Gods’ Will. Lies and Betrayal. Board Game Overview and Skit.
Transcript
Welcome mortals, demigods, and anyone in between who has ever said, "Trust me." while being not trustworthy at all, to Mount Olympus. We all want to ascend the light upon us as the followers of light, or so we all claim. We go on missions of ventures, adding our own personal agendas towards the ventures while trying to deduce who is really on our side. Because hiding in our midst are the servants of darkness. Right now, everyone looks suspicious, even me. But, it's not me. I'm totally a follower of light. Totally. Oh, look. Here's one of those shifty characters now.
Let's get this party started. Let there be light.
That's what you said, but you voted me down Mount Olympus.
Well, that's because you looked suspicious.
I was holding a torch, bringing even more light to the world.
Or maybe you're just a servant of darkness with poor night vision who's preparing for the eternal dim.
Gods Will plays 5 to 14 players with mechanics such as social deduction, team-based, and hidden roles. The game is of light to medium complexity. Gods Will is a social deduction game. Each player is a god or goddess. Everyone can see who you are and your powers, but each also has a secret alignment and role that tells them what their agenda is. The followers of light want to defeat darkness. The servants of darkness want to bring down light. And the loners, well, they're here for themselves. Like that one person in every group assignment who says, "I work better independently." After everyone is dealt god and role cards, before the game begins, there is a night on Olympus phase.
Everyone closes their eyes. Certain roles open their eyes. Darkness alignment plays usually learn who is in their team. Some other players learn information and your so-called friends become your suspects. Then the first player and the next few players clockwise campaign to be voted to be the leader of the next venture. They state their case, lying or not, to be voted upon. When someone is elected, that person will pick a few people to be in the venture team according to this table. No more voting for their decision at this stage. You have entrusted the leader and their infinite wisdom. People in the venture then receive three destiny cards, light, darkness, and fate.
They secretly choose one and place it face down. Then the chosen cards are shuffled, so nobody knows exactly who played what, because, you know, plausible deniability. Now reveal. If all revealed cards are light, the venture succeeds. Light prevails. The light marker moves three steps towards Olympus and all team members turn their god cards to the lighter side facing out. Just to give a quick reminder to everyone that you've been successful in your venture and you're not a nasty darkness monger. If there is one or more darkness cards and no fate, darkness prevails. The darkness marker moves three steps towards Olympus and all team members turn their god cards to the darker side facing out.
Suspicion upon them all. If one or more fate cards are revealed, fate takes over. Darkness slightly prevails, so the darkness marker moves only one step towards Olympus and the team members do not change their god card orientation. And after that, everyone may claim what they played, truthfully or not?
All right, I'm here to serve the light.
You're wearing a black robe. Lies.
Hey, I'm Hades. It is within my image that I wear dark clothing.
You also brought a skull staff.
Accessory.
And a darkness card.
It's not my darkness card. I'm just holding it for a mate. Look, just because someone looks suspicious doesn't always mean they are suspicious.
True, but in your case Next is expulsion phase. Starting with the first player and going clockwise. Every player votes aloud for one god or goddess to move one step down from Olympus. The goal here is to push suspicious players away from Olympus and potentially expel them. Expelled players are not out of the game, but they must play their destiny card face up before the other team members play theirs face down from now on. No more secrets. At the end of each round, the round marker moves to the next round on the bench card. After round five, it loops back to round one. The game normally ends immediately when one of two things happens.
First, one darkness player is the lord of darkness and
if they reach or pass the light marker, light wins. Second, one light player is the lord of light and if they reach or pass the darkness marker, darkness wins. Some loner roles can also trigger the end. If the hermit is in play and becomes the first player expelled, the hermit wins alone. And if the usurper is in play and the lord of light reaches or passes the light marker, the usurper wins. Betray light your friends. Sort of what you expected for social deduction game. Probably the only acceptable way to lie to your friends, partners, parents, and neighbors. God's Will feels a bit like Resistance or Avalon, but has its own style to it.
It has a mythological twist. Instead of rotating the leader and voting on teams, you vote on the leader and put all faith in their choices. It has the team-building tension of who do we elect mixed with secret card play, public voting, player powers, and shifting suspicion. And the team member selection is absolute. Less time to argue. Each player has their power that can bring twists to the game. Hades can bring someone else down with him if he is to be expelled. Artemis can vote a failed venture team member down the mountain, and so on. Usually they one-per-game effects, and if everyone saves them up for the final round, well, there's going to be a domino chain of chaos in the big climax.
There's also the mythic ventures variant. It replaces the standard venture card with unique mythic venture cards featuring famous mythological events and classical artwork. Each card determines the eligible leaders, possible teams, and number of additional members, creating a more varied, complex, and thematic struggle for control of Olympus. So, that's God's Will, where Olympus is basically a telenovela with better outfits. It has gods, secrets, betrayal, voting, and people saying, "I'm light." while holding darkness cards.
Hey, it was just paperwork on dark-colored letterhead.
Sure, sure. So, if you like what you hear so far and accusing your friends with divine confidence, check out God's Will.
Back it on crowdfunding, and may the light guide you.
Unless Taran is on your team.
Well then, may the terms and conditions protect you.