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Ex Novo (Sharkbomb)
Written & Designed by Martin Nerurkar & Konstantinos Dimopoulos
You can purchase this game here.
Worldbuilding and mapmaking make up many of the solo games I come across on itch.io. It makes sense because these activities are things people already do casually. These games provide formal structures to guide your imagination and create an end product that can stand on its own or be used as a jumping-off point for another solo system or as a setting for a campaign you’re running for others. Ex Novo is one of the more popular and well-known of these types of role-playing “toys.”
Ex Novo can be played with 1-4 people. Of course, playing with more than one is a different experience, and this review will focus only on the game in its solo context. The player(s) are taking on the roles of the guardian spirits of a newly found settlement. Like Uatu the Watcher, you are meant to chronicle what these people do and how their society grows and transforms. Using dice rolls, events will happen, and it is up to you to record these and interpret what they mean for the community. The goal is that by the end of the game, you have a fictional setting that was fun to create and that you could continue exploring in another system like Ironsworn or your favorite rpg of choice.
The first of three playing phases is Discussion. In this phase, you talk with the other players to establish the tone, genre, and game expectations. As a solo player, this is a matter of jotting down some elements you want to include. For me, I wanted to create a settlement where horror was present but also reflected the struggles of people in reality, using fantasy elements to heighten things.
After this, you begin consulting Ex Novo’s tables, starting with Target Size and Age. For my settlement, I chose a size of Town. This meant I drew seven lines across my blank map to create general regions and set aside five citizen tokens. These tokens are an abstract representation of population density. Anytime a new district is made, a citizen token is placed in it. Specific prompts will cause these tokens to move around, showing how populations decline or grow in different parts of the settlement. Then you choose Target Age. I picked Aged, meaning I had 14 development phases which are the meat of the game.
After Discussion, we enter the Founding Phase, where the first bits of the map are developed. I rolled to determine the dominant geographical feature and ended up with a plateau that needed to cover around 50% of the map. Then I rolled four times on the Terrain Features table to get more details. I ended with two distinct patches of woods, a hill region, and a lake.
We roll on the Purpose and Decision tables to determine why and where our settlers came to this land. Our purpose for settling here was a “useful natural resource.” Lakes are often water holes for herd animals, and a proliferation of food is a good reason to settle in a place. I introduced herd beasts to the map as a resource and put them near the lake. Our Decision to settle where we did came up as “Nomads in Need.” We were the survivors of a horrible plague in the Old World and moved as a group until we came to this pleasant spot in the shadow of the plateau.
Founding continues by determining the Starting Hierarchy that governs the settlement. I rolled up a “Ruling Caste” and decided a wealthy group led the nomads, using them as cheap labor along the way and with plans to continue that when a home was found. They use religion and the twisting of scripture to keep their flock in check. Naturally, we create the Factions in conflict once this is determined. I rolled “Complex Web,” giving me three factions locked in a tense balance of power.
My first faction was The Golden Circle, the monied elite who led, or at least claimed to lead, the expedition. I decided the settlement was founded in the hills by the lake, with the hills as a way to create temporary burrow homes until lumber could be harvested from the forest later. The Golden Circle had the people build a simple stone temple as a landmark and symbol of their power over the community.
Then we have the Mothers Magi, a witch’s coven who divined knowledge of where to go as the nomads trekked. They started getting the cold shoulder from the Golden Circle and preferred their distance anyway. The Mothers built a large hut on top of the plateau where they continued practicing their craft and coming down to trade with the townsfolk.
The third faction is The Eternal Spear. These skilled hunters and their apprentices take down, dress, and butcher the herd beasts for everyone’s consumption. They live in a circle of tents on the settlement’s edges, where they watch the massive herds as they move across the plains. The Spears don’t have the power to push back too much on The Golden Circle, but they also know if they were to stop, the people would likely starve. The Circle treats them gently as a result.
The final part of Founding is naming our settlement. Well, it’s a place by a lake in the shadow of a plateau, so Shadowlake it is. That name sounded like a good setting for some horror.
Then we enter the Development phase, where events randomly occur, and we change the map and write about the effects of these moments.
#1 – A new urban plan
A vision to make the city more than it is. Wonderful avenues for the rich or cramped housing for the poor?
→ Add a landmark, move a citizen token from an existing district to create a new district
The Golden Circle can’t stand living in the hill houses and relocates after the laborers build them a lakeside district complete with a fountain. The hill houses are left to the laborers to maintain and provide upkeep. The temple continues to be supported by the Circle.
#2 – Gambling increases
Enticing and dangerous, gambling is on the rise. How do people gamble? And why? For tax reasons? Or simply due to the city’s permissive laws?
→ Add a resource or a faction gains power
The plebs are getting restless. How lucky we are that oysters have been found in the lake. Some even bear an extra prize of a shiny pearl. The Circle begins a tradition of oyster gambling, trying to outbid each other on whether they will get one of the pearls when they crack open what’s up for auction. Sadly, the laborers, always wanting to be like the masters, take up the trend and get ruthlessly exploited by the Circle. The Circle has observed the markings on the outside of the shells that signify a pearl is inside. They keep this knowledge secret from those they deem beneath them.
#3 – Natural catastrophe
A volcanic eruption, a catastrophic flood, or a devastating hurricane. What is swept away in the disaster? And who survives this? Do outsiders provide help?
→ Remove at least 2 districts or landmarks
Some say Enoch Hewes cavorting with devils by the lake started it all. He isn’t talking. A violent storm builds up, sweeping over the plateau and across Shadowlake, causing a devastating flood. The Temple and the Fountain District, where the Circle lives, are destroyed in the destruction. The workers grumble when told they must buckle down to rebuild these things. What choice do they really have?
#4 – The city goes underground
Sewers? Deep wells? Cheap new living space? What are they digging for? Is this a common infrastructural practice? Are there other underground cities?
→ (Add a landmark or a district)
The floods brought wastewater into the Circle’s district. They decided it was time to build a system to drain this away from the lake and where they lived. They could have sent it into the hill houses but decided to pump it to the south instead. Warnings have been issued that this could create a cesspool swamp over time, but the Circle always knows best. As long as the filth is not within their eyesight. A well was built to bring up fresh water from the ground. The laborers must ask permission to use it.
#5 – A prophet appears
What type of prophet would this city wish for, and what would it need? And why did they appear here? Were they forced to flee some other power?
→ Add a resource or a faction gains power
Annie Durwood came down from the plateau, proclaiming she had been sent a vision. She said The Golden Circle had been stealing children from the hill houses. The laborers had been worried about a recent rash of disappearances that the Circle didn’t seem keen on solving. It was bears or wolves, they told them. Annie said she saw a gnarled hand reaching out of that well, pulling children from their beds and down into the dark ground. A riot broke out, but the Circle stomped it down quickly. Annie escorted a dozen people with her back to the plateau where they sought to live with the Mothers Magi.
#6 – Gangs claim Districts
A crime syndicate or a gang has managed to gain control of at least one district. What links them to this place? Why aren’t they stopped?
→ Add a faction
Pastor Thaddeus Angstrom delivered a fiery sermon on Sunday decrying the Unseen Saints. It started with unclaimed bonfires popping up among the hill houses. Then came the handwritten pamphlets dropped around the well. The Unseen Saints said they were the children, not stolen. They were the ones who hid when the gnarled hand came for them. They would be the ones to burn the hand up and uncover the bodies of the lost. The sermon avoided detail, and the elders stared at the congregation as if they could suss out the Saints this way.
#7 – A new resource is found
A new lode of metals, a newly discovered useful plan. Which faction leads the exploitation? And what dangers does it bring? Do foreign spies know about this?
→ Add a resource
Mercy Starkweather led a prospecting mission on the plateau after she dreamed of an angel with black wings showing her a shining light there. Sure enough, there was gold in those hills. She made sure The Golden Circle knew, and they were eager to pull some of the laborers off their tasks of building themselves houses to start the mining operations. They didn’t bring the highest quality equipment, so there have been a couple deaths already due to collapses. The Circle is checking the pockets of every miner before they are allowed to return home. Some miners say they have been told they cannot leave Shadowlake without permission.
#8 – A District is Divided
Why? Was the district divided for practical reasons or due to faction rivalries? How is the border demarcated?
→ Split a district in two
The Unseen Saints have stirred up so much trouble. The Golden Circle have convinced more than half the laborers to turn against them. Sightings of young people roaming around at night are met with violence. Parents keep their adolescent children under close watch when the sun goes down. It’s said The Eternal Spear has sympathies with the Saints. In fact, there’s a rumor they were started by the children of the Spear. The hill house district has been split. The area closest to where The Golden Circle lives has remained loyal to them. The outer edges have fallen to the Saints.
#9 – A grand palace is built
A brand new building. For those in power? Or for a remote ruler? Who pays for this? Does it provoke jealousy or joy? How big is it?
→ Add a landmark
So much gold the Circle had to do something with it. The Auric Palace was constructed while laborers continued to live in crumbling hill burrow houses. While a group of workers mine, another hauls the gold down from the plateau, others still melt it down, and yet another group handles the construction. At least there’s water from the well, right? The Circle has suddenly become very protective about who goes near the well, and workers have passed out from exhaustion. Cora Swindon is a brutal taskmaster and whips them until they get back up and keep moving, or it’s discovered they are already dead.
#10 – A new source of power
Electricity, magic, nuclear fusion, or magical beasts of burden. What new source does the city leverage? Who developed or discovered this?
→ Add a resource, a faction gains power
The Mothers Magi has been cooking something up in secret all these years. One day a fountain of violet energy poured into the sky from the plateau. The full powers of the demonic realms have a gateway into this world. And how do the Mothers use this? Suddenly the hill houses, the small crumbling burrows of the laborers, are provided clean water and fields of bountiful food. The Golden Circle is not happy about this and has their clerics and priests attempting to find ways to close the hell chasm up. Good luck, fellas!
#11 – Dangerous secrets uncovered
Who kept the secrets, and why? Do the people care about moral failings, or are they more interested in scandals?
→ A faction gains power
The presence of demonic forces in the world allows the Mothers a great glimpse into the secret lives of The Golden Circle. Demonic energies have begun to broadcast the questionable proclivities of some select members of the Circle. They engage in acts of secret gluttony, gorging & purging themselves on the bounty the laborers have harvested. The whispered rancor of their thoughts on the workers is also shared around these tables as they begin to drink & sloppy on wine. Many laborers have started to wonder where those missing children might be? Maybe they’ll be a show put on by the Mothers about that, hm?
#12 – A radical ideology is born
A call for freedom, a cry for segregation, or possibly, the desire to embrace the gospel of dark, alluring gods. What belief appears? Who espouses it?
→ (Add a faction), a faction gains power
A cult has formed among the laborers: Hell’s Pledged. They have seen the arrival of the demons and their blessings of water, food, and knowledge as a sign that they are the powers to be worshiped. The Golden Circle doesn’t like this, but oh well. However, the Mothers Magi find the brief period of power they achieved from their initial breach has faded. A doctrine is emerging among the Pledged that frames them as lesser and the male anti-priests as the faithful clergy. Isn’t that always the way? For now, the two share a tense passivity. Hope it stays that way.
#13 – A civic service project
Public baths, libraries, and the post office. Something useful for all citizens is built. Who pays for this? Is this a model for other cities or the subject of ridicule?
→ Add a landmark or a resource
The Golden Circle decided to “invest in education” using all that surplus gold they’d had the laborers digging up. Their big endeavor is a massive library full of important historical & educational documents. As the Unseen Saints are pointing out, it’s all lies. The books tell about Shadowlake’s founder putting the Mother’s Magi in his thrall and how they betrayed him by placing a plague upon the land. However, many are enamored at the ornate splendor of the library, especially its many large fireplaces during the cold months. It’s easier to not question than to think, which keeps the Saints frustrated and trying to come up with new plans.
#14 – A plague scares the city
Rumors and tales of a disease spread; maybe it had already reached the neighboring cities? How do officials and citizens react? Decisively or haphazardly?
→ A faction gains power or remove something
Something rotten has come out of the land and infected the herd beasts. The Eternal Spear quickly alerts the people when they find green ichor dripping from the animals at the butchering. The Golden Circle are scrambling as this means their personal stores of meat, always much larger than those of the people, might be diminished. The Spear shows off their generations of hunting prowess and begins exploring the woods and plains for other animals to catch & eat. It’s not a lot, but the babies’ bellies are full, which gains them the love of many who have ignored them for so long.
Now that we have gone through all our Development phases, we do our topping out where any remaining Growth tokens are distributed as we choose. Also, based on the number of players, one or more things can happen to the map: Name a feature of the city or environment or Add a landmark if desired. I chose to add a landmark, a bit abstract, represented by the werewolf on the edge of the western woods.
In the dark woods to the west, stories have come about wolves that walk like men. Rumors swirl about this being a byproduct of the demonic powers. However, the Mothers Magi have talked amongst themselves and believe the anti-priests of Hell’s Pledged have been performing rituals in secret, many of which they are not well trained to do. They have turned some of their own into these wild monsters that roam the fringes of Shadowlake and feast on human flesh.
I had a lot of fun playing this game and had a very fruitful setting to explore if I wanted. This will stay in my game rotation when I feel up to it. As someone who loves PC games like Cities: Skylines, this is similar-ish, focusing more on the story of the place than just the infrastructure. I think Ex Novo would provide everything you need for a GM that wants a new setting for their party.
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