How to play Saga of Gods
Four forgotten gods wake in the North. Every season they give their orders at the same time, face down; then the cards turn and the deeds are done. When the winter ends the saga, the god with the most divinity is remembered.
Win the saga
A Raid lasts 5 seasons, a Saga 8. When the last season ends, the god with the most divinity wins; a tie goes to the better word, then to more faith.
Or end it early with the Rite of Rebirth: hold the Great Hall at the end of two seasons running with at least 12 divinity in a Raid, 18 in a Saga. Holding the Hall at a season’s end is worth 1 divinity on its own.
A season
From the second season an omen opens each one. Then all four gods put down their orders at once, face down, and seal them. When everyone has sealed, the cards turn.
The deeds follow in order of initiative — the god with the least divinity first: miracles, then marches one at a time round the table, then rites. Battles are fought where marches meet.
At the season’s end the winter takes the edge of the map; at the start of the next one your lands bring faith.
Your cards
Every season you hold five order cards — March twice, Hold, Rite and Myth — and put at most one on each of your lands. A card you do not use comes back next season.
March moves a warband one land; into another god’s warband, it fights. Hold makes a land one stronger in defence.
Rite at your hearth raises warriors — up to two, one faith each. A Rite with your warband on a shrine gives 1 divinity, in the Great Hall 2.
Myth works one of your god’s two miracles on one of your lands or a land next to them. It costs faith.
Battles
A side’s strength is its warriors, plus a Hold, plus a forest, hills, a hearth or the Hall when defending, plus its god’s gift. Then each side puts down a hero of its tribe face down, and a gift card if it likes, and both turn together.
Heroes: Völva +0 (losing, you lose no one), Hearth-maid +1 (losing, +1 faith), Pathfinders +1 (winning, +1 divinity), Riders of the Ford +2 when attacking, Hall Guard +3 once a saga. A hero who fought rests until the others have fought too.
The stronger side wins; a tie goes to the Dice of Fate, and an equal roll to the defender. The loser loses a warrior — two if beaten by three or more — and falls back. Winning an attack gives 1 divinity, taking another god’s hearth 2, breaking a barrow 1 and a gift card. Barrow spirits and empty hearths fight without heroes.
Faith
Each season your hearth gives 2 faith, each shrine you hold 1 (none while frost lies on it), the Great Hall 1, and each trade road 1.
Faith pays for miracles, warriors and oaths. The flame by your god shows the others roughly how much you have; only you see the number.
Oaths and your word
Offer another god an oath for one to three seasons: peace — neither marches on the other’s lands — or a trade road: peace, and 1 faith to each of you every season. Swearing costs each side 1 faith.
Your word starts at 3 of 5. Keep an oath to its end: +1. Break one by marching on your partner: −2, and the Chronicle writes it in red. At 0 nobody believes you, and you cannot swear.
Gifts and lies
Once a season you may give a gift card to another god and name it as you like. They see only the name. When the gift is played, everyone sees what it really was.
An honest gift raises your word by 1; a lie that comes out lowers it by 1. Amber is spent for 2 faith, Poison weakens whoever plays it, and a Hollow Charm does nothing at all.
The Long Winter
From the edge of the map the winter closes in, ring after ring: frost first — a frosted shrine gives no faith — then ice. Nobody passes the ice, and warbands left on it are lost.
The winter track at the top of the table shows when frost and ice come. A Thaw omen skips one winter, and the Star Stag’s Long Night spares the lands around it.
Secret myths
Every god starts with a secret myth only they see — hold two shrines, break a barrow, keep an oath to its end, tell a lie that is played… Fulfilled, it gives 2 divinity, 3 for taking another god’s hearth. In a Saga a god may fulfil two.
Falling and rising
A god whose warbands are all gone is not out of the saga: two warriors rise again at its hearth.
Ways to play
Against the gods: you and three AI gods, for as long as you like — leave the table and come back any time.
With friends, a season a day: give your orders whenever you like; the season turns at its deadline, and the hero you choose when sealing leads your battles.
Live table: everyone online together — 75 seconds for orders, 20 for a battle. Miss three phases in a row and a god of Amavie takes your seat.