Worjar: And the inevitable end by ATH-AI

[raw]
made by ATH-AI for Ludum Dare 50 (COMPO)

Sucked into a world against your will and thrown out into its vast forever changing landscape, you will live. And never die. Dying is sweet release from Wojar and the Insane One, the deity that is its ruler, never allows anyone to escape.

Some come under the guidance of lesser GODs (Games Ordained Dictators), but even they have their own agenda. Will you go along with the flow of the GODs, or will you invoke the Insane One to change everything?

Wojar is a pen and paper table top game. 75% of all RPG elements are contained within cards and only scribbles are needed for character sheets. The game has rules. But they can be ignored. In fact, players have the abilities to make the rules as they go along. The game master, or GOD, leads the players through the world of Worjar, but it is ultimately the Insane One that really runs the game. The insane one's hand is seen every time the player rolls a dice. GOD's never roll dice. They can do what they want. But GODs are weaker than the Insane One and players have the power to invoke the Insane One against their GOD. But it comes with risks. But players can't die. But boy, can they suffer.

The download package comes with the rule book and card printing sheet. The rule book contains the base rules (or guidelines) for playing the game and the new character campaign titled "The Inevitable End"

As this is hard for most people to sample and test out themselves, I offer a semi-short video of a few brief examples of the very first game. This is to show case some of the mechanics, some of the humour and some of the powerplay that is available to the game. The video is a quite low quality, as it was made within the time restraints of the compo and I am also running on almost no sleep. Please try to enjoy it regardless. It compresses a 2 hour gaming session into about 15 minutes. Geeze, it really is a garbage video. Make the best of it.

Otherwise please feel free to download the rule book and read through that. Or even just download the card sheet to get a glimpse of the humour that exists in this game.

WARNING: If you are offended by ANYTHING, do not play this game, do not watch this video, do not read the manual, do not download any files, do not vote for anything to do with this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTGPqWMPBtI

Ratings

Overall 131th 3.75⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Fun 85th 3.864⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 21th 4.22⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Theme 310th 3.646⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 275th 3.523⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Humor 25th 4.167⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Mood 107th 3.714⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Given 26🗳️ 35🗨️

Feedback

Iluvatar
04. Apr 2022 · 11:32 UTC
Guys, huge respect for doing a board game on LD. I've seen a couple in my LD career, but I always admire them.

Unfortunately, I don't have time to play this (or people to play with), I really appreciate creating that video for us :) I've watched it and went through the documents you made, and it's looking really cool. 23 pages of manual is a hell of a work for 48 hours! You are a genius(es).

PS: Love the GOD mechanics :D
🎤 ATH-AI
05. Apr 2022 · 01:04 UTC
@iluvatar

I genuinely appreciate the fact you actually went through the game. I didn't think many would go to the effort. It was a lot of work and I knew it has going to be hard for people to test. Please do not remind me of the 48 hour time limit again though. I think I am scarred for life.
Heho
05. Apr 2022 · 11:57 UTC
I always love these kinds of entries. Impressive work on the manual, though it is quite excessive. Luckily you provided a gameplay video, because "multiplayer" always is kind of an inherint restriction to ludum dare entries. Really interesting twist on a game master player
UkuleleFury
05. Apr 2022 · 18:19 UTC
"You are a horse [...] you bite, you kick, you trample, you destroy worlds." Well, that escalated quickly!

Hah, a dikcs sheet...

Wow, so many cards, so many effect descriptions, so many flavor texts! And all the art is great.

I watched most of the video. I'm impressed with what you've made! This seems like a ton to do in 48 hours.
ditam
07. Apr 2022 · 13:20 UTC
Wow, hats off for this. 38 pages of PDF (that easily feel like 39 or 40!) of illustrated manual (did I say of yet?), made in 48 hours is crazy. I will not have a chance to play this during the rating period, but I still had fun browsing through the manuals. The DIKCS system looks solid, maybe not rock hard, but solid. I appreciated the casual vibes and zingers in the styles of great fantasy comical authors like Pratchett and Adams, and the swings from flow-of-consciousness remarks to dry RPG rule elaborations.

Also, you probably don't realize this, but your hand is in the way in the video from around 5:03. I'm not sure how long, because it made the video unwatchable for me, but I can confirm it was still there obstructing the view at 5:05. You might want to look into this.
6smith
08. Apr 2022 · 03:18 UTC
i wish there was a creativity category because this would be a 7

i love the absurdist vibe so much! will try my hardest to force my friends to play this
🎤 ATH-AI
08. Apr 2022 · 04:18 UTC
@heho

Excessive ey? Well... Probably a good thing I didn't end up following through on all my notes due to the time limit. I wanted more. MORE!

@ukulelefury
Never trust horses. Ever.

@ditam
Flattery will get you everywhere. 23 pages between the manual and campaign though. I am not ready to compete against the greats such as Dungeons and Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, or government tax law.

My hand has already been removed for its incompetence. I intend to hire a chainsaw to replace it.

@6smith
I wish there was a love category, you would get a 7.
Sodoj
08. Apr 2022 · 11:54 UTC
This looks like an extremely funny time you can have with your friends! I'll try playing it with my team this weekend and will land you more detailed thoughts!

Edit: Damn, that was fun! Tabletop RPGs usually suffer from chaos and disorder and DMs hate it when someone slightly deviates from the story, let alone throw the whole plot in the dumpster, which happened here. Fortunately, our DM knew what we're in for and it was surprisingly refreshing having a hilarious time with all the chaos going on. Super cool for a quick one shot! We had fun, thank you!
enderswype
09. Apr 2022 · 22:00 UTC
i unfortunatly don't have time nor friends to play a board game but what made me click on this game is your thumbnail, omg is it ugly af, i wanted to see what kind of paint horror that would be and now i'm sad bc i looked genuinly fun :(

edit : i looked at the cards and the manual by curiosity and OMG i'm not disappointed everything is disgustingly ugly, i love it <3
🎤 ATH-AI
10. Apr 2022 · 01:36 UTC
@sodoj
Good luck, you will need it to survive the experience. I will not be held responsible for any damages that occur to the Games Ordained Dictator.

@enderswype
Good art needs a real game developer, someone who can actually draw, or someone with more than 48 hours to make a pen and paper game. I was none of those. But God gave me a mission and I am a maverick renegade with no rules to live by and I will be damned if other people can not share my trauma.
Sodoj
11. Apr 2022 · 14:40 UTC
@ath-ai We made it through! :) Updated my post with quick opinions. Thank you for the good time once again!
🎤 ATH-AI
12. Apr 2022 · 01:35 UTC
@sodoj

If I could kiss you and your group I probably wouldn't, but it's the thought that counts. I can't thank you enough for trying it out in full. It's pushing me one step closer to redoing the whole lot as a proper package.