(From the Phylomon Forum)

– – –

Sorry, no pictures, but it’s not really relevant for this report anyway since we discovered the current draw rules (V1.2) DO NOT WORK.

You run out of cards on turn 2. BOO.

Game 1:
We drew our first hand and immediately encountered problem #1. First play must be a habitat. J drew no habitat cards. Consult rules… doesn’t tell us what to do.

We briefly debate Magic vs Babylon 5 mechanics and opt for B5. She randomly discards a starting card and instead searches deck to add one habitat to her hand. (more later)

Go over the available actions and quickly determine one of them just isn’t going to work. Discard 1 card to draw 1 isn’t going to work so well in a game where you only draw 1 card per turn, but can play 3. We agree to go with discard 1, draw 2.

We get to about turn 4 and we both have empty hands and are now drawing one card, discarding for 2 as an action, and then playing those 2. Urgh.

By mutual agreement we up the draw to draw 2 per turn and you can discard 1 to draw 3. This does sometimes still result in you only having 1 card in hand at the end of turn, but is WAY less frustrating. There’s now so actual chance of planning for the next turn.

A trend quickly emerges with the Invasive species. I had an Grassland/Forest deck and J. had an Urban deck. This meant we both had a lot of Invasive bird species that could invade each other… or themselves. Ditto plants.
Thus at one point we ended up with a stack of Invasive birds 7 deep… 4 of which were Pigeons. My pigeon! No, mine! No, mine!

Since it was first playthrough I’d only included one Event card, Habitat Loss, which made a HUGE scoring difference for J. Wiping that out my grassland and turning it to Urban she could use resulted in a final score of 25 to 50. She got twice as many points as I did. (about samed game #2) If I had same thing in deck, it probably would have been more even.

Game #2: now for the messing with each other!

By mutual agreement we swipe a page from Babylon 5 and will be preselecting 3 cards for an opening hand. We agreed value should not exceed 9, including Habitat value. (which varied from 3-4 on the ones we had)

We also agree to play entire game as draw 2 at start of game, and it will be discard 1 to draw 3. This worked well for the entire game.

Draw 2 at start of turn gives us the same initial 5 card “opening hand” but there’s less muttering at the cards this way. Overall the 2/3 allows for options of building a larger hand for more strategy or if you do nothing but play, you have to discard 1 for the extra draw every 3 hands or so.

This time around I opt to build less packed chains and leave gaps in my layout. Last game I’d often gotten hit with the Habitat Loss and couldn’t move species away from it (despite them having move) because the grid was too packed. There was nowhere for them to GO.

This time I left space, intending to use it for species to move into.

This ALSO did not work. The move value are generally just too small to actually allow you to DO anything with it. In 2 games of around 15 turns each NEITHER PLAYER MOVED A SINGLE CARD.

However, leaving space for movement did let me save some species that would have been wiped by Habitat Loss by backfilling a new species into the hole that could use the new Urban habitat. So it allowed me to make a new chain to save them from the giant cascade.

Again we ended up with the giant pile of invasive birds and plants. There was a stack of multiple Policeman’s Helmets at one point as we traded control back and forth.

Again, at end of game, score was near identical. Me 27, J. 50 That Event made a HUGE difference.

CONCLUSIONS:
Draw mechanics as written (draw 1, discard 1 for 1) currently do NOT work and you end up choking and dying after a few turns. This is incredibly frustrating. Draw 2 and discard 1 for 3 seemed to work about perfectly so it neither choked nor flooded your hand.

Invasive species probably shouldn’t be able to displace THEMSELVES. That or our Pigeons are mutating awfully fast and becoming Giant Mutant Death Pigeons.
J. favored not letting Invasives displace other Invasives. I have personally seen kudzu choke to death Japanese Knotweed (which is actually fairly tasty, I’ve eaten it), so you can have invasives displace invasives in the real world, but for simplicity’s sake, it may be easier to say they can’t displace other Invasives.

Move was really useless. The current movement rules don’t give you enough movement to actually make it worthwhile. Move values should probably be doubled on everything to make it A) possible and B) useful. I did have some creatures with move 2 and unless their habitat got destroyed on turn 1 or 2, they were soon blocked in and couldn’t move anywhere useful. That in two games neither of us moved anything despite playing things that COULD move, sort of speaks to this being underpowered.

Spread was also a little confusing since it reuired a polinator to do… but because of the placement rules, the polinator often ended up blocking in the plant so spread was useless. J. though allowing a polinator and plant to be moved as a block might work.

Each game took us around half hour, but game will probably run faster in it’s finished version. Decks were only 36 cards vs the suggested 40 because they printed out easier that way.

Unless there’s a lot of discarding going on this game ends up taking up a LOT of table space.

Since this is intended partially for use by school kids, I’d suggest trimming the deck size to 30. This will speed play time (so they might play 2 games in a class period) AND will make it fit on a standard school desk.

Game designed by Fenrislorsrai, ColinD , Naturalismus, Wootfish, Forbidding, TheCharles, glunsforddavis, Havoc Jack, Cubist.. Editorial oversight and figures by db
Initial notes in the Phylomon Forum (link) | V1.1 of this rule set can be found here.

TO DO LIST:
– Work out a good number of cards in starting deck (per player) (done)
– Suggest an initial set of cards (including number of species, number of habitats, number of environmental challenges, appropriate terrain/climate stats). This one is especially important, because here we can canvas the web for appropriate images. (done)
– Continue to suggest play effects of Event cards (in particular, ones that promote diversity as oppose to monocultures).
– Beta test these general rules and leave feedback. (done)
– Any other ideas for what a “starter” card might represent?

– – –

GENERAL IDEA

Two players work to build an ecosystem around their home that is complete with various habitats and many different species. However, the player with the most points indicating a robust and diverse community at the end of the game is the winner. Can you ensure your victory by strategically (1) setting up your habitats, (2) building variation into your food webs, and (3) calculating migration possibilities: all in an attempt to minimize biodiversity loss should an environmental challenge come your way.

TYPES OF CARDS

There are three main types of cards:

SPECIES CARDS: These are cards that represent the various organisms on our planet Earth. In essence, all statistics on the card aim to describe the creature as in real life (i.e. the cards are also like fact holders). Species cards have a number of attributes on them that are noteworthy, including #SCALE, #FOODCHAIN, DIET (a colour), as well as habitat information (various combination of TERRAINs and CLIMATEs). Many species will also have other written information on the card. Most common includes information on MOVEment, but there may be other keywords such as POLLINATOR, INVASIVE, PARASITE, MUTUALISTIC (others may be developed as the game evolves).

HABITAT CARDS: These cards define a habitat (with TERRAIN and CLIMATE information). They are arguably the most important cards as species cards can only build from an appropriate habitat card. Note that species cards can only be played when there is an appropriate habitat card on the table. As well, the number on the top of the card, defines the maximum range (i.e. a value of 3 means that you can only place species cards within a maximum range of 3 moves – beyond that you would need to play another habitat card to build further).

EVENT CARDS: These cards define some sort of environmental situation, and is usually played on to of another card. This will often result in a change of some sort that will tend to have a domino effect on the other cards built around the effected card. The number on the top of these cards will signify duration – if there is no number, then the effect is permanent. A strategic element of this game will largely depend on building ecosystems that can adapt to such events.

SET-UP

Two players will sit facing each other, each with a deck of 40 cards. Decks can be thematic (i.e. only locale specific cards), or hand chosen by the player from the Phylo website. NOTE: the number of cards in the starting deck may need to change.

Each player will also place a “starter” card on the table, such that the two starter cards are adjacent to each other. Now, each player will draw 5 cards from their deck. The player with the least number of habitat cards goes first (in the event of a tie, use good old rock, paper, scissors).

BASIC PLAY

Whenever cards are placed down, they are played facing the active player to distinguish possession. During each turn, a player does the following in this order:

1. Draw a card from the deck.

2. Take three actions from the following choices (it’s o.k. to do two or three actions that are the same):

• Discard 1 card into discard pile to draw 1 card.
• Play a habitat card (next to any card with at least one matching CLIMATE value).
• Play a species card (next to a card under your control with appropriate linkage).
• Play an Event card.
• MOVE a species card (new position need not be next to a card under your control).
• Pass and do nothing.

Note that the first card played must be a habitat card, but any habitat card can be built around a “starter” card.

3. Remove cards under your control that are no longer properly connected to a habitat. These go into your discard pile. Your opponent will probably help you out here! (NOTE that this step is done after the three actions so that you have an opportunity to react to ecosystem changes introduced by the other player)

4. Alternate turns. When a player has taken their last card from their deck, the game ends at the conclusion of the other player’s turn.

5. Tally up all the food chain points in species card that are in your possession and still on the table. Winner is the player with the most number of points.

EXAMPLE OF PLAY (WITH DIAGRAMS)

At the beginning, there will be two adjacent “start” cards (one for each player) placed on the table (for example, something like the below).

Let’s say you get to go first. You have 5 cards in your hand, but your first card played must be a habitat card (this will also counts as one action). Place the habitat card facing you and such that it maintains contact with your “starter” card.  Note that the “starter” card is a little like a wild card in that any habitat card (regardless of TERRAIN and CLIMATE values) can be built on a “starter” card.

You can also see from the above figure, that cards can be placed so that they are aligned “exactly” with each other, or they can be placed so that they only “half” touching. Either is o.k., but at times, there may be advantages to one or the other (i.e. sharing cards, etc).

Then you may use your two other actions – examples include the following:

You can play another habitat card. Here, at least one of the CLIMATE values must match. Habitat cards can go adjacent to other habitat cards or species cards.

You can play a species card. Generally, Species cards need to be placed next to card with a #FOODCHAIN value equal to or one below. However, like a real food web, there are some notable exceptions and additional rules.

• Species with a FOOD CHAIN RANK value of “1” can be played adjacent to any other card (including habitat cards) as long as TERRAIN and CLIMATE match.
• Omnivores can also be placed next to any of the plant cards (FOOD RANK 1, Yellow colour) regardless of their #FOODCHAIN value.
• Carnivorous diet linkage must also work in terms of SCALE. In other words, carnivores (or omnivores linked to prey) can only build upon species of smaller or equal SCALE value. This is to ensure that something like a small rodent (which may have a higher #FOODCHAIN value) cannot eat something like a rhino (who happens to have a low #FOODCHAIN rank). Exceptions to this rule can occur when a card explicitly says the smaller creature is capable of pack hunting, or scavenging, etc to override the #SCALE effect).

You can see in the figure below, an example of where the European Honey Bee can be placed, and where it cannot (The position marked X cannot be used because even though there are TERRAIN and CLIMATE matches, the Bee’s #FOODCHAIN value of 2 needs to be placed next to something with a #FOODCHAIN value of 1)

Now let’s say you’re done, and it’s now the other player’s turn. Throughout the game, your opponent will place cards on the table so that they are facing him/her (i.e. in the opposite direction – this is how you can tell each other’s apart).

Note that a player cannot place species cards down, unless they are next to a card under his/her control. Therefore, since we are at the start of the game, this will mean that your opponent will need to first play a habitat card. Here the player can build off of his/her own “starter” card, in a manner similar to what you have already done.  However, he/she also has the option to now place a habitat card down elsewhere.  Let’s explore this move.  For example, see below where the figure illustrates various placements of your opponent’s Forest habitat card should they decide not to build off of their “starter” card. Note, however, that this habitat card must still have a matching CLIMATE value of one of its adjacent card.

From here, your opponent can now build upon that habitat card with his/her remaining actions.

As an example, look at the below figure of where your opponent might want to place a species card. In this case, there are two options shown (A and B): the point of which is to demonstrate that position B is better for your opponent, since placing the card in position A inadvertently protects your Bee card.

Ultimately, the point of the game is to place as many species cards down such that each species card can be linked back to a habitat card through CLIMATE, TERRAIN, #FOODCHAIN, and DIET values.

The below figure shows the valid connections, as defined by these attributes (as well as the range of the habitat), currently in play in the game:

Therefore, at this point in time, the score is 2 species (you) to 1 species (your opponent)!

MOVEMENT

Movement of Species cards allows protection by moving onto the other player’s habitats, or by escaping the possible effects of an Environmental challenge.

MOVE values are usually shown as text in the middle of the card. The value signifies the distance that card can move each action. For example, the European Honey Bee card has a MOVE value of 2. Therefore it is able to move any two “spots” as long as the final resting place is unoccupied. Examples of how “2 moves” can look is shown in the figure below:

Note that also in this figure, we have a chance to see a bad move (the “X”, since now that card is not properly connected to any habitat and therefore must be removed), versus a good move (the “*”, whereby now the Bee card is now linked to the opponent’s habitat card making it less susceptible to Environmental challenges your opponent might play – although instead it may now be vulnerable to challenges you might play).

As well (and although it’s not necessary, we’d like to encourage playing this version of the game), players can also add strategic value to their species cards if they have actually seen the organism in the wild (say, as documented by a photo on their digital camera). This allows the player to MOVE the organism without using up one of the three actions.

EVENT CARDS

Players may choose to use an Event card as one of their actions. Here, they will place the card on top of any card of their choosing (it can be their card or an opponent’s card) as detailed in the card instructions. Their effect will also be outlined on the card. For example, the below figure illustrates the effects of your opponent playing a Flood Event card. Here, the card will temporarily alter the habitat’s TERRAIN to freshwater for the number of turns (2 turns) as shown on the card.

Essentially, this will disrupt TERRAIN linkage from habitat to species. Specifically, as shown in the figure, this may mean that two species cards will need to be removed. These removed cards will go into a discard pile.

Note that most Event cards are played on habitat cards, but that some may be specific to certain species cards as defined in the description written on the card.

OTHER KEYWORD EXAMPLES

INVASIVE: If a species is considered invasive, the player can play this species card on top of another as instructions dictate. The card underneath is no longer worth a point.

PARASITE: If a species is considered parasitic, the player can play this species card underneath another as instructions dictate. Both cards are worth points.

POLLINATOR: A pollinator if placed adjacent to a plant, can allow the plant to spread. Spreading can be shown by using cards from the person’s hand placed upside down. Note that these extra cards do not provide additional points, but may create better ecosystems by improving how species and habitats are linked to each other. Using a pollinator to place an upside down card will use up an action.

SPREAD: Same as MOVEment except with respect to stationary organisms such as plants. Often the ability to SPREAD requires additional cards (like WIND or POLLINATOR).

(other keywords can be found in the glossary)

END OF GAME

When a player has taken their last card from their deck, the game ends at the conclusion of the other player’s turn. Tally up all the food chain points in species card that are in your possession and still on the table. Winner is the player with the most number of points.

Game designed by Fenrislorsrai and ColinD (with help, particularly with food chain mechanics by Naturalismus). Editorial  oversight and figures by db
Initial notes in the Phylomon Forum (link) | Food chain ideas can also be viewed here. | ColinD sent a very elaborate email | Previous post of this rule set can be found here.

TO DO LIST:
– Work out a good number of cards in starting deck (per player)
– Suggest an initial set of cards (including number of species, number of habitats, number of environmental challenges, appropriate terrain/climate stats). This one is especially important, because here we can canvas the web for appropriate images.
– Suggest play effects of Environmental Challenge cards.
– Beta test these general rules and leave feedback.
– Two particular concerns with current rules. (1) 1st player has huge advantage since his/her first habitat card play need not link properly, (2) When to end the game is confusing.

– – –

GENERAL IDEA

Two players work to build an ecosystem that is complete with various habitats and many different species. However, the player with the most number of species at the end of the game is the winner. Can you ensure your victory by strategically (1) setting up your habitats, (2) building variation into your food webs, and (3) calculating migration possibilities: all in an attempt to minimize biodiversity loss should an environmental challenge come your way.

TYPES OF CARDS

There are three main types of cards:

SPECIES CARDS: These are cards that represent the various organisms on our planet Earth. In essence, all statistics on the card aim to describe the creature as in real life (i.e. the cards are also like fact holders). Species cards have a number of attributes on them that are noteworthy, including #SCALE, #FOODCHAIN, DIET (a colour), as well as habitat information (various combination of TERRAINs and CLIMATEs). Many species will also have other written information on the card. Most common includes information on MOVEment, but there may be other keywords such as POLLINATOR, INVASIVE, PARASITIC (others may be developed as the game evolves).

HABITAT CARDS: These cards define a habitat (with TERRAIN and CLIMATE information). They are arguably the most important cards as species cards can only build from an appropriate habitat card. Note that species cards can only be played when there is an appropriate habitat card on the table. As well, the number on the top of the card, defines the maximum range (i.e. a value of 3 means that you can only place species cards within a maximum range of 3 moves – beyond that you would need to play another habitat card to build further).

ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGE CARDS: These cards define some sort of environmental situation, which will often change the habitat’s TERRAIN or CLIMATE. Consequently, this will tend to have a domino effect on the other cards built around the habitat. Note that some environmental challenge cards may instead be used on Species Cards. The number on the top of these cards will signify duration – if there is no number, then the effect is permanent. A strategic element of this game will largely depend on building ecosystems that can adapt to such environmental challenges.

SET-UP

The 2 players will sit facing each other. They will each have a deck of 40 cards. Decks can be thematic (i.e. only locale specific cards), or hand chosen by the player from the Phylo website. NOTE: the number of cards in the starting deck may need to change.

Draw 5 cards from your deck. Player with the least number of habitat cards goes first (in the event of a tie, use good old rock, paper, scissors).

BASIC PLAY

Whenever cards are placed down, they are play facing the player to distinguish possession. During each turn, a player does the following in this order:

1. Draw a card from the deck.

1B. Any species card that has been played and you have physically seen in the wild (and documented with your own photo) you may use its MOVE capabilities if you want (once per card per turn). -This step can be used if players wish to incorporate real wildlife spotting into game.

2. Take three actions from the following choices (it’s o.k. to do two or three actions that are the same):

• Discard 1 card into discard pile to draw 1 card.
• Play a habitat card (next to any card with at least one matching CLIMATE value)*.
• Play a species card (next to a card under your control with appropriate linkage).
• Play an Environmental challenge card.
• MOVE a species card (new position need not be next to a card under your control).
• Pass and do nothing.

3. Remove cards under your control that are no longer properly connected to a habitat. These go into your discard pile. Your opponent will probably help you out here! (this is done after the three actions so that you have an opportunity to react to ecosystem changes introduced by the other player)

4. Alternate turns. When a player has taken their last card from their deck, the game ends at the conclusion of the other player’s turn.

5. Winner is the player with the most number of species under his/her control that are still left in play.

EXAMPLE OF PLAY (WITH DIAGRAMS)

Let’s say you get to go first. You have 5 cards in your hand, but your first card played must be a habitat card (this will also counts as one action). Place the habitat card facing you. Then you may use your two other actions – examples include the following:

You can play another habitat card. Here, at least one of the CLIMATE values must match. Habitat cards can go adjacent to other habitat cards or species cards.

You can also see from the above figure, that cards can be placed so that they are aligned “exactly” with each other, or they can be placed so that they only “half” touching. Either is o.k., but at times, there may be advantages to one or the other (i.e. sharing cards, etc).

You can play a species card. Generally, Species cards need to be placed next to card with a #FOODCHAIN value equal to or one below. However, like a real food web, there are some notable exceptions and additional rules.

• Species with a FOOD CHAIN RANK value of “1” can be played adjacent to any other card (including habitat cards) as long as TERRAIN and CLIMATE match.
• Omnivores can also be placed next to any of the plant cards (FOOD RANK 1, Yellow colour) regardless of their #FOODCHAIN value.
• Carnivorous diet linkage must also work in terms of SCALE. In other words, carnivores (or omnivores linked to prey) can only build upon species of smaller or equal SCALE value. This is to ensure that something like a small rodent (which may have a higher #FOODCHAIN value) cannot eat something like a rhino (who happens to have a low #FOODCHAIN rank). Exceptions to this rule can occur when a card explicitly says the smaller creature is capable of pack hunting, or scavenging, etc to override the #SCALE effect).

You can see in the figure below, an example of where the European Honey Bee can be placed, and where it cannot (The position marked X cannot be used because even though there are TERRAIN and CLIMATE matches, the Bee’s #FOODCHAIN value of 2 needs to be placed next to something with a #FOODCHAIN value of 1)

Now let’s say you’re done, and it’s now the other player’s turn. Throughout the game, your opponent will place cards on the table so that they are facing him/her (i.e. in the opposite direction – this is how you can tell each other’s apart). Note that a player cannot place species cards down, unless they are next to a card under his/her control. Therefore, since we are at the start of the game, this will mean that your opponent will need to first play a habitat card. However, this habitat card must still have a matching CLIMATE value of its adjacent card. For example, see below where the figure illustrates various placements of your opponent’s Forest habitat card.

From here, your opponent can now build upon that habitat card with his/her remaining actions.

As an example, look at the below figure of where your opponent might want to place a species card. In this case, there are two options shown (A and B): the point of which is to demonstrate that position B is better for your opponent, since placing the card in position A inadvertently protects your Bee card.

Ultimately, the point of the game is to place as many species cards down such that each species card can be linked back to a habitat card through CLIMATE, TERRAIN, #FOODCHAIN, and DIET values.

The below figure shows the valid connections, as defined by these attributes (as well as the range of the habitat), currently in play in the game:

Therefore, at this point in time, the score is 2 species (you) to 1 species (your opponent)!

MOVEMENT

Movement of Species cards allows protection by moving onto the other player’s habitats, or by escaping the possible effects of an Environmental challenge.

MOVE values are usually shown as text in the middle of the card. The value signifies the distance that card can move each action. For example, the European Honey Bee card has a MOVE value of 2. Therefore it is able to move any two “spots” as long as the final resting place is unoccupied.  Examples of how “2 moves” can look is shown in the figure below:

Note that also in this figure, we have a chance to see a bad move (the “X”, since now that card is not properly connected to any habitat and therefore must be removed), versus a good move (the “*”, whereby now the Bee card is now linked to the opponent’s habitat card making it less susceptible to Environmental challenges your opponent might play – although instead it may now be vulnerable to challenges you might play).

As well (and although it’s not necessary, we’d like to encourage playing this version of the game), players can also add strategic value to their species cards if they have actually seen the organism in the wild (say, as documented by a photo on their digital camera). This allows the player to MOVE the organism without using up one of the three actions.

ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES

Players may choose to use an Environmental Challenge card as one of their actions. Here, they will place the card on top of any habitat of their choosing (it can be their card or an opponent’s card). These Environmental Challenge cards will have a description on them that details their effect. For example, the below figure illustrates the effects of your opponent playing a Flood card. Here, the card will temporarily alter the habitat’s TERRAIN to freshwater for the number of turns (2 turns) as shown on the card.

Essentially, this will disrupt TERRAIN linkage from habitat to species. Specifically, as shown in the figure, this means that two species cards will need to be removed. These removed cards will go into a discard pile.

Note that not all Environmental Challenge cards are played on habitat cards. Some may be specific to certain species cards as defined in the description written on the card.

OTHER KEYWORD EXAMPLES

INVASIVE: If a species is considered invasive, the player can play this species card on top of another as instructions dictate. The card underneath is no longer worth a point.

PARASITIC: If a species is considered parasitic, the player can play this species card underneath another as instructions dictate. Both cards are worth points.

POLLINATOR: A pollinator if placed adjacent to a plant, can allow the plant to spread. Spreading can be shown by using cards from the person’s hand placed upside down. Note that these extra cards do not provide additional points, but may create better ecosystems by improving how species and habitats are linked to each other. Using a pollinator to place an upside down card will use up an action.

END OF GAME

When a player has taken their last card from their deck, the game ends at the conclusion of the other player’s turn.Winner has the highest number of species under their control.