Mutation Island (4 page rules)

Hello,

Generally, this does sound like a new take on the Munchkin theme. It's hard to see how it would play, especially with the 'take that' elements left in (my least favorite part of Munchkin, personally).

Balance in this game is pretty key, as it sounds like it would be easy to just get hammered with creatures every round. Since you lose your fight on a tie roll, be sure to remember that an attack value of 4 will only be beat by a d6 1/3 of the time. If you need two of those on three dice, you're going to lose that fight most of the time.

Here are some more detailed notes on a readthrough of your rules:

- the phrase 'a full human' early in the book is a little jarring. Perhaps replace with '...starts the game with no mutations...'

- Why wouldn't the events and Items just say "Event" and "Item" at the top? This is pretty standard.

- It seems like you don't always start the game fully human -- if your initial draw includes mutations.

- Add to setup: Place the deck of remaining cards in easy reach of all players.

- At the end of the turn, they "may" replenish up to three, but they do not have to? If they can't use the cards until their next turn starts, why not have them draw up to three before they flip the card at the beginning of their turn? Then there's no confusion about whether they can use the cards.

- Are pets a sub-category of items? You mention them separately in the mutations section, but we've not seen them mentioned before.

- The events/items category should use the word 'drawn' rather than 'draw.' Also, the section dictating when to use events contradicts the section on drawing new cards.

- the early combat section is repetitive -- don't say what to do in win/loss at the beginning if you have full sections on that later.

- The Multiple combat section needs rewriting -- the two exceptions added at the end of the first sentence and the beginning of the second should be foregrounded, as they shape how the rest of the sentence is understood. For example:

Another player may add one additional creature from the same faction to the battle (though they may not do so with mythic creatures). Other cards may allow players to add even more creatures (such as Cattle Prod).

Additionally, this rule makes it sound like the acting player can't add another monster to the fight. Also, if two players both try to add monsters, who gets to do so?

- You don't need to say, again, how much treasure to draw. Just use this: "He must defeat ALL of them before he can draw treasure for any of them."

- Combat Victory - it probably wouldn't hurt to be explicit that they draw an artefact card from the set-aside artefacts. Do these convey any bonuses or are they just victory cards? If the former, you need to be explicit about how/which artefacts they get.

- Defeat - You said to resolve fights with monsters in sequence -- if the player fights and loses to the first monster, do they still get to fight the second, or do they just roll against its chase value? This could be more clear

- I would make a separate section for "kinds" of items, and put the bits about Pets in there. I would also make an example list, rather than being definitive about which pets are in the deck. That way if you want to add one later, you don't have to go back and edit the rules.

- You should provide a narrative explanation of the Death actions. Why do we keep our mutations? Are we supposed to be the same person? Better to start completely over, or rewrite to suggest that death is temporary on mutation island, but when you wake up all your stuff is gone.

- Facebook link is broken

- Adrenaline - the tone here is different than the rest of the rulebook. If you're going to be a little jokey, you need to do it more than once.

- You're inconsistent about periods at the end of the instructions in the card section. I prefer to use them, but either way is fine as long as you're consistent.

- Your examples should show at least one easy creature.

Good luck with your continued development of the game!