Let's invent some very weird pieces

As for the Time Thieve graphic, I agree with friedmelon. The grim reaper is not really related to time effects. The Time Thieve is no more related to death than any other piece that could capture.

Now can we try blindfolded bulldog chess

(https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess960-chess-variants/blindfolded-bulldog)

There's a lot of interesting ideas in this forum. I have made a chess variant that starts like normal chess and then each player can once each game roll a die to start a variant. Each player being able to start a variant once/game means it will be a combination of 2 variants and the players will have to adapt when they get to know the new ruleset. Currently I have 100 different variants that I use and a couple of extra unused variants. I might use more than 100 variants in the future and getting inspiration from this forum for new variants could be useful for me.  Anyway, the main point was not for me to advertise my variant, but rather give some background to some universal rules I use and mention a variant which uses some form of soul eater (mentioning grim reaper reminded me of that one).

The universal rules for my variants does not make a difference in classical chess. Some seem somewhat relevant to things discussed here, so I'll just paste the rules I use here.

Movement:

1. Pawns can move 2 squares forward if they are on the first or second rank. It is irrelevant whether they have moved or not.
2. Castling counts as moving both pieces. If a rule replaces either the rooks or kings normal movement, castling is no longer a legal move.
3. If a piece is standing on a promotion square it is allowed to spend one move standing still on that square and promote.

Checks and checkmate:

1. When a player gets in check it directly becomes that player's turn, even if the current player's turn is not finished yet.
2. If both players gets in check at the same time the game ends in a draw. This includes if one or both players are in checkmate. If this happens at the start of an event (before a single move has been made after rolling the die, then the player should reroll the die to trigger another event.

Threefold repetition:

The threefold repetition goes beyond the position on the board. Everything except the chess clocks need to be repeated 3 times which includes.

- pieces in hand

- number of times each player can activate an event.

- any form of counter (amounts of time a special move can be made and such)

One of the variants is called soul eater. Players keep the captured pieces in hand (so white has all the captured black pieces like normal) and a player can once/turn remove a piece from their hand and put it to the side. Then their king can move like that piece until end of turn. The king can not promote on the 8th rank though.

Artillery: moves 1 square in any orthogonal direction without capturing up to three times, or may capture by 'shooting' any piece 2 squares away from it (basically rifle capture). Reminds me of Advance Wars.

reminds me of peashooter

the laser man: moves like a rook. it can also move through any number of pieces(can't capture after that), but must be on the board-lol~

I would be up for a game. I would want some clarification of the lumberjack though.

1: Will pawns on the first or second rank always be able to move 2 spaces forward regardless if they have moved?

2: Will a king be able to castle after having been pushed by the lumberjack? (It technically hasn't made a move)

3: Will a king be able to castle past a square where he would be pushed off by the lumberjack?

4: Will pawns pushed to the last rank not promote, but be able to spend one move standing still to promote?

För question 3 I meant a similar case, but with the queen on b6. Can the white king castle or does the f1 square being in check if the king was there make the move illegal.

Yeah, I think so too. I like your choice of implementation of these things. Seem quite elegant and intuitive. One last question though and then I think I know how everything work. When a pawn moves 3 spaces forward is it possible to capture en passant on any of the 2 squares the pawn moves through?

This one guy thought of an idea where pieces can not just move on the squares, but move ON THE LINES which divide the squares.

One of my variants makes bishops, rooks and queens able to stop between squares. The thing with that variant though was that the piece occupy both squares (or 4 squares), so they were easier to capture. I guess that concept is different since it is about standing on multiple squares rather than the lines though.

The Magician's Apprentice

Almost exactly the same as the Superchess Magician:
Moves like a King or Knight, or moves to the second square orthogonally or diagonally. Can never jump. Cannot capture but can be captured.

Enemy pieces next to the Magician's Apprentice are deprived of any King's movement - if they had any - but are still able to do non-King moves.

For example, a Rook next to an enemy Magician's Apprentice cannot step one square but can still slide two or more squares. A Knight is never affected by a Magician's Apprentice.

what are triangles here?

and lines

triangles are non-capture

Welcome back Musketeerchess! Hope you had a good time in the Caribbean. Jose Capablanca was from Cuba, and since he used the archbishop and chancellor (for his variant - Capablanca Chess), he would probably be a big fan of this forum!

But I assume you didn't play much chess, and instead smoked cigars and drank tequila?

The Assassin. It eliminates the enemy piece by creeping up behind it.

ulfhednar1234, this topic will be much more to your taste.

The American. It just sits there the whole game taking up its square and is not capable of movement. Can be captured, of course.

I have some ideas how the grim reaper could work.

The grim reaper has no normal movement.

Whenever an enemy piece is threatening to capture the grim reaper, the grim reaper can move to the square the piece is standing on and capture it.

Players keep captured pieces as souls. A player may remove one of their souls during their turn. Then the grim reaper will gain all abilities except royalty and promotional abilities of that piece until end of turn.

If a promoted pawn gets captured only a pawn will be added as a soul.

Removing souls will most often be used like removing a bishop and then move like a bishop. Note though that it is possible to for example use a witch as a soul and then move another piece.

I think this could be an interesting ruleset fitting for the grim reaper. At the start it is pretty useless, but nobody wants to approach it. The more pieces that dies the more powerful it becomes with its ability to harvest souls. You have to be careful with how you spend the souls though

Not sure why you quoted me, but the dragon looks cool.