Munchkin Shadowrun

Munchkin Shadowrun Rulebook

Table of Contents

Setup

Divide the cards into the Door deck, the Treasure Deck, and the Matrix deck. Separate the Matrix cards by Layer and shuffle each layer. Place the Matrix cards in a line by the board in the following manner: two cards from Layer 1, two from Layer 2, two from Layer 3, and the single Layer 4 card, Central Server side up. Return the remaining Matrix cards to the box.

Each player takes a standie, along with the corresponding token and player card of the same color. Place the standie on the space marked '1' on the gameboard, the token on the first Matrix card, and the player card in front of the player (as a color reminder).

Shuffle both the Door and Treasure decks. Deal four cards from each deck to each player. Place the rest of the cards in the appropriate places on the gameboard.

The numbered spaces on the board represent your Level (see p. 2). When your character goes up (or, ugh, down) in Level, move your colored standie accordingly. You can never go below Level 1, and once you kill a monster to reach Level 10, you win! It's perfectly fine for more than one player to be at the same Level.

Conflicts Between Cards and Rules

This rulesheet gives the general rules. Many cards add special rules – so in most cases when the rulesheet disagrees with a card, follow the card. However, ignore any card effect that might seem to contradict one of the rules listed below unless the card explicitly says it supersedes that rule!

Nothing can reduce a player below Level 1, although card effects might reduce a player's or a monster's combat strength (p. 4) below 1.
You go up a level after combat only if you kill a monster.
You cannot collect rewards for defeating a monster (e.g., Treasure, levels) in the middle of a combat. You must finish the fight before gaining any rewards.
You must kill a monster to reach Level 10, and you cannot force another player to help you do it.

Any other disputes should be settled by loud arguments, with the owner of the game having the last word. You could also read the Munchkin FAQ and errata pages at munchkin.game, or start a discussion at forums.sjgames.com/munchkin . . . unless it's more fun to argue.

Card Management

Keep separate face-up discard piles for both the Door and the Treasure decks. You may not look through the discards unless you play a card that allows you to! When a deck runs out, reshuffle its discards.

In Play: These are the cards on the table in front of you, showing your Race and Powers (if any) and the Items you are carrying. Continuing Traps and some other cards also stay on the table after you play them. Cards in play are public information and must be visible to the other players.

Your Hand: Cards in your hand are not in play. They don't help you, but they can't be taken away except by cards that specifically affect "your hand." At the end of your turn, you may have no more than five cards in your hand (see Charity, p. 2). Cards in play may not be returned to your hand – they must be discarded or traded if you want to get rid of them.

Character Creation

Everyone starts as a Level 1 human with no Race. Look at your initial eight cards. If you have any Race cards or Rank 1 Powers, you may (if you like) play one of each by placing it in front of you. If you have any usable Items (p. 3), you may play them by placing them in front of you. If you have any doubt about whether you should play a card, you could read below, or you could just jack into the net and do it.

When You May Take Actions

You may perform these actions at any time:

Discard a Race or Power.
Play a Go Up a Level card.
Play a Trap.

You may perform these actions at any time, as long as you are not in combat:

Trade an Item with another player (the other player may not be in combat, either).
Change which Items you have equipped.
Play a card that you have just received (some cards may be played even during combat; see above).

You may perform these actions on your own turn:

Play a new Race or Power card (at any time).
Perform a Matrix action.
Sell Items for levels (except when you are in combat).
Play an Item (most Items cannot be played during combat, but some One-Shot Items can; see p. 4).

Starting and Finishing the Game

Decide who goes first by rolling the dice and arguing about the results and whether or not this is reality or just a complex computer simulation.

Play proceeds in turns, each with several phases (see below). When the first player finishes a turn, the player to the left takes a turn, and so on.

The first player to reach Level 10 wins . . . but you must reach Level 10 by killing a monster or by successfully hacking the Matrix (p. 3).

Level: This is a measure of how generally tough and capable you are. When the rules or cards refer to your Level, capitalized, they mean the number in the space where your standie is.

You gain a level when you kill a monster, or when a card says that you do. You can also sell Items to buy levels (see Items, p. 3).

You lose a level when a card says you do. Your Level can never go below 1. However, your combat strength can be negative, if you get hit by a Trap or suffer some other kind of penalty.

Turn Phases

Your turn begins as soon as the previous player's turn ends. When your cards are arranged the way you want, go to phase 1.

(1) Kick Down The Door: Draw one card from the Door deck and turn it face up.

If it's a monster, you must fight it. See Combat, p. 4. If the card is a Trap – see Traps, p. 6 – it applies to you immediately (if it can) and is then discarded (unless it has a persistent effect or you keep the card as a reminder of an upcoming effect).

If you draw any other card, you may either put it in your hand or play it immediately.

(2) Look For Trouble/Loot The Room: If you fought a monster in phase 1, skip this phase and go to phase 3.

If you did not draw a monster when you first opened the door, you have two choices: either Look For Trouble or Loot The Room.

Look For Trouble: Play a monster from your hand and fight it, just as though you had found it when you Kicked Open The Door. Don't play a monster you can't handle, unless you're sure you can count on getting help (see p. 4)!

Loot The Room: Draw a second card from the Door deck, face down, and place it in your hand.

(3) Charity: If you have more than five cards in your hand, you must play enough cards to get you to five or below – for instance, you can play Traps, sell Items from your hand, or play Items to the table. If you cannot reduce your hand to five cards, or do not want to, you must give the excess cards to the player with the lowest Level. If other players are tied for lowest, divide the cards as evenly as possible, but it's up to you who gets the bigger set(s) of leftovers. If you are the lowest or tied for lowest, just discard the excess.

As soon as you are finished with Charity, the next player's turn begins.

Combat: Basic Rules

When you fight a monster, you compare your combat strength (your Level plus any bonuses or penalties) against the monster's combat strength. If your combat strength is greater, you win! If it is tied or lower, the monster wins.

For the full explanation, see Combat, p. 4.

Character Stats

Each character is basically a collection of weapons, armor, tech, and magic Items, with three stats: Level, Race, and Powers. For instance, you might describe your character as "a Level 8 Troll Decker with Really Heavy Duty Boots, a Targeting Implant, and an Ares Desert Strike."

Race

Characters may be humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orks, or Trolls. If you have no Race card in front of you, you are human. Humans have no special abilities.

You gain the abilities of a Race the moment you play its card in front of you, and lose them as soon as you discard that card. Some Race abilities are powered by discards. Unless the card specifies, you may discard any of your cards, in play or in your hand, to power a Race ability.

You can discard a Race card at any time, even in combat: "I don't wanna be an Ork anymore." When you discard your Race, you become human immediately.

You may not belong to more than one Race at once unless you play the SURGEd card.

Powers

Powers: These are special abilities and skills that your runner can have. You gain the advantages the moment you place a Power card in front of you and lose them as soon as you lose or discard that card.

Each Power has a Rank of 1, 2, or 3. You may have any number of Powers as long as their total Rank does not exceed your Level.

If your Level goes down to less than the total Rank of your Powers, you must discard some Powers so that their total Rank is once again less than or equal to your Level.

Powers are treated like Races. You can't trade them to other players, but you may play a Power from your hand at any time you can legally use it. You may not play Powers that you cannot legally use. But you may discard Powers at any time and replace them with Powers from your hand.

When you die, you keep all the Powers you have in play, just as you keep your Race.

Some Powers require discards. You may discard any card, in play or in your hand, to activate a Power. Note that if you have no cards in your hand, you cannot "discard your whole hand."

You may only fight G.O.D. on your turn. Instead of Kicking Down The Door, announce your intention to run the Matrix. Then do it. Good luck, chummer!

SURGEd Cards

These cards may be played whenever it is legal to play a Race, as long as you have an appropriate card (Race) to attach it to. You cannot have more than one of the same Race card in play at once.

If you play SURGEd with a single Race, you get all the advantages of being that Race (the ability to equip Race-only Items, and monsters with penalties against that Race suffer those penalties) but none of the disadvantages (you may equip Items forbidden to that Race, and monsters do not get bonuses because of your Race). If the Race has an ability that has a cost, however, you must still pay it.

If you play SURGEd while you have two Races, you have all the normal advantages and disadvantages of both Races.

The Matrix

A game of Munchkin Shadowrun, like all Munchkin games, ends when a player kills a monster to reach Level 10. But there is another way . . . you can defeat the Grid Overwatch Division (G.O.D.).

The digital world is everywhere in Shadowrun. Jacking into it is second nature to everyone, munchkins included. Brave (or foolhardy) players may attempt to run the Matrix and fight G.O.D.

Beginning with the first Matrix card, players must complete the action on each card in order to move their token to the next card, indicating where they are in the Matrix. Each action must be done separately and in sequence. The first player to successfully complete all six actions attracts the wrath of the Grid Overwatch Division. If you beat G.O.D., you win the game!

Any player may discard five cards to complete any Matrix card except the Central Server card.

Players may only hack the Matrix on their turn, but may complete as many Matrix Actions as they are able during their turn.

When you successfully hack a Matrix card, you gain the reward listed at the bottom of the card. You do not gain the reward if another card moves you on the Matrix track.

Players gain a combat strength bonus equal to the Matrix Layer they are on.

Treasures

Treasure cards include permanent and "One-Shot" cards. Any Treasure card may be played as soon as you get it, or at any time on your own turn except during combat (unless the rules below or the card itself says otherwise).

Items

Most Treasures are Items. Items have a Gold Piece value. ("No Value" is equivalent to zero Gold Pieces, and a "No Value" card is considered an Item.)

All Items you have in play are considered "carried." Items that are actually giving you a bonus are "equipped." You should indicate Items that are not equipped by turning the cards sideways. You may not alter the status of your Items during a combat or while running away.

Anyone can carry any Item (except for extra Big Items; see below), but you may equip only one Headgear, one suit of Armor, one pair of Footgear, and two "1 Hand" Items (or one "2 Hands" Item) . . . unless you have a card that lets you ignore these limits, such as Edge!, or unless one of the cards says otherwise. If you are carrying two Headgear cards, for instance, you can equip only one of them at a time.

Likewise, some Items have restrictions: for instance, the Chameleon Suit can only be worn by a human. Its bonus only counts for someone who is, at the moment, a human.

You cannot discard Item cards "just because." You may sell Items for a level, trade Items with other players (see below), or give an Item to another player who wants it (see below). You may discard Items to activate certain Race and Power abilities. And a Trap or a monster's Bad Stuff (see p. 5) may force you to get rid of something!

Big Items: You may carry any number of small Items, but only one Big one. (Any Item not marked Big is considered small.) You may not discard one Big Item to play another; you must sell the first Item, trade it, lose it to a Trap or Bad Stuff, or discard it to activate a Race or Power ability.

If something lets you have more than one Big Item (for instance, the Dwarf race) and you lose that Item or ability, you must either correct the problem immediately or get rid of all but one Big Item. If it's your turn and you're not in combat, you can sell the excess Big Items (as long as you have at least 1,000 Gold Pieces of Items to sell). Otherwise, you must give them to the lowest-Level player(s) who can carry them! If any Big Items are still left over, discard them.

Trading: You may trade Items (but no other cards) with other players. You may only trade Items from the table – not from your hand. You may trade at any time except when you or your trading partner are in combat. In fact, the best time to trade is when it's not your turn. Any Item you receive in a trade must remain in play.

You may also give Items away without a trade to bribe other players – "I'll give you my Synthleather Jacket if you refuse to help Bob fight that dragon!"

You may show your hand to others. Like we could stop you.

Selling Items for Levels: At any point during your turn except during combat or Running Away, you may discard Items worth a total of at least 1,000 Gold Pieces and immediately go up one level. ("No Value" cards are the same as zero Gold Pieces.) If you discard (for instance) 1,100 Gold Pieces' worth, you don't get change. But if you can manage 2,000 worth, you can go up two levels at once, and so on. You may sell Items from your hand as well as those you are carrying.

You may not sell Items to go to Level 10.

One-Shot Treasures

A Treasure card that says "Usable once only" is a "One-Shot" Treasure. Most of these are used during combat to strengthen the munchkins or the monsters, and may be played from your hand or from the table. Some have other effects, however, so read the card carefully! Discard these cards as soon as the combat is over or their effect is resolved.

One-Shot cards with a Gold Piece value may be sold for levels, just like other Items.

Some monster cards have special powers that affect combat – a bonus against a particular Race for instance. Be sure to check these!

You and the other players may play One-Shot Treasures or use Race or Power abilities to help or harm you in your combat. Some Door cards may also be played into a combat, such as monster enhancers (see below).

Remember: while you are in combat, you cannot sell, equip, unequip, or trade Items, or play Treasures from your hand, unless these rules or the card says otherwise.

If you kill a monster (or monsters!), discard the monster(s) and any other cards played, and claim your rewards. But note: someone may play a hostile card on you, or use a special power, just as you think you have won. When you kill a monster, you must wait a reasonable time, defined as about 2.6 seconds, for anyone else to speak up. After that, you have really killed the monster, and you really get the level(s) and Treasures, though they can still complain bitterly.

Corporate Affiliations

Every weapon, every Vehicle, and every piece of clothing in the Shadowrun world is made by one of a handful of corporations. In Munchkin Shadowrun, most Items will have a corporate affiliation. Individually, these affiliations don't have a game effect, but combined with other cards, affiliations can give you bonuses or penalties based on the Items you have equipped.

Vehicles

Armed, armored, and usually faster than the monsters chasing you, Vehicles are an important tool for the aspiring munchkin. When using a Vehicle card, follow the rules below:

Vehicles are all Big Items but do not count against your Big Item total.

You may only have one Vehicle at a time unless you have a card that lets you have more.

If your Vehicle has a bonus or penalty to Run Away, that bonus or penalty replaces any such bonuses or penalties that your character would otherwise have. If your Vehicle has a Run Away penalty, you may choose to ditch it (to the discard pile) before rolling.

In games that mash up Munchkin Shadowrun with other Munchkin sets, treat Vehicles and Steeds as equivalent. Anything referring to one type of card includes the other.

Other Treasures

Other Treasure cards (like Go Up a Level cards) are not Items. Most of these cards say when they can be played and whether they stay in play or are discarded. A couple of specific examples:

Go Up a Level cards may be played on yourself or any other player at any time, even during combat. Discard them once they are played. Exception: You cannot play a Go Up a Level card to give a player the winning level!

Combat

To fight a monster, compare its combat strength to yours. Combat strength is the total of Level plus all modifiers – positive or negative – given by Items and other cards. If the monster's combat strength is equal to yours, or greater, you lose the combat and must Run Away (see p. 5). If your combat strength totals more than the monster's – note that monsters win ties! – you kill it and go up a level (two levels for some big monsters). You'll also get the number of Treasures shown on its card.

Sometimes a card will let you get rid of the monster without killing it. This is still "winning," but you don't get a level. Unless the card says otherwise, you don't get the Treasures, either. If the last monster is removed from a combat, the fight ends immediately.

Monsters

If drawn face up during the Kick Down The Door phase, monsters immediately attack the person who drew them. If you get a monster card any other way, it goes into your hand and may be played during your own turn to Look For Trouble, or played with the Wandering Monster card to join another player's fight. (See Fighting Multiple Monsters, below.)

Each monster card is a single monster, even if the name on the card is plural.

Monster Enhancers

Certain cards, called monster enhancers, raise or lower the combat strength of individual monsters. (Penalties to monsters are still considered enhancers.) They also affect the number of Treasures the monsters are worth. Monster enhancers may be played by any player during any combat.

All enhancers on a single monster add together. If there are multiple monsters in a combat, the person who plays each enhancer must choose which monster it applies to.

Fighting Multiple Monsters

Some cards (such as Wandering Monster) allow your rivals to send other monsters to join the fight. You must defeat their combined combat strengths. Any special abilities, such as forcing you to fight with your Level only, apply to the entire fight. If you have the right cards, you can eliminate one monster from the combat and fight the other(s) normally, but you cannot choose to fight one and Run Away from the other(s). If you eliminate one monster, but then run from the other(s), you don't get any levels or Treasure!

Gang Monsters

Several monsters in this set are tagged Gang. You may play any Gang monster from your hand into combat to help any other Gang, without using a Wandering Monster card.

Munchkin has other grouping monsters that follow these rules (Dragons, Ghosts, Undead, etc.). When you encounter a monster with a grouping tag, follow these rules to group it with matching monsters during combat.

Asking For Help

If you cannot win a combat on your own, you may ask any other player to help you. If they refuse, you may ask another player, and so on, until they all turn you down or someone helps. Only one player can help you, adding their combat strength to yours. Anyone can play cards to affect your combat, however!

Interfering With Combat

You can interfere with others' combats in several ways, including:

Use a One-Shot card. You could help another player by using a One-Shot to strengthen their side. Of course, you can "accidentally" strengthen the monster with it, instead . . .
Play a monster enhancer. These cards (usually) make a monster stronger . . . and give it more Treasure. You can play these either during your own combat or someone else's combat.
Add a monster from your hand to join the combat, either with a Wandering Monster card or by using the special Gang rule.
Trap them, if you have a Trap card.

You'll probably have to bribe someone to help. You may offer your helper any Item(s) you are currently carrying, or any number of the Treasure cards the monster has. If you offer part of the monster's Treasure, you must agree whether they pick first, or you pick first, or whatever. You may also offer to play any cards from your hand that you legally could, such as Go Up a Level cards, on your helper.

The special abilities or vulnerabilities of the monster also apply to your helper, and vice versa. For instance, if you are facing F1-D0 and a Dwarf helps you, the monster's combat strength is increased by 3 (unless you, too, are a Dwarf and the monster's combat strength has already been increased).

If someone successfully helps you kill the monster, discard it, draw Treasures (see Rewards, below), and follow any special instructions on the monster card. You level up for each slain monster. Your helper does not go up any levels . . . unless the helper is an Elf, in which case they gain one level for each monster slain. You draw the Treasure cards, even if it was your helper's special ability that defeated the monster, and distribute them according to the agreement you reached.

A few cards or abilities allow you to compel another player to help you in combat. These abilities do not work if you are fighting for the win – and if you force someone to help you and then the fight becomes one for the win, your helper gets to back out without penalty. However, if you voluntarily help someone, you don't get to back out just because they're about to win the game – so pay attention!

Rewards

When you kill a monster, you get one level per monster, unless the monster's card says something else . . . and you get its Treasure! Each monster has a Treasure number on the bottom of its card. Draw that many Treasures, modified by any monster enhancers played on it. Draw face down if you killed the monster alone. Draw face up, so the whole party can see what you got, if someone helped you.

If you defeat a monster by nonlethal means, you do not get a level and you may or may not get the Treasure, depending on the method.

Treasure cards can be played as soon as you get them, even if you are the helper.

Running Away

If nobody will help you . . . or if somebody tries to help, and your fellow party members interfere so the two of you still cannot win . . . you must Run Away. You don't get any levels or Treasure. You don't even get to Loot The Room. And you don't always escape unharmed . . .

Roll the die. You escape on a 5 or more. Some Race and Power abilities and some Treasures might make it easier or harder to Run Away from all monsters. And some monsters give you a bonus or penalty to your roll for that monster only.

If you fail to Run Away from a monster, it does Bad Stuff to you, as described on its card. This may vary from losing an Item, to losing one or more levels, to death (see below).

If you are fleeing from multiple monsters, you roll separately to escape each one, in any order you choose, and suffer Bad Stuff from each one that catches you as soon as it catches you.

If two players are cooperating and still can't defeat the monster(s), they must both Run Away. They roll separately, and each player chooses in what order to Run Away. The monster(s) can catch them both.

Once you have resolved all Run Away rolls, discard the monster(s).

Death

If you die, you lose all your stuff. You keep your Race(s), Powers, and Level (and any Traps that were affecting you when you died) – your new character will look just like your old one. If you have an Edge! card used on a Power or a SURGEd card, keep those as well.

Once you have died, you don't have to Run Away from any remaining monsters.

Looting The Body: Lay out your hand beside the cards you had in play (making sure not to include the cards mentioned above). If you have any Items attached to an Edge! card, separate those cards. Starting with the player with the highest Level, everyone else chooses one card . . . in case of ties in Level, roll the die. Once everyone gets one card, discard the rest. If your corpse runs out of cards, tough. Looted cards go into players' hands.

Dead characters cannot receive cards for any reason, not even Charity, and cannot level up or win the game.

When the next player begins their turn, your new character appears and can help others in combat with your Level and Race or Power abilities . . . but you have no cards, unless you receive Charity or gifts from other players.

On your next turn, start by drawing four face-down Doors and four face-down Treasures and playing any legal cards you want to, just as when you started the game. Then take your turn normally.

Example of Combat, With Numbers and Everything

Rowan is a 6th-Level Troll Combat Mage with a Stun Baton (which gives a +4 to their combat strength, 2 from Combat Mage and 2 from Stun Baton). They kick open the door and find the Knight Errant Team, a Level 12 monster. Rowan's at a 10, the Knight Errant Team is at a 12, so Rowan is losing.

Rowan: Time to bring the heat . . .

They play the Firewall, giving them +5 for this fight. Now their combat strength is 15, beating the Knight Errant Team's 12.

Rowan: Taste pavement, Knight Errant Team!

Akari: I don't think so. Now they're Chromed.

Akari plays Chromed, adding 5 to the Knight Errant Team's combat strength. Now Rowan is losing, 17 to 15.

Rowan: Drek!

Akari: Want some help? (Akari is a Level 3 Elf with Killing Hands, so their combat strength is 7. Combined with Rowan's 15, they would have 22, enough to defeat the Knight Errant Team's 17.)

Rowan: You did that just to get a level by helping.

Akari: Guilty. So?

Rowan: Nah. I got this.

Rowan uses their Combat Mage Power and discards two cards: Wandering Monster from their hand and Xiphos Tactical Gladius (usable only by an Elf) from their carried Items. This lets them copy Akari's Killing Hands Power.

Akari: Boo. I wanted the sword.

Rowan: That's +4 to me, making it 19 to 17. The Knight Errant Team is toast . . . unless someone else plans to mess with me. Anyone?

No one says anything, so Rowan goes up a level and claims the Treasures from the Knight Errant Team – three from the Knight Errant Team card, and one extra because it was Chromed. And the game goes on . . .

Faster Play Rules

For a faster game, you can add a "phase 0" called Listen At The Door. At the start of your turn before doing anything else, draw a face-down Door card, which you may play or not. Then arrange cards and Kick Open The Door normally. If you Loot The Room, draw a face-down Treasure, not a Door.

You can also allow shared victories – if a player reaches Level 10 in a fight where you are the helper, you also win the game, no matter what Level you are.

Traps

If drawn face up, during the "Kick Open The Door" phase, Trap cards apply to the person who drew them.

If drawn face down or acquired some other way, Trap cards may be played on any player at any time. Any time, do you hear me? Reducing someone's abilities just as they think they have killed a monster is a lot of fun.

Usually, a Trap affects its victim immediately (if it can) and is discarded. However, some Traps give a penalty later in the game or have a continuing effect. Keep these cards until you get rid of the Trap or the penalty takes effect. If someone plays a "your next combat" Trap on you while you are in combat, it counts in that combat! (Trap cards you keep as a reminder may not be discarded to power Race or Power abilities. Nice try!)

If a Trap can apply to more than one Item, the victim decides which Item is lost or trapped.

If a Trap applies to something you don't have, ignore it. For instance, if you draw Lose Your Armor and you have no armor, nothing happens; discard the card.