OK, I have thought about it. This is my new idea:
You need index cards of two different colors and a lot of tokens representing Destiny Points. Glass beads or poker chips should be alright. It should not be something eatable. And you need something to show who is the acting player. If you have something that fits the mood of the setting take it. A crown for a fantasy setting, a model of a spaceship for a Science-fiction setting. It should be easy to pass on. No one wants to arm himself in a full plate armor every time it is his turn.
Nation generation: First you have to discuss the setting and what nations you want to play. After you have chosen a setting each of you takes six index cards of the same color. On the first card you write the moral code of your nation by answering three questions: why does your nation wage war? Why do they make peace? What is the most important virtue in the society of your nation? Discuss your choices with the other players you should be able to agree to their choices for they will be important for the story.
John, Adam and Bob are discussing the mood of the game, the setting and their races. They soon agree an a fantasy setting. John likes Vampires and since no one disagrees he declares that his nation consist vampires. Now he has to answer the three questions. Why do they wage war? Vampires need blood, so obviously that is a good reason to wage war for them. They need living species as slaves to provide the blood for their nation. Why would they make peace? That is a more difficult question so he turns to the third question. What is the greatest virtue? He thinks about a society of vampires and how they live. Avoiding the sun is obviously very important, so the guest right would be an important virtue for letting a vampire stay outside in the sun would be murder. The sun might be an important part of the peace as well: They can not go outside at day so they need the help of others. If other nations are willing to help the vampires, providing blood and help and accepting their way of life they would not need to risk their life. So acceptance and help would be the reason for peace.
On the other five index cards you write things that are characteristic for your nation. That can be anything from certain weapons to important cities or from ethics to the political system. Hand them to your right neighbor. He chooses one card he thinks to be not fitting the mood of the game and takes it away. A trash bin is recommended. He chooses another he thinks to be interesting and places it in the middle of the table. Then he hand the remaining three cards to his right neighbor and he does the same. The remaining card is given to you.
Now everyone gets 20 destiny points. You can bid as much of them as you want and the highest bidder can choose one of the cards in the middle after him comes the one with the second highest bid and so on. After everyone has one card the lowest bidder starts choosing a second card after him comes the second lowest and so on. The highest bidder will get whatever is left. It is allowed to trade cards with other players. It is even allowed to pay with Destiny Points for a trade but you always have to give a card to the player who gave you one so that everyone will have three cards in the end. These cards are called nation cards and they flesh out your nation.
Bob has decided to play an elven nation while Adam plays a human nation. The two nation both have a large realm and Johns vampires will live in the underground of both nations. Bob thinks about some things the elves should have and writes them down. The five cards are: “great bowmen”, “superior senses”, “City in the Woods”, “superior craftsmanship” and “immortal”. He hands the cards to Adam who decides that “immortal” is to powerful and the human should not be the only ones to be mortal so he throws that in the bin. He also decides that “City in the Woods” would be interesting for him as well, maybe as an outpost of men. It would provide a lot of conflict between men and elves if the men would have it so he puts it in the middle of the table and hands the cards to John. John wants the “superior senses” for his vampires so he puts it in the middle. He decides to throw away the “superior craftsmanship” because he thinks that “great bowmen” fits the elves much better. Bob bids three destiny Points and comes second, after John. He takes the City in the Woods as his first card and after Adam took two cards the chooses one of Adams cards “superior fortifications” as his second card. He now has elves with a big capital in the wood, with great fortifications and superior bowmen.
Now take the other index cards. You will never use the first color again. Everyone can spend Destiny Points for additional stuff he wants for his nation. There are Facts and Heroes. Facts: Write what you want (similar to the previous cards) and distribute the Destiny Points you spent on two values: power and toughness. Power represents the influence of the card. The higher the more influential the card will be. Toughness represents how difficult it will be for your opponents to get rid of this card. Cards with low toughness will not last long in the game, especially if they have a high power.
Heroes: Heroes cost three Destiny Points and Start with an profession at Rank one. Something like diplomat, leader, general and so on. In addition they have a virtue and a duty and a dream. The virtue has to be something where your character can do what is right. Maybe he is bound to honor, maybe he cares for the poor, maybe he is pious. The duty should be something that he is supposed to do for his (or her) nation. The dream is a personal goal that the character wants for himself. To settle down and marry a wife? To gain a certain military rank? To revenge a murder?
Whenever in an action the Hero stays true to his virtue he gains a Rank. Whenever he stays true to his duty you get a Destiny Point ans whenever he stays true to his dream you can decide whether he gains a rank or whether you gain a Destiny Point.
Adam thinks about his nation. He still likes the idea of having a great outpost in the woods so he spends ten points to get a 3/7 Outpost in the Woods. It will be difficult to take out and will provide him a good bonus for a longer time. He creates a General as an Hero who will command the army of the outpost. He names him Amann Sylwiss, gives him the “General” as a profession and thinks about virtue, duty and dream. The duty is to “defend the outpost”, the virtue is to “care for the citizens” and the dream is to “become a count” for Amann is of lower birth and wants to become part of the high society.
Bid who will start: He gets whatever you chose to represent the acting player. He also gets two destiny points. He has now some options: do an action, sell the action, build or pass.
If he passes he gets two additional Destiny Points and the next player becomes the acting player. If he sells the action he can give it to whoever he wants to. Most times this will be the one who promised him the most Destiny Points. The one who got the action can only act or build.
Build: spend DP and write something on a card and distribute power and toughness.
To act is the most important part in the game: You can try to get rid of the cards of other players. Describe what your nation does to get rid of whatever you what to get rid of. Add the power of all the cards, facts and heroes, you think to be helpful for this. The nation cards add one rank per card. This may seem low if you compare it to the other cards, but remember that the other cards can be destroyed while nation cards can never me destroyed. Your opponent describes how he opposes your action and adds the power of his cards to oppose the action. The attacked card itself can not be added to the value. Now all the other players can chose a side if they want to. They describe what their nation does and adds the power of the card he thinks to be fitting to the sum of the side he chooses. After all players have described their action they take a secret amount of Destiny Points in their fist and reveal them at the same time. The sum of the Destiny Points is added to the sum of each side. If the acting player won he can now spend a number of Destiny Points equal to the toughness of the card he wanted to destroy to destroy the card.
Bob wants to destroy Adams outpost. He had created a 5/1 “living tree army” and a “elvish ranger” as a hero. He bids 3 Destiny Points to be able to start. Since none of the other two players wanted to start they did not bid anything and Bob can start. He declares that he wants to destroy the outpost. He has ten Destiny Points because he got two when he started his turn but he will need seven to destroy the outpost. So he only has three points left. Together with his tree army, his hero and the bowmen nation card he has a maximum power of 10 if he spends all three points. Adam has seven points left, has a hero as well and two fitting nation cards, so a maximum of ten as well. He describes how his ranger approaches the vampires to form an unholy alliance against mankind. Johns Vampirelord agrees to support the elves by infiltration the outpost and opening the doors at night. But he wants all citizens as prisoners for the vampires. The ranger shudders knowing what that means for the citizens but then agrees. John adds a hero, and his nation card “secret society” to Bobs power. Adam knows he has no chance so when they bid Destiny Points he does bid nothing. Bob bids two and john bids one Destiny Point. The outpost is raided by the vampires and the elves. Bob pays seven Destiny Points to destroy the outpost.
After it is done everyone looks at the participation heroes and adds ranks and gains Destiny Points if they stayed true to duty, virtue or dream. Maybe they managed to stay true to more than one, than you gain both or even all three effects.
You gain a Destiny Point for every part of the moral code that your nation did stay true to.
John looks at his hero, the vampirelord. His duty “provide blood for his kin” was kept. His virtue to “always keep promises” was kept as well. Only the dream to “avenge the dead of his 'father'” was not kept. So the hero gains a rank and is now a Rank 2 Vampirelord. John gets a Destiny Point as well.
Now he looks at his nation codex. He waged war with the human to gain blood and made peace with the elves because they provided blood. So he gets two additional Destiny Points.
Killing and sacrificing Heroes: You can sacrifice a Hero during an action to gain two Destiny Points per Rank the Hero had. Like Facts Heroes can be chosen as the target of an action. Their toughness is equal to the Rank of the Hero. If a Hero is killed you don't get any Destiny Points so it can be better to sacrifice him even if it is painful. If you sacrifice him early he will give less Destiny Points, but if you wait to long you will get no Points at all.
Sacrificing nation cards: You can sacrifice a nation card at any time to gain ten Destiny Points. This should not be done lightly for it is lost forever. Mechanically you will have a smaller bonus to your actions. But the loss for the story is even greater: your nation looses some part of its identity. Cities might be destroyed, races might die out. Elves might never use bows as a weapon again, dwarfs might leave the mountains. An alien race might loose its technical advantage, dragons loose the ability to breathe fire. Your nation will never be the same again.