Munchkinomicon makes for endless games

[Shinigami]

My friends and I tried this expansion for the first time last weekend, and we had a VERY bad experience with it.

Unless we read/interpreted the rules wrong, the rules state that you can get the munchkinomicon AND A SPELL by either sacrificing a level, or discarding 3 cards (among other means). This wasnt a problem until the end game.

Basically, 4 out of the 5 players where at level 9 but were never able to win the game. The reason for this was because every time someone was facing a monster and were close to winning, all the players started sacrificing cards AND/OR levels to keep getting spells until a spell would come up to stop the player from winning. This kept happening for several hours. We ended our game without a winner after 5 hours!!

Point is, we went from having 4/5 players at level 9 to all the players back at level ~4-6 with hardly any gear.

Did we interpret the rules wrong, or was this an oversight in the design of the card and its rules?

Personally, I suggest all the players agree to two rules that I feel will drastically improve the game when playing with munchkinomicon.

1. Allow the Munchkinomicon to be stolen onle ONCE per each player's turn.

2. Players should not be allowed to discard cards from their hand to steal the munchkinomicon. The reason for this is that we were all exploiting this rule and basically bypassing the charity phase as instead of giving card via charity we would just use them to get the munchkinomicon! So instead of losing card and helping the lowest player, we actually gained a super strong spell, and 5 bonus points! (this is broker IMO)

[Mister Ed]

I seem to recall somebody official saying that multiple, random fishing expeditions in an attempt to get something that might stop the player from winning a combat violated the "reasonable time" rule. In other words, "reasonable time" is designed to give people time to react to somebody winning a combat with the cards in their hands (or possibly with a card that allows them to retrieve a TARGETED card to use, though I'm not sure on the official stance on that one), but not to endlessly hold up combat hoping to randomly draw something useful.

[Solelron]

From the FAQ:

Can several players repeatedly steal the Munchkinomicon during another player's combat in order to attempt to get a spell to stop the player from winning?

A. Once a player says, "OK, I'm winning – is anyone doing anything to stop me?" the "reasonable time" count begins. You cannot stop the player by saying you intend to do something; you have to make an affirmative action (by playing a card or discarding to use a power). Discard diving is not an affirmative action – you can pull Spells with the Munchkinomicon if you want, but if you don't play Spells that directly affect the fight, then you aren't changing the state of the combat, and so the "reasonable time" does not reset.

[Shinigami]

Hmph. I see. Unfortunately, me and my friends don't really play like that. There is no "reasonable" amount of time. The way that we play is that there is unlimited time to react to any play. But as soon as it seems like no one is about to do anything, then the player counts to three and that is when the turn ends. We do this because we don't want outcomes to be decided because time ran out. We want to fully allow strategy and creativity to be what decides an outcome.

This seems extra necessary because it can take so long to even read and interpret a cards meaning, and debate the validity of the way it is used.

[Mister Ed]

Well, in this instance, it seems like the answer has less to do with time, per se, and more to do with it being unacceptable to go fishing for something to help stop the player from winning, vs. making use of what you already have in hand and/or in play.

[PK]

I respect the official rule, but my group's fix is a simple house rule: You don't draw a spell when you acquire the Munchkinomicon, only if you start off the turn with it. That makes it far less of a thing to fight over and means there's no point to the whole table collectively sacrificing a dozen levels to pass it around, when they're trying to stop a person from winning. Instead, it becomes something that people tend to sacrifice for just before their turn starts, and it makes spells a bit more rare, so that we only go through the spell deck 3-4 times instead of 12-15 times.