Which god/goddess would you like to see in an expansion?

[Doctor Strategy]

I you had to chose a new god/dess for a possible Godstorm expansion, which would you choose? Or if none of these appeal to you, what one would you recommend.
1) Fire/sun god/dess
2) Water/ocean god/goddess
3) Nature/earth god/goddess
4) Knowledge/wisdom god/goddess

[StarvingWriter82]

It's my initial inkling to go with a nature god/goddess. I'm not sure if you play magic: the gathering, but here's a brief run down of the colors in the game:

Red: Cheap, direct effects that damage your opponents (war god)
Black: Expensive, game altering, mutually destructive effects (death god)
Blue: Counterspells, card drawing, small little effects that give you a leg up over time (magic goddess)
White: Defense, combat tricks (Air God)
Green: Nature, Growth, etc. (Not found in GodStorm)

The comparison is pretty obvious even if you've played M:tG - the black mana symbol is a skull, white has a card called Swords to Plowshares that destroys an attacking creature, all the colors in magic correspond to the card colors in M:tG (except blue/magic goddess). It's obvious that the creators borrowed very heavily to make the cards for GodStorm. This is fine - M:tG is a great game and certainly worthy of being borrowed from (in fact, I think that's a lot of what makes GS such a great game - the took all the best aspects of other games, mashed it into one, and then added a few new concepts) but, back around to the point, green/nature god is the only one not represented. I think a wisdom god would be too close to a magic god, a fire god would be close to a war god, etc. an important part of GS is that all the cards are distinctive from each other, and there's very little mingling of decks/flavor (example, if you want something defensive, you must draw air cards, unless you get lucky and get the Aegis Shield, if you want card drawing, you must draw relics unless you get faith shall deliver, if you want something to hurt your opponents armies directly, you must draw war cards unless you get The Gods Forsake Us).

So (way back around to the topic again) I couldn't think of anything that:

1) would be uniformly represented in all ancient cultures
2) would not borrow card abilities from existing gods

except a nature god.

(although, now that I'm thinking about it, a trickster god would be cool, and he could have alternate costs as opposed to faith, such as: Sacrifice a temple: Destroy all temples. or Play only at the beginning of an epoch, Sacrifice six units on the board: everyone takes their armies and gods off the board. Deal out all the territory cards randomly. Players than re-place their armies on the board on these territories, placing at least one army in each territory if possible. I like this card, and I don't think it's too time consuming -if you want to talk time consumption wait for someone to turn back time in a five player game.)

[Doctor Strategy]

All of these new choices were found across nearly all the cultures (some use different titles but have the same effect) that are currently used in Godstorm. I used a reference older that Magic the Gathering. I used the 1 st Edition AD&D rules. As AH is not entirely on target as far as the names go if you know mythology. AD&D was accurate towards this end. For the gods of war, AH picked the most potent god instead of those used historically,which was not necessarily the god's role in their historical pantheon. Thor was more of a sky god ie)god of thunder than a war god. They should have used Sif or Tyr. This is kinda forgivable as Thor was way more powerful than either of these.

[holywolfman]

Water God/dess would be cool with "water" regions to wreak havok in as well!- :D

[DocD]

The god of water/ocean sounds good to me. Would remake 'Atlantis is your tomb' one of his cards.

[StarvingWriter82]

Yeah, there are definitely some minor indescrepancies but I think they were going for coolness factor more than historical accuracy (as you mentioned). I think a lot of people playing would go "Who the heck is Tyr? It's wierd they mention this guy, but not Thor!"

*shrug*

Hmmm.... that gives me an idea, but I think it's enough of an idea it might deserve its own post.

[Brknlf]

My vote went for nature/earth god(dess) - more towards 'earth' too. I think such a god(dess) would be good with a mix of offensive and defensive cards. Maybe with some weird defensive labor to gain cards with (ie, if the attacking force is at least twice as large as the defending force, draw a card), Maybe with one really great card that creates an opening through the mountains or something.

[StarvingWriter82]

The Way is Under the Mountains is one of my favorite LotR cards, I was sad to not see it in GodStorm.

[Doctor Strategy]

The Way is Under the Mountains is one of my favorite LotR cards, I was sad to not see it in GodStorm.
That gives me an idea for a death card. Underworld passage. Sacrifice one faith to play. Create a gate to the underworld in one of your territories. On the gather armies step, remove one of your armies from your corresponding heaven and place it on the gate area on the main map. Kinda like a temple if you control a crypt but better. If an opponent takes over the space the gate will still function as normal. Once it has been laid it doesn't move to another heaven. It still puts 1 of your troops back on the board. This may be too complex, maybe it should vanish if another culture takes the gate over. Let me know what you think.

[Doctor Strategy]

The Way is Under the Mountains is one of my favorite LotR cards, I was sad to not see it in GodStorm.
Brknlf and Starving,

That is aplausible earth card. It would allow a passage to be made through the mountains to another territory. You can fortify through the mountain as it creates a permanent passage. Or you can sneak attack someone who thinks he got Hyrkania locked up. I think it would have to cost at leat 2 faith to activate.

[StarvingWriter82]

The death card sounds cool, unfortunately I don't think the complexity is worth the power level, as if you think about it, it can only get you 4 armies over the course of the game (if you somehow cast it turn 1) and is almost always strictly worse than The Dead Walk. Maybe a relic that said: "During your place armies phase, you may pay 1 faith to take an army in the Underworld and place it on the game board. You may repeat this as many times as you like."

Personally I would like to see:

Avalanche

sacrifice 3 faith. Destroy one army in every space adjacent to a mountain range.

[Doctor Strategy]

That gives me an idea for a death card. Underworld passage. Sacrifice one faith to play. Create a gate to the underworld in one of your territories. On the gather armies step, remove one of your armies from your corresponding heaven and place it on the gate area on the main map. Kinda like a temple if you control a crypt but better. If an opponent takes over the space the gate will still function as normal. Once it has been laid it doesn't move to another heaven. It still puts 1 of your troops back on the board. This may be too complex, maybe it should vanish if another culture takes the gate over. Let me know what you think.
How about it costs 4 faith to activate? And the new power is if you lose an army on the board roll one die per army lost. If you roll a six that army is returned to the passage space. If anyone else takes it over it disappears.

[StarvingWriter82]

That would be more interesting, I think, and make it more unique, instead of just the obvious comparisons to a temple or The Dead Walk

[Brknlf]

That death card does sound good. That was one thing I would have liked to see is the blank cards to add user defined cards to the game.

The avalanche sounds good, but powerful; everyone would use it mostly for the same mountain range because there are only two on the board. The one between Asia Minor, Europa and Hyrkania only has 5 territories bordering it while the range between Europa and Germania has 9 territories that border it (ie. it is quick to break up any continent bonus that any is getting from either of those two). Maybe instead it could be Avalanche: Sacrifice 3 faith tokesn - destroy 1d6 armies in a territory that borders a mountain, remove 1 army from each territory along its border including those across the mountains. The most you would get that way is 6 territories and that is only if you target Anatolia I believe.

[Doctor Strategy]

That death card does sound good. That was one thing I would have liked to see is the blank cards to add user defined cards to the game.

The avalanche sounds good, but powerful; everyone would use it mostly for the same mountain range because there are only two on the board. The one between Asia Minor, Europa and Hyrkania only has 5 territories bordering it while the range between Europa and Germania has 9 territories that border it (ie. it is quick to break up any continent bonus that any is getting from either of those two). Maybe instead it could be Avalanche: Sacrifice 3 faith tokesn - destroy 1d6 armies in a territory that borders a mountain, remove 1 army from each territory along its border including those across the mountains. The most you would get that way is 6 territories and that is only if you target Anatolia I believe.

Brknlf,

The card is better the way it is. The total max that could be lost is then nine armies total. Your way if lucky could result in eleven losses. Even so it doesn't make much sense how Ionia could get hit by boulders as yes it is adjacent to the affected territory but not having any part of the mountain range in the territory. But the card could be limited to say 6 units destroyed in a line either going up the Germania/Europa mountain range or down it. Card users choice. By the way Dalmatia and Dacia also can be affected up to six.

[GROGnads]

I vote for the "God of Hellfire!", since he's got such a very kewl SONG going for him! Yeah, I know you're humming it right now in your mind, if you are aware of this.:cool:

[Brknlf]

Brknlf,

The card is better the way it is. The total max that could be lost is then nine armies total. Your way if lucky could result in eleven losses. Even so it doesn't make much sense how Ionia could get hit by boulders as yes it is adjacent to the affected territory but not having any part of the mountain range in the territory. But the card could be limited to say 6 units destroyed in a line either going up the Germania/Europa mountain range or down it. Card users choice. By the way Dalmatia and Dacia also can be affected up to six.

That's true, I never thought of it that way (killing potential). However, in review, there is a similar Death Card (forget the name off hand) - the one that allows the destruction of one unit in each territory of a single continent determined randomly. I think that is a similar basis for the Avalanche card - to break up someone's hold on a continent. Interestingly the Death Card one only requires 2 faith tokens to be sacrificed when played. That one can destroy up to 12 armies (Europa). The only difference with the original idea of Avalanche (1 army in every adjacent territory to the mountain range) is that either mountain range that is chosen, it can break up the hold of 3 continents - Germania/Europa/Hyrkania or Asia Minor/Europa/Hyrkania (seems skewed against Europa and Hyrkania). I like th 6 unit option you propose, maybe drop the coast of the card down to 2 or even 1 faith token. With the 6 unit option anywhere, they should be able to divide that up anyway they like amongst territories adjacent to the same mountain range. Then someone could either break the hold on the continent by killing 1 unit territories or they could open the bulkhead to enter a continent for themselves by killing up to 6 units in 1 territory.

[motrax]

... is that the 1 that destroys half armies on an entire continent is RANDOM.

Go ahead and play that... you might just roll your own continent. Or you might roll Hyrkannia... whoopie!

Your proposed Avalanche is a "targetted" area... meaning you know exactly who and how many units will be hit.

My suggestion would be: make this a Sky card, and have it be a combo of "This ground is sacred" with "Swords become plowshares". Basically, destory 1d6 units AND cancel the invasion into a territory adjacent to a mountain range. Since the use of the card is limited to mountain areas... I think a 3 faith cost like "This ground is sacred" would be acceptable.

Motrax

[StarvingWriter82]

As a minor clarification here, Blood Coats the Land (the one that makes you lose one army in each territory of a random continent) only costs 1, the one that makes you lose half of all armies in any given continent costs 2. I think this is kind of skewed, as blood coats the land actually has much more game wrecking potential (in my opinion).

[Brknlf]

... is that the 1 that destroys half armies on an entire continent is RANDOM.

Go ahead and play that... you might just roll your own continent. Or you might roll Hyrkannia... whoopie!


I think you have these confused (or I do) - 1 card destroys 1 army on each territory in a randomly rolled continent while another card destroys 1/2 of the three largest armies on the game board. Any one playing the death card that affects every territory in a given continent usually doesn't hold an entire continent and usually have more to gain than to loose when played. Lets say its a continent you don't wholly control, affecting enemy territories in this continent allows you to gain quicker control of the continent itself. Affecting a continent you have no one on can weaken a leading player. It has the benefit, like most cards, of turning the tides of war. Of course, if you're in the lead and hold a continent or two and then play this card, its your own loss - but that isn't the ideal time to play it. The only time someone would really lose from this (and I think it was in someone's session reports) is playing pandora's box, drawing this death card and rolling your continent while you are in the lead. One of those sun'tzu, 'do the unexpected' sort of strategies would be holding this death card and playing it at the right time. You could beef up your holdings instead of making a large attack force, divy up guys evenly amongst your territories and play it, then look at the carnage to see where you could capitalize. Or build up one large army, see which continent is hit and then take the quickest path to get there and clean up the territories that took the most damage.

[StarvingWriter82]

Actually now there are three seperate cards involved:

One that removes one army from each territory in a random continent.
One that removes half the armies from each territory in a random continent.
One that removes half the armies from the three largest armies on the board.

[Doctor Strategy]

As a minor clarification here, Blood Coats the Land (the one that makes you lose one army in each territory of a random continent) only costs 1, the one that makes you lose half of all armies in any given continent costs 2. I think this is kind of skewed, as blood coats the land actually has much more game wrecking potential (in my opinion).

You are right that blood coats the land is powerful. It automatically kills one troop from each territory. The balancing fact is that you can do damage to yourself. The Ground Shakes is normally less powerful in a 3 player or 2 player game unless you hit someone with a large campaign army then it is super powered. People don't often have more than 1 army in their interior territories, which means in game terms there would be no army lost there. The more players there are the more likely the power of this card ramps up as people are fighting over continents and have large armies massed to break up continents or camping to prevent a continent gain. In this light maybe the Ground Shakes should cost 3 faith.

[Doctor Strategy]

Looks like the nature god/dess is the leader. For the Babylonians we would have the god Ramman for the lack of a compatible choice. For the Celts we would have the god Silvanus. For the Egyptians we would have the god Geb. For the Greeks we would have the god Pan. For the Norse we would have the Goddess Frigga.

[Carlo]

Looks like the nature god/dess is the leader. For the Babylonians we would have the god Ramman for the lack of a compatible choice. For the Celts we would have the god Silvanus. For the Egyptians we would have the god Geb. For the Greeks we would have the god Pan. For the Norse we would have the Goddess Frigga.
No, Pan is just an half god. Instead, the greeks would have Diana, Goddess of the forest and of hunting.

[StarvingWriter82]

The obvious problem here is what to make the god piece look like. For that reason alone, I think it's important to make sure all your gods are the same gender.

[Doctor Strategy]

The obvious problem here is what to make the god piece look like. For that reason alone, I think it's important to make sure all your gods are the same gender.

Yeah, I know AH wouldn't want to make seperate pieces but none of the other gods or godesses would work. After all they skimped on pieces in A+A Revised to save money. But it could work for an expansion though.

Or maybe they could make totally unique god figures for the base game. They could put a sword symbol on the base of a particular god to denote a war god or a lighning bolt or cloud for a sky god and etc. That way you can see what type of god you are fighting regardless of appearance or gender.

[Doctor Strategy]

No, Pan is just an half god. Instead, the greeks would have Diana, Goddess of the forest and of hunting.

Don't you mean Artemis. Diana was a Roman goddess based on the Greek goddess Artemis. Artemis was only the goddess of the hunt.

Whether Pan is half god or not is irrelevant. His historical pantheon role was the god of nature and wild passion. He represent the benevolent side of nature and also the destructive side. I think this will work well in Godstorm.

If you only had good effects for a nature diety, you would totally ignore the destructive effects of nature such as tornadoes, landslides, earthquakes and etc.

[Doctor Strategy]

I think there needs to be more votes for the result to be decisive.