Duck of Earl and Die With All Ones

[RL]

Got my Munchkin: Go Up a Level set today and noticed the new Duck of Earl card.

Curse you Andrew! Is it an accident that this completely nullifies the die with ones on all sides that we made?

But then again, having a D100 sounds like a pretty high percentage option.

[For those who don't know, the new Duck of Earl causes you to lose a level if you roll a 2 or lower.]

[RevBob]

Sounds like it's time to break out my All Fives die.

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by Chad Cloman

Curse you Andrew! Is it an accident that this completely nullifies the die with ones on all sides that we made?

I prefer to think of it as negating the Chicken On Your Hand weirdness.

[MunchkinMan]

Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard

I prefer to think of it as negating the Chicken On Your Hand weirdness.

Is that the one that's worth two in the bush?

[morleydotes]

Free Range Chicken in the shrubbery....




Pat

[bast_imret]

dangit! i just noticed this in a game today with the 19th printing. i had to do a doubletake.

[Icositetrachoron]

Hello. I am new to the forums, and I just had to join right away so that I could ask this question:

Can someone please tell me precisely what the new version of the card says?

Or, if that's not allowed, could you just tell me what the conditions are for gaining two levels, gaining one level, and losing a level? I have been all over the internet trying to find an answer to this question, and to no avail. All that I have found regarding the updated card is this helpful but incomplete info from Chad Cloman at the beginning of this thread:

Originally Posted by Chad Cloman

[For those who don't know, the new Duck of Earl causes you to lose a level if you roll a 2 or lower.]

You see, I am working on a set of custom dice to give me the optimal advantage when playing the Duck of Earl. I have the older set, which I use with my group of friends whom I play with every week, so most of the time I will be using the original version of the card. I have already designed the dice that I am going to use when I draw the original Duck, and have begun the process of constructing them (hopefully in time for next weekend's big game night). However, I would also like to be ready in case I play with a group that has a newer set, so I will need to know how the new card works and then design alternate Duck dice. Please, if anyone has the updated card, could you please post specifics as to how it works?

Thanks so much!

[Andrew Hackard]

Just this once, and because we try to be nice to newbies . . . ;-)

Originally Posted by Duck of Earl

Roll a die. ANY die you have at the table or in your pocket. On a 2 or lower, lose a level. On a 6 or higher, gain a level. On any other result, draw a face-up Treasure and a face-down Door.

[Icositetrachoron]

Thank you kindly, almighty Czar! That is very clear. Looks like I will just need a die with all 7's or higher so that the result is still >= 6 even if there's a Chicken on my Head. See? You didn't truly negate the weirdness after all; it has merely been transformed. ;) Of course, no weirdness at all if my die has nothing but 7+'s. I suppose that was your true intention when redesigning the card.

The new draw-one-of-each-card dynamic is interesting, but I still prefer the original for two reasons: (1) I *like* the weirdness, and (2) the chance to gain two levels!!

To elaborate further, if I may:

(1) The Chicken on your Head weirdness: As we all know, this curse subtracts 1 from all your die rolls. This can make games very interesting, especially when combined with the Duck of Earl. There has been a fair amount of talk on this forum about having a die with all 1's in your pocket just in case you get the Duck. This is of course the natural solution, and it's a good one for sure, but it is by no means guaranteed to succeed. Even if I have an all-1's die, which I roll to gain two levels, another player can curse me with Chicken on your Head and I will now be losing, having just rolled an effective zero. Conversely, I could already have a Chicken when I play the Duck, so for this scenario I could also carry an all-2's die, which when rolled with said fowl on my cranium will give me an effective 1 and thus a two level gain. However, this too can be countered by another player with either a Wishing Ring or a curse that causes me to lose my headgear (if I happen to be wearing any), thus taking away the Chicken and restoring my actual -- and now losing -- roll. To counter these possibilities, I could modify my plans and carry two dice: one with all 1's except for a single 2, and another with all 2's except for a single 1. This way, I can still choose the appropriate die for the given situation (Chicken or no Chicken before playing the Duck) and probably succeed, plus because no matter what the circumstances there is always at least one face that is winning, I'll have a chance of being able to fix it. Although a good roll is no longer guaranteed, I am still far more likely to roll the desired outcome than not (especially if these dice have lots of sides and/or are loaded, hint hint); also, I like the fact that there's still a chance that the dice gods may frown upon my munchkinly cheating and give me the one bad roll, as this helps keep the game interesting. So now, with a winning roll on top and everywhere else on the die except for one face, if another player hits me with the Chicken or Wishing Ring or whatever to reverse my good "fortune", I now have the option of playing a Loaded Die card (if I have one) to turn the die so that the single face with the formerly-bad-but-now-good number is on top. That's my roll. I win. (Unless of course another player has a Reloaded Die...)

(2) The chance to gain two levels: This makes this card special; more than just a GUAL with a chance to fail. Yes, the new version of the card does give lovely consolation prizes (one treasure and one door), but, come on, two levels! Plenty of motivation for a true munchkin to get out the ol' Dremel and some paint and start making his own dice... >:)

In any case, the new card sounds like fun too. I look forward to my next encounter with the Duck of Earl or his younger twin brother, trio of custom dice in pocket.

[Rudkin]

Personally, I'd be inclined to pack the colour die from Munchkin Quest, or a blank die, or that weird die I have kicking around with shapes instead of numbers....

Sure I couldn't get a level out of it, but guaranteed extra cards with no risk of losing a level is also appealing. After all "Blue" (even "Blue -1" in the case of having a Chicken on your head -- does that even make sense?) would be "any other result"...!