death mesa guide_hu

8/10/2019 Death Mesa Guide_hu

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By: Martin Pulido

NOTE: All images and names used in the ocial BANG! (and itsexpansions) are copyright dV Giochi.

DEATH

MESA


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Death Mesa, Beta VersionDepending on the game, BANG! can either be a lot of fun or reallyboring for you. If you die early on in the game, you can end up

waiting around (sometimes 15-45 minutes) for it to end. While youmight have something else to do in the mean time, it still doesntmake the situation optimal. Death Mesa is an unocial BANG!expansion designed to address this problem. When players die,instead of siing out the whole game, they remain in the game asghosts. As ghosts, they will still be able to impact the outcome ofthe game, help their team, and even succeed in their roles.

When a player is eliminated, the following occurs:

1. The cards in play in front of him and in his hand are not discarded,but rather are combined and placed in a pile faced down in frontof him. This pile is known as a players buried goods, and thecards therein can later be used to aid teammates and other players.

If Vulture Sam happens to be in play, he takes all of the eliminatedplayers cards like usual. Afterwards, the eliminated player drawsthe same number of cards from the draw pile as Vulture Sampicked up from him to add to his buried goods.

2. Character cards are turned face down for the purpose ofindicating that the dead player no longer possesses the special

abilities of his character as a ghost. The role of the player, however,is ipped over and placed face up in front of him. Ghosts haveno life points and cannot die. The dead player as a ghost no longaects the distance between players, nor do living players aectthe distance between him and other players. Ghosts will be able toplay cards on any player regardless of distance considerations forthe living.

3. The dead player draws 1 card from the specialized 52-cardDead Mens Deck, which can easily be discerned by the dierentimage on the backs of the cards. This drawn card is now a partof his ghost hand. In the future, the dead player will have a turn(in the same order as before) just like when he was alive. Hisdrawing phase is now altered, however. Instead of drawing from

the normal BANG! deck, he will now draw from the Dead Mens


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Deck. Ghosts draw 2 cards from this deck on their turns. Theyhave a card limit of 2, and so must discard down to 2 cards by theend of their turns. Discarded cards are placed in a separate discardpile from the normal BANG! deck cards.

5. Cards drawn from the Dead Mans Deck can have a varietyof eects, from aiding teammates, weakening other players, andsometimes even allowing you to aack players or inuence otherdead players. These cards, unless it species otherwise (Warn!and Mirage being the exceptions), can be played solely during theghosts own turn.

6. When a ghost plays a card, it is not guaranteed that the cardseect will occur because another ghost can thwart his plan.Another ghost may immediately discard a card that will negatethe played cards eect. The opposing ghost does so by discardinga card of the opposite suit color of the played card. Thus, if a black(or ) card is played, a red card (or ) must be discarded toaempt negation. The appropriate discarded card initiates a duel

between the two ghosts. The ghost who played the initial cardcan respond by playing a card with the opposite suit color of thediscarded card. If he does so, the other ghost may discard anothercard with the opposite suit color, and so on. When either ghosteither cannot or chooses not to discard more cards, that ghost losesthe duel. If the opposing ghost wins, the originally played cardseect is negated; otherwise, it occurs. Only 1 duel may be initiated

to negate a cards eect. Here is an example:

Ghost A, an outlaw, plays a Spook!on his turn against a livingplayer. The value of the Spook!is a K. Ghost B, a Deputy, doesnot want this card to be played, so he discards a Cursethat isan 8. Ghost A really wants the Spook!s eect to occur, so heresponds by discarding a Death and Taxes with a value of 5.

However, Ghost B is prepared for the retaliation and discardsa Syphonthat is a 7. Since Ghost A has no more black suitedcards to discard, the Spook!s eect is negated. Both the playedcard (Spook!) and all the cards involved in the duel are discarded(Curse, Death and Taxes, Syphon).

There is a special consideration for the Renegade. At anytime, a

dead Renegade may inuence a duel between ghosts by playing


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an appropriate card on behalf of either party (he provides thediscarded card for one of them, requiring the other to respond).For those familiar with it, this is similar to the Stand Ocard in theRobbers Roost expansion.

7. If a ghost successfully plays a Dead Mens Deck card (its eectoccurs), he may gain a bonus. If the played card was a , he maydraw a card from the normal BANG! deck to add to his buriedgoods. If the played card was a , he may select a living player todraw 1 card at random from his buried goods.

8. If a ghost wishes to play more than 1 Dead Mens Deck card on

his turn (Warn and Mirage, played out of turn are not censured bythis), he must discard a Dead Mens Deck card each time before heplays another.

That explains all the dynamics of being a ghost and playing DeadMens Deck cards. However, the interaction between ghosts andliving players is not one-sided. Living players can inuence deadplayers by being able to Cat Baloutheir Dead Mens Deck cards. Asone might expect then, Brawl and Can Cancan also aects ghosts.Dead Mens Deck cards can also be directly discarded by BANG!(nodistance considerations necessary), which do not count towards the1 BANG! card limit.

When a General Store is played, reveal cards for all players, dead andliving. The living players have rst choice in clockwise order fromthe player who played the card. The ghosts in clockwise order fromthe player who played the card select from the remaining cards andadd them to their buried goods.

Conditions for When Ghosts are All of 1 Role Type

While Death Mesa could potentially be played for simple humor in

3-player, it is not clear how it would really help the game. It is moreclearly designed for 4-8 player. However, even in these games, whenall the ghosts possess the same role, there are some dierences ingameplay.

When there is only 1 dead player (or the dead players are all of 1 team,whether Outlaws, Deputies, or just a Renegade), to play any Dead


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the new dead Renegade, and has the same victory conditions that theprior Renegade had. The Deputies must now protect the Renegade-become-Sheri to win.

To make the Renegade more able to achieve a Scoaw victory,

dead Renegades can discard any 2 cards of the Dead Mens Deck toplay a Spook! against a target character (the equivalent of a BANG!).However, dead Deputies can discard any 2 cards of the Dead MensDeck to Warn a target character (the equivalent of a Missed! for thatcharacter) and protect the original Sheri.

Playtest: The Zombie Renegade

I have still not been satised with the Renegades position in DeathMesa. While he can still inuence other ghosts strongly, his actualpotential to succeed in his role as a ghost seems slim. Even theScoaw victory that I describe in this Guidebook is very dicult topull o (where he kills the living Sheri, and becomes the new one).I have thought of an alternative, which I know complicates things,but I want the Renegade involved in the game. Feel free to playtestthis alternative and give me your feedback!

This alternative allows the Renegade to return to life without havingto eliminate and become the new Sheri. It will replace the scoawvictory, so that victory condition no longer applies. The path toresurrection that I want playtested at the moment is:

1. When the Renegade dies, place his role card on top of his lifepoint counter, so that all of the bullets are covered.

2. At the beginning of each future turn, move the role card downso that a new bullet is shown. After 3 bullets are shown, do notmove the role card down anymore. He may choose to resurrect if:

3. He possesses a certain amount of buried goods. At the moment,I want 6 buried goods to be the tested amount. Too many willmake it too hard for the Renegade to resurrect (especially giventhe cards that deplete buried goods), and defeat the purpose. Buthe shouldnt get a shoe in to resurrect after 3 turns. To help himaccumulate buried goods, instead of being able to discard any 2DMD cards to Spook!, he can discard any 2 to draw a buried good


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instead. If the drawn cards suit is black, he may show it to drawanother buried good.

4. With the 3 bullets showing and 6 buried goods accumulated, theRenegade may opt to resurrect as a Zombie on his turn if he has

not yet drawn cards for the turn (otherwise, he waits until his nextturn). This resurrection has the following stipulations:

- The Zombie Renegade has no character ability, but has distanceconstraints and can die like any of the living characters.

- He resurrects with up to 3 life points max, but he neverresurrects with more life points than the living player with themost health. Thus, if the player with the most health has 2 lifepoints, the Zombie Renegade resurrects with 2 life points.

- He discards half of his buried goods (his choice). The othersbecome a part of his hand. He then draws 2 card from the normaldeck and continues his turn like normal.

- His max amount of life points is always 3.

- His victory condition is the same as when he was alive: Be thelast man standing, killing the Sheri last.

If this is still seen as too strong, the Zombie Renegade may alsohave a card limit -1.


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Card by Card ExplanationsBad Moon Rising. Draw! On spades, all living playersmust discard 2 cards from their hand or in front of them,

or lose 1 life. On clubs, they must discard 1 card from theirhand or in front of them, or lose 1 life. On diamonds, nothingoccurs. On hearts, they draw 1 card. Optional: If this is seen

as too sporadic, you may change this card so that on hearts, nothing occurs.You may also add that it only applies to one player of the ghosts choosing.

Blood Juice. Choose any living player to regain 1 life point.This card cannot be played like a last second Beer. It can be

used to give a life point to a player under Dry Spell.

Cemetery. All dead players place their buried goods faceup. Each living player chooses from these goods. You choose1 player to draw 2 of the buried goods, and then the other

living players, starting to the left of the person you chose,draw 1 of the buried goods.

Curse. Select 1 living player who must discard 1 card after hisnext discard phase. Thus, regardless of his limit, he still mustdiscard a card if he has any in his hand. If he discards, takethe last card he discarded and add it to your buried goods.Thus, Gary Looter still gets the excess cards discarded by

other players and you get the card below the excess.

Death and Taxes. Select 1 living player who must draw 1 lesscard on their next drawing phase (if he typically draws 2, hedraws 1; 3, he draws 2; Black Jack does not get his potentialdrawing bonus; Kit Carlson picks up 3 and selects 1; Clausdraws the same amount of cards as the number of players

and only keeps 1 for himself, Pat Brennan may still draw his 1 card in fronta player; Death and Taxesstacks with Thirst). At that time, draw a card fromthe normal deck and add it to your buried goods.

Decay. Similar to Ricochet. Play this card to aempt to discarda card in play in front of any living player. The living playermay discard aMissed!to avoid Decay. Big Spencer, of course,can discard aMissed! to protect himself from Decay.


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Desecrate Grave.Discard 2 buried goods cards from anotherdead player. Discard this card and draw another when only1 ghost team is dead.

Dry Spell. A target living player cannot gain health by anyalcoholic drink (this includes Beer, Whisky, Tequila, Saloon,and Hard Liquor) until your next turn. They may still regainhealth from Blood Juice, The Doctor, and Blood Brothers, JohnnyPopes ability (RR) and Bandage(RR).

Ghost Stories. A living player of your choice may play or

use only 1 card on his next turn. Thus, he may only do 1action of his choice: play a card or use a card; he cannot do1 of each.

Guilty Conscience. Select any living player that has killedsomeone to be unable to play or use any card that couldinict damage to another player on his next turn. He mustbe directly responsible for the death; death by Dynamitedoes

not make the player who played it culpable.

Hidden Stash. Select any living player to immediately draw1 card from the deck. Optional: They may draw a card atrandom from your buried goods instead.

In Memoriam. Select a living player who can now play anynumber of BANG!on his next turn as long as the target of theBANG!is your killer. If your killer is dead, then he can play1 extraBANG! on his next turn.

Last Testament. Give 1 card of your choice from your buriedgoods to another living player. Optional: After giving 1 of

your buried goods, draw another from the BANG! deck toadd to your buried goods.

Mirage. When a living player is directly aacked (Gatling,Howier, and Indians!do not count), play this card to redirectthe aack to another living player (besides the aacker) whois adjacent to the player who was aacked.


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Syphon. Steal a card from a dead player; the card may beone of their buried goods or a Dead Mens Deck card. Syphoncard cannot be negated. Discard this card and draw anotherwhen only 1 ghost team is dead.

Terrify. Select 1 card from a living players hand or in front

of him. Reveal this card and place it face up in front of himin a horizontal position. They cannot use this card until yournext turn, upon which they pick up the card and return it totheir hand. The card may be stolen or discarded while it is

out of this players hand.

The East Wind. Select 2 living players. Until your next turn,

whenever they try to aack each other, they must play 2 cardswith bang symbols. They choose which card occurs whenthey play 2. Since cards are required to have bang symbols,no Duelor Face O(RR) can be played amongst them.

Unfnished Business. The last player you aacked whilealive must draw! On reds, steal 1 card from his hand andadd it to your buried goods. On blacks, he is banged! If the

player is already dead (or if the last aack you executedbefore your death targeted multiple players), choose another

living player, which your role dictates you must kill, to draw! However,you must be able to deductively prove, based on the revealed roles andnumber of players, that this is a player that must be killed for you to achievevictory. Optional: If tracking who you aacked last is tedious, you canmodify Unfnished Businessto the following. A player you aacked while

alive, which you select, must draw! On reds, steal 1 card from his handand add it to your buried goods. On blacks, he is banged! If the players youaacked are already dead, choose another living player, which your roledictates you must kill, to draw!

Warn. When another player is aacked, you may play thiscard to create a missed! for that player. This card does workon Big Spencer.

Refers to a ghost. Refers to a living player.


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THREE Methods of ProductionYou might be looking at the Death Mesa expansion and thinking,Wow, this looks all very good and fun, but how can I possibly

play with these cards? Have no fear, Death Mesa was especiallydesigned with this in mind. Since the Death Mesa expansion consistsof 52 cards, each of which have their own unique playing card valueon the boom left of the card, you can actually play Death Mesa witha normal Bicycle deck of playing cards from your local grocery store!Let me explain 4 ways to produce the Death Mesa cards.

1. Buy a Copy of Death Mesa!

This option was recently made available. You can now order yourown copy of Death Mesa online for $8.99 + shipping. The cost is forproduction and processing fees alone. No money is made by MartinPulido in making this option available to you.

2. DIY #1: Complete Bum Route.

If you want to do the absolute minimum of work, then just print othe card sheets on slips of paper. Cut them out and throw them in abag. Ghosts draw the slips of paper from the bag.

3. DIY #2: Somewhat Lazy Route.

So you dont like going through a bag? Easy enough. Buy or takea normal deck of playing cards to serve as your Dead Mens Deck.Download and print o the PDFs of the Death Mesa cards that areavailable at the BANG! Blog, besides the card backs PDF. Cut out theindividual card images, and then paste or tape them over the tops ofthe faces of the playing card deck that you have. Viola! You can nowplay Death Mesa this way. The quality of your job determine show

long the cards last. Sleeve protectors always help.

Well, thats all folks! I hope you have enjoyed reading up on DeathMesa, Alpha Version, and hope you will play and help improve itsgameplay! Thanks,

Martin Pulido, Death Mesa Designer

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