So like I mentioned before, the weight/severity of Rune Towers in a campaign can vary so I'm just going to be posting how I plan on using it - it quite easily can be altered to mesh with any number of other campaign types.
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In my homebrew setting of Primaterra, Rune Towers (as it is called by it's mortal players) is actually an incredibly simplified version of a game played by the Creators (see the end of the post - background to my setting's lore) to measure the success of their creations.
The game of Rune Towers is played only by a few, actually chosen BY the game. Rune Bags are incredibly personal to each individual player and are representative of their life's legacy. For some, this is a lifetime of actions and adventures that have driven them to greatness, for others, it is the result of a single tragic event that will forever define who they are as a person - as shown in the short story below by Saundra and the Old Man respectively.
I intend for some Runes to be incredibly overpowered, say, an Adult Red Dragon rune. However, while these may be incredibly powerful within the scope of Rune Towers, they are exceedingly difficult for a player to acquire. Indeed many players die in the attempt to gain more powerful runes... It is a life's calling and a mysterious game indeed.
A Girl's First GameAs she did most nights, after Saundra's dinner was finished and the kitchen at home cleaned, she went to the tavern to sweep the floors for a few extra coppers. She knew it wasn't much, but her family needed it badly and every little bit meant the world to her younger sisters and brothers. There were no traders in town tonight, so she expected it to be slow, and it was. Just one older man sat alone at a table near the rear, starting into the hearth flames and his hand loosely draped around a bottle of hard liquor. He said not a word and was dressed in a tattered military uniform she did not recognize, slightly rusted chain mail showing through the holes. Along with the bottle and his glass, a pair of small sacks sit atop the table. Not sure why, Saundra was intrigued by the sacks - drawn to them even. She continued to sweep the floors as she had a hundred times before, but her gaze hardly left he sacks. She gradually realized more and more about the sacks the longer she held her gaze. They were covered in mystical runes, golden embroidered on them - what could they mean?
An hour passed, though it seemed like an eternity. The old man, slumped in his chair, slowly drinking down his bottle and gradually having more and more difficulty doing it. The crackling from the wood stoked hearth was the only sound - save for the occasional brush of Saundra's broom across the floor. At last, the man spoke.
"See something you like, girl?" The man grumbled, chewing on his words a bit in his stupor.
Spooked by the sudden break in the silence, Saundra was a bit taken back. "W-what are those?" She asked, shocked at her own blunt question.
"A constant reminder." The man stated flatly "These are the heaviest sacks I can carry - and it's my burden to carry them."
Saundra began to approach. "Go on," said the old man, "pick one up."
Her hand now trembled and reached for one of the bags - the old man smiled as she did - "They always pick that one," he muttered under his breath. Saundra didn't hear him, she didn't hear anything around her. The bags runes seemed to glow brighter and brighter the closer her hand drew.
"It's a game." He said, beckoning her to sit opposite him at the table, which almost instinctively she had already begun to do while clutching the small bag - staring at it with wide eyed intensity.
"I.... I don't know how to play," Saundra said softly, enamored with what she grasped in her hand.
"You do, I think." The man reassured her, "It's your turn - make a play."
Saundra intuitively reached into the bag and in her hand was a small, thin metallic square - perhaps an inch on a side and an eighth as thick with a mysterious golden rune. "A mine." She said as she placed it on the table before her with a trembling hand - taking a second before realizing she had no idea why she had said it. She paused to look a the old man who gave her a slight nod to continue. She placed her finger on the mine rune and reached into the bag once more, producing a second tile, exactly the same save for the foreign rune emblazoned on it. "Goblin Warrior."
What strange magic is this!? She thought. Every action she felt compelled to make, yet, she had no idea what she was doing or why. There was no fear in her mind though, only innumerable questions a wonder.
"Very good," the old man said now reaching into is own rune bag, producing a different tile, "A farm." As Saundra had done, he placed his finger on the farm rune and drew another tile from the bag, "Shepard." There was a hint of resignation in his voice, but Saundra continued with her next turn.
"A mine" Saundra said, now eerily confident in her actions despite having not seen such a game played before. Placing a finger on each of her two Mine runes she produced another rune, "Goblin Berserker," she said as she placed it next to her existing Goblin Warrior rune. Placing her finger on top of the Goblin Warrior, she slid it forward. "My Goblin Warrior will attack."
The old man pushed his Shepard tile forward as well, and the two began to emit a dull glow, but only for a moment. In a blink, the man's Shepard rune disappeared. "It was blocked... and killed," he stated solemly, "but had no strength to kill your Goblin Warrior as well." Saundra just nodded along, unsure what else she should do.
"A City" the old man said, producing a new tile and placing it alongside his Farm rune. Touching the Farm and City runes, he drew another tile "Militia Spearmen".
Saundra drew once again, a Magic rune this time. Touching all three, she drew a new rune "Goblin War Drums" and placed it in the field of play. She then pushed forward her Goblin Warrior and Goblin Berserker. With no hesitation or reluctance, the old man pushed his only tile forward. "I will block your Goblin Berserker, killing my Militia Spearmen... Your Goblin Warrior still deals damage to my Tower, though." The tiles once again glowed and the spearman disappeared. Reaching into a leather backpack at his side, the old man pulled out 6 game-pieces, each an identical tower except that three were a dark red and three were white. He placed the three red Towers in front of Saundra and the three white Towers in front of himself. Still glowing was her Goblin Warrior, she reached into her bag and produced a strange die - numbered 1 through 20 in her native script... A shock given the mystery of the runes thus far.
She rolled the die - a 1. The tower began to glow brightly and shake violtently on the table, despite no one touching it. After a moment, it fell over on it's side. "That's one." The old man said. "Two more and you win."
The old man reached into his bag and produced a Magic rune of his own, then touching all three he announced his next play, "Knights of the Gold Spear". Saundra couldn't help but notice a small smile cross his face, though it was short lived. Placing the tile on the field, he took a long drink. She noted his tattered tabbard had what looked like a gold colored spear point on it.
Saundra played a third mine next and touching all three mines, along with her Goblin War Drums, and drew three runes! "A Goblin Warrior, another Goblin Warrior, and Goblin Skirmishers." She looked down at her play area - teaming with these creature runes and yet her older, more experienced opponent had so little...
Is he letting me win? No matter. "I attack again with my Goblin Warrior and Goblin Berserker" sliding them forward. The old man blocked the Goblin Berserker with his Knights of the Gold Spear, killing the Goblin Beserker. Her roll did not destroy a second Tower, though.
Back and forth the contest went - Saundra was enthralled and had little concept of time outside of the hearth fires slowly turning to embers. Her goblin forces were numerous, quick to deploy, and easily sacrificed, but as the game progressed the old man produced several powerful Knight runes - Knights of the Golden Spear, Knights of the Eternal Shield, and Knights of the Unsheathed Sword, among others, that kept most of her attacks at bay. Eventually, both Saundra and the old man had but one tower left. Her Goblin forces dwindled as coordinated attack after coordinated attack by the old man's Knight runes left her with little else. At last, the old man pushed his Knight tiles to attack one last time.
"That is enough power to destroy my last Tower outright," Saundra said with disappointment. Even learning how to play for the first time, she felt in her soul that this game held meaning to her and it was somehow vital that she win... "That is it, then?" She asked.
The old man shook his head. "You have a rune left to play... Reach for it..." The man slowly closed his eyes and slowly exhaled - he knew what was to come. Saundra touched 3 Magic and one City Rune... "Betrayal." She stammered, a tear welling in her eye. She had no reason to be, but somehow she was empathetic towards this strange old man with his game of magic runes - almost hating to make the plays she was compelled to in order to defeat the old man.
As she played the Betrayal rune, all of the Knight tiles disappeared except for two - the Knights of the Golden Spear and the Knight Commander. Slowly, without being touched, the Knight Commander rune drifted to Saundra's side of the table. She looked nervously to the old man, who stared sternly at the Knight Commander rune. Saundra pushed her Goblin tiles, along with the Knight Commander tile forward.
Saundra watched as the old man slowly slid his only remaining Knight tile forward, the only way to prevent his immanent demise. The tile disappeared and the old man's final tower began to glow. Saundra grasped the die and cast it... a 1. The tower shook and fell as had the others and the old man slumped back in his chair once more, bottle in hand. He took a drink and lazily began scooping the tiles back into his back - a look of defeat on his place.
"You didn't have to let me win." Saundra said after a few moments, putting her set of tiles back in her bag. The old man just stared into the pulsing embers of the hearth, "I didn't," he said "that's how it always goes. Betrayal will always defeat my Knights."
Saundra left the man to his drink and silence and returned home that night. In the moment it all felt so natural to her, but now removed from the experience it all seemed so strange and fantastical, even in a world of magic such as hers. Was it all a spell? Was it even real?
Sleep did not come easy that night, nor many of the nights to follow. The old man was never seen again, and others in town recall his arrival but little else - certainly no one engaged him at length. A few years later, on her 13th birthday, when she awoke at dawn, a small pouch sat on a chair in her room. The pouch had runes embroidered on it, just as the man's had. Only, these runes were not foreign to her, she recognized them as her own.
She reached into the bag and felt only two tiles inside. The first, a Farm rune, no doubt indicative of the small rural village where she was born, raised, and had never left. The second tile was a City rune... She smiled and replaced the tiles in the bag. Quietly, and with out a word to her family, she gathered what little she had and struck out on the road to the Capital.
