The Setup

New games open as soon as the ones before them start, that is if one kind of game (say Newbie Game 3) fills up, a new one (Newbie game 4) is created and is ready for people to join. Some games have a waiting list (kind of like a petition) before they are open to be joined, the people on the waiting list have one day to join once the game opens before it becomes open to everyone. Most games are restricted to a certain experience group, others are open to all, of course there are also those that are only open to those specifically invited! Templated games available are both single and team format.

In a new room, every player starts with one region and one fortress.  The game is land-based:  you can only move from one region into adjacent regions, and you receive resources every turn proportional to the amount of land you hold.  If you lose all your regions, you are dead, the more land you hold the more powerful you are (but not always).  Because of these dynamics, the game has been described as "Risk with spells", though it is more complex than that.  For each region you hold, you get one point in the room rankings.  Players also get half the points of their followers (other players "followers" who have sworn allegiance to them and been accepted).  Since there is a finite amount of land in every room, players can only advance by conquering other players and taking their land.  Player on player combat is the heart of the game, though there are other important facets.

In a standard game, the winner is the person with the most points when the game in that room ends.  The top players split a purse of experience points (Both how many victors there are, and purse size set at the creation of the room based on size, type, and experience level).  The winning players can distribute these points between themselves and their followers at the end of the game, so coalitions, and consequently diplomacy, are an important aspect of the game.  Players can also earn points by surviving (holding at least one region at the end of the game) and having the same religion as the person who ends the game (does not apply in some game types).  Experience points determine a player's position in the overall rankings and also determine which title they hold.  Experience points are also used to limit access to certain rooms so that new players have a chance to play against new players and veterans against veterans.

Resources

There are two basic types of resources; the same is true of structures and units.  The most basic resource is Treasure; every turn, you receive Treasure proportional to the amount and type of land you own after all battles for that turn have been processed 7T for each plains, 4T for each dunes, 3T for each swamp, 2T for each forest, and 1T for each mountains or water.  Treasure is used to build fortresses/temples and to purchase lessers.  The second resource type is Fury.  Fury is gained when your lessers kill other lessers or do damage to forms (1F for each lesser killed and 1F for each point of damage done to a form It can also be gained by sacrificing your lessers via a certain spell)).  Fury is used to cast spells, to conjure forms, and to fuel forms at temples.

Structures

Structures cost 50T to order, take two turns to complete, and can only be built on plains, forests, or dunes.  Completed fortresses can be used to summon lessers and give your lessers an advantage of one upgrade in type in all battles fought in that region.  Temples can be used to conjure, summon, and absorb forms; temples can only summon or absorb one form per turn; you cannot summon and absorb forms at the same temple in the same turn.

Units

Lessers are the most basic military unit.  Lessers cost 1T, have 1 hit point (HP), get one attack each round in battle, and can only be summoned at fortresses.  Lessers cannot travel into mountains or water without the aid of spells, and ending the turn in a dunes regions will destroy on average 10% of the lessers present.  There are six types of lessers.  The type of lessers you control is determined by the number of different types of Black Betweens you own.

Forms are larger units that have varying numbers of HPs and special abilities.  There are six types of forms, one for each religion.  Forms can only be conjured (created) at a temple of the appropriate religion, though they can be summoned (brought into play) and absorbed (taken out of play) at any temple.  Forms, unlike lessers, have to be fueled when they are summoned; without fuel, they will lose HPs until they die or are absorbed.  Forms use 1 fuel each turn.  Also unlike lessers, you can have unsummoned forms in stock, either by conjuring them (and not summoning) or by absorbing forms already in play back into your "stock" (to be summoned later).  Forms, unlike lessers, do not generate Fury when they kill lessers or damage other forms; rather, they gain experience, which is converted into HP at the end of the battle.

The following tables describe the unit statistics for each lesser and form type:

           LESSERS

Type                OF   ----DF

Crusaders	30	30
Amra	42	42
Rip Lizard	52	52
Hatchling	60	60
Mud Wretch	67	67
Glow	73	73

 
          FORMS

Type                       OF     DF     AT    HP      Size    Cost     FC  MF  EPH         Religion

Amber Dragon	95	91	60	180	150	175	4	9	9	Zan
Black Dragon	100	94	65	200	250	250	5	9	10	Mindbender
Colossa	40	99	25	300	500	275	5	12	8	Chron
Iron Hulk	45	98	30	250	300	200	4	12	6	Crank
Magma Demon	86	88	45	75	75	75	2	15	3	Incinerak
Wooden	80	92	40	100	100	100	2	15	4	Bork

Key:  OF=Offense (percentage chance of scoring a hit); DF=Defense (percentage chance of not taking damage from a hit); AT=number of attacks; HP=Hit Points; Size is a value used for targeting in battles (if you have a Wooden and 100 lessers on your side in a battle, the form will take approximately half the hits); Cost is in Fury; FC=Fuel Cost (in Fury); MF=Maximum Fuel;  EPH=the number of Experience points needed to gain 1 HP.

Black Betweens

The Black Between is a special spell that transforms a region into a kind of null-space where nothing can survive.  There are six types of Black Betweens, one for each land type.  When one player holds all six types of Black Between, the game ends.  Black Betweens generate no T. They are also the only method of upgrading all your lessers on the map (regardless of location) to the next level. (note that fortresses, certain spells, and the Magma Demon can affect a single army with an temporary upgrade).

Spells

The number of spells is too vast to list here. For a description of spells, use the Tome of K'Ar Tuf and Help files for the game you are in. Or refer to the Scrolls of Wisdom section for articles people may have written on specific spells.

Developers

Evernight is being developed by VR1, Inc.  VR1 develops massively multi-player games for play over the Internet and licenses them to content providers as well as providing content for a variety of gaming platforms.  VR1 is a multinational corporation with offices in the United States, Canada, Japan, and Russia.  For more information about VR1 and the projects they are working on, visit their website:  www.vr1.com.

Please be aware that I do not work for VR1 in any capacity (except in certain dreams) and that any faults, errors, or misrepresentations are entirely of my own making and that I do not in any way speak for or represent VR1.

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