”ARALKESTI ARCHON CREATION” posted:

Welcome to Contest: The Plains of Raami! This is a tactical game where you punch guys and claim territory before they can take it from you! _{Also: this game makes extremely heavy use of Fire Emblem GBA sprites and assets. Sue me. But don’t, actually, sue me, please.} This is a playtest for a larger run of this game, so let’s go ahead and try to break stuff!

To start, make a character. Pick a name (eight characters max!) and a portrait from this list.

You can also make your own using this program with this palette:

Metal H 279 S 34 V 26
Trim H 155 S 45 V 62
Cloth H 0 S 0 V 63
Leather H 24 S 21 V 64

Each character has 5 HP and 6 Move as a baseline: unless you have something that explicitly modifies these, assume that's what you're working with! Now, being a playtest set chronologically before the main game, no one is going to DIE here - but you might take wounds that will carry over visually into the next game! Next, set up your Stats. Each Archon has three Stats: ▣ GRIT, ◈ REFLEX, and ◉ WILL. Allocate d4, d6, and d8 between them - they are used for both attack and defense. Broadly, you roll one of your stats against the static Target Number of your opponent’s stats. The TN is half the die value (d4=2, d6=3, d8=4), and your Archon must roll higher than that value to hit. A tie isn’t good enough! As for targeting these stats, that is tied to the weapon chosen for the attack. An example of a weapon card can be seen below:

”RULES AND ACTIONS” posted:

In Contest, players give their Archons instructions, but do not roll. It seems strange, but it’s a hell of a lot easier to manage if I’m doing the heavy lifting. In general, you will do two things on your turn: Move, and Act. In that order! You can opt out of either, but you can’t switch em’ up. A few Actions:

• Attack! Choose a target and a weapon to hit them with. Things may conspire such that your attack is invalid or otherwise intercepted, but otherwise it will be rolled as stated earlier.
  
• Use a Power! You’ll see these later, but these powerful (if unreliable) abilities take precedence over other Actions, and even over Move!
  
• Equip! Wield stuff you have in your inventory. Dropping items is a free Act. It will, however, destroy the item in question, so make sure you don’t need it!
  
• Swap! Swap weapons, items or Powers with an adjacent ally. This takes one person’s Act.
  
• Search! Look in your tile or adjacent tiles for stuff! Probably better to only do this when you have nothing better to do!
  
• Other Stuff! If it’s not Moving, it will probably require an Action. Talking is free - gab away - but most other stuff will require an Action.

”ARCHON CREATION - ITEMS AND POWERS” posted:

You have 10 Points to allocate among the following list. You can’t save them up, so figure out how to disperse them or waste em’! Each character may have up to 2 Weapon slots, 1 Armour, 5 Inventory and 3 Powers. Feel free to copy and paste the images from here into your statbar - when it's set up correctly it should look like a nice little rectangle! Don’t fret too much about locking yourself into a particular role - all of your stuff (including Powers) can be traded freely or in some cases purchased in Bases.

MELEE - 1 POINT

MELEE - 2 POINTS

RANGED - 2 POINTS

ARMOUR - 1 Point

MOUNTS - 2, 4 and 6 Points Respectively

TRINKETS - 2 Points

TRINKETS - 1 Point


Powers: Powers are abilities that can be used to turn the tide of battle - but only when the Coin of Fate is on your side! More on that later! Additionally, adjacent allies with the same Power may combine their energies to improve their Powers! Secondary Casters may help a Prime Caster by either upscaling the Power’s roll (where applicable) or doubling its range. Power categories are thematic only - any Archon can use any Power, and as mentioned earlier even swap them with allies as they wish!
CORE - 2 Points


GRIT - 2 Points


REFLEX - 2 Points


WILL - 2 Points

ARCHON CREATION - PLATOON posted:

This is an optional section, but consider using it if you want to improve your army's overall strength. You may have up to four underlings, allocating 4 Army Points as you wish. They operate the same way your Archon does, though much weaker. They are each able to make only a single type of attack, striking out with their highest Stat and dealing damage equivalent to their current HP. Feel free to personalize them, give them portraits or whatever - who knows, maybe they'll pull off something impressive before they're killed?
BASIC - 1 Point

TRAINED - 2 Points

ELITE - 3 Points

CONDRESSAN ARCHON CREATION posted:

Surprise! You have to get to make two Archons, one for each opposing side! Creation is exactly the same, except you pick from this Portrait list instead:

You can also make your own using this program with this palette:

Metal H 180 S 47 V 55
Trim H 134 S 23 V 88
Cloth H 21 S 17 V 38
Leather H 24 S 23 V 16

Otherwise they are their own character entirely. The only other factor is their Platoon: If your other character opts out of taking a Platoon, this character must also.

COIN OF FATE posted:

The Coin of Fate mentioned earlier finally gets explained! There is a Power running under this world like veins under your flesh, and Archons are able to tap into it to do wonders... usually. But when two armies stand arrayed against one another, the skeins of Power are tangled and warped - and the world itself throws its lot behind one party.

Each turn, at the end of the turn, the Coin is flipped. The winning side gets priority with regards to resolution of movement and the ability to use their Powers! Some other Items and assorted events will trigger off the Coin, but for the most part it's as simple as that! In general, the order of resolution is as follows: Powers - Move - Attack, with priority given to the winners of the toss.

Playtest Stuff posted:

As mentioned before, this is a testbed for a bigger game with more players. Here we want to find out what the gameplay is like, see if it all works, see if it all makes sense to the players, and find powerful combinations. If you find something gamebreaking, we'll probably allow it! I'll be picking 4-5 people - if you don't get in, you'll get in next time! It'll just be patched out of the main game. And, hey, if it sucks and everyone hates it? We don't have to take it bigtime. Thanks for your help - and there might be something in it for you for any survivors!

”The Archons Take The Field” posted:

ARALKESTI

CONDRESSAN

”Seer posted:

“Lords and Ladies Archon, the Guild of Seers informs you that this will be a Monitored Contest. While your respective Seer Representatives will naturally not share information with your opponents - as such would be in violation of your Contracts - neither should you expect that subterfuge will have much effect in your battle. You must, in essence, expect that your foe will know what you are planning, and count on the strength of your arms and holy Fate to lead you to victory!”

”Portaller” posted:

Yes, Archons, the Power Flow is contested here, turbulent indeed. Fear not, we will have your forces here in but a moment - so why don’t you busy yourselves by claiming some likely Bases of operation, hmm? You wouldn’t want to have to walk your troops around the field like peasants, would you?

Bases posted:

To claim a Base, bring an Archon to a tile adjacent to an undefended Base and claim it. All enemies adjacent to a Base must be defeated before it can be claimed. You may enter an allied Base from an adjacent tile and vanish from the playing field as an action. Next Coin, you may reappear within five tiles of any other allied Base. Units may be left in reserve in a Base, to be deployed on a future Coin. Archons will regain 1 HP per turn left in reserve - Platoon units, however, will not.

The winner of the Coin toss will be able to deploy their army first.

”Portaler” posted:

“Connection secured, Lady Archon. We will have this portal operational momentarily, Fate willing.”

”Events” posted:

Events are random occurances you may encounter in your travels. They may grant treasure, lore, or danger. Generally, these are optional - you can opt out of them, if you wish. In certain cases, you will not be given a choice. Often, you will also be asked to roll one of your Stats. You may do so during your other character’s turn, though the results may not be known until later. If you are given multiple choices, pick only a single one.

Towns are where the citizenry live, where they work and do commerce, and where things of use to a roving Archon may be found. To enter a town, land on any tile within the boundary and use an Act to enter. Doing so will unlock several Events, though they will differ from place to place. Destroyed Towns will offer the same, though naturally the pickings are much slimmer.

Bandit posted:

"poo poo, is that an Archon!? To arms!"

Neutral Enemies posted:

Occasionally, foes belonging to neither of the armies will appear. These will either be scripted, or in response to Events. Rokko's failure to ambush, for instance, resulted in the spawning of another enemy. At any rate, they will not (barring specific enemies) spawn and attack at once - once they're on the map, they will attack on their turn, but the turn they are generated that's all they get to do. Killing them will net a single BP, in general.