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Old 12-29-2014, 06:40 PM   #1
banjonate
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Default Munchkin questions from someone new (to the forum)

Hey All!

First of all, I'd like to say that I am a Munchkin player from almost day one. My battered, beaten, and blistered poor box is rules version 1.03 that I bought in 2002, I believe. Since then, I have added Unnatural Axe, Clerical Errors, and thrown in Super Munchkin, Star Munchkin, The Good, the Bad, the Munchkin, and Blender for good measure (no, we don't generally cross games but the Blender cards make for interesting stuff).

However, I have never done serious Munchkin gaming outside of Family (most of whom at least have a passing familiarity with gaming) and good (sometimes bad) friends. As such, the "owner of the game" rules judgments have gotten a good going through from me over the years.

As a New Testament follower, I typically believe that the Spirit of the Law is more important than the Letter, so I try to interpret things, rather than applying gaming logic, applying the principal of trying to be as Munchkinly as possible. It makes for loud arguments, which I figure is in the spirit of the game.

So, having no other Munchkin contact with other gamers except on this forum that I have a shiny new registry for, I have some interpretation questions, to see if I have been on the right track all these years... and if not, do I want to continue on the wrong one!

1) I figure that the "Really Impressive Title" and things like it are not 'items' because they are not.... well.... items. As such, they can't be stolen, or lost to curses that cause you to "lose the item that gives the biggest bonus", etc.

2) When you have a "cheat", to what extent can you cheat? In one of our games, someone used the cheat card to use someone else's weapon... which I thought, well, it is "one item that you would not otherwise be allowed to use" and, besides that, was munchkinly. It was the difference in the battle... which caused loud argument... which I figured was a sign I made the right choice.

3) Can the "loaded die" card be used to show a number not on the die? I ask because the card itself shows the die rolling a 7 (and sometimes you need a 7!)

4) Serious question: The Kneepads of Allure. Effectively it makes someone as powerful as themself plus the most powerful person on the table. It always seemed to be a bit of a game balance issue. (Munchkinly, but the game still needs to be fair, right?) My understanding is that at some point the card was removed from the set for that reason, but then it came back. What is everyone's feeling about it?

5) Another halfway serious rules question: we always played where someone can play a Wandering Monster card, and someone else can play the actual monster. This made for a lot of resistance once someone got to level 8 and 9. When I recently decided that, "hey I think that's wrong," there was loud argument of the "We always played like that!" and I recanted.

6) The game says that a game should take "about an hour." It always seems to take us two. What are we doing wrong?

(Not that any of us have an issue with it. Munchkin is always what we play when we all get together, and we all figure it's awesome and we have no problem taking two hours to play).

Several of us have the game, or some iteration thereof, now, and while regular wargaming and RPG is always fun, Munchkin has become the game of choice. It also works as a "gateway game," as some folks I know have gotten into more serious gaming as a result of Munchkin.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Nate
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Old 12-30-2014, 07:58 AM   #2
Brf
 
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Default Re: Munchkin questions from someone new (to the forum)

Some of the rules were changed in 2010. The Gurus here have said that if you have an old set, it is easier to play by the old rules as written, but you should play by the newer rules if you know them. Note that "Blender" was re-released as "Munchkin 7 - Cheat with Both Hands".

1. "Really Impressive Title" does not have a Value printed on the card (or "No Value"), so it is not an "Item".

2. "Cheat" removes the restrictions or requirements for using the Item you attach it to. It does not allow you to steal another user's Item.

3. The Loaded Die (and Re-loaded Die), as written in 2010 , tells you to turn the die to whichever number you want to use. If the Die does not have a "7" on it, you cannot turn it to "7".

4. The Kneepads of Allure were removed at one point and then added back in. As written in 2010, they cannot be used to gain the winning level.

5. As written, the player playing the Wandering Monster card must also play a monster. The card does not say another player can play it instead.

6. Games usually take us a couple hours, depending on how many players are playing, and how brutal we are to each other.
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Old 12-31-2014, 06:11 PM   #3
Grimbriar
 
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Default Re: Munchkin questions from someone new (to the forum)

Hi!


Quote:
3) Can the "loaded die" card be used to show a number not on the die? I ask because the card itself shows the die rolling a 7 (and sometimes you need a 7!)
The art on the card does not exceed the rules of the card. If you're a male and you have the Elf female Race card, it doesn't make your character female, for instance.


Quote:
6) The game says that a game should take "about an hour." It always seems to take us two. What are we doing wrong?
Quote:
6. Games usually take us a couple hours, depending on how many players are playing, and how brutal we are to each other.
You're doing nothing wrong, as Brf said, the game usually takes a couple of hours. In my personal games, it depends on whether I'm playing with my fiancee and her family, or at the local game store, and even then if it's casual or sort of, but not really, serious the time changes.

If it's a casual game, we just relax, play, chat, discuss, argue rules, talk about games/ movies/ tv/ whatever, then it can go 2 or 3 hours. At my FLGS we've had games of Munchkin, CAH and M:tG going on at the same time, with some players in two or all three of those at once, which is really fun, because the M:tG players seem to really get into Munchkin and CAH.

In a serious game (and I use serious loosely, because come on, it's Munchkin, not rocket surgery,) it can go for 15 minutes, depending on how devious at least one of us is feeling. I just won a round of Super Munchkin last week because I simply read one card incorrectly, and no one complained about it, even when I realized 3 days later I had played it wrong.

Even Steve cheats at Munchkin! :) (video proof on Tabletop!)

Some of the older stuff you mention has been changed, like Brf mentioned, the Kneepads of Allure haven't been that way in four years, you may want to update your set to the newer rules.
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