I have always been a fan of the Munchkin games by Steve Jackson Games. So when I saw the kickstarter for a new version based on the popular Starfinder RPG from Paizo, I jumped on it. Having all new art by Howard Taylor (of Schlock Mercenary fame) just helped to seal the deal.
Recently my kickstarter shipment came in, so I thought I'd share it with you.
The first thing was that SJGames did a "I want it all" box - a special box for those who pledged for everything.
The back of the box has a place for a mailing label - so that if this is your entire pledge all they had to do was put a label on it and send it away!
Of course, I ended up ordering even more, so I go this in a bigger box with a copy of Munchkin Pathfinder.
The box is full color, with nice artwork on it. Ready for retail even.
And, of course, since this is Munchkin, the box even comes with it's very own in-game rule. Like many of the bookmark and other extra rules, it is a one use EVER rule (i.e. you have to deface the box in order to use it)
Inside the box is a special certificate, again with it's own unique rule. This one is fun, as it is about collecting signatures on it for the bonuses. I am going to try and remember to bring it with me to Gencon and see if I can get all three signatures there!
Under the certificate is all sorts of goodies.
This includes bags with the mini expansions in them (in retail these would be normal foil card packs.
As well as larger goodies and expansions.
With the actual base game at the bottom of the box
So let's start with the base game. Of course it has instructions. This is Munchkin, so once you have played one variant you pretty much know how to play all of them. There are always little specifics for each game, plus you never know when a decent joke is hidden inside, so it is still recommended to read them at least once.
The actual game has two decks of cards and a die. There is a cardboard divider to keep the contents from bouncing around - this I immediately threw away, because I knew I would need room in the box for all the expansion cards.
What I'm NOT going to do, however, is go over all the cards. The same high quality from all the Munchkin games is here (as well as the same low quality jokes). The art is great - and while generally I prefer John Kovalic's art for Munchkin, Howard Taylor does a great job with this.
Moving on, you get the first full expansion in a tuck box. Pretty much every munchkin set has at least the one expansion (though I think the original game is up to something like 8 full expansions now (not to mention a huge number of foil pack mini-expansions).
Where this is different from other Munchkin expansion is that there are NO additional race or class cards. Normally the first expansion adds one more of each race and class (so you have three of each instead of two). However due to the sheer number of cards in this expansion (and the larger than normal number of class and race cards in this set), they didn't have room to add these - so they come in their own foil pack mini-expansion instead.
There are several foil pack mini-expansions for the game. The first is the Hero Pack - which is one more class and race card for each of these in the game, as well as another Super Munchkin and Half-Breed card (allowing you to have to classes or races respectively).
The drift dice mini-expansion is six munchkin dice, and some cards that actually use these in the game.
The big baddies in the Starfinder setting are the swarm, so they gave them their very own foil expansion pack adding even more swarm nasties hiding behind the doors.
Of course, Paizo's mascot is a goblin, so it was only natural as a stretch goal that they added a foil pack of space goblin cards.
In some sci-fi settings (like the original Star Trek) there is no money - but being normal greedy humans of course we are going to want money. In the Starfinder setting, they use CredSticks as currency. Another stretch goal was to make an expansion pack with metal Cred Sticks (and cards that use them).
When playing Munchkin (of any kind), it doesn't take very long to eventually get in a complicated combat with lots of modifiers going back and forth. The Munchkin Kill-O-Meter is a double sided tracker (one side is heroes, the other monsters) with two dials from 0 - 9 - so you can add all your levels and bonuses (up to 99, and I have never seen a game (not that it couldn't happen though) that had THAT many bonuses.
The only problems is you only get one - and in general you need two (one for the hero, one for the monster(s)) for each complicated combat. However the functionality of any of these is identical between all games, so if you already have one for another game you can use it with this one. And of course, it comes with more cards.
There are even a few kickstarter exclusive cards as well.
One of the really fun things they have done with Munchkin is to create bookmarks. Each game has a few - and each of them has a unique rule (you can only use one bookmark (of any type) per game (unless you change sex, then you can use a second)), most of which involve either destroying the bookmark or giving it away. You can often get these at conventions as well. I find it fun to collect them, so any time I can get more I jump on it.
There is also a large print of the box cover art.
Finally is the Star Field. This is a game board (and of course a few cards). A few years back they came out with Munchkin Deluxe, which was all the cards plus a board with spaces for your levels. This way players could use tokens and everyone could see what the other players levels are (so they can see how far ahead or behind they are).
This came comes with 6 colored tokens (one for each player), with a male or female face on it (so you can tell what sex you are in the game). There is also a bonus token as well. These are used with the board to show your level.
The board itself has spaces for each level 1-9, as well as places to put your door and treasure cards (and the discards for them). Not required, but a nice edition.
So there is a LOT of stuff - but amazingly it actually ALL fits in the base game box.
Even the larger kill-o-meter
and the board
So a pretty cool set, and yet another munchkin variant I look forward to playing.
What is your favorite Munchkin game?
Because it is all fun and games . . .
Recently my kickstarter shipment came in, so I thought I'd share it with you.
The first thing was that SJGames did a "I want it all" box - a special box for those who pledged for everything.
The back of the box has a place for a mailing label - so that if this is your entire pledge all they had to do was put a label on it and send it away!
Of course, I ended up ordering even more, so I go this in a bigger box with a copy of Munchkin Pathfinder.
The box is full color, with nice artwork on it. Ready for retail even.
And, of course, since this is Munchkin, the box even comes with it's very own in-game rule. Like many of the bookmark and other extra rules, it is a one use EVER rule (i.e. you have to deface the box in order to use it)
Inside the box is a special certificate, again with it's own unique rule. This one is fun, as it is about collecting signatures on it for the bonuses. I am going to try and remember to bring it with me to Gencon and see if I can get all three signatures there!
Under the certificate is all sorts of goodies.
This includes bags with the mini expansions in them (in retail these would be normal foil card packs.
As well as larger goodies and expansions.
With the actual base game at the bottom of the box
So let's start with the base game. Of course it has instructions. This is Munchkin, so once you have played one variant you pretty much know how to play all of them. There are always little specifics for each game, plus you never know when a decent joke is hidden inside, so it is still recommended to read them at least once.
The actual game has two decks of cards and a die. There is a cardboard divider to keep the contents from bouncing around - this I immediately threw away, because I knew I would need room in the box for all the expansion cards.
What I'm NOT going to do, however, is go over all the cards. The same high quality from all the Munchkin games is here (as well as the same low quality jokes). The art is great - and while generally I prefer John Kovalic's art for Munchkin, Howard Taylor does a great job with this.
Moving on, you get the first full expansion in a tuck box. Pretty much every munchkin set has at least the one expansion (though I think the original game is up to something like 8 full expansions now (not to mention a huge number of foil pack mini-expansions).
Where this is different from other Munchkin expansion is that there are NO additional race or class cards. Normally the first expansion adds one more of each race and class (so you have three of each instead of two). However due to the sheer number of cards in this expansion (and the larger than normal number of class and race cards in this set), they didn't have room to add these - so they come in their own foil pack mini-expansion instead.
There are several foil pack mini-expansions for the game. The first is the Hero Pack - which is one more class and race card for each of these in the game, as well as another Super Munchkin and Half-Breed card (allowing you to have to classes or races respectively).
The drift dice mini-expansion is six munchkin dice, and some cards that actually use these in the game.
The big baddies in the Starfinder setting are the swarm, so they gave them their very own foil expansion pack adding even more swarm nasties hiding behind the doors.
Of course, Paizo's mascot is a goblin, so it was only natural as a stretch goal that they added a foil pack of space goblin cards.
In some sci-fi settings (like the original Star Trek) there is no money - but being normal greedy humans of course we are going to want money. In the Starfinder setting, they use CredSticks as currency. Another stretch goal was to make an expansion pack with metal Cred Sticks (and cards that use them).
When playing Munchkin (of any kind), it doesn't take very long to eventually get in a complicated combat with lots of modifiers going back and forth. The Munchkin Kill-O-Meter is a double sided tracker (one side is heroes, the other monsters) with two dials from 0 - 9 - so you can add all your levels and bonuses (up to 99, and I have never seen a game (not that it couldn't happen though) that had THAT many bonuses.
The only problems is you only get one - and in general you need two (one for the hero, one for the monster(s)) for each complicated combat. However the functionality of any of these is identical between all games, so if you already have one for another game you can use it with this one. And of course, it comes with more cards.
There are even a few kickstarter exclusive cards as well.
One of the really fun things they have done with Munchkin is to create bookmarks. Each game has a few - and each of them has a unique rule (you can only use one bookmark (of any type) per game (unless you change sex, then you can use a second)), most of which involve either destroying the bookmark or giving it away. You can often get these at conventions as well. I find it fun to collect them, so any time I can get more I jump on it.
There is also a large print of the box cover art.
Finally is the Star Field. This is a game board (and of course a few cards). A few years back they came out with Munchkin Deluxe, which was all the cards plus a board with spaces for your levels. This way players could use tokens and everyone could see what the other players levels are (so they can see how far ahead or behind they are).
This came comes with 6 colored tokens (one for each player), with a male or female face on it (so you can tell what sex you are in the game). There is also a bonus token as well. These are used with the board to show your level.
The board itself has spaces for each level 1-9, as well as places to put your door and treasure cards (and the discards for them). Not required, but a nice edition.
So there is a LOT of stuff - but amazingly it actually ALL fits in the base game box.
Even the larger kill-o-meter
and the board
So a pretty cool set, and yet another munchkin variant I look forward to playing.
What is your favorite Munchkin game?
Because it is all fun and games . . .
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