[Burnsaber]

Game is up on llamaserver!

Originally Posted by The Pantokrator

I have sent this message to the most powerful of my servants. I hereby declare that I'm growing weary of ruling this creation of mine. I'm going to leave this plane for another place of being and create a new and better world.

However, as rotten and dreadful this plane is, I will not leave it without a guardian. You are now pretenders and will compete against each other to be next Pantokrator - ultimate ruler of this realm. The stakes are high for losers will be thrown into Tartarus for eternal suffering! However, I know that you just might have what it takes to sit on the Throne of the World and saw you fitting of receiving this message.

As you slay each other in the fields of battle, you can request boons from me, if you feel that you're worthy enough! I'll also test your mettle from time to time by ordeals. Do you have the strenght to win the Arena? Or are you pure enough to avoid the judgement of my Maidens of Vengeance? Rise to power! Muster your minions! My throne awaits!

THE ASCENSION WARS HAVE BEGUN!

Okay, time for another one of my "crazy" games. In this game, I'll be playing the role of a Pantakrator, looking for a successor. We will be playing with a special mod that gives the Pantokrator player all sorts crazy tools to affect the game (within certain limits). I'll give an extensive list below;

PANTOKRATOR:

-> Will start in a island in the middle of the map with no neighbours
-> Attacking Pantokrator's provinces is not allowed unless otherwise stated
-> Will have the "Eyes of God" casted from turn 2 with ridicilious amount of gems. Casting the "Fate of Oedipus" is forbidden


ORDEALS

-> Ordeal will come each 5 turns. These ordeals can be nearly anything. Commencing of Arena, Demands for sacrifice, castings of certain globals (like Ghost Armada or the Kindly Ones) or the release of wild beasts. Some ordeals can be positive. These events will be annoying, but not gamebreaking. I'll also be sure that the events are fair, in the sense they will either affect all players equally or have an equal chance of affecting of each player (in the case of an ordeal that hits a random province).
-> I will give a RP description of the Ordeal in-game, but post a "gameplay" version using metagame terms here in this thread.


GENERAL

-> Because there is a hard-coded limit on messages that one is able to send per turn, I will keep in-game messaging to a minimum. I'll inform of Ordeals with the "Message all command", thought. So I'm forced to do a lot of my diplo through these forums. So remember to check your PM's regularly!

-> I'd like everyone to note that I'm playing two roles here. I'm Burnsaber, the game admin, but I'm also Pantokrator. Note that these are not the same thing. Pantokrator has no grudges that Burnsaber has, for example. In return, you should not hold grudges against Burnsaber for what Pantokrator has done. When I'm talking as Burnsaber, I'll just use this regular text. But Pantokrator speaks like this:

Originally Posted by The Pantokrator

I'm the Pantokrator, bow before me you worm!

-> I know that the most devious of you are planning to attack Pantakrator in the game, perhaps just for MP reasons. Let's now just agree that it REALLY is forbidden. Not because I'm on a power trip of some sort, but it will make my life a lot simpler. My investment in this game will be rather large, since I need to micro up the ordeals and deal with a lot of diplomacy. I just won't have time to strat microing combat scripts to boot. This is the first game like this and I want to keep it as simple as possible, perhaps in Ordeals II "defeating Pantokrator" will be a victory condition (or even remotely plausible).


BOONS

-> Boon is a numeric value between 1-12. Starting boon values in this game are between 4-10.

-> Players can only request one boon per "event cycle" (aka 5 turns), this is to prevent a player suddenly jumping in power because they used 5 boons in one big swoop.

-> There are five (now six) types of boons (more will be introduced with ordeals, thought):
1. Items
2. Gems
3. Gold
4. Information
5. Casting of a Ritual Spell
6. Starting Arena Deathmatch (enabled since turn 13), this costs two boon and can only be used once per event cycle.

-> The more specific the reguest for a boon is, the less gems/items/gold will be given or more boon will be penalized. For example;

"I'd like magical items as a boon to defeat my foes!"

- Will get a bunch of randomized items. Something like 2 trinkets, 2 (con2) items and 1 (con4) item + a chance for a con6 item.

"I'd like items that give fire resistance to defeat Abysia!"

- Will get some FR items, but less items than the above example

"I want Rings of Fire!"

- Will get his Rings, but it will cost more boon because of his insolence. How dare he demand something from Pantokrator!

-> Once per event cycle, I will roll for a random player and grant him a boon. This "extra boon" does not count towards the limit stated above. This will make it harder to be "safe" with just 1 boon.

-> If player reguests for a boon or would get one due to the RND roll, but has no boon, he will be warned. Should this happen again, he will be smitten by appropiate measures (nothing too dramatic thought, getting smitten will be annoying, not game changing)

-> The tables I use to determine the amount of gems/items/gold for each boon will be upgraded every 20 turns to yield out more stuff.

-> Due to message limit, I'm only able to send 20 messages (a'k'a instances of items/gems/gold) per turn. If I'm going to hit the message limit, I'll leave the rest to be sent the next turn.

-> If the request for a boon is too outrageous (like requesting for a RoW's and other high end items or high end remote rituals), I will grant a random boon instead (with the penalty boon normally associated with "specific requests"). "Insolent Fool, you know nothing! Here is what you shall receive!". Note though that I will upgrade the boon tables every 20 turns. A reguest that would be "outrageous" on turn 16 might be reasonable on turn 66.

ARENA

-> We are using "Mark of the Champion" mod, which changes the Champion's Tridents into a special helmet, this will make it a much more worthile item. Also having control over the Arena Champion is worth one conquest point, if the champion in question has no magic picks (holy magic does not count as "magic" for this purpose).

-> Winning the arena is always worth 1 bonus boon.




Settings

Era: All

Players: As many as possible, hopefully at least 9 land players and 2 water player. We can fit 10 land and 2 water players (not counting the Pantokrator)

Settings: Renaming on, HoF 15, otherwise normal for MA

Mods: Compilation mod from this post and the single-age mod.

Diplomacy:
1) Machievellian. The Pantokrator will be pleased by blood and (in-character) drama.

Map: Land of Ordeals, downloadable from this post.

Other rules
1) Don't be an smartass and attack Pantokrator. It will not end well.
2) No filling of enemy labs or copying Bogus orders. Everything else is free game.
3) You can contact Pantokrator by forum PM's, e-mail to "burnsaber (at) hotmail (dot) com" or occasionally in IrC.
4) Fight to the bitter end! Or at least try to find a sub if you're not having fun or have the time anymore.
5) Upon sign up, you must write the word "Pantokrator" in your sign-up post (no context needed) or your sign up will be ignored until you do so. Consider this as a test for me to know that you have read the rules and understand what you are signing up for.


Hosting:
hosting will be slower than normal for this game, to give me the time I need to prepare for events and to deal with reguests for boons.

30h for turns 1-25
48h for turns 26-60
72h after turn 60

Delays granted on request.

Victory Condition:

1) Holding control over 5 "Conquest Points" for 3 consecutive turns
- Each capitol you control is worth a Conquest Point
- Having control of the Arena Champion is also worth a conquest point, if the champion has no magic picks.
- Conquest points can also be awarded from ordeals
2) Concensus from other players



------------------Players and their Conquest Points------------------


1. Burnsaber -- Pantokrator (admin) -- 0, cannot win
2. Trumanator -- LA C'tis -- 0 (IN TARTARUS)
3. Gregstrom -- MA R'lyeh -- 1
4. slMagnvox -- EA Ulm -- 0 (IN TARTARUS)
5. pyg -- EA Hinnom -- 0 (IN TARTARUS)
6. Aethyr -- EA T'ien C'hi -- 1
7. Lingchih -- MA Shinuyama -- 0 (IN TARTARUS)
8. Meglobob -- MA T'ien C'hi -- 3 (three capitals)
9. Kianduatha -- LA Jomon -- 1
10. Isokron -- EA Lanka -- 5 (five capitals)
11. Baalz (AI) -- LA Atlantis -- 1 (one capitals)
12. Sensori -- MA Ashdod -- 0 (IN TARTARUS)
13. GameExtremist -- EA Panganea -- 0 (IN TARTARUS)



Special thanks to vladikus and Agema for the mod and the idea.