Linnaeus 5 Evolution Game

How to start:
Pick a pre-existing species in the game and choose three adjacent tiles within or adjacent to that species’ range. Your species will start in those tiles.
Make a physical change to that species by changing the picture of the species (if applicable) and write a description of the said change. Changes made by the player must be explainable by random mutation and natural selection.

How to play:
Each turn, the player makes up to three changes to the species he/she controls: One physical, one behavioral, and one territorial. Physical changes should be accompanied by a picture showing the physical change (I use a 3-pixel pencil).

The Map:
White represents ice caps and glaciers. Light blue represents shallow water with the lighter blue representing ocean ridges. Deep blue represents deep water, drop-offs, and trenches. Red represents volcanoes. Each hex is roughly 500 miles wide. Species ranges will be highlighted in their color to include migratory patterns. Ranges can and should overlap.

Speciation:
A player in control of a species can, at any time, create a new branch species of the species that player is controlling. To do so, the player must declare in-post that he/she wishes to do so, and roll accordingly. The player can then choose spaces within or adjacent to the parent species’ range equal to the resulting roll divided by 10 rounding up.

Species Traits:
When making a roll for the species, every applicable trait will provide a bonus of 5 (or more depending on the trait) to a roll. Applicable traits will be listed by the GM, however, the player can vouch for a certain trait of the species to also be helpful, and thus also provide a bonus. Likewise, traits can also be detrimental, giving a penalty of 5 (or more) to a roll. Traits will never lower a roll below 0 and will never raise a roll above 100.

Avoiding Extinction: Rolling low is not necessarily a bad thing. It means that your species is under high evolutionary pressure, meaning it is more likely to have favorable outcomes in the future. A species does not go extinct until there is no way for the population to bounce back.

Roll Guide:

Nat 1: Major catastrophe strikes your species. Your species must adapt or die.
1-20: Widespread tragedy occurs in your species. Your species is under a good amount of evolutionary pressure.

21-40: Minor tragedy within your species. Perhaps something which had helped them in the past is not so helpful.
41-60: Uneventful. Your species likely has few evolutionary pressures acting on it at this point.
61-80: Minor breakthrough. Your species is growing steadily.
81-100: Major breakthrough within your species. Your species is doing well and its population grows, but for how long can they keep it up?
Nat 100: Complete miracle. Your species does as well as any species ever could, providing a major boon in population and range.

Saving throws:
If a species is about to go extinct, the player of that species has two choices: Pick another species to evolve as if that player were a new player, or roll 1d100. If the player rolls 70 or higher including modifiers from the species’ traits and fluff, that player can pick a new tile within the species’ historic range and start with a population of 1. The turn following that one, the species cannot lose population.

Global Events:
Every round, there may be a series of global events or nothing at all. This could be a volcanic eruption, an earthquake, the formation of an island, the raising of global temperatures, the emergence of new species, and much more.

Extinction Countdown:
Every 15 rolls at 90 or higher (not counting those made by the GM), there will be a mass extinction event. At which point, a number will be given out by the GM. All species must meet or exceed that number, or face extinction.

Non-player Species:
The three original species will evolve and change independently or more often in response to the players, albeit at a slower rate. Likewise, plants and fungi might appear. Players should keep these other species as well as those of other players in mind, as these are most likely to be within the player species’ food webs and may evolve to fill niches the player had not thought about.