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Artem stared down at the chess board in front of him. It was unlike anything he'd seen before. In actuality, it was four chess boards squared together. The thing took up the majority of their dining room table. The pieces had been split and decorated as well. They currently sat in bags next to him at the table. His daughter, Zoraida, meticulously placed cutouts of castle walls and trees and other buildings on the board. Her cheeks were puffed and her tongue stuck out a little in concentration. He couldn't help but smile. He'd seen such an expression on Rosa's face so many times. Currently, his wife was ill in bed and so it was up to him to entertain their six year old. This "imagination chess" had been invented by the two and Artem was curious to take part. He'd been surprised when he asked Zora what she wanted to do for the afternoon and she responded with chess, but then brought out four boards.
"I hope you're thinking about a plan, Daddy," Zora's voice broke into Artem's thoughts. He blinked at his daughter, but she didn't look at him. "I won't go easy on you just because this is your first game." He chuckled.
"I wouldn't expect you to, sweetheart." As he waited for her to finish, Artem flipped through the 'rulebook' once more. It had been handwritten by Rosa and colored by Zora. While the game itself seemed simple enough, blending elements of regular chess with storytelling purposes, it was actually quite complex and demanded strategy.
The game pieces had been reshuffled between the four boards. Each had a king and a queen as well as one of each of the other game pieces, but the rest were unevenly separated. They'd been repainted into new colors as well: purple, blue, red, and green. Their daughter's favorite. Each "kingdom" was good at different things and had a different set up for their 'land' and 'castle'. Things like 'resources' had also been added in the form of plastic trees and rocks, their quantity shown in poker chips. Drawing cards placed between them triggered 'events' such as illnesses, good or bad harvests, parties, and other note worthy things. Cards also allowed the player to give their chess pieces, or 'characters', interesting skills, items, and backstories that could help or hinder. Called 'plot cards', the ones available were unique to each colored kingdom. 'Action cards' allowed a player to perform certain feats to achieve goals. These were the same between all four decks. Sets also had a number of 'stats' that could be distributed between the pieces. To keep things as simple as possible, the only two were defense and offense. Interactions between characters occurred when pieces came into adjacent spaces with each other and how these interactions went depended on their stats. Piece movement was modeled after movement on a chess board, but also took into account things like 'terrain' and the piece's role to decide limitations and abilities. The game ended when the narrative itself came to a close. Or when Zora fell asleep. Whichever came first, his wife had informed him one night as they tucked her into bed.
"Okay. Ready?" Zora's green eyes glowed happily as she looked at her father. Artem assumed he was and nodded, setting up his pieces in their starting positions. It'll be easy. Oh how wrong he could be. Immediately, she launched into a story introducing her kingdom and the 'royal family'. Soon, it was his turn.
"Ah.. Um... this is Queen... Flora and King.. Archie." Zora giggled, covering her mouth with her hands.
"You're not very creative, Daddy." Artem's ears turned warm, but he continued on to explain that the king and queen ruled fairly and so their subjects liked them very much. The game went and Artem found himself enjoying giving his characters names and personalities. Their first interaction occurred when Zora's peasant met with one of Artem's warrior, represented by a pawn and a knight respectively.
"Halt!" Zora stood in her seat. "What is a red warrior doing on green lands?" Artem frowned and said the first thing that popped into his mind.
"Just passing through." She pressed her lips together.
"Through to where? This is the path to the royal woods!"
"Uhh.." His brain blanked. Zora shuffled through her plot cards before whipping one out in front of him that read 'suspicion'. Picking up a pair of dice set off to the side, each rolled and Zora managed to pull an 8 to Artem's 5. She smiled triumphantly.
"Farmer Ben is suspicious of the red warrior and summons the nearest guard." The nearest guard was Zora's rook, her Prince Theodore. In a deeper voice she asked "What say you, Knight of Red?" In truth, Artem had been intending to attack her rook since his attack and defense stats were so much higher. But, he lost the element of surprise and 'Prince Theodore' received a buff for being on green territory and because of her suspicion card.
"I...just wanted to greet the Prince of Green?" Artem licked his lips and glanced at his daughter, but there was no mercy in her eyes.
"Prince Theodore is not impressed! He brings the Knight of Red to the castle! As well as Farmer Ben, to reward him for his service to the crown." Scooping up all three pieces, Zora deposited them into her castle. Artem's knight was placed in her 'dungeon'. He could get the piece out by breaking them out or paying a ransom in the form of resources. Meanwhile, Zora's 'king' granted Farmer Ben rewards in the form of permission to join a kingdom 'patrol'. The pawn upgraded to owning a sword and received a stat boost. Artem's eye twitched. Pawns on their own could only collect resources, but when woven into a story could receive other items and skills through plot cards that would enable them to perform more actions.
The story continued. An illness event swept through Zora's kingdom and Artem utilized it to negotiate a cheaper ransom trade for his knight. His queen was assassinated by a pawn Zora had buffed in attack and utilized a diversion action card to prevent his knight from getting to. When Artem drew a party event, he used an invitation action card to bring Zora's royal family to his castle.
"His daughter having become smitten with Prince Theodore," he began and Zora raised an eyebrow, "King Archie proposes marriage between Princess Zelda and he to unite the kingdoms in peace." Shuffling through his action deck, he drew out a 'negotiation' card and presented it to his own daughter. Her eyes narrowed and she stared at it carefully. After a long moment, she giggled.
"Queen Neon accepts." Artem chuckled as she bumped the two rook pieces together in a mock kiss. Rising from the seat, he pulled his daughter into his arms and brushed his lips over the top of her head. Zora snuggled into her father's arms and yawned.
"You're quite the story teller, Zora." He murmured as he headed up the stairs.
"You're not so bad yourself, Daddy. For your first time anyways." Shifting, Zora nuzzled her father's ear. He could practically hear her smirking. After tucking her in, Artem paused to stroke her dark brown hair lovingly before returning downstairs to clean up the chess board. It had been surprisingly fun. Although he admitted he needed to brush up on his imaginative reasoning. He hadn't wanted to 'kill' any of his daughter's pieces, but she'd been more than happy to end his. Shaking his head, he got ready for bed himself.
Rosa stirred as he entered the room even though he didn't turn on the light. Artem climbed into bed and curled around her gently, running his fingers down her back. She let out a soft sigh and her eyes fluttered closed once more.
"Mm. How was it?"
"Our daughter is ruthless." Artem informed her gravely. Rosa chuckled. "How do you feel?"
"Mmmm..."
"Rosa?"
"Better. I'm still so sleepy, but I'm not cold anymore." Artem nodded and rested his chin on her head. Only after his wife's breathing deepened did he close his eyes and join her in sleep.