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Campaign advancement rules?
12-05-2010, 04:57 PM (This post was last modified: 12-05-2010 05:13 PM by flightmek25.)
Post: #1
Campaign advancement rules?
I have heard about people running LNoE campaigns and recently started thinking about doing one myself. Instead of just tying missions and characters together, I thought an advancement system would be more appropriate in showing how bad-ass of a survivor the hero has become. I am picturing this system to work a lot like other tabletop miniature games that involve campaigns and "leveling up" like Mordheim & Necromunda. I looked here and did not find this concept explored so decided to share my thoughts with you and see what you think. Perhaps together we can build a system that works well.

This is purely at the brain-storming level and hasn't had any play-testing at all.

Gaining Experience

- Any hero that survives a mission gets an experience point.

- If the hero was directly involved with the winning condition of a scenario (like being on the truck at the end of the "Escape in the Truck" mission or destroying the pits in the "Burn 'em Out" scenario.) If it is a scenario like "Defend the Manor House," all surviving heroes get an additional xp point.

Note: These rules are written under the assumption that the normal rules of the game apply. Therefore, if a player loses their last hero, they get a new one as explained on pg. 19 of the LNoE rulebook. If abiding by these rules, only original heroes (i.e. those who started the scenario) get experience points. Life during a zombie apocalypse is tough and only the well-versed will survive!


Using Experience

- Any hero may burn an experience point at any time in a game to either a.) re-roll any roll (keeping the final roll) or b.) instantly heal one wound (even if it is their last wound and they are about to die!)

- A hero may burn 3 experience points between scenarios to "Level up." Leveling up is a random roll and players must consult the chart below. A hero can not gain the same level up twice! If a hero rolls an ability he already has, he may choose any ability he wants.
1. Experienced: Hero begins each game with a hero card drawn at random from the hero deck.
2. Escape Artist: Hero immune to game effects that hinder movement. (Weather cards, locked doors, & twisted ankles)
3. Prepared: The hero may carry an additional item.
4. Fortunate: Each turn (zombie and hero), the hero may re-roll a single roll.
5. Tough: Hero gains an additional wound.
6. Brawler: Hero gains an additional fight die.

Other Special Campaign rules:
- A hero always keeps the items he finished a scenario with, but he returns all unused hero cards to the hero card deck before each game. Sometimes you have to seize the moment!
- All wounds are automatically healed between scenarios. It is assumed that the heroes rest up before returning to do battle with the undead.


In Closing
Okay, so there you have it! Of course, a Zombie player (or GM) can properly tweak what needs to be in order to fit into his/her own design. For instance, you may want to eliminate the healing between each game rule to create a more continuous - and deadly - story. I purposefully made leveling up difficult (minimum of two scenarios to do so) because of unwanted over-powerness that may creep into the game. Also, players with a hero about to level up won't be willing to risk their life so easily. This will undoubtedly help some in making that stupid mistake so apparent in horror films that gets everyone killed! Unless your players are very lucky or very good, they shouldn't have too many level ups.

Things to consider
- What happens to a leveled up zombie hero? Does he retain his experienced abilities?
- What happens to zombie heroes between games? Do they disappear or are they automatically included in the next scenario as a "free zombie?"
- What about special house rules? Do they work with this rule set?
- How long should the campaign be? Do we keep it running until we get bored or do we have a clear overall goal in mind for the heroes?


Anyway....just some ideas I have had recently and thought I would share with you guys. C&C is welcome and I greatly encourage throwing in your own ideas - especially for the "level up" rules.

nursery school.....
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12-05-2010, 06:07 PM
Post: #2
RE: Campaign advancement rules?
I've been considering a similar system, but perhaps a bit more involved. We're afraid that the game might become too one-sided in later games if the heroes level up too much. I do like the ability to "burn" an experience point!
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12-05-2010, 06:32 PM
Post: #3
RE: Campaign advancement rules?
It seems that one of the upcoming expansions will allow for leveling up during a game-session -- that's what the advanced abilities are apparently about. But this is an interesting approach for campaigns. I also like the idea of using an XP for a single roll or wound.

I'd recommend with something like this, you have a set goal in mind -- a planned campaign/storyline. "On the first night, they decide to hole up together and Defend the Manor House for a while. Then, when they realize they can't continue doing so indefinitely, they need to Save the Townsfolk, then Escape in the Truck. But down at the military base, they discover that they Have To Go Back in order to find the cure and end this plague!" Or something along those lines.
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12-05-2010, 07:26 PM
Post: #4
RE: Campaign advancement rules?
(12-05-2010 06:07 PM)Brando Wrote:  I've been considering a similar system, but perhaps a bit more involved. We're afraid that the game might become too one-sided in later games if the heroes level up too much. I do like the ability to "burn" an experience point!

OP heroes is part of my fear as well, though the scenarios can always be adjusted to provide a balance. For instance, using an extra seven zombies in the pool and the auto-respawn rule from "Growing Hunger."Also, I think it is important to have a "goal" in mind like gavindowning has said below. If there are a total of 6 scenarios in the campaign, any hero can only level-up twice at most. Although that hero will be more powerful than originally intended, I think the level-up table can be modified to effectively eliminate really substantial imbalance. What do you think of the granted powers from the table? Are they sort of what you had in mind for your own campaign rules?

I think it's important to not over-complicate things either. At some point, with the addition of rules, it may make more sense to play d20 Modern or a similar RPG with a zombie theme than rewrite LNoE. I have tried to keep things simple enough to avoid this problem.

(12-05-2010 06:32 PM)gavindowning Wrote:  I'd recommend with something like this, you have a set goal in mind -- a planned campaign/storyline. "On the first night, they decide to hole up together and Defend the Manor House for a while. Then, when they realize they can't continue doing so indefinitely, they need to Save the Townsfolk, then Escape in the Truck. But down at the military base, they discover that they Have To Go Back in order to find the cure and end this plague!" Or something along those lines.

This is what I figured would be the best way to use the advancement rules while sticking as closely as possible to the original intentions of the game. The "Zombie-Lord" (GM) - see? coming up with more ideas already - should have a clear idea of how things will go. Your plan as outlined above is a perfect example of a realistic and positive flow to a story. Such a concept (w/ only a few games in the campaign) will certainly limit any one hero gaining too much XP and becoming the Tallahassee (Woody Harelson's character in Zombieland) of your gaming sessions.

Another thing to consider is the fact that these rules plunge the game into a realm dangerously close to a RPG. In a RPG, there is little desire for the GM to win, as the campaign will end and the players will be pissed, but LNoE has a strict policy of trying your damnedest to kill the opponents. To eliminate any unfairness in selecting the next scenario, it should be preordained or possibly even rolled for randomly before each session. Or - as Brando pointed out above - the power of the heroes might grow insane and a good counterweight to this may be the GMs ability to adjust the difficulty of the scenarios as he/she sees fit.

nursery school.....
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12-09-2010, 07:08 AM
Post: #5
RE: Campaign advancement rules?
(12-05-2010 04:57 PM)flightmek25 Wrote:  I have heard about people running LNoE campaigns and recently started thinking about doing one myself. Instead of just tying missions and characters together, I thought an advancement system would be more appropriate in showing how bad-ass of a survivor the hero has become. I am picturing this system to work a lot like other tabletop miniature games that involve campaigns and "leveling up" like Mordheim & Necromunda. I looked here and did not find this concept explored so decided to share my thoughts with you and see what you think. Perhaps together we can build a system that works well.

This is purely at the brain-storming level and hasn't had any play-testing at all.

Gaining Experience

- Any hero that survives a mission gets an experience point.

- If the hero was directly involved with the winning condition of a scenario (like being on the truck at the end of the "Escape in the Truck" mission or destroying the pits in the "Burn 'em Out" scenario.) If it is a scenario like "Defend the Manor House," all surviving heroes get an additional xp point.

Note: These rules are written under the assumption that the normal rules of the game apply. Therefore, if a player loses their last hero, they get a new one as explained on pg. 19 of the LNoE rulebook. If abiding by these rules, only original heroes (i.e. those who started the scenario) get experience points. Life during a zombie apocalypse is tough and only the well-versed will survive!


Using Experience

- Any hero may burn an experience point at any time in a game to either a.) re-roll any roll (keeping the final roll) or b.) instantly heal one wound (even if it is their last wound and they are about to die!)

- A hero may burn 3 experience points between scenarios to "Level up." Leveling up is a random roll and players must consult the chart below. A hero can not gain the same level up twice! If a hero rolls an ability he already has, he may choose any ability he wants.
1. Experienced: Hero begins each game with a hero card drawn at random from the hero deck.
2. Escape Artist: Hero immune to game effects that hinder movement. (Weather cards, locked doors, & twisted ankles)
3. Prepared: The hero may carry an additional item.
4. Fortunate: Each turn (zombie and hero), the hero may re-roll a single roll.
5. Tough: Hero gains an additional wound.
6. Brawler: Hero gains an additional fight die.

Other Special Campaign rules:
- A hero always keeps the items he finished a scenario with, but he returns all unused hero cards to the hero card deck before each game. Sometimes you have to seize the moment!
- All wounds are automatically healed between scenarios. It is assumed that the heroes rest up before returning to do battle with the undead.


In Closing
Okay, so there you have it! Of course, a Zombie player (or GM) can properly tweak what needs to be in order to fit into his/her own design. For instance, you may want to eliminate the healing between each game rule to create a more continuous - and deadly - story. I purposefully made leveling up difficult (minimum of two scenarios to do so) because of unwanted over-powerness that may creep into the game. Also, players with a hero about to level up won't be willing to risk their life so easily. This will undoubtedly help some in making that stupid mistake so apparent in horror films that gets everyone killed! Unless your players are very lucky or very good, they shouldn't have too many level ups.

Things to consider
- What happens to a leveled up zombie hero? Does he retain his experienced abilities?
- What happens to zombie heroes between games? Do they disappear or are they automatically included in the next scenario as a "free zombie?"
- What about special house rules? Do they work with this rule set?
- How long should the campaign be? Do we keep it running until we get bored or do we have a clear overall goal in mind for the heroes?


Anyway....just some ideas I have had recently and thought I would share with you guys. C&C is welcome and I greatly encourage throwing in your own ideas - especially for the "level up" rules.

I love the idea of it but i feel that after each character has fully leveled up it would just be to easy with all the extra perks they get
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01-25-2014, 07:52 PM
Post: #6
RE: Campaign advancement rules?
This might be hugely outdated but I figured I would toss it out there. I'm running a LNOE campaign with rules that are somewhat similar but I've hopefully factored in the 'uber heros' threat.

-We use the experience system from the game, you can only buy 'upgrades' in between scenarios, and you can only have one of each category.
-Zombie heroes stay and make re-appearances in later scenarios.
-The hero deck does not get re-shuffled in between scenarios, your discard pile remains so for the ENTIRE campaign.
-We upped the cost of upgrades to 4 experience.
-Wounds remain in between scenarios as they are continuous with no time to rest. Heroes may heal a wound by either using an item from their campaign stockpile or by sitting out one scenario which heals a wound.
-Items that 'survive' the end of a scenario become part of the 'campaign stockpile' and may be given to whomever you wish.

The other big difference is that I've created somewhat of a 'choose your own adventure' type play style. So after you finish the truck involving betting to the truck, you then have the option to either go to the manor house and attempt to hole up, or you can drive to the radio station as a random example.
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01-30-2014, 08:18 PM
Post: #7
RE: Campaign advancement rules?
(01-25-2014 07:52 PM)akaAelius Wrote:  This might be hugely outdated but I figured I would toss it out there. I'm running a LNOE campaign with rules that are somewhat similar but I've hopefully factored in the 'uber heros' threat.

-We use the experience system from the game, you can only buy 'upgrades' in between scenarios, and you can only have one of each category.
-Zombie heroes stay and make re-appearances in later scenarios.
-The hero deck does not get re-shuffled in between scenarios, your discard pile remains so for the ENTIRE campaign.
-We upped the cost of upgrades to 4 experience.
-Wounds remain in between scenarios as they are continuous with no time to rest. Heroes may heal a wound by either using an item from their campaign stockpile or by sitting out one scenario which heals a wound.
-Items that 'survive' the end of a scenario become part of the 'campaign stockpile' and may be given to whomever you wish.

The other big difference is that I've created somewhat of a 'choose your own adventure' type play style. So after you finish the truck involving betting to the truck, you then have the option to either go to the manor house and attempt to hole up, or you can drive to the radio station as a random example.

A couple questions on your system.
Are the zombie heroes treated as grave dead or as zombie champions when you decide to spawn them?
Does the Hero deck getting depleted still result in a loss or is it just treated as having picked the town clean?

I like that you can only buy upgrades after rounds, but the one of each type restriction seems a bit restrictive as it doesn't allow for specialists which seems a bit counter to some characters. (i.e. Victor naturally wants more melee upgrades due to his natural abilities.) I think I'd allow multiples of the same upgrade type, but set a limit on how many they can have total. 3 does seem about right for an upgrade limit though.
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01-31-2014, 06:48 PM
Post: #8
RE: Campaign advancement rules?
(01-30-2014 08:18 PM)Lear Wrote:  
(01-25-2014 07:52 PM)akaAelius Wrote:  This might be hugely outdated but I figured I would toss it out there. I'm running a LNOE campaign with rules that are somewhat similar but I've hopefully factored in the 'uber heros' threat.

-We use the experience system from the game, you can only buy 'upgrades' in between scenarios, and you can only have one of each category.
-Zombie heroes stay and make re-appearances in later scenarios.
-The hero deck does not get re-shuffled in between scenarios, your discard pile remains so for the ENTIRE campaign.
-We upped the cost of upgrades to 4 experience.
-Wounds remain in between scenarios as they are continuous with no time to rest. Heroes may heal a wound by either using an item from their campaign stockpile or by sitting out one scenario which heals a wound.
-Items that 'survive' the end of a scenario become part of the 'campaign stockpile' and may be given to whomever you wish.

The other big difference is that I've created somewhat of a 'choose your own adventure' type play style. So after you finish the truck involving betting to the truck, you then have the option to either go to the manor house and attempt to hole up, or you can drive to the radio station as a random example.

A couple questions on your system.
Are the zombie heroes treated as grave dead or as zombie champions when you decide to spawn them?
Does the Hero deck getting depleted still result in a loss or is it just treated as having picked the town clean?

I like that you can only buy upgrades after rounds, but the one of each type restriction seems a bit restrictive as it doesn't allow for specialists which seems a bit counter to some characters. (i.e. Victor naturally wants more melee upgrades due to his natural abilities.) I think I'd allow multiples of the same upgrade type, but set a limit on how many they can have total. 3 does seem about right for an upgrade limit though.

-The zombie heroes can be spawned at the cost of 2 zombies during the spawning stage.
-as per the rules, the heroes only lose when the zombie player would force the heroes to discard cards from it when there are none. So until someone uses Samantha DJ<which the players did manage to do halfway through their deck> it means a chance of defeat. IT also means that building abilities get used a LOT more.

~As for the upgrades, you /can/ replace them, but can only have three on a hero at a time. ie if you get a shooting upgrade that you don't want, you can buy a new upgrade and replace the old one. You can just only have 3 active ones on your at once.
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01-31-2014, 08:23 PM
Post: #9
RE: Campaign advancement rules?
I was wondering if you built the town with all the tiles for your game may not be enough zombies if you only have a small number. Atto spawning could fix that some that. I like every thing you posted I see it your game forming in to a great adventure.

Survival is only the beginning.
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01-31-2014, 09:17 PM
Post: #10
RE: Campaign advancement rules?
I've found that I have enough zombies, we only use two color sets for the first couple, and then as the campaign story continues we add more color sets to the mix as the outbreak grows. I only use the base creation, so one middle square and four L tiles for each scenario. The only alteration is that for the opening I use a specific L tile depending on if the group chooses the 'Diner cast' or the 'Highschool cast' to start the campaign.

I'm also REALLY tempted to pick up the FF soundtrack CD just for that guitar card. I envisioned having a zombie hero spawn who was an Elvis impersonator, and the hero who kills him gets the guitar weapon as a reward. :P
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