Subscribe to download
Age of Misery

Since the Great War, nearly 10,000 years ago, what is today referred to as "Year Zero", the world-above has been stripped of all life. The few survivors found shelter underground and the different clans evolved with little or no interaction to one another. The barbaric and cannibalistic Elves rely on brute force while various warlords are engaged in a constant power-play. The peaceful Goblins on the other hand, found comfort in religion and embraced the Holy Mother of Earth. Orcs finally, the third major underground race, developed an obsessive vanity and brought the art of deception to new heights. But times are changing. Three brave leaders attempt to unite their people and set off to a bold journey of exploration. How the world-above will look like after millennia of abandonment? What challenges, risks and opportunities lay above?

Notes for the world:
Doing magic is generally considered a mysterious and unearthly occupation. Sorcery is punished by death by all known races and only few exceptional individuals have been granted the right to live and explore further the arcane skills. Mana is a very rare resource to be used only sparingly and in exceptional circumstances. Gaining knowledge is an art by itself in this God forsaken world and scholars are greatly appreciated even by the most barbaric races. However exploration and expansion may pay off as according to rumours told by daring adventurers ancient sites still standing in parts of the world may provide these valuable resources.

Notes for leaders:
SVETLANA, the Elf Warlady has a very difficult task: to lead the elves in a terrain her race either dislikes or simply hates. This urges for a careful planning of every movement. On the other hand her reliance on brute force leaves her military relatively unaffected from the lack of knowledge and mana.
KATARINA, the Goblin Theocrat has a very important advantage: she can move in most terrains comfortably and her people can happily not only tolerate but even enjoy most of the harsh environments. On the other hand she is by far the weakest in military terms and she is heavily affected by the lack of resources.
ANASTASIJIA, the Orc Rogue lies somewhere in the middle. In terms of expansion and if attentive enough, she can balance the Orcish likes and dislikes for the various types of wastelands of the world. A mixture of carefully selected units can create successful armies able to withstand any surprise. And the lack of resources, although clearly influencing Anastasijia's progress, is not determinant for her survival.

Notes for the game:
The scenario is designed for multiplayer in preferably simultaneous turns, so as to give equal advantage to every player no matter his or her position. Cooperation is strongly encouraged and rather useful but not necessary. The players are free to select if they want to form alliances or simply co-exist in good terms, but allied victory is off as a default. No matter the way that you select to play, at the end only one race will be crowned ruler of the world! Although player versus player is not foreseen, sporadic conflicts between players might occur in the final rush for victory. So, although wise to exchange information and trade regularly with your fellow players, it is also good to keep few things for yourself and try to maintain a slight comparative advantage. The scenario was designed this way to give a flavour of reality to possible alliances.

The vast majority of quests are custom made. This means that successfully completing a quest might directly influence the progress of the game. Try to complete them even if this implies considerable losses for your army, more often than not you will be rewarded sufficiently to cover the costs.

Exploration is important but the game can end leaving considerable parts of the map unexplored. Every part has its role though and can provide useful tools for your victory. But it can also give birth to new risks!

Believe it or not, alignment also plays an important role! So according to your role playing wishes and overall strategy, keep it always in mind. An evil player requires a completely different style of playing than a good one. And as you will see, sticking to your alignment influences your empire building choices. From time to time though you will have the option of giving a boost toward a certain direction, thanks to a system we are introducing in this scenario.

In total there are 10 hints (per player) that thematically construct the main line of the story of the world and progressively offer the answers to the big questions. See if you can find them all!

In general: pay attention to the details. Spotting a small detail (and given that most things in the map are heavily modified) might be the difference between winning the game or loosing it! Expect the game to last between 100 and 150 turns.

IMPORTANT! Players 1 and 2 must be always played by humans! Otherwise events will fail to trigger! Do not change any of the default settings!

NO DLC REQUIRED!