Gods of Catan
“The Gods of Catan” by Eselbeus
Players: 3 to 4, but possible to play with 5-6
Components: Requires Settlers of Catan and 5-6 player expansion if playing with 5-6 players. Spare hexes and number tokens, consisting of two hexes of each regular resource type, except only no pastures, 2 desert, 2 water, 2 volcano and one of each number token. May be used with Seafarers of Catan and/or Settlers of Catan: Cites and Knights. Each player has three temples.
1. Building/Using temples
Temples cost an ore and a brick to construct. They may be placed on any hex water or land adjacent to a player’s settlement or city except for volcano hexes. More than one player can have a temple on a hex. For the purposes of determining hex type, port hexes are considered to be water hexes. Each player may have up to three temples on the board at any time. Temples are used by sacrificing two of the resource type that the hex produces to the gods (a.k.a. the resource bank). In the case of water or desert temples, the player sacrifices a sheep and an ore to the gods. Each temple a player owns may be used once on their turn. This use is made after the roll of the dice, but before any trades or building.
2. Temple powers granted from the gods
When a player uses a temple, he/she rolls one of the dice, and uses the Temple Chart to see what power they have been given. The temple chart is shown at the end of these rules.
For example: A player pays two brick to the resource bank to use a temple on a hill hex. They roll a die and receive a “1.” They then draw 1 brick from the resource bank. Notice that a roll of 1 for most temple types actually results in a net loss, and a roll of 2 will generally give back what the player sacrificed. This represents the Gods’ reaction to the gift.
Rolls 1-4 for most temples mostly have straightforward consequences. For all temples on a resource hex, they produce one resource of that type with a roll of 1, two with a roll of 2, three with a roll of 3, and one gold (resource of choice) with a roll of 4.
Here is the explanation and restrictions on the less obvious results.
Brick roll 5: Move any 1 road.
The player who is granted the power may move 1 road, either his/hers or an opponents to a new legal location.
Brick roll 6: Move any 3 road.
Same as brick roll 5 except 3 roads are moved. These may be any combination of the player’s own roads or multiple opponents.
Wood roll 5: Destroy any road.
Player may remove any road segment from the board. This may be an opponent’s road, or the player’s own road (if a road was cutoff it can be returned to the players supply to be rebuilt later).
Wood roll 6: Raze any Settlement.
Player removes a settlement from the board. They may remove their own if they somehow think it will give them an advantage.
Grain roll 5: Relocate any temple.
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Player moves a temple from one hex to another. They may not move a temple to a volcano. The temple functions according to the new hex type it is assigned and may be used even if the owner of the temple does not have a settlement on the hex. The player may move his/her own or an opponent’s.
Grain roll 6: Relocate any Settlement.
Player moves any Settlement to a new location. The only restriction is that the settlement has to be on at least one land hex.
Sheep rolls 5 & 6: Destroy 1 temple/Destroy 2 temples
On 5, player destroys one opponent’s or their own temple. On 6, player destroys two.
Ore roll 5: Create a new hex.
Player adds a new hex of their choice from reserve to the board at any edge. It may be of any type except volcano. A number token is drawn randomly.
Ore roll 6: Make a volcano and cause an eruption.
Pick any hex, and replace it with a volcano. Use the number token on the hex for the volcano to produce gold. The volcano erupts immediately three times without producing any gold. Roll the die 3 times and remove any settlements and demote any cities accordingly. Note that it is possible for an entire city to be destroyed. Also, any temples that were on the hex before it was a volcano are destroyed.
Sand rolls 1-3: Steal the number of resources at random from any combination of opponents or the same opponent. The robber and/or pirate does not move.
Sand roll 4: Player receives 1 gold.
Sand roll 5: Steal development card.
Steal a development card from an opponent at random. They may not steal cards that have already been played such as knights or victory point cards in Cities and Knights. Also, players that play their regular victory point cards drawn from the regular development card deck, cannot have them stolen from them. This creates a reason to play victory point cards.
Sand roll 6: Remove or restore a game piece from play.
This applies to the robber, and if using Seafarers, the pirate ship as well. The robber cannot be used when out of play, but players may either use the pirate ship, or steal a resource from the player of their choice. The same works for the pirate ship. In Cities and Knights, this power extends to the barbarian horde, the merchant, and player’s knights. A removed piece, with the exception of a knight may be restored with the same power. The player, does not have to use the power that they are granted. They can choose not to remove or restore a game piece.
Water rolls 1-2: 1:1 port trade this turn.
Player chooses one of their ports; that port acts as a 1:1 port for that resource. A generic port acts as a 1:1 port, but this may only be used for one resource type to be declared by the player.
Player draws a development card. In Cities and Knights, this may be any color.
Water roll 4: Player receives 1 gold.
Water roll 5: Move any 1 ship.
Player may move any player’s ship to a new legal location. If you are not using the Seafarers of Catan, then move any 1 road into a position between two water hexes. This road does not fall into the water, but becomes a bridge.
Water roll 6: Change 1 terrain hex.
Player takes one hex of any type and replaces it with a hex of any other type of their choice from the pile of reserve hexes. The removed hex is placed into the reserve hex pile. He/she may not turn a hex into a volcano hex, but it is legal to turn an existing volcano into something else. If a water or desert hex becomes a resource-producing land hex, the new hex is assigned a number token at random from the reserve pile. Any temples on the old hex now act according to the new hex. A player may also turn a land hex into water. If this causes a settlement or city to be no longer touching any land, that settlement or city falls to the bottom of the ocean and is removed from the board.
3. Victory conditions
The game is over when a player reaches 10 victory points or whatever the required number is according to the scenario being played. A player is also wins if all of his/her opponents have either been eliminated (by losing all of their settlements and cities), or have 5 or more victory points less than that player. Eliminated players may either remove themselves for the game or as a
variant, they may choose to stay. If this is the case, they may still interact with the other players with their cards. They may even rebuild a settlement if they have the resources. This settlement must adhere to normal placement rules. If there is no where to place along their roads, then they place it on an otherwise legal coastal intersection. Their turn is skipped if they are no longer playing and their roads and cards are removed from the game.
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