Timoris welcomes any number of brave souls, limited only by how many decks of cards you have (and how much space is at your table). Although you should keep in mind that larger groups may extend the length of the journey, while smaller groups face increased challenges. Completing the game as a one-player run is possible, however much more challenging than regular play.
Besides courage, you'll need:
- The three gamebooks: Book of Stories, Book of Items, and Book of Encounters
- 2 standard dice
- A deck of cards for each player
The game unfolds in turns, each representing an 'event' detailed in the Book of Stories. These events dictate which players are active and the actions they must undertake. Many events involve combat, the rules of which are found in the Book of Encounters.
Though not explicitly mandated, trading and sharing items (excluding Arcana and Curses) is encouraged. After all, collaboration is key to surviving the horrors of Timoris.
The game can end in two ways:
Defeat: All players are eliminated before reaching an ending.
Victory: Players successfully reach one of the endings outlined in the Book of Stories.
Timoris is a realm ripe for your own creation. Using the Book of Items and Book of Encounters as resources, you can craft unique challenges and scenarios. The Book of Stories can serve as just a rulebook or a platform to build from using the events within the book.
The Bladed Pistol item makes almost all combat encounters at the beginning of the game significantly easier. This prevents players losing health before they encounter any beings that may pose a real threat to them.
However, this only applies to the first one or two events of each scenario. After that, the levels of encounters you may meet will likely be higher than the Bladed Pistol's attacking range.
Despite following many branching paths, Timoris games are linear in their design. As you progress further towards on of the game's endings, the levels of the encounters you find (and by extension the game's difficulty) will increase at a deadly pace. Whilst your journey may seem easy-going at first, it very quickly spirals into a brutal test of luck and decision-making.
There is deliberately no solid date listed online for when the game will be playable. This is because, as a passion project being released for free, Timoris is worked on as and when possible. Check in on the official Tumblr to see more up-to-date information about how close the game is to being complete.