WIZARDS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by : van Zoelen A.A.

Copyright, all rights resereved, 2000

INTRO

You play the role of a mage. The magical fight happens by making all kind of gestures. These gestures will call different kind of spells. Storms and diseases can be called upon your victim. Monster are summoned and ordered to fight for you. Everything is possible in this magical duel between two or more mages.

 

What is included in the game?

Your game contains:

 

THE TURN

Each turn, a player's wizard can either gesture with their hands to weave part of a spell, stab with their knife, or do nothing. They use both hands and each hand can act independently or in concord with the other.

A monster will obey its master's commands exactly. A monster may change controller as a result of enchantment. From that point on the monster's attacks are directed by the new master. A monster may make a single attack each turn against a target chosen by its master or (as a result of a spell) it may spend the turn doing nothing. A monster will attack on the turn in which it is summoned.

Monsters are untrained, unintelligent creatures and can neither gesture nor cast spells. Players personally acquainted with monsters who wish to vouch for their ability to cast spells are requested to keep quiet.

 

MONSTERS

Monsters are created by SUMMON spells. Monsters usually have a "controller" who can direct who they will attack. The control of a monster can change hands if a Charm Monster spell is cast on the monster.

All spells have a target, and SUMMON spells are no different.

The target of a SUMMON spell determines who the controller of the monster will be.

Read that last sentence again. It is very important, and not what everyone expects!

If the target is a Wizard, that Wizard will become the controller. If the target is a monster, then that monster's controller will be the controller of the new monster.

The initial target of the monster's attacks will be the opponent of its controller specified for the SUMMON spell. The TARGET command can be used to change the target of the monster.

WINNING

Each wizard can sustain fourteen points of damage but dies when fifteen or more points of damage are done. When only one wizard survives (if any do!) that wizard is declared the winner. The winner receives a personal marker of defeated wizard(s). This is a proof that he has ever won from this wizard. Simultaneous death is a posthumous draw. Damage to wizards and monsters is cumulative (so you don't have to do it all in one go!). Dead monsters take no further part in the game. If a wizard dies then he has to give back the personal marker that he has won in the past. His personal ranking will be zero again.

Wizards may also choose to surrender. This is not a spell, but a pair of P gestures made by both hands at the same time signals your surrender. If you surrender, you lose also a personal marker but you get to live on to fight another day. See the final section for details.

When a wizard dies, their score dies with them. This is hopefully a powerful incentive for surrendering before it's too late.

 

SPELLCASTING

Spells are cast using an ordered series of gestures. The Spell List gives a detailed description of all the spells and their effects. The spells and their required gestures are summarised in the Spell Summary Table. For example, three wriggling finger gestures on consecutive turns (noted as F F F) evokes a Paralysis spell. Note, however, is that a single gesture can be used in more than one series and, hence, can be used to cast more than one spell.

A single gesture may be used in more than one spell provided that: the gestures have been made in the correct sequence without interruption; no more than one spell is created per gesture; and all gestures for one spell are made with the same hand.

For instance, the left hand could cast the F F F above. In the following four turns the left hand could gesture (S S D D) to finish off a Fireball spell since the last five gestures would then be (F S S D D). Another alternative is to simply perform another (F) for a second Paralysis spell, as the last three gestures are still (F F F). If spells are used in a wise manner and frequently overlap, the overall number of gestures needed to cast them can be cut dramatically.

If a single gesture can be construed to be the final gesture of two or more spells then the caster chooses which one to cast. For example, the last two gestures of a Finger Of Death are the same as Magic Missile, yet only on odd occasions would the latter spell be chosen in preference to the former.

Another example of the one-spell-per-gesture concept is the following:

Left hand: W W W S Last 3 gestures form Counter Spell

Right hand: P P W S Last 4 gestures form Invisibility

The trouble here is the Invisibility spell needs both hands to perform certain gestures. However, since the final S of the left hand cannot be used to cast two spells, it is clear that a choice must be made between the W W S of the Counter Spell and the P P w s of the Invisibility.

Here and in the rest of the document, a lowercase letter denotes a gesture to be performed with both hands simultaneously. E.g. w denotes a W by each hand.

If the caster completes a series that casts a spell, intentionally or unintentionally, the spell must be cast. For example Fire Storm gets you no matter where it is released. Note also that some of the larger spells have smaller ones incorporated within their casting series.

All spells and monsters need a target, someone or something to be the victim. Each spell (and the "stab" gesture) has a default target, which is where it will go if you do not specify the target for the casting hand. In general, spells with beneficial effects are defaulted to have the caster as the target. Spells with adverse effects are defaulted to have the opposing Wizard as the target. However, if in doubt, specify the target of your spell!

Specifying the target of each spell to be cast (if the target is not the default target for the spell) is part of writing the orders for each round.

Spells can be aborted at any point during their development simply by performing a gesture which breaks up the series for that spell. There is no penalty, save

having wasted some time. Note that no spells contain Stab or Nothing. Also note that nonsense (Zen?) gestures such as C with just one hand are considered the same as Nothing (-) (which is a fairly Zenlike concept, in and of itself). Consequently, after one of these options is taken, all spells for that hand must start from scratch. Note also that wizards carry only one dagger and so cannot stab with both hands at the same time. Wizards can, however, change hands for stabbing without wasting time. Such are the advantages of physical violence.

Although all spells go off "at the same time", it is sometimes useful to know which takes effect first. For example, does a Resist Heat save you from a Fireball cast in the same turn? These types of questions can be answered by referring to the Spell Casting Series table. If this table doesn't answer your question, then you may need to find out the answer by experimentation!

Before the battle commences, the referee casts a Dispel Magic followed by an Anti Spell at each of the wizards, and each wizard bows to the opponent, so they cannot commence gesturing prematurely in order to nearly finish a spell when they start the battle. For the same reason, being made resistant to fire in your last battle doesn't do you any good in the next.

 

HOW WILL A TURN DEVELOPE ?

Making your intentions clear.

Now you know how to make the gestures to create a spell you have to make sure that your intentions aren’t misinterpreted. It must be so clear that your opponent will have no doubts about your intentions and visa versa. You do this by using the cards.

The most important group of cards are the cards labelled ‘HANDS’ These cards are used to express which gesture you will use for each hand. Just make a choice for each hand and lay the cards facedown on the table. The card for the left-hand on the left and the card for the right-hand on the right. If you gesture will finish more then one spell then you have to specify the spell you are about to call for. If this is the case then choose from the card set labelled "SPELL" the right spell and place this on top of the gesture that will finish this spell. Spells will have default target. The list of the default targets is at the end of this manual. If you want to choose an other target then you can use a card labelled "TARGET" and specify the target with it. If you attack a monster then pay also attention of the colour of the targeted monster if there are more of them.

When both mages are finished with their orders then all cards are turned and their effects are sorted out by the speed of the spells. Place also a counter on the gameboard to indicate the last gestures of both hands. When you are invisible and/or your opponent is blind then places the gesture counters facedown on the gameboard.

 

If a ‘SUMMON" spell is successful then a creature will come to live. Choose the right creature card from you set and place it on the table. The newly summoned creature will have your opponent as a default target. If you want to change this target in the same turn or later on then you can use your target cards to do so.

Some effects of spells last several turns. Their state can be recorded on the gameboard at the correct boxes. If a spell is permanent then just lay a closed counter at the box to indicate that this effect is lasting.

At the end resolve all damage and healing effects. If all is resolved then lower the counters of the ongoing spells on the gameboard with one. An enchantment disappears when the counter has to turn to zero. Now the next round takes place.

 

The card symbols

‘Creature’ cards

If a creature get damage then resolve the damage and place a counter on the creature to reflect the HP that are left.

‘Spell’ cards

 

GESTURES

Spells are created by strings of gestures made with the hands. There are five single-handed magical gestures:

the wriggled fingers (W)

the pointing finger (P)

the snap (S)

finger pointed upwards (F)

thumb digit pointing (D)

There is one two-handed magical gesture: the clap (c). Both hands must be specified as clapping in the same turn for this gesture to be useful.

 

There also two non-magical gestures:

stab (>)

nothing (-)

The abbreviation for each gesture is used when specifying directions for the turn.

 

SPECIAL ORDERS

HANDS

LH for lefthand Gesture

RH for righthand Gesture

e.g.

LH >

RH P

Use these stones what you want to do with each hand. The gestures are as described in the first section.

 

TARGET Hand TargetName

e.g.

TARGET LH Froodal

Use this command to indicate where you want any actions associated with a particular hand to go. Valid hands are LH, RH, and BH. "BH" means "both hands" and is that target that is used if a spell is being activated as a result of a gesture requiring both hands.

It is vital to note that all actions have a target whether you want them to or not, and the target for a given hand will be the default target for the spell for that hand unless you explicitly say otherwise.

You can also target a monster that you think your opponent is about to create. You do this by saying

TARGET LH RH:BadGuy

This says that you want to aim your Left Hand spell at the monster that BadGuy is about to create with his Right Hand.

 

TARGET MonsterName VictimName

e.g.

TARGET RedishGreenGoblin Merlyn

This variation of the TARGET command is used to change the target of a monster. Obviously it will only succeed if you are the controller of the monster. "no_one" is a valid target for a monster.

You can attempt to set the target of a monster that you are going to gain control of via Charm Monster. If your charm succeeds, the monster will attack the target you specify.

You can attempt also to set the target of a monster that is going to be created in the coming round. You do this by saying

TARGET RH:MyName UglyMage

This says that you want the monster you are about to create with your Right Hand to attack UglyMage.

(Note that this is very different to saying "TARGET RH UglyMage". The latter command aims your Right Hand spell at UglyMage. If it is a summon spell, this would mean giving away your monster.)

This means that you can actually charm and direct a monster that your opponent is going to create this round. If you cast the Charm Monster with your Right Hand, and your opponent is casting Summon Goblin with his Left Hand. the commands might look like this:

RH Charm Monster

TARGET RH LH:BadGuy

- we want to charm BadGuy's Left Hand monster

TARGET LH:BadGuy GreenOgre

- we want his monster to attack GreenOgre

Of course, he could cast Counter Spell at the monster he is about to create - this would thwart your Charm, and the monster would remain under his control!

 

Hand SpellName

e.g. BH Magic Mirror

As mentioned earlier, sometimes a given set of gestures could invoke more than one spell. In this case, the wizard gets to choose which spell is to be cast. If your gestures result in a choice you were not expecting, your opponent may point it out to you. After that you must make a choice

 

 

THE SPELLS

This table shows the gestures required to cast each spell.

c D P W Dispel Magic

c S W W S Summon Ice Elemental

c W S S W Summon Fire Elemental

c w Magic Mirror

D F F D D Lightning Bolt

D F P W Cure Heavy Wounds

D F W Cure Light Wounds

D F W F d Blindness

D P P Amnesia

D S F Confusion

D S F F F c Disease

D W F F d Sacrifise

D W S S S P Delay Effect

D W W F W c Raise Dead

D W W F W D Poison

F F F Paralysis

F P S F W Summon Troll

F S S D D Fireball

P Shield

p ! Surrender

P D W P Remove Enchantment

P P w s Invisibility

W W S Counter Spell

! This is not a spell

+ Each wizard may use this spell once per battle, then the gestures have no effect.

  

P S D D Charm Monster

P S D F Charm Person

P S F W Summon Ogre

P W P F S S S D Finger Of Death

P W P W W c Haste

S D Magic Missile

S F W Summon Goblin

S P F P Anti Spell

S P F P S D W Permanency

S P P c Time Stop

S P P F D Time Stop

S S F P Resist Cold

S W D Fear

S W W c Fire Storm

W D D c + Lightning Bolt

W F P Cause Light Wounds

W F P S F W Summon Giant

W P F D Cause Heavy Wounds

W P P Counter Spell

W S S c Ice Storm

W W F P Resist Heat

W W P Protection

 

! This is not a spell

+ Each wizard may use this spell once per battle, then the gestures have no effect.

 

 

EXAMPLE GAME

 

To give you an idea how a game might proceed, here is an example game between two wizards "Froodal" and "Bung". Each wizard starts with 15 Hit Points (HP), representing the amount of damage that he can take.

Each player now goes on to submit a gesture for each hand each round. This is what might happen...

 

Turn Froodal Bung

LH RH HP LH RH HP

1 W D 15 W P * 15

2 W S W S

3 W F* 14 S * D*

4 S* F S >

5 > F * 9 C * C * 9

6 C* C * D F

7 P* W P * >

8 P* D 8 W * >

9 > D D S 8

10 C* C * 7 D > 3

11 W* W * C * C * -2

 

Outright Victory to Froodal.

A "*" shows a gesture that completes a spell.

 

Turn 1

Froodal makes the classic "Disease" opening. He is planning to cast Disease with his right hand, throwing in Confusion and Paralyze on the way ("DSFFFc"). He starts with a 'W' with his left hand, planning to use that as the beginnings of a Counter Spell ("WWS") for the third round, to counter any possible 3-gesture enchantments that Bung makes.

Bung makes a less conventional opening - two defensive gestures. He does 'W' with his left hand for the same reason as Froodal. He casts a shield with his right. This is usually done in anticipation of the opponent opening with a stab. However, Bung has something else in mind...

Turn 2

In the second round Froodal continues as planned. Bung sees the potential Confusion coming, and continues with his left hand Counter Spell. With his right hand Bung follows the ' P' with an ' S' - he is leading towards Summon Ogre or Charm Person!

 

 

Turn 3

Froodal is now under pressure. He doesn't know what Bung will be doing with his right hand, and can see that whatever it is, it is going to complete in the 4th round instead of the third. Furthermore, Bung is going to Counter his Confusion successfully. Froodal continues with the Confusion anyhow (leading on to the Paralyze) and prolongs his left hand Counter Spell by one turn - wasting a gesture.

Bung feels in control as he fires a Magic Missile with his right hand, leading on towards Charm Person in the next turn, and Counters Froodal's Confusion with his left hand. He is now up in HP on Froodal and is planning to continue to inflict damage as quickly as possible...

Turn 4

This round Froodal completes his Counter Spell, with which he planned to counter Bung's Charm Person. However, Bung saw that his spell was going to be countered so didn't bother completing it. Instead he stabs with his right, while progressing towards Ice Storm with his left! However, the shield effect of Counter Spell prevents the damage, and Froodal breathes a sigh of relief!

Turn 5

Froodal completes his Paralyze as Bung completes an Ice Storm. Froodal knows that next turn he is going to be clapping for the Disease, so anything other than a stab with his left hand would be wasted. After the Ice Storm and stab, both mages are on 9 HP.

Turn 6

Froodal now claps to complete the Disease spell. This puts the pressure onto Bung. Bung now has to kill Froodal or cure the Disease within the next 6 rounds. He opts to try to cure the Disease with Dispel Magic - he has already made the ' c ' last turn, so he goes on with the ' D' this turn.

Meanwhile, Bung's right hand is Paralyzed into a ' F' gesture for this round by Froodal's Paralyze spell of last round.

Turn 7

With Bung busy curing his disease, Froodal can take the initiative. He starts a Lightning Bolt ("WDDc") with his right hand. He can see that Bung is going for damage, and may try a stab, so he does a Shield with his left hand. This pays off, because that is exactly what Bung does.

Turn 8

Now Bung can complete his Dispel Magic. This is another bad round for Froodal, because he can't defend himself with a Shield (since the Dispel Magic will negate the Shield) - but he doesn't realize it. Bung makes the most of it, and stabs.

Turn 9

Bung now needs to continue damaging Froodal. He uses the last ' W ' of the Dispel Magic to move into a Lightning Bolt of his own, and prepares to cast a

Summon Goblin with his right hand ("SFW").

Froodal sees another opportunity for a stab, and takes it, while continuing with his Lightning Bolt.

Turn 10

Froodal completes the Lightning Bolt, and Bung takes 5 more damage. Bung is still confident, because he gets in a stab and can see his Lightning Bolt crippling

Froodal next turn.

Turn 11

Disaster for Bung! Froodal immediately follows his Lightning Bolt with a Magic Mirror. Bung's own Lightning Bolt is reflected back at him and he is killed!

 

DEFAULT TARGET OF THE SPELLS

This shows the default target for each spell .

(s - self, o – opponent, a - all)

s Dispel Magic

s Counter Spell

s Magic Mirror

s Summon Goblin

s Summon Ogre

s Summon Troll

s Summon Giant

s Summon Fire Elemental

s Summon Ice Elemental

s Raise Dead

s Haste

s Time Stop

s Protection

s Resist Heat

s Resist Cold

o Paralysis

o Amnesia

o Fear

o Confusion

s Charm Monster

o Charm Person

o Disease

o Poison

s Cure Light Wounds

s Cure Heavy Wounds

o Anti Spell

o Sacrifise

o Blindness

s Invisibility

s Permanency

s Delay Effect

o Remove Enchantment

s Shield

o Magic Missile

o Cause Light Wounds

o Cause Heavy Wounds

o Lightning Bolt

o Fireball

o Finger of Death

a Fire Storm

a Ice Storm