Directors' Cuts Expansion

News (11/17/11): Added the characters Pat Garrett, Django and Loco, the blue card Shotgun, and the event cards Coffin, Gift, Massacre, Final Hour, and Accident.

News (9/20/11): Added the character Sartana, the blue card Memento, and the event card Independence Day.

News (9/12/11): Added the event card Corrupt Sheriff, and the brown cards Union Pacific and Ace Up Your Sleeve.

Director's Cut is an unofficial expansion to BANG! the card game, designed by Django (I actually don't know his real name; this is his user name on the forums at Edge Entertainment). Thematically, it tries like the Wild West Show expansion to focus on the western actors and filmmakers, instead of historical western figures. He also focuses on classic scenes from western films, trying to incorporating them into the cards.

Like Robbers' Roost, Director's Cut is an ambitious project. It is the only other unofficial expansion to offer playing and character cards, and thus has to deal with the color management/card size problem. While Director's Cut does not add new gameplay mechanics (like the green cards in Dodge City), it does introduce several new clever character abilities and playing cards. Freddie Sikes (Old Sikes), for instance, has an ability sort of like Bill Noface. Instead of gaining more cards for each life point he is missing, the distance by which he is seen by others increases for each life point he is missing.

Unlike Robbers' Roost, Director's Cut adds a new deck of event cards to the game. I confess that I am not a fan of event cards, but if you are, I think you will really like Director's Cut for adding more to BANG! Overall, one of the most impressive things about Director's Cut is the immense amount of time spent on the art. Like I tried to do in Robbers' Roost, Django has tried to make his character art match the style of the official BANG! characters. In my opinion, his artwork is better than mine too. Regardless, he has even made the effort to make the playing and event cards in the same style as BANG! as well. He has achieved this by extracting elements from the existing BANG! playing and event cards, and collaging them together to create new art. This had been, I am sure, quite a painstaking process. I salute him for executing it so superbly.

Here at the BANG! Blog I hope to both draw attention to his excellent work, while at the same time providing an English translation of his cards (since his work is in Spanish). I hope to work with him on a full translation to help promote his expansion to a wider international audience. Below I will add snippets of his card art for you to appreciate, as well as the English translations of the text. Django has been quite open to criticism, and so I hope that you will critique his card ideas both below in the comments section or at his Director's Cut site. I have also left some options open for card titles, since I am not certain which I like best. Feel free to throw in your vote on a title.

Event Cards

True Friend. Each player gets another character. At the beginning of each turn he chooses which one is active. The new character has the same distance constraints. If one of the characters dies, so does the other.	Haze/Cloud. The distance at which players see others is increased by 1.	Bounty/Wanted. The Sheriff places a bounty of 5 cards on the elimination of a player of his choice.	Hanging. If a player does not get out of jail, he must "draw!" a second time. Unless it is a heart, he dies. The player that played Jail is responsible for his death.
Bank Robbery. When this card comes into play each player, in a clockwise order beginning with Sheriff, must discard a BANG! or Missed!, or lose a life point. This goes on continuously until only 1 player in a cycle discards a card. That player draws 10 cards and does not have to discard down to his card limit at the end of his next turn. However, there is now an additional 3 card bonus for eliminating him anytime during the game.	To the Death. If a Duel is played, the loser is eliminated.	Dust Storm. Each player that has cards in play must discard them, or lose 1 life point for each card he chooses to keep.	Zombies. Eliminated players return to life with 2 cards and 2 life points, but they have no abilities and can never have more than 2 life points. They must kill their killer (if he is not another zombie) and the Sheriff to win. The only cards that can hurt them are hearts.
Gamble/Roulette. Each player skips phase 1 of his turn, and instead must bet any number of cards (up to the amount of cards he has in his hand and in play) on whether or not the card on top of the deck is red or black. "Draw!" If he is correct, he draws as many cards as he bet. If he is wrong, he must discard that many.	Bucked Off/Bucking Bronco. At the beginning of his turn, any player with a Mustang must "draw!" Unless it is a heart, that player loses 1 life point and discards the Mustang.	Injured/Wounded. If a player is hit by a BANG!, he must "draw!" On diamonds, he loses a life point and must "draw!" again until he either does not "draw!" a diamond or dies.	Happy Hour/Burlesque/Saloon Dance. When this card is brought into play, each player must "draw!" All players that "drew!" hearts must rotate places in a clockwise order.
Seventh Cavalry. When this card is brought into play, the Sheriff may choose any number of players to become the targets of 2 BANG!.	Miracle Elixir. At the beginning of their turn, each player must "draw!" On hearts, he gains 2 life points. On diamonds, he draws 2 cards. On clubs, he loses his character ability for the turn. On spades, he loses a life point.	Fog of War. If Indians! are played, 2 BANG! must be discarded in defense. Otherwise, a life point is lost for each BANG! not discarded.	Betrayal. All players except the Sheriff turn in their role cards. These roles are shuffled and dealt out at random.
Contraband. When this card comes into play, each player may discard his gun card in play to draw 3 cards. For each card exchanged, place a discarded Indians! back into the deck and then shuffle it.	Nitroglycerine. During this round, Dynamite explodes on both 2-9 of spades and 2-9 clubs.	Compassion. Bang! may not be played against players with no cards in their hands.	Hunting Ammo. BANG! produce 2 hits during this round.
Love Song. Whenever a player plays a card, he must sing the description of that card to the beat of a song. Otherwise, the played card has no effect.	Corrupt Sheriff. Each player must give 1 card to the Sheriff during their drawing phase.	Independence Day BANG! may be discarded to play Beer.	Coffin. At the beginning of his turn, each player except the Sheriff may opt to regain 1 life point instead of playing during his turn. Whoever does so will be considered by others as eliminated until his next turn.
Accident. Any player that plays a BANG! must "draw!" On spades, his attack misses his target and he immediately loses 1 life point and must discard a gun card if he has one in play.	Massacre. Whenever 1 player eliminates another, he draws 3 cards on top of any other bonuses.	Gift. Once during his turn, a player may give a card from his hand to another.	Final Hour. All players see each other at distance 1 by default, but this is modified by cards in play. During their turns, players may only play BANG! or put guns in play.

Brown Cards

Backfire/Rebound/Deflection. 2 Effects: Missed! and BANG! a player you see at distance 1.

Ace Up Your Sleeve. Draw the card on top of the discard pile.

Union Pacific. Draw 4 Cards.

Blue Cards

Peace Pipe. Indians! do not effect this player.	Packing Mule. You may carry 4 more cards in your hand than your life points allow. However, you may not have any horse in play at the same time as Packing Mule.		Hidden Weapon. You can have 2 weapons in play, and play a BANG! with each during your turn.	Sun Glare. Like Jail, this card is played in front of a player. At the beginning of his turn, he "draws!" On hearts, discard Sun Glare and play normally. Otherwise, he sees other players at a distance -1 until the end of his turn. He then discards Sun Glare.
Memento. All clubs you play, use, discard, or "draw!" are converted into hearts.	Shotgun. Gun, Distance 1. 2 Missed! must be played to avoid BANG! fired from this gun.

Director's Cut Characters

Vienna. 4 Health. Once on her turn, she can play any brown card as a Duel.	Colonel Mortimer. 4 Health. He can play a diamond BANG! at any player, regardless of the distance at which he sees that player.	Elder Brothers. 4 Health. At the beginning of the game, you get 4 other characters, which have only 1 life point each. Flip over and play with the first you received. Upon losing a life point, replace that character with the next one in order. If you regain a life point, revert to the character you played with before losing the life point.	John Ford. 4 Health. Once on his turn, he may discard a BANG! to force another player to change his character with the character that player uses as a life point counter.
Freddie Sikes/Old Sikes. 3 Health. For each life point he is missing, the distance by which he is seen by others is increased.	Joe. 4 Health. Whenever a player discards or steals a card from Joe, he may play a BANG! against that player. If that player takes a hit, Joe regains the card that was removed from him.	Sergio Leone. 4 Health. Once during his turn he may discard a BANG! to swap out a discarded event card for the card on top of the event deck.	Emma Small. Whenever she plays a BANG! that produces a hit, she draws a card.
Rooster Cogburn. 4 Health. He can have 2 weapons in play and fire a BANG! with each during his turn.	Sartana. 4 Health. When he plays a BANG!, his target must play a Missed! with a higher value than his BANG! to avoid the hit.	Loco. 4 Health. When he eliminates a player, he draws 3 cards.	Pat Barrett. 4 Health. Once on his turn, he may discard a gun card to play a Jail.
Django. 4 Health. Once during his turn, he can discard 2 BANG! to fire a Gatling.