by Lanster27
I've been reading a bit on 2 player variants for this game, and it seems no one has proposed this kind of play, so let's see what I mean.This is for people who knows the rules of the game, played several games to understand the difference between 2 players and 3 or more players games, and is looking for a more complex 2 player variant.
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Guardian of Tokyo - 2 player variant
- Each player choose 1 monster as usual
- Introduce 1 more monster as the Guardian of Tokyo (dummy player)
- When a player enters Tokyo, the other player will assume control of the the Guardian, in addition to controlling their own monster
- When a player controls both their own monster and the Guardian, the player's monster goes first, then the Guardian.
- When a player is controlling the Guardian, roll all 6 dice, but not allowed to re-roll any of them. 1, 2, and 3 does nothing. Claw will hit the monster in Tokyo for 1 damage. Hearts will heal the monster outside of Tokyo for 1 health. Energy will give the Guardian 1 cube. Once the Guardian has picked up 5 cubes, discard 5 cubes and deal a random card from the card deck to the Guardian. Any damage increasing or negative effects cards on the Guardian will only affect the monster in Tokyo. Any defensive effects and extra healing effects will only affect the monster outside of Tokyo.
- Monster in Tokyo can yield to both the player's monster and the Guardian. The Guardian cannot enter Tokyo. That is, if player yields to the Guardian's attack, the player's monster outside of Tokyo enters Tokyo instead.
- The Guardian cannot take damage, in combat or from cards.
- The Guardian cannot receive Victory Points.
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Phew, that's a long one. So the idea behind this is it gives the player outside of Tokyo a friend to help out, as the monster in Tokyo have a big advantage if there are not enough players to threaten him/her with a knock-out. It still give players incentives to enter Tokyo, as you still get a bunch of victory points by entering and staying.
The dummy player is quite balanced, as it gets no re-rolls to have the chance to get all claws. However this can be easily modified to give the dummy player 1 re-roll per dice if you think the dummy player is not dishing out enough punishment to force a yield after a few turns. The card powering up of the dummy player makes it seem like it's not just the player doing extra dice rolls and is still adding personality to the dummy monster.
It is possible to completely skip the Guardian's turn if players attack every round and the monster in Tokyo yields every round (as the Guardian will always go after the player's own monster). But if this is happening, no one is getting the 2 VP from staying in Tokyo, so no one gets a straight advantage.
To me, the rules are good and once you have played it a few times, the Guardian becomes your second monster when you are attacking Tokyo, though with a handicap. It adds more randomness to 2 player games, and provides more tension. It also adds personality to the Guardian dummy player, as it is changing sides all the time, while staying immortal and growing stronger. Of course, it also comes with the problem of making the game more complex and longer.
Comments and feedback will be great. Any suggestions to modify or change the rules are welcomed.