01-05-2022, 08:53 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Mar 2015
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Knightmare Chess: rules and cards
These are not official, but something my friend and I codified so that we have an explicit common understanding of game mechanics.
Turns The following illustrates game play, and when cards can be played. The only exception to card play is “DOUBLE AGENTS”, which can be played at any time but must adhere to the one card per turn rule.
Card Drawing The card must resolve before you get to draw a card. Card Play A card is considered played when it is used when it is eligible for play and it is not canceled. If it is attempted and is ineligible, it is discarded. If it is attempted and is canceled, it is discarded. If it is played, but then CHAOSed, it goes back into your hand and is not considered played. “Playing” a card means:
The card “resolves” (completes) at step #3. If White plays a card, Black can play FOG OF WAR to stop the play at step #1. White never takes the action specified by the card. White’s card and FOG OF WAR go into the discard pile. White replaces their card by taking the top card from the deck, then Black replaces his FOG OF WAR by taking the top card from the deck. For example: White plays PLOTS WITHIN PLOTS, wishing to play two cards: CARD-A and CARD-B. Black can use FOG OF WAR to cancel PLOTS WITHIN PLOTS at step #1, or Black can choose to cancel CARD-A or CARD-B at their respective step #1:
Checkmate Rule Checkmate is defined as a player's inability to remove check on their king(s) by the end of their turn (HEIR creates a condition where a player might have two kings on the board at the same time). A player may, at times during the game, have more than one king of their color on the board. E.g. if black has two kings via HEIR: In order for black to be in checkmate, both of the black kings would need to be in check at the end of black's turn (black was unable to remove the check against all his kings by the end of his turn). No regular card may directly cause a checkmate situation or the capture of a King! This rule takes precedence over any other rule, or anything on a card. If a played card breaks this rule, it has no effect. It is still considered played; the player must discard it and draw a new card. (It is fine to use a card to check the enemy King . . . but you may not use a card to mate.) You cannot use a before-move card to check the enemy King, and then “capture” it with your regular move. The King cannot be captured! However, you could use a before-move card (say, Disintegrate, to remove an obstructing pawn) and then make a regular move to checkmate the enemy King. Likewise, if any continuing effect would cause (or help to cause) a checkmate, that is what happens; the continuing effect card is not removed from play. (Thus, if a piece has been given permanent special powers by a card, it can use those powers to checkmate a King.) Thus, you may place or leave your King in check, if on the same turn you play a card to remove the check! Example: You could move your king adjacent to a queen and then play FATAL ATTRACTION. Your king is not in check because the queen is unable to move. Special Pawn Rules Any pawn in its owner’s first or second rank may make a two-square “initial move,” even if it has already moved. Any pawn making such a move may be captured en passant. Pawns may promote only to Queen, Rook, Knight or Bishop. They may not promote to new types of piece. Pawns which reach the last rank by any means except a normal Pawn move do not promote unless the card specifically says they do promote, and may not promote to a piece which creates an immediate checkmate. If your Pawn reaches the last rank on your opponent’s move, via a card that allows promotion, it promotes immediately. In case of simultaneous promotions by both players, the moving player must declare first. En Passant If a pawn is moved two squares forward via its "initial move," it may be captured en passant by a Pawn (but not a Crab) that threatens the square immediately behind its new position. En passant capture works only when the opponent’s pawn can capture the square directly behind the pawn that made this initial two square move forward. Example: NEW TACTICS and En Passant With NEW TACTICS in play, white may move his pawn two squares toward the last rank. But because NEW TACTICS is in play, the black pawn can not capture it en passant because now all pawns move diagonally and capture forward. If the black pawn is a CRAB (moves and captures diagonally), it would not be able to capture white en passant because a CRAB is not a pawn and CRAB specifies that a crab only retains the pawn ability to promote when it reaches the last rank. Conflicts Conflicts occur when two cards have contradictory instructions. The Checkmate Rule takes precedence over everything. When a card conflicts with any other rule, or with the rules of chess, the card takes precedence. When two cards appear to conflict, Continuing Effects take precedence. If both, or neither, are Continuing Effects, the last card played takes precedence.
DUNGEON has two instructions, and has directions on when the card can be played. INSTRUCTIONS
LOST CASTLE has one instruction, and has directions on when the card can be played. INSTRUCTIONS
GAME PLAY: On white’s turn, white move one of his pieces and then plays DUNGEON
Board state and player intentions Knightmare chess does not care about the intentions of any player, only the board state - which includes the pieces on the board, the board's orientation, continuing effects, and conditions that cards have created. |
01-14-2022, 06:44 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Mar 2015
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Re: Knightmare Chess: rules and cards
We explored man-trap with checkmate conditions and revised the rules.
Scenario: White moves bishop to a square to block check, that square has MAN-TRAP on it - the bishop triggers the MAN-TRAP and the bishop is removed. White has no other move on his turn and no white card play can help him. White loses the game. Discussion: MAN-TRAP is a continuing effect, and it's play or removal or trigger does not contradict the checkmate rule. White loses as his king is in check at the end of his turn, because he has already used his move and his hand does not contain any card which can be used to eliminate the check condition before the end of his turn. There may be scenarios under which a "bad faith" player can try to undermine the spirit of the game by using his king to try to trigger or remove continuing effects. E.g. TRUCE/FREEZE (continuing effect ends when a king is placed in check) is in effect, white wishes to remove the TRUCE/FREEZE but has no move which places black in check. White being a "bad faith" player, decides on his own turn to move his king into check (he may or may not have an after-move card in his hand to "rescue" his king from check), the TRUCE/FREEZE is immediately cancelled because the white king is in check. White does NOT have anything that can rescue his king from check - white loses the game (his king is in check at the end of his turn). There is no "testing" check of the king to remove a TRUCE/FREEZE. Therefore, the Touch-Move rule (used in regular chess tournament or competition) should be employed in knightmare chess - if a player touches a piece with his/her hands in a way that indicates they want to make a move, then no matter what happens, they must move that piece. Therefore, the CHECKMATE RULE should be revised to explicitly state that a player loses when his king is in check at the end of his turn. E.g. A player can use his turn to place his king in check (intentionally or unintentionally), which thus results in him losing the game. |
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