Forum Post: Speeding up BANG! through Changing Turn Phase Orders

In an effort to promote the forum, I have made an interesting post on trying to speed up BANG! through modifying phase orders. I would love some feedback on this idea! The best idea I had for this I think is as follows:

Set up #4
Phase 1: Add cards from separate pile into your hand (see phase 4).
Phase 2: Play Cards
Phase 3: Discard Cards
Phase 4: Draw cards from the top of the deck for the next turn and place them in separate pile, unable to be used until your next turn.

#4 keeps the essential set up of the phases, but adds a fourth phase. The cards drawn in phase 4 cannot be added to your hand. Thus, they do not help defend you from any BANG! this turn, but neither can they be stolen or discarded. They can be looked at (so you can strategize), but you cannot use them until your next turn. This gives you something to do while you wait your turn, and makes the next turns quicker! They will influence somewhat what cards you will play out of turn (should I expend a BANG!/Missed! in between turns if I know I will not draw one next turn), but I don't think this unfairly benefits any characters too much. Please tell me if I am wrong! If you are placed in Jail, you simply cannot use those cards for another turn. Keep them in the separate pile until you have a turn. If there is an event card in play that limits the amount of cards you can draw, only draw that many. If an event card comes into play limiting the amount of cards you can draw after you have drawn for the next turn, 1 of 2 things could happen: (1) The preferred way is for the event card to affect the cards drawn for the next turn. (2) If you wanted the event card to affect that exact coming turn, you could have the players have cards from the separate pile randomly discarded. (1) is clearly the easiest and quickest. What do you think?

This gives you some idea of the content discussed in the post. Please check out the rest of it, and give me some feedback there.

Character House Rules for Paul Regret, Uncle Will, and Claus the Saint

I have added some new character variants to the BANG! variants page. They include adjustments to Paul Regret, Uncle Will, and Claus the Saint to balance them better. Claus still needs work, but I think the other adjustments are satisfactory. Here is the improvement for Paul Regret:

Several BANG! players have noticed how Paul Regret is far weaker in Dodge City. Even Emiliano Sciarra admits that Paul Regret should have about 3.5 life points. Of course, 3.5 is not possible, so another solution is give Paul Regret a card limit +1. He has 3 life points, but can carry 4 cards in his hand when at full health (3 when he has 2 life points, and so on).

Check the others out!

Alternate Gameplay: Rival Gangs Advanced

In a previous post, I introduced a new way of playing BANG! by having 2 gangs, with hidden leaders, fight against each other. Killing the enemy leader spelled victory for the opposing team. There are a lot of things I like about that variant, such as teams being able to collaborate on a much better basis their attacks and abilities.

However, one thing I thought was somewhat lacking from this variant was trying to deduce who you needed to kill. There was the element of the hidden leader, and the hidden characters, but there wasn't really a great means of determining who the leader was. Perhaps you could try to make educated guesses by the way one character played or how some characters played to protect another, but I felt there should be a clearer way to come to understand who the Leader is. Agreed that even the original BANG! rarely has you guessing that long, but I want something more. And so I am working on Rival Gangs Advanced. The original I have named "Basic," as I think it is fun on its own merits, and it also incorporates many elements that are expanded in this Advanced version. In the rules explanations that follow, I will include the rules explained in the Basic version. I will also explore the elements that I wish to add to the game, and will hopefully benefit from your suggestions.

Rival Gangs Advanced Rules:

This is a 4, 6, or 8 player variant (recommended for 6). I am working on a 5 and 7 player version, which includes a law man trying to restore order to the town. I will keep you posted on this in the future. The basic premise is that there are two gangs fighting each other over the control of a town.

Goal: The object of the game is for each gang to eliminate the other gang's leader.

Roles: Each gang has a leader, symbolized by the Renegade card, and has 1 or more followers. The leader has 1 more max life point than other roles like the Sheriff in the original BANG! There are 2 kinds of followers, with their own kinds of benefits. The first kind of follower is the Lackie, symbolized by the Outlaw card. The Lackie has 1 free last second beer when he is at his last life point. The second is the Thug. While there is a 3 card bonus for eliminating another team's Thug (none for eliminating your own), if a Thug dies, he gets to disseminate all of his cards remaining when he dies to his team mate(s) (this includes the cards in his hand and the cards in play in front of him). If Vulture Sam is in play, Vulture Sam gains all of the Thug's cards. Afterwards, the Thug draws the same number of cards from the draw pile as the number of cards Vulture Sam gained. He then disseminates these new cards to his team mate(s) before he dies. Thus, each role has a benefit: Leader (+1 max health), Lackie (1 free last chance Beer), and Thug (card dissemination upon death).

All roles in Rival Gangs Advanced are hidden. However, gang members are aware of one another's roles. They look at them at the beginning of the game after they are dealt out to each other and the gangs are separated. Thus, each gang is unaware of the roles of the members of the rival gang. Roles are only revealed when a player dies.

Roles are as follows for 4/6/8 player games:

4-player: Each gang has 1 Leader and 1 Lackie.
6-player: Each gang has 1 Leader, 1 Thug, and 1 Lackie.
8-player: Each gang has 1 Leader, 1 Thug, and 2 Lackies.

Characters: All the usual BANG! characters (and Robbers' Roost ones if you use it!) can be incorporated into the Rival Gangs variant. All players are dealt 1 (this can be modified with house rules of course, but this is the default), but these characters remain hidden (they are kept for down). At the beginning when gang members show each other their roles, they can also show each other their character cards. Thus again, each gang is simply unaware of the characters of the members of the rival gang. These characters remain hidden until their character ability is used. In fact, even their amount of life point remains hidden if you are using the back of another character card as life point indicator. Until the character is revealed, place all characters on the indicator at 4 life points. Adjust accordingly when either the character is revealed or the hidden 3 life point character reaches 1 life point instead (he dies). There is an exception to this rule for the Gang Leader: His extra life point remains hidden when his character is revealed. Appearing as the typical 3/4 life point character when his character is revealed, he only shows an extra life point when he loses his apparent last life point. Yet, he should not say he is doing this because of being the Gang Leader. Rather, he should claim his role allows him to do this. With this extra life point appearing, the rival team actually does not know whether he is the Gang Leader or a Lackie. Since the Lackie has the free last second beer, he also will show an extra life point. He too should claim his role allows him to do this. Thus, the Gang Leaders' extra life point will not reveal to the opposing gang that he is the Gang Leader (unless he gets back up to full health from 1), although it will reveal that he is not a Thug (in 6 or 8 player games).

Investigation Cards: Besides this incorporation of new roles into Rival Gangs Advanced, the second biggest change is the incorporation of Investigation Cards. These cards help gangs discern the roles of the opposing team. The cards are not straight forward revelations of roles, however. They will provide clues, which can cumulatively help a gang discern the appropriate roles in another gang.

Investigation cards work in the following way:

1. Once a round, each gang may discuss and select a member from the opposing gang to draw an Investigation Card before his drawing phase (this action is not required). No player has to draw 2 investigation cards in a row. Thus, Jail, Dynamite and some special abilities must be resolved before an Investigation Card is drawn. If the player is in Jail or dies before drawing the Investigation Card, they may select another member from the opposing gang to draw an Investigation Card on his next drawing phase. If this slips into the second round, then they select 2 players to draw investigation cards from the opposing team.

2. At the chosen player's drawing phase, he draws an Investigation card. He may show it to his team mates. They can also discuss the card, if they wish, but they probably do not want to do so because it will likely reveal their roles. An investigation card requires that its possessor, upon certain conditions, perform a certain action by the end of his turn. The form of each investigation card in 6 or 8 player is this:

If you are role A or role B, and condition X is true during your turn, then you must do action Y.

In 4 player, the investigation cards are simplified:

If you are role A, and conditions X and Y are true during your turn, they you must do action Z.

So, particular examples of investigation card are:

1. If you are the Gang Leader or a Lackie, and you have a green card in play during your turn, then you must use it if you can.


2. If you are the Gang Leader or the Thug, and you can attack twice during your turn, then you must do so.


3. If you are the Gang Leader or a Lackie, and you have 2 or less life points during your turn, then you must gain 1 life point.

Thus, each investigation card creates a double conditional. The possessor first checks to see if his role applies to the investigation card. Thus, in the first example, if the possessor were the Thug, then the first condition would not be true. He would not, out of necessity, have to perform the action. He could opt to do so anyway (play a green card during his turn). If the possessor were the Gang Leader or Lackie, then the first condition would be true. He might have to perform the action if the second is true as well.

The truth value of the antecedent in this second conditional is determined by discerning whether the described state of affairs is the case during the turn at any time. Thus, in the third example, let us suppose that a Lackie drew this card. He fulfills the first condition (being Lackie), but at the beginning of his turn he does not fulfill the second (he has 3 life points). However, during his turn, he plays and loses a Duel. Now that he has 2 life points, the second condition is true, and now he must gain 1 life point by the end of his turn. This necessary action can be fulfilled 3 ways:

1. By himself: he can accomplish this through playing a Beer, Canteen, Saloon, Tequila or Whiskey. Since he is a Lackie, and has the 1 free last chance Beer, he might somehow fulfill this condition himself by also losing his last life point.


2. By another player: (if you are using Robbers' Roost) who plays Bandage on him, or by Johnny Pope using his ability on him.


3. Automatically: If the action is not completed by the end of his turn through his own or other's efforts, the action will automatically occur. When an automatic action occurs, the player must state, "The investigation card made me do this."

Why would a player not always opt for (3) automatic occurrence? This is due to what occurs at the end of the player's discard phase.

3. At the end of his turn, the possessor of the investigation card must hand the card over to the rival gang. If he is one of 2 applicable roles, and did not fulfill the additional condition, he may report that he "did not fulfill the card's conditions." If he did fulfill the conditions and the action was fulfilled, he may simply hand over the card without reporting anything. If the possessor of the card had the odd role out and he did not fulfill the action, he must report that he "did not fulfill the card's conditions." If he bluffed through doing the action described on the card anyway, he may simply hand over the card without reporting anything.

Now that the rival gang has the Investigation Card, they may read the card and discuss what happened during the possessor's turn. If the player reported that he could not fulfill the conditions, they may search the cards in play and the cards that were placed in the draw pile during that turn. If they suspect that the player cheated by fulfilling the conditions and not doing the action, they may call for an accounting from the possessor's team mates. If it is found that he was cheating (or forgot to do an action that he could have to do what was required), then he must state whether or not he is one of the 2 roles described on the Inspection Card. If he was truthful, then the Rival Gang will not have gained any information about his role.

If, however, the action was done that was described on the card, the rival gang can try to infer that player's role. If the action was done automatically, then they will know immediately that the possessor is one of the two roles described on the card. If the action was done by the possessor, then they do not know this necessarily. This is because the odd role out (the Thug in the third example), could have opted to do this action on his own. That way he could have bluffed that he was 1 of the 2 roles described in the Investigation Card. He could not, however, have the action occur automatically for him. That is only possible when the 2 conditions are met. So a possessor of an Investigation Card will often want to not have (3) automatic occurrence happen if he can help it.

Gangs can keep the Investigation Cards they gain from the other team, and also write down notes on a slip of paper their thoughts about other players' roles.

I think the idea of the Investigation Cards, much like the Hermit Deck in Shadow Hunters, could add an intriguing element to Rival Gangs Advanced. The conditions may be too difficult at the moment, but I am also worried about them being too easy. I would love some suggestions.

Preparation: Use the Dodge City buffalo symbol role cards for one gang, and the original game role cards for the other. If you do not have Dodge City (or the Bullet which includes it), you can simple write the roles on slips of paper. I would draw star symbols on one group of roles to distinguish 1 gang from another.

Shuffle the role and character cards and deal them out to the players. Each gang may get together and consult with one another before the game. To insure there is no cheating, gang members show each other their role cards, so they know they are in the same gang and who their leader is. Of course, each gang does not know who the other gang's leader is. The game involves deception in trying to determine the leader of the other gang while hiding the leader of your own.

The player order in the game can be done 1 of 3 ways:

1. The order of the players is dependent on the original dealing of the roles, so that 1 gang member can be between members of the opposing gang. The difficulty here is that this stray gang member can easily be picked on.


2. The order of the players is dependent on each gang. Each gang decides the order of their gang (half of the circle); which players are next to who. This allows player's to maximize setting up their hidden characters to be most beneficial for one another (placement of Pedro Ramirez, or Kit Carlson, could be crucial for instance), and maximize their abilities. The difficulty here is that each gang has 3 turns in a row, which can be very devastating to 1 player they choose to pick on from the opposing team.


3. The order of the players is dependent on each gang. Each gang decides the order of their row; which players are next to who. This allows player's to stick next to each in terms of distance, and somewhat maximize their hidden characters so that they are most beneficial for one another, and maximize their abilities. Gang members sit across from one another. However, turn order is altered to go in a zig zag. After 1 player finishes his turn, the rival gang member that sits across from him starts his turn. Then it jumps to the opposing gang member that sits to the right of the player who played before him. Then, after he finishes his turn, it goes to the rival gang member across from him. This figure should help explain what I am getting at:
   
   So turn order does not follow range and distance. Once a player is eliminated in this model, the turn order skips that player and jumps to the next player instead. Let me explain what that means. Let's say that player 6 in the figure above was eliminated. Typically, player 1 would follow player 6 when player 6's turn is over. So after player 5's turn is over, it now jumps to player 1's turn. This figure demonstrates the new path:
   
   This setup should minimize the ganging up on 1 player problem, while still allowing gang's to somewhat maximize their position and character abilities. Some abilities such as Kit Carlson's and Pedro Ramirez's will be compromised, which is unfortunate. You could have a discard pile for each gang to help Pedro, and Kit could optionally place a card to the side of the draw of the draw deck for the next gang member to pick up instead. It is up to you.

To determine which player goes first, all players "draw!" (or roll dice if you have them). The player with the highest value (with Poker ranking of suits, so that an Ace of Spades is higher than an Ace of Hearts that is higher than an Ace of Diamonds that is higher than an Ace of Clubs) starts the game. If there is a tie, those players "draw!" again. "Drawn!" cards are placed in the discard pile. The rest of the game procedes like normal BANG! (besides the addition of the new roles, rules explained above, and the Investigation Cards) and the game ends when a gang leader is eliminated.

Suggestions/Criticisms? Before I go about making Investigation Cards, I wanted to get feedback from people to see if they thought this idea was intriguing or worth the effort. I also wanted to see if there is any adjustments I should make before making them too. Fortunately, since the Investigation Cards are a separate deck, they can be printed off on slips of paper and have little aesthetic touch to them. Thus, they should be easy for anyone to incorporate.

Alternate Gameplay: Survival of the Fittest

In this alternate gameplay created by Tyler Ziegler, BANG! players absorb the character abilities of those they eliminate.

Object of the Game: Be the last man standing.

Set up: Get rid of the role cards (Sheriff, Deputy, Outlaw, and Renegade). Deal out the characters. Play as you normally would, with one rule change:

When you eliminate another player you absorb that player's character abilites.

Tyler Ziegler gave the following examples of how this works:

For example: Player A (Calamity Janet) eliminates Player B (Willy the Kid). Player A takes Player B's character card and places it next to his own. Player A can now use Calamity Janet's ability as well as Willy the Kid's!

Example 2: Player A (Calamity Janet/Willy the Kid) is eliminated by Player C (Slab the Killer). Player C gains control over both of Player A's character cards. Player C is now empowered with all three character abilities.

The game continues until only one player remains. Because there are no identity cards, players can feel free to kill whomever they wish. The last man standing wins!

I think this variant will only be fun if there are 2 changes made: (1) "Absorbing powers" is understood thus: the abilities of the two character cards do not function simultaneously, but at the beginning of each round (perhaps even each turn) a player chooses which ability is in effect. They symbolize this by playing that character card on top of the other(s) they player may have. If they do not make this change during the draw phase of the player who begins the round/turn, then they cannot swap abilities. This keeps the player from gaining ridiculous combos such as Suzy Lafayette + Elena Fuente (infinite Missed!), and provides order the ability swapping. (2) To keep players from getting targeted from the getgo without being able to build any cards up, I suggest playing this variant with the hidden characters house rule, or at least the early game elimination penalty rule.

Alternate Gameplay: Headhunter Role

News (8/19/11): Added in the role card and PDF of the rules kindly created by Nevofix. Download the picture below, and check the link at the bottom.

While toying around with alternate victory conditions for the Renegade, I thought it could possibly be neat to add in a new role, "The Headhunter." The idea is sketchy at the moment, and may need some cleaning up. In essence, the headhunter's only object is to kill a fixed amount of other players (2 or 3, depending on the amount of players in the game). While he can kill the Sheriff as his last kill, he cannot do so beforehand otherwise his victory condition is not fulfilled and the Outlaws' victory condition is (Outlaws win). When players are eliminated, they give 1 unused character card to the killer. This will provide the proof that the Headhunter has achieved victory when he declares it, but not reveal anything about his role during the game because unused character cards are given to any player that kills another. To accomodate event cards that bring players back to life, the Headhunter can only achieve his goal by killing players who have not died before. Finally, there is a 2/4 bonus for killing the Headhunter once he has eliminated 1/2 players.

I think this could create some fascinating mechanics. Renegades and Deputies will have to be careful in the amount of players they kill or other players will think they are the Headhunter, and get bloodthirsty to eliminate them. Of course, play testing will reveal all the interesting facets in bringing this to the game.

I would not recommend adding the Headhunter until 5-player, but he would be best in 7-8 player I think.

Thus, the following set up occurs:

5-player: 1 Sheriff, 1 Deputy, 2 Outlaws, 1 Headhunter (1 Renegade removed)

6-player (most difficult to balance): 1 Sheriff, 1 Deputy, 2 Outlaws, 1 Renegade, 1 Headhunter
OR 1 Sheriff, 1 Deputy, 3 Outlaws, 1 Headhunter
OR 1 Sheriff, 1 Deputy, 3 Outlaws, (1 Headhunter or 1 Renegade, randomly dealt in)

7-player: 1 Sheriff, 1 Deputy, 3 Outlaws, 1 Renegade, 1 Headhunter

8-player: 1 Sheriff, 2 Deputies, 3 Outlaws, 1 Renegade, 1 Headhunter

For 5-player, the Headhunter would have to eliminate 2 other players to win, and in 6-8 players, the Headhunter would have to eliminate 3 other players to win. If you wanted to include the Headhunter in 4-player, I would just remove the renegade again:

4-player: 1 Sheriff, 2 Outlaws, 1 Headhunter

As in 5-player, the Headhunter would have to eliminate 2 other players to win.

If you have any suggestions or comments, let me know what you think. I am sure it will be difficult to balance this role, but I think it could be interesting.

Download the rules for the Headhunter Role.

Alternate Gameplay: Rival Gangs Basic

I have read up on various rival gang variants, but I have been unsatisfied with many of them. They lose much of the mafia-like intrigue of BANG!, which is why it is much loved. I have tried to incorporate some elements from these variants, while also adding many ideas of my own and combining it with the hidden characters house rule. I hope the outcome of my Rival Gangs is satisfying.

Rival Gangs Variant Rules:

This is a 4, 6, or 8 player variant (recommended for 6). Two gangs fight each other. Each gang has a leader, symbolized by the Renegade card, and 1 or more followers, symbolized by the Outlaw cards. The object of the game is for each team to eliminate the other team's leader.

Use the Dodge City buffalo symbol role cards for one gang, and the original game role cards for the other (if you do not have the Dodge City expansion role cards, you can use the Renegade and 1-2 outlaws as one team and the Sheriff and 1-2 deputies as another; with 8-player you can just write roles on slips of paper and hand them out). Shuffle the role and character cards and deal them out to the players. Character cards are kept face down. They are only revealed once a character uses his ability. In fact, even their amount of life point remains hidden if you are using the back of another character card as life point indicator. Until the character is revealed, place all characters on the indicator at 4 life points. Adjust accordingly when either the character is revealed or the hidden 3 life point character reaches 1 life point instead.

Each gang may get together and consult with one another before the game. To insure there is no cheating, gang members show each other their role cards, so they know they are in the same gang and who their leader is. Of course, each gang does not know who the other gang's leader is. The game involves deception in trying to determine the leader of the other gang while hidin te leader of your own.

The leader of the gang is given 1 extra life point like Sheriffs in the normal game. However, this extra life point is hidden, and only revealed when the leader would have died (when he is shot at his supposedly last life point with no last second Beer left). Eliminating any player gives a 2-card bonus, whether that player is on your team or not.

The player order in the game can be done 1 of 2 ways: (1) The order of the players is dependent on the original dealing of the roles, so that 1 gang member can be between members of the opposing gang, or (2) The order of the players is dependent on each gang. Each gang decides the order of their gang (half of the circle); which players are next to who. This allows player's to maximize setting up their hidden characters to be most beneficial for one another (placement of Pedro Ramirez, or Kit Carlson, could be crucial for instance), and maximize their abilities. This is the recommended set up.

To determine which player goes first, all players "draw!" The player with the highest value (with Poker ranking of suits, so that an Ace of Spades is higher than an Ace of Hearts that is higher than an Ace of Diamonds that is higher than an Ace of Clubs) starts the game. If there is a tie, those players "draw!" again. "Drawn!" cards are placed in the discard pile. The rest of the game procedes like normal BANG!, and the game ends when a gang leader is eliminated.

Alternate Gameplay: Dead Man's Hand

Dead Man's Hand is a BANG! variant, conceived by Kevin O'Hara in 2005, which keeps eliminated players entertained as they wait for the BANG! game to end. Essentially, dead players play a separate game similar to Knock Poker with the BANG! cards they draw each turn. O'Hara explains the rules, with some slight modifications, thus:

When a player dies, he discards all of his cards and reveals his role (as per the regular rules). He immediately draws seven new cards. He then declares who he thinks is next to die. The Dead Players continue playing in turn order, but now are playing a separate game similar to Knock Poker. They do not affect the main game.

Dead Player’s Turn:

The dead player’s turn are meant to go very quickly as all decision making should happen between, and not during, his turns. On the dead player’s turn, he:

• Draws his hand back up to seven cards from the draw deck.
• Declares who he thinks is next to die. As soon as another player dies, he gets a bonus card if he was right, otherwise he must wait until his next turn to make a new declaration.
• Discards his hand down to five cards.

Out of Turn:

Anytime between all dead players’ turns, they may play Bang! cards on each other. If the targeted dead player does not play a Missed! card, he must forfeit one card at random from his hand. This is done out of turn order so that it does not interfere with the living player’s game (in other words, try not to interrupt the living players while you shoot each other in the afterlife).

End of Game:

When the regular game ends, the Dead Man’s Hand ends as well. The last player to die draws seven cards. Dead players compare legal five card poker hands at this point and to see who wins the Dead Man’s Hand. Duplicate cards do not count; for example, if you have two Ace of Spades, one of them is a null card for the purpose of completing a poker hand. Sorry hombre, no having five Aces.

Notes:

• Dead Players do not have the character special abilities they had when they were living. Dead Players cannot play any card on a living player. The only cards that they can play are Bang! and Missed! cards on other Dead Players.
• Dead Players do not count in determining distance between Living Players. Dead Players are always within range of all other Dead Players.
• Dead Players are immune to all powers and cards played by Living Players except General Store (which they take part in as if they were a Living Player).
• Dead Players can still potentially win the Living Game under normal rules for Outlaws and Deputies. Renegades cannot win the main game.

High Noon Special Rule: if Ghost Town card comes up, Dead Players ignore their Dead Man’s Hand and play as per High Noon rules for that round.

While this variant does provide a way for dead players to entertain themselves while a game of BANG! ends, I find all of the card drawing from the regular BANG! deck disruptive to the living players' strategies (hurts Kit Carlson's set-up strategy if the next player is a ghost for instance), and it slows the game down. Why not just get out a deck of playing cards and play another game while BANG! finishes. The dead players will probably be more entertained and BANG! will finish quicker. I highly recommend using Death Mesa or Dead Reckonin' instead.

Alternate Gameplay: The Longest Day

The Longest Day is an interested BANG! variant created by Sergut. As he explains it, the Longest Day is is a variant for those that like the Bang! game mechanics for gunfighting, but either (i) they are a bit tired of the roles, or (ii) they have more than seven players for a gaming night. Sergut describes the variant as follows:

Before the start of the game, choose randomly N+2 character cards face down (Note: I imagine that this is to up the chances of you not drawing yourself, and even confuse players more)where N is the number of players. For a more deadly game, choose exactly N cards. Then give a character to each player, face down. This is NOT their character; rather, this is their target. This is the person they want to kill (for a personal grudge or any other reason). The players note their targets down and return the cards, without letting anyone know who their target is.

Shuffle the characters and deliver one character to each player again, face up. Now most people have a character and a target (if your target is yourself, you do not have a target). All rules of Bang! apply, with the following exceptions:

1. There are no roles (Sheriff, Renegade, Deputies, and Outlaws)
2. When you kill another player, you get his cards as loot (Note: as in Death Mesa, I imagine that Sergut means to remove Vulture Sam from the game, as all characters now have this power), and his character card as a trophy. You do not have to announce who is your target until the end of the game, but you may do so earlier if you wish.
3. Trophies give victory points: any killing gives you 1 point, your secret target gives you 2 points. If you kill the character that was trying to kill you, you get 2 points.
4. Saloon and Beer cards are not reshuffled. When they are used, they are removed from the game (to prevent games to last foerever).
5. The game ends when all living players are at peace with one another, or there is only one player alive. When the game ends, all targets are revealed.
6. The winner is the player that is alive and has the most victory points.

While it is fun to have 1 target to knock off, it is a little sad that you could have 5-6 victory points from killing others, die, and still not win. Technically, it is possible for several players to win with zero points! For the remaining players could have all played defensively, been at peace with one another, and the last aggressor have died because of Dynamite. I think that is lame. My suggestion is simply for the player with the most points wins, and the game ends when a player can deductively prove that he has more victory points than can be possibly gained by the other remaining players. Thus, he must show that his victory points are greater than both the actual and potential points of all other players. To do so is simple. For the actual, calculate for each player the amount of trophies he has in front of him. To calculate the potential, add 1 point for each of the remaining players (minus 1 if the player you are tallying for is alive), and add 2 more points (just in case that player has/can kill the player who has him as a target and the player whom he is targetting). Sum the total. If your points are greater (whether you are living or dead), call the game. You win.

There may be an honesty problem with targets, and so I would recommend each player writing their name and their character target on a scrap of player, and then sticking it in a hat (or other holding place). After dealing out the character cards to each player (when they are getting their characters), place the remaining 2 character cards in the hat. This should mitigate cheating. Although a player could write down any old name on the piece of paper, they do not know which characters are in the game when they get their targets. There is around a75% chance (with Dodge City) that if they make up a name that they will get it wrong, or write down someone else's target. Thus, at the end of the game you can pull out the scraps of paper and the 2 extra character cards to check on people's target claims. If there is a duplicate or a character name that is not amongst the character cards, then someone was cheating. I think it is good to have a structure that does not encourage cheating, especially when there are not many points to earn in the game. Victories will be close.

Besides this, I wish there was a way in which you could be given a player to protect, but I can't think of any simple system to include that. But I like the way you can deceive other players to do your bidding by claiming that you have a certain target when in fact you do not. Sure, this will create some conflict with the player who has that character as a target actually, but who will necessarily believe their side? Furthermore, it is possible that there is no player that has that player as target, as it may have been amongst the 2 character cards not dealt.

I have yet to playtest this variant, but it sounds pretty fun. Has anyone given it a whirl?

Alternate Gameplay: Secret Characters Variant

While I was surfing online, reading up on other ways people play BANG!, I read one interesting variant from Raman Ohri over at Board Game Geek. He called it the "Secret Characters" variant, and described it thus:

Instead of all of the players revealing their character cards at the start of game, they are all kept face down. The character is only revealed once you use your power. You can choose NOT to use your power (and therefor not reveal) if you like. Each player has the same number of life points as normal.

I think that this variant is really interesting, as your role can be a really negative thing at the beginning of the game, especially if you are a really offensive character like Willy the Kid or Slab the Killer. It is also extremely useful for the likes of Vulture Sam (but perhaps OP for him? Of course, some hate Vulture so much that this might be one way that they start to like the guy). It makes it difficult for the Outlaws to figure out the best offensive strategy against the Sheriff, but also makes it difficult for the Sheriff to infer who his threat is. And revealing your role can be an act of deception, making others wonder, "I wonder what role he has for him to reveal his character so?"

It is also really fantastic for 3-player BANG! I hated it how the general strategy was for the 2 weaker characters to gang up on the stronger, while the stronger tried to knock off the weakest. You just flipped a coin that you were attacking the right role. With the characters hidden, it creates a little more balance and an interesting situation for the players to wager when the best time to reveal their character is. If anyone has tried out this variant, and noticed anything else about it, I would be interested in hearing their thoughts.

Alternate Gameplay: Introducing BANG! Tactics

While many have noted that BANG! is a fun way to pass the time, trying to exert what little influence one can over many random elements, others have lamented that there is not more strategy involved in BANG! to help you win the game (especially considering how you might be eliminated in the first round). I have tried to conceive of an alternate way to play BANG! that might accomodate these complaints, and I have named this project BANG! Tactics (BTact). BTact does not remove all of the random elements of BANG!, but rather mitigates them to encourage far more foresight and thought on behalf of the players. How? BTact introduces a real shop into the mix, where players can purchase cards to help them accomplish their goals or thwart the goals of others. Instead of drawing 2 cards from the deck each turn, players draw only 1 card instead (despite some character abilities). Besides drawing this 1 card, each player also receives 5 gold during his drawing phase. With this gold, players can purchase cards of different values. The shop does not require another set of BANG! cards for purchasing purposes. Rather, the BANG! deck is relatively cut in half, maintainly the general probabilities of drawing certain cards as before. Certain kinds of cards, as also when there is only 1 of a certain type of card, are available only in the draw deck or in the shop. The shop, with some exceptions, tries to reproduce the low probability of drawing certain cards in the draw deck by placing them at a higher cost. After a quick test (that definitely needs some more work), the specific breakdown per card between the draw deck and the shop (with its associated cost) is as follows:

	Deck	Shop	Cost
Volcanic	1	1	20
Schofield	1	2	12
Remington	0	1	14
Rev. Carabine	1	0	n/a
Winchester	1	0	n/a
Barrel	1	1	16
Mustang	1	1	20
Scope	1	0	n/a
Jail	2	1	16
Dynamite	1	0	n/a
BANG!	13	12	3
Duel	1	2	16
Indians­!	1	1	15
Gatling	0	1	20
Missed!	6	6	5
Beer	3	3	8
Saloon	1	0	n/a
Panic!	1	2	16
Cat Balou	2	2	12
Wells Fargo	1	0	n/a
Stagecoach	1	0	n/a
General Store	2	0	n/a

Thus, to setup the BTact shop, separate the above-listed cards from the draw deck for the shop. Then set up the shop by arranging the separated card types face up. I arrange them so on the table:

You will notice on this grid that there are spaces for BANG! 1-4 and Missed! 1-2. There are a lot of BANG! and Missed! cards and this is why there are separate stacks. The stacks are to be arranged so that each card in the stack leaves the title of the card below it showing:
This is so that an inventory of the cards can be taken at any given time. The inventory is needed due to the mechanics of the shop. Whenever the shop is below its maximum inventory in any card type, and a card of that card type is played by a player, instead of placing this used card in the discard pile it returns to the shop. If the shop is at maximum inventory for this card type, it is placed in the discard pile instead. Arranging the cards as described above makes it easiest to discern whether the shop is fully stocked or not.

Anyway, on a player's turn, once they have drawn 1 card from the deck and earned their 5 gold, he can choose whether or not to purchase card(s) from the shop. While rare, there are certain limits of how many cards of a specific card type a player can purchase on his turn. A player can only purchase 1 beer on his turn. He can only purchase 2 of a BANG/Missed! combination (thus, a player can buy 2 BANG! and 0 Missed!, 1 BANG! and 1 Missed!, or 0 BANG! and 2 Missed!) on any given turn. After purchasing or opting not to, the player ends phase 1 of his turn. Purchasing can only occur during phase 1.

Gameplay follows as normal. Players play cards as they wish, and when they are finished, they must discard cards of their choice when they are over their card limit. The discarded cards, as noted above, go to the shop if the card type they belong to as not at maximum capacity. At the end of a turn, certain gold bonuses can be accrued. Not purchasing any cards with gold on your turn gives you a +1 gold bonus, as well as does not playing any cards on your turn +1 gold at the end of your turn, for a total potential of +2 gold. The gold is immediately gained at the end of your turn. Doing so is beneficial: by gaining both bonuses, you can purchase a Cat Balou on your second turn (5 gold from first turn + 2 gold bonus + 5 gold from second turn = 12 gold needed for Cat Balou). The bonuses make you plan carefully whether you should purchase/use cards or not. Gold accrues between turns and allows you to purchase more powerful cards. There is no limit to the amount of gold you can acrue, but it is unlikely that it will get that high, as you will need to purchase cards to protect yourself from the advances of other players.

The rest of the game goes like normal. Players try to accomplish their roles, discern who their friends and enemies are, and whoever accomplishes their mission is victorious. It should be noted that the purchasing brings a new source of discerning roles for the game. Just as players were able to sometimes discern others roles through what cards they picked up when a General Store is played, you can now study other player's card purchases to surmise their designs. Thus, if a player purchases a gun to reach past the player's next to him, you might have an idea of who he is gunning for. On the flip side, purchases can be used to deceive as much as they can reveal.

Character's abilities are adjusted for BTact as follows:

Pedro Ramirez: Instead of drawing his 1 card from the draw deck, he may draw the last card that was discarded, whether it returned to the shop or is on top of the discard pile.

Kit Carlson: He looks at the top 2 cards from the draw deck, selects 1, and discards the other, placing it either in the shop or the discard pile depending on the shop's inventory. He then proceeds to gain his 5 gold.

Jesse James: Instead of drawing 1 card from the draw deck, he may draw a card from the hand of another player instead.

Black Jack: He draws 1 card from the draw deck, and shows it to other players. If it is red, he draws another. [Alternatively, we have given Jack 10 coins instead of 5 for drawing red. However, this seemed to allow Jack to purchase too many cards to his advantage. The draw deck's randomness seemed more fitting for this ability.]

Vulture Sam: He also takes all the gold an eliminated player leaves into his hand.

Character's abilities that may need to be adjusted:

Suzy Lafayette: SL's ability may be OP when she only has to draw 1 card from the deck. While she starts with 4 cards and will have to get down to fully take advantage of them, it seems that she can draw and purchase cards that allow her to keep drawing cards. This may need to be mitigated. And yet, in the test game we played with her, she got blown away quite quickly (perhaps from fear), so it is hard to know if she needs balancing.

Sid Ketchum: Since he can discard any 2 cards to regain a life point, earning 5 gold a turn can greatly be to his advantage. For only 6 gold, he can purchase 2 BANG! and regain a life! Perhaps to adjust Sid, he earns less coins a turn (4 instead of 5?).

As far as I could tell, no other character abilities needed adjustment for BTact. Of course, as you can already tell, BTact is only designed for the original BANG! at the moment. Lastly, test games have shown that Dynamite tends not to explode as often. I expanded the activation range to 2-J to accomodate this.

I would appreciate it if others play tested BTact and told me their thoughts. If you enjoy this alternate gameplay, please let me know.

Rules: Official Two-Player BANG! Rules

For those who have less people to play BANG! with, but still want to give it a whirl, DV-Giochi has published the official rules to a Two-Player BANG! Variant. My wife and I tried out for 2 games, and it was pretty fun. Some of the characters' abilities have some balance issues for 2-player (Claus the Saint is an easy example for this), and on 1 game this was a problem. I might try to work out the kinks in this 2-player variant. There are other interesting variants at bang.cz for 2-player that I will bring up later. Anyway, I encourage you to try that 2-player variant out.

Alternate Gameplay: Range in which Dynamite Explodes can be Extended

A house rule for dynamite might be to allow the range by which dynamite explodes on a "draw!" to be extended. When dynamite is in play, each person on their turn is allowed to discard 1 spade to extend the range from 2-9 of spades, to a 2-10, 2-J, etc. The idea is that the fuse is burning, and the chance that it will explode will increase. Spades can continue to be discarded until the range reaches 2-A (approx. 25% chance of explosion). The extended range is permanent until a dynamite explodes. Each discard could up the range by 1 or 2, depending on how useful you thought this option could be. Obviously, you would want to up the range to up the chances of the dynamite exploding before you get to your next turn.

Alternate Gameplay: Barrel and Dynamite

I heard a somewhat fun house rule where if Dynamite explodes and a player has a barrel in player, they may "draw!" On hearts, the Barrel explodes (is discarded), but absorbs some of the damage of the dynamite, so that the player only loses 1-2 life points instead. While it sounds cool, it doesn't seem that likely that the Dynamite would explode on a player with a Barrel and a heart be drawn.

Alternate Gameplay: Infinite BANG! (in English)

I have translated the rules to Infinite BANG! by Aitor Vilchez. You may have noticed his boards or files that were placed on Board game geek. I had been interested in, and had been working on an Infinite BANG! of my own, and when I saw Aitor's work I was excited. While it has some downsides--roles are always revealed--his mod still looks pretty fun. Some people at Board Game Geek had asked if there was an English version, but there was no response. I took it upon myself to translate the variant into English. Later, perhaps, I will make English renditions of his game boards, but that is less necessary. Anyway, on to explaining Infinite BANG!

Infinite BANG!

Variant and Game Boards by Aitor Vilchez

Rules translated into English by Martin Pulido

Game Materials:

- BANG! the Bullet
- Game Board
- Rules

Game Boards (2 Variations):




Object of the Game:

- Be the player with the most points by the end of the game.

Preparing the Game:

Place the board in the center of the table. Shuffle the High Noon and A Fistful of Cards decks and place them in the spaces provided on the board. Take note of the amount of people playing the game and select the right number and types of roles as stated in the BANG! manual accordingly. Distribute the roles to each player face up; place the unused roles in the box where it says Sheriff. Next, take the character cards and deal 2 to each player. Each player's first character card dealt will be his character while the second card will be his life point indicator. Each player draws as many cards as their characters have life points.

Gameplay:

The Sheriff and his deputies may not shoot each other. The Outlaws cannot shoot each other. The Renegade can shoot at all and everyone can shoot at him. 1 point is gained for every successful shot at another player (i.e., a player gains 1 point for playing/using a card that is responsible for making another player lose a health). The game plays accordingly to the normal rules, except that when a character dies, the player who possessed this character card puts his dead character aside, while he flips his life point indicator character face up. This is the new character he will use. He then takes a new character who will serve as the new life point indicator. He also loses his role and takes a new one from the role stack, but also places his old role at the bottom of the stack. Finally, the player who lost his character also loses all of the prior character's cards and possessions. He draws as many cards as his new character has life points.

Point System:

The game has the following point system as noted here:

If a Sheriff shoots and kills an Outlaw/Renegade, he gains 3/2 points.
If a Deputy shoots and kills an Outlaw/Renegade, he gains 2/2 points.
If an Outlaw shoots and kills a Sheriff/Deputy/Renegade, he gains 3/2/2 points.
If a Renegade shoots and kills a Sheriff/Deputy/Outlaw/Renegade, he gains 2/2/2/2 points.

On top of this, every player gains 1 point for any player he successfully hits. When a Sheriff or deputy kills an outlaw, his companions gain a point. When an outlaw kills a Sheriff or a deputy, his companions gain a point. When one group is annihilated (Sheriff and Deputies, or Outlaws) the Renegade(s) automatically gains a point. At the end of the game, each player is deducted a point for each of their characters that died (this amount will be withheld during the game).

Example of the Point System:

Andres, Ruben and Gorka are Outlaws. Boris and Manu are the Sheriff and Deputy respectively. Aitor is a Renegade. Andres (an Outlaw) kills Boris (the Sheriff) and gains 3 points for doing so. Ruben and Gorka, as Andres' Outlaw comrades, also gain 1 point each. Boris, the eliminated Sheriff, draws a new role and character, and now becomes a Renegade. Aitor (the original Renegade) kills Manu (the Deputy), and so gains 2 points for killing a Deputy and also 1 point for eliminating the original Sheriff's team. Boris also gains 1 point for that very reason.

End of the game:

The game ends when no player can draw a new character card.

Special Rules for the High Noon and A Fistful of Cards decks:

Dead Man: The eliminated characters return to life this turn with 2 lives.

Ghost Town: The players can choose a person from the pile of dead characters and become this character. They adjust the amount of cards in their hands to the amount of lives that this character can possess.

Recommended Variants:

- When the two beginning characters are drawn (the chosen character and the life point indicator) they player chooses which one he will use to begin the game.
- It could be that the BANG! Infinite games last too long for your taste, in having to wait for all characters to be drawn. Instead, you could have the game end when:
1. A certain number of points is reached.
2. When the event cards have all occurred. EDIT: You can lengthen out the amount of turns until the end of the game by not playing the High Noon and A Fistful of Cards simultaneously. Play 1 of the decks, followed by the other. This lengthens out the typical 15 turns to 30.
3. You could shuffle the character cards deck and select the amount of character cards you want to be in the game to shorten or lengthen the game accordingly.
- When your character is killed, you automatically lose a point and the character card is removed from the game. This allows you to have a greater control over the player's points but it removes the factor of surprise.

Alternate Gameplay: Order of Scenario Cards Known at the Beginning of the Game

For those who did not read my statement of purpose post, I mentioned an interesting gameplay variant with the scenario cards that I think is worth considering. I wrote:

Many of my friends and I do not enjoy the randomness of the global effect or "scenario" cards played at the beginning of each round in High Noon and a Fistful of Cards (Wild West Show cards are similar, but these scenarios do not occur at the beginning of a round for a round, but rather begin and end when certain cards are played). However, we still enjoy the idea of these scenario cards. Our solution is to pick the deck(s) we wish to play with at the beginning, shuffle this deck, and flip these cards over in a sequential order (with High Noon and Fistful of Cards being last in this order). At the beginning of the second round, the effects start to occur each round in this sequential order. When a card is used up, it is flipped face down to indicate that it has ended. This way players can prepare for future rounds, and yet still have variety added to BANG! with these cards.

This might be worth trying out if you are frustrated by the randomness of these decks too.

Alternate Gameplay: Varying Agendas for Renegade

Over at Board Game Geek, there was a post discussing how a Renegade could have a random goal assigned to him at the beginning of each game for him to accomplish. The brain child behind this idea described it thus:

At the start of the game a die is rolled to determine the objective of the renegade.

1 and 2-Normal renagade objective
3-be the first player to die if not roll for a new objective
4-bootlegger: try and get 3 beer cards in your hand
5-murderer: kill 3 players
6-Normal Renagade.

He specified also that the Renegade is not the person who rolled the die; it declares the objective for the Renegade and everyone knows that that is the Renegade's goal.

Some general comments: Why bring a dice role into the game? Just "draw!" and use the playing card values in the bottom left corner to determine his role, or the suits. Scraps the need for dice. Second, I don't think the alternate agenda will work for 2-3 player games; I would say it only counts for 4+. And how about these alternate agendas? I think we can universally agree that (3) is stupid. Be the first player to die? It is dumb for the game to end so soon if he does die, and since it is so easy to avoid (3) being the outcome, does the Renegade automatically lose if (3) is not accomplished? I would scrap it. In fact, many of these might have that problem. As a murderer, I have lost if other players have killed others over X (whatever my specified amount is); what is my incentive to keep playing? It might be helpful if I had 2 victory conditions instead (normal renegade conditions OR being a murderer), that way if the 1 condition becomes eliminated the Renegade can change to achieve the regular victory condition. The fact that he can always default back on this helps him serve as the buffer for the Sheriff like he should.

(4) is a little fascinating, but it will be brutal to accomplish this when all the other players know that that is the Renegade's goal. This probably should scale with different amounts of players, as chances of getting beer in 7-player are not high. You can imagine that in General Stores everyone will be grabbing to keep away the beer from the Renegade. On the flip side, he has a high chance of collecting beer when he plays the General Store. The game will probably last longer, giving him more time to collect on beers. I know I would be brutal on whoever collected the beer on a General Store. I would simply make that person my target, shooting at them until they used the Beer. Since I haven't play tested it, it may also be too easy of a win. It could be made much more difficult if he had to get the Beer, Whiskey, and Tequila cards.

(5) is interesting, but simply specifying 3 is not going to work. I would rather call this alternate condition "Headhunter" and say he has to personally eliminate a certain number of players depending on how many there are:
4-5 player: Kill 2 other players.
6-8 player: Kill 3 other players. You might put 4 for 8-player, but with too many other bullets whizzing around, I doubt he could do it.

It might be more interesting if the Renegade's alternative victory condition was not public. His alternative victory condition could be determined by the first card that he draws for the game: use its suit/value to specify that condition. Then part of the intrigue of the game could be discovering what that other condition is by seeing how he behaves. I would simplify the alternate conditions by having the first card draw's value determinations be:
2-7: Normal Renegade
8-10: Bootlegger (However best to determine this alternate role) + Normal Victory Condition
J-A: Headhunter + Normal Victory Condition.

I made 2-7 Normal because the higher value cards are more common in BANG, so a greater range had to be used to offset that. I think it is fun that you can be a Normal Renegade and yet have to convince other players that you do not have another conditions for winning. Or have 1 condition, and convince them that you have another. Anyway, I think this idea still needs a lot of work, but it has some potential.

The only thing that makes me laugh is that the Renegade is an interesting role already... this only increases his fun. What can we do with the Deputy to make him more interesting, and not have his role be revealed?

Alternate Gameplay: Killing Horses, Carcass Covers, and Blowing up Hideouts

The folks over at Dice Hate Me have posted some interesting house rules for BANG! (other house rules here). I will share a few that intrigued me here.

The first is the ability to shoot another person's horse directly with a BANG! Indirect attacks like Gatling or Indians! cannot target the horse. In response, the horse-riding player can try to avoid the attack in the usual ways (Missed!, Dodge, Barrel, etc.). If it gets hit, he loses the horse (no last second beer for your horse). I think this is fun, but I wouldn't allow you to directly target the horse at any distance. I think that only if the player is seen for one more distance beyond your reach then you can target his horse with a BANG!

Of course, there is the problem of horses being less useful with this house rule. There are some ways to remedy this. Perhaps the horse could have 2 health. The suggestion that the Dice Hate Me people give is for the horse to die, but it becomes transformed into a Barrel. Turn the Horse sideways and now you can hide behind its carcass! The dead horse can be panicked and discarded just as a Barrel would. If you already have a Barrel, the horse doesn't stack, but is discarded.



Their next idea is to allow Hideouts to be blown up. So the horses can be shot, and Hideouts can be destroyed with dynamite. If a player has dynamite in his hand, he can play at like a brown card on another player's Hideout to immediately destroy (discard) the Hideout. I don't know if I like that it is immediately discarded, as you can avoid the attacks with the horses. A good balance might be for the player to "draw!" If black, his Hideout is destroyed. Otherwise, it is fine.

In general, I like house rules that allow you to target cards that are in play in front of other players.

Alternate Gameplay: Renegade can become Sheriff

This is a recent idea that I have tossed on my mind that can change the gameplay for both the Renegade(s) and Deputies. The Renegade, if he wishes, can choose to kill the Sheriff before he kills off all the other players. If he personally is the one that kills the Sheriff, he becomes the new Sheriff, has the new health limit bonus and gains 1 health. His mission is of course to survive like the deceased sheriff's mission was. If he only damages the Sheriff and the Outlaws or something else like Dynamite kills the Sheriff, game over and the Outlaws win. So it is a very risky move on his part, but it can be a way for him to shift the balance of the game and do something different. Imagine if a Sheriff is getting blown away and he will not be able to fend off the outlaws before the Sheriff dies. He can now kill the Sheriff and resume this role, so the Outlaws don't immediately win. But he wouldn't want the Sheriff to be overwhelmed every time because if he did, then he has no Renegade of his own to back him, and so might get overpowered himself. Think of how stupid this would be on his part in a 4-player game. I think this is a fascinating change to the Renegade role. It might be worth specifying a certain amount of players that need to be killed before he can do this, but it could be good on its own too.

As for the deputies, I think there is two things that could happen here. One, they could have to defend the Renegade who has become the new Sheriff. I think a more interesting variant is that they were loyal to their old Sheriff and won't side with the new Sheriff. They become Renegades themselves! Now, they might have the opportunity to become the new Sheriff as well if they depose the prior Renegade, or it could be that only the original Renegade has the capacity. Anyway, I think this could be an interesting way to switch things up.

Alternate Gameplay: "Loaded Gun" House Rule

Another house rule I have heard for the BANG! card game is to allow players to "load" their guns. This means that on any player's turn, that player can reveal a BANG! card from his hand and place it in front of him face up. The BANG! is now "loaded" into their gun. The BANG! cannot be used until the player's next turn, meaning it cannot be used for duels, Indians!, or for other cards or scenarios. This BANG! does not count for his card limit, nor can it be stolen or discarded by another player. However, at his next turn, the player can fire his loaded gun. This BANG! does not contribute to his 1 BANG! limit, allowing him to use 2 BANG! that turn (the loaded gun's BANG! and a BANG! from his hand).

Alternate Gameplay: "1st Turn Grace Period" House Rule

I heard of a house rule that I really like. It stipulates that players that kill another player before that player had 1 turn to play in the game (if Jail skipped a turn, this counts as that player not having had a turn to play yet) have to discard all their cards in hand and in play.

BANG! can be a long game and it is lame when you get destroyed first round. I know this has happened to me several times, and I think this house rule is a good solution.