BANG! Custom Expansions

BANG! is a great game not only for easy and fun variants, but for the custom cards that can be added to it. Many players have toyed with The Bullet's 2 blank cards, but many don't take it very far. DV-Giochi also sells more blank cards for purchase, but international is cost prohibitive. Players are left with 3 options:

• Buy extra official BANG! cards and sleeve them all. Then print paper to slip inside the sleeves for the custom cards. This is a fantastic way to playtest.
• Print out your own custom cards on card stock.
• Leverage a printer on demand (POD) service, of which Death Mesa was the first to do so.

Because BANG! cards are an irritating European card size, cards aiming to stick cards into the playing deck were custom trimmed for years. This made most custom expansions, including Death Mesa, focus on a secondary deck where matching the card size wasn't an issue. Nowadays, POD's like The Game Crafter print cards that match BANG's size. This enables expansions like Robbers' Roost to be incorporated far easier into the playing deck.

I have created, collected, translated, critiqued, and modified many custom BANG! expansions. Both Death Mesa and Robbers' Roost are my own creations. I'll be examining recent ones -- if you know of one, feel free to notify me of it. I'm mostly interested in expansions with novel ideas, which aren't derivitive off of Robbers' Roost. Below I categorize the expansions, and for each expansion, I provide (1) a link to a more thorough explanation and review of the expansion with download links, (2) a short description of the expansion, and (3) an overall rating for the expansion.

Completed Custom Expansions.

Decks for Eliminated Players.

1. Death Mesa (Martin Pulido): When players are eliminated they influence the game as ghosts. They draw and play cards from a custom 52-card deck. All roles can still achieve victory, with modified victory conditions. You can now use 18" x 12" card sheets with a printing service online. While I won't review my own work, I have had many positive responses. Death Mesa is still in Beta stage, working out the kinks of the Zombie Renegade.

Playing Card Expansions.

1. Robbers' Roost (Martin Pulido): Robbers' Roost adds many new playing cards and 16 characters (with custom art) to BANG! But Robbers' Roost is not about "more cards", but adding new forms of gameplay. Interrupts allow players to play out-of-turn cards to break up long rounds, speed up the game, and coordinate team efforts. Windups have an initial effect when played, and a latent effect on the player's next turn.
2. Director's Cuts (Django): Director's Cuts is a sizable expansion with gorgeous art. Original made in Spanish, I've translated it into English. It's mostly an event deck with characters, although there are some new brown and blue cards. Director's Cuts needs some balancing, and I've been adjusting character abilities to make them both unique and at the proper power level. Definitely worth checking out. 4/5.

Event Decks.

1. O. K. Corral (Steve Elmore): In the vein of High Noon. Well-designed expansion with 24 new event cards that have good thematic value. Some cards are really fun such as Fatal shot (for a round, hit players must "draw!" On hearts, they lose another life point), while others like Search Warrant are poor (the Sheriff may choose to see one other player's role card). You may want to pick and choose which O. K. Corral cards you want to include in the event deck. 3.5/5.
2. El Dorado (Jidan, Martin Pulido): In the vein of Wild West Show. Event cards can be ended by players discarding or playing Aces. Well-designed expansion (custom art even) with 18 new event cards that have good thematic value. El Dorado adds the new fascinating "Grave Digger" role. The new English edition has several card edits that dealt with balancing and interpretive issues from the past. Includes custom guidebook and tuckbox. 4/5.
3. Peterson Pack (R. Peterson): In the vein of High Noon. Less pretty expansion, designed simply to be printed off on paper and cut out. However, it provides some excellent event cards like Green Flash (green cards can be played immediately) or Returning Fire (Each time you are hit, you draw—on hearts or diamonds, the player hitting you must play a Missed! card or lose 1 life point). Unfortunately, others are impractical like Quick Draw (you can play cards with the ‘add one more card symbol’ without having to add another card), or ruin the game's deception dynamic like Peeping Tom (at the start of your turn, you draw! If you get a 2-9 of hearts, you may take a peek at the role of any other player). As with O. K. Corral, you may wish to pull some of the cards from the deck. 3.5/5.