Introducing: Whims of the Gods
Whims of the Gods is a Sarkanian tournament and social game in which several randomly formed teams compete against each other in various disciplines – from classic competitions like archery or tug-of-war to creative challenges. Teams receive marbles for victories, which are collected publicly. Whoever has the most at the end wins fame, prize money, and the “Blessing of the Gods.”
But the true heart of the game lies in the eponymous Whims: Outsiders can acquire, trade, or steal special Whim Cards from the Sarkanian factions and thus actively intervene in the course of the tournament. These cards allow them to change rules, distribute advantages or disadvantages, move marbles, or plunge entire disciplines into chaos.
At the heart of Whims of the Gods are surprising twists and plenty of chaos in cooperative play. Much like other games that rely on wit, a touch of humor, and a dose of “Seriously?”, pure “fairness and competitive spirit” take a back seat. The game’s motto is: It’s not always the strongest who wins, but often the one who can best handle the whims of the gods.
Information about the teams:
- Teams will be randomly assigned, but during the initial phase before the first event on Friday, participants may swap their bands to form new teams—so negotiate, bargain, and even threaten to your heart’s content if you want to build the perfect team. There will likely be no more than 6 teams with a maximum of 20 people in total—we reserve the right to adjust this on-site.
- Some of the events will take place simultaneously, so split up your team accordingly!
- Depending on the event, only a certain number of team members may compete—for example, only three people per team for archery, etc.
- You’ll receive all the necessary information (including the exact details of the events) on-site during registration.
Information about the random cards:
- Each Sarkanian faction has different random cards that can be obtained in different ways.
- Whim cards can only be played under the supervision of a jury member (a specifically designated NPC or GM). During the competitions, the jury will also ask several times if anyone wishes to “invoke the whim of the gods.”
- Whim cards include various positive and negative effects: “the player must be blindfolded”, “two players are tied together by their hands”, “the winning marbles are doubled”, “one more person than intended may compete in this discipline”, etc. etc.
- We didn’t want to completely abandon Pompfball, but we’ll only be playing short, quick rounds. Audience participation and playing Whim cards is explicitly encouraged 😉
- If you enjoy the game, we would be happy if different Whim cards could be earned from the player factions in the future (because the elements can also show their whims), for example with effects like “Nordic Stroll: A fully armed squad of soldiers storms the playing field” or “The Favor of Aqua: A player is doused with a bowl of water” 😉
And one last word about Pompfball: We know that the game has become practically iconic for Beyond the Seals, and therefore we don’t want to completely erase it. However, many have also told us about a certain “Pompfball fatigue,” and so we want to give the sport—and the players—a short break.
In the future, we want to encourage more role-playing in Pompfball – more referees being carried away, more goalkeepers being magically put to sleep, and less actual, serious sport. We already have a few ideas for this, but they’ll need some time. We’ll keep you updated – and until then, we hope for lots of fun and chaos with Whims of the Gods!
