Cosmere Munchkin

[Newan]

Munchkin is a card game created by Steve Jackson Games.  The original version pokes fun at role-playing games and the fantasy genre in general, but it has been followed up by many expansions and alternate versions.  Now you can play munchkin in space, in the Wild West, or even in the worlds of Axe Cop and Adventure Time.  

 

But I want to play Munchkin in the Cosmere.  

 

Magic: 

 

I've been thinking about what it would take to create a Cosmere version of Munchkin.  I decided that it might work to steal the mechanic for powers from Super Munchkin.  

 

 

In Super Munchkin, the powers you can use are limited by your rank.  Your rank is equal to your level (unless it is increased by "origin" cards).  

 

So if you are at level three, and you have no origin cards, you could use a rank 3 power, or a rank 2 power and a rank 1 power, or three rank 1 powers, but you couldn't use 2 rank 2 powers.  You get it.  

 

In Cosmere Munchkin, magical abilities could have a power rank at the bottom right of the card, and a shardworld at the bottom left.  

 

Shardworlds:

 

Instead of "race" we could use "shardworld".  This way, only a character from Sel would be able to use AonDor, Dakhor, and so on.  Only a character from Scadrial would be able to use any of the allomantic or feruchemical abilities.  Rosharans would get surges, and Nalthians would get breaths.  But I feel like they should also each have their own ability, like races and classes do in other Munchkin games.  

 

Scadrial

Sel

Roshar

Nalthis

 

I can't think of any special abilities that would suit these.  I'll keep thinking, but I could really use some help here.  

 

Scadrial Powers: 

 

I don't think that we should make "Mistborn" a power.  Instead we could have individual powers for each metal.  Since there would be so many, we shouldn't make these very strong.  The "Scadrian" race card should be common more common than the others, but the other powers should be stronger.  

 

Also, not all of these have to give a combat bonus.  Thug would definitely be a combat bonus, but coinshot could give flight, lurcher could give the thieving ability, and tineye could be "discard a card from your hand to look at another player's hand".  

 

Although... it would feel wrong not to get a combat bonus from coinshot.  Maybe coinshot would be a bonus and a flight ability, and have it be one of the higher-ranked Scadrial abilities.  

 

I also think that we should have two scadrian abilities that are more highly ranked and more rare than any of the other scadrian abilities: Atium and Feruchemy.  

 

Atium: when you go to kick open the door, look at the top two door cards and choose the one you want to flip over.  Place the other one back on the deck.  

 

Feruchemy:  During combat, you may choose to store one point of your combat level.  Keep a piece of paper to show how much you have stored.  You may tap these charges in any combat.  The maximum number of charges you can store is 8.  

 

Nalthis Powers: 

 

I think that a Breath card should be a power with a rank of 1, and a combat bonus of 1, but with a couple of extra uses.  

 

Lifeless: after defeating a monster, you may choose to forfeit the treasure bonus and instead sacrifice one of your breaths to make it your lifeless sidekick.  It has the same combat level, but now works for you.  It still operates under the same rules as any other sidekick.  

 

I do worry that this power might be a little bit over the top.  If somebody creates a lifeless out of a monster that was a level 20, they're going to be pretty unstoppable.  So maybe the number of breaths they have to sacrifice should be equal to the treasure they would have received from the monster.  

 

On the other hand, the other races will have much better bonuses from their powers than Nalthis.  Maybe they should have this slight chance of being able to make a lifeless The Great Cthulu.  

 

I also want to incorporate Returned and Sentient Awakened Objects into this game, but I'm not sure how.  If we make a rule like "you have to sacrifice a breath every turn" or "you have to sacrifice a breath each time you use it in combat", we would have to fill the deck with so many Breath cards, any other race would get tired of discarding them all the time.  

 

That problem still needs to be fixed, but I'll write down my ideas so that I can get your feedback.  

 

Returned:  this could be an ability that Nalthians have written on their race cards.  If you ever die due to bad stuff, you immediately come back as a Returned without losing any items.  But there's a catch: at the beginning of each turn after that, before you open the door, someone must sacrifice one Breath card or you will die (for real this time).  It could be a breath card you were already holding, or it could be one that another player had, and that you bribed them to play.  

 

Sentient Awakened Objects:  Sacrifice three breaths to turn one of your items into a Sentient Awakened Item. It is now full of awesome power, just waiting to be released.  Each combat in which you use the item to its full power, you must sacrifice one breath.  The item's combat bonus is doubled.  

 

This may seem like an awful waste, but there are some items which would actually make this worth it, if you had the breaths.  If you had the lazer-bobaser-bananafanafofaser-glazer-dazer from Star Munchkin, this would be worth it.  Also, I haven't explained my idea for Hemalurgy yet.  Just you wait.  Muahahaha.

 

Sel Powers:

 

AonDor: gives a combat bonus, and gives a similar ability to Invisibility in Super Munchkin:  When you are helping someone in combat, you may discard a card from your hand to leave that combat.  The player you were helping may find someone else to help.  

 

Dakhor: gives a combat bonus, and gives this ability: When you are in combat, you may discard your whole hand (minimum three cards) to force a player to help you.  

 

Chayshan:  Gives a combat bonus.  

 

Bloodsealing:  I'm not sure.  Maybe it has to do with the number of sidekicks you can hold.  Or maybe undeads.  

 

Forging:  When anyone is in combat, you may discard a monster from your hand to replace the bonus given by a player's level for that combat to the discarded monster's combat level.  

 

Roshar Powers:

 

I haven't thought this one through yet.  I'll have to dig into it later.  

 

Hemalurgy:  

 

I think that anyone should be allowed to use a hemalurgic spike, not just Scadrians.  The hemalurgic spike object should be an item that you can play to steal someone's power.  You keep the spike as an equipped item, and can now use that power.  So it's like a cheat card, but better.  

 

Hemalurgic spikes should also be able to steal race cards.  So for example, you can use a hemalurgic spike to steal someone's Breath, but you can't become a Returned unless you become a Nalthian first.  But if you have another hemalurgic spike, you can use it to steal somebody's Nalthian card as well.  

 

This would be a cool way to have the benefits of multiple races without having to draw a Super Munchkin card (or in this version of the game, a Worldhopper card).  

 

There can also be a special rule for Sel that even if you steal a Sel power with a hemalurgic spike, you cannot use it unless you have a Selish card, or you have stolen somebody's Selish card with another hemalurgic spike.  

 

The "Hemalurgic Spike" item would have to be pretty rare, or it would make the game utter mayhem.  Unless we want the game to be utter mayhem, of course... Hmm.....

 

Monsters: 

 

Thinking up monsters should be fun.  I definitely think that "mistwraith unicorn" should be one.  The hard part is really going to be thinking up monsters with a mid-range combat level.  Ugly lizard crab thing can be level 1, and Odium can be level 18, but what's going to be in between?  

 

Here I will list some ideas for monsters.  Most of these aren't ridiculous enough though.  I've organized them by which planet I got the idea from.

Roshar:

Spren (maybe there could be many kinds of spren for various low level monsters, or it could just be a couple of the most ridiculous spren we could think of).  

Cremlings

Rockbuds

Chull

Whitespine

Chasmfiend

Axehound

Chicken

Voidbringers

Hoidbringers

Midnight Essence

Midday Essence 

Late Afternoon Essence

Truthless of Shinovar

Odium

Renarin's Fangirls

 

Scadrial:

Kandra

Kandra with bones made out of... (knives, ice, balloons, et cetera)

Mistwraith

Mistwraith unicorn

Koloss

Steel Inquisitor

Flower

Giraffe

Ruin

 

Sel:

Tough Corn

An Angry Child

Magic Mud

Dakhor Monk

 

Nalthis:

Lifeless Squirrel

Five Scholars

Kalad's Phantoms

Kaladin's Phantoms

Kalak's Phantoms

Returned Squirrel

 

First of the Sun:

A Big Scary Bird

 

Threnody:

Shade

Shades

Even More Shades

Your Mom's Shades

Kelsier's Shade

(My idea for shades is that they are undead, so they can automatically be added to any combat with undead in it, but that they can also be added to any combat in which a fire/flame attack is used)

 

Ashyn:

Magic Sneeze 

 

Taldain:

Magic Sand

 

Cosmere:

Adonalsium

Hoid

The 17th Shard

A Shard of Glass

 

Behind the Scenes:

Brandon Sanderson

Peter Ahlstrom

Isaac Stewert 

et cetera.  

 

Anyway, what do you think?  I would love to get some feedback.  

[ParadoxicalZen]

Munchkin <3333 I have the Cthulhu mythos one. I think it is a brilliant idea!

[Paragrin]

I actually had a similar idea, and my brother and I fleshed out, coincidentally, mostly the SA stuff. Idea is each Radiant order would function like Classes (we haven't played Super Munchkin), gain a Shardblade (card) after you've had it for 3 turns (and possibly Plate when we know the mechanism), and give you its two Surges and a special order power. Some of them I actually took time to write Munchkin-style card text for. I really like your silly monsters, though.

 

Cohesion - You may spend 300 value to ensure success or failure on any Run Away attempt.

 

Tension - You may treat one item of Armor (at a time) as a one-handed weapon.

 

Adhesion - You can wear an unlimited number of Headgear and Footwear.

 

Gravitation - You can wield all two-handed items with one hand (each, you don't get to hold EVERYTHING in one hand).

 

Division - For the duration of combat, negate the effects and remove all value from one card

 

Abrasion - The Slippery Slope - +3 to either side in combat 

 

Progression - can save other characters from death OR once per turn, you can go through the discard pile and add a monster to your hand/a combat

 

Illumination - You may change any aspect of your appearance, including gender, at will.

 

Transformation - on successful die roll, end combat, not gaining levels but gaining treasures

 

Transportation - Ninja Vanish - may autosucess Run Away no matter WHAT. Except Nalan. 

 

 

Windrunners - If you help someone win a battle, you get the level(s) as well 

 

Skybreakers - If you catch someone using a Cheat card, you may engage them in direct combat. Loser becomes dead.

 

Truthwatchers - can look at top card of Door deck and choose to take it or the one below it (yes I know it’s like your atium, we came up with it independently)

 

Bondsmiths: - gain +3 in combat if you are helping someone or someone is helping you

 

 

For monsters:

 

Nalan - lvl 10(?), will not pursue non-Radiants. Good Stuff: two treasures and can search discard pile for a Skybreaker card. Bad Stuff: You are stabbed in the face by a Shardblade. You are dead. 

 

Other:

 

Coinshot - can spend any item for a one-off +(value/100) to either side in combat