Asteroids

History

In a previous cycle of the Cosmos, a war grew so frightful that entire star systems were torn apart. Fragments of these planets still circle the universe, bringing the remnants of their original Powers to whomever they pass by.

Parts

A set of Asteroids is a set of twelve little cardboard Asteroid disks (similar to Moons) and twelve markers. Each Asteroid and marker has a symbol on it; they form twelve pairs (a disk and marker with the same symbol.) (A PostScript file of Asteroid images is available ADF)

Setup

When setting up the game, the players decide how many Asteroids will be in play, and where they start. Each Asteroid is placed in the empty space at the edge of a system hex. No more than one Asteroid may be in any hex. Also, pick out the markers that match those Asteroids.

(Some recommended setups: One Asteroid, randomly placed; two Asteroids, opposite each other around the ring of hexes; three Asteroids, equally spaced; or (for the masochists) one Asteroid per hex.)

After Powers are selected, the players randomly choose one Power card for each Asteroid, and place them (face up) to one side. Randomly place the markers on the power cards, so that each Asteroid in the game has one Power.

Play

At the beginning of each challenge, every Asteroid is moved one hex to the right (that is, opposite to the direction that players' turns go.) For the rest of the challenge, any player with an Asteroid in his system may use that Asteroid's Power as if it was his own.

Asteroid rotation occurs before Destiny is flipped (or before the defensive player is selected in whatever manner.) If that's not going to happen, just rotate Asteroids as early as possible in the challenge.

New Edict: STRANGE ATTRACTOR

If there is an Asteroid in your system, exchange it with any other Asteroid in the game. If there is no Asteroid in your system, select any other Asteroid in the game and move it to your system. Play at the beginning of any challenge, immediately after Asteroids are rotated.

ORBITAL [O:A] AFFECTS ASTEROID ROTATION

You have the power to affect orbits. When Asteroids are rotated in any challenge, you may decree that they all move two hexes to the right instead of one.

History: Spawned among the asteroid belts of a planetless star, the Orbitals learned to weave webs to capture and manipulate their rocky homes. Now they seek to control the mysterious fragments of dead worlds, and spread their influence around the Cosmos.

Restriction: Use only in a game with Asteroids.

Wild: You may copy a Power of the player on your left; use it as if it were your own. This Flare may only be used to copy one power per challenge.

Super: When Asteroids are rotated in any challenge, you may decree either that they all move two hexes to the right, or that they all move one hex to the left.

Notes

You cannot use an Asteroid's Power at the beginning of a challenge, before it moves out of your system. You can only use the Power of the Asteroid that moves into your system on that challenge. If Orbital Mechanic comes up on an Asteroid, it is an exception to this rule. The player who has the OM Asteroid before rotation gets to use the OM power.
Attributes of an Asteroid Power (Miser's Hoard, Warrior's Points, Schizoid's Terms, Terrorist's list of Bombs) travel along with the Asteroid.
If a player has no home system hex, Asteroids that rotate to him are simply placed in front of him. When Asteroids are rotated, hexless Powers (and Warpish's home Warp hex) are in the cycle between the last player's hex and the first player's.
If a player has more than one home system hex, they are counted as separate locations in the rotation cycle. Thus, he gets more use of the Asteroids than other players. (This is another perq of the multiple-hex Power.)
If Sanity is played, Asteroid Powers cannot be used, but the Asteroids are still rotated as usual.
If Changeling is in a game with Asteroids, Changeling may be swapped to or from the appropriate player's Asteroid instead of their normal Power (at Changeling's option.) This can only be done after Asteroid rotation.
The rule says "any player with an Asteroid in his system may use that Asteroid's Power as if it was his own." Therefore, if you're Zapped or have too few home bases, you can't use the Asteroid Power; Asteroid Powers are graftable by Plant; and so forth.
When Wild Schizoid switches hexes, the asteroids go with the hexes, but thenceforth rotate (between players) as they did before. (That is, you don't have to remember the Schizoid swap to do later rotations.)
(Optional rule): In a game with Flares and Asteroids, pick out all Flares corresponding with Asteroid Powers and shuffle them into the deck.

The idea behind Asteroids is to be an expansion which is interesting and adds more strategy to the game. Many expansions (Hazards, special Destiny cards, Moons) are partially or wholly random, and this tends to destabilize the game. With Asteroids, people have to count challenges, make long-term plans (involving more than one player, typically), and generally think ahead.

The Asteroids expansion was written by Andrew Plotkin. A version of these rules was published in the first issue of Mayfair's Encounter newsletter. This file may be copied, distributed, and used freely.