When starting your game of Rulers the GM should make some decisions about what the overall story of the game should be. Invite the other players into this conversation, so that they feel more invested in the story and also to share the workload, but it’s helpful to at least provide a broad concept for the setting.

Here are a couple of questions to help establish your world and the story your game will endeavor to tell.

1. What is the Scale of your game?

2. What is the length of your game?

3. What is known about the world?

4. What is urgent?

What is the scale of your game?

The assumption of Rulers is that each player controls their own civilizations, with their own peoples, cultures, history, systems of worship, style of warfare and so on. These civilizations are also assumed to be sizable but together with GMRs, only span the size of one continent.

However, Rulers can be played on a smaller of grander scale. All of the player Rulers could be minor lords in a larger civilization, only about the size of a single country. This may also mean that these player Realms have much more in common culturally, ethnically, and socially. On a grander scale, player Realms may span their own continents, and together make up the entirety of the whole world.

Apply this same conversation to Settlements and Armies. Roughly how big is a Minor Settlement in your game? How large are the Armies players will be able to muster? Is a Minor Settlement barely a hundred people or over ten thousand? Is a Might 5 Army, 50,000 pikemen, archers and cavalry? Or is a Might 5 Army literally just 5 warriors with very large swords?

Rulers is designed to the best of our ability to allow any scale to work within the mechanics of the game. It’s up to you and your table to come to an agreement on what that will look like.

What is the length of the game?

Before beginning play, the GM and the other players should agree upon how long they should play for.

It is strongly recommended to have a pre-determined point in the story where the game could end, such as repelling an other-worldly threat. The GM should also have a suggestion for how many turns or sessions of play it will take to get to that moment.

If the players wish to continue after that moment, then you may do so! It is my personal experience that open-ended sandbox game with no clear goal or end in sight, almost always fizzle out. This is why I encourage you to structure Rulers (or any TTRPG campaign) as a series of story arcs, with short term story goals that can be accomplished. This will give you many moments where it is satisfying to conclude playing. If it has worked for the anime One Piece since it first aired in 1997, then endlessly stringing together smaller arcs can work for you too.

What is known about the world?

Firstly, all the players should have a conversation about game Visibility. Rulers always have visibility to a distance of one Region, at minimum, but this may be difficult to enforce depending on how you are playing. For example, if you are playing around a table with one world map, players would expect to be able to see everything going on in the world at once, much like a board game. Whereas, if you are playing asynchronously online, it becomes possible for information to remain hidden from players, creating a dense Fog of War. However, this can become burdensome to enforce. So the GM and the other players should decide how much of the map each Ruler can see, according to their preference.

Secondly, there needs to be a conversation about how of the world has been explored. Do all Rulers know what lies beyond their Realm, up to the edge of the world map? Do Rulers know the names and locations of other Settlements in other Realms? There are many dimension to these questions, but consider how much of the world is understood by each Ruler.

Decide amongst yourselves if the focus of your game of Rulers is one of exploration and hidden information, or if you’d rather have complete visibility of a fully explored world, so that play can focus on different aspects of the game.

What is urgent?

If there is no urgent need for the status quo to change, or there is no present threat to the status quo, then the players will not be encouraged to act. There must be a narrative reason for the need for urgent action. Otherwise, players can quietly sit back and build their economy without any need to speak to each other or take any action outside of their own Realm.

Starting Scenarios

Here are a few situations that give a narrative reason for the players to act with a sense of urgency, with a clear goal that could be used to mark the end of your game.

United by a Common Enemy

The people of the Realms face an outside threat of terrifying military might. Rulers will have to deal with regular skirmishes from raiders attacking from another place. Each year that passes these attacks get stronger and stronger.

Where are they coming from? What is their grand plan? How long until these raids turn into widespread war?

Choose a Region or Regions that the attackers are coming from. Place one GMR directly in their path, who beseeches the player Rulers for help. Have this Realm fall to the attackers after the first year, with the invading forces now establishing a foothold upon their ruins to begin to build larger armies.

Player Realms can be close to the invaded Region for a faster game, or they can be intentionally place too far away to send help in time.

Under one rule

The High King is dead, leaving only their infant heir to the throne. The player Rulers are all minor dignitaries who have been chosen to be a council that shall govern until the child is of age. The King’s brother claims the title of High King, while the Queen wishes to rule directly. Many other’s have reason to claim the throne.

Who will the players support? Will the players make their own bid for the crown? Can a new system of governance be created in its place? Is war avoidable or inevitable?

In this setup, each player Ruler still has the same start to the game, but narratively are defined as being much smaller areas of control. Avoid wild regions, and have all the player and GM Rulers very close to each other. There should also be numerous GMRs making bids to the throne, with varying degrees of power and support.

Enigmatic Island

A mysterious new landmass has appeared from beyond the fog, and various civilizations are all eager to explore this new continent.

What mysteries and dangers lie in this strange new world? Is it untouched wilderness or are there inhabitants? How do people, or the environment itself, react to these new arrivals?

In this game each Ruler governs an outpost of a larger civilization. Create a map that is almost entirely wild Regions, with player and GM Rulers scattered along its edge. GMRs are optional, but should be sparse and larger than player Realms. Alternatively, have the player Rulers control a homeland in another location, while attempting to explore this new area.

Open Rebellion

The time to end the oppression has come. The sprawling empire that commands this world is beginning to lose control, now is the time to win allies and launch a campaign for liberation!

How did this rebellion start? Can allies be won over to their cause? What is at stake should the empire lose control of this area? What forces can they bring to ensure their dominion?

The GM controls a large Realm of many regions, with many vassals and allies. Each player Ruler still has the same start, but must describe how they recently gained this status. Alternatively, play the exact inverse, where the players are the ones attempting to collectively govern a large empire while under assault from rebellious forces from within.