# The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen tags: #game/rpg/baron-munchausen ![[The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen (cover).jpg]] It seems you're in the market for a "role-playing game," a curious little pastime for those who find reality insufficiently interesting. **The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen** is a game for telling lies—or rather, for recounting tales of such unimpeachable veracity that lesser minds might mistake them for falsehoods. Players assume the personas of 18th-century nobles gathered to boast of their astonishing exploits. Prompted by their fellows with a preposterous scenario, each player must, in turn, spin a yarn of daring-do, wit, and questionable physics. The object is not to be the most believable, but the most entertaining. The game, as the Baron himself notes, is a simple affair designed to allow players to "tell astounding stories to each other," preferably with a good bottle of wine close at hand. You ask for the core die resolution mechanics, which is adorable. You see, a gentleman does not resort to vulgar dice to determine his fate. Such things are for commoners and… well, mostly commoners. Instead, this game employs a far more civilized system revolving around wit, panache, and currency. When a storyteller's narrative becomes particularly outrageous, another player may interrupt with an "Objection" or a "Wager" to complicate matters. This is done by pushing a coin forward and stating the complication, for instance, _"But Count, I'll wager the Empress was not impressed with your gift of two giraffes and ordered you out of her bedchamber immediately."_ The storyteller then has two choices: 1. **Accept the interruption**: They take the coin and seamlessly incorporate this new, inconvenient "fact" into their tale, explaining how it was but a minor setback on their path to glory. 2. **Reject the interruption**: They dismiss the claim as baseless tittle-tattle, push the interrupter's coin back along with one of their own, and question the other's grasp on reality. This can escalate, with coins and insults flying, until one party concedes and takes the entire stake. Should a player's honor, parentage, or veracity be directly insulted, a duel may be fought. Again, no dice are involved. The matter is settled with three rounds of "Knife-Stone-Paper" (you may know it by a more pedestrian name). The victor claims the loser's entire purse, and the loser is removed from the game in disgrace. Victory is determined when all stories have been told. Each player gives their remaining purse to the player whose story they deemed the most magnificent (voting for oneself is, naturally, unthinkable). The player with the most coins in their "bounty" is declared the winner and has the distinct honor of paying for the final round of drinks. There have been a few iterations of this fine game, lest the formula grow stale: - **First Edition (1998)**: Published by Hogshead Publishing, this is the original text you see before you, written by James Wallis under the guise of the Baron. It established the game's unique, diceless mechanics and inimitable style. - **Second Edition (2008)**: Mongoose Publishing released this version. It featured the same core rules but was presented in a smaller, hardback format. It included a new preface and some alternate rules, such as a variant for play in a pub setting. - **Third Edition (2016)**: This deluxe edition from Fantasy Flight Games, published under license from Chaosium, is the most lavish. The core rules remain blessedly unchanged, but the book is a full-color hardback featuring the classic illustrations by Gustave Doré alongside new color artwork by a menagerie of artists. It includes a dozen new variants on the core game, including rules for playing as the Baron's servants or even incorporating the game into other, lesser role-playing systems. ## References Here is a collection of links where one might procure the game or peruse the opinions of others. Do try to keep up. - [User reviews and discussion - BoardGameGeek](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2470/the-extraordinary-adventures-of-baron-munchausen) - [A glowing review of the 3rd Edition - Shut Up & Sit Down](https://www.shutupandsitdown.com/tag/the-extraordinary-adventures-of-baron-munchausen/)