FINAL FANTASY CHESS VERSION 0.999b as written by Andy Juell for distribution to a site totally different than the one it probably ended up on, so no offense intended in case someone manages to pull something offensive out of this. "Look out worlds!" Yes, here it is, Final Fantasy Chess! Please excuse the toned down non-chess lingo. I'm distributing this to a few people who aren't chess maniacs too. I know you know what a rank is and what a file is, but I can't count on everyone doing that and didn't feel like rewriting it. Here's the basic opening setup. Normal Promoted ------------------------- Ki=King Em=Emperor |BC|DN|BM|AS|Ki|RM|Dr|Ch| AS=AirShip WS=WarShip |-----------------------| WC=White Chocobo MC=Magic Chocobo |Dw|Dw|Dw|Dw|Dw|Dw|Dw|Dw| Ch=Chocobo CB=ChocoBot |-----------------------| BC=Black Chocobo BT=Black Talon |XX| |XX| |XX| |XX| | WM=White Mage WW=White Wizard |-----------------------| RM=Red Mage RW=Red Wizard | |XX| |XX| |XX| |XX| BM=Black Mage BW=Black Wizard |-----------------------| Pa=Paladin TP=True Paladin |XX| |XX| |XX| |XX| | Dr=Dragoon DM=Dragon Master |-----------------------| DN=Dark kNight BN=Black kNight | |XX| |XX| |XX| |XX| Dw=Dwarf |-----------------------| Sy=Sylph |Dw|Dw|Dw|Dw|Dw|Dw|Dw|Dw| Mo=Moogle |-----------------------| DT=Dwarvish Tank |Ch|Dr|RM|Ki|AS|WM|Pa|WC| Ca=Caller ------------------------- MN=Magitek kNight The basic idea of chess-like moves are the same, so I'll just point out so I won't need to retype it later that each side gets to move one piece each turn, etc. Some special abilities don't require a move to be made to be used, such as protection. The one significant difference between the setup for regular chess and FF-chess is that the Kings are both on white squares and the square in the lower-right corner from each player's perspective should be black (yes this is actually important this time around...:>) Plus, make sure you keep track of pieces you have captured (don't throw them back in the box with the spares). You may need them. Given the flavors of soldiers available, en passant is an irrelevant question, and castling, I'll tell you now, is flat out. The pieces are QUITE spiffy enough on their own without the King having early access to a colored Chocobo. Some new concepts will need to be explicitly defined though. First, there is "carrying." Unless an explicit exception is made, "carriers" may not be used until a friendly character moves onto them, thus mounting or boarding them. After this is done, subsequent moves are made only by the carrier piece until the rider decides to dismount rather than move the carrier, making it's normal move to do so. No special moves from on a carrier until after a normal move has been used to dismount. If an enemy captures a carrier piece that is being ridden, both pieces in that square are removed from play: the carrier AND the rider. If an enemy piece uses a normal move to capture a currently-unused carrier piece, that piece may either be removed from play or be converted to the capturer's side, at the capturer's option. Then there is the "slay from distance" special attack. Using this ability, a piece may remove an enemy piece from play without actually moving to occupy its square. This renders the idea of defense in need of revision at best, to useless at worst. Then there is the ever-popular "protection". Using this ability, a piece my render a piece in its zone of protection immune to capture. Yes, completely immune. Well, almost. Only an explicitly protection-piercing attack can actually capture a piece, but a king is not removed from check by protection. Note that protection is INHERENT, it does not require activation, (counting as a move) as would slay-from-a-distance. Heck, guess I didn't say that loud enough. IMPORTANT REMINDER: The use of a special ability only counts as a move if it moves a piece, causes a piece to change loyalties, or removes a piece from play. Thus, immunities and protection, etc. DO NOT REQUIRE A PLAYER TO USE HIS MOVE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEM. Sorry for those of you who already knew that, but not everyone is so intelligent, or so a few of my earlier playtesters would have me believe. :) Otherwise, read over the piece definitions, and get ready to play! King: Normal: moves and captures like a normal-chess king Special: may convert any enemy piece a king's move away from it to his side. Airship: Carrier: moves and captures like a normal-chess queen. Unless it just made a capture, was just boarded, or just had a rider disembark on the previous turn, it is inherently immune to capture by normal moves (though special moves take it out just fine). Unlike other carriers, Airships may carry more than one additional piece, though how this would be represented is beyond me. Special: may jump over any number of intervening pieces in a move, but if it does so, may only land on a white square and may not capture in same move. White Chocobo: Carrier: moves and captures like a normal-chess Rook Special: riders may use special moves while riding Chocobo (yellow): Carrier: moves and captures like a normal-chess Rook Special: may move(but not capture) as a normal-chess Rook without rider Black Chocobo: Carrier: moves and captures like a normal-chess Rook Special: may jump over any number of intervening pieces in a move, but if it does so, may only land on a black square and may not capture in same move. White Mage: Normal: moves and captures like a normal-chess Bishop Special: protects all friendly pieces a Bishop-move from it. Red Mage: Normal: moves and captures like a normal-chess Bishop, may move or capture 2x1 non-jumping (like non-jumping knight) Special: protects all friendly and may slay from distance any enemy piece exactly two squares diagonally from it. Black Mage: Normal: moves and captures like a normal-chess Bishop Special: may "slay from distance" any enemy piece a Bishop-move from it. Paladin: Normal: moves and captures like a normal-chess Knight Special: protects all friendly pieces a King-move from it. Dragoon: Normal: moves and captures like a normal chess Knight Special: may capture in a 3x1 jumping L (a normal knight move is a 2x1 jumping L) but may not make this move without capturing Dark Knight: Normal: moves and captures like a normal-chess Knight Special: may slay from distance any enemy piece a King-move from it. Dwarf: Moves as a normal chess pawn, except that it has no double starting move, and a piece directly in front of a Dwarf may not use its special abilities. Upon reaching the final row, it promotes to the piece that began in the space it promotes in. For example if Light's White Mage's Dwarf advances straight ahead to the square opposite it, it becomes a Red Mage upon promotion. But what happens when you promote on the enemy King's home square you ask? You may choose to promote to any of the other pieces (other than another King, Dwarf, Sylph or Moogle) OR any of the three special pieces: the Dwarvish Tank, the Caller, and the Magitek Knight (yes I know they're from FF3 and everyone else is from FF2 but I couldn't resist) Dwarvish Tank: Carrier: moves but does not capture as a normal-chess Rook. is inherently immune to capture by normal moves (special moves still quite effective). Special: may attack-from distance any enemy piece in the same row or column if there is EXACTLY one intervening piece, be it enemy or friendly. This attack is protection- piercing. Caller: Normal: moves and captures like a normal-chess Bishop Special: May assume the abilities of one captured enemy piece until the next time a friendly piece is captured. The "called" piece will be placed in a prominent place apart from other captured pieces. The next time a piece from the same side as the caller is captured by any means, or as soon as the Caller wants to use the abilities of a different piece, the captured enemy piece is handed back to its original owner and may not be re-used. Note that the act of changing abilities is instantaneous and can be used at any time without counting as a move. Magitek Knight: Normal: moves and captures like a normal-chess Knight Special: no piece, enemy or friendly, a King-move from the Magitek knight can use any of its special abilities, nor be the object of another piece's special ability. ADVANCED RULES The players decide before the game begins on the number of Dwarves, Sylphs, and Moogles each side is given. Sylphs are mobile than Dwarves, but make it more difficult to defend and capture. Moogles are more mobile AND defensive than either of the above, but their special ability is rather different to partially compensate. Once this has been decided, they are placed on the squares normally occupied by dwarves in any way the controlling player chooses. (Note that unequal sides don't necessarily mean one player is giving another a handicap, because the sides are slightly imbalanced to begin with...) Dwarves move and capture like normal-chess pawns and promote normally using the rules below. They may also prevent an enemy piece directly in front of them from using its special abilities. Sylphs are like Dwarves, except they move diagonally-forward and capture forward, rather than the other way around. They may also prevent an enemy piece diagonally-forward from them from using its special abilities. They promote in the same way as Dwarves. Moogles may move or capture either diagonally-forward or forward, giving them the normal powers of both Dwarves and Sylphs. In addition, they may never be the object of a special ability, enemy or friendly. They also promote in the same way as Dwarves. Promotion now has an added twist to it, though. There are three basic ways you can choose to promote: First, and most (relatively) simply, You may choose to promote via the normal rules. If you still have your piece that started in that column you may sacrifice the Dwarf to promote your piece to a new level. (If you are playing Light and still have your White Mage, the pawn in the example above could either become a Red Mage, or sacrifice itself to promote the White Mage to a White Wizard.) This means, you guessed it, MORE new pieces. Be warned: some of these pieces are a little TOO powerful. DON'T LET YOUR OPPONENT GET AWAY WITH THIS! :) To mark that a piece has been promoted, put a checker under it (if this isn't already what you're doing to be able to tell them apart in the first place! :>). Lastly, if you have already removed the enemy piece starting in the square you are promoting in from play, but no longer have your own piece which started in the same column, you may opt to give the enemy back his piece (starting in the same square it began, the Dwarf is removed) in exchange for a special piece which may be placed anywhere on the friendly back rank. If the promotion took place on a chocobo's square, this piece is a Dwarven Tank, if a Mage's square, this piece is a Caller, if a Knight's square, this piece is a Magitek Knight, and if the Airship's square, you may pick any of the three desired. Upon promotion, Kings become Emperors and extend the range of their special conversion ability to include both King's-move-adjacent and Knight's-move-adjacent squares. Do NOT go near this guy. Airships become Warships and get cannons. BIG cannons. In addition to their original abilities, they may capture-from-a-distance any piece in the same row, column, or diagonal as long as there is exactly one intervening piece, be it enemy or friendly. This attack is protection- piercing. (A piece of advice to the side who watches his opponent promote to this: try to die honorably, OK?). Also, this attack-from a distance does not count as a capture for the purpose of the pieces' natural immunity to normal attack. White Chocobos become Magic Chocobos, which in addition to their original abilities, may move but not capture as a normal-chess knight while ridden (normal). They may never be the object of an enemy's special move, and have a similar protective effect upon their rider (*normal*). This includes immunity to the effects of enemy (but not friendly) Magitek Knights Chocobos become Chocobots. In addition to their original abilities, they may move but not capture as normal-chess knights either while ridden (normal) or by themselves (special). When being mounted, they may move onto their rider's square rather than the other way around. (special) Black Chocobos become Black Talons. In addition to their original abilities, while ridden they may move (normal) or capture (special) as a normal-chess knight, or they may slay-from-a-distance a piece one square away from it diagonally (special). They may also capture in the same move as they leap over interposing pieces (special), though they must still land on a black square. White Mages become White Wizards. In addition to their original normal move, they may move, but not capture, one square horizontally or vertically. The range of their special ability has been expanded so that they now protect all friendly pieces a Queen's move away. IN ADDITION, they get a new special ability: Any enemy piece which could use a normal move to capture a friendly piece exactly two squares diagonally from the White Wizard on its next move may be slain from a distance by the White Wizard. Red Mages become Red Wizards. They may move as normal-chess Bishops or Knights, and may move but not capture one square horizontally or vertically. The range of their special abilities have been expanded so that they now protect all friendly or slay from a distance any enemy piece a Bishop's move away. Black Mages become Black Wizards. In addition to their original normal move, they may move, but not capture, one square horizontally or vertically. The range of their special ability has been expanded so that they may now slay from a distance any piece a Queen's-move away. In addition, they get a new special ability: Any friendly piece exactly two squares diagonally from the Black Wizard may pierce protection with its own normal capture. Paladins become True Paladins, in addition to their original moves, gain the special ability of sacrifical defense. Any time a friendly piece is captured, the True Paladin has the option to sacrifice itself, removing both itself and the capturing piece from play, while allowing the "captured" piece to remain in play. This is a valid defense from check (the king is not required to move out of check while there is a friendly promoted Paladin in play). Dragoons become Dragon Knights and may move or capture as a normal-chess knight (2x1 jumping L) or may move not capture in a 3x1 jumping L for a normal move. For their special move, they have a protection-piercing 3x1 jumping L capture. Dark Knights become Black Knights, and in addition to their original moves, gain the special ability of sacrifical attack. They may capture-from-a-distance ANY piece they choose, but remove themselves from play at the same time. This is a valid attack against even an unprotected King (if there is no True Paladin), and places him in check, mate if it is not possible to protect him. THE REALLY ANNOYING OPTIONAL RULES (for those of you who would actually miss the touch-a-piece-move-a-piece rule from regular chess and would probably rather be playing "UNO" anyway) A black mage who doesn't notice that a piece is protected by a white mage and attempts to capture from a distance is removed from play (Wall spell :> ) and loses his turn. A dark knight who doesn't notice that a piece is protected by a paladin (rather less likely) and attempts to capture from a distance is removed from play and loses his turn. Any piece which doesn't notice that a piece is protected and attempts to capture does not succeed (obviously) and loses his turn (appropriately) A King which moves itself into check without noticing either LOSES THE GAME (if the players agree to this before the game anyway) or has to take back the move and lose his turn. A player who checks the opponent's King without noticing it forfeits his chance to "capture" the King that move, allowing the King to wait to move out of check. If a piece uses a special ability when another piece would prevent it from doing so and is not caught gets away with it (the ability which allows the enemy to prevent it requires concentration and discipline, after all. :>) Otherwise, for those who are particuarly peeved by Dwarvish Tanks and are otherwise playing by the basic rules, agree they may only be driven by Dwarves. :> And that's all he feels like writing (for now)! SECTION FOR ADDENDA/CLARIFICATIONS AND OTHER MISCELLANY This is a wierd one, but the question WAS asked, and may actually turn out to be important. Protection is NOT mandatory. If the controlling player chooses, the opposing player may capture a protected piece. This is also true of Dwarves' and Sylphs' option to prevent pieces in positions they can move but not capture to from using their special abilities. Affected pieces may use their special abilities IF allowed by the player controlling the Dwarf/Sylph. HOWEVER Magitek Knights may NOT turn off their ability to stop adjacent pieces from using/being the object of special abilities, as this would allow friendly pieces an unfair advantage. no, carrying is NOT a special ability... note from the descriptions that Airships'/Dwarven Tanks' immunity to normal attacks is also NOT a special ability Yeesh, people...talk about a FAQ. ANYTHING THAT IS LISTED UNDER "SPECIAL:" OR I SPECIFICALLY SAY IS SPECIAL IS A SPECIAL ABILITY AND NOTHING ELSE IS, OK? OK. yes the King's special move converts carriers and their riders in one fell swoop (including DTs) yes protection makes you immune to attack-from-distance unless specified otherwise (yes I know I already told you that but someone asked) the inevitable question: what if two Magitek Knights are a King's move adjacent? They both behave exactly as normal chess Knights, and all pieces a King's move adjacent to either of them (other than each other) are allowed to both use and be the objects of special moves Even worse, what if two Magitek Knights are a King's move apart, and one is riding a Magic Chocobo? Smart question, but the answer is exactly as the rules (technically) state. The M. Knight on the M. Chocobo is unaffected by the other's field, but the other's field is nullified by that of the Chocobo-riding one. Thus, all other pieces a king's move from the chocobo-riding Knight may not use special abilities, while those adjacent to the one on foot but not adjacent to the mounted one have full abilities. Note that if a Black Wizard is two spaces diagonally from a Black Knight, and Light cannot capture either and has no True Paladin, the game is over, Dark wins. OK, if you've captured an enemy Caller and have a Caller yourself, you *could* call the caller, but it wouldn't do you any good, really, now would it? I've received a request for promotions to Chocobots...I suppose that could work. Let me think...(guess it did, rev. 0.98, but may need reversal) Notation suggestions...? It has been noted that the variety of pieces makes it desirable to note in the game log exactly what piece was moved, for example Light Dark 1.Dw(e2-e4) 1.Dw(e7-e5) etc. Some symbols have been suggested for the new move types, and are included here along with the old. a1-b2 move a1xb2 capture a1/b2 slay-from-distance a1Ob2 king's conversion move a1-b2+ check delivered by move a1-b2++ mate delivered by move a1 :) piece tried to make illegal move, lost turn (see optional rules) a1 ;> piece tried to make illegal move, was destroyed, lost turn For those unfortunate among you who have never played Final Fantasy games: Aside from a STRONG recommendation to try them (esp. FF2 and FF3) all I can offer is to point out that Chocobos are vaguely ostrich-like birds used for transportation, that Dragoons are just knights with a special jump attack, and anything else confusing probably has a logical reason for it in the FF series. Otherwise... email any more questions, comments, or suggestions to trekman@imsa.edu or ajuell@athena.valpo.edu, as they are both actually the same person, though he is no longer quite the Trek afficionado he once was (hence the name change upon arrival at his new school) The author makes no claim upon any of the characters mentioned in this document, only the rules. Quite a bit of stuff in here is actually related to Squaresoft's Final Fantasy series, and this may be, but is not necessarily, a total coincidence brought about by the Heisenberg Uncertaintly Principle dumping the contents of a top-secret directory on www.ad-spin.jp to my hard drive. Probably not, actually. The author is not responsible for any brain damage incurred by attempting to actually understand these rules. Wait, you mean you already READ them? Oops... Kupo!