Looking to make a smaller Fantasy deck with bits of everything...

[Mister Ed]

OK, here's the thing. I'm going to visit my parents in Arkansas in July, and I want to introduce them to Munchkin. However, I don't want to haul Munchkin 1-6 out there, I'm looking for something more manageable (and that won't take up much precious packing space). Sure, I could just bring the core set, but I kind of want to use the wider range of Munchkiny goodness.

Anybody ever tried making a smaller deck (preferably no more than 200 total cards) that uses a bit of stuff from multiple expansions? I'm wondering what the best balance would be. Or is this a fools errand? Will picking bits of everything just make it so none of it will work like it is supposed to? I dunno. Just thought I'd toss this out there and see if anybody else has attempted this.

[snarky]

This is totally feasible, but you're going to have to be a little careful about how you pick and choose the cards - for example if you drop the Ranger class from the game, you want to make sure there are no Ranger-specific items or monsters that are in the deck, hiding.

[Mister Ed]

One thing I was considering is, if I keep ALL the races and classes, but cut back on copies to preserve balance, should I maybe ditch ALL the race and class specific items, since they are far less likely to match up? (Or maybe keep one or two good ones, so somebody MIGHT get lucky?)

[Mister Ed]

It occurs to me that I should probably mention what I have.

I have Munchkin 1-6, Marked for Death, Reloaded, Monster Enhancers, Fairy Dust, Munchkinomicon, various promos and the Boxes of Holding cards. (I kind of assumed I would leave Munchkin 6, Fairy Dust, and Munchkinomicon home.)

[snarky]

I'd probably consider the following:

1) Stick to the core races and classes; unless they're RPG fans, the added classes and races in later expansions might not hit home as much.

2) Double the number of low-level monsters (< L10) from the core set (IIRC, each set adds either even- or odd-leveled critters). This might make the game a little more fun and the 9th-level grind not quite as bad.

3) Try to balance out the rest of the cards, so there's enough that most people will be able to use them without cheats or without holding too much unused equipment.

Using the spreadsheet I made awhile back, it looks like the "normal" distribution of cards should look like this for a 200-card deck (Doors only):

Class 16
Curse 26
Monster 74

L1 6, L2 7, L3 5, L4 5 ,L5 5, L6 6, L7 3, L8 3, L9 3, L10 3
L11 2, L12 6, L13 3, L14 3, L15 3, L16 3, L17 2, L18 3, L19 2, L20 1

Monster Modifier 30
Munchkin 17
Race 17
Steed 6
Hireling 6

[Nerftw]

I'd honestly say Munchkin + 2 and 3, or even just core Munchkin. Even just one expansion helps out the main set, and you don't need to show them the entire game all at once. The original game plays perfectly well on it's own, or else it wouldn't have been a success in the first place. You want few enough cards so that they can become familiar with them and know what they're doing. What you don't want to do is throw a stack of 300 cards at them so they'll never see the same card come up twice.

Plus, stuff like the Monster Enhancers booster and other ways to make the game more cutthroat are just going to confuse new players, who are trying to grasp the difference between items and enhancers.

There's really no reason to build a custom assortment in my opinion. You're just making work for yourself when it's already been done for you with the normal decks and expansions.

[Mister Ed]

Thanks, snarky, that is extremely helpful!

[Mister Ed]

Originally Posted by Nerftw

There's really no reason to build a custom assortment in my opinion. You're just making work for yourself when it's already been done for you with the normal decks and expansions.

I suppose. I really wanted some Steeds in there, though, and some of the other races and classes, but didn't want to deal with a deck of the size that even Core + 2 expansions leads to.

[snarky]

I just realized that would make your full set about 400 cards, not 200; here's the breakdown for a 100-card Door deck (which you'd probably match with a 100-card Treasure deck):

Class 8
Curse 13
Monster 37

L1 3, L2 4, L3 2, L4 2, L5 2, L6 3, L7 2, L8 2, L9 2, L10 2
L11 1, L12 3, L13 1, L14 1, L15 1, L16 1, L17 1, L18 1, L19 1, L20 1

Monster Modifier 15
Munchkin 9
Race 8
Steed 3
Hireling 3

[Mister Ed]

What falls under "Munchkin" in that breakdown?