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Introduction

Train a fighter, form a team, fight a match, broker your fighter, earn your cash. As the manager of a team of fighters, these are the ways you earn a living. KMJ puts you in the manager's seat and gives you the chance dabble in free-form martial arts. Based loosely on the rules of James Ernest's popular dice game, Button Men, KMJ creates a world around your fighters that will challenge your fighting strategy and your business savvy. Pit your skills against other players or learn against the AI in a practice match.

Some Fundamentals

Before the rules of a fight make much sense, there are a few fundamentals to learn. This game is all about using different kinds of dice. Every die has a certain number of sides and a certain face value. Traditional dice are cubes with six sides. KMJ uses dice of sizes varying from four sides to twenty sides. The face value of a die is the number that is shown after a roll.

Dice are represented by a simple description of their number of sides and their face value. For example,

Fighters are comprised of a set of dice of varying sizes. For example,

Rules of a Fight

The rules of a fight are based on the rules of Button Men, with some modifications. Fights are started by one manager (the first manager) picking a fighter for the fight. Next, the manager of the second team then chooses two fighters for his team. The first manager then chooses his second fighter and the fight begins.

The goal of each fight is to end the fight with the highest score. A team earns points by capturing the opposing team's dice while retaining as many of its own dice as possible. Each captured die is worth its number of sides in points. Each retained die is worth half of its number of sides in points.

A fighting team captures dice from the opposing team by attacking the opposing team. Each team member gets one attack per turn. Team members may both attack the same opponent, or they may attack different opponents. There are two types of attacks allowed:

Power Attack: A fighter uses a single die to capture an opponent's die. The capturing die must have a face value greater than or equal to the face value of the die being captured. The capturing die is rerolled after the attack.

Skill Attack: A fighter uses two or more dice to capture an opponent's die. The capturing dice must have face values that sum to the face value of the die being captured. The capturing dice are rerolled after the attack.

Both teams perform their turns simultaneously. The next turn starts after both teams have submitted turns for both of their fighters. If a fighter can't perform an attack, the fighter must pass. The game ends when no attacks remain for either team.

The winning manager from a fight receives a cash award based on the ratings of the fighters participating in the fight. Fighter ratings are adjusted based on the outcome of a fight. Additionally, if a losing fighter is managed by another player (is not a free agent), the winning manager receives one share of the losing fighter.

Setting up a Sample Fight

In the case of KMJ, the best way to learn is by doing. Here are some steps to get you started in a sample fight.

  1. From the profile page click, "Create a New Fight."
  2. Enter a name for the fight and select a fighter. For your opponent, choose "AI." The AI is a computerized player suitable for practice fights.
  3. When you click "Create Fight," you will be directed to the page where you select your second fighter. Notice that the AI has already selected two fighters. Select your second fighter.
  4. When you commit your second fighter, you will find that the dice are rolled and the fight is ready to start. Continue to the fight.
  5. Create a move for each of your fighters. (It is generally best to create a move that captures a die with many sides so you can get many points. To perform a skill attack, you must use multiple dice. To select multiple dice, hold down the Control key while you click on the dice you want to use.
  6. When you commit your moves, the AI will perform its moves and you will be prompted for your next move.
  7. Continue making moves until the game is ended.

Managing Fighters

There are two kinds of fighters in KMJ: managed fighters and free agents. Free agents may be used in a fight by any manager and may not be traded. Managed fighters may only be used in a fight by the manager of the fighter. Shares of managed fighters may be sold, bought and won.

Every managed fighter has 20 shares. The majority shareholder of a fighter is the fighter's manager. (When something happens to cause two or more managers to own the same number of shares in a fighter, management of the fighter does not change unless neither of the majority shareholders is the current manager of the fighter. In that case, management goes to the manager who owned shares of the fighter the longest time.)

Fighters pay dividends to the owners based on the number of shares the manager owns and the value of the fighter. A fighter's value is based on his base value (the cost to train him) and his rating. Dividends are automatically paid at certain points (like when shares of a fighter are traded and when a fighter's rating changes at the end of a game). Players may manually collect dividends from the Fighter Database page.

Training a New Fighter

At some point in your managing career you will probably want to train a new fighter. To train a new fighter, select the link from the fighter database. Name the fighter and select the fighter's dice. Fighters normally cost $100,000 to train, but this cost may change based on the dice selected for the fighter. If you train a fighter, you receive all twenty shares in the fighter, which you may trade (or lose in fights).

Trading Shares of Fighters

Managed fighters may be traded from the fighter database. To create an order to buy or sell a fighter, simply follow the instructions on the page. When the game system matches buy and sell orders, transactions are processed. If there are multiple buy orders on a particular fighter when a sell order is created, the system uses an auction-type trading system to strike the price of the trade.

For example, suppose three players have buy orders on a fighter: Alice has placed a buy order with a maximum price of $50 for up to 20 shares, Bob has placed a buy order at a $150 maximum for 20 shares, and Charles has created a buy order at a maximum $200 for 10 shares. Sam comes along and posts a sell order on that fighter for a maximum of 15 shares at a minimum sale price of $100. In this case, 10 shares will be sold to Charles at $150 per share and 5 shares will be sold to Bob at $100 per share. Charles will likely now be the new manager of the fighter. (This assumes that all players have adequate cash and shares to complete the transaction.)

If trading shares of fighters seems complex, just try it out and you'll find it's not really complicated. (This documentation will be expanded to be more descriptive in the future.)

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