My try at a Villain: The Bandit Lord

[Lihis]

I just got this game and I really like it!
This my try at a Villain, the Bandit Lord. I know, I know, it doesn’t really fit the title ”the supernatural game”...

The Villain has been tested once and after that some changes were made. The Villain hasn’t been tested after the changes. We are new to the game so I/we cant really say if this Villain is any good. I’d like to hear your feedback, hopely of the constructive variety.

THE BANDIT LORD
Villain - Man - Ruthless
5 Combat
5 Wounds

ABILITIES:
*I never play with the Basic game so I haven’t decided what ability should be the Basic ability.*

Protection Money - Everytime a Hero buys an Item from the Blacksmith, give one of the Investigation markers to the Bandit Lord. When he gets 3 Investigation markers add a +1 Wound marker to the Bandit Lord and remove the Investigation markers.

Ambush - When lingering, you get attacked on the roll of 1 and 2.

Contract Killer - If a keyword Death card is drawn during the Mystery Phase, the First Player can choose to make a Cunning 4+ test. If successful, the player may pay 3 Investigation to hire the Bandit Lord to attack another Hero (single fight round, does not count as a showdown, no wounds are caused to the Bandit Lord, instead successful hits gain 1 Investigation) or to kill a Town Elder.
*Notes: Originally the Idea was that the player had to make a Honor 4+ test and FAIL it, because hiring the Villain to kill someone isn’t exactly honorable. The cost was also 5 Investigation and the fight didn’t bring any Investigation. The change from failing a Honor test to succeeding in a Cunning test was made because then Heroes with high Honor would lose that advantage that high Honor is supposed to bring and become weaker. Testers also didn’t like the idea that you had to FAIL a test in order to get the good result. We also felt that the cost of 5 Investigation was too high and that the fight should get you Investigation just like other fights with Villains.*

Backstab - When a Hero ends their turn in the same space as another Hero they may try to wound the other Hero by making a Cunning 4+ test. If successful the attacked Hero must pass a Cunning 5+ test or take 1 Wound.
*Notes: The same idea of failing a Honor test was used here and was changed for the same reasons.*

Poisoned Blade - If the Bandit Lord wounds you, you become poisoned and starting from this turn must place 1 Transformation marker on your Hero per turn (+one in every showdown round!). As soon as there are 4 markers the Hero takes a Wound every turn until healed. Heal like you would heal a Wound.

Eliminate The Opposition - Any time the Mystery Card ”Murder!” is played, The Bandit Lord gains +1 Combat.

MINION CHART:
*Once again, we do not play the Basic game, so there aren’t Basic & Advanced versions, just one version of the Minion chart.*

1-2 Highwayman (Minion - Man)
Fight Dice 2
Wounds 2
Victory 4 Investigation
Notes: If not defeated in the first Fight Round, Highwayman steals one of your Items (discard, your choice) or 1 Investigation and disappears, ending the Fight. (Remove the Highwayman marker from the board.)
*Originally the Highwayman stole only Items but we thought it was too harsh.*

3-4 Assassin (Minion - Man)
Fight Dice 2
Wounds 2
Victory 3 Investigation
Notes: You may not Escape.

5 Crime wave (Event)
Roll a D3. Remove that many Investigation from the board. If there aren’t any on the board, each hero loses D3 Investigation, Ally or Item.

6 Your money... or your life (Event)
The Villain attacks! The Hero must immediately resolve a single Fight Round with the Villain OR pay 3 Investigation. When Fighting, instead of causing Wounds, each Hit done to the Villain gains 1 Investigation for the Hero. This does not count as a Showdown.
If there are no Heroes in the space, instead place 2 Investigation at the Location and the Shadow track moves 1 step closer to Darkness.


I'm pretty tired and English isn't my first language but hopefully there aren't many mistakes in the text. I'm sorry if it is hard to read / understand in some parts.

So... what do you think?

[vikinglad]

Great idea. I like that it seems to use some of the markers from the game for minions, etc. too. The powers are really cool thematically, and sound like they would be pretty fun. The only thing I would say is that the "contract killer" and "backstab" special powers do not seem to well suited for co-op play.

[Esturk]

STAAAAAAAAND AND DELIIIIVEER! Your money or your life!

I'll use this villian if only to have a reason to play Adam and the Ants in the back ground

He's definitely not a co-op play villain, as vikinglad said, i'd also vote to lose the Contract Killer and Backstab abilities. Doesn't make sense to hire the guy you're trying to kill... rather than Backstab, I do have a nifty proposition.

Cutpurse - Whenever a hero ends his movement on the same space as another hero, both heroes must pass a cunning 4+ test or lose D3 investigation.

This could illustrate the bandit lord and his minions secretly siphoning resources from the heroes as they get distracted by one another. It's handy in games that aren't co-op as the higher cunning characters could constantly harass lower cunning characters. In co-op it would be useful to keep heroes from wanting to be in the same space as their comrades for fear of either losing investigation. Keep them spread out.

That's my 2 cents.

[Lihis]

Thanks for the replys (replies?) and feedback.

I agree that the ”Contract Killer” and ”Backstab” abilities aren’t really well suited for co-op play. The fact that hiring your enemy doesn’t make sense is a really good point as well. Those abilities could be removed.

I like the idea of the Cutpurse ability. Makes more sense and can still be used to harass other players in competitive play (which was one of my main ideas) and also has an effect on co-op.

I’m quite busy right now with my matriculation exams (I’m from Finland, is that word used in other countries?) coming up. When those are over, I will try to update the Villain. (Or maybe sooner, even though I should focus on reading...)

I might have some more ideas for Villains as well... I think creating this villain has teached a lot about the game and how I look at it. I’m sure I will post more in the future.

Should I make a thread to the ”Introduce Yourself” section? I won’t probably be very active and more of a lurker... Right now I’m thinking that I could wait and introduce myself after my exams are done?

[Esturk]

i'd say do what you like, introducing yourself isn't mandatory.