To begin playing Generations, you need nothing but a device capable of reading a wiki and three or more friends. There is no book. There are no dice. At most, you may decide to use pencil and paper to track your character, but that is optional. You start by deciding among the players which of the potential races has come to inhabit the earth at the start of play. Only that race has risen to sentience and the others do not exist. The decision should be based on how challenging you wish for gameplay to be.
Some races have slight variations in token numbers, but more importantly, some races are more familiar in nature. The thoughts and feelings associated with a being that evolved from mammals is more likely to be in keeping with our own than the thoughts of a being that arose from Cephalopods for example. Part of the fun of this game is in trying to really grasp how these strange beings see the world and what they might think about situations. Between the random elements of the game and the decisions you make in playing out your characters, you will be creating a completely new culture and following it as it grows and progresses. In the end, you are telling two stories at once. That of the individuals and that of the race as a whole.
After selecting a race, you go through character creation. The basic sheet template can be found under Character Creation and the aspects of what goes where can be found in the drop-down menu of 'Character' along the topbar.
After everyone has created their character sheet, the proper section of the prologue for the chosen race is read and initial cards are drawn to set things into motion. This then leads into the active roleplay through three phases of play where the story is developed and the characters are explored.
Each round within a phase is measured by each player having initiated a scene of their own. The number of rounds is determined by the phase of play. During a round, players may spend tokens and potentially play aspects if allowed in that phase of play.
At the end of the game, the measure of the races success can be checked by reviewing landmass, sickles, and wisdom.