Defend the Manor - Massive game for Game Festival

[stubobj]

This weekend is the Great Plains Game Festival and I have been given a 4 hour time block to run a scenario. I want to keep things as simple as possible seeing as a) this is my first time running an event like this and b) most of the players will most likely be new to the game. So heres my thoughts.

Defend the Manor Massive Game Scenario

-This will be a timed event that doesnt use the Sun Tracker. If the Heroes can survive the 4hr time block they win. What we do if all Heroes die wil depend on time.
-All boards from Base and Timber Peak will be used.
-A potential of 11 Heroes in play. Survivor Chracters will be used.
-Barricades will be used as well as the Experience system. I feel these are kind of needed but shouldnt be too much for any new players
-28 zombies wil be used
-Zombies Autospawn, Extra Fight Dice, and 6 card hand (I will be the Zombie Master!!!!)
-I dont want players to feel like they have to stay so if a player ever wants to leave their character will either be taken over by someone else not playing or go into "hiding". A character in hiding will be placed on their side, all their item cards will stay on the character card, any event cards in hand are given to the player to the left, No figure or cards may interact with a character in hiding. When another player takes control of a character in hiding they will get a free movement roll if any Zombies are with in 1 space and may move through Zombies without fighting.
-Hero Deck depeletion will not be a loss but should it be replinished or not considering all pick up abilities will be in play.
-Should I keep the Zombie Win of 9 or more Zombies in the Manor or alter this some how?
-Heroes will get their free Hero card.

So any thoughts on this? I want this to be difficult for the Heroes but still mostly in their favor. I feel like things should be fairly balanced but we will see once theres 11 hereos out at one time. If I feel like things are getting too easy for the heroes I want some things in mind that I can do to change that. For instance I may out of no where tell them Zombies now move an extra space each turn or I may spawn a couple Zombie Hereos from any Townsfolk event thats in the discard.

[samuraitrev]

This sounds great. I will try to help you with this. It's going to be very bloody!

Are you using Fire?
Grave Weapon Zombies?
Survival Tactics and Unique Items?

Lots to consider and it's very hard to judge how to balance the game without testing. Here's what you've got so far (using the dots system, introduced by FFP)

Heroes
00= Barricades
00= Heroes Replenish
00= Hero Starting Cards (x1)
00000= Extra Heroes (5 dots each) so [7 extra Heroes x 5 = 35 dots]
Total=41 dots

Zombies
00= Always Zombie Heroes
0000= Zombies Auto Spawn
0000= Zombie Horde (21) (well 28 in your case!)
unknown = Extra Zombie Fight Dice (1)
unknown = Zombie Card hand size (6)
Total = 10 dots (+ unknowns maybe 5 and 10 which would give you 25 total)

See here for the other dot costs http://www.thezombiegame.com/forums/Thre...ence-chart

Hope this helps

[stubobj]

(03-11-2014 05:33 PM)samuraitrev Wrote:  This sounds great. I will try to help you with this. It's going to be very bloody!

Are you using Fire?
Grave Weapon Zombies?
Survival Tactics and Unique Items?

Lots to consider and it's very hard to judge how to balance the game without testing. Here's what you've got so far (using the dots system, introduced by FFP)

Heroes
00= Barricades
00= Heroes Replenish
00= Hero Starting Cards (x1)
00000= Extra Heroes (5 dots each) so [7 extra Heroes x 5 = 35 dots]
Total=41 dots

Zombies
00= Always Zombie Heroes
0000= Zombies Auto Spawn
0000= Zombie Horde (21) (well 28 in your case!)
unknown = Extra Zombie Fight Dice (1)
unknown = Zombie Card hand size (6)
Total = 10 dots (+ unknowns maybe 5 and 10 which would give you 25 total)

See here for the other dot costs http://www.thezombiegame.com/forums/Thre...ence-chart

Hope this helps

Thanks Trev that does help some. I could swear there were dots for extra fight dice and hand size increase. I've essentially combined Defend the Manor with Revenge of the Dead. I don't expect to have this be perfectly balanced. I'm thinkin ill drop barricades just for the sake of simplicity. Ill keep what I have for the zombies but allow the heroes to take the first turn. Ill also limit the initial spawn to the pits to the outer edges. Ill post pics later tonight of the setup.

Also I'm supposed to write up a little blurb about my event so I'm thinking something like this:

The town of Woodbury has been overrun with zombies. The last safe haven in town is the Manor house. Team up with the last of the survivors to defend the Manor from the revenge of the Dead. How long can you survive?

Oh also no to fires, grave weapons, survival decks. Less to keep track of the better.

I'm also thinking of keeping the zombie win of 9 zombies in the Manor but upping it a higher number. Should I just double it to 18 since I'm running 28 zombies?

One last question for now: Should I have a manor deck? I'm leaning towards yes.

[samuraitrev]

Ok if you're going for simplicity. I agree with dropping the Fire, Survival/Unique Items, Barricade and Grave Weapon Zombies. If you're going for simplicity drop the Manor Deck too otherwise you'll get cries of
"What? Why can't I search in there anymore etc."

With 11 Heroes it's going to be hard to get 9 Zombies into the Manor House. Hmm 18 is too much how about 12? Like I say it's tricky without any playtesting. I hope this goes well. I'm looking forward to hearing about it

[sgiove]

(03-13-2014 12:33 AM)samuraitrev Wrote:  With 11 Heroes it's going to be hard to get 9 Zombies into the Manor House. Hmm 18 is too much how about 12? Like I say it's tricky without any playtesting. I hope this goes well. I'm looking forward to hearing about it

I'm confused. If you are saying it's going to be difficult to get 9 zombies into the manor with 11 Heroes defending, why would you want to increase the number of zombies needed in the mansion? If admitting 9 will be too difficult, wouldn't it make more sense to reduce that number rather than increase it?

The flip side is that the zombie horde will be doubled as well. So, with a zombie horde double the normal size and a hero group almost triple to normal size, maybe try playtesting the 9 zombie rule first and take it from there?

[samuraitrev]

(03-13-2014 04:34 PM)sgiove Wrote:  

(03-13-2014 12:33 AM)samuraitrev Wrote:  With 11 Heroes it's going to be hard to get 9 Zombies into the Manor House. Hmm 18 is too much how about 12? Like I say it's tricky without any playtesting. I hope this goes well. I'm looking forward to hearing about it

I'm confused. If you are saying it's going to be difficult to get 9 zombies into the manor with 11 Heroes defending, why would you want to increase the number of zombies needed in the mansion? If admitting 9 will be too difficult, wouldn't it make more sense to reduce that number rather than increase it?

The flip side is that the zombie horde will be doubled as well. So, with a zombie horde double the normal size and a hero group almost triple to normal size, maybe try playtesting the 9 zombie rule first and take it from there?

Sorry if I didn't explain clearly (it was a late night). No, I think it will be quite easy to get 9 Zombies into the Manor House with Zombies Autospawn and a Zombie hand of 6. To increase the difficulty for the Zombies they would have to get more Zombies in. Say 12, maybe more?

[stevey.ferret.lord]

This entire idea sounds amazing! I wanna play

[ATOEtalGeek]

(03-14-2014 03:06 PM)stevey.ferret.lord Wrote:  This entire idea sounds amazing! I wanna play

Hear! Hear!

[stubobj]

Hmmm I have no clue how to get a pic from my gallery posted here. Anyways heres http://www.thezombiegame.com/gallery/thu...=92&page=1 a pic of the setup Ill be using with this scenario. I made sure all the start locations were fairly well spread out, the road out of town actually leads out of town, and most importantly NO CHOKEPOINTS!!!!

So heres what we are going with:

Hereos:
11 Heroes in all so 7 extra
Heroes will go first

Zombies:
28 Zombies
Zombies Autospawn
Extra Fight Dice
6 card Handsize
Zombies win there is at least 1 zombie in each space of the Manor house or if they kill ALL 11 Heroes
As the Zombie/Game Master I will adjust difficulty as the game goes on.

To spice this up even more I will be giving away a copy of Last Night on Earth. Anyone who demos the game tonight or participates in the scenario event on Sunday will be entered into a drawing. Im thinking also an extra entry for each zombie killed during the scenario.

[samuraitrev]

I took the liberty.

   

Hope this helps