Custom Scenario: Night of the Walking Dead!

[Leonard]

This is my first (hopefully of many) custom scenarios. I wanted to create a scenario that mirrored as closely as possible, the more conventional zombie stories out there, hence the name, an amalgamation of TWD and NotLD.

I was also interested in creating something that could hold all 8 original survivors and that would use all 6 of the L-shaped boards. Being a big AToE fan I also wanted to raise the stakes regarding the competitive aspect of the game, particularly as my gaming group is very competitive. With that in mind I've created 'Night of the Walking Dead - News Chopper 3', using 8 Heroes and 6 L-shaped boards with the Manor piece, and pitting every Hero player against each other as well as the Zombie team!

This scenario essentially bridges the gap between 'Defend the Manor House' and 'Escape in the Truck' story wise, and incorporates elements from a variety of different scenarios while adding some more original aspects also. I'm not a photoshop whizz so unfortunately I had to use a combination of MS Word and Paint

I plan on doing a proper prequel and sequel also, so this will probably be the middle scenario in a sequence of 3 (because trilogies are awesome!).

Anyway please see the scenario cards below as well as a brief written piece to set the tone for the scenario.

All thoughts/feedback/criticisms welcome, especially as I have yet to play test it myself.

The story:
On a seemingly ordinary autumnal night, the dead have risen in the sleepy town of Woodinvale. The heavy crunch of the dead on fallen leaves and their ghoulish, hungry din are carried in the wind. A small band of survivors have huddled together, seeking refuge in the old abandoned manor house overlooking the town as fear, panic and mistrust pervades the evening air.

A gruff male voice interrupts the static emanating from the antique radio, silencing the room. ‘People of Woodinvale, this is News Chopper 3. We will be refuelling in Woodinvale at dawn. We have room for two more. If there is anyone alive out there, signal your locale at dawn. We will find you.’

The message repeats. A pilot from the local news station located just outside of town has radioed, promising to make a single trip in the morning, carrying two survivors to a distant safe haven. An ominous silence follows.

With limited resources, and a growing desperation, alliances must be formed. Surviving the night might prove more difficult than anyone had imagined, with each survivor learning that their biggest threat to survival may not be the dead after all.

[Zombotanist]

This looks great! I am so going to try this, though I may have to wait for a bigger gaming group! Lol I love the idea, however; pitting the survivors against each other in a desperate race for a chance to survive just a little bit longer. Brilliant!

[PJON]

Hi, i totally like the idea. Unfortunitly for me. The only way i can see the Images is on my phone. So i cant truely see the full concept, but i like the idea

[scarydk]

(07-31-2012 06:28 PM)Leonard Wrote:  This is my first (hopefully of many) custom scenarios. I wanted to create a scenario that mirrored as closely as possible, the more conventional zombie stories out there, hence the name, an amalgamation of TWD and NotLD.

I was also interested in creating something that could hold all 8 original survivors and that would use all 6 of the L-shaped boards. Being a big AToE fan I also wanted to raise the stakes regarding the competitive aspect of the game, particularly as my gaming group is very competitive. With that in mind I've created 'Night of the Walking Dead - News Chopper 3', using 8 Heroes and 6 L-shaped boards with the Manor piece, and pitting every Hero player against each other as well as the Zombie team!

This scenario essentially bridges the gap between 'Defend the Manor House' and 'Escape in the Truck' story wise, and incorporates elements from a variety of different scenarios while adding some more original aspects also. I'm not a photoshop whizz so unfortunately I had to use a combination of MS Word and Paint

I plan on doing a proper prequel and sequel also, so this will probably be the middle scenario in a sequence of 3 (because trilogies are awesome!).

Anyway please see the scenario cards below as well as a brief written piece to set the tone for the scenario.

All thoughts/feedback/criticisms welcome, especially as I have yet to play test it myself.

The story:
On a seemingly ordinary autumnal night, the dead have risen in the sleepy town of Woodinvale. The heavy crunch of the dead on fallen leaves and their ghoulish, hungry din are carried in the wind. A small band of survivors have huddled together, seeking refuge in the old abandoned manor house overlooking the town as fear, panic and mistrust pervades the evening air.

A gruff male voice interrupts the static emanating from the antique radio, silencing the room. ‘People of Woodinvale, this is News Chopper 3. We will be refuelling in Woodinvale at dawn. We have room for two more. If there is anyone alive out there, signal your locale at dawn. We will find you.’

The message repeats. A pilot from the local news station located just outside of town has radioed, promising to make a single trip in the morning, carrying two survivors to a distant safe haven. An ominous silence follows.

With limited resources, and a growing desperation, alliances must be formed. Surviving the night might prove more difficult than anyone had imagined, with each survivor learning that their biggest threat to survival may not be the dead after all.

Like PJON and Zombotanist I really like what you have done here. The background story is great and really sets the mood. Well done.

To get an idea of how it plays out, you would definitely have to test the scenario, but reading through it, it sounds like it could be a tough one for the zombie player in terms of winning. Perhaps too tough. With so many Heroes on the board some of which will be finding townsfolk (within a reasonable timespan) allowing them to get a decent arsenal of weapons and acquire the flare gun. I would consider giving the ZP the auto-spawn ability since the number of Heroes on the board requires that there's enough zombies present at all times.

Finding the Townsfolk will be crucial to winning the game for the lucky Hero(es). My guess is that the first Hero to actually find one will be the likely winner since he/she gets to draw more cards (a powerful advantage especially in this scenario since finding the flare gun is the Hero's ticket out) and gets to carry more items (which is good for storing more weapons than your average Hero). It's a good thing you have chosen to slow such Heroes down, but the question is if it's good enough if the ZP is low on zeds.

[Leonard]

(08-02-2012 01:42 PM)Zombotanist Wrote:  This looks great! I am so going to try this, though I may have to wait for a bigger gaming group! Lol I love the idea, however; pitting the survivors against each other in a desperate race for a chance to survive just a little bit longer. Brilliant!

Thanks for the feedback, and of course if you do try it, let me know how it goes

(08-02-2012 02:13 PM)PJON Wrote:  Hi, i totally like the idea. Unfortunitly for me. The only way i can see the Images is on my phone. So i cant truely see the full concept, but i like the idea

Thanks!

(08-02-2012 03:07 PM)scarydk Wrote:  Like PJON and Zombotanist I really like what you have done here. The background story is great and really sets the mood. Well done.

To get an idea of how it plays out, you would definitely have to test the scenario, but reading through it, it sounds like it could be a tough one for the zombie player in terms of winning. Perhaps too tough. With so many Heroes on the board some of which will be finding townsfolk (within a reasonable timespan) allowing them to get a decent arsenal of weapons and acquire the flare gun. I would consider giving the ZP the auto-spawn ability since the number of Heroes on the board requires that there's enough zombies present at all times.

Finding the Townsfolk will be crucial to winning the game for the lucky Hero(es). My guess is that the first Hero to actually find one will be the likely winner since he/she gets to draw more cards (a powerful advantage especially in this scenario since finding the flare gun is the Hero's ticket out) and gets to carry more items (which is good for storing more weapons than your average Hero). It's a good thing you have chosen to slow such Heroes down, but the question is if it's good enough if the ZP is low on zeds.

Thanks for the feedback! I should note that I have imagined this scenario as having an auto-spawn feature for the zombie turn, given how large the board will be, and the number of survivors. I agree it is important to remove the usual zombie spawning limitations if this scenario is to give the zombie team any chance. This will mean the zombie team may have their 14 base zombies on the board in addition to however many Zombie Heroes they've created, at any time, noting that EVERY Hero killed by the zombie team will become a Zombie Hero.

You are right about the importance of the Townsfolk. My initial thinking was that Heroes in possession of Townsfolk will be more susceptible to zombie hunger and will have to fight more than those without Townsfolk, given that they will be moving more slowly.

Also, cards such as dynamite and gasoline will prove vital. As with any other scenario, these will allow Hero players to attack and potentially kill other Hero players (filling up all of the Heroes wound markers), unless they have a Townsfolk which they can sacrifice, (preventing 1 of those wounds, the fatal one). The result is that the Hero would be left with a normal number of items, no Townsfolk, and only 1 wound marker left. In this way, Townsfolk also make Heroes more susceptible to attacks from other (competitive!) Hero players. So in short, Townsfolk may prove to be a curse!

I am toying with the idea of allowing the zombie team additional spawning pit(s) at the start of the game, and maybe even increasing their zombie card limit to 8 (instead of the current 6), but I might try out the game in it's current form before implementing these changes.

[StayPuft]

Dang it to poo! For some reason the picture won't work on my work computer. I usually visit here during breaks at work. I don't really get much of a chance to go online at home, but I'll have to try to see if I can. I wanted to see your scenario. It sounds cool.

[Leonard]

Just wanted to confirm that I've finally play-tested this scenario with 4 players and it was AWESOME, we had a ball. We used the board layout as per the 'Run for it!' scenario. The zombie team ultimately won but it came down to the final turn with Sally and Jake versus 20 zombies (14 regular plus 6 zombie Heroes!). The hero versus hero element worked great, with Jake managing to blow Becky up with a gasoline marker to return the flare gun to the discard pile while Sally (on the same team as Jake) made her way to the hanger to pick it up before the zombie team removed it from the game! The rules were pretty easy to pick up which made the scenario really accessible and overall it was really balanced. I'd recommend having only 1 zombie player though.

Another rule we implemented was as follows: depending on the number of Hero players, the Heroes may not be completely equally divisible. In this case, we rolled a number of die equivalent to the number of outstanding Hero sheets. Each of the remaining Heroes was assigned a number according to each dice roll, corresponding to either 1-6 of the numbered tokens provided with the game. These tokens were then shuffled and each assigned to a random building. Any Hero could give up their search action to look at the numbered token in their building and if it matches, they get the additional Hero character who will come in to play in the next Hero turn.

[samuraitrev]

Hey Leonard this sounds fantastic! I will let you know when I get to play it. Thanks for doing this. I would like to see more custom scenarios and characters on here.