Impressions: Munchkin Bites!

November 30, 2008 No comments

It is entirely possible that I was the last gamer on Earth who had not played Munchkin. As a break from our regular weekly World of Darkness game, the group I’m in played Munchkin Bites, which is a stand-alone version of the Munchkin game that parodies the World of Darkness and its tropes and stereotypes. It’s a fun, fast-faced card game that worked well as a respite from our regular campaign.

In the Munchkin games, your goal is to be the first player whose character reached Level 10. You gain levels by killing things, selling treasure you accumulate by killing things, and drawing special cards that grant you a level-up. I’m told that the mechanics are more-or-less the same between the various Munchkin games, meaning if you’ve played one you already know the core rules for the others.

In Munchkin Bites, you can be a human, a vampire, a werewolf, or a changeling. You get 5 cards in your hand, and can play as many as you’re able on your turn, but if you end your turn with more than 5 you have to discard some. On your turn you kick down a door (drawing a Door card), and if there’s a monster there you fight it. If there isn’t, you can play a monster card in your hand and fight it. If you beat the monster, you go up a level. If you lose, you can lose a level (or more) and other stuff can happen as well. Beating the monster also allows you to draw treasure cards, which can grant you more powers and magical items.

The game, of course, gets ridiculous, which is the point. I ended up with the Half-Breed card, meaning I could have two Race cards allowing me to take the advantages of both. My character ended up a vampire changeling with That sword That Lets You Cut Peoples Heads Off From That Movie. I also had a cool power that allowed me to force another character to help me fight monsters. There are tons of jokes in the game that are probably only funny to people familiar with the World of Darkness and its tropes, so while the game is playable and enjoyable by anyone, only gamers are going to really get the full value of the humor.

Munchkin reminds me of a Games Workshop I played ages ago called Talisman. The major difference (and this is from memory) is that Talisman had a board, and Talisman was only unintentionally funny. The premise was similar – you have a character, you go around the board collecting items and fighting stuff. I don’t recall what the endgame was, but I remember the game itself got silly. The guy who owned the game had mixed all of the expansions together. In one game, I was playing a leprechaun riding a paladin’s warhorse, wearing Space Marine armor, and carrying a sword that was remeniscent of Stormbringer. I’m pretty sure that game wasn’t intended to be played that way. Munchkin is.

Now that I’ve played one, I know that some Munchkin games need to be on my shelf. These can be a staple at game days and conventions, and I can probably talk some non-gamer friends into playing.