LOKA%20rules%20WIP

LOKA
Welcome to Loka. This is an early draft of the rules, which is of course subject to change as they are
developed thanks to your feedback.
CORE RULES
The core of the Loka rules are the rules of chess. If you don’t know them please have a look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_chess
The only difference in basic Loka and chess is that, as there is no Black and White, you must roll a die
to decide who goes first.
If you stick to the core rules only, you are effectively playing chess. In addition to the core rules, in
Loka there is a series of bolt-on rules that players can decide whether to use or not. The bolt-­‐ons
make the gaming experience more like a wargame, or a baordgame, and less like traditional chess. You
can pick and choose which of the bolt-­‐ons to use, as they all work independently.
We suggest trying each of the bolt-­‐ons separately, one at a time, when you are learning the game.
Then, once you are familiar with them, you can try combining them together as you like, until you are
using all of them, for the complete Loka experience in all its glory!
Further bolt-­‐ons might be developed to increase the scope of the game, like rules for a 4-­‐player game,
rules for campaigns, or rules for conferring different characteristics to each different army.
So potentially the list of contents will look something like this…
Contents:
0. The Core Rules
1. Bolt-­‐on One – Customised Armies
2. Bolt-­‐on Two – Elemental Combat
3. Bolt-­‐on Three – Fantasy Terrain
4. Bolt-­‐on Four – The 4-­‐players game
5. Bolt-­‐on Five – Campaign Rules
6. Bolt-­‐on Six – Elelmental Special Abilities
7…

BOLT-­‐ON 1 – CUSTOMISED ARMIES
ARMY SELECTION
During this phase, both players secretly decide what pieces to recruit into their chess army, writing
down their choices on a sheet of paper. This is done secretly, so that the opponent does not know
what pieces he is going to face.
In a basic game of Loka, each player has a total of 300 points available to spend, with which he must
buy the pieces he wants to use in the game.
Each piece is worth a certain amount of points, as described in the following chart:
Piece Cost in points
King (mandatory) 0 points
Queens 90 points each
Rooks 50 points each
Bishops 30 points each
Knights 30 points each
Pawns 10 points each
Example: A player may buy from zero to three Queens for his army, at a cost of 90 points per Queen,
before running out of points. Queens are very powerful pieces, but very expensive!
There are only two restrictions to the player’s choice:
One King! Each player’s army must always include one King (representing the army’s
general, in other words the player himself!*), and can only include one.
No (s)pawning! Each player’s army can include a maximum of 12 Pawns.
After getting acquainted with the rules of Loka, players can of course decide to play with more points
in their armies, or less. A 400 or even 500 points army gives you a wider choice of pieces and tactics.
Alternatively, you can even decide to play with an uneven amount of points, if one player is more
experienced than the other.
Below is an example army. This is a well-­‐balanced army, which you should feel free to use yourselves
as an example force when first learning the Army Selection bolt-­‐on.
EXAMPLE ARMY
1 King 0 points
1 QUEEN 90 points
1 ROOK 50 points
2 Bishops 60 points
2 Knights 60 points
4 PAWNS 40 points
TOTAL 300 points

ARMY SET-­‐UP
After selecting their armies, the players take the pieces they have chosen for their army and arrange
them just outside the board for the other player to see.
Both players then roll a die to decide who will deploy first. The player rolling the lowest result will
deploy his King first on the chessboard, according to the Deployment Rules below.
The other player then places his King, according to the same rules, on his side of the board.
The players then alternate deploying one piece at a time, following the Deployment Rules given below.
So player A will deploy one of his pieces first, then B will deploy one of his, then A, then B, and so on
until all pieces have been deployed.
If a player finishes deploying all of his pieces before the other player, the other player continues to
deploy his pieces until all of them are on the board.
Note that, as you are playing chess even while deploying, once you touch one of your pieces you must
deploy it, and once you let go of a piece you may not change where you have deployed it (unless in
either case you’re violating the deployment rules).
Deployment Rules
While deploying your army, the following limits apply:
1. King first! The King must be placed first, in one of the four squares in the ‘centre’ of the first row,
shown in red in the diagram below.
2. Nobles next! Queens, Rooks, Bishops and Knights are deployed next, in any order. So, for example,
you can deploy two Knights, then a Bishop, then a Rook, then another Knight, then a Queen, then
another Rook, etc.
None of these pieces can be placed in the second row until the first row has been completely filled.
None of these pieces can be placed in the third row until the second row has been completely filled.
None of these pieces can ever be deployed beyond the third row. Only Knights can be deployed on
plinths.
3. Pawns last, at the front! Once all other pieces have been placed, pawns are deployed following the
same rules for the ‘Nobility’, except that pawns may never be deployed in the first row, even if there
still are empty spaces there.

In-­‐game effect of Customised Armies
When you are playing with the customised armies bolt-­‐on, you must apply the following two game
effects to the rules:
• Sally forth. Castling is not allowed.
• Vanguard. Pawns that are deployed in the third row cannot move two squares for
their first move. Only pawns in the second row can move two squares for their first
move.

BOLT-­‐ON 2 – ELEMENTAL COMBAT
If you decide to use this bolt-­‐on, the rules for check and checkmate no longer apply. To win the
game you must defeat the enemy king in combat, using the rules presented below.
In chess, the attacking piece always wins and takes the defending piece. Not so in Loka – here life and
death are a matter of bitter combat where fate and the amount of available elemental energy decide
the winner. This works as follows:
When a piece moves into square occupied by an enemy (as for taking an enemy piece in chess), we
refer to the moving pieces as 'the attacker', while we call the enemy 'the defender'. After declaring the
attacking move, both players roll a die for their pieces.
COMBAT DICE
Normally, this die is a D4, but there are a number of bonuses that allow your piece to upgrade the die
that is being rolled to a more powerful die. The order of power of the dice in Loka is as follows:
D4 D6 D8 D12 D20
Each bonus you manage to accumulate increases the power of the attack, and thus allows you to use a
die that is better than the one you are using. Thus a D4 can be upgraded to a D6 by a single bonus, or
upgraded to a D8 by two bonuses, or upgraded to a D12 by three bonuses, or upgraded to a D20 by
four bonuses. It can be upgraded further, but we’ll get to that later. The bonuses are:
Charge!
The attacker always gets one free bonus for having moved against the defender.
Attack support
The attacker gets one bonus for each friendly piece that can lend Attack Support. In order to
lend an Attack Support, friendly pieces need to be in a position where in normal chess they
would also be able to move into the square where the defender is and thus take the same
defender. In other words, they also could have been the attacker, if you had chosen to move
them instead of the actual attacker.
Defense support
The defender gets one bonus for each friendly piece that can lend Defense Support. In order to
lend an Attack Support, friendly pieces need to be in a position where in normal chess they
would also be able to move into the defender’s square, to take the attacker in the next turn,
after it had taken the defender. In other words, in normal chess these pieces could avenge the
defender by taking the attacker in their following move.
Terrain Defense
If you are using the Fantasy Terrain bolt-­‐on, the defender gets a bonus if it’s occupying a
terrain feature. Some terrain features may even offer two bonuses, as described in their rules.
COMBAT RESULT
After working out which die they must roll, the players roll it and compare their result, with four
possible outcomes:
-­‐ The attacker scores higher than the defender: the defender is defeated and removed from the board.
The attacker is moved into the defender's former square. This outcome is the same as a normal,
default result in a game of traditional chess.
-­‐ The defender scores higher than the attacker: the attacker is defeated and removed from the board.
The defender is left in place and the move passes back to the player controlling the defender, as
normal.

-­‐ Equal scores: both pieces are defeated and removed from the board. The move passes back to the
player controlling the defender, as normal.
-­‐ Both players roll a 1: nothing happens, but the attacker has been repulsed and effectively wastes a
move, remaining where it was. The move passes back to the player controlling the defender, as
normal.
Below the D20!
If a piece receives more than four bonuses, it still rolls a D20. However, if the player is unhappy with
the result of the D20 after having seen the opponent’s roll, he can reroll the die. This second results
stands, even if t’s worse than the first.
If both the attacker and the defender have more than four bonuses (a highly unlikely situation), only
the player with the higher number of bonuses can re-­‐roll the D20.
If they both have more than four bonuses, and the same number of bonuses, they simply roll the D20
and neither player can re-­‐roll it as their advantages cancel each other out.
The diagram below shows an example of Elemental Combat.
In the example, the white pawn is
attacking the black pawn in the middle
of the board.
The Attacker rolls 1 Intrinsic die, plus 1 extra
die for Charging, plus 1 extra die for Attack
Attack Support from the Queen – a total
of 4 dice.
The Defender rolls 1 Intrinsic die, plus 1 extra
die for Defense Support from the Knight
and 1 extra die for Defense Support from
the Bishop – a total of 3 dice.
The white pawn is attacking the black pawn. The attacker gets an Attack Support from the Queen and
the knight, for a total of three bonuses (Charge! bonus and two Attack Supports), so it gets a D12.
The black pawn, the defender, gets two Defense Support (from Bishop and Knight), and will therefore get
a D8.

BOLT-­‐ON 3 – FANTASY TERRAIN!
If you are using this bolt-­‐on, before putting your pieces on the board (but after picking your army, if
you are using the Army Selection bolt-­‐on), you must randomly deploy four terrain features on the
Chessboard. This is done as follows:
First, Player A rolls a D8 and consults the following chart:
Result Terrain Feature
1 Eyrie
2 Castle
3 Forest
4 Lake
5 Swamp
6 Stone Circle
7 Mountain Pass
8 Magic Portals*
This roll determines which feature is going to be placed. If you roll a feature that is already on the
board, you must re-­‐roll until you get a feature that has not been selected yet.
After determining which feature it is going to be placed on the board, the player rolls the D8 twice.
The first result of the die indicates one of the columns – a result of one indicates the first column
(from the player’s left), a two indicates the second column, and so on. The second result indicates one
of the rows – a result of one indicates the first row (the one nearest to the player), a two indicates the
second row, and so on. Cross-­‐referencing the two results indicates a single square, as shown in the
diagram below, and the player places the selected Terrain Feature there.
first roll (column)
second roll (row)

Once the first Terrain Feature is in place, the other player must place a second Terrain Feature, by
once again rolling the die once first to determine the feature and then twice to place it, as described
above.
Then the first player places a third feature and finally the other player places a fourth feature.
If the player rolls the same position as a previously placed feature, he must discard the roll and roll
again twice to determine a new position for the feature he is placing.
*Exception: Magic Portals always come in pairs! If you roll Magic Portals on the chart, then you must
place two of them on the board. This counts as placing a single feature, so the board will include five
features instead of four.
IMPORTANT: During the game, these features cannot be taken or moved by any player. They
effectively are part of the chessboard and represent terrain features of the battlefield itself. Each
terrain feature has a special effect on the game, and these effects are explained later.
The diagram below shows an example of a game board after placing the Terrain Features. Feel free to
use this as a basic set-­‐up the first time you try the game.

Effects of Terrain Features
Terrain Features cannot be moved by any player. In addition, they have the following effects:
Eyrie
Only Knights can move into or jump over this square, all other pieces cannot enter or move
through the square. In other words other pieces treat the square as occupied by a friendly
piece that cannot be moved.
In addition, if using the Elemental Combat bolt-­‐on, a Knight that is defending an Eyrie gets one
Terrain Defense bonus.
Swamp
Any piece can move into this square, but their move ends as soon as they enter this square. The
piece can them move out of the square as normal in any following turn. When entering the
square, the piece rolls a D8. On a result of 1 the piece disappears in the mists (or is devoured by
a many-­‐tentacled beast…) and is removed from the game. On any other result, it is safe.
Castle
Forest
Lake
In addition, if using the Elemental Combat bolt-­‐on, a piece that is defending a Swamp gets one
Terrain Defense bonus.
In development.
In development.
In development.
Swamp
In development.
Stone Circle
In development.
Mountain Pass
In development.
Magic Portals
In development.
DEPLOYMENT AND TERRAIN FEATURES
Without the Army Selection bolt-­‐on
If you are using the Fantasy Terrain bolt-­‐on, but not the Army Selection bolt-­‐on, your pieces deploy
like in a traditional chess game. This may lead to situations where a terrain feature can stop you from
deploying, or from moving for the entire game. For example, you could have a forest in a space where
you must deploy a rook.
To avoid this, first deploy the pieces as normal and then roll for the position of the terrain features
using a D4 for the row instead of a D8. In this case, the first row indicated by the D4 is the one in front
of your pawns and the fourth is the row just before the enemy pawns, so no terrain feature can be
placed in the areas where the pieces are deployed.

With the Army Selection bolt-­‐on
If you are using bolt bolt-­‐ons, before putting your pieces on the board (but after picking your army),
you must randomly deploy four terrain features on the Chessboard.
Then, when deploying the pieces, pieces cannot be deployed on squares occupied by a Terrain Feature
they cannot enter. Pieces can be deployed on top of a Terrain Feature they can enter if there is one
available when the player chooses to deploy the piece. Note that the rules above must still be obeyed
when deploying pieces in Terrain Features, so you cannot deploy a piece on a Terrain Feature on the
second row if you can still deploy the piece on the first row (whether in terrain or not).
More about these later…
LOKA VARIANTS