Gaming Sets
All sorts of games are played in Ataland.
Darts
A game of aim and dexterity where darts are thrown in to a dartboard which is segmented in to various scoring zones. Players throw three darts at a time, and then score for that round. Darts is an extremely popular game in human taverns, almost all of which has a dartboard and set of darts.
The game set consists of a cork dartboard and 6 darts. These darts are simple ranged weapons as described under Weapons in the SRD.
Simple weapons proficiency doesn't give you proficiency with the darts gaming set.
Dens
Dens is a game where players build small structures using tiny wooden planks and then take turns trying to knock their opponent's "den" down with glass marbles. It originates from an otterfolk children's game designed to teach construction skills. It has since found popularity in taverns across Ataland.
A dens set consists of 100 or so tiny wooden planks and a dozen glass marbles.
Mistars
Mistars is a popular two-player strategy game of elven origin. Players are attempting to "control" as many of the board's squares as possible. This is done by laying elven runestones in strategic locations. Through a complicated set of rules, certain runes 'combine together' to gain control of the area between them. The control of each square is indicated with a control marker - a small disc that is white on one side and black on the other.
Mistars is not too challenging to learn, but extraordinarily complex strategically. Elves play the game for centuries to become masters and it is believed by some that it is impossible for a human to master in their lifetime.
Mistars is very old. The earliest references to it are thousand years ago, around 200 years before Ataland was colonised.
A Mistars set consists of a board with a 9 by 9 grid, 81 control markers and 42 runestones.
Pirate's Dice
Also known as Liar's Dice or Rouge's Dice. Pirate's dice is very commonly played among sailors and in port towns.
A pirates dice set consists of five 6-sided dice and a small wooden cup per player. Sets normally accommodate 4 - 6 players. Many styles available. Dwarven players like to carve their own dice from quartz or other stones. Sailors use heavy metal dice to prevent them rolling away at sea. Nobles may have elegant sets made of bone ivory.
Pirate's Dice rules
- Players roll their pool of five dice, using the cup to conceal the your dice from other players.
- The first player makes a bid. A bid is a guess of how many dice on the table have rolled a given face value. For example "I think there 4 dice on 3."
- Proceeding clockwise, each player can either outbid the last guess, or challenge it by saying "liar!"
- To outbid a guess, you must increase either the face value or the quantity, or both. "5 dice on 3" and "4 dice on 4" outbid "4 dice on 3".
- If you challenge, all dice are revealed. If player who made the bid is correct, you lose a one dice from your pool. If they are wrong, they lose one dice from their pool. If you lose all your dice, you are eliminated from the game.
- The remaining player wins.
The game within a game
Pirate's Dice is popular with pirates, rouges and criminals because it is so easy to cheat. Mischievous players can peek at the other player's dice or covertly alter the values of their own to give themselves an edge.
When these types of players face each other the real game is who can cheat the best. Both players will expect it coming and indeed may even feel insulted if their opponent doesn't attempt it. It's all in good fun, so long as if caught cheating you gracefully accept defeat.
Playing Cards
Playing Cards in Ataland consist of 52 cards (plus two optional wildcards), in four suits. Suits are Coins, Staves, Goblets and Swords. Each suit has 1 - 10 numbered cards and 3 face cards. Face cards in order of value are: Cleric, Royal and Deity.
Face cards feature a depiction of a person or deity.
- Cleric of Coins - Female Dwarven Cleric
- Royal of Coins - Dwarven King
- Deity of Coins - Marlon
- Cleric of Staves - Male Elven Cleric
- Royal of Staves - Elven Queen
- Deity of Staves - Gaia
- Cleric of Goblets - Female Halfling Cleric
- Royal of Goblets - Male Halfling Mayor
- Deity of Goblets - Solina
- Cleric of Swords - Male Human Cleric
- Royal of Swords - Female Human Noble
- Deity of Swords - Xor
- First Wildcard - Caspio
- Second Wildcard - Vastra
Card Games
The games that can be played with a deck of cards are too numerous to fully list. Some of the most popular in Ataland are:
Solos' Game (or just 'Solos' for short.) - A single player puzzle game similar to Solitaire. The player shuffles the deck and lays it in a 6 x 9 grid. Players move cards within certain rules to attempt to order the deck.
Aimon - A game in which the objective is to empty your hand of cards and players are ranked by who can do it fastest. The last player with cards remaining is declared "the aimon." The exact rules of aimon vary from region to region.
Cycles - A trick-taking game. The scoring suit changes depending on the season is: Staves in spring, Goblets in summer, Coins in autumn and Swords in winter.
Braggers - Almost identical to Five-card stud. Players must ante each round. No-limit is assumed, unless arranged otherwise.
Riversticks
Riversticks is a game played anywhere water flows, and popular with otterfolk and those that don't mind getting wet. In its simplest form all players gather and after a count-down drop their sticks into the water. The first to retrieve their stick from an end-zone downstream is the winner. While most riversticks games are played over a few meters with end zones a child could reach from the shore, this simple game can become a serious and dangerous competitive sport in fast flowing rivers, and keen players will have personalised wooden batons they use to compete for prizes and status in regional competitions.
A competition quality Riverstick can cost anywhere from 2g to 25g have crafted, but you are free to use a stick you found on the ground.
Runestones
Runestones is a dwarven tile-based game for two or more players, similar to Dominoes. Players take turns to place stones etched with dwarven runes on to the playfield either adjacent to an existing stone to form a chain. Different rune combinations determine what is a valid play, with certain combinations allowing the chain to branch or stones to stack. Players unable to make a legal play are eliminated, until the winner remains. There are many other games that can be played with runestones. Typically, these variants are played regionally.
A set of runestones consists of 50 stones: two of each dwarven rune and two blank stones. Runestones can be as basic as tiles of scrap slate with chalked markings, or as fancy as inscribed semi-precious stones or cast metal.