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Bugs: Recent Topics Paging, Uploading Images & Preview (11 Dec 2020)

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Your Favorite Chrome Rules

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21 Sep 2021 09:33 #326667 by Shellhead
A chrome rule is a rule that address a specific game situation with the intent of emphasizing theme or simulation. A chrome rule isn't a core rule that is essential to determining how the game functions. Though I posted this topic under Ameritrash, chrome rules are often found in old-school war games as well. And maybe the modern heavy euros now have chrome rules. What are some of your favorite chrome rules?

In Arkham Horror 2nd edition, there is a terror tracker that seems to exist primarily to trigger thematic effects. Every time the terror tracker goes up one, a potential ally gets discarded from the game. There are other thematic effects such as the closing of certain businesses, but that gradual loss of allies feels like pure chrome.
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21 Sep 2021 09:57 #326668 by hotseatgames
It is perhaps debatable that this counts as chrome, but I think the ultimate rule is the Bene Gesserit win condition of Dune. I have sadly only played this game once so I have not seen it happen, but I imagine that having the Bene Gesserit player snatch a hard fought victory from another player by simply predicting who would win, and when, would result in much hooting and hollering.
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21 Sep 2021 09:58 #326669 by dysjunct
Replied by dysjunct on topic Your Favorite Chrome Rules
If RPGs count:

Feng Shui had a rule where if a character was wielding a shotgun, and their player at the table pantomimed cocking it while making a "chk-chk" sound, then they got a +1 to their attack roll.

In Alien, you gain stress if a scientist fails to figure out what something is.
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21 Sep 2021 10:18 #326672 by Shellhead
In Camp Grizzly, there are NPCs that sometimes show up, each with their own objective that determines their movement and behavior. Karen, one of the player characters, has an abusive ex-boyfriend who is an NPC in the game. When he shows up, he chases after any character that has a set of keys. When he catches them, he steals the keys, triggering a neat chrome rule. There are four potential exits from Camp Grizzly, including a van, and he steals the van, which completely removes that exit path for the rest of the game.
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21 Sep 2021 10:20 #326673 by charlest
Replied by charlest on topic Your Favorite Chrome Rules
In the otherwise poor Breaking Bad board game, Tuco's special ability was that he got a bonus and you lost something if you look at that player in the eye.

In Torchbearer, the order you write down your gear is how it is vertically packed in your bag. So if your rope is written at the bottom of the list, you need to take all that other stuff out first.

I love stuff like this.
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21 Sep 2021 10:20 #326674 by jay718
Replied by jay718 on topic Your Favorite Chrome Rules
In Xia: Legends of a Drift System players gets a VP when they roll a 20 on the d20.
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21 Sep 2021 10:41 #326675 by Rliyen
Replied by Rliyen on topic Your Favorite Chrome Rules

dysjunct wrote: If RPGs count:

Feng Shui had a rule where if a character was wielding a shotgun, and their player at the table pantomimed cocking it while making a "chk-chk" sound, then they got a +1 to their attack roll.

In Alien, you gain stress if a scientist fails to figure out what something is.


In re: Feng Shui

As a former GM to the game, can confirm. However, it was lost to the sands of time because my players would forget about the rule, and that other firearms were better, despite the +1.
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21 Sep 2021 11:20 #326678 by Shellhead
Though not a chrome rule, Feng Shui had the amazing Mook Rule. If you successfully hit a mook (a non-powered, unnamed opponent of no particular skill), there is no fooling around with rolling damage or keeping track of hit points. You just declare if you killed the mook or knocked him unconscious, perhaps with some additional description just for style.
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21 Sep 2021 11:24 #326679 by Gary Sax
Replied by Gary Sax on topic Your Favorite Chrome Rules
Good topic.

In Clash of Monarchs, the Austrians get a +1 on siege rolls since they were legendary for their engineers and siegecraft. Sieges occur on a d6 with modifiers. It isn't obvious but the dynamics of the entire game are defined by this chrome modifier along with prussian/English activation values.
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21 Sep 2021 11:56 - 21 Sep 2021 11:56 #326683 by Sagrilarus
In Ad Astra you win if you score exactly 42 points.
Last edit: 21 Sep 2021 11:56 by Sagrilarus.
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21 Sep 2021 13:40 #326685 by JoelCFC25
If I had to pick one from Dune, I'd probably go for the Family Atomics card, its prerequisites, and the effect of playing it as pretty chrome-y.

There are so many in wargames it's hard to know where to start, and then separating the annoying/pointless ones from the really interesting ones...

How about Wallace's ability to teleport to Selkirk Forest in Hammer of the Scots? That's a pretty good one, and you end up using it frequently as well.
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21 Sep 2021 16:27 #326686 by n815e
Replied by n815e on topic Your Favorite Chrome Rules
In the Firefly television show, there is a grifter character that goes by Saffron, Yolanda and Bridget.

In the game, these are three separate characters. If you have any one of them as a member of your crew and another player hires one of her alter-egos, she leaves your ship.
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21 Sep 2021 16:30 #326687 by jpat
Replied by jpat on topic Your Favorite Chrome Rules
I personally like the Memoir '44 paradrop rule, which has you physically drop a figure representing each unit. If a figure ends up off the board or in an impassible hex, the unit didn't make it. Otherwise, the units are built as usual where they land.
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21 Sep 2021 18:02 #326690 by mc
Replied by mc on topic Your Favorite Chrome Rules
Slave revolt in Pax Porfiriana. On a slave plantation, if unrest outstrips the income, the slaves revolt and whoever caused the unrest gets rewarded but also jailed.
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21 Sep 2021 18:19 #326691 by Shellhead

n815e wrote: In the Firefly television show, there is a grifter character that goes by Saffron, Yolanda and Bridget.

In the game, these are three separate characters. If you have any one of them as a member of your crew and another player hires one of her alter-egos, she leaves your ship.


I haven't played enough Firefly to see that happen yet, but that is a neat chrome rule. I need to get Firefly on the table again sometime. I knew a couple that was really into Firefly and wanted to set up a big game, but they broke up early in the pandemic. He kept the game, but she is the one that I am still friends with, at least on Facebook.

Marvel Champions now has a more extreme version of the Saffron/Yolanda/Bridget situation. Every hero deck includes a sidebar nemesis to that hero, and that nemesis only enters play if that player draws the Shadows of the Past encounter card. Both Gamora and Nebula (from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies) now have hero decks. Gamora has a Nebula ally card, but also a Nebula nemesis module, and Nebula has a Gamora ally card and also a Nebula nemesis module. In actual play, that means that Gamora will often bring out Nebula as an ally, but if the Nebula minion card from that nemesis module enters play, the Nebula ally is discarded. The reverse is true for a player running the Nebula hero deck. However, if both hero decks are played in the same game, the evil minions will never enter play unless one of the two players gets eliminated. Also, both decks have a card that offers a bonus effect if both characters are in play as heroes. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that there is also a Nebula villain deck. If that is in play, neither the Nebula ally or minion card would ever enter play that game.
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