Solitaire Illuminati: New World Order (INWO)

I started this blog 7.5 years ago talking about an old CCG from the 90s, Steve Jackson's Illuminati: New World Order (INWO), focusing on solitaire play in particular.  My final post covering INWO, so many years ago, presented the final version of a solitaire version, which I called INWOSolo.

I mentioned in that old post that INWOSolo captured the feel of the multiplayer game well and indeed it does.  Recently however I've been reflecting on why, if the above were true, have I not played more solitaire INWO over all these years?

Despite the normal excuses of real life commitments, I realized that the problem with CCGs in general is the time sink of deck creation from a large pool of options.  Deck creation drains the player of any enthusiasm to play and my solitaire rules for INWO exacerbated this by requiring the creation of twice as many decks as a normal, multi-player game!

The rules for solitaire INWO on the Downloads page of this blog still stand but now all cards are played from one Plot or one Group Deck, as appropriate.  I'm in the middle of a playtest and so far the results are great.

In order to construct a Plot and Group Deck for solitaire INWO, some specific rules should be followed to maximize the challenge.  These rules should replace paragraphs (1) to (4) in the "Beginning the Game" section of the INWOSolo rules.

First, choose your Illuminati.  Next, select 1 to 5 (recommend 3) rival Illuminati cards to form the core of the Plot Deck.  Set these aside and begin creating a Group Deck of 49 cards.

First, choose two non-opposed alignments that will feature prominently in the deck.  At least one of these alignments should correspond to your Illuminated goal (if applicable).  Next, for each of the two alignments and the respective opposing alignments, select six cards Group cards, plus an additional seventh Group card that duplicates one of the six.  You should now have 28 of 49 cards selected.  Choose an additional 12 Group cards for flavor.  These cards should generally be of different alignments to the four already represented; typically these cards will be selected based on Attributes.  Criteria for inclusion includes having Attributes necessary for any Illuminated Goal (yours or your rivals!) or Attributes that have appeared already in the first 28 selected cards.  Once these cards are selected, bringing the total to 40, select nine Resources to round out the solitaire Group Deck.  Eight of these Resources should be different, with one duplicate of a Unique Resource.  Since any Resource could be drawn either for or against the solo player from the same deck, certain Resources should not be included (for example, the Bronze Head).

The Plot Deck consists of 64 cards, starting with the rival Illuminati.  Next, add two of the +10 booster cards (i.e. Albino Alligators for Weird groups) for each of the four chosen alignments, one each action token reload cards (i.e Reload for Violent groups) for the four alignments, two each alignment changer cards (i.e. Fundie Money for Conservative), and two each "set Power to 6" cards (i.e Self Esteem for Liberal groups).  This should add 28 cards to the total, along with the rival Illuminati for a count of around 30.  Next add one Disaster card for every Place and one Assassination plot for every Personality in the Group Deck.  Add six New World Order cards, two of each color.  Add any desired Goal cards, focusing on cards that will facilitate a win for you and those that help the rival.  All these additions should bring the total to around 50.  The remaining plots are chosen for flavor and usefulness.  For the most satisfying game, choose cards that are useful to both you and the rival powers (Swiss Bank Account is a great example, as is Sucked Dry and Cast Aside).

The INWOSolo rules remain relatively unchanged with a few exceptions.  First, to start the game, after drawing the normal three Plot cards, draw seven Group cards and select one as your initial lead group.  Also, an Illuminati card can never be drawn into the solitaire player's hand; if revealed during the Plot card discard/draw phase of the player's turn, the Illuminati card is played to the table as a threat, as detailed on page 3 of the INWOSolo rules.

For those of us with large INWO collections but no opponents, I hope this makes the solitaire experience a little more palatable.  If you try these rules, let me know what you think.  Personally, I think they're a hoot.        

Dead CCG Trades

I added another page to my blog entitled Dead CCG Trades.  This page will be a permanent repository for any posts regarding trades of dead CCGs.  More importantly, it will link to my have and need lists for trading, so people can determine if we have any trade potential.

Due to the magic of the internet, I'm no longer having to play all my card games solitaire.  Right now I'm involved in two play-by-forum games and they are each a blast!  I spoke of the three-player Galactic Empires game already.  The second game I'm in is a two-player Quest for the Grail game and it's a hoot.  Fans of the Arthurian romances should really check this game out.  I mean, just look at the art on some of the cards...

Play-by-forum game; Round 7

My favorite knight

CCG Necromancy: Ideas for a Dead CCG League

I have to admit it: I love CCGs.

OK, the business model of forcing players to buy heaps of crap cards in order to get a few good ones is pretty despicable, I admit.  And I don't like how CCGs reward people for spending more money; it was always annoying to be defeated by the guy who could afford to sift through seven booster boxes for the ultra-rare.

All that aside, some of my best gaming memories come from CCG play.  Well designed games like Mythos and INWO could be dominated with common cards, while offering tremendous replay value with just a modest card collection.

Recently I discovered the concept of play-by-forum on BoardGameGeek.  It's very slow, but the prospect of actually playing out-of-print CCGs with actual opponents is priceless.  And not to mention fun.

The great thing about dead CCGs is that generally you can get loads of cards for pennies on eBay.  The problem until I discovered forum-play was that I had huge collections of cards but no opponents.  My recent forum game has got me wondering: would there be any interest in a dead CCG league?

A dead CCG league could offer players the chance to get opponents in exchange for cards.  For example; I've acquired thousands of Illuminati: New World Order cards over the years.  I could easily pick out a few hundred spares, enough to make a couple good decks, and trade with another league member who has no INWO cards.  In exchange, that league member sends me cards from his/her dead CCG of choice which I have no cards for.  We can then set up forum games on BGG, since we both have cards for both games.

Just something I'm kicking around in my head.  I posted a call for players for the obscure Quest for the Grail CCG on BoardGameGeek.  I was amazed I got a reply in less than 30 minutes.  If such an obscure game can generate interest so readily, then perhaps a dead CCG league is not such a far-fetched idea?

Illuminati: New World Order Solitaire Download

My solitaire variant for Steve Jackson Games' awesome CCG Illuminati: New World Order is available on the downloads page.

Get it and use the tabloids and fast-food companies to trick the Congressional Wives into destroying NATO!  World Domination is fun, even solo.

INWO SOLO V1.4

I live in rural America and my girlfriend and others close to me don't share my interest in gaming.  I'm a big fan of collectible card games (well, not the sad marketing ploy that was the "collectible" part), in particular ones from the 90's CCG heyday.  Needless to say in addition to my locale, being a fan of dead CCGs doesn't help me find gaming-mates.  So I've come up with solitaire versions of my favorite games, including Illuminati: New World Order by Steve Jackson Games.  I originally posted my INWO solitaire rules last October, but had so many revisions after playtest that those first rules are nothing like I play now.  Here finally is my revised version.  Long post ahead... 

INWOSOLO is a solitaire variant of Steve Jackson Games' Illuminati: New World Order (INWO) card game. The following description assumes familiarity with the game, and uses the World Domination Handbook Version 1.1 (March 1995) as the base reference. All official rules changes, errata, and clarifications, found on the Steve Jackson Games website are also in effect.

INWOSOLO attempts to replicate the multiplayer INWO experience for one player and consequently preserves as many of the normal rules as possible. Unless otherwise noted or obvious, all rules for play remain the same as multiplayer INWO.

BASIC RULES
As a multiplayer game progresses, each player nears their own victory conditions as their respective power structures grow. Although they each have more Power available, their power structures are becoming ever larger and hence more vulnerable. As such, cooperation decreases and attacks on rivals increase as each player focuses on preserving their own victory chances. INWOSOLO introduces the Intrigue Score to simulate this multiplayer atmosphere. The turn sequence section below details how the Intrigue Score affects play. The rules assume the Intrigue Score is tracked on a 10-sided die, but tokens (distinct from Action tokens) may also be used.

Object of the Game

Victory conditions remain the same for INWOSOLO. You must meet either the basic goal of 11 Groups, the special goal of your Illuminati, or satisfy the conditions of a Goal card before a rival declares victory (as determined by the Intrigue Score; see below). The game also ends if you are reduced to zero Groups in your Power structure other than your Illuminati.

Beginning the Game

(1) Follow all the "Beginning the Game" instructions in the World Domination Handbook, starting by constructing a normal INWO deck of any size and continuing all the way to drawing your Group hand. The rules were playtested using decks of approximately 45 cards. INWOSOLO assumes you won the die roll to determine who goes first: this die roll is unnecessary.

(2) Construct and shuffle a Rival Plot Deck representing the fiendish plans of all your rival Illuminati. The Rival Plot Deck is exactly twice as large as your own Plot Deck, counting your Illuminati card. The Rival Plot Deck shall include one rival Illuminati card for every 10 cards or fraction thereof of its required deck size. Tips on Rival Plot Deck construction follow the Basic Rules.

(3) Construct and shuffle a Rival Group Deck representing the Groups and Resources of your rivals' Power structures. The Rival Group Deck is exactly the same size as the Rival Plot Deck.

(4) If you included a Group in the Rival Group Deck which duplicates your own lead Group, reveal from the top of the Rival Group Deck a number of cards equal to the number of rival Illuminati. If any of the cards revealed and your lead are the same, you must pick an alternate lead. Draw one more card off the top of the Rival Group Deck if it contains a copy of your alternate lead. Continue until the lead and the revealed rival Groups do not match.

(5) Set the Intrigue Score at 0 (I use an old-school d10 with a 0-9 marked on it).  You are now ready to play the first turn.

Turns

INWOSOLO uses a two turn sequence: first the Player Turn (your turn) and then the Rival Illuminati Turn. The sequence repeats until the game ends.  At the beginning of each and every of the seven phases of the Player Turn, roll two dice before doing anything else.  If the sum of these dice scores is less than or equal to the number of groups you control then a Rival Plot is triggered (see below).  If a group you control counts double for victory conditions, then it counts double for this as well.  Also, if a group counts double towards victory conditions due to an exposed Goal card, it counts double for this as well.  As you approach victory, the rival Illuminati groups become nervous and direct more and more of their attention (and plots) against you. 

Player Turn Sequence

1. to 4. Phases 1 through are identical to normal INWO: draw your plot card and group card, make your automatic takeover, and place your action tokens.  Don't forget however, to roll to trigger a Rival Plot.

5. Roll to trigger Rival Plots as in every phase.  Perform actions in phase 5 as per normal INWO, but before any such actions draw a number of cards from the Rival Group Deck equal to the Intrigue Score.  None of these groups have Action Tokens (yet).  The cards reveal parts of rival Power structures left vulnerable and thus potential targets for attack. If any rival card is a Resource, leave it in play face-up.

After considering the rival Groups, make any actions. Actions can include attacking a rival Power structure (targeting a card just revealed), attacking to control a Group from your hand, or any other action allowed in normal INWO.  On the very first turn of the game the Intrigue Score starts at 0, thus there should be no Rival Groups to attack. 

6. Roll to see if a Rival Plot is triggered.  Free moves as per INWO, including victory declaration.

7. Roll to see if a Rival Plot is triggered.  If you successfully attacked a rival power structure in Phase 5, roll to reduce the Intrigue Score (see below).

Rival Illuminati Turn Sequence

1. Add 1 to the Intrigue Score.

2. Add one action token to any rival groups and resources which require tokens and do not currently have any.

3. Determine the number of groups controlled by the most powerful Rival.  Roll a single die. If the sum of the die score and the Intrigue Score equals 11 or more, a rival Illuminati has achieved their goal and you lose.  If the sum does not equal 11 or more, the game continues. Proceed to the next phase.

4. Roll two dice.  If the sum of the dice scores is less than or equal the number of groups you control (towards victory conditions as above), then a rival Illuminati attacks your Power structure!  Reveal the top card from the Rival Plot Deck and Rival Group Deck and resolve the attack.  The Rival Group card just flipped is the attacking group; the other groups will aid if able.

5. Discard any Rival Plot cards and Rival Groups still in play, except Goal and New World Order cards.

Plot Cards

All INWO rules apply normally for your Plot cards. Rival Plots function differently. As noted, a die roll triggers play of Rival Plot cards. Since the rival Power structures are an abstract representation in INWOSOLO and not on the game table, any Rival Plot card is assumed to have all action token requirements met by the appropriate Group(s). Rival Plot cards must still be legal however; if a Plot card can only be played on the owning player's turn (the Rival Illuminati Turn in this case), then it cannot be played during the Player Turn. Any revealed Rival Plot cards which are illegal are simply discarded. A Rival Plot card is resolved immediately if applicable. Instants, Disasters, Assassinations, and Plots that target another player's card decks and card hands are all examples of Rival Plot cards that are resolved immediately.

If a Rival Plot card is legal but cannot be immediately resolved (+10 Bonus cards are a great example, as are Alignment changers), it remains in play until the beginning of the next Player Turn when it is discarded excepting New World Order and Goals as noted below.  Cards which remain in play throughout the turn will be used at an appropriate time.  For example, a +10 Bonus plot is meaningless when revealed but if a Rival Group later attacks your power structure, the Rival Plot suddenly becomes very useful for your enemies. 

Three Rival Plot cards function very different and deserve special attention: Illuminati, Goal and New World Order cards.

Illuminati Cards- An Illuminati card played from the Rival Plot Deck betrays a rival Illuminati's direct influence.  As soon as an Illuminati card comes into play it gains an action token (unlike Rival Groups).   The Illuminati card remains in play until it uses its action or the beginning of the next Player Turn, whichever comes first. The Illuminati's Global Power is used in the first attack after it is revealed, aiding either the defender (if you are attacking) or the attacker (if you are defending). After aiding one attack, the Illuminati's action token is considered spent and the card is discarded.

Goal Cards- If a Goal card is revealed, leave it in the play area next to the Rival Group Deck like a Resource. The Goal card is NOT exposed by this play; you must play an appropriate Plot or special Group ability to expose it. Successful attacks against any Rival Group which helps satisfy the Goal Card helps reduce the Intrigue Score (see below).

New World Order cards- Remain in play until removed by another NWO of the same color or a Plot, exactly as in INWO.

Group Cards

Your Groups function exactly as in INWO but Rival Groups, like Rival Plots, require special rules.  Rival Groups will use their special abilities on the appropriate turn to have the most detrimental effect on you, but must still follow normal INWO rules regarding Action Tokens; Rival Groups cannot both use special abilities and make attacks or lend Power (unless of course the special ability is free).  Rival Resources, whenever revealed, remain in play until removed by some Plot or special ability, as in INWO.

Attacks

Attacks to Control and Destroy follow all the normal rules of INWO including alignment bonuses/penalties, closeness bonuses, and legality for aiding the attackers and defenders. Again, because rival Power structures exist only in abstract, INWOSOLO requires a few additional rules to determine the closeness bonus as well as Power defending against and aiding attacks.

Interfering Power

     Interfering Power is a bonus added to the Power or Resistance of an attacking or defending Group, as appropriate.  Interfering Power represents the struggle amongst all the rival Illuminati, some of whom are aiding you (for their own reasons) and others who oppose you.  Compute Interfering Power by rolling a single die and adding the resulting die score to the Intrigue Score (Rival Illuminati are less and less inclined to help you as both you and they near victory).

Illuminati Closeness Bonus
     During attacks on Rival power structures, use the following procedure to compute a Group's defense bonus due to its proximity to its Illuminati.  Roll two dice.  If the sum of the dice scores exceeds the Intrigue Score, the target Rival Group gets a +5 closeness bonus and the dice are rolled again.  If the sum of these new dice scores again exceeds the Intrigue Score, the target Rival Group gets an additional +5 closeness bonus.  If the first dice roll fails to exceed the Intrigue Score, the closeness bonus is 0 (the longer the game, the larger and more vulnerable the Power structures get). 

Attacks to Control from Your Group Hand
Compute the Power of all the Groups you plan to use in the attack.  Compute Interfering Power and add it to the target's resistance. Finally, if any of the Rival Group revealed at the beginning of phase 5 can legally aid the target (usually via special abilities), add their bonuses as appropriate. Don't forget to add any bonuses due to Rival Plot cards in play and any Rival Resources (remove tokens as necessary). Results of Attacks to Control from your own Group hand are per INWO.

Attacks to Control or Destroy Rival Groups

If you decide to target any of the Rival Groups revealed in phase 5 of your turn, compute the Power of all the Groups you plan to use in the attack.  Compute Interfering Power and the target's Closeness Bonus; add to the target's Power or Resistance as appropriate.  Rival Groups will use any free special abilities to thwart your attack and rival Illuminati cards will spend their action token to add their Global Power to the target's Power or Resistance.

Rival Attacks to Control or Destroy Your Groups
Compute Interfering Power and add to the Rival Group's Power.  Any Rival Groups eligible to aid will do so.  Apply any bonuses due to Rival Plot cards in play and any Rival Resources (remove tokens as necessary). If an Attack to Control versus your Power structure is successful, add the target Group and any puppets to the Rival Group Deck discard pile. Successful Attacks to Destroy your Groups have the same effects as normal INWO.

Privilege

If you play a Plot or use a special ability which makes your Attack Privileged the results of the Privilege depend on your target. If Attacking your Group hand no one else can lend Power, therefore do not add any Power to your target's resistance! If you are attacking a Rival Power structure your privilege prevents other Illuminati from aiding your target; do not roll the single die and add it to the target's Power or resistance. You must still add the Intrigue Score as well as any closeness bonus.

If a Rival's attack becomes Privileged, the attack proceeds as above, but compute Interfering Power by rolling two dice instead of one and adding their sum to the Intrigue Score.

The Intrigue Score

The Intrigue Score represents not really the slow march of time but your rivals' progress toward world domination, as well as their awareness of your progress. The game can be lost with a simple die roll once the Intrigue Score reaches 5!  Since the Intrigue Score advances by 1 each turn, your inevitable defeat can only be avoided by using raw Power to slow its advance, just as you use Actions to counter your opponents in multi-player INWO.

Reducing the Intrigue Score
Two ways exist to reduce the Intrigue Score: successful attacks versus rival power structures or thwarting Illuminated Goals. 

If you successfully attack a Rival Power structure, roll a single die.  If the Group you successfully attacked counted double for a Rival's Special Goal or a face-up Goal card, roll two dice.  If the score on any die rolled is less than or equal to the Power of the targeted group, reduce the Intrigue Score by 1.  Total all the Powers of any group and its puppets if captured in an Attack to Control.  Also, add 1 to the Power for every +5 closeness bonus (rival Illuminati will typically keep their most valuable groups closer).    Example: You just Destroyed Count Dracula via an Instant Attack.  The Count had a Power Corrupts Plot linked to him making him Criminal, and the Criminal Overlords Goal card is in play for the Rival.  His closeness bonus was +5.  Since Dracula counted double towards the Criminal Overlords Goal, you roll two dice and get a 3 and a 6.  The Count's Power is 2, but due to the closeness bonus it is considered 3.  At least one of your dice was less than or equal to Dracula's Power, so you reduce the Intrigue Score by 1.  If both the dice were 3 or less you'd still only reduce the Intrigue Score by 1; your chances are increased, not the effect.

If you take out a Plot particularly vital to a rival's plans, you significantly reduce their chances for victory (and thus reduce the Intrigue Score). Any time you remove from play a face-up Rival Goal card (for example you expose it via a special ability and then use the "Foiled!" Plot to discard it), you may immediately reduce the Intrigue Score by 1. 

"What if my one of my rivals is the Servants of Cthulhu?"- If Cthulhu is one of your rivals and you cause a Group to return to play after being Destroyed, reduce the Intrigue Score by 1.

"What if my one of my rivals is the Bermuda Triangle?"- If the Triangle is one of your rivals and one of your Attacks (or Plots) results in the loss of a Rival Group, roll a single die. If the die score is less than or equal to the number of Alignments that Group possesses, reduce the Intrigue Score by an additional 1.

Other INWOSOLO Peculiarities

Deck Searches

Any Plot card (or special ability) that allows you to search another player's deck or hand works differently in INWO SOLO.

     If you play a Plot or use an ability allowing you to search a Group or Plot deck, you may search the Rival Group Deck or Rival Plot Deck respectively.

     If you play a card allowing the search of a Plot hand, roll a single die to determine the rival hand size. Remove that many cards from the top of the Rival Plot Deck and treat those cards as you would another player's hand in normal INWO. Any face-up Rival Goal cards are considered part of the rival hand. If you have to select cards from an opponent's hand without looking and face-up Rival Goals are in play, use a random die roll to fairly determine if the Goal is indeed the card you would have chosen. You may never steal a rival Illuminati card revealed from a hand or deck search, but you may expose and discard it through an appropriate combination of Plots and/or special abilites.

If you play a card allowing the search of a Group hand, roll two dice; the sum determines the rival hand size. Remove that many cards from the top of the Rival Group Deck and treat those cards as you would another player's hand in normal INWO.

"...for every..." Bonuses


For Rival Groups that have bonuses or abilities based on the number of a certain type of other Groups available (such as "Add 2 to this Group's Power and Global Power for every media Personality in your power structure"), use the following procedure to determine how many of these other Groups exist.  Roll one die.  Subtract this die score from the Intrigue Score.  Results less than zero are treated as zero.  For example: on a Rival Illuminati Turn (Intrigue Score 4), you suffer an attack on your power structure led by Hollywood.  You roll a single die to determine how many media Personalities exist in the Rival power structure and get a 2.  Subtracting this from the Intrigue Score of 4, you get a total of 2 media Personalities, boosting Hollywood's Power to 6!  If you had rolled a 6, Hollywood would have no media Personalities to boost its Power.

Deck Exhaustion

If either Rival Plot Deck or Rival Group Deck becomes exhausted, simply reshuffle all the cards in the respective discard pile and continue play. Also, after all the rival Illuminati have been revealed and discarded, immediately reshuffle the discards and the rest of the Rival Plot Deck and continue play (you can never hide from the Illuminati!).

Remember to place Destroyed rival Groups in a separate pile; these Groups may not return to play via a simple reshuffle. As in INWO only the combination of duplicate cards and relevant Plots can bring Destroyed Groups back.

Alignment Adders/Changers
Plots like "Assertiveness Training" which can add or change alignments can be used against rival Groups, but the target's closeness to its Illuminati increases the Power required. Determine the target's closeness bonus using the same procedure as when Attacking a rival Power structure.

UFOs

If the UFOs are played off the top of the Rival Plot deck, discard it after the second attack it takes part in or phase 5 of the Rival Illuminati Turn, whichever comes first.

Tips

Rival Plot Decks should include a lot of cards that will directly affect your plans.  Thus it should include a lot of Instant Attacks.  Some cards that you'd typically put in a normal INWO deck (+10 bonus cards are a good example) still function nicely against you in the Rival Plot Deck.  Other cards (like Crop Circles) have no real function in the Rival Plot Deck and thus should be left out.  Make the Rival Plot Deck nasty and it will be a lot more satisfying if you win.

Rival Group Decks should have a  number of general themes as well.  You don't have to put as much time into its construction as you do your own deck, but if Rival Groups have shared alignments it will make the game more challenging and, again, more satisfying.

If the game is too hard or too easy, adjust the ratio of Illuminati cards in the Rival Plot Deck.  Adding even one extra Illuminati card really puts the hurt on your plans.


That's it.  Unlike most of my wonky ideas, I've actually play-tested this.  Half a dozen times at least.  I will let you be the judges, but I really think this captures the feel of multi-player INWO.  Let me know what you think.

More Updates for INWOSOLO

My playtest last night revealed a pretty major hole in my INWOSOLO rules.  Unless you're playing Servants of Cthulhu, there's no incentive to attack a Rival power structure.  The mechanic to reduce the Intrigue Score via simply spending Action tokens makes it pointless to attack.  It will almost always take more Action tokens to make a successful attack than it will to simply reduce the Intrigue Score.  And the reward of a successful attack (under my current rules) is simply to reduce the cost further; you still have to spend Action tokens in phase 7.  Unless you're playing SoC, these rules encourage a degeneration into isolationism.  Isolationist decks do happen in multi-player games, but not every game.  So because the goal of INWOSOLO is to replicate the multi-player INWO experience,  I'm scrapping that mechanic...

Now, the only way to reduce the Intrigue Score is via a successful attack on a Rival power structure.  If you make a successful attack, roll a single die, two dice if the target Group counted double for any Rival Goal.  If any dice rolled are less than or equal to the eliminated Group's Power, reduce the Intrigue Score by 1.  Before rolling, add 1 point to the Group's Power for every +5 Closeness Bonus it had (a Group's closeness to its Illuminati usually indicates how valuable it is).  Roll these dice in phase 7 of your turn.  I have decoupled the play of Rival Plots from the Intrigue Score (see below) so there is no longer any limit on how many points you may reduce the Intrigue Score in one turn.  If you successfully attack multiple Groups, you are entitled to roll for Intrigue Score reduction multiple times.


Playtest also showed me that rolling one die to determine the defense bonus for closeness doesn't work.  It works great until the Intrigue Score reaches 6, at which point every Rival Group on the table automatically gets no bonus.  That makes no sense, as in multi-player INWO opponents will keep their vitally important Groups close, even until the end of the game.  A simple fix is to roll two dice.  If the sum of these two dice is equal to or less than the Intrigue Score, the Group has no closeness bonus.  If the sum is greater than the Intrigue Score, the Group has at least a +5 bonus and you must roll again to determine if it has a +10 bonus. 

One last change: using the Intrigue Score to trigger the play of Rival Plots is unnecessary.  The new mechanic: simply roll two dice and if the sum is less than or equal to the number of groups you control, a Plot is triggered.  Groups which count double for Illuminati Special Goals count double for this as well, but Groups which count double for unexposed Goal cards do not.  As before, roll these dice at the start of each phase on your turn, before you do anything.  Of course, on your first turn you are still immune from anything except NWOs.

A lot of changes to the INWOSOLO rules in the last few days due to some furious playtesting.  I will integrate all the changes with a new baseline rules post soon. 

INWOSOLO Update

After some playtesting I've made some more significant changes to INWOSOLO.

First, all Rival Plot cards are still considered to be powered by the appropriate action tokens, but any Rival Groups (including Illuminati) that show up on the table must have an Action token to do anything (attack, defend, special abilities, whatever) just as in normal INWO.  Thus Rival Groups are essentially powerless until the Action token phase of the Rival Illuminati Turn.

The biggest change is the playing of Rival Groups.  The new rule is as follows: at the beginning of phase 5 of the Player Turn (your turn), before taking any actions play a number of Rival Groups equal to the Intrigue Score.  These Rival Groups represent Groups in the various Rival power structures that have spent their Action token and are thus vulnerable.  During the Rival Illuminati Turn, these Groups are still in play (unless successfully attacked by you) and will gain Action tokens.  They may then use these tokens to aid (if eligible) any attack against your power structure.  Thus, as the game progresses you will have more targets as Rival power structures sprawl out, but you will have much more power arrayed against you on the Rival Turn.

If your die roll indicates you must play a Rival Plot (see previous update post) and an Illuminati Group is revealed; it is powerless during your turn as the Rival Groups in the previous discussion.  On the Rival Illuminati Turn however, it will gain an Action token as other Groups and Resources.  Hope at that point you roll high enough to avoid an attack on your structure.

The final update regards spending Action tokens to lower the Intrigue Score.  That is now considered a special action and gets its own phase.  Phase 7 of the Player Turn is the only time you may spend actions to reduce the Intrigue Score.

I played a solitaire game tonight using a Booster Draft (and computer randomization) to make an average deck.  I used Servants of Cthulhu and won the game with 4 Rival Groups destroyed and 7 of my own controlled.  The Intrigue Score got all the way up to a 6 and I got lucky and didn't roll an "auto-win" for the Rival Illuminati.  My power structure also weathered 3 successful attacks (good thing auto takeovers are part of INWOSOLO!).  On the victory turn I had an 18 to destroy a group due to bonuses but rolled an 11!  So I attacked a different target and picked it off, then committed Action tokens and attacked the Templars with a 3 needed for success.  I rolled a 6 and it looked like I failed, but I played The Second Bullet and added Stonehenge's Global Power of 3 (Tabloids initiated the attack so the Templars weren't Secret), raising my attack strength to 6 and a success!  The rules really preserved the feel of a multi-player game.   

INWOSOLO Update

After three play-test games of INWOSOLO, my solitaire version of INWO, I realize I don't like the mechanic for playing of Rival Plot cards.  I constantly forgot to reveal the Rival Plot at the appropriate time, probably because the whole "play a Rival Plot whenever you make any action" thing is just too vague.

Here's my proposed fix, which I will play-test and report on.  Rival Plot is now tied to the Intrigue Score.  The new rule regarding Rival Plots: at the beginning of each phase of the Player's Turn (only) before doing anything else, roll one die.  If the die score is less than or equal to the Intrigue Score, play the top card off the Rival Plot deck.  The card represents a Plot in the hand of one of your Rivals, a Plot that the Rival is planning to power and use against your power structure this turn.  The Plot is NOT exposed by this play; it must be exposed by normal means.  If the Plot can be resolved immediately, resolve it.  If not, keep it on the table just like in the previous INWOSOLO rules post.  Again, these cards (up to seven! a turn) represent not only the Plots in the hands of various Rivals, but their intentions to use them this turn against you.  Since the play of these cards is liked to the Intrigue Score, as the game progresses and all your Rivals have more Groups (and action tokens) to protect themselves, they also have more actions to power plots against their opponents, including you.  The rule mechanic essentially gives you a bit of prescience, and adds quite a lot of die rolls to the game, but I feel it's the best simulation of a multi-player match without having to resort to some overly complex artificial intelligence decision matrix or engine.    

Custom Action Tokens

If you really want to sex-up your INWO game (or even Illuminati I bet) here's some vague DIY instructions on how to make some eye-in-the-pyramid Action tokens.

First, make a template for a proper pyramid.  I use a great modeling book that shows how to make almost any shape with just compass and straightedge.  The picture below shows the template:

Tape this template to a sheet of polystyrene.  I just use food packaging instead of buying expensive sheets at hobby stores.  If you don't know how to identify the various types of plastics, email me and let me know, I'll tell you how.  Anyways, cut around your template and then cut the individual faces of the pyramid out.  Take some two-part epoxy (Greenstuff, Pro-create, Loctite, whatever) and putty the edges together.  fold into a pyramid shape and jam inverted into a ball of putty (see pic):

As you can see, you create a small pyramid-shaped plastic container which you fill with an air-drying putty.  I recommend Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty because it has too many outstanding model making properties to list here.  Pour in the putty and wait 10 minutes or more.  Then insert a small loop made from a cut paper-clip:

The pyramid is shown curing next to a 15mm miniature work in progress for scale.  Let the pyramid cure for 1 hour.  This important.  Not too much cure or you can't carve it, but too little cure time and it will crumble.  After 1 hour you should be able to pull the pyramid out of the plastic mold and start carving a brick pattern.  

 Finally, drill a small hole in one side and carefully sculpt an eye (and eyelid) out of epoxy putty.  Usually GreenStuff sticks to everything, but I had to use CA glue to get the eye to stay put.  That's it!  The master sculpt is done.  

The next step will be to make a silicone mold out of simple window Silicone from Walmart.  Then mass-produce with Durhams.  I will post a picture of the silicone mold and some finished Action tokens when I make them.

Homebrew Illuminati

I've seen a lot of very creative homebrew INWO cards over the years, but one thing I've noticed is no one seems to create their own Illuminati Group.  Below is a summary of my homebrew Illuminati Group, The Pythagoreans.  I'm looking for some good card templates so I can make up a jpeg of the card.

The Pythagoreans

Power: 8/8

Special Ability: Roll two dice.  As a free move, make one of your groups Magic, or Science.  Add the other attribute if the dice sum is greater than that group's Power!

Special Goal: Write the name of any group and place under this card before the game.  The group counts double toward the number of groups you control, triple if Magic or Science, quadruple if both!

INWOSOLO Updates

Intrigue Score

I like the term Intrigue Score much better than Time Score.  Replace all references to Time Score in the INWOSOLO rules post with Intrigue Score.

More INWOSOLO Peculiarities

For Rival Groups that have bonuses or abilities based on the number of a certain type of other Groups available (such as "Add 2 to this Group's Power and Global Power for every media Personality in your power structure), use the following procedure to determine how many of these other Groups exist.  Roll one die.  Subtract this die score from the Intrigue Score.  Results less than zero are treated as zero.  For example, on a Rival Illuminati Turn (Intrigue Score 4), you suffer an attack on your power structure lead by Hollywood.  You roll a single die to determine how many media Personalities exist in the Rival power structure and get a 2.  Subtracting this from the Intrigue Score of 4, you get a total of 2 media Personalities, boosting Hollywood's Power to 6!  If you had rolled a 6, Hollywood would have no media Personalities to boost its Power. 

Keep INWO Alive!

Welcome to Solipsist Gaming!  I started this Blog as a place to post my ideas for Illuminati: New World Order.  Although we all know Steve Jackson Games' awesome CCG has been out of print for over a dozen years now, I still enjoy it.  I hope some of my ideas can help others enjoy it too.