BANG 21

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Summary: (SeattleCosmicGameNight[0-9]+) -> \[\[$1\]\]

Changed:

< --["Ron Hale-Evans"], SeattleCosmicGameNight20030215

to

> --["Ron Hale-Evans"], [[SeattleCosmicGameNight20030215]]

Changed:

< --["Jay Lorch"], SeattleCosmicGameNight20030215

to

> --["Jay Lorch"], [[SeattleCosmicGameNight20030215]]


BANG!

http://www.ludism.org/scpix/20030215/12_bang_cards.jpg http://www.ludism.org/scpix/20030215/11_bang_players.jpg

Jay predicted Seattle Cosmic would like BANG! because it has elements of both Werewolf and Cosmic_Encounter?. I guess he was right, because most of the people who played it didn't want to do anything else the rest of the night... The iconic language that stated what each card could do was very interesting and reminded me of both the Glass Bead Game, and SC member Lion Kimbro's proposal for an iconic language to specify rules in Nomic.

--Ron_Hale-Evans?, SeattleCosmicGameNight20030215

The Werewolf-like aspect of this game is that each player is randomly assigned a role: Sheriff, Vice, Outlaw, or Renegade. Everyone knows who the Sheriff is, but each other player keeps his role secret until he dies. The Renegade wins if he is the last one alive and if the Sheriff is the last one to die. The Outlaws win if the Sheriff dies under any other circumstance. The Sheriff and Vices win if the Outlaws and Renegades all die. Vices and Outlaws can win even if they are dead, so there is room for heroism by sacrificing oneself for the greater good.

The Cosmic Encounter-like aspect is that each player gets a personality randomly assigned at the beginning of the game. This personality conveys a special power to break the rules in some way. To balance the game, players with better powers get a lower initial and maximum life total. For instance, Paul Regret, a good personality, has an initial and maximum life total of 3; Suzy Lafayette's is 4.

On a player's turn, he draws two cards, plays any number of cards from his hand, then discards cards until his hand size is no greater than his current life total. The most common card to play is Bang!, which lets you do one damage to a player of your choice who's within range of your current weapon. For instance, if your weapon has a range of 2, you can hit the players who are sitting no more than 2 spaces away from you. If you have no weapon card in play, you always have your trusty Colt 45 with a range of 1.

The great thing about the game is the table talk. You can claim to be whoever you want, and usually everyone's claiming to be the Vice, at least until they get into a good enough position to go after their real target. It's up to you to figure out who's on your side and who's just pretending to be, before you wind up bleeding to death on the floor of some grimy saloon.

--Jay_Lorch?, SeattleCosmicGameNight20030215

BoardgameGeek page for BANG!


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