ORIGIN is a game of survival. 3-4 Players compete to feed, breed, and fight their way to the top. Beginning at the cellular level, players

The game begins at the Cellular level.

Each player’s base stats are as follows:

+10 Health

+3 Attack

+3 Defense

+3 Speed

Each player receives two Trait cards at the beginning of the game. Trait card increase the stat as described on the front of the card. Attack, Defense, and Speed can all be increased by specific Trait cards; for example, a Pincer Trait card awards +3 Attack, where a Flagella card gives +2 Speed.

Traits give the player advantages in a fight, but the outcome is determined by the sum of dice rolls (3 rolls each, highest total is winner).

The Health bar is only affected by damage taken from fighting, and by Hunger.

Hunger

The Hunger bar begins at full and is divided into three segments. For each turn the player takes without eating, the player’s fullness decreases by one. If the player does not eat for three turns in a row, they lose one Health, and will continue to do so each turn until they have eaten. Eating once will replenish a single section of the Hunger bar. Eating offers no Evolution Points.

Phases

Each stage allows the player certain actions, depending upon their Evolutionary Stage.

Cells may Feed and Fight.

Fish may Feed, Fight, and Breed.

Mammals may Feed, Fight, Breed, and Gather.

Humanoids may Feed, Fight, Breed, Gather, and Grow.

For each turn, the player may move and initiate one phase.

Feeding

Players must feed to maintain their Hunger level. If a player wishes to feed, he or she must make a move and “forage” the space immediately surrounding them. (Note: will draw a master map for each game so that the location of food remains unknown to players until they reveal them) If food is found, the player can empty as many as 3 squares of it, removing it from the map for the rest of the game.

Fighting

In order to initiate combat, the attacking player must be on the same Evolutionary Stage as the opposing player, and must be able to move into a space adjacent to the player they wish to attack. (At this point, if the attacked player has a Speed +5 or higher, he or she may attempt to “flee” by rock paper sissors.) The players engaged in battle both roll a die three times. The player with the highest total sum is the victor, and will receive Evolutionary Points equal to the average of his or her three rolls. The losing player will have half of that value detracted from their EP points (rounded up). Additionally, the losing player will lose Health equal to the winner’s Attack power. (If the losing player’s Defense is +4 or higher, he or she may attempt to “block” some of the damage, the same way a flee may be attempted. A successful block will mitigate half of the Defense stat’s worth of damage.)

Ex           Player A : +5 Atk, +3 Def, +2 Spd                  Player B : +3 Atk, +4 Def, +3 Spd

                              6                                                                         3

                              4                                                                         3

                              3                                                                         4

Player A’s attack wins with a score of 13, to Player B’s score of 10.

                                             Player B tries to block!

                                             Player B successfully blocks 2 points of damage.

Player A gains 4 EP.          Player B loses 3 Health, 2 EP.

Evolutionary Points (EP)

Evolutionary Points are what allow players to purchase another Trait card, and move up to the next Evolutionary Stage. The EP cost to move up to each level is 35/45/50/60 for Cell/Fish/Mammal/Humanoid, respectively. A player gains a single new Trait card for each time they evolve.

Example board: two players are on the cellular level, while one has advanced to the Aquatic level. The boards are blank because each player must "forage" to find food.

The food map for the cellular level; if the quarter were to forage on that spot, it would find 3 nodes of food.

Example player stats; three Trait cards, a hunger bar 2/3 full, health bar 8/10 full, and 7 Evolutionary Points.

Breed

To be decided

Gather

To be decided

Grow

To be decided