Munchkin Bites 2: Pants Macabre Review
Posted on October 21, 2008 by Matt-M-McElroy
The World of Dorkness has been busy. Can you face the sonic stylings of Ten Inch Tacks, the annoyance of the Gnat Bats, and the chilling waddle of the Were-Penguin? Will you wield the might of Power Piercing with the Huge Dice Pool, or will you be bludgeoned by Bad Fiction? And do you dare play the new Race . . . the Mummy?
Plenty of new cards, bad jokes and all, are included in this expansion for the Munchkin Bites card game from Steve Jackson Games. The set we got did not have any additional rules for the game and we did not run into any problems with the new cards (after all the information on the cards usually explains everything you need to know).
Expanding on the jokes in the core box, Pants Macabre has plenty of puns from horror films and horror RPGs (and LARPing). Most of the jokes are fairly predictable, but worth a good laugh if the player manages to add a little style to the delivery.
The Mummy is the new Race for this expansion. It includes the Kiss It And Make It Better and Clean Your Room special abilities, both of which affect other players instead of the Mummy. Some of the Mummy specific Powers also affect other players, such as Inspiritment, which is a combat specific Power.
I definitely prefer the other Race options in the game. The Vampire, for example, has some protection from Bad Stuff with the Unnatural Vitality ability. This has no bearing on other players in the game. I much prefer to make use of a Race that has a little balance in their abilities and often chose to skip over the Mummy cards whenever I came across them.
There are a handful of new Curse, Trap and a few different types of Bats included in this set of cards. These all work just like those featured in the core box of Munchkin Bites. Some of the other new cards are fun, such as:
The Mini-Minion – Unlike other minions that get sacrificed occasionally, this one has a chance of returning to the player on a roll of 4, 5 or 6. Not bad at all.
The Evil (Level 17) – This cute, but deadly monster takes a Level away from anyone who encounters it, regardless of success or failure. Ouch!
Doctor Jackal (Level 15) and Mr. Hide (Level 3) – The doctor is a tough opponent and worth 2 Levels if you can beat him. However, if you happen to have Mr. Hide in your hand, you can switch them up and fight the lower level monster instead. That could come in handy early in the game when you don’t have quite enough to take on the doctor.
We did not combine this set with anything other than the Munchkin Bites box this time around. However, we did make use out of the Munchkin Dice for the first time this weekend. These giant dice are great for keeping track of everyone’s Level.
Munchkin Bites 2! – Pants Macabre adds a handful of new monsters, plenty of Curses and a new Race, but not much else. It really felt like we just had more of the same cards, it did not feel like any “new ground” was covered by this set. No new tricks or styles of play, just the basics, so-to-speak. This is not a bad thing. Some of the other Munchkin expansion sets have introduced new rules in addition, which can complicate the simple fun of the game when you get too many new systems piled on top of each other.
So, if you like Munchkin Bites you will like Pants Macabre. Just watch out for the Barb-Y Doll (get it? Barb-wire? Ha-ha, funny right?…oh, bite me).
Review by Matt M McElroy
Look for more Munchkin expansion sets at Noble Knight Games.
Tags | card-games, horror-comedy, LARP, munchkin
