Scott MM MacPherson suggested (or listed his group's) the following house rules. Some of these things I really think each group should decide on their own. Others, however, seem pretty clearly accepted to me and perhaps this list can be taken as a starting point for beginning groups. -ADF Some Comments are added below various items by Gerald Katz (GK) or Aaron Fuegi (ADF) Subject: house rules Date: Sat, 22 Mar 1997 21:20:39 GMT Scott MM MacPherson wrote: 1) Zombie does not go to the Void. (this rule later removed, as it was covered in Rule 12 of the 1983 rules) 2) Sniveler "bases" can either be home, foreign, or combined. GK: According to Jim Musser, this was always the case. ADF: We only play combined. This is a big issue. Depending on how you play, Sniveler's power level is significantly affected. 3) Miser's hoarded hand is determined before cards are dealt out -- no picking between the two. 4) Warpish cannot be used with the PRAW. GK: Praw exapansion does hurt Warpish, but no direct conflcit like Insect vs Oracle. House rule ok though. 5) Siren cannot lure offensive player if destiny pile is flipped to your color already. (This is also a problem with the Mayfair edition) GK: Mayfair Siren specifically allows Siren to lure even when another player picks Siren's color in destiny. 6) If any power says "when starting the game", that effect can only be used at the beginning of the game. Secret powers with this wording must be flipped over at the beginning. GK: Secret Powers part is a house rule. Can be quite fun to play Schizoid though without this condition :-). However, some game set-ups are continuous. For example, Miser always has a hoard hand. Aristocrat can only have one first hand of the game so it makes sense that he cannot choose his later hands. What were the powers where you were having trouble with this? ADF: Our group agrees that you can't make a 'start of game' power secret at the start. However, we do allow these powers to come in later in the game through game effects if it seems to be ok/make sense. For example, we don't allow Schizoid but we do allow Miser (gets the hand then) and Aristocrat (just doesn't get the opening hand ability but does do the flare thing) and Phantom (can get tokens out of the warp). 7) The Plant Wild is considered worthless. (it drove us nuts) GK: Disagree. Flare makes sense to me. (It's Super Flare for Plant in Mayfair) If someone wins the game and you have your powers and a base in the winner's system, you win instead. I don't see the problem. 8) For the Empath Wild, you may catch someone (only one) who does not know you have the card. After that, it is assumed everyone knows. GK: ??? Empath Wild forces everyone to say "sir" or "madam". ADF: I am confused by this too. In Mayfair, you discard the card so once used once it is gone anyway. In Eon, you must indicate what card you are using when you use it so although you can keep doing it if people don't use the correct phrasing obviously everyone knows you have the card. ??? 9) You cannot play Secret Filth. (I know, it shouldn't matter, but it got a little tiring). GK: Bah. No fun. :-) ADF: This should not be taken as a standard rule clarification. This is very much an issue for house rules (we allow it even though it is a pain). 10) Secret powers are "out of the game". Note that Seeker can ask non-game related questions and therefore can determine what these powers are. But your "powers" generally mean only those that are flipped up. So Moon Tune, for instance, only applies to powers that are showing. ADF: This is how we play too and nothing forces there revelation except one or two powers or cards we have. Some people, however, play that you must reveal your secret power(s) the moment they have a game effect (Macron when putting tokens in the cone) so again this is a house rule issue. 11) Crossbording (showing others your cards, etc.) is legal. GK: Disagree. I can accept "I'll play a Compromise if you will" but no one is bound by that. However, players should only know other player's cards when allowed by game effects like Finder Edict or Mind. A player can say "I have the Attack 40" but it's up to others whether or not to believe him. Players can also say "I will win if you ally with me". ADF: We don't allow any of this. We don't even allow the "I have card X" comment. These kinds of things make it much easier to stop people from winning at the end "Magnet me on his side so that I can play 'blah' to screw him" and we don't like this kind of thing. Another issue for specific house rules. 12) Problems not covered by the rules or house rules will be decided on by a vote of the players. Ties are broken by the owner of the set. GK: Agreed except for owner of the set part. I prefer rotating the tie-breaking power. ADF: We generally try to find a consensus/vote among the players, particularly the more experienced players who understand more of the precedents/conflicts. Votes by the set owner and by experienced players outside of the game are given a little more weight. 13) You cannot steal the Filch wild. (Someone actually tried this one. We didn't play with them again.) GK: Agreed. You have to have the card originally, but no reason to never play with someone again. Just say that's not permissible and move on. 14) The option of using Moons, Lucre, inverse cone, the PRAW, whether powers are secret, and other variants to the standard game are determined before powers are selected. Otherwise it is none of the above. GK: Ok. Some groups might say "there is no Praw unless someone decides to use a power that involves the Praw". A little different but no big deal. ADF: We always use Moons, Lucre and Reverse cone. We apply the rule Gerald mentions above with regard to the PRAW (Warp Fan in Mayfair) and another element we sometimes use called Hazards. 15) If you pick your own color during an attack, you may automatically land on an empty planet or moon. This counts as a challenge. GK: Not allowed under Eon but a standard rule for Mayfair. Good house rule IMHO for Eon. ADF: Gerald is correct. I agree with him about liking it for Eon as well but our group is still debating this one. A suggestion I like is that you don't just get it automatically but must challenge the deck with no allies involved. 16) If you acquire a power after the start of the game that is not allowed due to conflicts with another power or other reason, then the power is discarded. Instead, pick a flare from the remaining flares and use the power shown. If using flares, shuffle the flare into the deck. GK: Agreed. Makes sense except for adding the flare to the deck. Regardless whether the new power is chosen from an unused powers deck, unused flare deck, or power names written on scraps of paper in a plastic bag, leave the deck of cards be. ADF: We do as Gerald mentions above with picking powers from a seperate listing (squares of paper with the power names in a bag) which means that the given power's flare may or may not be in the game. This works fine for us. 17) "Power" means one power. "Powers" means all powers. 18) Assessor only affects offensive part of cone. GK: Disagree. Defensive allies are putting tokens on the cone. ADF: We do as Scott says but really just to intentionally weaken Assessor, not because the power is worded in such a way that this really makes sense. 19) Flares can only be used once per challenge. GK: Ok. ADF: You clearly play Eon. In Mayfair, since all flares are discard after use, this isn't really an issue. Here is how our group plays and I like this method: Flares which are discard after use CAN be used multiple times in a challenge via a Space Junk or other mechanism. Non-discard flares which say 'once per challenge' or which affect the challenge outcome in some way can only be used once per challenge. Flares which give you some ability not challenge-related (Empath above is a good example) can be used as often as appropriate - in Empath's case each seperate statement which any player makes can be penalized for as long as he/they keep giving cause.