At the moment our next Dice Masters session at the end of the month is going to be a three player event.
Which means we can still draft from the pauper cube or use the Dark Phoenix draft packs that I ordered.
However I’m not keen on having one person sitting out watching whilst the other two are playing a game of Dice Masters with their drafted team.
So my thoughts went to what about a multiplayer game of Dice Masters?
I know that there are official rules for Dice Masters Doubles. But it’s not really an option for just three players.
Ideally I want this to play similar to Commander, or one of the Game Night kits in MtG. Maybe even Vampire the Masquerade Rivals.
The other limitation is that whatever ideas I come up (borrow more like)
with they will support 3 or 4 multiplayer games only. Scaling above this becomes a major headache and I think the downtime between turns becomes too long and makes the game boring. If there are more players split into pods of 3 or 4.
Basic action cards
The first issue that is unique to Dice Masters compared to similar games are the basic action cards.
Which ever of the multiplayer format ideas I have below this bit should be the same for them all.
I’m thinking each player puts out one basic action card. If there are only 3 players a fourth basic action card is selected randomly from a discard pile (if the players have been drafting) or the remaining basic action cards from each player are shuffled together and a random one selected.
Determining First Player
I like using the bgstat app to randomly select the first player. However some might like to be more traditional and let the dice decide with the sidekick roll off.
Whichever way you choose determine a first player for all of these formats below.
Free for all
The Game Night kit uses regular 60 card MtG decks and is a free for all. It’s fun and is the easiest to implement. That’s why the deckbuilder Star Realms also suggests this in their multiplayer rules.
Baring in mind that there might have to be adjustments for turn order for the first turn (see below).
This is a last person standing format.
There are no limitations on who you can attack/target. You can also attack multiple opponents at once! So you could have 2 dice attacking one opponent, and a sidekick attacking the other for instance.
Rivals
This format is based on Vampire the Masquerade Rivals.
Vampire the Masquerade Rivals was designed to be a multiplayer game from the start. It actually has in my opinion a cool mechanic for choosing a rival who you need to defeat to win the game. And it is this mechanic that we will be borrowing.
For this format you will need four tokens numbered 1 to 4.
We will then chose our rival for the game as the Vampire the Masquerade Rivals rules describe below.
“Randomly determine who goes first and give them the ‘1st Player’ token. Each player has a number based on where they are sitting. The player with the ‘1st Player Token” is Player 1. The player to their left is Player 2, etc.
…
In a 3p game, grab Rival tokens 1_3. In a 4p game, use tokens 1_4.
Place the tokens face down in the middle of the table and mix them up. Starting with player 1 and continuing clockwise, each player in turn grabs a token and flips it over. If you grab a token with your player number on it, grab a new one and then throw yours back in face down and mix them up again.
When there are 2 players yet to
grab a token, if either of their numbers have not been
revealed by the earlier players, flip the remaining
tokens over and each player who doesn’t have a
token grabs one that isn’t their own.
This prevents these players from being left with their own token.
Compare your token to the turn order (clockwise from player 1). The player whose number is on your token is your Rival for the game. So if you grab token #2, your Rival is player #2—the player one seat clockwise from player 1.” Vampire the Masquerade Rivals Rulebook page 4
The other rule we will borrow and modify from Vampire the Masquerade Rivals is “IMPORTANT: You cannot attack vampires controlled by a foe who has yet to take their first turn.” This will be changed to:
IMPORTANT: You cannot attack a player who has yet to take their first turn.
To win a game in this multiplayer format you need to defeat your rival, ie knock their health down to zero.
If another player defeats your rival then the player with the most health remaining wins. HOWEVER the player that holds the defeated players token gains 3 health (up to a maximum of 20 health).
Hunter
I’ve borrowed the name and format from Star Realms.
This is also a last person standing format.
In Hunter you can only attack/target the person sitting to your left .
If the player on your left is knocked out, then the next player to your left can now be targeted/attacked.
First player advantage and handicaps
I know in Dice Masters we have the first player rule in place that they roll four sidekicks and one of them gets placed in the Used zone. Which I like as a rule to get round the first player advantage. And games like MtG have similar mechanisms in place.
However in multiplayer games of MtG whether it’s Commander or the Game Night kit the rule of the first player not drawing a card at the start of their first turn does not apply.
In Star Realms they do have handicaps in place for their multiplayer formats.
But do we need handicaps in place for a multiplayer Dice Masters game?
I’m tempted to go with yes, and have the current first player handicap apply to all players except the player going last.
Obviously this needs LOTS of play testing. And I’d be really interested in the thoughts and experiences of others on this subject.
So those are my thoughts on possible multiplayer formats for Dice Masters.
They are formats I will be trying with my gaming groups when we get a chance to get Dice Masters to the table on our weekly lcg/ccg/tcg game night. Which appears to be this evening now!
Let me know if you have tried any of the above, how you got on, what worked and what you would change.
