ChaosCruisersTextVersion

This is an AutoGeneratedTextVersion of ChaosCruisers

Chaos CruisersA Changing Landscapes game for the piecepack by Paul ElliotVersion
0.6, January 17, 2003Copyright (C) 2003 by Paul Elliot3-4 players – variable length
License Agreement: These game instructions may be distributed and copied for free
aslong as the author is credited or this header is left in place. Equipment: 1
piecepack, a pen & paper StoryIn the far future, ordinary racing has become
obsolete. The fans have grown bored withdriving around in loops at high speeds. So,
a new genre of racing is born—the ChaosCruiser. These unique hover-vehicles are
designed for pure speed and maneuverability.And they’ll need every bit of it because
the racetrack is not what it seems. The track ismade up of individual modules that
shuffle about, ratcheting up the difficulty. Also, eachdriver has radio-controlled
drones that can be placed as obstacles in their opponents’paths. In the midst of all
this chaos, one wily cruiser will prove to be the fastest, mostagile, and most
crafty of them all. Who will earn the Chaos Cup? Summary of PlayThe piecepack tiles
are laid out, so as to create a racetrack. Each player controls onecruiser,
represented by a piecepack die. The number that is face-up on the diedesignates the
speed of that cruiser. The coins have two uses. The null and ace coinsare placed on
the track as impassible obstacles. The 2, 3, 4, and 5 coins are used asnitro-boosts
or shock-breaks, which greatly increase or decrease your speed. Thepawns stand for
the gates along the course. When a cruiser enters the tile containing agate, he
checks that gate off on the race progress chart. When all the cruisers havereached a
certain gate, a chaos round is initiated, in which each player can move thetwo
obstacles of his color. Also, the player in last place can move 3 tiles of the
racetrackto entirely new locations. The first player to complete the race by passing
through eachof the four gates twice in the correct sequence is the winner.
SetupFirst, each player takes the die and six coins of a single color. If only 3
players will beracing, remove the tokens of the fourth player from the game. Then,
arrange the tiles inorder to create the initial racecourse. The tiles should be
place with the grid side up.Place a pawn on the middle point of the grid on each
tile where a gate will be. This isthe suggested initial setup:





 The players each place a cruiser on one of the four squares of the tile containing
 thesun gate (on the Xs in the above diagram). The youngest player places his
 cruiser first,and the other players do likewise in age order. Alternatively, roll
 to determine the order.Either way, the cruisers begin with the null side face-up
 (that is, they have a speed ofzero). PlayThe game begins with a cruising round.
 Cruising rounds continue until all the cruisershave completed a given gate, in
 which case a chaos round will commence. Then,cruising rounds will continue until
 the next chaos round is initiated, and so forth. Cruising Round The players each
 move their cruiser, starting with the cruiser in the lead andproceeding down to the
 cruiser in last place. At this point the cruising round iscomplete.To determine
 which cruiser is in the lead:1. The cruiser in the lead is the one that has reached
 the most gates (in theproper order) on the race progress chart.2. In case of a tie
 on rule 1, the cruiser in the lead is the one that has the fewestspaces to traverse
 to reach the next gate in the race.3. In case of a tie on rule 2, the cruiser in
 the lead is the one that has the highestspeed (largest number showing on the
 die).4. In case of a tie on rule 3, then flip a coin or roll a die to determine
 whichcruiser is in the lead.Use this same method to determine who goes second,
 third, and fourth in thecruising round.   In this example, the crown gate is next
 for all the cruisers. Theyellow and blue cruisers are tied for distance to the gate
 (3spaces). However, the blue cruiser has a higher speed (4 asopposed to 3), so he
 will move first. The yellow cruiser is next.Then, the red cruiser is third, and the
 black cruiser will take histurn last.

How to MoveFirst, the cruiser adjusts its speed. The player may choose one of the
followingoptions:1. Increase by one (move the die to the next higher number).2.
Decrease by one (move the die to the next lower number).3. Stay the same speed.4.
Play a speed coin (see below).The speed of the cruiser can never be above 5 or below
0. If the action wouldraise the cruiser's speed to a number greater than 5, place
the die at 5instead. Likewise, if the action would lower the cruiser's speed below
0, placethe die at null instead.Then, the cruiser must move a number of spaces on
the track equal to thenumber on its die. Null counts as zero (the cruiser stands
still), and acecounts as one. The cruiser may move in any direction in a straight
line (nodiagonal movement). The cruiser is allowed to change direction by 90degrees
one time in the course of a single movement. There is no need tokeep track of a
cruiser's facing, however, as it may begin to move in anydirection at the beginning
of its next turn.  In this example, the black cruiser has set his speed to 3 for
thiscruising round. He can legally move to any of the spaces markedwith stars (move
3 spaces with only one 90 degree turn allowed).This cruiser cannot legally reach any
other spaces.   Moving Out-of-Bounds   A cruiser is out-of-bounds if it leaves the
course or enters a space containing anobstacle. This may happen intentionally, but
usually it will occur if a cruiser isgoing too fast or gets rammed by an opponent.".
If a cruiser's movement wouldcause it to move off of the course or to move into or
through an obstacle, placethe cruiser on the tile of the last gate that they passed.
If they haven't passed agate yet, the cruiser is returned to the starting tile of
the race (sun gate). Theplayer may choose which of the four squares of that tile to
place his cruiser.Reset the speed of the cruiser to zero (null side up). On the next
cruising round,that cruiser may continue the race normally.  Playing a Speed CoinIf
a cruiser elects to play a speed coin when adjusting its speed, it may be usedin one
of two ways:1. Nitro-boost: add the value of the coin to speed of the cruiser (to
amaximum of 5).2. Shock-breaks: subtract the value of the coin from the speed of the
cruiser(to a minimum of 0).After using a speed coin in either fashion, discard it.
The null and ace coinscannot be played to adjust speed. Rather, they are used only
as obstacles.

Ramming Another Cruiser  If your cruiser moves onto the same square occupied by
another cruiser,immediately end your movement for the round (even if you have not
moved thefull number of spaces that are designated by the die). Move the cruiser
into whichyou collided one square in the direction of travel. If this causes that
cruiser toleave the course or enter a space containing an obstacle, note that it
will betreated as above (i.e. they will be returned to the last gate that they
passed).Also, reduce the speed of the cruiser that caused the collision by one (to
aminimum of zero).  In this example, the black cruiserrams into the yellow cruiser.
Theblack cruiser stops at the point ofcollision and reduces his speedfrom 3 to 2.
The yellow cruiser ismoved one space in the directionof travel. If that space
hadcontained an obstacle or hadbeen over the edge of the board,yellow would have
been sentback to the last gate! Race Progress Chart Each time that a cruiser reaches
a gate, place a check in the appropriate location onthis chart:

Only place a check if the cruiser reaches the gates in this exact order. Chaos
RoundOnce every single cruiser has reached a given gate on the race progress chart,
achaos round is initiated. It will begin as soon as the current cruising round
iscomplete. These are the steps of the chaos round:1. If the gate that was completed
was the sun gate, every player retrieves thespeed coins that have been previously
discarded. These may be used asusual.2. Remove all obstacle coins from the course,
and return the coins of each colorto the player whose cruiser is the same color. On
the first chaos round of thegame, this step will be unnecessary because the obstacle
coins are not usedin the initial setup.

  Red Cruiser Black Cruiser Yellow Cruiser Blue Cruiser
Moon Gate 1
Crown Gate 1
Arms Gate 1
Sun Gate 1
Moon Gate 2
Crown Gate 2
Arms Gate 2
Sun Gate 2

3. The last player to have reached the gate that initiated this chaos round gets
torearrange the course. He may pick up and place 3 tiles in different
locations,following these rules:A. No tile containing a cruiser may be moved.B. The
four gate tiles may not be moved.C. No tile may be moved or placed, so as to isolate
a tile on the board. Everytile must be situated so that any cruiser can reach it.D.
Tiles must be placed in alignment with the other tiles, and at least onesquare on
the tile that is being placed must be adjacent to at least onesquare on a tile that
was previously on the board.4. Determine the playing order for the next cruising
round. Starting with the leadplaying and continuing to the player in last place,
each player places one oftheir two obstacles (ace and null coins). Then, go around
in the same orderwith players placing the other of their two obstacles. In both of
theseplacements, these rules must be followed:A. Obstacle coins must be placed
within one square on a tile.B. Obstacle coins may not be placed in a tile containing
a cruiser.C. Obstacle coins may not be placed in one of the four gate tiles.D.
Obstacle coins may not be placed, so as to isolate a portion of the board.Once
again, every tile must be situated so that any cruiser can reach it.5. Following
these changes to the course, proceed with the next cruising round. Game EndThe game
ends when one cruiser reaches the sun gate for the second time, havingpreviously
reached all the gates in the proper order, as shown on the race progresschart. That
player is the champion and receives the Chaos Cup. Variants1. Try setting up the
initial racecourse in all sorts of eclectic shapes. Be careful, though,not to make
the board too impossible to complete. 2. Change the number of tiles that are moved
during the chaos round. If more aremoved, the game is more chaotic, and last place
becomes rather appealing. If fewerare moved, it will be far more strategic. Try it
without any movement of tiles for atwist. 3. Allow players to retrieve used coins on
every chaos round. Alternatively, don’t letplayers ever retrieve used coins. 4. To
vary the game length, play with more gates and laps or fewer gates and laps. 5. For
a two-player version, each player may control two cruisers. The winner is thefirst
to complete the race with both of the cruisers.