Description

Players take the role of a god in a friendly competition to reach the Glory goal set by the crowd, directing their champion in a wide array of arena-style games: Classics like King of the Hill, new modes like Shrine of the Wind, all played out via a simple rock-paper scissors mechanic with direct conflict resolved by a simple die roll without player elimination and the arenas sorted into easy-to-grasp zones.

The game features three different modes: Basic, designed for new or young players and quicker, simpler gameplay; Advanced, a more strategic mode where each player truly takes on the role of a God with resource management and asymmetric powers to twist the fates of their pawns in the arena; and Intermediate, which introduces the Advanced mode concepts and the active role of the player as one of the all-new pantheon of Gods in the Cauldron!

As part of the mission of Civilized Animal Productions to emphasize the role of games not just as a way to build relationships, relax, and have fun but also to teach the young, Cauldron of the Gods offers plenty of opportunity to discuss history and culture in the form of the Gods, emphasize sportsmanship by eliminating the other players as 'enemies' by using a system of proxy conflict and painting the game as a competition, and help curb cheating or disengagement by using a directly personal approach to conflicts between players and adopting a story-like, cinematic expression of the actual fighting. The game has frequent moments of tension between peaceable moments, which can be used to defuse negative behaviors and infuse positive approaches without interrupting the flow of the game. The Advanced and Intermediate modes of play are more complicated and this may be daunting to the younger range of players.