Secret Star is a multiplayer variant we are developing for Magic: the Gathering and other multiplayer fantasy card games with player elimination. It has social deduction and hidden roles similar to Secret Partner and Treachery.
Star
Star is a variant used for five players of fantasy card games that was originally developed for Magic: the Gathering:
- It adds overlapping alliances – The players sitting next to you are your allies, and the other players are your enemies.
- You win when your enemies are defeated.
- Sometimes multiple players can win simultaneously.
- All other players are technically your “opponents,” even though you only have to focus on defeating your two enemies.
Secret Star cards
Secret Star cards can be used to randomly determine what team everyone is on rather than relying on where everyone is sitting. In this case each card has two suits (colors), and everyone that shares the same suit (color) is an ally. Your enemies are the players that are not your allies.
Usually you want star cards to have the following five color combinations: Green-yellow, yellow-blue, blue-purple, purple-red, and red-green.
These star cards can also be used for three or four players by using other color combinations. For example, four players can use: green-yellow, yellow-blue, blue-purple, and yellow-purple. (The fourth card is replaced. Four player star only gives each player one enemy, and they still have two allies.)
Secret Star
To add a social deduction element to star, everyone keeps their star card (identity) hidden (face down), with one exception. The first player keeps their card revealed (face up). You only reveal your identity card when you are the first player or at the end of the game. The first player may look at one other player’s identity card.
The main rules:
- Win condition – You win when your enemies are defeated.
- Overlapping alliances – You are allied with players who have the same the same suit (color). Other players are your enemies. (Everyone has two suits.)
- Hidden identities – Before the game begins, randomly distribute identity cards with overlapping suit combinations, such as: clubs-stars, stars-diamonds, diamonds-spades, spades-hearts, and hearts-clubs. Keep your identity face down unless you are the first player or you lose the game.
- First player – Their identity is kept face up, and they may look one other player’s identity card before the game begins.
Other than when you are the first player, you are encouraged to give mixed signals (or no signals) to keep your identity a secret until you deem it necessary to make a “revealing” move.
When playing multiple games, the winner of the previous game should go last.
