November 2005 - Hero, Myth, Hail Toileticus!

Since BGDF has moved over to a new server, they will eventually lose all of their old posting. So now I have to keep a record of my showdown entries somewhere else.

Place plastic Items randomly on "Lands" (islands and coast areas) on the large map of the Mythic Greek coastline, islands, and reefs. Each player starts his ship on the village Olympus.

Each player starts with five Persuasion Chips, and gets 12 Collection Cards in the player's color and randomly discards four. Cards show Items that players must return to Olympus.

Give one player the Spyglass, which designates the Navigator. The Navigator asks each player in turn (who becomes the Captain) if he wishes to Follow a Course, or Plot a Course. After each player has been a Captain, pass the Spyglass to the left to start a new round.

The Captain may select a new crew by taking up to 6 Double-Dice ("Sailors") from the stock if he is docked at a Village. Otherwise, he sails with his current crew.

Plotting a Course: The Captain declares which Land he wants to sail to, starts with a dry-erase marker on Land near his ship, and puts on a blindfold. One of 6 sand timers based on the crew size (more Sailors equals the faster the timer goes, due to supply usage) is flipped, and the Navigator verbally instructs the blindfolded Captain in drawing his Course.

If the Course hits a Beach or Village before the timer runs out, the Course is finished, regardless if they have reached the desired destination. The Captain may dock his ship on this Land. Mark the starting and ending locations of the Course with the initials of both Captain and Navigator. If the desired destination is reached, the Navigator gains 3 Persuasion Chips.

If the Course hits a reef or a mountain side of a Land, or the timer runs out, both players get a Shipwreck Counter, the Captain discards all Sailors, and places the Items on back on Lands (always at the Captain's choosing). This course is erased.

(It is the best interest of the Navigator to help: he can use drawn Courses, gains Persuasion Chips, and avoids Shipwreck Counters.)

Follow a Course: A Captain moves his ship along any Course marked with his initials that is connected to a Land that his ship is at. After moving, erase this Course.

When at a Land, the Captain may collect the Item there. If the Item is a Monster, it has a Strength Number, and the Captain must Battle to collect it.

The Captain rolls the amount of Double-Dice shown as the Monster's Strength, then his Sailors. The Captain aligns one Strength to one Sailor. With uneven forces, the Captain removes excess dice after rolling at his choosing. Any "inner die" (DEFENSE) that is less than the "outer die" (ATTACK) of an opposing die, discards that Double-Die. Since damage is inflicted simultaneously, both dice can be discarded. If dice remain on both sides, they are rolled and arranged again by the Captain. If the Captain loses all his Sailors, he places the Items back on Lands and docks his ship at Olympus. If the Captain has remaining Sailors and the Monster has no Strength, he collects the Item.

If two ships are docked at a Land together, the Captains may trade Items, or the acting Captain may start a Battle. Each Captain rolls their Sailors, secretly align their Sailors in a row, and then are revealed, matching them in one-on-one battles, and "deaths" are resolved as above. The losing Captain moves his ship to Olympus, and hands over all his Items to the winning Captain. If both Captains lose all Sailors simultaneously, all Items are placed back on Lands, and both ships are placed at Olympus.



When docking at Olympus, a Captain delivers his Items to the Gods by placing the delivered Items back on Lands, and placing matching Collection Cards on the leftmost (highest-scoring) open spot in the appropriate row of the Scoring Board.



After delivery, a Captain can try to persuade the Gods to swap any one of his Cards with another Card directly to it's left on the Board. The players of both Cards secretly place any number of their Persuasion Chips in their hands and reveal simultaneously. If the acting player reveals more, the Collection Cards are swapped. The Persuasion Chips that were used are swapped between players.

Play ends when:
--One player has placed all 8 of his Cards on the board (instantly declared the winner).
--The amount of Cards on the Board equal 5 times the amount of players. Points are totaled for Card Values on the Board and Persuasion Chips. Shipwreck Counter values are subtracted. Total points win.