War of the Dark God - pbem.dk house rules

The house rules do not change the rules of the game itself; these can be found in the rulebook and the scenario description. The purpose of the house rules is to outline objective criteria for determining if the position of a player or team has become untenable and the player or team therefore can throw in the towel and get remaining game credit converted to "unused game credit" (see the pbem.dk shop FAQ for more on this).

The house rules come into play:

The rules for each case are outlined below.

When a single player wishes to quit the game

Below is specified the rules for when each position is still considered tenable. As long as a position is tenable according to these rules you will not get your game credit converted to unused game credit if you drop the position. If for some reason you wish to drop the position anyway you can either
  1. Find a replacement player yourself (you can have your team mates help you). The replacement player can take over your remaining credit if you can sort out any compensation between you, or he or she can buy a token for the game in the shop and use this for taking over your position, in which case your remaining credit will be converted to unused game credit.
  2. Or let me know you intend to drop (send a mail to service@pbem.dk) and I will try to find a replacement for you. I may have to offer the position to someone else at a discount and in this case only part of your remaining credit will be converted to unused game credit. If it is still early in the game and your position is in good shape I can hopefully find someone who will take it over at full price.

When a position is no longer considered tenable according to the rules below you have the option of dropping out and have your remaining credit converted to unused game credit. You may of course elect to continue even with a formally untenable position, helping your team mates e.g. by scouting for them or transferring your resources to them, or obstructing the enemy in whichever way you can.

When is a position tenable?

The exact criterions a position has to fulfill in order to be considered tenable of course varies with the position. The general principle for most positions is that you should at least theoretically have the capability to take a city and to recruit new troops. In order to do this, you must have
  1. A leader capable of controlling a city which is also effectively still in the military game (see below). If the leader can only control hexes and locations neighbouring already owned hexes or locations the nation must also own at least one hex or one location influencing control.
  2. At least one unit of troops which count as helpers for the control or the capability to recruit such a unit (unless the leader can control alone).

When is a leader out of the military game?

A leader must be effectively still in the military game to count as being able to control. So when is a leader considered in or out of the military game?
  • A leader in military mode and in either a hex or location is considered still in the military game.
  • A leader who is fleeing (with a "gohome" order) is considered out of the military game if the nation no longer controls its home or the hex the home is in and the nation cannot change its home.
  • A leader who is in quest mode is considered out of the military game if the nation does not own a hex or location in which the leader can change back to military mode. This does of course not apply if the leader does not need an owned hex or location to change between quest mode and military mode.

The Vampire Lord

Cities are not important to the Vampire Lord but troops and death mana are. Therefore the following criterion applies:
To be a tenable position, the Vampire Lord must have either a Greater Vampire or a Vampire effectively still in the military game.

The Sorcerer

Cities are not important to the Sorcerer but demons are, so therefore the following criterion applies:
To be a tenable position, the Sorcerer must have either a (major) Sorcerer or a Demon Prince effectively still in the military game.

The Beast Master

Cities are not important to the Beast Master but troops are, so therefore the following criterion applies:
To be a tenable position, the Beast Master must have either a Lion Man or a Bear Man, or if none of these then a Vulture Man and at least one other leader effectively still in the military game.

The Snakemen

To be a tenable position the Snakemen must have either a Snakeman Lord or a Snakeman General effectively still in the military game and either have troops to help a control or an owned location or hex with a terrain allowing recruitment of troops.

The Trolls

To be a tenable position the Trolls must have either a Troll Chief or a Troll Shaman together with either a Troll Hero or Hobgoblin Captain effectively still in the military game and either have troops to help a control or an owned location or hex with a terrain allowing recruitment of troops.

The Pirates of Pyr

To be a tenable position the Pirates of Pyr must have either a Pirate Lord or a General effectively still in the military game and either have troops to help a control or an owned location or hex with a terrain allowing recruitment of troops.

The Gnomes

To be a tenable position the Gnomes must have either a Gnome Lord, a Gnome Captain or a Dwarven Captain effectively still in the military game and either have troops to help a control or an owned location or hex with a terrain allowing recruitment of troops.

The Queen of Wey

To be a tenable position the Queen of Wey must have either a Warlord or a General effectively still in the military game and either have troops to help a control or an owned location or hex with a terrain allowing recruitment of troops.

The Order of Quama

To be a tenable position the Order of Quama must have either a Noble or a General effectively still in the military game and either have troops to help a control or an owned location or hex with a terrain allowing recruitment of troops.

The High Elves

To be a tenable position the High Elves must have an Elven Lord effectively still in the military game and either have troops to help a control or an owned location or hex with a terrain allowing recruitment of troops.

The Elves of Windwood

To be a tenable position the Elves of Windwood must have either a Lord of the Woods or an Elven Wolfmaster effectively still in the military game and either have troops to help a control or an owned location or hex with a terrain allowing recruitment of troops.

The Dwarves

To be a tenable position the Dwarves must have either a Dwarven Lord, a Dwarven Captain or a Gnome Captain effectively still in the military game and either have troops to help a control or an owned location or hex with a terrain allowing recruitment of troops.

The Druids

Cities are not important to the Druids so therefore the following special criterion applies:
To be a tenable position, the Druids must have a Major Druid effectively still in the military game and own at least one woods or wooded hills hex.

The Eastern Kingdom

To be a tenable position the Eastern Kingdom must have either a Noble or a General effectively still in the military game and either have troops to help a control or an owned location or hex with a terrain allowing recruitment of troops.

The Northern Isles

To be a tenable position the Northern Isles must have either a Noble or a General effectively still in the military game and either have troops to help a control or an owned location or hex with a terrain allowing recruitment of troops.

The Caliphate of El-Sha'al

To be a tenable position the Caliphate of El-Sha'al must have either an Emir or a General effectively still in the military game and either have troops to help a control or an owned location or hex with a terrain allowing recruitment of troops.

When a whole team wishes to concede defeat and end the game

If the other side has your side totally beat and there is no hope that your team can turn the game around or even manage a draw, you may find that there is not much point in keeping playing (and paying for turns). It is therefore possible to concede defeat and end the game prematurely. However, you must bear in mind that your team does not "own" the game, it only "owns" half the game and the other team may still be having fun and/or may like to see their well laid plans through to conclusion. So there are rules for when a team can concede defeat and when they can't (some or all of the players on that team may not want to continue anyway, but in this case the rules for individual players wanting to quit the game apply).

When can a team concede defeat?

For a team to be allowed to concede and end the game, the following conditions must apply:
  1. There must be at least 4 turns left of the game.
    It is not much fun if you are never allowed to carry out your end-game plans if you are on the side which looks like it will win the game.
  2. The team must be in a nearly hopeless position.
    The team must either
    1. be in a position in which it stands to lose due to the number of obelisks standing (there must be 6 obelisks standing if the Alliance of Light wishes to concede and only 1 obelisk if the Followers of the Dark God wish to concede), or
    2. be behind the other team in the average scores with a gap between average scores of at least 4.5 victory points per turn that remains to be played, or
    3. have at least 3 positions which are untenable as outlined in the rules for single players wishing to quit while the other team has none, or
    4. be militarily outmatched with a combined mass unit victory point value less than one third of that of the other team (thus using victory point value as an indication of combat value).
    At the same time, the other team must not meet any of the conditions above.
  3. At least two thirds of the players on the team must vote to concede.
    A vote among the members of the team will be called once a player sends an email to service@pbem.dk asking for the game to be stopped. Voting must be by email to service@pbem.dk and at least two thirds of the team must vote to concede defeat. All votes must be sent within one week of the vote being called.

Consequences of conceding defeat

If a team concedes defeat (and is allowed to by the rules above) then the game will end after one more turn has been played, in order to allow everyone a chance to optimize their victory points. The deadline for this last turn will be postponed if need be to allow everyone to adjust their orders.

After this last official turn has been played, the game will have ended and all players who wish to may get their remaining credit converted to unused game credit. The game will be kept alive until its regular scheduled or "sudden death" end, so that players who wish to can continue (paying for turns they play but with the option to quit any time). Thus is is possible for players to attempt to complete that last quest, to throw that last big army they have built over the past ten turns against the puny enemy, or whatever else they may still want to get out of the game.

The non-conceding team will be declared winners after the last official turn. The individual scores will determine final places in the game (with all on the winning team placing above those on the conceding team of course). If, however, before the official last turn is played, all players on the winning team agree to play the game to the end, the victory points at the end of their game will determine the final places.