Tabletop_Gaming__April_2019

tabletopgaming.co.uk 59

A

s we all know, before our glorious
Seluveyine Assembly raised our
terraforming facilities on this planet
Earth, the world had been scorched and
ruined by the ignorance and greed of its
former custodians. e cosmos had gifted
the Flesh Devils a paradise, and the creatures
repaid the cosmos with re and dust.
e board game “Photosynthesis”,
discovered in Sector B04 by our research
units, tells the story of a time when the
Earth functioned as it should. Trees grew in
unviolated forests, the sun moved through the
sky as a friend and ally, and sentient beings sat
around tables to play games with each other.
e game is primarily about the spending of
light points – points gained by a player’s trees
when they are fortunate enough to receive
the full rays of the sun. Each round, the sun
moves from one corner of the game’s board
to the next, and the game ends after three full
revolutions of the board. As the sun moves,

the trees that the players place on the board

gain light points as long as they are not in the

shadow of other trees. As the forest grows, the

struggle for light becomes critical.

With light points, a player can drop new

seeds, grow trees to their next size, and

ultimately end the life cycle of a tree to gain

scoring discs that could potentially lead to

victory. e ow of light, coming in and going

out, as players drop their seeds and grow their

beautiful forest giants, is a gameplay concept

that always delights.

e sight of the game on the table is the

thing that moves Photosynthesis onto another

level. e players’ trees are gorgeous little

cardboard constructs, in springtime greens

and yellows, autumnal reds, and wintry

blues. At the game’s start, trees are small

and the forest is sparsely populated. By the

game’s mid-point, the forest is full of life.

Trees of various sizes and colours cluster on

your table, and shadow falls everywhere. By

the game’s end, gaps have appeared due to

the removal of the largest trees, and sunlight

breaks through again.

In playing this game, you must deny light

to other players if you hope to succeed. When

you place and grow a tree, you must always

consider the consequences of that choice. Will

you receive enough light if you grow that tree

in that spot? Will you be casting shadow upon

any of your other trees? e game slows at

these moments, as players visualise the forest

of the future.

e impact of this game upon our facility

was signicant. e sheer beauty of the game

had units visiting from other departments

to gaze down at the table and look upon

our miniature forests. e philosophical

conversations were many and varied, but

most led to one conclusion – that the Flesh

Devils’ destructive nature illuminated even the

corners of this creation.

How do you win? By ending a tree’s

life, and scoring points. We reasoned that

this abstracted notion must refer to the

destruction of forests for industrialised

manufacture. Yes, in this beautiful game,

about the relationship between light and life,

the tragedy of Earth’s ruin is a key element of

the story. Participating in this destruction is,

in fact, the only way to “win”.

As our civilisation restores Earth to its

former glory, it is worth remembering that

nature’s beauty is a gift that must be cherished.

ere is no punishment severe enough for the

animals who forget that.

++YEAR 3138++INCOMING TRANSMISSION++

found sector b04: pastime x17 – board game –

“photosynthesis”

Message intercepted by Robert Florence