6-8 player game

[Terrazas]

Would it be possible to have a 6-8 player free for all? And if so how would it be done?

[nitrodavid]

the first problem that comes to mind is knowing who controls  what hidden enchantment. we just managed yo handle out enchantments on our 4 player free for all on the weekend. the rest is just a matter of getting a large enough Arena to account for all the "zone exclusive" cards or limit people to 2-3 at a time.

I had been thinking of rules to protect mages who get bullied by all the other mages. "if a mage is attacked by a mage/mages creature roll 1 fewer dice for every player that has already damaged that defending mage this turn" this will not effect a mage being attacked by a single players swarm because they are all controlled by the same player. so of in a 6 player game, if all 5 players attack 1 mage the 6th player would role 4 less dice when their mage/creatures attacks.

another rule we used was players can define if they are friendly or enemies at any time (both players must agree on friendly) this alignment has to be announced at any time a quick cast could be cast. you can still attack friendly mages this clarification is only used to effect spells that can only target "Friendly creatures" etc (in our game one player changed to enemies just so the priest could not cast an incantation on his creature so she could not get the 1hp reward which was enough to make her die later that turn)

[Terrazas]

Those are some good ideas. I haven't played anything higher then 4 players yet. So what I was thinking of trying is starting the game out as 3v3 on a 4x6 board. Then when two players are eliminated it goes to a 2v2 then finally 1v1. The only difference in this is that players can attack thier allies so then they can go to the next round. So this gives it the feel it is still a free for all and adds some nice backstabbing to the game.

This is just my idea, I've never tried it out yet. What do you think?

[nitrodavid]

the problem with games like that is it encourage players to turtle because they only need to out last the other mage. see found our game went for 6 hours because nobody wanted to go in and attack because then both of them were weaker and will get pumped by the other mages. I should make a post about some solutions I propose to see if they could be included in a supplementary multiplayer rule book.

ideas like (some or all can be used)
> killing a mage gives you +1 attack +1 defence.
> killing a mage gives you half your missing HP back.
> each mage pulls a card from a hat with a player name/colour. first person to kill there target mage wins. multiple people can have the same target and you can kill a Mage that isn't your target just so the other mage doesn't win.
> at the end of upkeep phase by order of damage taken (descending) each Mage gains +2, +1, -1, -2 (ie a handicap catch up system). I will get better calculations for draws later.

[Terrazas]

I really like the reward system that you came up with, that would definitely encourage people to attack instead of turtling. I feel like they should come out with supplemental rules like you were talking about. I've been waiting for a multiplayer expasion and have seen talks about one coming out but no official conformation that one is in fact coming out. The only reason I can think of is the the price of the game or you can play the expasion. But that's if the expasion comes out with:

- 2-4 Mages
- Cards
- Tokens
- Game board
- Spell books
- Rule book (with rules and vairents for multiplayer)

And the expasion doesn't even have to include the Mages or cards.  (some new cards would be nice though)
This would just be a great way expand the game.

[nitrodavid]

I was disappointed when I found out the additional tokens is not enough to play 4 players. I had to photocopy the Mage status board (due to gloss finish it was bright) and use my old Pokemon damage tokens for the red and black cubes. lucky I already had those extra tokens because my set did not come with all the required tokens (wrath, banish, armour).

a multiplayer booster would be nice perhaps it should include a larger board to justify a decent price.

[Texan85]

Different colored sleeves. A reset Or reduction of damage for killing blows on a Mage, and/or channeling bonus for killing blows on a Mage.

[Moonglow]

An incentive could be that anyone killing another mage:

Absorbs their remaining mana (I'm thinking some awesome scene like from highlander here)...
Gains their spellbook for the remainder of the game...
But... Continues to be attacked by any remaining creatures still alive.

Alternately you could take control over any conjunctions an creatures like you'd cast them... Essentially this all incentivised an early kill so you get more spells an mana... Probably making yourself a he'll target for every other mage still alive...

[Wiz-Pig]

Another option for keeping track o what is whose is to get those sheets of little colored dot stickers.

[CyberClaw]

So, I have yet to play this game (just ordered it now), but I'm a big fan of MP MtG games. I've played many variables, and I believe most can be adapted to this game (actually I'm counting on it, I want to use this as a sort of "many players party game" because everyone got tired of sinking money into MtG).
The biggest drawback of this game when playing with more than 2 players is the extended playtime, but there are a few workarounds I can think of.
For 2v2 or 3v3, I think the most important rule would be the whole team plays at the same time (with the initiative). This would make so the game doesn't extend much beyond the normal game time. It can sound confusing 2 or 3 players playing in tandem, but it's actually more practical instead of each player having a turn. This is used in two headed giant games in MtG (specially the console spin offs) and it speeds things up noticeably.
Another optional rule would be, shared life. This is also used in 2HG, and it is a great way to speed things up as there is less stuff to keep track of, there is less reason to turn 1 gang up on someone (which otherwise would remove the player from game, and dictate early the winning team), and everyone keeps having fun until the end of the game. Life would need to find a sweet spot. In 2HG I usually use number of heads of the giant times 15 (75% of regular health). A direct adaptation would be adding the HP totals, and multiplying by 75%. Again this would probably need to be tweaked.
Another MtG variant, Emperor, has the teams trying to kill the opposing team Emperor (an otherwise regular player in this case). This would potentially speed up the game, because it would end when the emperor was dead. Each player would have individual health in this case.
Then we can have the 1 v many games. This works best with carefully made decks obviously. 1 player is the all powerful mage, with more HP, more mana, more deck building points, initiative, maybe even more cards in hand, and everyone else is a lowly mage trying to kill this big boss. This one I'll elaborate better when someone tries it and tweaks it on the game...