Black Metal

Black Metal is a solitaire adventure game that is set in a dark wintry realm. The player oversees several game characters as they fulfill missions in this challenging environment. These characters represent a declining pagan population that is caught between the New Religion and the spiteful counter-religion known as the Growing Evil. This latter division includes ruffians, malicious necromancers, the infamous NecroFiend occultists, and demons from foul depths.

The game is divided into 3 stages to represent the different missions to be undertaken. Each mission/stage involves coping with the New Religion in some way. In the first stage you seek to undo damage created by the New Religion. In the second stage you must impede the New Religion. And finally the third stage requires that you directly confront the New Religion.

GAME-PLAY: Player guided characters will travel on a map that is generated by land tiles. These tiles are drawn and placed as the characters move from turn to turn. At the same time, game controlled characters known as NecroFiends will be spawned; eventually traveling the tile map through an automated movement system. When player characters run into a NecroFiend, conflict is likely to occur.

In addition to NecroFiends, opposition can emerge through the Occurrence deck (from entering a tile) or through the Demon deck (upon exiting a tile). These encounters gnaw away at a character's vital resource --their followers. Followers are represented by purple cubes. When a game character (aka Leader) takes losses due to conflict, some or all of their followers are removed. A lack of followers makes a character extremely vulnerable and will often lead to elimination from the game if more followers cannot be acquired soon.

Combat in the world of Black Metal is resolved through two means, Brute Conflict and DarkArts Conflict. The former combat type is associated with physical conflict and uses a Combat Results Table involving up to three 4-sided dice. The latter combat type is associated with sorcery and uses a simpler system involving the combatants INSIGHT ratings and a single 4-sided die.

OBJECT: The player aims to fulfill at least one mission during the game. The game offers the opportunity to perform up to three missions. Missions are drawn from a deck and will describe locations that must be visited, along with actions that must be performed at these locations. Actions often include a special die roll procedure to solidify the outcome. The third mission will always involve conflict (using the game's conflict resolution system).

WINNING THE GAME: To win Black Metal a player must fulfill every mission that is embarked upon. There are 3 levels of success --one for each mission that you accomplish. The game is lost if all player characters perish during the performance of a mission, regardless of how many missions have been completed. The earned titles of success are as follows:

1 Mission Fulfilled = Hero Status 2 Missions Fulfilled = Liberator Status 3 Missions Fulfilled = Legend Status

Without losing, you may end a game after any mission (but before another has begun).