Remove and Choose Characters

2 players: Remove 1 card face-down. Player A selects a card and passes to Player B, who selects a card and places another face-down. Repeat until each player has 2 cards. Each player plays 2 turns, using the same gold and city.
3 players: Remove 1 card face down. Each player selects 1 card at a time until all players have 2 characters.
4, 5 or 6 players: Draw 1 card and place it face-down without looking at it. Turn enough cards face-up so that there is 1 more card than players remaining to choose from (0 for 6 players, 1 for 5, and 2 for 4). The King or the Emperor may not be among the face-up cards. Choose 1 character and pass to the next player. The last player chooses from 2 cards and places 1 face-down unused.