The future of Munchkin Bites!

[Apocalypse Meow]

Hi, I'm a big fan of tabletop gaming in general, but the World of Darkness was my introduction to gaming and the setting I've played the most over the years. So when I found out about Munchkin Bites! the other day (I was only familiar with Zombies until recently, when I bought Apocalypse as an apartment-warming gift and looked into the series), I was pretty excited. But I also noticed that Bites! only got one expansion back in 2005, and that there aren't any further expansions scheduled for it.

I was wondering if Munchkin Bites! was suspended intentionally for some reason, like a licensing issue with White Wolf (I'll admit that I don't know what's involved in making a product like Bites! and if a license or contract is even involved).

[TheBigGeordieGeek]

It's not a licenced product so there shouldn't be any issues with that. Personally I would think that the sales don't justify a further expansion. Or it could be that they can't make one work, and SJG doesn't release subpar products.

Just because one of the sets gets no further expansions doesn't mean it's dead though, it's a fun game as it is, and can be great mixes in with other sets, Zombies for example is a great companion to this game.

[Cpt. Sqweky]

This is just speculation on my part but... I don't think Bites was suspended in any real way... Not really. There have been a couple cards in the W23 boosters over the past few years. Other than that, you mentioned the expansion so it got what a lot of other sets did, and not all of them even have that much. Offhand (and I'm probably wrong, but I'm also too lazy to check, so feel free to correct me) but other than Fantasy, a set having more than one expansion is a pretty recent thing. I think started with Cthulhu and only Cthulhu and Zombies have more than one expansion. Super, TGBM, and Fu only have one expansion as well and Star and Booty only have an expansion plus a booster. (Not to mention that Impossible, Axe Cop, Conan and the newer ones don't even have expansions released yet, if they even have plans to make any expansions for them.)
Bites would probably get more expansions and the like if it sold a lot more, but well, as you know it's mostly a parody of the World of Darkness RPGs and those games just aren't as popular as they used to be.

[Blazinjsin]

Bites is on my list to pick up soon, just have Star then Super in front of it. I would love to start seeing more expansions or boosters for non fantasy sets since after fantasy I've gotten in the habit of picking up the entire set at a time.

[MunchkinMan]

Rather than allow rampant speculation to run. . . rampant, I'm going to state that it's a matter of what makes sense based on what sells and what people play (based on a rather recent poll done on this very forum) whether further development occurs. Nothing has been "suspended" so much as things have either not been developed further, and, in some cases, allowed to go out of print for an extended period of time (I don't think Munchkin Bites! falls under this category, though).

[Andrew Hackard]

Only one third of the people who replied to the "which sets do you play regularly?" poll said Bites was one of those sets -- and that's here, where we have a concentration of dedicated (dare I say fanatical?) Munchkin players. Additionally, Bites is at its core a parody of a barely supported game (World of Darkness).

I'm not even sure if we will reprint Bites 2 when it runs out next. Bites 3 really isn't on the table.

[Blazinjsin]

Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard

Only one third of the people who replied to the "which sets do you play regularly?" poll said Bites was one of those sets -- and that's here, where we have a concentration of dedicated (dare I say fanatical?) Munchkin players. Additionally, Bites is at its core a parody of a barely supported game (World of Darkness).

I'm not even sure if we will reprint Bites 2 when it runs out next. Bites 3 really isn't on the table.

I take it I should bump Bites closer to the front of my buy list then? I didn't realize it was a parody of a specific game, just thought it was spoofing the whole classic monsters genre. And goth culture.

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by Blazinjsin

I take it I should bump Bites closer to the front of my buy list then? I didn't realize it was a parody of a specific game, just thought it was spoofing the whole classic monsters genre.

It's some of both. The Races in Bites are definitely taken from WOD, though.

[emillang1000]

It's always been pretty obvious that it was referencing World of Darkness (I think Pants Macabre even mentions the "World of DORKness" on the box?), but since World of Darkness itself is really a collection of a whole BUNCH of individual games, which only share a fictional universe and don't share a common set of rules or mechanics (plus the fact that WOD is itself a catch-all for nearly every non-Cthulhu, non-Zombie Horror out there), it's pretty excusable.

It does stink that Bites! is pretty much dead, but at the same time, there wasn't much mechanically different between Bites and Fantasy, right?

I wouldn't mind seeing another new Horror set, but with something to make it mechanically distinguishable from Fantasy (like the Powers in Zombies, Seals in Apocalypse, and Cultists & Madnesses in Cthulhu).

[bonetm]

Originally Posted by emillang1000

It does stink that Bites! is pretty much dead, but at the same time, there wasn't much mechanically different between Bites and Fantasy, right?

I wouldn't mind seeing another new Horror set, but with something to make it mechanically distinguishable from Fantasy (like the Powers in Zombies, Seals in Apocalypse, and Cultists & Madnesses in Cthulhu).

Bites! has Powers. And it's the only set to date to not have Classes (only Races).