Munchkin (game): Difference between revisions

** Cards that give one-time bonuses to combat are common. Cards that give bonuses to one ''specific'' side are rare. Help or hinder, the choice is yours.

* [[Combat Medic]]: Clerics don't seem to spend much time [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything|actually healing anything]] (although they can resurrect dead cards, sort of).

** Munchkin Cthulhu had 3 expansions and a line of [http://www.worldofmunchkin.com/toys/chibithulhu/ plush toys.]

** The Unspeakably Awful Indescribable Horror in the standard deck may also be a Lovecraft reference.

** And the Perfectly Normal Bunny, which can become [[Monty Python and The Holy Grail|"That Bunny"]] due to a dice roll.

* [[Dead Man's Hand]]: A curse card that forces you to discard your whole hand.

* [[Deus Ex Machina]]: The Divine Intervention card.

** Not to mention [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Deus Ex Machinegun]].

* [[Dungeon Crawling]]: There's no actual dungeon map, but the game assumes that you're in one.

** For a similar game with a dungeon map, there's the spinoff [[Munchkin Quest]].

** [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja]]

** [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons]]

* [[Evil Is One Big Happy Family]]: Cultists from ''Munchkin Cthulhu'' gain larger bonuses the more cultists are on play.

* [[Exact Words]]: Let's put it this way: This game had to have errata added to clarify that, yes, the bad stuff 'you are roasted and eaten' means 'you are dead'. The game's played by [[Munchkin|Munchkins]], what else do you think they're going to do about rules they don't like?

* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: since [[Death Is Cheap]], replacing the dead's hand and items with eight random new cards, a fair few monsters have Bad Stuff even worse. King Tut forces the discard of everything without the replenishing hand, and the Wight Brothers reduce the player's level to 1.

** On the other hand, some Bad Stuff has no in-game effect, but can be terrible regardless. If you lose the the level 1 Goldfish, for example, the Bad Stuff is that "all the other players get to mock you". [[Don't Explain the Joke|Because you just lost to a fish in a bowl]].

** It's actually in the rules that one can "Equip anything they want, so long as they have the proper number of hands, are the right race or class, have a Cheat card, or don't get caught".

*** However, it should be noted that this line was apparently meant to be a joke that would up being taken seriously. The creators have since tried to state that this is a joke, and more recent versions of the rules don't have the "don't get caught" line, saying that only "Cheat!" cards let you cheat. Some groups keep this in as a house rule, but don't be surprised if you find yourself with a group that doesn't allow cheating.

* [[Not the Intended Use]]: Using "go up a level" cards on your opponents to force them to fight monsters. Among many others.

{{quote| '''Question''': Can we use "Go Up A Level" cards on other players to make them fight a monster that would otherwise ignore them?<br />

* [[Our Werebeasts Are Different]]: Includes werepenguin, a werehamster and a weremuskrat. They are all oversized and sharp-toothed - even the penguin has fangs.

* [[Pinata Enemy]]: The Pinata is a measly level 3 and gives a treasure to every party member when killed.

* [[Punny Name]]: Most cards.

* [[PVP-Balanced]]: While being a Monster Whacker will penalize you against monsters level 16+, none of the races or classes will really make you much worse at killing stuff, and no other race or class has any penalties at all, after a revision.

** While most of ''Munchkin Zombie'' has art by John Kovalic, one card, ''[[Dead Baby Comedy|Meals On Wheels]]'', isn't. Kovalic refused to do the card as he had recently become a father (and if you're wondering why that would make him refuse, see where the pothole leads.)

** Some cards vary in effect based on what day of the week your playing. Some cards have all of the above conditions applied to them.

* [[Roaming Enemy]]: You draw monsters from a deck, and in some circumstances you can sic them on other players.

* [[Rubber Forehead Aliens]]: A racial option in Space Munchkin which acts as a catch all for the entire trope. You get to pick your one inhuman physical feature, the [[Planet of Hats|hat your planet wears]] and the one concept from human culture your race doesn't have a concept for (loyalty, dignity, hygiene, etc).

** In later sets: "Everyone starts as a Level 1 character with no class. (We never get tired of that joke.)"

** Everyone starts as a Level 1 zombie with no Mojo. (This is a zombie movie, so nobody has any class.)

* [[Shaggy Dog Story]]: Fights can sometimes develop into this, especially if there are many players with extended card holding rights. Say you've encountered a Plutonium Dragon and its Evil Twin, facing painful death should you fail to beat them or run away. After numerous bonuses and anti-bonuses have been played on the monsters, the dragon's Baby Clone, and its Mommy, have been introduced to the fight, multiple Powers and one-shot items have been used to help or hinder you, several different methods of backstabbing have been employed, lengthy negotiations of teaming up have been had, and you're ready to reap your whopping eight levels and twenty-five treasures... Some asshat plays a few cards, leaving you without any levels or treasure, and everyone many cards poorer. Which is, of course, very munchkinly indeed.

* [[Shout-Out]]: All but made of them. Some of the more obvious ones are:

** ''Munchkin Cthulhu'' has the [[Land Down Under|Ozathoth]], and the Song of Madness {{spoiler|''Waltzing Matilda''}}.

*** ''"G'day, mortal!"''

** The Froggoth from ''Munchkin Cthulhu'' causes you to suffer [[Irregular Webcomic|Death of Choking On A Giant Frog]].

** The description of the monster Filthy Geats reads "Filthy Geats ain't got no rhythm" and the Bad Stuff starts "Now you're never gonna dance again."

** One particular encounter in ''Star Munchkin'' is an ''Ogre'' cybertank.

** One of the Space Ships in the expansion booster for Star Munchkin is "[[Firefly|Housefly]]" which grants specific bonuses if you're using it with the cowboy set.

=== '''Tropes referenced in-game''' ===

* [[Amazonian Beauty]]: The fairy on one of the "your powers have grown" cards.

* [[Cardboard Prison]]

** And, of course, Undo Top Button.

** Also the improperly revealing ripped dress in Munchkin Bites expansion set Pants Macabre - it rips more, gaining an additional +1 with each sex change the character wearing it goes through.

* [[Rules Lawyer]]: The "Invoke Obscure Rules" card. (Also highly encouraged in the gameplay.)

* [[Shoulder-Sized Dragon]]: The card is "Cute Shoulder Dragon," and was considered as a [[Trope Namer]].

** And the "Baby" nerf card showing it to be even more true.

** Inverted with the Plutonium Dragon in the tabletop version of the game, whose strength is cut in half with each age category.

* [[Underwear of Power]]: A card in ''Super Munchkin''.

** Also there's the Pantyhose of Giant Strength.

* [[Weapon of X-Slaying]]: Inverted by the "Sword of Slaying Everything Except Squid". It gives a substantial bonus but against squid (there are two in the decks so far - karate squid and Squidzilla) the fight is automatically lost.