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Sailor Moon set 1[]
Release Date: March 2000
Set Size: 12 Buttons
Publisher: Guardians of Order
Designers: James Ernest, Mark McKinnon
Artists: Various
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New Rules: Reserve Dice, Warrior Dice, and iconic special abilities
One of the longest-awaited expansions to Button Men, the Sailor Moon set went through miles of red tape and took more than a year to complete. The set was one of the most inventive sets of Button Men, with enough original mechanics to be the foundation of a whole new series of characters. Which was kind of the point.
Design Notes
Instead of relying on special die types, the Sailor Moon set uses two new inventions, both of which take advantage of the full 3-out-of-5 structure of Button Men. The first innovation is a sideboard of “Reserve” dice which the character can only bring on board once she has lost a round of combat. Thus, both characters might begin with 4 dice, then grow throughout the game until both are as large as six dice. The second new rule is a provision for special abilities, represented by icons on the buttons, which are limited to a certain number of uses per match. These iconic abilities are only play-balanced against the other abilities within the Sailor Moon set, but they explicitly deactivate when the Sailor Moon characters encounter Button Men from other publishers.
While the strategies of using Reserve Dice are actually quite complex, they do not weigh on the gameplay. This was an essential design element, since these Button Men are intended for players younger than the usual Button Men fans.[1]
Mark McKinnon via Facebook shared further details about the sets' development:
"James Ernest and I worked to develop a power set appropriate for the SM series. We had a discussion about how the main characters function, and he came up with the reserve dice idea. My knowledge of SM through my work on the SM RPG helped guide the numbers for the sets, but ultimately he was the one who balanced and created them. Again, my knowledge of SM helped create the special icon abilities for each character. So in many ways it was a collaborative effort on the concepts, with James handling the numerical specifics."
Iconic Special Abilities For This Set
The Iconic Special Abilities for this set are as follows:
Tuxedo Mask - Nullify all Iconic Special Abilities. Used by Tuxedo Mask.
Crystal Ball - May re-roll your Starting Dice Roll or force your opponent to re-roll their Starting Dice Roll. Useable twice per match by Queen Beryl.
Negaverse - Re-roll a die after attacking. The ability is limited to a certain amount per match depending on which character is used. The symbol used is a diamond shape in the middle of the button with the number of uses written inside.
Top Hat Icon - Take an extra turn. This ability is useable once per match by the Sailor Scouts. The symbol used is a top hat in the middle of the button.
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Alternate Art Pre-production buttons[]
There exists a set of Sailor Moon buttons that are from pre-production test shots that were given to some Cheapass Demo Monkeys. Some of the images are identical to the released set, but several others are different to a degree. The Queen Beryl is the best known of these buttons.
Sailor Moon set 2[]
Release Date: November, 2000
Set Size: 12 Buttons
Publisher: Guardians of Order
Designers: James Ernest, Nick Sauer, Mark MacKinnon
Artists: Various
New Rules: New iconic special abilities
One of the longest-awaited expansions to Button Men, the Sailor Moon set went through miles of red tape and took more than a year to complete. The second set of Sailor Moon Button Men contains twelve more characters from the series. The second Sailor Moon set introduces new characters and new abilities, but is basically an extension of the first Sailor Mon set.[2]
Iconic Special Abilities For This Set
Death Phantom - Steal a reserve die from your opponent whenever you lose a round. That reserve die is no longer available to your opponent. Used by Wiseman.
King's Crown - Take one of your captured dice from your opponent's score pile, re-roll it and add it to your Active Dice Pool. Usable once by King Endymion.
Silver Moon - Transform two Reserve dice instead of one. Useable by Neo-Queen Serenity.
Imperium Silver Crystal - Add a reserve die to your Active Dice Pool and roll it. At the end of the round, it reverts to a Reserve Die. Queen Serenity, Rina, and Princess Serena may use this ability once per match.
Dark Crystal - Instead of bringing in a Reserve die, you may instead remove from the game one of your opponent's starting dice for the rest of the match. The symbol is a pair of parallel bars with a number indicating how often the ability can be used in between them.
Cat Database - Before attacking, you may re-roll one or more dice on the table. Useable twice per match by Luna and Artemis.
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Sailor Moon Crystal Dice Challenge[]
Release Date: July, 2018
Set Size: 24 Cards
Publisher: DYSKAMI Publishing
Designers: James Ernest, Mark MacKinnon
Artists: Various
Rares: Sailor Pluto [(4) (6) (8) (10) r(12) r(12) r(20) r(20), may add one to an attacking die twice per match]
New Rules: New iconic special abilities
An all-in-one expansion featuring 24 Sailor Moon Crystal characters on cards, each with a match-limited iconic special ability, several tokens for abilities, lanyards, and four sets of seven polyhedral dice featuring a d10 numbered 1-10. Rules-wise, the main difference between this expansion and the original Sailor Moon expansion is that the Iconic Special Abilities do not deactivate when played in matches with other Button Men. Most iconic special abilities in this set are the same or renamed versions of the abilities above.
Interestingly enough, this non-Button Men branded set was in the works before the relaunched Button Men base set Fight City.[3]
Please note this is a commercially available product and as such the characters' stats will not be listed.
Sailor Moon Crystal Dice Challenge Season 3 Expansion[]
Release Date: March, 2019
Set Size: 12 Cards
Publisher: DYSKAMI Publishing
Designers: James Ernest, Mark MacKinnon, Robert McLarney
Artists: Various
New Rules: New iconic special abilities
An all-in-one 12 character set featuring characters on cards from Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3.[4] Features three sets of polyhedral dice featuring a d10 numbered 1-10, tokens, a lanyard and challenge cards. New Iconic abilities include splitting your dice into two smaller dice, preventing an opponent's die from being used next turn, modifying your own dice values based upon the values shown on identically sized dice of your opponent's, and summoning Daimon [(4) (6) (8)] to fight in your stead by sacrificing the die showing the highest value.
Please note this is a commercially available product and as such the characters' stats will not be listed.