Scurvy Musketeers of the Spanish Main
Scurvy Musketeers of the Spanish Main Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object
To win, you need to score more points than your opponents do. You may play one game and highest total wins or you can keep playing games to a specific point total and the first player to reach or exceed that total wins.
Card Types
A deck of SMSM cards is made of six types of cards, which are explained below. NOTE: Character, Location and Prop special abilities can be used during ANY turn unless specified otherwise.
(Card anatomy shown in the diagram: Attack or Defense Strength, Card Type, Name, Traits, Card Instructions, Title Word.)
Characters
Characters are the cast of your Movie. They all have a Defensive Strength (DS) value printed in the top left corner which is used to defend against attacks and to score your Movie when the game ends. Characters are played into your Movie on your turn only and you may play as many as you want in one turn. When a Character is removed from play, all its Props and any other cards that have been slid under it are discarded as well.
Locations
Locations are the places your Movies happen. They all have a DS bonus printed in the top left corner and it's used the same way as on Characters. The DS bonus of many Locations will change depending on certain circumstances listed on the individual cards. When that happens, replace the bonus printed in the top left with the new value listed in the text box. A Movie may only have one Location at a time; playing a new Location on a Movie replaces the old Location. You may play as many Locations as you want, and in anyone's Movie, but only on your turn.
Props
Props are the items, weapons, vehicles, etc., that your Characters find lying around. They have a DS bonus printed in the top left corner. Characters may have an unlimited number of Props, but you may only give a Character one new Prop per turn. Characters in your Movie may give Props to other Characters you control, simply by moving the Prop from one Character to the other - this counts as playing a new Prop on that Character. Props are placed under the card they are attached to and stay in play until the card they belong to gets removed from play or the Prop is removed by a card or effect. You may only give out Props on your turn.
Creatures
Creatures are the monsters and bad guys you use to attack the Characters in your opponents' Movies. They all have an Attack Strength (AS) printed in the top left corner. You may only make attacks on your turn, as many as you want, but one at a time (see below for a sample attack). At the end of the attack the Creature is discarded.
Special Effects (SFX)
Special Effects (SFX) are the little extras that make the game different each time you play. SFX can be played at any time and resolve immediately upon being played. An exception is when another card is played to stop the SFX card: any effects generated by the SFX card is canceled and the card is sent to the discard pile. SFX that can stop attacks immediately ends the attack. SFX that give a permanent bonus to a card are slid under that card and remain until it or the card is removed from play.
Roll the Credits
Roll the Credits ends the game. They cannot be played in the first 2 turns. After the second turn, you can only play Roll the Credits on your turn and only if you have at least one Character alive in your Movie. (Note: The game also ends at the end of the turn of the player who drew the last card from the draw pile.)
Card Conflicts
If a card ever conflicts with the rules stated in this booklet, the text of the card always takes precedence.
Playing the Game
The Title
Each game of SMSM is a B-movie flick and every flick needs a title. This is where the Title words at the bottom of each card come into play. To determine the title for a game, take the top 6 cards from the deck and look at the Title words. Using as many of the 6 words as possible (and adding whatever pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, plurals, adverbs, etc. you need), all players work together to create a title for that game. The title must make sense and sound like a B-Movie title. Write down the title noting which of the Title words got used and return the cards to the deck. Example: You draw 6 cards and get the following Title words: Blood, Sword, Captain, Mutiny, Courageous and Duel. You could decide upon the title "Captain Blood's Mutiny" or "Sword Duel of the Courageous Captain", etc. Note: All players use the same title for the current game.
The Starting Cast
After the title is made, shuffle those title cards and the deck and deal 6 cards to each player. If your first hand of 6 cards doesn't contain at least one Character, show your hand to the other players and shuffle it back into the deck and draw 6 new cards. Repeat this procedure until every player is dealt at least one Character. Then, starting with the player to the left of the dealer, each player takes turns placing all of his or her Characters face up on the table in front of them. This is your starting cast. Once everyone has his or her starting cast assembled, you are ready to play. NOTE: When playing a card you should read aloud the name of the card and the quote.
The Turn
Play starts with the player to the left of the dealer and continues around the table. At the start of your turn you draw cards to fill your hand to 6 cards. NOTE: No one may play cards that affect an opponent or his or her Movie during the first turn of the game. Think of the first turn as a player's Establishing Shot.
Here is a breakdown on what you can do during your turn. There is no specific order to doing these actions and you can do these actions multiple times.
- Play a Character (in your Movie)
- Play a Prop on a Character in your Movie and/or move a Prop between Characters you control (each Character can gain only one Prop per turn).
- Play a Location (in anyone's Movie, replacing existing Locations)
- Make an Attack (See "Making Attacks" below)
- Use a card's special abilities.
- Play SFX cards. (note: anyone can play SFX cards).
- Roll the Credits. (Remember, you need a Character and only after the second turn.)
*Special note: the current player always has the option to play the first card for his or her turn.
At the end of your turn, after you have played all the cards you want or can, you may discard as many cards from your hand as you like. If you have more than 6 cards in your hand, you must discard down to 6 or fewer.
Making Attacks
You play one Creature card per attack. Play your Creature card on the table and declare which Movie you are attacking. An attack succeeds if its Attack Strength (AS) equals or exceeds the Defensive Strength (DS) of the Movie it is attacking. (You add the DS of all Characters in the Movie being attacked, plus any bonuses given by Props and SFX, plus the DS of the Location). Once the attack is declared, any player may play any SFX cards or use card abilities to affect the outcome of the attack. Once all players have had the chance to play any cards or use any card abilities that they wish, the attack is resolved. If the attack failed, the Creature card and any SFX played by all players go to the discard pile. If the attack succeeded, the attacker chooses one Character from the target player's Movie to be discarded as well. All that Character's Props and any other cards that have been slid under it are discarded as well.
Example of an Attack
Ray, Dana, and Amanda are playing. It is Ray's turn and he wants to attack Dana's 12DS Movie, containing the Characters "Old Monk" (DS2+1 for the Wenches) holding a "Cutlass" (DS+5) and "Tavern Wenches" (DS2) who are in the "English Channel" (DS+2). Ray attacks with the "Highwayman" (AS7). Since the AS (7) is lower than the DS (12), Ray plays "Evil Witches" using their special text to play them as a SFX to triple the AS of an attack and make it Supernatural. This raises the AS to 21. It also causes the DS to raise to 15 due to the "Old Monk's" text of becoming DS=5 against Supernatural attacks. Amanda comes to Dana's rescue and plays "Dated Special Effects" to increase the DS to 20. She also plays "King's Ransom" to draw two extra cards in the hopes of giving more aid to Dana. However, Ray plays "Parry" to stop that SFX from taking effect. Dana helps himself by playing the SFX, "I Am Not Left Handed" to give the "Old Monk" +2DS and the trait Swashbuckler - which means the Cutlass is now worth +10 - a total net gain of 7DS! Now it is DS27 to AS21. Ray is losing and decides to go for it by playing "Flintlock" on the "Highwayman" (allowed due to the Psycho Killer trait) which adds a whopping 18 to the AS because of the "Highwayman's" text. The AS is now 39. No one plays anything else, so Ray wins and chooses to kill the "Old Monk" thus getting rid of that Character and its Prop. The attack is complete and Ray may make another attack if he wishes.
Special Rules
Some cards have Traits that use the following special rules.
- Swashbuckler: Along with regular attacks, Creatures with Swashbuckler may make a one on one attack against Characters with the Swashbuckler trait. No other Characters' DS count toward the Defense, but Location DS counts toward the attacked Character's Defense. These Creatures may use Swashbuckler Props to boost their Attack Strength. Characters with Swashbuckler gain double the printed bonus from Swashbuckler Props.
- Swarm: Gun props provide no bonuses against these attacks.
- Aquatic: Creatures with this trait can only attack Movies that have no Location or one with the Aquatic trait.
- Psycho Killer: Anyone may play Weapon Props on these guys to increase their AS.
A Word on Combining Locations
When a player is playing a Location card that can be (but does not NEED to be) attached to an existing Location, he or she has the choice of whether or not to combine them (instead of replacing the old one). If the Locations are combined, the two (or more) cards create one larger Location that has all the traits, values, and special rules of those cards. In either case, the cards are considered to be a single Location, so that any card that targets one, targets them all as a single unit.
Scoring Your Movie
Once a player has played a "Roll the Credits" card, or at the end of the turn of the player who drew the last card of the draw pile, it is time to tally the scores. Add up the total DS of all the cards in your Movie to get your Base Score. Then add 5 Bonus Points for each card in your Movie, in your hand or on a "Roll the Credits" card you played that has a Title word that matches any of the words in this game's Movie title. (For example: If the Movie is "Crimson Musketeers of Sherwood Island", and you have cards with "Crimson" and "Island" as Title words, you will get 10 bonus points.) Add any Bonus Points you earned to your Base Score to get your Final Score for this game. The player with the highest total wins or if you are playing to a set goal, add your Final Score to your running total, then play a new game.
Playing With the Other B-Movie Games
All our B-movie card games use the same basic mechanics with some slight tweaks. You may mix the decks together, however, if using Cannibal Pygmies in the Jungle of Doom (CPJD) cards you don't need the Treasure trait to Roll the Credits, but each card with the Treasure trait you have in your Movie will score 5 bonus points.