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Old 10-06-2005, 04:29 AM   #21
gerzel
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Default Re: Rules Update for Illuminati?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kuroshima
Well, if you look at your Brainwash instructions, you'll see the "telepathists" and the "masters of voodoo" there. They both have propaganda or brainwashing-related special abilities. They are both really interesting illuminati, and I used my blank Illuminati cards to create a physical copy of them.
Oh. Well I guese you're right. Nevermind. :)
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Old 10-06-2005, 07:44 AM   #22
Goljerp
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Default Re: Rules Update for Illuminati?

I seem to recall back from the days when Illuminati first came out, that there was a rule which was a variation of option 2):

If, at the beginning of your turn, there are no uncontrolled groups on the table, turn over 4 new cards, with special cards going back into the deck, *before* drawing your card(s).

This led to interesting calculations; if there was just one lousy group out, it might be worth it to take 10 megabucks and skip the turn, rather than snatching it and giving the next player a chance at a lot of great stuff; on the other hand, nobody was ever forced to skip a turn due to a total lack of groups on the table.
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Old 10-06-2005, 09:07 AM   #23
MIB1723
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Duisburg, Germany
Default Re: Rules Update for Illuminati?

I definitely like #2 most - the main problem I see is that specials which have ultimate power for certain Illuminati could be out of reach forever.
Examples: Unmasked is the ultimate (e.g. potential instant win) special card for the Church of SubGenius, and Swiss Bank Account can be for the Gnomes of Zurich. If those show up and are discarded the unique aspects of the specials are lost for the current game.
A comfortable solution would be: Shuffle the special back in the deck.
Also important: Cthulhu will most likely always have cannon-fodder in the uncontrolled area - which shouldn't be such a big problem as at a certain stage of the game most Servants (At least the good ones!) will be able to destroy also one or two groups controlled by a rival each turn anyway.
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Last edited by MIB1723; 10-06-2005 at 09:12 AM.
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Old 10-06-2005, 01:30 PM   #24
gerzel
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Default Re: Rules Update for Illuminati?

...I dun really like the idea of re-shuffling cards back into an Illuminati deck.

Call me old fashioned but I like to shuffle at the begining of the game and after have every card pulled be a card used in play, if only it is a special that is used to make a privlidged attack.

The less drawing and then discarding the better. I'd like none of it, perferably.
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Old 10-06-2005, 09:32 PM   #25
rastazed
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Default Re: Rules Update for Illuminati?

I played using options 1 and 2 with a group of four experienced to veteran Illuminat players. We discussed options 3 & 3a but no one really cared for them.

Option 2 worked very well and there were three turns in a row where we placed the extra cards out. We would highly reccomend this and will probably use it as a house rule.

Option 1 was also well received but no one thought it would be used very often, they just liked having the option. I might have used it on the final turn if I had drawn a useless special. I needed to take one group with a little bit of power, and then bump up some counters on the propaganda track. I was playing Bavaria so i could buy priveledge for the only attack I would make against a group. If it failed I wouldn't have a second chance because to win I needed to do propanganda rolls. I might have discarded a special I couldn't use for a chance at a group with better power. Just to brag a bit it all worked out when I used the OMCL to turn the Red Cross criminal and get the power I needed to win.

We would also include #1 just for the occasional special time.
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Old 10-10-2005, 12:50 AM   #26
Steve Jackson
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Default Re: Rules Update for Illuminati?

Thanks for the ground-truth feedback, Rastazed! Anybody else tried it yet?
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Old 10-10-2005, 07:03 AM   #27
Huyderman
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Oslo, Norway
Default Re: Rules Update for Illuminati?

I ran a game with option 2 this weekend, and it worked really well. The game ran much smoother, and everyone had something to take control of each turn.
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Old 10-10-2005, 05:19 PM   #28
PK
 
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dobbstown Sane Asylum
Default Re: Rules Update for Illuminati?

I ran a 4-player game this weekend with #2. It was the first time playing for two of the players, so I thought it'd be a good test. When I got to describing the new rule, I didn't advertise it as such, I just said, "And at the end of each player's turn, if there's less than two uncontrolled groups, you flip over cards until there's two groups -- if you flip over a special, just discard it. Is that clear?" They nodded and agreed that it made sense and was perfectly clear.

While playing, it made a big difference in the mid-game. In the first few rounds, the cards would have been there already. After that, we really needed them, and starting off your turn with three uncontrolled groups (or two uncontrolled and hey, you drew a special!) kept things from getting unfair. At the end game, the uncontrolled area was full of groups, because everyone had turned on each other's power structures.

So I'm pleased to say that not only did this new rule do a lot to offset the "mid-game group problem", but it didn't make anyone reluctant to attack each other. The only downside to it was that we ended up discarding a lot of specials -- it seems like no one was drawing them except at the end of the turn when implementing rule #2. But that's just blind luck for you, and it also made the special seem that much, well, specialler. If the deck wasn't already so damn huge, I'd suggest shuffling them back into it, but frankly, even if you discarded a dozen specials, there's still a couple dozen left. In a game without Y2K, we'd probably cry more over a special being discarded.
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Old 10-10-2005, 09:25 PM   #29
gerzel
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Default Re: Rules Update for Illuminati?

I've played this last week using a variation on option #2 where before round 3 if there are 2 or less groups on the board before a player draws then groups are put out to bring the number up to 5. After round 3 we felt that players where on their own and well two players had the groups that allowed them to draw extra cards for their illuminati.
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Old 11-01-2005, 07:44 PM   #30
Leviticus Darksyde
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Default Re: Rules Update for Illuminati?

What I usually do is simply divide the deck into four (since I have both the game and the Y2K expansion, there's a lot of cards). This way, it's a hell of a lot easier to draw good cards of all kinds, without having to change the rules (I dislike fixing what isn't broken). Of the options, I dislike option #3 the most because of the fact it does hurt The Network, whose Special Goal is tough enough to achieve anyway.

*Leviticus Darksyde*
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