I dunno about you, but one of my favorite parts about Bang! was the crazy variations like "Superman", where everybody got like three different character abilities at the same time. So, in celebration of the start of spring break, I rubbed the few brain cells that survived midterms together and came up with a couple variant rulesets:
~) Support Teams (~
When dealing out character cards at the beginning of the game, each player receives 6 cards instead of 5. They choose one "Main" character (MC), and one "Support" character (SC). Vital stats from the Support character are ignored, but both characters' abilities are active. You are encouraged to refer to your characters with a portmanteau name.
Exceptions:
-If Ran is your SC, your RTR is 8, unless your MC's RTR is naturally higher. (lol Cirno)
-If Cirno is your SC, her ability reads "Winter cards played by others or already in play in front of others that are used against Cirno do not affect her." (essentially, she loses the crazy regen gain.)
-If Rumia is your SC, your RTR is 5, unless your MC's RTR is naturally lower. (otherwise you're just asking for someone to park at 5+ regen tokens and stall the game out.)
-If Nitori is your SC, you draw 2 cards at 0 tokens, 6 cards at RTR tokens*, 5 cards at (RTR-1) tokens, 4 cards at (RTR-2) tokens, and 3 cards otherwise. This ability uses your MC's printed RTR. (with similar adjustments for the NitoRan and NitoRumia)
*possible with Yuugi's Shackles
-(Iku Clause) You cannot be unaffected by more than one season at a time. (e.g. Sanae, Cirno, and of course, Iku)
Clarifications:
-Yuuka/Utsuho: Spells saved with Yuuka's ability do get the +1 bonus from Utsuho's ability when recast.
-If Patchy is your SC, you start with a number of cards determined by your MC's Power, and have no hand size limit.
-For multiple abilities that draw a card and look at its season (e.g. Alice/Kisume) resolve each ability sequentially, with separate draws.
Power-Up Phase shenanigans:
-No more than one alternative draw ability (e.g. Koishi, Prismrivers, Yorihime) may be used per turn.
-Abilities like Keine's and Eirin's only take effect if the card(s) in question were drawn normally from the top of the deck.
-If you are drawing more than 3 cards because of an ability, alternative draw abilities only replace the first three draws. If you are drawing less than three cards because of an ability, (e.g. Nitori) you may not use an alternative draw.
Banned Combos:
-Ran/Rumia - because of the RTR conflict
-(I'm also eyeing Utsuho/Kaguya rather suspiciously. Thoughts?)
~) Red Oni Blue Oni (~
Players: 6-12, evens
Two Keepers: one Red, one Blue. Everyone else is a Protectorate, also color coded. Protectorates sit around their Keeper to maximize distance between the Keeper and the other team. Keepers sit directly across from each other. When one Keeper is knocked out, the other team wins. Killing an opposing Protectorate brings the reward for killing a Mischief Maker. Killing an allied Protectorate brings the penalty for a Keeper killing a Protectorate, even if the killer was not a Keeper. Additional rules to prevent friendly fire (for spells like Pandemonium) are optional.
For extra hijinx, add a "Traitor" role (can't think of a good title atm) on each team who's secretly working for the other team. Killing a traitor brings the reward/penalty based on which team he was actually working for, not the team he appeared to be working for. A traitor may reveal themselves when killing an "ally" to receive the reward instead of the penalty.
