variable player powers

Tammany Hall

"The way to have Power is to take it" - William "Boss" Tweed

Tammany Hall is a game of backstabbing, corruption, temporary alliances, and taking power at all costs. If you want to rule New York, you are going to need to play the city's growing immigrant populations against one another. Help the immigrant groups who owe you political favors, call in those favors to slander your rivals, and win elections.

In Tammany Hall, players help immigrants settle in New York, collect political favors from those immigrant groups, send ward bosses into Manhattan to secure votes, and slander political opponents. An election is held at the end of every fourth year, and the player who uses his power base best will be elected mayor. The Mayor's grip on the city is tenuous at best. After every election, the Mayor must pay off his political rivals by placing them in offices that they can wield to try to take control of the city. Every player is your friend, every player is your enemy.

Tammany Hall was the political machine that dominated New York City politics by organizing the immigrant populations. While the organization's influence spanned from its founding in the 1790s to its collapse in the 1960s, this game is set in lower Manhattan roughly between 1850 and 1870 – the era of Boss Tweed.

Super Munchkin

Publisher's Description

Fly through the city. Smash the villains. Backstab your teammates and grab their gadgets.

Munchkin has parodied the classic dungeon, the kung-fu warrior, the space epic, and the creatures of the night. Now, it's the superheroes' turn!

Be a Mutant, an Exotic, a Mystic, or a Techno. The higher your Level, the more Powers you can have. Battle dastardly masterminds, devastating monsters, and invading aliens from the next dimension - from the wimpy Triplicate Twit all the way up to Big Ol' Planet Eater Guy himself - and TAKE THEIR STUFF! With the Aura Helmet, the Telezapinator, and the (jet-powered) Pogo Stick, no foe can stand before you.

Super Munchkin is a stand-alone game, which (of course) can be combined with other Munchkin games. Designed by Steve Jackson (I) and illustrated by John Kovalic, this one is destined to RULE THE WORLD! Mwahahaha!

Other

Part of the Munchkin series

Munchkin is a satirical card game based on the clichés and oddities of Dungeons and Dragons and other role-playing games. Each player starts at level 1 and the winner is the first player to reach level 10. Players can acquire familiar D&D style character classes during the game which determine to some extent the cards they can play.

There are two types of cards - treasure and encounters. Each turn the current players 'kicks down the door' - drawing an encounter card from the deck. Usually this will involve battling a monster. Monsters have their own levels and players must try and overcome it using the levels, weapons and powers they have acquired during the game or run away. Other players can chose to help the player or hinder by adding extra monsters to the encounter. Defeating a monster will usually result in drawing treasure cards and acquiring levels. Being defeated by a monster results in "bad stuff" which usually involves losing levels and treasure.

Race for the Galaxy

In the card game Race for the Galaxy, players build galactic civilizations by playing game cards in front of them that represent worlds or technical and social developments. Some worlds allow players to produce goods, which can be consumed later to gain either card draws or victory points when the appropriate technologies are available to them. These are mainly provided by the developments and worlds that are not able to produce, but the fancier production worlds also give these bonuses.

At the beginning of each round, players each select, secretly and simultaneously, one of the seven roles which correspond to the phases in which the round progresses. By selecting a role, players activate that phase for this round, giving each player the opportunity to perform that phase's action. For example, if one player chooses the settle role, each player has the opportunity to settle one of the planets from their hand. The player who has chosen the role, however, gets a bonus that applies only to him. But bonuses may also be acquired through developments, so one must be aware when another player also takes advantage of his choice of role.

Pantheon

From BGG News (Eric Martin): "In Pantheon, players enact the comings and goings of various peoples in the Mediterranean: Egyptians, Romans, Iberians, Germans, etc. They accumulate as many raw materials as possible to build monuments to the gods, but the ways of the gods are unpredictable.

"On a turn, a player has a number of options. He can choose to travel with his people by using the big wooden footprint piece, then smaller footpints to mark their path and block other players. He can buy materials to worship the gods: dancers, farm produce, impressive temples, or prayers. He can use these offerings to take a god token, which may grant him special abilities as well as victory points. Finally, he may build monuments that are worth victory points at the end of the game. The game lasts six rounds with two scoring periods."

Munchkin: Impossible

Publisher's Description

The Munchkins are now spies... eliminating the opposition, playing with self-destructing gadgets, and changing loyalties even faster than they change hats.

Be a Playboy, Tourist, or Assassin. Report to the Americans, Russians, British, or Chinese (it'll change!). Wield gadgets from the subtle Cigarette Dart Gun to the amazingly unsubtle Bazooka with Incendiary Ammo. Eliminate foes, from the pathetic Defective Defector, through the Interro-Gator and the Not So Secret Police, up to the mighty Super Spy himself. And (all together now)... 'Take Their Stuff!'

You can play Munchkin Impossible by itself, or combine it with any number of other Munchkin games for more shameless silliness.

Other

Part of the Munchkin series.

Munchkin is a satirical card game based on the clichés and oddities of Dungeons and Dragons and other role-playing games. Each player starts at level 1 and the winner is the first player to reach level 10. Players can acquire familiar D&D style character classes during the game which determine to some extent the cards they can play.

There are two types of cards - treasure and encounters. Each turn the current players 'kicks down the door' - drawing an encounter card from the deck. Usually this will involve battling a monster. Monsters have their own levels and players must try and overcome it using the levels, weapons and powers they have acquired during the game or run away. Other players can chose to help the player or hinder by adding extra monsters to the encounter. Defeating a monster will usually result in drawing treasure cards and acquiring levels. Being defeated by a monster results in "bad stuff" which usually involves losing levels and treasure.