CE Mailing List This is a digest of the highlights of the last 19 months of the Cosmic Encounter Mailing List. [Administrative] How the Mailing List Works -------------------------- E-mail your submission to bicker@hoqax.ATT.COM or Brian.C.Kohn@ATT.COM (...att!hoqax!bicker) and include somewhere in the message but not in the header the following line: Submission: CE The "S" in Submission must appear in column one. What the Mailing List is For ---------------------------- 1) Exchanging New Powers, Flares, Edicts, Moons, ..... 2) Relaying info on nifty twists of the game people have tried..... 3) Arranging CE "tournaments"..... [Powers not included in "NONEON" in archives] _Q_ HAS ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY You have the power to _decide_. Whenever a rules discrepancy occurs between two or more players, anyone in the game may call on you for help. The game momentarily halts, pending the outcome of your decision. Each player, starting with the defender's allies, then the attacker's allies, then the attacker, then the defender, has 30 seconds to present their case. Anyone talking out of turn gets 1 of their tokens removed from play (as if it had been Voided). At the end of these presentations, The Q has another minute to make a decision. This decision is binding and absolute for the rest of the game. Play then continues from where it started, and the Q power gets transferred to the player on the old Q's left. The old Q gets 2 Lucre! for legal fees. The first person to receive the Q power is determined by a draw from the destiny cup/pile before the game starts. The Q can be traded as part of a deal. The Q can be one of the main players, and therefore can call upon himself. If the Q is unable to reach a decision, all main players remove 3 tokens from play, as well as the Q. (If The Q is one of the main players, then he only loses a total of 3). HISTORY: Tired of watching child races spread their warlike nature across the galaxy, The Q, being far superior to all of them, chose to judge a random selection of each race to be tried for the crimes of the whole race. _Do not use in a two-player game!_ _This power cannot be Cosmic Zapped._ FLARES: Wild : You may propose an alternate to the real Q's decision, and a vote occurs. You break ties, and you get the legal fee if your decision is voted on. Super: You do not have to pass Q after you make a decision. [Game Variations] SATELLITES AND SPACE STATIONS were a concept proposed by some guy in Australia in an issue of ENCOUNTER, Eon's old gaming newsletter. Even in the megaset we play with, we found them to be too complicated to bother with (as we also rejected reverse cones and alternate hexes). SECRET POWERS are just that. We draw 3, reveal 2 and keep the other hidden under the planet hex. Until you reveal it, you don't really have it (makes Filth real nasty after the game's been going on for awhile - I lost 4 bases that way once). HAZARD CARDS (request file from CE archive) THE REINCARNATOR DISC is one destiny disc of a color not in the game that is added to the destiny pile. If you flip it, you must reincarnate one or all powers depending on the variation. POWER HOUR is played by crazy people (it gets ridiculous with long games in which everyone starts with 3 or more powers). Basicly, at the stroke of each hour, all players draw an extra power. BOGGLE METHOD This is a fun variation (especially in a set with over 200 powers). Each player writes down the names of 5 powers that they would like to have, along with 5 powers that they don't want anyone to have. Read off the list. Any powers that are on more than one list are eliminated, and the powers that you wanted that are not on another list are yours. Each player may therefore have anywhere from 1 to 5 powers (If all of your choices are eliminated, you may pick one power at random). This allows for some creative thinking and allows powers that are otherwise fairly weak to be used to their utmost advantage. (A classic combo chosen just last night was Empath, Doppleganger, Mutant, Pacifist, Orator. He got all 5. Orator and Doppleganger are fairly useless in many situations - Orator with Empath or Doppleganger with Mutant are great combos). ROOM RULES Details not quite worked out, but essentially you need two or three (or more!) complete sets. Get your players together, set up a different game in a different room with each set, have some means of changing room, and away you go! Play with only one deck; deck, discard pile and hands move with the players between rooms. Suggested victory conditions are "5 bases on any one set, OR 4 bases on all sets". We never really worked out how to switch rooms though; possibilities are Edict, Power, Lucre, forfeit a turn, etc. etc. ROTATING POWER STACKS Instead of giving every player 2 powers, they are given instead two STACKS of powers. In a four player game, we'll frequently use a stack of 5 and a stack of 3. Each TURN, players use the top power in each of their stacks. When the next TURN starts, players rotate the stacks by taking the top power and putting it at the bottom of the pile, bringing the next power to the top. Using stacks of 5 and 3 means a) two powers won't always be paired with each other in your own stack, giving a better chance for good combinations, and b) players won't always have the same powers when they are offensive player. One turn you may attack the Virus-Fungus with your Philanthropist-Mutant, but the next time around you might attack the same player's Warpish-Macron with your Loser-Judge. PARALLEL UNIVERSES You need 2+ CE sets and a larger table. Each player gets the same color in both universes (or all three universes, or..). Any tokens lost to the warp in one universe appear on bases in the other universe (random with more than two universes). In all other ways, the universes are totally separate -- players draw different powers in each one, get separate hands, etc. The object is to meet the win conditions in all parallel universes simultaneously. On a player's turn, he'd take a turn in each universe, then it would be the next player's turn. I think this would make a nice 3-player game, and might even make a two-player game possible. (More than 4 players would be too hectic.) It would sure cut down on the "shared win" situations. If players somehow trade colors in one of the universes (through wild schizo flare, or otherwise) you could get some even wilder possibilities. [Edicts] BANISHMENT When played, the player suggests the removal of one power (anybody's) from the game. All players vote on it. If yes, the power is discarded. Otherwise, play continues. Play at the beginning of your turn. INSANITY All players must use EVERYTHING they can during this challenge: all powers, edicts, flares, moons, etc. You are not required to zap your own action. Play at start of challenge. BANK JOB Take half a player's Lucre (rounded up) and place in your own treasury. Play at any time. (alternative version) Take half a player's Lucre (rounded down) and place in your own treasury. Distribute the rest, one Lucre at a time, to all players, starting with the recipient of the card and moving clockwise. Play at any time. MOON GLOOM Force any one player to remove all tokens he/she has on moons back to bases. This does not negate any effect of a moon that took place prior to playing this card. Play at any time. BLACK PLAGUE Force a player to discard a kicker and a flare from his hand, and half his lucre rounded up. Play at any time. EDICT ZAP Nullify the effect of any edict, just as a player attempts to play it. The edict must be discarded. HAND ZAP Force any player to discard his hand just as he attempts to use it. BREACH Cancel a successful deal. The players involved must lose tokens as if they had failed to make a deal. Basically, the opposite of Emotion Control. REDEAL All players discard their hands. Deck and discard pile are shuffled, except for this edict which is left out. Players are dealt new hands as if it were the start of the game. Note that this deal is not Extortable. May only be played at the start of your turn. PHOENIX If a player successfully defends a planet in his home system on which he does not have a base, he may Rebirth there. COFFEE TIME Play is suspended while the recipient of this card makes refreshments for all players. This is usually limited to coffee, tea, topping up beer glasses etc., but can optionally be extended to making sandwiches, going to the shop for more beer/peanuts or whatever. The recipient is not obliged to pay for anyone else's refreshments, except for reasonable supplies of goodies from the host(s). Play between turns. [Encounter Magazine Index] 1-2 P: Politician? Ombudsman? (Frederick Minn) 1-4 P/W/S: Weed, Ghost, Traitor, Auctioneer, Gemini, Wretch, Industrialist, Scavenger, Mimic, Craven (James Beach, James Rasfeld) 2-5 P/W/S: Moderator (Ed Kleban) 2-5 Moon: Nomad (Gary Huckabay) 2-5 P: Gene, Zephyr, Leech, Chameleon, Sponge, Zapper (Multiple power powers) (Allen Varney) 3-5 Moons: In your face, Moon Zap II, Wild Moon, Flare this, Bankrupt (Rick Heiberg) 3-5 Moons: Curtain, Armageddon, Black Hole, Super Nova, Quiet, Nothing to hide, Annihilate, Vice Versa, Total Null, Haywire, Apparition, Guest, Servitude, Super Moon, Dwindle, Un-Fortune-8, Royalty, Stay Put (Donny Cherf) 3-6 P: Peeper, Battery, Sorehead, Fear, Jinx, Nullifier, Salmon, Wimp, Suiciders, Racist, Thindroids (Stuart Scheinman) 3-7 P: Alarmist, Ballast, Cube, Devastator, Martyr, Medusa, Ohm, Paranoid, Prism, Radical, Satellite, Sponge (Kevin Baker) 4-4 Suggestions for Power Conflict resolutions, W/S: Politician (Bryan Stout) 4-7 Edicts: Mirror, Cosmic Gas, Edict Zap, Copy, Super Zap, Inverse, Lean, Compression, Super Break (Tim Shewchuk, Fred Bilsky, Mike Ross) 4-12 Letter on timing sequence, priorities, etc. (David Wilson) 4-13 P: Forger (Randy Dow) 4-16 Edict: Lose 2 flares, Flare: Lose 1 flare (Joanna Beatty) 4-17 P/W/S: Cheapskate, Collector, Cop, Count, Doubleheader, Golem, Invader, Lucretia, Mentor, Mimic, Mirror, Mystic, Raider, Superhero, Underdog, Undertaker, Vaccine (Matt Stone, Ben Berman) 4-20 Moons: Challenge Extension, Challenge Limitation, Chronomoon, Compensation, Cone Size I, Cone Size II, Cone Size III, Flare Trade, Flare Trap Limitation, Rolle Play, Supernova (Jeff & Paula Boes) 4-20 P: Werewolf, Mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein, Invisible Man, Superman, Jaws, ET (John C. McKevitt) 4-21 P/W/S: Computer, Illuminati, God, Satan (ROBERT DESTRO) 5-4 "Warp Moon" variant (Lawrence Folland) 5-5 Modifications to Alarmist, Paranoid, Satellite, W/S: Cube (Mark Gilston) 5-11 P/W/S: Klench, Alchemist, Gorgon, Krypton, Federalist, Metamorph, Shaman, Entrepreneur, Bookie, Spider, Tortoise (BRYAN STOUT) 5-13 P/W/S: Factory, Fudge, Cannibal, Glitch, Lawyer, Loan Shark, Mercenary, Merchant, Pawnbroker, Samurai, Snob, Spirit, Spy, Supplier, Teddy Bear, Pragmatist, W/S: Terrorist, Edicts: Bankruptcy, Take Two, NO!, Babel (MARK GILSTON, Tony Miller, Bob Schofield) 6-3 Notes on Stout's powers in #5, notes on multi-power conflicts, deck maintenance (Stout/Kettridge) 6-7 Notes on power design (Kettridge) 6-8 Notes on Gilston's powers (Gilston) 6-10 P/W/S: Vapor, Swashbuckler, Renegade (James Collier) 6-11 P/W/S: Lycanthrope, Lunatic, Carver, Jonah, Feint, Gorgon (Mark Gilston) 6-12 P/W/S: Dog, Dummy, Quiz, King, Underground (Robert Destro) 6-13 P/W/S: Abyss, Fiend, Creator (BRYAN BOWE) 6-15 P/W/S: Advisor, Aesthete, Cancer, Cat, Filth, Garbage Collector, Gestalt, Godfather, Lawyer, Leech, Lokinglas, Lunatik, Manipulator, Mole, Nomad, The Nose, Quantas, Sobsister, Spawn, Sprit, Traitor, Warlord, Edicts: Gravity Control, Nullifier(2), Time Warp, Moons: Attrition, Coup de Lune, Freedom of Speech, Magnetic Moon, Moon Meld, Nomad Moon, Spy Satellite, Tar Baby (White Plains Encounter Group) [Rule Clarifications] see separate file in archive