Idea Info Name: War of Gems- B.O.G. Index: Primary Category: Strategy Submitted: 1/17/2003 8:15:55 PM Written By: BebopDaBebop

The War of Gems- The Birth of the Gems

Overview- The War of Gems B.O.G. is a Real Time Strategy game with three very distinctly different races.  A war erupts from these races after the heavens rained down magical stones called Gems.  These Gems can wield great powers that can even control magics from the heavens themselves!

Brief Story Synopsis (story is vital to the game play)- Before the Heavens started to shake and before it rained magical stones called Gems, there were but three races among Kodah Nak’ Terrah (the world they all inhabit).    All of these races evolved from the Homo sapiens (humans, for you smart people lol).  Wars raged on centuries before The War of Gems started and these wars crafted the human race into three separate races.  The wars were soon over and weak pacts were formed between the Three Super Powers of Kodah Nak’ Terrah.  But, after the great gems fell from the sky and the Super Powers discovered their strength, each race greedily wanted the gems to themselves for complete supremacy over all the world.

The Races:

The Scientists: The Jarvinah (pronounced yar*vin*ah) is a race dedicated to the works of science.  This race marvels on scientific discoveries and admires those of high wit and keen intellect.  This race doesn’t believe in any god or religion, and believes they have evolved from single-celled organisms, which leads them to lower morals and beliefs that only their own existence matters to them.  Oftentimes their lack of morals for any living thing leads them to the destruction of Kodah Nak’ Terrah.  They mercilessly mine minerals for recourses and brutally kill living creatures for greater scientific discovery.  Their greatest achievement of their lifetime was the creation of AI, artificial intelligence, and robotic machines that allows them for great production feats.  The typical look of a Jarvinah, is a half-human, half-robot, with glasses, short hair, and always a lab coat on to be ready to make the next scientific discovery.

The Warriors: The Calhoun (pronounced kal*hoon) evolved themselves from the greatest athletes from the old world and praises the human body over anything else on the planet.  The truly admired are the ancient warriors of 100+ years that have great battle experience and bodies that seem like they could never die.  These Calhoun worship but one God and it is their belief that this God is the greatest of all warriors that will one day bring peace to the world.  The Calhoun live by a strict code of honor that must never be broken, or else the criminal will be put to a typical, savagery execution.  Through their own ignorance, the Calhoun has often killed a species to extinction for simple food and clothing.  The greatest achievement of the Calhoun is the ability to harness and focus their bodies’ force into Ki energy.  With this Ki energy they can make their bodies stronger, propel it across great distances for devastating effects, or use it for a temporary boost of energy.  The typical look of a Calhoun is very little clothing (what little they have is generally primitive like bear skin or something like that), enormous muscles, heights reaching over eight feet tall, and they always have some sort of primitive weapon (sword, axe, mace, etc) in their hands.

The Magicians: Named the Satinkah (pronounced sah*tin*kah), believe in the powers of great gods and mystical forces unseen by the human eye.  Whether their beliefs create such magics, or whether they actually know how to wield powers of the gods, these Satinkah are able to create a force called Mana, and use it to create magical spells.  They worship Mother Nature, and always listen to the Gods’ call.  They become greatly offended when other races destroy Mother Nature’s beautiful creations, and oftentimes try to take revenge on those that hurt her.  Throughout their vicious wars of revenge, the Satinkah have destroyed many a human life simply because of their own personal anger to those that do not respect nature.  The greatest achievement of the Satinkah is the ability to actually summon a slight version of one of their many Gods.  Shiva, goddess of Ice and Cold, Agni the God of fiery destruction, and Shah, the Goddess of the Sun are but a few of these Gods that they have summoned.  The typical look of the Satinkah is a look very similar to that of Native Americans.  They have particular clothing that they wear for hunting and particular clothing for ritual dances.  And they believe in using face paint as not only a religious sacrament, but also a way to hide themselves from their opponents.

Battle System: 

The Battle System of War of Gems BOG is similar to that of any RTS game.  Just think Starcraft of Red Alert and that will give the basic idea.  You mine resources and then use those resources to create an army to destroy your enemies.  However, there are some differences/additions that I would like to point out.

Unit Rank:  Although this has been seen before, in War of Gems BOG it is a bit different.  All units start off as a typical soldier but after they gain enough battle experience they move up a class.  Each time a soldier moves up a class they gain more HP, AP (attack points), and SAP (special ability points –mana, Ki, or energy).  However, if a soldier moves up three ranks they actually ‘evolve’ and learn new techniques.  And if a soldier moves up even higher ranks (like to level 6-7), they are actually considered a legendary hero that can actually ‘think’ on his\her own like an NPC and have effects on the storyline.  Though that amount of experience takes more than many battles to achieve.  And after each battle you are able to take 10 units from that battle and carry them into a Hall of Heroes type of thing.  This Hall of Heroes deal is like a group of elite soldiers (ten at most) that counts as their own army (but also individual units) and may join you in other battles to come.

A Worldly Battle: When you are not actually fighting inside a battle you are taken to a basic outside map of Kodah Nak’ Terrah.  The world is split into a large number of different countries, and each country is either owned by one of the Super Powers, or is considered a neutral country.  Each country has something special or unique about it.  Some countries contain great gems that can aid you in future battles.  Some contain large numbers of resources, and others are just a great strategic place to build up an army.  In the ‘world view’ there are a number of things that you can do.  Each country you have can create armies for you, mine/collect resources, or build up their own personal defenses.  After an army is created you can send it to different parts of the world.  When you send it to one of your own countries it makes that country more fortified, but if you send an army to a different country (owned by one of the big three or neutral) then you are given several options.  You can trade things with the country, create a temporary pact with them, try and capture the town in non-violent ways (try to convince them to be a part of your race), or attack them.  If you attack a lot of neutral countries then you are likely to create enemies of both the other Races, and of course if you attack one of the other races then they certainly will not become too fond of you.  In this mode of the game it is like a simple turn-based system, except that instead of actually waiting turns your opponents take their turns while you are taking yours.  So you take a turn, and then hit the execute button while the enemy is doing the same.  If the enemy makes a move and executes it while you are in the world mode (and you can actually see it), then a part of the map highlights and you can see what happened.  Some things may take longer than others, like creating armies may take weeks so you will have to do other things while the army is being created.  And when you are inside a battle you cannot see what is going on outside until either the battle is over, or you temporarily exit the battle (leave it on ‘autopilot mode’) and see what is going on.  So in theory there can actually be multiple battles raging on at once, which may lead to some very intense game play. 

An Infinite Storyline:  Although you are the lead general of your race and you decide all of the plans of attacks, there is a storyline involved as well and actually is created while you play.  After you are victorious from a battle, all the generals/warlords/heroes of your race join together in a meeting.  In this meeting each warlord tells his/her own opinion of the situations and what they think should be done about it.  They also tell you any information that they may have obtained (maybe if you sent them on a simple exploration quest to see what the lands have in store for them).  And while these meetings take place, sometimes another race interrupts with their thoughts and opinions.  Sometimes you may find a rogue hero from another race offering their allegiance to you to only betray you later on.  And then you find out that he was actually just using you to obtain a powerful gem and unleash war on all the other nations!  Anything can happen, which is what makes this game so unique.  And since you can actually create your own heroes (from normal soldiers that fought enough to achieve that status), they may betray you, or start their own rogue army, or something like that.  Which really means that the storyline is ultimately infinite and is different each time you play the game through.  There is an ending, though.  When you defeat all the other nations of the world you get to see an, ‘ending movie clip,’ with all your epic heroes that survived.  And of course each ending will be different depending on which race you chose. 

Other Stuff in the Outer World- In each one of your countries you can build a town.  But, towns cost a lot of money to make, and decreases your defense.  But if you place towns in the right countries (ones with a lot of minerals and resources) then it can certainly pay off big time.  Another thing you can do is ‘investigate’ each one of your countries.  This will take a day or two but afterwards you might discover powerful gems, more resources, or other special bonuses.  You may also discover that there is a spy in the area that you investigated.  After you discover a spy then you can kill them, capture and hold them hostage, or attempt to torture them to join your side.  And of course you may also send out spies as well.  Spies can investigate the land of enemies which might reveal crucial information such as what and where their bases are and how defended they are. 

Other Stuff:

The Ancients:  The Ancients are a mystical race that has been living on the world since it was created.  There are few Ancients left but you may find them sometimes through the investigation of countries.  Some may join your side and others may fight against you.

Online Wars: As in any other Strategy game you can fight online with other people as your opponents.  However, in War of Gems B.O.G. you may actually join/create your own clan and have entire wars against other clans using the Worldly Battle idea I thought of.  However, since you cannot play 24/7, the game is instead turn based and battles can be scheduled so you don’t miss them.

Recording the Story: You may check the option of having the game record the story for you.  If it is checked then the game records all of your actions, as well as the actions of your heroes and enemies.  After you finish the game you may actually edit the story and change anything you want.   And when you are done, that is what goes into the records and history books for future generations.