Making it your Own

If you would like to write your own homebrew content for Rulers, this section will offer you an insight into how the Rulers system is designed and balanced.

If you want to publish what you created with Rulers, please to do in accordance with the 🧾 License.

Creating your own Resources

Attributes and Resources can be renamed to anything to suit your game, which is the simplest approach to creating a different narrative or scale for your game.

All Basic Resources are derived from Attributes which are placed in Regions. Each Basic Resource multiplies one Attribute by x2 and another Attribute by x1 to determine the Basic Resource production.

Special Resources are derived from sources other than Attributes. Influence and Might are both calculated from Settlements, which offer a different amount of “production” depending on the size of the Settlement (Minor or Major).

Special Resources are weighted 2:1 against Basic Resources. That means it takes 2 Basic Resources to produce 1 Special Resource.

Special Resources are a useful tool for creating dependencies.

For Example, a new building called a University could convert 2 Materials into 1 Science. Then other new buildings can require 1 Science in their upkeep or build cost to create a gate to higher levels of technology. The same approach could be used to create a building that produces Magic as a Special Resource, which can be a requirement for other magical buildings.

In this way, it is easier to balance new Special Resources than it is to introduce new Attributes that create new Basic Resources.

Creating your own Buildings

Using the Construct Building action, Resources can be spent to place a building in an available slot in a Settlement.

These are the golden rules for designing a building in Rulers:

• Basic Resources (Food, Wealth, Materials) are weighted 1. Special Resources (Influence, Might) are weighted 2.

• Buildings convert resources (basic and special) at a rate of 1:1.

• The build cost of building is double what the upkeep cost is (2:1).

• If a building has an output of +2 Special Resource, that output should be conditional.

• Limits of 1 building with a unique name per settlement and only 1 building under construction at a settlement at a time, remain in place unless otherwise specified.

Most buildings convert Resources into different Resources at an exchange rate of 1:1. Special Resources have a weighting of 2, against Basic Resources weighting of 1. This means converting 2 Materials to 1 Might is still an even exchange of 1:1.

Buildings require an Upkeep of Resources, that should be balanced against the building output. The construction cost of a building is double it's Upkeep.

Buildings that provide +2 Special Resource, do so under a condition, due to the power of Special Resources. The Upkeep cost of Basic Resources remains the same. If a benefit is more abstract, weight it at 2 as you would a special resource. If a building provides multiple benefits that are not a resource, weight each separate benefit at 2.

Some buildings offer an output that is not a Resource, such as a new rule. These are weighted 2 - 4 depending on their assumed game impact.

Creating new Actions

Economic Actions use Basic Resources as their cost, allowing players to take these actions as many times as they can pay to do so. Typically these actions only affect the Realm of the Ruler taking the action.

In order to prevent players taking too many Economic Actions we look to other mechanics to limit how often the action can be taken, such as available building slots in Settlements.

Political and Military Actions use Influence as a required cost. Actions that cost Influence typically affect other Realms and Rulers, or are an attempt to signify to the player that this is a more powerful action.

Influence is intentionally limited as a Special Resource to prevent players taking these actions too frequently. Actions with an Influence cost should be weighted such that the action can only be taken 1-4 times in a turn.

Alternative Warfare

If the players and the GM are in agreement, you may use a different game of your choosing to resolve combat rolls. This might be a tabletop wargame or strategy video game. Continue to use Might according to the game rules, and agree upon how Might is represented in your alternative combat resolution. Perhaps Might represents a point buy system or a cap on the number of units available to the combatants.