This ruleset shall provide players of the Weiß Schwarz Trading Card Game an option to play games with more than two players at once. The rules describe a "free for all"-style gameplay, where every player is fighting against each other. To use as many rules of the original game and keep things simple (as well as trying to keep the balance), players can't choose their target. Instead, the rules always define the currently opposing character slots of each player. In the graphic below you can see an overview about the attacking layout. Chapter 1 will explain this new model more precisely including the general rule changes.
The setup allows to use many cards' effects without problems. Since there might still be many effects which can be interpreted differently in games with more than two players, chapter 2 provides an overview of some basic effects. Unfortunately, it is currently just a small section which may only provide some examples.
Terms used in these rules
This ruleset defines some terms and abbreviations which are used througout this document. This is an overview of the common ones.
WS – Weiß Schwarz: Refers to the game in general. May context-wise also refer to the rules of Weiß Schwarz.
BR – Battle Royale: Refers to the advanced multiplayer ruleset you are currently reading. May also refer to a game played with these rules.
Player order: The order in which the players have their turns. Each player is assigned a static index at the beginning of the game. The players have their turns in order of their index (player 1 first, player 2 next, etc.). The player order may change when a player is removed from the game.
Attacking player: The player who is currently within his or her turn and therefore has the ability to attack. In most contexts, the attacking player means the active player. A player does not need to declare an attack (as defined in the rules of WS) to become the attacking player in that case.
Attacking character/slot: A character/slot which can attack during the current player's turn. Might refer to a character has declared an attack or in currently within battle as attacking character according to the rules of WS.
Defending player: The player who is currently in a defending role. This applies to every player who has a slot that may be attacked during the current player's turn. If a player can't be attacked (because neither of his or her slots may be attacked during the current player's turn), then he or she is not considered to be a defending player.
Defending character/slot: A character/slot which can be attacked during the current player's turn. Might refer to a character on which an attack was declared or which is currently in battle as defending character according to the rules of WS.
Related Player/Opponent: Two players are considered to be related if one of the two is either a defending or an attacking player. This means they share a facing slot in the current player's turn. Always applies between every player if there are less than five players in the current game.
1. Basic Setup and Gameplay
1.1. Defining order of player turns
WS only requires the throw of a coin to determine the first player. If more than two players are involved, something more complex is required. Our approach to define the order of player turns is by rolling dice. Each player throws a dice, the turn order of the players is defined by the result of the die roll. Ties between two or more players are rerolled. The result of a rerolled tie cannot change the order within the order of all players, but only between the players that rolled the tie in the beginning.
During the game, each player will then have a turn in the resulting order. Once the last player finished his turn, the first player starts with his turn again and so on.
1.2. Character facing
To have a stable and portable setup, each character needs a well defined opponent character it is currently facing. In WS, this is the character directly opposing a specific center stage slot. When 3 or more players are present, this layout needs to be altered so that every center stage slot of every player has a single facing character to attack, the players should never have a choice which other character to attack (since this would potentially overcomplicate some rules).
In BR, the side slots of the center stage are always set up in the same way. Looking at the player order, the left center stage slot is always facing the right center stage slot of the previous player. Accordingly, the right center stage slot is always facing the next player's left center stage slot.
1.2.1. Odd number of players
The facing of the middle center stage slot is depending on the current number of players. If it the number of players is odd, the middle center stage character is always facing the middle center stage character of the previous player. This facing is only applied during a turn where the slot is either potentially attacking or under attack. If a character is in a slot which is currently neither in an attacking nor in a defending situation, it has no facing character.
1.2.2. Even number of players
If the number of players is even, the facing character is chosen differently. The middle center stage character is facing the same slot of the opposing player in a perfectly symmetric layout. This means in a 4 player match, player 1 faces player 3 and player 2 faces player 4 in the middle center stage slot. (The actual formula is: player index + number of players / 2, so player 1 in a 4 player match faces 1 + 4/2 = 3) In this kind of layout, the facing character does not change depending on the attacking player as seen in the odd player number layout. Since the facing does not dynamically change, the facing character is always defined.
1.3. First time card exchange
Every player draws 5 cards as usual. Then the first players may place cards in the waiting room and re-draw as defined in the WS rules. The other players may also do so in their respective order.
1.4. Attacking during the first turns
In the original WS rules, during the first turn, only one character may attack. The second player may then attack as usual. In the BR rules, each player may only attack once during his or her first turn. Once each player had a turn, the players may attack as usual.
1.5. Encore phases
Since multiple players are involved in each attack phase, the encore is also split among multiple players. This means the encore-rules have to be slightly updated. At this point, the principle of a partial encore phase is introduced.
The attacking player keeps his or her encore step as described in the WS rules. Once all attacks are done, the player has the encore step as usual.
The encore step of the defending players changes though. Each defending player gets a partial encore phase. The partial encore affects only slots that the attacking player is facing. Even if no attack took place, each player that had a faced slot gets a partial encore phase during that turn. The order in which the encore phases take place is defined by the order in which the other players were attacked. If a player has multiple defending slots, his order is defined by the first time he or she was attacked, the partial encore phase includes both slots at the same time in that case (like a usual encore, yet including only the defending slots). This basically means that a player never gets 2 or more partial encore phases in a single turn, but only one including each of the defending slots and their respective characters. Defending players which were not attacked get their partial encore phase afterwards in the player order continuing from the attacking player.
The attacking player gets his or her end phase after each defending player had their partial encore phase.
1.6. Removing a player
A player still loses the game once he or she reaches level four. Since there are more than two players in a BR, the game is not over until a single player is remaining though. This means that the game continues without the player who lost.
If a player is removed from the game because he or she lost or for any other reason, the player turn order changes by filling the gap. Each player which came after the removed player gets his turn order index decreased by one.
If a player is removed during another player's turn, the game continues as usual with the turn of the next player in the player order.
If a player is removed during his or her own turn, the turn is considered to be finished, so the next player is the one who would have had their turn after the removed player in the old player order.
The layout of the facing characters also changes. The number of players is decreased by one, so the layout changes accordingly to section 1.2 using the new number of players after the removal.
The changes in player order and facing layout are done once the turn is finished in which the respective player was removed. The player order and layout changes are not applied during any players turn, but between the turns.
You cannot declare an attack against a removed player, or activate any abilities aiming for that player or his or her characters.
2. Dealing with effects
Many effects, especially AUTO and ACT, have to be slightly redefined for the BR rules. Here is an overview of specific effects and how to deal with them. Not all cases might be covered, but the given examples may be used as an orientation in such cases.
2.1. "choose one of your opponent's characters"
When an effect allows you to choose one of your opponent's characters, you can choose any character of any related opponent. Specific conditions still apply (e.g. only characters on the center stage of the respective related opponent).
2.2. "during your opponent's turn"
Some effect's apply only during yout opponent's turn. In WS, there is only one opponent, so the situation is clear. In BR, you usually have multiple opponents. In this case, the effect takes place during each of your related opponent's turns.
2.3. "until the end of your opponent's next turn"
Some effects don't end in the current turn, but continue until the end of your opponent's next turn. Since there are multiple opponent's in a BR game, the effect is continues throughout each of your opponent's turns and stops after the end phase of the opponent who has his or her turn right before you in the player order.
2.4. "at the beginning of your opponent's ... phase"
Some effects are triggered during specific phases of your opponent's turn. In this case, they are triggered every time a related opponent reaches the specific phase.
2.5. "your opponent may/chooses ..."
Some of your effects allow your opponent to take action during your turn. Usually, these effects are triggered by a specific character. The opponent which controls the effect is the opponent who is defending against this specific character (if the character is in the center stage).
If the character is not in the center stage or if the controlling opponent cannot be identified by the effect, your opponents may roll some dice to determine the player who is in control of the effect.
2.6. "reveal ..."
Sometimes, players have to reveal a card or their hand as part of effects. In such a case, the affected items are revealed to every player in the game.
