Deme
A game of strategy and survival
(Version 1.1)

Copyright (C) 2013 Harrison Baker.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
with the Invariant Section being the Creator’s Note.
A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU
Free Documentation License”.

***

Contents
1. Creator’s Note
2. Before You Start
3. The Basics
4. Combat/Predation
5. Seasons and Reproduction
6. Genetics
7. Ending the Game
8. GNU Free Documentation License

***

1. Creator’s Note

Y’all,

I’d like to take a moment to explain what Deme is and why I made it. More
importantly, I would like to let you know where I would like us—you and me
and everyone else who might be interested—to take it. Please read the
following paragraphs.

What Deme is:
Deme is a tactical board game of ecology and survival. Players control
animal species on a small island as they compete, feed, breed and evolve.
The primary goal of each species is to survive and reproduce, but other
goals present themselves along the way. Competitors can be eliminated. New
traits can evolve. New species can be born.

What Deme is not:
Deme is not an ecosystem model. Deme plays with broad concepts such as
random mutation, energy flow, interspecific competition and trophic cascades.
It does not, however, represent these things exactly as they happen in a real
ecosystem.

Deme is meant to raise questions and encourage experimentation. If you
would like a thorough, scientifically accurate ecosystem modeling system
rather than a game, you might want to try one of these:
http://atlss.org/
http://www.ecopath.org/

The rule system is intended as a toolbox, not a cage. Feel free to modify,
add and subtract rules in the future to meet your needs and make Deme as
realistic or fantastic as you like. I trust my players to find and explore
the differences between real-world dynamics and fictional ones, applying
and sharing their own prior knowledge to create fun, meaningful table
sessions.

Thank you and enjoy!

Harrison

***

2. Before You Start

What you will need:
-Multi-colored tokens, beads or figurines to represent each species (as many as you can get)
-Several six-sided dice (a pack of 10 should be good)
-One 20-sided die
-A hex grid board with hexes large enough to accommodate your poker chips
-Some rocks or other obstructions to serve as terrain
-A set of poker chips (at least one)

The role of the Ecosystem Master:
One person (not a player) will serve as Ecosystem Master (EM). This person is responsible for
overseeing the environment, laying out the narrative, arbitrating player disputes and handling
some random and semi-random events.

Think of the EM like the Dungeon Master in a game of Dungeons & Dragons, or the referee in
a sporting event. The EM has a responsibility to be fair and impartial, and to keep things
interesting. The EM is basically a storyteller, so this role can be a lot of fun.

Terrain:
Rocks, sticks, etc., when placed on the board, represent impassable obstructions. The EM lays
these out as he or she sees fit before the game begins.

Token and Plant Placement:
The EM places each player’s tokens around the board as he or she sees fit. Keep in mind what’s
fair, challenging and makes sense in the ecosystem.

Species:
Each player controls a species (set of tokens of a single color). Each species has its own
distinct set of three stats:
-Attack strength (ATT)
-Defense (DEF)
-Speed (SPD)
Each of these stats is determined prior to play for each species by the EM and/or player(s).
To start, you may wish to limit individual SPD values based on board size, and individual ATT and
DEF values to the number of six-sided dice you have on hand.

***

3. The Basics

Each player’s turn looks like this:
1) Move a token (representing an animal or small population, as the scenario dictates) any
number of hexes up to its SPD value. Each token can move in any direction, but cannot move
through rocks. You can forgo movement if you want.

2) Attack or feed using the token you just moved, if you want to. Place the token on its side so
you remember you moved it.

3) Repeat until all tokens have acted. Play then passes to the next player.

Herbivores move first, then their predators, then those predators’ predators, etc. Within each
trophic level, you may roll for initiative or simply pass from right to left around the table. The
EM (ecosystem master) keeps track of the progression of seasons, the narrative, replacing plant
mass, etc. Play is divided into seasons and years. Each year begins with Spring. When all players have
moved, a new season begins. When four seasons have passed (all players have moved four
times), a new year begins. We’ll get to what this means later.

Movement:
Each species has a “SPD” value, which represents speed. You can move any number of hexes
(or none at all) up to this value. You cannot move through rocks or share or pass through a
space with another animal. You can share a space with plants (green chips). If you enter a space
occupied by an animal of a different species, you must stop by default.

Feeding:
Feeding is at the core of Deme. When an herbivore ends its turn on a plant (green poker chip),
it carries the chip around with it. If a carnivore kills an adjacent prey animal, the carnivore
gains a green poker chip. Each animal can only gain one green chip per food item, and can only
carry two green poker chips at maximum.
At the end of Summer and Winter, each animal loses one green poker chip and leaves behind a black chip
in its place (see “Feces” below). Animals with no chips to drop die.

Feces:
Black poker chips serve as “feces” markers. These replace green chips lost by animals at
the end of Summer and Winter. They may also be placed by the EM or by players themselves as
the scenario and species abilities dictate.

Water:
Non-aquatic animals that start a turn adjacent to a water hex gain a +1 bonus to their SPD for
that turn. Animals that end Summer and Winter adjacent to water do not lose a green chip.

***

4. Combat/Predation

Attacking:
After moving a token, the attacker rolls the number of dice shown by the “ATT” value to attack
an animal in an adjacent hex. For example, if the attacking animal has an ATT of 3, roll three
dice. If a die scores 4 or higher, it’s a “hit.” If it scores 3 or lower, it’s a “miss.” The number of
“hits” for the attacker must be higher than the number of “hits” for the defender.
If an attacking animal has used all of its moves before attacking, it is exhausted and suffers a -1
penalty to its “ATT” value.

Defending:
When attacked, the defending player rolls a number of dice shown by the “DEF” value for the
defending animal. If the number of “hits” (i.e., rolls of 4 or more) matches or exceeds the
number of “hits” the attacker rolled, the attack is repelled.
Optionally, red poker chips may be used as health indicators, each absorbing one attack.
If the attack is successful, remove one red poker chip (if there are any) from the defending
animal. If the defending animal has no red poker chips, the animal dies.

Resolving Combat:
The attacking animal may not attack the same animal twice if the attack was repelled. However,
it may attack other adjacent animals. If the attack is successful, the attacker may continue
attacking until the defending animal is defeated, or it may attack other adjacent animals. If the
attacker is a carnivore or omnivore that feeds on the defender, it gains one green chip from the kill.

***

5. Seasons and Reproduction

Seasons:
Each season plays the same except for Winter (each player’s last turn of the year). During
Winter, each player’s SPD score is reduced by 1 unless modified by a mutation (see “Genetics”
on next page).

Every Spring, the EM replaces the plant mass lost during the last year. All green poker chips
are restored to the board, with each animal that died at the end of Winter replaced by a green
poker chip.

Plants are placed adjacent to existing plants, and/or are used to replace any black “feces” chips
dropped by players (or the EM) in the path of herbivores over the course of the last year.

Long Game:
For a more in-depth experience, each season lasts four turns for each player instead of one.

Reproduction:
Before the start of every Spring, every animal with two green poker chips gets to reproduce.
Each animal produces one offspring (unless modified by mutation). For every offspring, roll for
mutation. See “Genetics” on next page.

***

6. Genetics
When a new offspring is generated (prior to the Spring redistribution of green chips), it inherits
its parent’s stats (DEF, SPD and ATT) by default. However, each offspring rolls for random
mutations. These mutations become permanent parts of its genome, and may be inherited by all
of its offspring.

Here’s how it works:

Roll the 20-sided die to determine mutation
1 = Fatal (no offspring)
2-13 = No mutation (same as parent)
14 = +1 SPD
15 = +1 DEF
16 = +1 ATT
17 = -1 SPD
18 = -1 DEF
19 = -1 ATT
20 = WILDCARD

If the offspring rolls a rare WILDCARD mutation, roll a six-sided die to determine if the effect
is positive (4-6) or negative (1-3). You may also flip a coin, if you have one.

Roll the six-sided die again to determine the trait to be modified*
1 = Cold resistance (modify effect of Winter by +-1 SPD)
2 = Fecundity (+-1 offspring)
3 = Flight (animal passes over obstacles)
4 = Empathy (animal can pass food to adjacent conspecifics at the end of movement)
5 = Diet (animal gains or loses herbivory or carnivory—whichever it didn’t start with)**
6 = Resilience (red poker chip)

*If an animal loses a trait it doesn’t have, the mutation has no effect.
**If animal is losing a food item, flip a coin or use a six-sided die to determine which food type it loses.

***

7. Ending the Game

Before play begins, the EM should lay out the scenario and a time frame (in real time or game
years) for the game. In addition, each player has the option of announcing his or her own goals
for the game. These may include the elimination of a competing species at the same trophic
level, bearing a certain number of offspring, selecting for a specific trait, etc.
The game ends when the given scenario ends, not (necessarily) when players achieve their own
goals. Remember that this is your game, so everything is negotiable if players and EM agree to
it at the outset.

Once the scenario ends, players can save the stats of their “best” tokens to serve as starter
species for future games. In this way, they can develop their species through “natural” and
artificial selection, much as they might build characters in role-playing games. In this way, a
table (EM + players) can create longer “campaigns” with the same species to see how the
ecosystem changes over time.

Food for thought:

What happens to predators and their prey over time as they evolve to overcome each other’s
weapons and defenses?

What happens to mutualistic relationships (a relationship between two organisms that
benefits both) over time? Why?

Can two organisms at the same trophic level co-exist? How?

***

8. GNU Free Documentation License

GNU Free Documentation License
Version 1.3, 3 November 2008
Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
<http://fsf.org/>
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It is probably not a mystery to anyone who knows me, but I have a complicated relationship with the Make movement.  Make is, in my opinion, an fascinating form of free choice learning. It grew out of the (computer) Hacker movement and has evolved to include all kinds of do it your self kind of projects- from building your own 3-D printer at home to keeping bees.  If you have ever seen any old “Popular Mechanics” magazines, full of projects to do at home, you will have a sense of Make Magazine, which has been in publication since 2005.  From this beginning, as well as a very interactive and content rich website, a whole community has sprouted up around the world, with local Maker Spaces for regular meet-ups as well as annual Maker Faire events that have the subtitle “the greatest Show and Tell on Earth”. What Make realized, from their start with the magazine and website, is that people wanted more than a “Do it Yourself” (DIY) lifestyle- they wanted to come together in community and share skills and tools and a communal space to work on larger and group projects- more of a “Do it with Others” (DIWO) style. Currently, there are hundreds of MakerSpaces around the world and more Maker Faire events happening in places from New York to Eugene to Tokyo.

In the last few years, they have also started reaching out more deliberately to youth, with the MakerEd initiative (yes, they do work the “Make” thing a bit too much, even for my taste!).  Realizing that most young people do not have access to Make experiences or much in the way of hands on learning, they have taken this on, creating a system of mentor training, a summer Maker Camp offered through the Google Plus/Hangout platform with new projects every day for a month, as well as organizing Maker Faires to be family friendly events.  I think it is one of the most exciting things happening in learning right now.

So, back to my opening comment- why is my relationship with Make a complicated one? Well, in all honesty, I am not really a Maker- I just don’t have much of a desire to get in there and build things or interact with computers any more than I have to, so I sometimes feel like a poser.  I do knit and crochet, so can work the craft angle, and am getting more into the homestead lifestyle as I get older and my priorities shift around. But, I am a Make enthusiast! I have spoken about it, or presented posters at 4 conferences and counting and try to let people know about it whenever appropriate. A telling comment was at the AAPT conference this summer, when someone asked me what my relationship or role is with Make, and the first answer that came to me was, “well, I am a Make evangelist”.  I do want to get the word out and get people excited and involved in helping create these experiences for learners of all ages.

Thus, while I might never pick up a soldering gun, you will find me helping build this community in as many ways as I can. Keep your eyes open- there is Making happening everywhere!

Peace, Jen

How did I learn to communicate scientific information to the public? While I was working towards my bachelor’s degree in biology I started working as an interpreter at a city park in Indianapolis.  The position was advertised through the university’s biology department and I decided it’d be a great way to get involved in the community. A lot of what I did was nature hikes with home-schooled youth, Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts, and a few family events. My knowledge about indigenous plants and animals grew every week (i.e. I learned a lot of content). While I simultaneously gained confidence talking to people, I received very little training on how to communicate. The experience, however, was a driving force for where I am now – environmental education. My communication knowledge and skills have developed in recent years from coursework and from having Shawn as a mentor.

How can we teach others to communicate science to the public? As Laia stated last week, we led a workshop about outreach. We focused on questioning, observing, and reflecting and the workshop seemed well received. During a small group discussion, some scholars and I talked about how to start a conversation with a stranger, engage kids with complicated science concepts, and how to talk to someone who is aggressive and says your research is wrong. These are all important and relevant topics, which we addressed using past experiences and how those experiences were handled. Hopefully the workshop is a stepping-stone for the scholars as they continue to think about and pursue outreach and communication opportunities. You can visit their blog to see what they had to say about communicating science at daVinci Days (a Corvallis event).

So, how did you learn to communicate science to the public?

Today I had the opportunity to do an “outreach about outreach” activity with a group of undergraduate Sea Grant Scholars. They are going to be volunteering at a local annual festival called Da Vinci Days, which celebrates art and science in honor of Leonardo da Vinci. After a brief presentation and chat session, we did the ever-popular ice melting in fresh and salt water, complete with food dye (my fingers are lovely green now). They seemed to receive it well, if a bit quietly. My past experience working with STEM undergraduates was very similar – they rather passively take in the information about communication.

Personally I think that all science undergraduates should have training in science communication, and more than just a workshop or two. There’s no way to stress how important it is to be able to converse about the work being done with more than just other scientists. Heck, there are even communication barriers between the sciences. Public perception of scientists remains remarkably static, and in large part I think it’s the lack of communication ability on the part of the scientists that supports this stagnation. And science supports the habit of poor communication skills within itself by not assigning it any importance, as reflected in its lack in the formal education process of science. There needs to be a greater push to support communication within science, since collaboration is the wave of the future, and with non-scientists to help change the public perception (misperception) of scientists.

Our FCL group has been asked to participate in the mid-summer check-in for the Oregon Sea Grant Summer Scholars Program. Members of our group will be giving a 2-hour seminar for the six undergraduate students participating in the program. The workshop will be about communicating sciences and outreach, and I have been helping with the planning process. Therefore, I have been thinking a lot about science communication and its often association to the “broader impact” components in research grants. What would be important to include in such a workshop to introduce the debate of science communication to these young scholars in the beginning of their careers?

If  science education needs some reform, how important is it for educators to partner with the scientists in order for such reform to occur? I think it is very important but mostly when  science outreach starts to be viewed as more than a voluntary activity with tangential benefits for scientists and has broader significance to them. Thinking interpretively, this will only be possible when outreach and science education opportunities accommodate their interests, time and talent. Sooner or later, every scientist will be required to engage in some sort of outreach, but the key here is whether the role they fall into is a role they feel comfortable with.

In their Fall 1998 newsletter of the Forum on Education of the American Physical Society, Rodger W. Bybee and Cherilynn A. Morrow (1998) talked about “Improving Science Education: The Role of Scientists” and reported on a matrix that sorts out the roles scientists could or do play in science outreach. Such roles were classified in the formal and informal educational settings and they fitted in one of three categories: Advocate, Resource, and Partner. For example, if a scientist assumes a role of advocate within an informal education setting such as a science center, he or she could perhaps participate on the board and participate in decision making. On the other hand, if a scientist choose to be a resource, he or she can review science content in exhibits or programs, give a talk at a science center, etc. As a partner, a scientist would collaborate with the creation of a exhibit or program from the get go. Here is the link for this article:

http://www.spacescience.org/education/papers/Roles_BM.pdf

This matrix on possible scientist’s role in outreach and science communication is an important resource for the proposed workshop. I think it is imperative for young scientists to understand the possibilities for involvement, the possible venues and the roles they may find themselves in someday. BUT I came to think that it is also very important that these young scientists can think about who they are and how their talents can best fit within the matrix. Are they advocates, resources or partners? regardless, they need to feel comfortable in their roles in order for them to effectively contribute to a science education reform.

As the next crop of scientists graduates from universities, what role will they see themselves playing within science outreach and communication? Do they see themselves in a outreach role at all? motivations should not only be external such as a requirement of a grant funded project but should also be internal such as relevance and usefulness within the scientist work scope and interests. Below is some more food for thought in the subject:

Thiry et al 2008

Halvesen & Tran 2011

Larsen et al 2008

MarBEF article

Thiry et al. 2008