Rules
Territories:
Plains (yellow): These territories are the easiest to march across and the most
profitable. Because of their flatness, however, troops in the plains gain no defensive
advantage.
Forest (green): These territories are dominated by trees. Though not as easy to
march through as the plains, most races get almost as much income from forests. Troops
attacking a forest suffer a 10% decrease to their damage value.
Mountain (grey): These territories are the opposite of flat. Being very rocky,
mountains are difficult to cross, especially with artillery and other machines of war.
Though a poor source of wealth, the mountains can be exploited for their natural resources
(most notably by the dwarves). Troops attacking mountainous territory suffer a 20%
offensive disadvantage to their damage value.
Desert (very light brown): Like a plains, but not fertile. In this respect a
desert is just as easy to march across as a plains, but provides little to no income.
Swamp (rust): Like a forest, but depressing. In this respect a swamp is just as
easy to march across as a forest, but provides little to no income.
High Mountain (dark grey): Like a mountain, but so extremely jagged that it is
difficult to mine. Just as difficult to traverse as a normal mountain, but less income.
Sea with Islands (light blue): Both land and sea troops can exist on this kind of
territory. In order for land troops to move on or off this territory, there must be
available ships. Islands generally have similar income to plains. Any land troops
defending islands or against troops coming from an island territory gain a 20% defensive
advantage to their damage value.
Open Sea (dark blue): Only sea troops can exist unsupported in an open sea
territory. Land troops can move across open sea, or end their movement on the open sea as
long as willing ships control that territory. Any land troops defending against invasion
from an Open Sea space gain a 20% defensive advantage to their damage value.
Chaos Wastes (green marble): These territories exist only outside the wall
surrounding Norfidia, and thus are of little concern to most players. Chaos Wastes vary
from scorching deserts to impenetrably cold tundra to incredibly thick jungles, and the
landscape is constantly changing. Chaos Wastes have next to no income value. Troops in
the Chaos Wastes cost extra to support. There is no defensive advantage associated with
the Chaos Wastes.
Dragon’s Pit (thatching): Not to be confused with a dragon roost (which is just a
mountain dominated by a small family of dragons), Dragon’s pit is a subtype of Chaos Wastes
(and also is only found outside Norfidia). It is not uncommon to see a lava flow and a
glacier side by side in a Dragon’s pit territory.
Nightmare Mountains (red fading to black): These territories exist only outside the
wall surrounding Norfidia, and thus are of little concern to most players. The Nightmare
mountains have the same movement-hampering properties of normal mountains and produce
similar income, but these peaks are the permanent haunts of terrible fiends and spirits
that were banished during the Chaos Wars.
Endless Sea (blue with bubbles): These territories exist only outside the wall
surrounding Norfidia, and thus are of little concern to most players. Though it has not
been proved that this sea is actually without end, no one has come back to report land on
the other side. This could be due to the fact that it’s so big, or the fact that it’s full
of sea monsters. In other respects an endless sea territory is treated like an open sea
territory.
Diseased Expanse (green fading to black): These territories exist only outside the
wall surrounding Norfidia, and thus are of little concern to most players. Troops that
enter the diseased expanse are often not welcomed back into Norfidia because of the
pathogens they invariably carry. Other than that detail, a diseased expanse territory is
just like a swamp.
Boundaries between territories:
Default: nothing special
Great Wall (denoted by a slight separation between two hexagonal territories):
Movement across a Great Wall can be a unit’s only movement for the turn, and such a unit’s
damage value is cut in half for the remainder of the turn.
Turn Order
Every turn the actions of units and characters are resolved in the following order.
+Spells are paid for and cast.
+Units and Characters Move.
+Scouts, Spies and Assassins can be detected.
+Assassin actions.
+Spy actions.
+Scout actions.
+Guerrilla raids resolved.
+Character vs. Character battles are resolved.
+Battles are resolved.
+Any random wealth transfers are resolved.
+Builds are created/paid for.
+Income is collected.
+Support is paid.
Builds
Any number of units and characters may be purchased at a territory with a city in
it (assuming that the wealth is available to pay for it).
Movement
Every unit has a series of movement stats. A unit may move a number or territories
in a single turn equal to the lowest of its movement values for any of the territories that
it enters on the same turn. Even though the land units have values for movement in the
sea, they can only move through sea spaces if you control the sea space with ships. If all
the ships in a sea territory move, any land units also move with those ships. Sea units
may move onto land spaces that are cities and on the coast (representing moving into the
dock). Such ships do not take part in land battles. Here are some typical movement
statlines:
Name Plains Forest Mountains Sea
Infantry 2 2 1 2
Cavalry 4 3 1 2
Artillery 1 1 0 1
Boats NA NA NA 2
Because the movement of all players is simultaneous in every turn, beware that units
moving more than one territory are liable to be intercepted by enemy units.
Cities
Cities are vital to any empire in Norfidia. When wealth is collected each turn, it
is gathered at a city. When wealth is spent it is taken from the nearest city. Only at a
city may a player create units. Orcs, Trolls, Dragons and other similar races do not
operate around cities because they are too small and do not form unified empires. Each of
the empires, however, must have cities in order to act as a unified body. Different
players have different words for their cities such as towers (Palandros), strongholds
(Kraag) or great halls (Ignior and Forgeborn). In any case they all act as cities. Once
city from every race is designated as a capitol, but capitols do not differ in the
slightest from normal cities. If an empire loses all cities, it becomes a rogue empire
which means huge decreases in the efficiency of wealth collection, major limitations on
unit production and the steady disbanding of existing troops. If a territory containing a
city is captured, then that city becomes a captured city belonging to the conqueror
(captured cities can collect and redistribute wealth in the same way that cities can, but
can only create half as many units and no characters at all). If a captured city is
reconquered by any empire other than the original, then it is destroyed (a conquered city
retaken by its original empire reverts to a standard city).
Income
Each territory produces a certain amount of income based on its terrain type and
what player is collecting the income. Unless a player specifies otherwise, a territory
controlled by a player will automatically have the wealth it produces for the turn
transferred to that player’s nearest city. For every three territories that that wealth
must travel in order to reach the city (round up) it is reduced by 10%. If there is no
friendly path between the territory in question and the empire’s nearest city, then the
income will automatically go to a different of the player’s cities that can be reached. If
the territory is cut off from all the empire’s cities, then the wealth is not collected.
Chaos Wastes produce the same income as deserts, Plagued Expanses produce the same income
as swamps, Endless Sea produces the same income as open sea and the Nightmare mountains
produce the same income as high mountains.
Transferring Wealth
A player may at any point transfer wealth from one city to another. Similarly to
how wealth is transferred from the territory of its creation to the city of its collection,
wealth being transferred in this way is reduced by 10% for every three territories it must
travel, rounding up. Wealth may only be transferred in this way if there is a friendly
path between the two cities.
Support
Every unit has two costs: initial and upkeep. The difference is that the initial
cost is paid only once-when the unit is created in a city, and that cost in wealth is taken
from that city in which the unit is created. Upkeep must be paid for a unit on every turn
after its creation and before its being destroyed or disbanded. The upkeep cost of a unit
is taken automatically from the controlling player’s nearest city. The upkeep cost of a
unit is increased by 11% for every three territories that the wealth would have to travel
to get from the city to the unit. Wealth used to pay an upkeep cost like this can only
travel through friendly territories. As with the collection of wealth, if a unit cannot be
supported by the nearest city because of the lack of a friendly path, the unit can be
supported by any other of the empire’s cities that do supply a friendly path. If a unit is
unsupported, its attack value is decreased by 1/3. Successive turns of being unsupported
cause a unit to accrue stacking penalties. When a unit would lose more one more third of
its attack value and it has already lost 3/3, it is automatically disbanded instead. On
the turn that a previously support-denied unit is reunited with its empire its support must
be paid for all missed turns or else it retains the penalties.
Battles
A battle occurs any time that there are forces of two different players occupying
the same territory and those players have not specified that they are acting cooperatively.
A battle is fought in a series of rounds, which continue in a single turn until either one
army is wiped out or one army retreats. Each round both armies cause damage to each other
equal to their summed attack values, and that damage is assigned in the best interests of
the player taking the damage. Here are some typical stats:
Name Attack HP Special
Men-At-Arms 2 5
Archers 1 5 First Strike
Light Cavalry 3 7
Horse Archers 1 7 First Strike
Heavy Cavalry 4 10
Artillery 40 1 Only attack during the first round of a battle,
Last Strike in that round.
Armies will only retreat if a) they are lead by a character, b)the player has given the
army instructions to flee under certain circumstances (these circumstances could simply be
the leading character’s judgement) (and those circumstances have come to pass) and c)the
army has enough movement to leave the territory of the battle and enter an adjacent
friendly territory.
Captives
If during any round of a battle one army has sufficient attack value to wipe out the
opposing army, the opposing army is captured and the battle is over (unless the player has
instructed the army to ‘take no prisoners’). An army being captured still causes damage to
its enemy on the round that it is captured. Captured units can be controlled and moved
normally by the capturing player, but they will not fight or take damage in battle. Any
captured units may be disbanded by the capturing player at any time. If a player keeps the
captured units, support must be paid for those captives as if they were the player’s units
or else they will be automatically and immediately disbanded. If a territory where
captives are being held changes possession, the captives will then be in the custody of the
conquering player (if this is the player that controlled the captives before they became
captives, then those units become no longer captives and can act normally). Captured units
may be freely sold between players (again if bought by the player originally owning the
captives, they are no longer captives). Though most empires in Norfidia are opposed to the
practice, captives are sometimes pressed into slavery. For game purposes, turning captives
into indentured servants has the same effect as disbanding them. In some cases (such as
Trolls being captured) the captive units may be caused to switch sides.
Characters
Every empire in Norfidia uses Characters, individuals of exceptional talents.
Typically characters have the same movement statline as the cavalry of the same empire.
Except for rare circumstances (such as dragons) characters do not have a damage or hp value
to be used in battle (that’s what the troops are for), but all characters have a ‘might’
score which is both the characters resistance to assassination and the character’s prowess
in a challenge fought between two characters. All characters have at least one score
besides ‘might’. ‘Stealth’ is used by scouts, spies, and assassins so avoid detection
while in enemy territory. ‘Leadership’ is used by generals to increase the damage value of
troops being lead. ‘Magic’ is used by spellcasters to determine the potency of their
spells. Characters are most critical to the empires of Norfidia because while
non-character units can exist on their own, most can only move while with a character.
Most empires support at least one kind of special character not mentioned above.
Characters in Norfidia are bought at a set price (depending on what empire the character
will serve and what type of character) and start at low level (how low, again, depends on
empire and type). Characters gain xp by doing what their type suggests they should be
doing. XP is used to increase one of the character’s stats (might, stealth, leadership, or
magic) that that character already has at least a score of one in. If all of a player’s
troops are captured or destroyed in the same territory as a character is in, that character
is captured or destroyed in the same way.
Generals
If there is a general with your troops, then the troops add the highest leadership
score among the generals leading them (as a percent) to their damage value. Generals gain
one XP for every enemy slain during a battle that the general is present at (even if the
general in question was not leading). A general may increase one of his stats by one for
100 XP.
Scouts
Scouts may move either publicly (as generals and spellcasters must) or secretively
(as spies and assassins also can). When moving publicly, scouts are detected by every
empire with a unit in the territory being moved through. When a scout is moving
secretively any player with a unit in a territory being passed though has a chance of
detecting the scout equal to the number of units in the territory divided by ten, minus the
stealth value of the character, written as a percentage. (so if a scout with stealth 20
tries to pass through a territory with 500 troops in it, the scout has a 30% chance of
being detected). Wherever an uncaptured scout of yours is, you are aware of which player
controls that territory and also of the terrain type of that territory and all adjacent
territories. Scouts report the order of the quantity of troops from every player having
troops in that area (0 troops, 1-10 troops, 11-100 troops...). A scout accrues one XP for
every territory it moves into not controlled by the same player as controls the scout in
question. A scout may have its stealth increased for 3 XP or its might increased for 10
XP.
Spies
Spies are capable of moving secretively in the same way that scouts are. Spies
make you aware of territories and empires in the same way that scouts do. Each turn a spy
may perform one of the following actions:
Detect Other Characters: This action makes it as if there were an extra number of
troops equal to five times the spy’s stealth value in the same territory for purposes of
detecting scouts, spies, or assassins.
Analyze Military Strength: The spy reports the number of all troops in the
territory.
Analyze Troop Stats: The spy reports one of the stats of one of the troops in the
territory. This ability may be used to analyze a character.
Analyze Economic Strength: The spy reports all movements of wealth through the
territory.
Track Unit: The spy moves with target character or non-character unit.
A spy gains one XP for every successful spy action that yields new information. A
spy may increment its stealth for 1 XP or its might for 3 XP.
Assassins
Assassins are capable of moving secretively in the same way that scouts are.
Assassins make you aware of territories and empires in the same way that scouts do. Each
turn an assassin may perform one of the following actions:
Attempt Assassination: the assassin and its target must be in the same territory.
The controller of the territory the assassin is in gets an extra chance to detect the
assassin. If the assassin remains undetected, the assassin and the targeted character
fight a character vs. character battle. Multiple assassins may engage in a single
cooperative attempt.
Bodyguard: the assassin stays with and follows around a target character. If an
assassination attempt is made on the target character, then the assassin adds five times
its stealth value to detect that assassin in the extra detection attempt afforded by the
assassination attempt in the same way that a spy may help detect characters. If the
character being guarded does enter into character vs character combat as the result of an
assassination attempt, the guarded character may add ½ of the bodyguard’s might (round
down) to his own when determining the outcome of the character vs character combat.
An assassin gains XP equal to the sum of the stats of a successfully assassinated
character for any assassination participated in or any other assassin caught or slain while
attempting to assassinate a character being guarded by the assassin in question. An
assassin may increment its stealth for 2 XP or its might for 3 XP.
Spellcasters
A spellcaster may cast a single spell per turn as long as the cost of the spell can
be paid and the spellcaster has sufficient ‘magic’. Different empires have different
spells. Wealth used to pay for a spell is taken from the controller's nearest city and is
reduced by the distance separating the caster and the city, however wealth used to power a
spell cannot be blocked by intervening enemy troops or lack of a safe path.
A spellcaster gains one XP every time it successfully casts an effective spell. A
spellcaster who does not cast a spell, but is in the same territory as the spellcaster may
gain one XP for observing. A spellcaster may increment its might for 5 XP or its magic for
1 XP.
Standard Spells
The following five spells are known by most empires and are typical of their type.
Counterspell(Abjuration): 10 Wealth. Range = magic/10, round up. Pick a specific spell
type (Evocation, Enchantment, Abjuration, Divination or Illusion)-if target spell is cast
in target territory, reduce caster's magic value for purposes of calculating the effect of
that spell. This may cause the target spell to fizzle. A wizard may not counterspell his
own spells.
Fireball(Evocation): X Wealth. Range = magic/10, round up. Damage to one empire's
troops in target territory = X. X<= 5*magic.
Freeze(Enchantment): X Wealth. Range = magic/10, round up. X troops in target
territory may not move from that territory until the next spell phase. X <= 5*magic.
Vision(Divination):15 Wealth. Range = magic/10, round up. Perform any spy action in
target territory. Use the Caster's magic as the spy's wealth if applicable.
Image(Illusion): X Wealth. Creates image of troops costing 10*X. Range 0. Requires
magic >= X. Lasts until next spell phase. Fools scouts, spies and assassins, but not
divination spells. May not be used to make the image of a character.
Character vs Character Battles
These battles may be fought for three different reasons. If two characters are in
the same territory and the controllers of these characters want them to fight out a
challenge, they will do so. Whenever there is a battle where each side has at least one
character, then either player may have given instructions for one of their characters to
issue a challenge. If both players have issued a challenge, then the two characters fight
their challenge out before the battle takes place. If one player issues a challenge and
the other doesn’t then the GM will decide whether the challenge should be accepted
(spellcasters generally decline challenges while assassins generally accept them). Any
character present may accept the challenge. If a challenge goes unaccepted then the
cowardly army gains no bonus to damage from being lead by a general. The final way for a
character vs. character battle to occur is in the event of an assassination.
The chance that a character dies in a c.v.c. battle is equal to its opponent’s
might divided by the sum of both characters’ mights. For example if an assassin with might
7 sneaks past the defenses and engages in a c.v.c. battle with a general of might 3, then
the general has a 70% chance of being slain and the assassin has a 30% chance of being
slain. It is possible that both characters die and also possible that neither character
dies.
Guerrilla Troops
Usually much more expensive than normal troops, Guerrillas are able to make a
special attack if they make no other move or attack during that turn. Select a territory
to be raided. The attack may be a raid on any troops in that territory or an attempt to
cut supply. The guerrilla troops take 10% damage as if being attacked for one round by
every troop they pass by (not including the destination territory). In the destination
territory the Guerrillas take 20% damage as if being attacked for one round by every troop
in the target territory. While on a raid, Guerrilla troops are not attacked by artillery
units. If a supply cut was being attempted, and at least one guerrilla troop survived,
then no wealth may be moved through that territory (it can be moved into or out of that
territory, just not both). If a raid of troops was being attempted, then however many
troops would die at the hands of the raiders during one round of battle are captured and
brought back to the territory that the Guerrillas are based out of. If the target of the
raid is a city, then there is a third option, the Guerrillas may make a supply raid, in
which case they steal their total attack value worth of wealth. Surviving Guerrillas
return to their base territory after a number of turns equal to however long it would take
the troops to move normally there and back again. Support must be paid for Guerrillas even
during the return trip as if they were still in the base territory. If the territory is
not controlled by the same player when the Guerrillas get back a normal battle ensues
(unless they are allies). Guerrilla troops do not need to be lead by a character.
Guerrilla troops gain no bonus from a general's leadership while performing a raid.