it will be a Combat Phase or a Move Phase. The second main phase will be whichever of these you did not choose for the first one.

Move Phase
Beginning of Movement Step: Boost effects can be played during this step
Move Step: You choose which unengaged creatures of yours will move up to their SPD in hexes. You cannot stop a unit in a hex with 2 allied units in it already, but you may pass through them. If those two allied units are engaged, you may not enter that hex. If at any time a unit becomes engaged while moving, that unit may not continue moving. You may not move onto the spawn space on your opponent’s side of the map, or the artifact space on your side of the map.
End of Move Step: Boost effects can be played during this step

Combat Phase
1.) Beginning of combat: At this time, spells being cast and targets of those spells are declared Boost effects can be played during this step
2.) Choose Cells For Combat: The Active player chooses cells in which combat will take place. At this time, positional effects and terrain modifiers are calculated. They do not change until combat is over. Boost effects can be played during this step
3.)Damage is Rolled Simultaneously in all cells: We recommend using different color dice to represent each cell’s combat. After seeing the rolls, the active player may play Boost Cards and Abilities, then the Non-Active Player. Once done, all modifiers are applied. Nothing beyond this point can change the Defense Value or attack roll. After all of the modifiers are factored in, if the Attack Roll equals or exceeds the DV of the opposing miniature, damage is placed on the stack. (immediately after damage is placed on the stack, spells effects are placed on the stack. However, as damage is already on the stack, most spells effects can no longer affect combat at this point)
4.) Damage Step: with damage on the stack , boost effects and abilities can be played during this step. After all effects have resolved, damage resolves.

Some Terms:
DEF: abbreviation for defense
ATK: abbreviation for attack
DMG: abbreviation for damage
SPD: abbreviation for speed
Assistant: The weaker units in Ruin, though there are 3 of them and only 1 Explorer
Explorer: The stronger, commanding units in Ruin, you can have 1 out at a time
Engaged: This unit is engaged in combat, meaning that it is in a hex with an enemy unit
Unengaged: This unit is not engaged in combat, meaning that it is not in a hex with an enemy unit
Hex: A single Hexagonal tile on the game board.