- •Bios Megafauna Living Rules
- •1.0 Introduction
- •1.1 Bios Series
- •1.2 Overview of Play
- •1.3 Game Scale (footer)
- •2.0 Components
- •2.1 Components List
- •2.3 Cards and Tiles with dna.
- •Dietary dna Codes.
- •2.4 Era Tiles (Immigrants & Biomes).
- •Immigrant Era Tiles have no climax numbers.
- •2.5 Map Tracks
- •3.6 Place your placeholder cards and animals.
- •3.7 Place your size animal, map animal, and homeland.
- •Start the four Period Decks and the Display. 13
- •3.9 Place the Atlantic Rift, Era, and Greenhouse Disks.
- •4.0 Sequence of play
- •4.2 Choose an action to perform.
- •4.3 Herbivore & carnivore contests, and final culling.
- •4.4 Scoring Rounds
- •5.0 Purchase a card
- •6.0 Resolve the event14
- •6.1 New Era Tiles event.
- •6.2 Catastrophe event.
- •6.3 Milankovich event.17
- •6.4 Erosion event.18
- •7.0 Play a card
- •7.2 Mutation Size Limits.
- •7.3 Adding Roadrunner dna.
- •7.4 Playing a Genotype Card (Speciation).
- •7.5 Playing a Genotype Card (Fossil Record).
- •8.0 Resize one of your species.
- •9.0 Acculturate one of your species.21
- •9.2 Benefits of Acculturation.
- •10.0 Expand an animal.
- •10.1 Choose Parent.
- •10.2 Choose Child Silhouette.
- •10.4 Choose Destination.
- •12.0 Rooter biomes
- •13.0 Herbivore contests
- •13.1 Biome Habitability.
- •13.2 Niche Contest.
- •13.3 Predator-Defense Contest.
- •13.4 Herbivore Dentition Contest.
- •13.5 Competition with Immigrants.
- •13.6 Losing a Contest.
- •14.0 Carnivore contests
- •14.1 Prey Suitability.
- •14.2 Physiology Contest.
- •14.3 Carnivore Dentition Contest.
- •14.4 Competition with Immigrants.
- •15.0 Greenhouse28
- •15.1 Greenhouse Habitat Displacement.
- •15.2 Empty Slots.
- •16.0 Extinctions
- •16.1 Extinction of Biomes or Immigrants.
- •16.2 Extinction of Player Species.
- •17.0 Episodes
- •17.1 Atlantic Rift.
- •18.0 Ending the game
- •18.1 Determining the Winner.
- •18.2 Flowing this game into an Origins Game.
- •19.0 Solitaire game
- •19.1 When Two-Tuskers Ruled the World (Solitaire).
- •20.0 Example of play
- •21.0 Tips on winning
- •21.1 Grab valuable dna
- •21.4 Predatory child.
- •21.5 Crossing the Atlantic.
- •22.0 Milieu
- •23.0 References
- •24.0 Credits
- •25.0 Player resources
- •25.0 Odds for a catastrophe not happening (courtesy Bill Su)
Bios Megafauna Living Rules
The continuing contest between dinosaurs and mammals.
These updates are from player feedback; please submit to http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Megafauna/
By Philip Eklund, Copyright © 2011 by Sierra Madre Games Co.
Living
Rules: Version
CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Components
3.0 Set-Up
4.0 Sequence of Play
5.0 Purchase a Card
6.0 Resolve the Event
7.0 Play a Card
8.0 Resize One of your Species
9.0 Acculturate One of your Species
10.0 Expand an Animal
11.0 Migrate
12.0 Rooter Biomes
13.0 Herbivore Contests
14.0 Carnivore Contests
15.0 Greenhouse
16.0 Extinctions
17.0 Episodes
18.0 Ending the Game
19.0 Solitaire Rules
20.0 Example of Play
21.0 Tips on how to Play
22.0 Milieu
23.0 References
24.0 Credits
25.0 Player Resources
Endnotes
Sequence of Play and Game Summary
NOTE: If you have played the 2nd edition, keep in mind this Edition makes the following obsolete:
Catastrophe Card
Physiology sheets
Starburst cards
Bridge markers
Tents
Timeline
Borderlands
Displacement Arrows, displaced biomes
Climate preference
Size arrow, size dial
Heritage DNA
Physiological DNA location
Land Drier, wetter, blooms, seasonal, doldrums
W, a, X, and “wings” DNA
Continental Drift
Size competition for predators
Omnivorous mmm
Biomass
Hex Capacity
Orientation
Hex
1.0 Introduction
A quarter billion years ago, the Permian Extinction killed off almost all plants and animals on Earth. Two surviving groups, both lizard-like, struggled to emerge as the dominant megafauna on the planet. Today they have evolved into many forms, yet these groups can still be differentiated by their teeth. The ancestor of dinosaurs had a sloppy bite, using uniformly-shaped teeth that were constantly replaced. The ancestor of mammals had a precision bite, using one set of teeth lasting its entire life.
These two groups fought for global dominance for 50 million years, but by the close of the Triassic, the dinosaurs reigned supreme. Unchallenged for 130 million years, they met their doom in a gigantic asteroid strike. Opportunistic mammals have dominated for the last 65 million years… but the contest isn’t over. Bios Megafauna re-enacts the roller-coaster struggle for terrestrial supremacy.
1.1 Bios Series
Bios Megafauna is the successor to American Megafauna, which has been for 20 years the definitive evolution game. The Bios series is a set of natural history games spanning all of Earth’s history. The first one published was Origins, the only civilization game covering the last 125,000 years. Future publications: Bios Genesis (Earth’s first 4 billion years); Bios Insecta, and Bios Technium (the evolution of technology).
1.2 Overview of Play
From 1 to 4 players start as a small unspecialized species of proto-dinosaurs (red or green figures) or proto-mammals (white or orange figures). These creatures are distinguished by dentition; some have long batteries of teeth better suited for masticating plants, while others have fewer teeth better suited for meat-eating. Each player starts with genes used to purchase mutation and genotype cards. Stacks of cards and inheritance tiles indicate the dietary DNA of your species, giving it adaptations such as long necks for browsing treetops. Markers on tracks record roadrunner DNA, attributes that help your species catch prey or avoid being prey, such as swiftness or aggressiveness. Tiles that have gone extinct are collected in an area on the map called the “tarpits”. These tiles are distributed among the most populous players as victory points during four scoring rounds.