The Newborn World

Gods of The Newborn World

The gods of the newborn world are numerous, with diverse creation myths and interrelations. The power of the gods waxes and wanes based on the players' stories, and in turn may reward those players that secretly worship them. A god is paired with two different story elements: for example, the god of time encompasses Order and Nature while the god of nobility encompasses Order and Civilization. Moreover, there are six divine forces consisting of only one element: when these forces become ascendant then the newborn world may change in substantial ways.

In terms of gameplay, a god becomes ascendant if the winning story in this phase (based on players' votes) features the same story elements as the god. An ascendant god affects the next phase with special rules such as requiring players to discard cards or requiring specific story elements to be present in the stories of the next phase. Which gods become ascendant during the course of the story also affects the winning conditions, and can give victory to a player that manages to have the most gods in their secret pantheon ascendant at any point in the story. The six apex forces have special rules when they become ascendant: an apex becomes ascendant if all story elements in this phase are the same. Besides special rules for the next phase, all players must first resolve an apex event before revealing and playing through the next phase. The apex card suggest possible apex events, and players should decide as a group the specifics of the event (which can combine one or more of the suggested events). This apex event changes the course of the story, and it is resolved before the players reveal the next phase.

Secret Agendas

Each player has a secret agenda which may influence their word selection, their storytelling and their voting decisions. The agenda consists of three gods, secretly worshiped by the player. These gods are conceptually connected and favor certain themes in their stories. At the end of the game, if the player has all three gods in their agenda become ascendant, then she wins the game and can dictate the future of the newborn world. If no player has three gods ascendant, the winner is the one with the most ascendant gods in their agenda. In case of ties, the winner is determined based on the most recent ascendant god in her agenda.