variable player powers

In Emira the players are Arabian Sheiks looking to expand their harem with more princesses. They try to make themselves more attractive to convince as many princesses as possible to come to live in their harem. Each round, another princess with different preferences comes into play and chooses the sheik that she is most attracted to.

The game is played in several rounds. The 3 to 5 players have auctions where they bid to perform actions: play event cards, buying spice caravans, palace sections, camels, or improve his appearance and status. After all players have performed an action the princess will chose which sheik she prefers (according to her preferences).

Each player has a goal card that defines his goal for the game, for example acquire 4 princesses with three specific skills or 6 princesses.

1st Place 2004 Hippodice Spieleautorenwettbewerb (as Harem).

In this game the players are ancient gods that are trying to make their chosen tribes prosper and conquer the land. The twist is that the gods/players don't know all their chosen tribes at the beginning of the game, these are given to them only every other round.

There are 24 different tribes which start on predefined spaces on the board. These tribes are divided into four different levels and have as many counters on the board at the beginning of the game as their level indicates (1, 2, 3 or 4 tokens).

The biggest part of the game are the battles between the tribes. The funny part is that the players are not restricted to use their tribes in the fighting, they can make other tribes fight among themselves.

If you read French, check out the link to the official web site in the links section.

Each player chooses one of eight characters that spoof popular spy/action-movie characters or actors: James Blonde, Emma Shell, Austin Flowers, Indiana Smith, Jackie Chang, Dirty Larry, Shift, or Arnold Weissenmeiner. They wander around a sort of super-generic indoor area with corridors, rooms, and safes (somebody's HQ? no villains are in evidence), trying to wipe each other out with their character abilities and the weapons and specials they find in the safes. Obviously enough, the last man (or woman, or team) standing wins. Reminiscent of "Frag," but with more complicated mechanisms.

The modular boards are square grids on the same scale as most of Jolly Roger's other games; in fact, the boards for "Orcs at the Gates" and "Maul of America" can be used with this game.

Approximate playing time is totally arbitrary; it will vary depending on the number of players, the size of the playing area, and so forth. Two hours at least matches the standard length of Jolly Roger's timed games.

Online Play

Ludoholic (no longer available)

Game description from the publisher:

Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) is a board game in which one player takes on the role of the treacherous overlord, and up to four other players take on the roles of courageous heroes. During each game, the heroes embark on quests and venture into dangerous caves, ancient ruins, dark dungeons, and cursed forests to battle monsters, earn riches, and attempt to stop the overlord from carrying out his vile plot.

With danger lurking in every shadow, combat is a necessity. For such times, Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) uses a unique dice-based system. Players build their dice pools according to their character's abilities and weapons, and each die in the pool contributes to an attack in different ways. Surges, special symbols that appear on most dice, also let you trigger special effects to make the most of your attacks. And with the horrors awaiting you beneath the surface, you'll need every advantage you can take...

Featuring double-sided modular board pieces, countless hero and skill combinations, and an immersive story-driven campaign, Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) transports heroes to a vibrant fantasy realm where they must stand together against an ancient evil.

Compared to the first edition of Descent: Journeys in the Dark, this game features:

Simpler rules for determining line of sight
Faster setup of each encounter
Defense dice to mitigate the tendency to "math out" attacks
Shorter quests with plenty of natural stopping points
Cards that list necessary statistics, conditions, and effects
A new mechanism for controlling the overlord powers
Enhanced hero selection and creation process
Experience system to allow for hero growth and development
Out-of-the-box campaign system

Reimplements

Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Descent 1st edition Conversion Kit

Descent: Journeys in the Dark (second edition) - Conversion Kit

A Japanese racing and sports competition game using athletes with special powers. The game is consistent with other games in the Grimpeur series in that it comes in a colorful small box and has modest components.

Game Summary
Players all start with seed money, used to draft a team of racers. The racers come out in random order, and each have a unique power (mostly modifying movement rules, sometimes giving extra pre- or post- race abilities). The draft is as follows: shift any unbought racers down one step on the board (decreasing prices as they shift), then add a new card to the display. If all spaces full, must buy one. After players have their racers (a few will remain out of game), there will be 4 or 5 races. For each race, players secretly simultaneously choose a racer. Then, in turn order, simply roll d6 and move your racer. Of course, special powers modify movement throughout the race.

The first 2 finishers score VP (more VP in later races); most VP after all races wins!