This guide offers a quick introduction to Dominions in under five minutes. It says what the game is about, what the player is trying to do, and how some of the concepts and mechanics discussed on the wiki fit together. It's meant for someone who has never played the game, and is curious about it or wants to just dive in and play for the first time. It skips over a lot of detail and doesn't tell you how to play the game or how to play it skilfully. For that there is a detailed and illustrated new player guide on the wiki and other beginners' guides suggested at the bottom.

In Dominions, numerous gods compete with one another in a war to become the supreme deity. You play one of these gods and lead a nation in this "war of ascension". The war takes place in one of three eras or ages. In the early age (EA) most troops are lightly equipped, magic is abundant and there are many mythical creatures. By the late age (LA) humans are the commonest species, troops are often heavily armed and armoured and magic is rarer. The middle age (MA) lies somewhere between the two.

When you create a new game, you first choose an era and which nation in it to play. Each era has many nations to play and each nation mixes real-world mythology and culture with fantasy. A typical game might have from 6 to 15 players, with larger games played on larger world maps. One or more human players can play against computer opponents ("single-player") or many human players can play online against each other ("multi-player").

The nation determines the broad type of troops and commanders you will be able to use in the war – for example, giants, humans or bat people. Each nation has a limited and distinctive set of specific unit types – for example, cavalry, light infantry or bowmen – that it can recruit. The same applies to the roster of leaders, such as generals, mages, priests and spies, which a nation can recruit. Nations play very differently from one another and some are not easy for beginners.

Once you've chosen a nation, you design a pretender god to lead it. A pretender might be anything from an frail, aged wizard to a carved block of stone to a terrifying monster. Each nation has many choices for their god, and the huge number of possible combinations of nations and gods is a big part of what makes the game interesting. Pretenders can potentially do many things, but you have limited points and deciding what your god should be good at involves trade-offs.

Gods can be powerful in battle themselves. They can be mages skilled in some or all of the eight paths of magic. They can provide special bonuses to a nation's favoured troops, when a priest blesses sacred troops in battle. And the god also determines what the land under their influence ("dominion") will be like. It might be hot or cold, bountiful or barren, stable or disorderly, which are all scales set by the god.

The war plays out on a map made up of connected provinces, each of which has a type of terrain such as plains, forests or sea. When the war starts, each nation controls only one province, its capital, with a single fort, and has a handful of commanders and troops. The war unfolds over many months (turns). Each month, you give orders to your commanders and when you're finished, "End Turn" carries out all the orders from all nations simultaneously, reports what happens, and moves to requesting the next month's orders.

At the start of the war, a nation's capital is surrounded by neutral, independent provinces which it must first bring under its control. On the very first turn, the surrounding provinces are not yet seen, but on subsequent turns, the troops visible in neighbouring provinces are revealed. Conquering the neutral forces is done by attacking them with troops, led by a commander, or perhaps with its pretender god itself. Attacking itself is as simple as assigning troops to a leader and moving the commander to a province. Units and commanders can be arranged on the battlefield in advance and given limited orders using "Army Setup".

Provinces that are controlled bring in gold that is used to pay existing troops and for recruiting more troops and commanders. Provinces can also be searched by mages to find hidden magical sites, which provide various kinds of gems, resources for casting powerful magic. More forts can be built to secure conquered provinces and to recruit more troops and commanders.

As the war progresses and nations expand, they quickly meet each other and can come into direct conflict, taking each other's provinces and forts. When playing against other humans in multi-player, nations can trade, make alliances and deals, start and end wars. Diplomacy can be as complex as the players wish. When playing against the computer, there is no real diplomacy between nations: they start at peace, and once a war starts, it continues to the bitter end. In either case a nation and its god can be eliminated when it no longer controls any provinces or no longer has any dominion on the map.

At the start of the war, nations rely mostly on a small band of troops and perhaps their god to bring provinces under their control. Later, armies grow larger and nations can recruit commanders with magical skill – mages – who can do magic research. Magic becomes increasingly important and ultimately decisive in the outcome of battles and wars.

Magic skill and resources are divided up into different paths, roughly the elements, such as fire, air or nature, with which magic is done. Spells are divided into different schools, roughly techniques, such as conjuration (summoning creatures) or construction (forging magic items). There are hundreds of spells, and research into schools gradually unlocks levels of spells of increasing power. The most powerful spells require years of research.

Magic can be used in battles by bringing mages with troops or having them attack provinces. Mages can be instructed (using "Army Setup") to cast specific spells that have been researched so far. In battle they might be able, for example, to strike the enemy with lightning bolts or strengthen their own troops' armour. Magic also influences the war outside of battle, by having mages cast rituals or forge items. Rituals can be simple – summoning a few animals to add to your armies – or dramatic and long-lasting, such as casting the whole world into permament darkness. The strongest rituals require much research, many gems, and powerful mages perhaps supported ("boosted") by magic accessories.

A god eventually wins the war by capturing and claiming a sufficient number of thrones of ascension which sit in certain independent provinces. Controlling thrones can bring advantages in its own right and as soon as one nation holds enough thrones, the game is won. The thrones are however scattered across the map and are often defended in their own right by strong neutral forces. Conquering the required number of thrones is far beyond any nation's capacities at the start of the war. Several years of conquest, conflict and magical research are needed before surviving players can even consider capturing and claiming the thrones needed.

• bcnoexception's detailed new player guide shows, with pictures, how to set up a game and how to play the first few turns.
• Althaea's community guide gives an overview of the different online places Dominions is played and discussed
• johnnyjohnny's guide for improving play focuses on getting better at playing Dominions multi-player (some may find the style a bit abrasive)
• taorec's all nations overview gives excellent short introductions to a majority of the nations in Dominions, with suggestions for pretender gods for each and recommended nations for new players
• DasTactic's dominions primer on YouTube plays through a game in one sitting and is aimed at new players
• Trajanus22's EA Ulm series on YouTube is likewise aimed at newer players