Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Robbers' Roost: Updated 8.5" x 11" Card Sheets Available



Gearing up for the POD-ready print-and-play files for Robbers' Roost, I have updated and provided for download new 8.5" x 11" card sheets. These updates include:
  • The new purple cards. All of the values have been changed across the board to help with modularity. The "orange" expansion can be played separately from the "purple," or together with it, with no significant imbalance to BANG!. The orange expansion is identified by the horseshoe symbols (characters were given this symbol too), while the purple expansion is identified by the oxhead symbols.

  • All the latest adjustments to the playing cards.

  • All the latest adjustments to the characters.


Furthermore, certain character abilities have been adjusted once again:

  • Jack West. I noted before how his ability was too similar to "Colorado Bill" in the upcoming Czech expansion, Valley of Shadows. My general opinion is that modders should strive for compatibility and novelty across the expansions. I will be working very hard to make RR compatible with Death Mesa, Gold Rush, Wild West Show, Valley of Shadows, and even Directors' Cuts. I also want RR to provide something new in all of its new cards. Jack West's ability has thus been changed to the following: "Whenever a card is played or used against Jack, and resolved, he may immediately discard a card of the same color to draw that card from the discard pile." I thank those that helped me consider a new ability for Jack.

  • Flint Dixon. Due to player feedback, Flint's ability has become slightly more complex: "Whenever Flint plays a BANG!, he chooses whether his target must discard a BANG! or a Missed! to avoid it. Barrel still may be utilized to avoid his shot.

  • Crazy Wolf. The change of values in the cards made me adjust his ability somewhat. Now, a sum 13+ provides a Missed!, 17 a Dodge, and 20 a Missed! + BANG! against his attacker.

  • Queen Anne. To balance her more with Pat Brennan, her ability has been modified: "Once on her turn, she may discard a BANG! and another card to discard any card in play."

  • Josey Bassett. Josey can now use cards (green) during her turn and still get her bonus. Latent effects of purple cards will also not impede the bonus: "If Josey does not play any cards during her turn, she can draw 2 extra cards at the end of her playing phase. She can always hold as many cards in her hand as her max health."

  • Laura Billion. If the "draw!" is successful, she draws the cards during her next drawing phase. This was changed so as to not create any problems with dynamite explosions, Jail, etc.

  • Lela Devere. Wording changed to be clearer: "Whenever she would directly hit 1 player, Lela may choose to steal a card from that player instead. The card may either be in that player’s hand or in play."


You may download the zip file containing all Robbers' Roost PDFs here. I would appreciate if any blog readers might print out the RR characters (even in black and white) and play test them during some games. RR characters could be played with alone, selection being done out of a bag that the print outs were thrown into. Thanks! I hope this is enjoyed by some.

As a final note, I have finally updated the Robbers' Roost page to have the most current information on the expansion.

19 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. the file RRtanblue1 have got the oxhead symbol
    is this a fault?

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  3. No. They should have the oxhead symbol: they are part of the purple module. If you want just to play with the purple cards (and not the orange module), then you should include all cards with oxheads. This is for balancing issues. Similarly, all horseshoes comprise the orange module. Characters were given the horseshoe, but this has no special significance. Of course, both purple and orange modules can be played together.

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  4. Hey quick question. I discovered your blog a couple weeks ago, amazing work by the way, and was immediately interested in getting Death Mesa printed out all legitimate-like but thought that it made sense to wait for you to finish up Robber's Roost so I could just get everything printed in one go. Do you think that makes the most sense? Or will I not be saving any money anyway. (I just plan to follow your instructions for printing things out.) I also think I remember you writing that you were going to do something different with the printing for RR. So if you were in my position how would you go about printing this stuff up?

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  5. That is a good question. I am not sure how quickly card cutting/color matching will be finished with RR, so I cannot give you a hard date as to when it will be made available. Death Mesa is available now, so it sort of depends on whether or not you want to wait for an indeterminate amount of time for RR. Are you international? That could affect shipping. I am working on having the DM cards ready with another POD that often has free shipping, but that will be a little while off too. Sorry I cannot be more helpful. I'd say if your group is really into BANG! right now, don't wait.

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  6. Alright thanks. Keep up the good work.

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  7. Can you please repost the OLD robbers roost cards and characters.... Pretty please

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  8. Could Jack West use his ability to draw the cards that affect multiple player, such as Indians, Gatling, Saloon, general stores and so on?

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  9. Hey Martin, I was just wondering what you define as "Royal." I am assuming you mean J,Q,K; but am checking that it doesn't include Aces or 10s (like a Royal flush in poker). Also, I am assuming that Aces are worth one for an ability like Crazy Wolf's, but wanted to confirm that as well. I just did not see that anywhere in the Guidebook. You might want to add that in as you update it. Thanks for all of your hard work, I am going to play with your characters this weekend!

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  10. @Anonymous What do you mean by the old cards/characters? The old abilities? Those were unbalanced, and so changed. Is there a specific one you want?

    @chriskuo0: At the moment, yes, but that may be an OP ability that needs to be adjusted to not include those. Good thought.

    @Graham: Royal includes J, Q, K, and A. This is specified on the guidebook page 4 under "Royals." Undoubtedly, the guidebook needs an update. How are the characters working?

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  11. Thanks for the info. When we played a couple weeks ago, we included event cards and all of the games went too quickly to get any ideas of how the characters really play out. However, last night we played with your characters and got a better feel. For reference, we used your characters with a standard Bang/DC deck. Here are a few notes.

    Maggie Mae
    • Do green cards remain active when they are traded? I assume the answer is yes, but we weren't certain.
    • What if you give someone other than Lil’ Sure Shot a second gun? We weren't sure, so we played it that they would have to take that second gun in hand. I imagine that you are forced to discard one of the guns in that scenario, however.

    Eva Place
    • Just wanted to confirm: Cards that require an additional card to be discarded with it don’t have to with the traps. I assume that makes those cards excellent choices for traps.

    Turd Fergusen
    • He was the Sheriff for one of the rounds and it was very difficult to get hits off of him. I don’t think he was overpowered, but he’s definitely a pain. I was an outlaw to his right and I wasn’t able to shoot him if he hadn’t used his free missed yet because he’d get a new missed when I ended my turn. It was frustrating, but I don’t think it was too unfair because I wasn’t drawing the cards like Gatling, Indians, or green cards necessary to make him play hand cards or lose lives. However, in a two-player situation I can imagine that he’s incredibly difficult to take out and maybe would have to be modified slightly for those situations.

    Porter Rockwell
    • The description on the card needs to be cleaned up. We figured that Porter has two distinct abilities.
    1. He may discard 2 cards to play a Bang!
    2. He may play a Bang! at any player, regardless of distance.
    If this is true, I had one idea for changing the description. "He has 2 abilities. He may discard 2 cards to play a Bang!. He can also choose to play a Bang! at any player, regardless of distance." It could still use some work, though.

    Anne Rogers
    • I played with her and she was really strong because nearly the entire game, somebody had a mustang. It was very beneficial throughout the game. I thought it was a fun character because you have to rely on other people being strong in order for you to be strong.

    Hope these notes help, I look forward to playing with them again some time in the near future.

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  12. Any news about the POD-printing files? I'm dying to order this and DMC at the same time. :) The international shipping fees are so costly :/

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  13. hey, any news on POD ones that I can buy, i really want this expansion!

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  14. Heya! Nice set!
    I am in love with the ability of Lil' Sure Shot: dual wielding il always IMBA! Eva Place's traps also are very nice. Some other are a bit confusing, though (Johnny Pope just seems a bunch of abilities crowded together).

    Btw, I saw you included some original cards in pdf sheets. Did you find the HQ original pictures somewhere, or did you manually scan your deck to get those? I plan on printing a whole customized deck, but scanning and cutting the pictures from each card is really a hassle :(

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  15. @Graham

    Maggie Mae: Yes, green card remains active. As for the duplicate card in play/extra gun card scenario: the affected player chooses either to discard the card OR draw it into his hand. I had some debates on this in the forums.

    Eva Place: Actually, once the card is revealed, she has to discard another card for those to activate or there is no effect.

    Turd Ferguson: Yep, he is an annoying Sheriff, but really not more so than the likes of Elena Fuente. Let me know if you think there is any reason he is worse of a problem.

    Porter Rockwell: He does not have 2 abilities. The BANG! resulting from the 2 discarded cards can be played at any player, regardless of distance. This is what primarily distinguishes him from Doc Holyday. Also, Porter's can be used to discard BANG! for Indians!, Duels, etc.

    Anne Rogers: Let me know if she is too strong. Obviously, in larger games she may be better.

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  16. @Darkever

    Johnny Pope's ability ended up having to be more convoluted, so that his ability would still be useful when he was a Renegade or in a 2-player showdown. If otherwise, he would be of quite sporadic value.

    As for second question, yes, I did scan some of the original card art to insert cards for balancing reasons. Passing out card art, however, would get me in trouble with dv-Giochi I imagine. Good luck!

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  17. Just printed this off at my work. (i work for a print shop) They look great! A little pale on the color. Before they were really dark so I lightened them up. You can still tell a difference but the cards are a near perfect match. Perfect weight, size and almost on the colors. I can't wait to play with them!!! Thank you!

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