Brimstone

Brimstone was submitted to the Game Design Contest at KublaCon 2005. It was not well received. I may eventually try to develop a "version 2" to address some of Brimstone's problem areas.

Click images to enlarge

Theme Summary

The planet called Brimstone, once a hot and toxic hell of a world, has been transformed into an earth-like paradise by humanity's great Terraform Fleet of automated spacecraft. The colonists were left with relatively low technology. They had planned to develop their own high technology in time - but now they may not have time!

Brimstone's climate and weather patterns are deteriorating. Once-verdant areas of the continent are turning to desert and swamp, and arable land is getting scarce. You are the leader of your Home Base, and you must build your armies and lead them against the misguided and evil leaders of the other Bases, to ensure that your own people will not starve!

Overview

3 or 4 players, ages 13 and up, games usually last under two hours.

Brimstone takes place on a continental map formed from 61 hexagonal terrain tiles (or "hexes") which are placed, some in fixed locations and some randomly, before play begins. There are 10 different kinds of terrain tile, each with its own advantages and disadvantages for the armies that occupy them.

Play proceeds in rounds. In each round, all players issue orders simultaneously to all of their armies and then execute those orders round-robin, one order per player, until all orders have been executed. At the beginning of each round, one player (the Round Leader) selects an Event Card for the round. An Event Card describes a rule change that will be in effect throughout the round. The Round Leader is also the player who first executes an order. At the end of each round, the player to the Round Leader's left becomes Round Leader for the next round.

Goal

The player who first occupies at least 5 City hexes at the end of a round, wins the game.

What Kind of Game is Brimstone?

Brimstone can be described as a "wargame based on euro-game principles."

What do you mean by "wargame"?

I know that some enthusiasts won't call anything a "wargame" unless it's a detailed simulation of a historical battle. Brimstone is not that kind of wargame. It does not simulate a historical battle (it takes place on a distant planet in the future); it does not use a board divided into hundreds of tiny hexes (its board is built of a few dozen big hexes); and its rules and its combat mechanism are relatively simple.

But the players in Brimstone do build up armies and move them around the board-map, conquering territory and trying to defeat the armies of the other players. Victory is achieved solely by being a successful conqueror. In that sense, Brimstone is a wargame.

What "euro-game principles" are in Brimstone?

Brimstone is designed to keep moves short, so you don't get bored waiting for others to move. It is impossible for any player to be completely "killed out" of the game. The more successful players are limited (to a degree) to prevent them from steamrollering the less successful.

A successful player must find the right balance between recruiting, defending, expanding, raising cash, and finding supplies. There are enough different ways to proceed that you can never be sure what a creative player might decide to do. The command system requires you to commit to several moves in advance, yet gives you the flexibility to respond to surprises. (The command system, along with several other features of Brimstone, were adapted from Christian T. Petersen's truly excellent A Game of Thrones, which my family and I very much admire.)

Combat is not random yet can still be uncertain. But the board is (mostly) random, making every game different without using dice or shuffled cards. These features and others give Brimstone a euro-game feel.

The Rulebook

The rulebook is big because it's illustrated in color; and at 17 pages or so it may seem kind of intimidating. But the substantive part of the rules (excluding theme material, setup maps, and such) is only about 9 pages' worth. I'll be grateful for any comments or suggsetions that anyone wishes to send to me.

Download the Rulebook [4 Mb]

There's also a pretty picture I made in Photoshop, just for fun, that might work as cover art for the rulebook. If you like that sort of thing, you can see it here.

Last modified May 30 2008 by rmh