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[Ministry of Silly Walks]

I'd love to have some ideas to make multiplayer games different than the standard. Not that they are not fun as stated in the rules - they are - but I feel like there could be so many options. Think of Magic and the two-headed giant variant. (Perhaps there are already some official multiplayer variants out there, and if so, post the links!)

For this brainstorm, anything goes. But keep it a concise outline rather than a fully detailed manual.

A quick list of ideas to start us off:

• simultaneous play
• teams
• secret goals
• dice
• Event cards
• shared piles
• exclusive piles
• figurines on a hex map
• mafia-like

[Ministry of Silly Walks]

Kill the Tyrant (semi-cooperative)
Not much playtesting on this, but here goes. This works similarly to a two-player game, with extra players on one team. There is still only one winner, and the end-of-game conditions are the same.

Setup: One player (or maybe just an automated "the game"?) is the Tyrant, two or more players are "cooperating" as Vassals. Tyrant begins with 7 Silvers, 3 Provinces. The Vassals begin with a shared deck of 4 Coppers, 2 Estates, and +2 Coppers, +1 Estate for each Vassal player.

The Vassals share their deck and discard piles but draw separate hands. Playing cards during each phase of the Vassals' turn is done simultaneously with other Vassals, but all Vassals must wait for the new phase only when all Vassals are ready for it. Vassals can communicate with each other but cannot show their hands to each other.

Action Phase: Action cards played by Vassals affect all Vassals. Attack cards played by the Tyrant affect all Vassals.
Vassal Buy Phase: During the Buy phase, each Vassal player acts and buys separately/independently. A Vassal's $ is good only for that Vassal. When a Vassal would gain a card only one card is gained (shared deck). If a card would be "put in hand," it is specific to that Vassal. Cards that target just a single player (like "player to the right") still only affect that player.
Vassal Victory Points: Victory points are counted separately for each Vassal. When a Vassal would gain a Victory card, he also gains an equal number of Victory points. If a Victory card is removed from play (such as by trashing), the Vassal that removed it loses that many Victory points (or, if the Tyrant removed a Vassal's Victory card, the Tyrant chooses which Vassal loses those Victory Points). At the end of the game, Vassal Victory cards are not counted.

Tyrant Event Cards (Vassals cannot use):

• Place your Tyrant Curse token on a pile. Vassals that gain a card from this pile gain a Curse.
• Each Vassal passes you a Treasure card from his hand or discards two cards.

Vassal Event Cards (Tyrants cannot use):

• If you have not yet gained a card, all Vassals can share their Treasure cards. You may not gain a card.
• Instead of buying from the Kingdom piles, you may instead buy from the Tyrant's hand.

Automated Tyrant: Rather than having a player be the Tyrant, maybe a "players vs. the game" setup where the Tyrant is automated? The Tyrant does not have a normal Action phase. Rather, every turn, he shows all the Treasure cards from his hand and spends all coins he might have. Then he buys from Events, standard Treasure, and Victory using these rules:

• Total $ is 0: Event - All cards worth $0 in Tyrant's hand and in play are put on top of the Vassal's draw pile.
• Total $ is 1: Event - Tactician.
• Total $ is 2: Event - Militia.
• Total $ is 3: Gain a Silver.
• Total $ is 4: Gain a Silver. Event - Vassals gain 1 Curse
• Total $ is 5: Gain a Duchy. Event - Outpost
• Total $ is 6: Gain a Gold.
• Total $ is 7: Gain a Gold. Event - Militia.
• Total $ is 8+: Gain a Province

[2.71828.....]

Should  be in "variants and fan cards" section.