recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Zodiac

**Release Date**: February 2016

**Set Size**: 12 Buttons

**Publisher**: buttonweavers.com

**Designers**:Kaori

**Artist**:Caryad and Mia Steingräber

The Zodiac set is a twelve button set designed by Kaori. The artwork was licensed for button use only from artists Caryad ( www.caryad.de) and Mia Steingräber ( zeichenblog.mia-steingraeber.de). According to one of the artist's Deviant Art page, the images were done in conjunction with one another for a calendar based upon the zodiac.

According to Kaori in an interview conducted via Button Men Online,

> "The artwork inspired me in 2016 to make them into a Button Men set. And I thought it fun to have the zodiac theme to play with so I started creating a set as soon as I got the okay of the artists.
>
>

> I wanted to have some thematic stuff depending on the zodiac sign (i.e. balanced dice sizes for Gemini and Libra). Especially these last two I wasn't happy with even after months of changing their recipes during playtesting (IRL and on the dev site) because these twin dice seemed to make them weaker than the rest. But I wouldn't kick the idea of these balancing dice and when we played the Zodiacs with other buttons outside the set they aren't as weak as I thought.
>
>

> Most of all I wanted the set to be balanced within itself but I had some other self-made rules, too:
>
>
>
> * only 4 special skills in the whole set
> * of which each button will have 2
> * and one swing die between X and V.
>
>
> The special skills I chose depending on the zodiac sign itself, some of them being obvious like Sagittarius having speed and Scorpio having stinger and poison.  Thematic elements include speed for the weapon of Sagittarius or stinger and poison for Scorpio‘s tail, Aries will hide in the shadow and then run to you full speed with his head bent low... I thought about every button to decide for at least one skill being especially important for each button. When you look at the recipes you can see it.
>
>

> The playtesting took about 3-4 months I'd say. Maybe longer, I can't remember exactly. It sure felt like ages."
>
>

Please note that even though the original images are of high quality, due to licensing these have been shrunk until the resolution is so low to make printing of the images nonviable, but allowing some finer detail to come through compared to the Button Men Online 150px images.

(6) p(6) (8) s(12) (X)
(6) s(8) z(10) (20) (X)
     Capricorn
(4) s(6) (10) g(12) (X)
(4,4) (12) (12) z(X) s(X)
     Libra
(4) g(4) z(8,8) (8,8) (V)
(4) p(8) z(12) (12) (X)
     Scorpio
g(6) (10) (12) p(20) (V)
g(8) (10) s(12) (20) (V)
(4) g(8) z(12) (20) (V)
CyberSuit Corp

**Release Date**: January 2022

**Set Size**: 8 Buttons

**Designer**: Dominik Lubinski (AnnoDomini)

**Artist**: Kamil Ćwieląg

CyberSuit Corp is a set by AnnoDomini featuring a futuristic business setting.
Since the intent of it was primarily to be used on Buttonmen Online, some mild stylistic font choices were made for the skill indicators, using all capital letters instead of the proper lower and uppercase as is traditional.

Original art was created by Polish artist Kamil Ćwieląg.

 *Andrew is an intern. He says an internship is a great*
*way to learn how people at companies pretend to*
*work. He likes skating, playing guitar, and*
*beating people up.*
*of people: those who understand binary code and*
*those who don't. He likes to eat with sticks, swim in*
    Fiona st(4) fM(8) (12) (12) (V)
 *Fiona is the CEO of CyberSuit Corp. She is also a*
*mom, so nothing scares her. She likes cabbage*
*flavor, bathtubs, and beating people up.*
*women can deliver a baby in one month.*
*He enjoys safaris, weddings, and beating*
     Isabel (6) It(8) fs(10) (12) (V)
 *Isabel works in the HR department. Her job is to find*
*employees in their mid 20s with 15 years of*
*experience. She likes cold soda, cats, and*
*beating people up.*
*She gets excited about weekends because she*
*can wear casual clothes to work. She likes big*
     Nadia fI(6) st(10) (10) (12) (V)
 *Nadia is a secretary. Everyone apart from the CEO*
*knows it is actually she who runs the place. She*
*likes Spring, baking her own bread, and beating*
*people up.*
*based on unreliable data provided by people with*
*questionable knowledge. He likes eggs, keeping*
*things in perfect order, and beating people up.*
Boom Dice

Boom Dice were introduced by the Unexploded Cow set. They're indicated by a bomb-shaped Dice Frame.

Boom Attack: remove one of your Boom Dice from play (neither player will score it). Choose one of your opponent's dice, and reroll it. (Note that the targeted die is never captured, just re-rolled.)

(Button Men Online symbol: "b") [See also Category:Sets\_with\_BOOM\_Dice]
Standard Action

**Release Date**: June 2013

**Set Size**: 2 Buttons

**Publisher**: Standard Action

**Designers**: James Ernest

The Standard Action set was a reward for backing the Standard Action Season 3 Kickstarter in June of 2013. One button was scheduled to be produced after the announcement for it being a reward for a $40+ pledge after reaching the benchmark of $30k. The kickstarter reached $36,334, and not one but two buttons were created. Appropriate for a set called Standard Action, both characters only have Standard Dice.

The below images were supplied by Standard Action actress Joanna Gaskell.

> "We had two Button Men buttons made for the Season 3 Kickstarter - Fernando and Edda. I have attached the image files!
>
>

> Cheers;
>
>

> Joanna"
>
>

(4) (8) (10) (16) (X)
(6) (12) (12) (20) (X)
Jolt Dice

Whenever a Jolt Die is used in an attack, replace it with an identical die without the Jolt ability at the end of the turn and take an additional turn.

If a player captures a Jolt Die, they may take an additional turn.

(Button Men Online symbol: "J") [See also Category:Sets\_with\_Jolt\_Dice]

Jolt Dice were created by Randy Chertkow (aka Famous) for the original Button Men Online site.
Social Class

**Release Date**: Spring 2000

**Source**: Balticon

**Designer**: James Ernest

**Artist:** Gavin Schmitt

**New Rules**: Option Dice

**Tournament Legal?** Yes.

Social Class was produced by Balticon, a gaming convention in Baltimore, MD. It was the first appearance of Option Dice, which were later introduced formally in the Fantasy Button Men expansion. [(4/6) (6/8) (8/10) (10/12) (12/20)]
Doctor Oche

Dr. Oche is a fan set rediscovered on August 9th, 2022. It appears to be an original creation based upon a now gone-from-the-internet webcomic.

**Dr. Oche** [d(1) (8) d(10) (9/16) (X)!]

The Doctor obtained his Medical degree in Grenada in 1983. His degree in veterinary medicine in Panama in 88. A man of mystery, you may find him making his escape from any country on the brink. Is he employed by the CIA? Who knows? All we know is where Oche is, Chaos follows, and he likes to beat people up. Please see www.droche.freeservers.com

**Charlie Chaplin** [t(4) ^(7) (9) (11) r(1) r(10) r(12) r(30)]

Dr. Oche's loyal sidekick. He somehow bends the laws of time and space to be there at Oche's side when it all falls apart. Charlie likes young women, molotov cocktails, and beating people up.

**Sergent Steroid** [p(6) p(10) B(20) B(20) B(U)?]

An ex-marine and Dr. Oche's nemesis. This oversized monstrosity is thought to be the result of an Dr. Oche experiment gone horribly wrong. He has more hatred in his pinky than your entire body, partially because his pinky is larger than your entire body. He enjoys long walks on beaches, sunrises and beating people up.

**Roid Rabbits** [h(2) hp(4) p(6) B(10) (V)]

An army of horribly mutated bunnies. This horde is the work of Sgt Steroid as part of his plot to destroy Dr. Oche and take over the world. These rabbits like lettuce, carrots, and steroid laden hunks of beef. When not on duty, they like to beat people up.
Twin Dice

Twin Dice have two numbers within a figure-eight frame. They are played as two dice that are rolled together and added together.

For example, a Twin 8 is represented as (8,8) and is treated as a single die that can roll values between 2 and 16. The two 8s are rolled as one, captured as one, and scored as one die worth 16 points.

(Button Men Online symbol: " (#,#)") [See also Category:Sets\_with\_Twin\_Dice]
Abe Caine (I-Con)

**Set Size**: 1 Button

**Publisher**: I-Con

**Designers**: James Ernest

**Artist**: Brent Chumley

Abe Caine is a button released in conjunction with the first annual I-Con fantasy, sci-fi, and gaming convention in Springfield, Illinois. The button is based on the artwork for the program cover. It was illustrated by Brent Chumley and with graphic design by David Hanson, who also is responsible for the Chicagoland Apples to Apples set. The button's stats were provided by James Ernest.

Mr. Chumley gave some more details about the painting.

> "I am aware of the Button Men that were made from my Abe Caine painting. The painting was inspired by the fact that I-Con was in Springfield, IL. Abe Lincoln is special to Illinois and Springfield particularly. I wanted to incorporate some kind of gaming/fantasy/sci-fi/horror theme for the custom art, so I painted Abe to be a vampire and my convention badge was like a holy symbol warding him off!"
>
>

According to David Hanson,

> "I got permission from James Ernest to do some Button Men for local conventions. He then gave me recipes & I had the appropriate artists create them to be included with convention books. ICon in Springfield had Abe Caine, Chicagoland Gamers Conclave had Red then Green Apples to Apples by John Kovalic. I wanted to have the Capricorn Goat for Capricon with art by Phil &/or Kaja Folgio, but the con com didn't think it was appropriate for their Fun & Games theme where Phil, Kaja & James were all attending as guests! As I had a game shop & relations with game manufacturers, I thought it would be a neat thing to do. Since James was the Guest of Honor, I also wanted to put Cheapass Games out around the con for folks to play. I had a dealer table & sold lots of them. Unfortunately the con chair didn't want to be a "gaming con." Her idea was tick tac toe & tiddlywinks."
>
>

1. ↑ http://www.epilogue.net/art/18734-the-turning-of-abe-caine
Plasma Dice

Plasma Dice are similar to Option Dice, except only the skills of the dice change instead of the size of the dice. Plasma Dice were introduced in the Button Men Online exclusive set Space Girlz.

(Button Men Online symbol: "{ }" used to denote abilities that can be chosen from) [See also Category:Sets\_with\_Plasma\_Dice]
Deadlake

**Deadlake** is a small farmer community of the Hinterlands, located on the crossroads connecting Capriss, Auhert's Beacon and Grionti. It is southeast of Capriss and north of an ancient watchtower

## Overview

"You wonder how the village of Deadlake got its name, given that the lake in question is teeming with life, but the inhabitants you ask don't seem to know. That mystery aside, it seems an otherwise unremarkable place."

## Locations

### The headman's house

The headman can provide quests here once your company has enough reputation.

### The Red Skull

"The tavern is small and somewhat sparse, but the barkeep is menacing and a few patrons nod in greeting before returning to their drinks."

Here, the barkeeps and patrons can provide quests such as delivering parcels, escorting monks or merchants and killing bandits, wolves or bears.

### The small village store

Your party can restock on food and supplies here, but for a quite high price compared to the cities' ones, so it should only be in case of emergency.

## Gallery

The headman's houseThe village squareThe small village storeThe Red Skull
## Trivia

* Deadlake is home of the cult to the maiden of the lake, which you encounter in Death by Water.
Save The Ogres!

Redirect to:

* Legend of the Five Rings

**Release Date**: Summer 2000

**Source**: Save the Ogres

**Designer**: James Ernest

**Artists**: Troy Graham (Ginzu), Matt Wilson (Gratch)

**Tournament Legal?** Yes

On a whim, a little foundation called Save the Ogres, who are apparently concerned with the continuity of the Legend of the Five Rings Card game among other things, created this pair of Button Men for a pickup tournament at Gen Con 2000. For flavor, James Ernest designed them both with Twin Shadow Dice, which suggest overpowering strength and no idea how to use it.
Space Girlz

**Release Date**:

**Set Size**: 2 Buttons

**Publisher**: Button Men Online

**Designers**: James Ernest

**Artist**: Phil Foglio (assumed)

**New Rules**: Plasma Dice

Space Girlz was a set exclusively designed for the original Button Men Online by James Ernest. It features Plasma Dice, which work like Option Dice which can change their abilities instead of their size. Also included in the set are Ornery Dice, Poison Dice, Shadow Dice, Weak Dice, and Mighty Dice.
Shadow Dice

Shadow Dice are usually indicated by an “s” on the frame, but in the original Vampyres set they were designated with a horizontal line over the number. This changed with the "Button Men Originals" set.

Shadow Dice cannot make Power Attacks. Instead, they can make inverted Power Attacks called Shadow Attacks.

Shadow Attack: Use one of your Shadow Dice to capture one of your opponent’s dice. The target die must show a value equal to or greater than the attacking die, but within its range.

For example, a Shadow 12 showing 7 can capture any value between 7 and 12.

Shadow Dice can make Skill Attacks normally.

(Button Men Online symbol: "s") [See also Category:Sets\_with\_Shadow\_Dice]
Nodwick

**PUBLISHER:** 4th Blade Games

**Designers:** J. Richard Cappels and Bryce Nakagawa

**Set Size:** 4 buttons, 1 rare. Sold as Nodwick/Yeagar and Artax/Piffany, with the Rare of the set being Count Repugsive.

**Artist:** Aaron Williams

The five character Nodwick set is based upon the long running comic of the same name. It features a new die called the "Armor" die.

From the original website:

"Through a special deal with Aaron Williams (where we do all the work) and Cheapass Games (where they take all the credit) we can now bring you the long awaited Nodwick Buttonmen set!"

According to Bryce Nakagawa,

> "Richard, a guy I played a LOT of buttonmen with, was the driving force behind it. He had taken the initiative to get in contact with [Aaron Williams] and asked about the licensing terms. He worked out a deal that looked reasonable and we got to work figuring out what to do. Based on the stats I had been seeing online and personal experience playing in and running tournaments, I knew I wanted to do something that would slow down speed dice. We [playtested the buttons] by playing our designs against a handful of high performing buttons; it seemed balanced enough to us at the time.
> Richard and I shared a love of collecting dice and that some of the big unwieldy dice had inspired a thought about making a set devoted to button men with huge dice. We never got past the concept stage, unfortunately. The fundamental problem is that once you get past d20s skill attacks become almost impossible and it's just a test of who rolls better."
>
>

## Rules Insert

armor dice: armor dice are colored orange in the nodwick expansion and are represented by a shield behind the number. armor dice add their value to the rest of your non-armor dice whenever any of those dice are under attack. (this goes into effect before your opponent declares their attack) armor dice can also Power and Skill Attack as normal dice.

(8)
(8)
(12)
(X)
(4)
(10)
(10)
A(W)
A(6)
(6)
(8)
(W)
(10)
(20)
(20)
(X)

Christmas Promotional Buttons

Little information is had about the number of or distribution of these buttons.

1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20060718025829/http://www.4thblade.com/nodwick.html
Auxiliary Dice

Auxiliary Dice appear on the left side of the button, and have a “+” on the frame. These dice represent special abilities or assistants, and are optional.

Before each round, both players decide whether or not to play with one of their Auxiliary Dice. Usually, either both players use one, or both players don’t.

If you fight against a player who has no Auxiliary Dice, and you wish to use your own, chivalry dictates that you offer your opponent the option to use an Auxiliary equivalent to your own. “Equivalent” means a die of the same size and type. In the case of an Auxiliary variable die, such as a Swing Die, each player’s die can vary independently.

Auxiliary Dice first appeared in the Pendragon Button Lords set of Button Men, published by Green Knight publishing.

(Button Men Online symbol: "+") [See also Category:Sets\_with\_Auxiliary\_Dice]
Eiko

Eiko

## Eiko's Skills

**X Swing Dice** can be any die between 4 and 20. Swing Dice are allowed to be any integral size between their upper and lower limit, including both ends, and including nonstandard die sizes like 17 or 9. Each player chooses his or her Swing Die in secret at the beginning of the match, and thereafter the loser of each round may change their Swing Die between rounds. If a character has any two Swing Dice of the same letter, they must always be the same size.
Poison Dice

A Poison Die is indicated by a “p” on the frame. Poison Dice are worth negative points. If you keep one of your own Poison Dice, you subtract its full size from your score. If you capture an opponent’s Poison Die, subtract half its size.

(Button Men Online symbol: "p") [See also Category:Sets\_with\_Poison\_Dice]
Focus Dice

These are represented as black dice frames in the Legend of the Five Rings, and marked with an “f” for Focus. Focus Dice help characters go first. After the starting roll, if you are not going first, you can reduce the values on your Focus Dice so that you are going first. Your opponent can respond by reducing their Focus Dice, and so on until both players are ready to begin, or can’t reduce their dice any farther.

If you go first, you can’t make an attack with any of the Focus Dice that you turned down. The second player has no such restriction.

(Button Men Online symbol: "f") [See also Category:Sets\_with\_Focus\_Dice]
High School Drama

**Release Date**: 2006

**Set Size**: 8 Buttons

**Publisher**: Shifting Skies

**Designers**: James Ernest, Boyan Radakovich

**Artist**: Chris Kennedy

**New Rules**: Sideboard Dice

A set of eight buttons with a new die type, the Sideboard die.

Sideboard dice could replace an active die between rounds on a one-for-one basis, similar to Select Dice from Fightball. In Button Men Online, they are considered Reserve Select Dice.

Released at Kublacon 2007 by Shifting Skies

According to Boyan Radakovich in an interview conducted via Facebook Messenger,

> James and I designed the HSD Button Men set as a promotional for a game designed a while back. I held a tournament at Gen Con that year and gave away buttons through promotions with my publisher friends: fans could get Goth Chick by going to White Wolf, The Elite Hacker by going to Catalyst, Tennis Star at Asmodee, Meathead at AEG, and so on. The final button in the set was won by beating me specifically anytime players found me in the hall with my button bandoleer. There were 8 total. 6 were cross promotions at other people’s booths, and 2 with me. I gave away Emo Boy to anyone that saw me with the bandoleer, but you could only get Cheerleader by beating me. She was the most sought after character in the set.
>
>

> The HSD button ability is a simple sideboard power. The die, [set in a purple circle opposite the starting dice], can be subbed in for any of the starting set after the first match. Basically: if six, pick five, but the sideboard starts on the side. It makes the characters flexible and good at countering others. It also meant that players could carry exactly the correct set of dice to play and not worry about having more dice than they need to play.
>
>

> Think of the HSD Button set as a casual-friendly set. The rule book was on a single business card. It was supposed to be a small easy set to get new players. At the time, it was the first expansion in quite a while. So, I wanted to help draw in new fans.
>
>

1337 h4Xx0r
     S(6) S(6) S(8) S(10) S(12) rS(20)
dumb blonde
     S(8) S(8) S(10) S(12) S(20) rS(20)
game master
     S(8) S(10) S(12) S(20) S(20) rS(6)
meathead
tennis star

1. ↑ https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/417920/high-school-drama
Unexploded Cow

**Release Date**: February, 2013

**Set Size**: 6 Buttons, 2 Rares

**Publisher**: Cheapass Games

**Designers**: James Ernest

**Artist**: Cheyenne Wright

**New Rules**: BOOM Dice, "Mad" Swing Dice

**Rares**: Buckley and Thaddeus

The Unexploded Cow button men set was released as a Kickstarter-exclusive stretch goal for the Unexploded Cow kickstarter campaign, and extras were later sold through the Cheapass Games overstock website ( https://www.bonanza.com/booths/robespierrette )  The two rares, Buckley and Thaddeus, were stretch goals for the non-cheapass Kickstarter "Spherical d14 and d18" campaign and were designed in August of 2012.

This set also introduces two new die sizes, the d14 and d18, the "Mad Swing Die," and a new Die Skill, the BOOM die.  BOOM dice are shaped like a cartoon bomb and have a new attack, the "Boom" attack.  You may remove your boom die from the game instead of attacking to force one of your opponent's dice to reroll.

The Unexploded Cows are a motley bunch. They wander the fields of France in search of unexploded bombs, left behind by a century of conflict. They enjoy canning, badminton, finding explosives, and short grass. They strive every day to earn the respect of their peers, while upholding the honor of their vanishing way of life. And they like to beat people up.

Buckley and Thaddeus, the rares for the set, were initially from a fan of Button Men suggesting that the d14 and d18 could make for some interesting Button Men. As James Ernest told to Kicktrac, "Button Men have always been a great promotional item, and of course they were tailor-made to sell dice. So that makes them a perfect promo for new dice sizes! Plus, anything that we can do to cross-promote two concurrent Kickstarter campaigns seems like a smart idea." Tom Anders of Impact Miniatures states "I sent a request to create a Buttonman using the D14 and D18 and James let me know he had Unexploded Cow going on KickStarter and he was the one that proposed the cross-promotion using the triangle between our two KickStarters and Buttonmen. " The promotion was a hit. "Having the Unexploded Cow Buttonmen on display at my booth at Gen Con allowed me get some folks to stop and talk about them (stoppage factor at Gen Con is always good). It gave me a chance to show them the D14 and D18 prototypes we had at Gen Con and then to let them know the characters are from Unexploded Cow from Cheapass and is on KickStarter right now. So free advertising from my booth for Cheapass and I gained the stoppage factor for people coming over to my booth to talk. That is a plus for both of our businesses in my thoughts."

(4) b(4) (10) b(12) (&)
(4) (6) b(6) b(20) (&)
     Montague
b(4) b(10) (12) (20) (&)
b(4) (8) b(8) (20) (&)
     Buckley
(4) (4) (18) (X) (X)
(10) (14) (14) (18) (X)

1. ↑ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cheapassgames/unexploded-cow-from-cheapass-games/posts/306640
2. ↑ http://blog.kicktraq.com/kicktraq-quick-tip-the-power-of-cross-promotion/
Murderers

**Release Date**: September 2018

**Set Size**: 18 Cards

**Publisher**: Cheapass Games

**Designers**: James Ernest

**Artist**: Israel Evans

**New Rules**: Lucky Dice, 19.5 Die

Doctor Lucky's "Button Murderers" deck contains 18 new Button Men characters from the Kill Doctor Lucky series of games. These characters have a new die type, "Lucky Dice," which you can re-roll if you don't like their first result!

This set was a stretch goal for one of Cheapass Games's kickstarters, and was released in September of 2018 and available exclusively via Drive Thru Cards for approximately one year. The set had originally been announced as an additional set for the Free Edition of Button Men, but this never happened. On May 22nd, 2021, Greater than Games provided this wiki permission to post the the original print files for Button Murderers.

1. ↑ https://www.drivethrucards.com/product/246382/Button-Men-Doctor-Lucky
2. ↑ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cheapassgames/button-men-beat-people-up/posts/2166976
Zombie Dice

Zombie Dice are dice that were to be in the exclusive set available through the failed Kickstarter for another Button Men Mobile.

Capturing a die using a Zombie Die in the attack places the captured die into your Active Dice Pool instead of your Score Pad.

[No currently known buttons use this die type, and there is not a Button Men Online notation for it][1]
Wu Lan

Wu Lan

## Wu Lan's Skills

**X Swing Dice** can be any die between 4 and 20. Swing Dice are allowed to be any integral size between their upper and lower limit, including both ends, and including nonstandard die sizes like 17 or 9. Each player chooses his or her Swing Die in secret at the beginning of the match, and thereafter the loser of each round may change their Swing Die between rounds. If a character has any two Swing Dice of the same letter, they must always be the same size.
Eiko/WuLan

**Release Date**: Summer 1999

**Publisher:** Cheapass Games

**Designer:** James Ernest

**Artist**: Toivo Rovainen

**New Rules**: None

**Tournament Legal?** Yes

Toivo Rovainen (the famous and unstoppable Cheapass Games collater back in the day) drew these two animals for a small fanzine (Furrest North Crew). Later, Cheapass Games made them available for sale. Mechanically they are essentially an extension of the Soldiers set. Eiko [(4) (6) (6) (12) (X)] Wu Lan [(4) (10) (10) (20) (X)]
Japanese Beetle

## Official Set

**Release Date**: November 2000

**Source**: Dave “The Knave” White and Chris White; www.wfcomics.com/beetle

**Designer**: James Ernest

**Artist**: Dave “The Knave” White

**New Rules**: None

**Tournament Legal?** Yes

The Japanese Beetle set was created by the publisher of the webcomic Japanese Beetle (You can read the continuing adventures of the Japanese Beetle every day at www.wfcomics.com/beetle according to cheapass.com(see ). Originally an Unofficial set was produced, but from that came these two buttons with unique abilities. The Japanese Beetle cannot have Skill Attacks used on him, and the Flying Squirrel cannot make skill attacks. Artistically, the buttons are designed to be mirrors of each other: The characters face opposite directions, use opposed background
colors and button colors (not to mention the direction of the background swirls are also reversed).

The button special ability of The Japanese Beetle is very similar to the effects of Insult Dice.

Dave White summed both Japanese Beetle sets up thusly:

> "My friend, Ligaya Caes, is the one who actually designed and playtested the unofficial set.
>
>

> For the official set, the process was essentially "send money to James Ernest and take whatever he gives you back."
>
>

> Our only input was providing a brief description of the characters and their (in-comic) powers.We said that the Japanese Beetle had very little going for him other than maneuverability and tremendous luck, and that the Flying Squirrel had tremendous power and speed (but very little control). I think he managed to capture that pretty well."
>
>

I(6) I(8) I(12) I(X)
z(6) z(12) z(12) z(20)

## Unofficial Set

The unofficial Japanese Beetle set was Designed by Ligaya Caes, the designer of the Blademasters Trilogy. This set introduced Dodge Dice.

(6) (12) (12) \_(V) (X)
(4) (6) (12) (20) (X)
 College student Ken Watanabe became a superhero to pick up chicks. He doesn't really fight for truth, justice, and the American way, but he likes to pretend that he does. He's really not all that good at it. One of these days he might acquire some real superpowers or something. And he doesn't like getting beat up.
     Kremlina
(6) (8) (10) (12) (X)
(8) (10) (10) (12) (X)
 A former KGB agent, Kremlina plots and schemes to return her vile Communist masters to their former glory. With her Monsters of Socialism, she fights for untruth, injustice, and the liberation of the global proletariat through the overthrow of their bourgeoise masters. And she likes to beat people up.

1. ↑ http://www.worldfamouscomics.com/beetle/archive.shtml?19980803
2. ↑ http://www.worldfamouscomics.com/beetle/archive.shtml?19980803
3. ↑ Button Men: The Book, p.65.
4. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20031007024800/http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~bc3p/butnnotes.txt
Parry Dice

Parry Dice cannot be captured with a Power Attack.. Introduced in the Blademasters set. Originally, this ability was identical to "Insult" dice.

(No current Button Men Online symbol, "y" used on Blademasters set temporarily) Not implemented on Button Men Online. [See also Category:Sets\_with\_Parry\_Dice] [See also Insult Dice]]
Null Dice

Null Dice are worth no points at the end of the round.

If a Null Die is used to capture a die, remove the captured die from the game instead of putting it into your Score Pile.

Null Dice were introduced by the promotional character Tess, available at GenCon for the Studio Foglio Brawl decks.

(Button Men Online symbol: "n") [See also Category:Sets\_with\_Null\_Dice]
Dice Brawl (iOS app)

Dice Brawl and Dice Brawl Deluxe were unlicensed Button Men apps available for theiPhone 3GS running iOS 2.  Dice Brawl was released on the first of March in 2009 and the deluxe version followed soon after on April 16th of the same year. Dice Brawl featured a blue color scheme and Standard Dice as well as X, V, and S-Swing Dice. Dice Brawl Deluxe had a red color scheme and dice with different colors that reproduced Shadow, Speed, and a more powerful variation of Poison Dice.

.

According to its programmer, Gus Prevas,

> "I don't remember exactly where I learned about Button Men, but I must have read about it on the early Internet around 1999-2000.  I thought it seemed like a really interesting game to write an AI for, given the probabilistic nature, so I wrote a simple command-line version one summer during a particularly boring college internship.  Interestingly I've never actually played it against a human opponent! The app was written entirely from scratch.  I'm not sure an electronic version of Button Men existed at the time, or at least, I'd never been able to find one.
>
>

> I wrote the app during the very early days of iOS apps as a way to learn iOS programming.  I knew from the version I'd written a decade prior that it would be a pretty straightforward game to code, and I thought it would translate well to being played on a small screen - and against an opponent on a local network, which was a feature of many early iOS games.  I remembered reading about how the concept behind Button Men was that you'd see someone wearing one of the buttons at a gaming convention and challenge them to a game, and a local-network phone game seemed in the same spirit.
>
>

> I don't remember precisely which skills I included, but it's likely that I would have selected ones that were both easy enough to implement, and easy to communicate to the player how to use them within the app's very simple UI.  The concept behind the deluxe version was that the regular version would be free and just have the basic set of dice, and the deluxe version would cost a few bucks and have a wider variety of options.  (This was before in-app purchases were a thing, hence the two versions.)  I didn't necessarily expect to make any serious money, but I wanted to learn how the app store model worked, as it was brand new at the time and seemed like it might be important to understand as a software developer.
>
>

> I wrote the app as a fun little side project, and while it got a handful of downloads, it wasn't widely used enough that I felt it was worth the time to update it for newer version of iOS, which was changing very rapidly at the time - nor to keep paying the annual fee to maintain an Apple developer account.  I enjoyed writing the app but never really had any ambitions for it beyond that."
>
>

1. ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/ios/dice-brawl
2. ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/ios/dice-brawl-deluxe
Doppelganger Dice

After a Doppelganger Die Power Attacks, replace it with an exact copy of the die it attacked, then re-roll it.

(Button Men Online symbol: "D") [See also Category:Sets\_with\_Doppelganger\_Dice] [See also Thief Dice]

Doppelganger Dice were created by Dana Huyler for the original Button Men Online site and introduced them in the Free Radicals set; they predate Morph Dice.
Scott Pilgrim

The Scott Pilgrim set is a fan set by BGG User Madmarshman based on the comic book series of the same name.

When asked about the creation of the set, Madmarshman said the following:

> "There are a few reasons I built this set, one is because I'm a Scott Pilgrim fan, two I have recently got into PNP games, I've been crafting D&D terrain, minis, etc. for years, but never board and card games. I saw a Scott Pilgrim build of the card game "Friday", so when someone suggested "Button men" as a two player game for myself and my girlfriend, I knew straight away what I wanted to do with it. I could've made cards, but I wanted them to look more like the original buttons. Reason three was to learn more about Adobe illustrator. I wanted to make an adjustable, editable vector based template, which I did.
>
>

> I initially used the dice combos from existing characters as I have little experience with the game and thought it was safer that way. I made them using a vector based template, so I could change them to be a unique set without too much trouble."
>
>

(6) (10) (12) (20) (X)
(20) (20) (20) (X) (X)
(4) (6) (10) (X) (X)
     Matthew Patel
(4) (4) (10) (10) (X)
(4) (8) (10) (20) (X)
(4) (8) (8) (10) (X)
     Roxy Richter
(6) (8) (10) (20) (X)
(8) (10) (10) (20) (X)
(10) (10) (10) (10) (X)
(4) (6) (12) (12) (X)
Chance Dice

Chance Dice are random versions of Focus Dice. After the starting roll, if you are not going first, you can re-roll your Chance Dice to attempt to go first. Your opponent can respond by re-rolling one of their Chance Dice, and so on until a player can't possibly go first by re-rolling one of their Chance Dice (or does not wish to re-roll any of their chance dice).

Chance Dice were used in the Yoyodyne button series.

(Button Men Online symbol: "c") [See also Category:Sets\_with\_Chance\_Dice]
Zeppo

Zeppo

## Zeppo's Skills

**Turbo Swing Dice** are indicated by a letter followed by a “!”, such as “X!”. Before the round, a Turbo Swing can be any size in the allowable range. During the game, whenever you re-roll a Turbo Swing you may choose a new size for it.

In a tournament, if you are not allowed to change Swing Dice, your Turbo must start the next round with the same value that it started the last round.

(Button Men Online symbol: "!")

**X Swing Dice** can be any die between 4 and 20. Swing Dice are allowed to be any integral size between their upper and lower limit, including both ends, and including nonstandard die sizes like 17 or 9. Each player chooses his or her Swing Die in secret at the beginning of the match, and thereafter the loser of each round may change their Swing Die between rounds. If a character has any two Swing Dice of the same letter, they must always be the same size.
Rush Dice

These are represented as orange on the character card, with an “r” for Rush. Rush Dice have an extra attack as well as an extra vulnerability

Rush Attack: Use one of your Rush Dice to capture two of your opponent’s dice. The numbers on the target dice must add up exactly to the number on the attacking die.

For example, one Rush Die showing 9 can capture two dice showing 4 and 5.

Rush Dice also have a weakness: They can be captured in a Rush Attack by any type of die! Specifically, a Rush Die can be captured, along with one other die of any type (including another Rush Die) by an enemy die, following the same basic rules as a Rush Attack: the two captured dice must add up exactly to the number on the attacking die.

(Button Men Online symbol: "#") (do not confused the use of # as shorthand for a n-sized die confuse you. A Rush d6 would be written as "#(6)") [See also Category:Sets\_with\_Rush\_Dice][See also Speed Dice][See also Berserk Dice][See also Hoskin's Dice][See also Evil Dice]
Fantasy

**Release Date**: July, 2000

**Set Size**: 12 Buttons, 3 Rares

**Publisher**: Cheapass Games

**Designers**: James Ernest, Nick Sauer, and Joseph Kisenwether

**Artist**: Larry Elmore

**New Rules**: Option Dice

**Rares**: Nightmare, Socrates (both tournament legal), Dead Guy.

Button Men: Fantasy was designed to be a new core set of Button Men that might eventually replace the Soldiers set. Fantasy contains twelve gorgeous characters from Larry Elmore’s best work, including mighty warriors, powerful monsters, and other denizens of the Elmore world. The set also contains a new type of variable die, called “Option Dice,” which are basically very limited Swing Dice.

**Design Notes**

Option Dice were developed for the Sluggy Freelance set of Button Men (late 2000), and worked well as the starting point for this new set of Button Men.

1. ↑ http://beatpeopleup.cheapass.com/button-men-stats/fantasy/
Big Top

**Release Date**: 2003

**Set Size**: 4 Buttons

**Designers**: Anvil

**Artist**: Alessandra Cimatoribus

A set of four buttons made to promote the card game Big Top. The set was distributed only on Button Men Online, and was created by the player "Anvil," who also worked on the Big Top board game.

The set uses Focus Dice, Trip Dice, Speed Dice, and Fire Dice to very flavorful effect.

According to Anvil:

> I had given my Fan Tan variant (Big Top) to APE Games because the owner is a good friend of mine and he wanted some simple card games in his portfolio as he rebooted his company after his Dark Horizon games kind of stalled out.  Kevin wanted ways to get the word out.
>
>

> I had also worked closely on testing with Timegate Studios on their Kohan RTS game for the PC.  Denis Papp, the director of development at the now-defunct TimeGate, is also a good friend of mine and he loves doing AI.  He was interested in writing an AI that interfaced with the Button Men Online page
>
>

> So, I asked about making a Big Top set that was designed by pounding on it with Denis's AI and it kind of evolved from there.  I honestly don't recall any of the iterations or edits, or how it all ended up where it is today.  The idea was to use the dice types available at the time and find artwork from the game that matched them.
>
>

Ringmaster
     z(6) z(6) z(6) z(10) z(T)
Monkeys
Firebreather

Artwork provided by their aritst, Alessandra Cimatoribus. www.cimatoribusalessandra.com.

1. ↑ https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/7048/big-top
Mirror World

Mirror World is a set concepted by Nonce. It is based on being the "Evil Twin" of whichever character it is facing. This set has not been tested, and may grow as it is worked on.

Miserly Twin

Miserly Twin copies the dice sizes, dice skills, and abilities of their opponent, and each die gains the Value skill.

Shadowy Simulacrum

Shadowy Simulacrum copies the dice sizes, dice skills, and abilities of their opponent, and each die gains the Shadow skill.

Evil Twin

Evil Twin copies the dice sizes, dice skills, and abilities of their opponent, and each die gains the Evil skill.

Poisonous Plagerist

Poisonous Plagerist copies the dice sizes, dice skills, and abilities of their opponent, and each die gains the Poison skill. Each non-Twin die becomes a Twin Die with two of the same size die. Twin Dice become Triplet Dice with an additional die the average size of the original Twin Dice, rounded up.

Deadly Duplicate

Deadly Duplicate copies the dice sizes, dice skills, and abilities of their opponent, and each die gains the Assassin skill.

Nulled Negative

Nulled Negative copies the dice sizes, dice skills, and abilities of their opponent, and each die gains the Null skill.

Bootleg Boomer

Bootleg Boomer copies the dice sizes, dice skills, and abilities of their opponent, and each die gains the Boom skill.

Raging Replicant

Raging Replicant copies the dice sizes, dice skills, and abilities of their opponent, and each die gains the Rage skill.

Rambo Rip-off

Rambo Rip-off copies the dice sizes, dice skills, and abilities of their opponent, and each die gains the Full Auto skill.

Trippy Twin

Trippy Twin copies the dice sizes, dice skills, and abilities of their opponent, and each die gains the Trip skill.

Lucky Emulation

Lucky Emulation copies the dice sizes, dice skills, and abilities of their opponent, and each die gains the Lucky skill.

Morphing Mimic

Morphing Mimic copies the dice sizes, dice skills, and abilities of their opponent, and each die gains the Morph skill.
Defensive Dice

During your turn, subtract one from the value of each Defensive Dice in your Active Dice Pool.

When it is not your turn, add one to the value of the Defensive Dice in your Active Dice Pool.

Defensive Dice were introduced in the Blademasters 2 fan set.

(Button Men Online Symbol: "|") Currently not implemented. [See also Category:Sets\_with\_Defensive\_Dice]

1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20050429155402/http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~bc3p/butnlist.txt
Reserve Dice

Whenever you lose a round to your opponent, you may move any one of your character’s Reserve Dice into your Starting Dice for the next round (the same rule applies to your opponent after they lose a round). When the next round begins, you will now have one extra die to use during play. This reassignment of Reserve Dice to Starting Dice applies to any round and once a Reserve Die is converted to a Starting Die, it remains in play as a Starting Die for every subsequent round until the match is over. Transforming a Reserve Die into a Starting Die is not a requirement if you lose; it is always optional. Characters who just won the previous round cannot transform their Reserve Dice.

For any abilities that look for Variable Dice, Reserve Dice count as Variable Dice.

Reserve Dice first appeared in the Sailor Moon sets.

(Button Men Online symbol: "r") [See also Category:Sets\_with\_Reserve\_Dice]
Soldiers

**Release Date**: April, 1999

**Set Size**: 12 Buttons, 1 Rare; 12 Cards (Print and Play Free Edition); 13 cards (Button Men Originals)

**Publisher**: Cheapass Games

**Designer**: James Ernest

**Artist**: Brian Snoddy

**Rares**: Changeling

**Awards**: Soldiers won two Origins Awards: Best Abstract Board Game and Best Graphic Presentation of a Board Game of 1999.

Soldiers was the first Button Men set. The first printing of Soldiers consisted of 10 characters and came with a 2-fold rules sheet. The first edition buttons can be distinguished by the slightly larger size and their “Badge-a-Minit” backs. The second edition has a slightly smaller, unmarked back and includes a tri-fold rules sheet, as well as two new characters: Hannah and Kublai, bringing the set total to twelve.

Soldiers also had one rare button, Changeling. Rare buttons were often printed on the extra space on rulebook press sheets, and hand-assembled in small quantities. Rares from Cheapass Games are always easy to distinguish by their “Badge-a-Minit” frame. Rares are not normally offered for sale, and are often unusual characters.

Though essentially fair, Changeling was dubbed illegal in tournaments simply because she was hard to find, and might be perceived as unfair because of her five Swing Dice. One misconception about Changeling is that her Swing Dice can vary independently. In fact, the rules dictate that they must all be the same, so there are only five permutations of Changeling.

**Design Notes**

Soldiers was the original experiment to create a dice combat system in which every size of die was relatively equivalent. It wasn’t a perfect system: although the differences are slight, certain characters from Soldiers have proven stronger against each other and the rest of the system. For heavy hitters, Bauer and Hammer are the hands-down favorites. Hardcore players are big fans of Shore and Stark. New Cheapass expansions are typically playtested against the trio of Bauer, Shore, and Stark.

Soldiers introduced the template for all Button Men character biographies, which are essentially a mockery of the traditional concept of character biographies. Each Button Man is described by several random and incongruous elements of “personality,” concluding with the universal common denominator that they like to beat people up.

Please note this is a commercially available product in Button Men Originals.

     Hannah
     Kublai

Print-And-Play images

1. ↑ http://beatpeopleup.cheapass.com/button-men-stats/soldiers/
Morph Dice

Morph Dice copy the size of any die they capture; if multiple Morph Dice are used in an attack, all Morph Dice used become the new size. Morph Dice are scored according to their current size upon capture or their current size at the end of the round if uncaptured.

(Button Men Online symbol: "m") [See also Category:Sets\_with\_Morph\_Dice]
Warrior Dice

Warrior Dice, also called Droid Dice in the Sailor Moon Crystal Challenge set, are a special type of Reserve dice. They are indicated by diamond-shaped dice ovals on the left hand side of the character. They are not part of the initial Starting Dice and can only brought into play as part of a multi-die Skill Attack. Once in play, the dice remain part of the Active Dice until the end of the round. At the beginning of a new round or match, Warrior Dice start out of play. To bring a Warrior Die into play, you must include it at its maximum value as part of a Skill Attack. Only one Warrior Die may be brought into play each turn. Once used in a Skill Attack, the Warrior Die functions like a Standard Die

For example, assume your opponent has a 7 showing on a die and your Active Dice show a 1 and a 2. You could make a Skill Attack against the 7 using the d1 and d2 by bringing in a Warrior d4 (1+2+4=7) or using only the d1 by bringing in a Warrior d6 (1+6=7). Once a Warrior Die is brought into play, it functions as a regular Active Die and must be re-rolled after using it in attacks.

As they are a variant of the Reserve Dice, using a Warrior Die is always optional, even if no other attacks can be made.

(Button Men Online symbol: " ` ") [See also Category:Sets\_with\_Warrior\_Dice]
Reputation

**Reputation** is the amount of renown each of your caracters have obtained during their adventuring. Your company's reputation is determined by the sum of all your character's own reputation. It is needed to gain access to prelates in monasteries, headmasters in villages, mayors in towns, and the Viceroy in Auhert's Beacon. It's also needed for offically obtaining a travel permit (precisely 75 company reputation), and for some quests to be available. You gain or lose reputation depending on your actions: completing a quest, winning fights, failing to protect an escorted man, retreating, etc...

#### Reputation gain for a hunting/killing quest battle

During a quest for which you are requested to kill animals or people, and therefore you need to engage a battle in order to do so, this battle will resolve in a lesser gain of reputation than if it was enemies encountered randomly. The loss of potential renown is of the order of 1 reputation/member.

## Access to high-ranked

 Prelates
 Headmen
 Mayors
 Viceroy

## Reputation given by arena fights

 2
 3
 4
 5

 7
 8
 9
 10