Settlers of Mata Nui

[Aderia]

 

 

art source for above

 

The new Turaga elders of Mata Nui are in quite the conundrum. Their beloved villagers are having trouble remembering exactly how they wrangled the wild island of Mata Nui upon arrival, as they were still shaking off the dreary amnesia-coma of the dark Makuta. And they're good natured, hard working Matoran, they surely deserve to know, argue Turaga Nokama and Turaga Whenua, one day in a Turaga's meeting around the Amaja Circle. 

 

But, Turaga Vakama and Onewa have run into the age old issue of answering a question begetting only more questions, prying farther and farther back. And nobody wants to relive the dark last days of Metru Nui. And although nobody understood his clicks and whistles, Turaga Nuju pointed out somewhat smugly that he doesn't have to worry about disappointing his villagers with half-truths because they can't understand him anyways. 

 

So how, they all begin to bicker, to balance the curiosity of their hard-working villagers with enough truth to keep the real past concealed? 
 

"Enough!!" Turaga Matau ambles up to the circle, late again. But with good reason. "Why wrack-wreck our frail old brains trying to think-puzzle up an answer, when we can just send the Matoran on a little adventure of their own, to see for themselves?" And amidst accusatory derailments against his sanity and jokes about senility, the Turaga of Air proudly drops a sizeable box into the middle of the circle of Turaga. "Look-see, I know you were all wonder-missing where I was, the past few weeks (speak-talking to you, Nokama), but wonder-miss no more! I give you 'Settlers of Mata Nui'!" 
 

Matau heaved a melodramatic sigh, complete with an eyeroll that practically dislodged his Mahiki. "Don't all jump-shout at once." He flipped the lid off the box with the heel of his staff, and plopped down with surprising aplomb, excitedly unpacking the box. "It's a game! Next time they give you a stuck-stump question, just distract them with play-fun!"

 

"''Distracted with play-fun' is your entire life," Turaga Onewa said, a half-chuckle, half-grumble, as the other Turaga obligingly took a seat around Matau's new invention.  

---

 

(MAJOR DISCLAIMER: I own essentially nothing here. Obviously not Catan, obviously not Bionicle. Most of the artwork is from the Mata Nui/Voya Nui online games, screenshots from BS01. Also, this isn’t a topic to learn how to play Catan. There are YouTube videos for that. Example, here's a decent one, less than 4 minutes for those curious.)

 

 Each player (2-4) needs the following assortment of ONE COLOR of lego bricks. (Lego bricks optional if you can come up with a better idea)

• Fifteen (15) road pieces. I was picturing 1x6 bricks for this. 
• Five (5) settlement pieces, or Koros, in this case. 2x4’s would work. 
• Four (4) city pieces, or Fortresses. A 2x4 with a 2x2 on top should suffice, but it’s probably fine to be creative. 

 

The game board will also need: 

• One Makuta Stone. This is the Robber, for those who have played Settlers of Catan. A dark colored rock would go best with the spirit of the game, but as long as players can agree on a practical Makuta Stone piece, the sky is the limit. 
• 2 dice, normal six-sided. 

 

Catan Original	Mata Nui Version	Quantity Needed
Forest Hex (Lumber)	Ussal Hex (Ussal)	4
Quarry Hex (Bricks)	Po-Wahi Quarry (Solid Protodermis)	3
Pasture Hex (Sheep)	Mahi Hex (Mahi Goats)	4
Fields Hex (Grain)	Le-Wahi Hex (Bula Berries)	4
Mountains Hex (Ore)	Onu-Wahi Mines (Lightstones)	3
Desert Hex	Motara Desert Hex	1
Lumber Resource Card	Ussal Resource Card	19
Brick Resource Card	Protodermis Resource Card	19
Sheep Resource Card	Mahi Resource Card	19
Grain Resource Card	Bula Berries Resource Card	19
Ore Resource Card	Lightstone Resource Card	19
Knight Development Card	Toa Heroes Resource Card	14
Victory Point Card	Victory Point Card	5
Year of Plenty Development Card	Great Spirit’s Blessing Development Card	2
Road Building Development Card	Pathfinder Development Card	2
Monopoly Development Card	Trader’s Trick Development Card (Ahkmou)	2
Longest Road VP Card	Onu-Koro Highway VP Card	1
Largest Army VP Card	Toa Kaita VP Card	1
Building Cost Card	Building Cost Card	Per # of players
Trading Harbors	Trade Ships	9
Number Chips	Number Chips	18

 

 

Board 

 

Hexes Example

1. Ussal Hex

2. Lightstone Hex

3. Quarry/Protodermis Hex

4. Le-Wahi/Bula Hex

5. Mahi Hex

6. Motara Desert

7. Back of hex tile, if desired


 

Number Chips

Trading Ships

Ocean Borders (6 total)

 

Cards

 

Resource Cards

1. Ussal Resource (lumber)

2. Lightstone Resource (ore)

3. Protodermis Resource (brick)

4. Bula Resource (grain)

5. Mahi Resource (sheep)

6. Back of resource card
 

Development Cards

1. Great Spirit's Bounty (Year of Plenty)

2. Pathfinder (Roadbuilding)

3. Trader's Trick/Ahkmou (Monopoly)

4. Toa Heroes (Knights)

5-9. Victory Point Cards

10. Back of Development Cards

11. Back of special VP cards (see below)

 

Special Victory Point Cards

1. Onu-Koro Highway (Longest Road)

2. Toa Kaita (Largest Army)

 

Building Cost Card

 

Also, an apology/warning, I haven't printed and tested the game. I don't want anyone running their printer dry just to have some cards be too small, some be too blurry, etc. etc. It fits together on GIMP, is all I can tell you for sure. 

Here is a dropbox link for the whole project. There's a folder with (hopefully) printable PDFs if anyone is interested in going through a gallon of ink  They are NOT set up to be printed double-sided. Also, I almost drowned trying to get the ocean border tiles to format to the right size, so that's pending indefinitely. 

Feedback always appreciated! This was a fun project, and I'm excited to share! 

Play well!

EDIT: Fixed ocean border, replaced frame with water hexes, added hex printout and single-hex .png to dropbox. Example here. 

 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2020 by Aderia
added little title picture, courtesy of Faber/BS01 :)

[TERIDAX941]

As a lover of both BIONICLE and Settlers of Catan, I have to say, well done! This looks like a very fun combination of the two, and the way you utilized the MNOG art is very cool!

[BrickPharaoh]

Thats's a pretty cool take on Settlers of Catan, which I also happen to adore. My only criticism would be the card implementation of the Toa Heroes (Knight cards), which essentially allows you to invoke the thief (i.e. Makuta, who is the arch-antagonist) to steal from other player(s). Something about using the heroes for an ignoble cause doesn't sit too well with me, but that's just me being super pedantic  On the whole, I think you've done a tremendous job on this board, and the artwork all looks superb! If I didn't already have a copy of Settlers of Catan I'd definitely get this one printed! 

 

[Aderia]

Wow! I'm stoked this got featured!
 

On 6/17/2020 at 8:10 AM, Iron_Man5 said:

As a lover of both BIONICLE and Settlers of Catan, I have to say, well done! This looks like a very fun combination of the two, and the way you utilized the MNOG art is very cool!

I'm glad you enjoy! Yes, I had a grand old time digging through the MNOG files to find graphics that would work. My favorite part was booting up VNOG and playing through to find a good scene for the Ussal

On 6/17/2020 at 3:22 PM, BrickPharaoh said:

Thats's a pretty cool take on Settlers of Catan, which I also happen to adore. My only criticism would be the card implementation of the Toa Heroes (Knight cards), which essentially allows you to invoke the thief (i.e. Makuta, who is the arch-antagonist) to steal from other player(s). Something about using the heroes for an ignoble cause doesn't sit too well with me, but that's just me being super pedantic  On the whole, I think you've done a tremendous job on this board, and the artwork all looks superb! If I didn't already have a copy of Settlers of Catan I'd definitely get this one printed! 

 

Haha, yes, I was originally thinking of using Bohrok for that purpose, but Toa looked a lot cooler, and I had more source material to pick from. Maybe I should try to spin it "the Toa get a tribute from the grateful Matoran", instead of 'the Toa robs you". It's all in the PR spin, right?   (or maybe I could have gone with the Voya Nui theme, because the 'toa' that showed up there definitely would have fit the bill) But yeah! I'm glad you like it! 

[MoarBotar]

Man this is sweet! I love it!

I honestly might try printing it (prob in black and white on the first run lol) later this summer!

This is awesome!  

[Aderia]

On 6/18/2020 at 7:49 PM, MoarBotar said:

Man this is sweet! I love it!

I honestly might try printing it (prob in black and white on the first run lol) later this summer!

This is awesome!  

Thank you!! Haha, definitely let me know if you do end up printing it! Apologies in advance if the proportions aren't right. I should have measured things in in/cm instead of pixels originally, but I realized that like yesterday  So glad you like it! 

[bionicleFanatic]

Oh, yes. I'm totally playing this. Been needing an excuse to learn SoC for a while now, and you've ignited my destiny.