New scenerios: Rooftops

[zenmazster]

1) Start by placing 4 random L-shaped pieces around the blank middle ground piece. Each player picks a hero of their choice.

2) Heroes can climb on top of a building to the roof top by the following:

a) adding 2 additional movement when next to the building
b) adding 0 extra movement when occupied by the same space as another hero

[EXAMPLE: billy is 3 spaces away from a wall, 2 empty spaces between him and the wall: would require 2 movements to approach the wall, another 2 to climb, and one more to reach the roof. These 2 addn'l movements can be avoided with another person at the same wall space]

3) Zombies cannot climb walls and get on roofs.

4) When on a roof, heroes add +1 range to their ranged attacks. You can also 'search' as you would if inside of a building for your movement/search turn, but you may only use this search once per roof. You can notate this by taking a search token away, or by marking it with a marker.

5) When attempting to come down from a roof, the heroes may drop down with one simple movement, however must take a wound, and your movement turn immedietly ends. The hero can avoid both of these when another hero is in the same ground space.

6) You can show a character on the roof by putting a marker or two under him, something to keep track. Please note: it is possible to have a hero and a zombie in the same 'sqaure', however the zombie is under the hero on the roof obviously, and cannot attack him/her.

7) A building may be 'completely destroyed' by having a zombie in every space of the building at once. Once this happens, the building is destroyed, with no access from Heroes (zombies can still saunter over/through the rubbage). You can mark this with a 'taken over' marker if desired.

8) If a building is completely destroyed while a hero is on top, the hero takes 3 wounds.

9) Guns are scenerio search items.

Heroes win if they:
-kill 10 zombies from rooftops AND THEN
-have 2 or more heroes on a single roof top (waiting for the helicopter. Huge bonus points if all 4 heroes end on same rooftop alive)

Zombies win if they:
-destroy 6 buildings
-or preventing heroes from accomplishing their mission in 18 rounds
-or killing 4 heroes.


EDIT: Instead of 14 zombie limit, instead 21 zombie limit

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Please note: as much as it seems zombies can hide in buildings, heroes can always use zombie hunger to draw out zombies towards them. I've personally seen many hero players forget this very excellent player advantage when playing (a.k.a. taking one for the team).

[mqstout]

I love it except...

Quote:4) ... You can also 'search' as you would if inside of a building for your movement/search turn.

I'd axe this. I love the tension of being somewhere vs needing to be elsewhere. That's what makes Defend the Manorhouse my favorite scenario.

[zenmazster]

thanks for the feedback. As I haven't tested it yet, we'll test it both ways and see. I was trying to come up with a 'roof penalty' like this, however couldn't wrap my mind around a good one.

See on one hand, I like being able to search, since roofs oftentimes have found objects out of nowhere. On the other hand, should be a penalty. One I thought of was:
-for shotguns, if you roll a 1 or 2 to determine no ammo, then instead of discarding you remove from the game (this is a little harsh, but the flavor would basically be like dropping it off the side of the building and it breaking).

The other thing trying to get just right are the x and y variables.
x= how many zombies need to kill from rooftops
y= destroyed buildings.

Trying to find the right balance.

any and all help welcome, thanks!

[zenmazster]

actually mgstout, that may not be a bad idea after all. after giving some thought, if heroes are able to search, then they'd probably just camp on the roofs all day.

Granted there are zombie movies where heros DO camp on the roof to avoid zombs, but if it is a clean blank roof, you should only be able to search it once.

WAIT THATS IT. you can search once on the roof.

[mqstout]

zenmazster Wrote:Granted there are zombie movies where heros DO camp on the roof to avoid zombs, but if it is a clean blank roof, you should only be able to search it once.

30 Days of Night came to mind when I read this scenario and again with your message there. Again, they had to leave for supplies, which is where all the trouble (read as: "plot") came from. Of course, 30 Days... is technically a vampire movie, I feel it fits in much better with everything if one interprets it as a zombie movie.

Only searching once = "Free search markers", the rule framework already exists for that.

This scenario also feels like it should be a 21 limit instead of 14 limit for number of zombies.

[zenmazster]

TOTALLY agree with 21 limit.

[Sharkey]

Rooftops are a great idea! I think I'll incorporate them into my games, maybe give a DOTS cost of (2) for balance as it would be similar to the use of Barricades. Here would be my personal rules for rooftops:

-Heroes may climb to the top of building roofs. To do so, they must be outside and adjacent to a wall of a building. During their movement phase, if they have 5+ for Movement they may instead take the option to perform a Special Move Action of climbing onto an adjacent roof square. If there is at least one other Hero in the same starting square, the Hero only needs to have 4+ Movement to perform the Special Move Action instead (assuming one Hero boosts the other up).
-When occupying a roof square, place a chosen "roof" marker (such as the blank side of a numbered square) below the figurine to represent their position as being above the ground level. Characters on the ground level may occupy the same space, but cannot interact with characters on the roof, and vice versa.
-If attempting to scale the roof, a Zombie must roll one D6. If they roll a 5+, the Zombie successfully climbs the building.
-Any character leaving the rooftop must roll a D6. On a roll of 3+, the character safely lands on the ground. On a roll of 1-2, the character hits the ground, taking a wound, and ends their movement phase.
-Heroes on rooftops cannot perform a Search action.
-Characters on rooftops cannot use ranged attacks on characters below and inside the building. Follow Wall rules with line of sight for characters below and outside the building.
-Hunger applies to Zombies on the ground adjacent to a rooftop Hero: Zombies must make an attempt to scale the building. If a Zombie fails to scale a building, they may move inside the building for their movement instead. An applicable Hero on the ground takes first priority for Zombie Hunger.
-Zombies inside the building ignore "Hunger" for Heroes above them.

This way rooftops aren't too powerful on the Hero side as it essentially acts as a better barricade to stop zombies. It's still possible for a Zombie to get up there, but rather hard. The added protection comes at a cost for the heroes as they can't Search, and can't attack any Zombies inside the building. There's also the risk of damage if attempting to get back onto the ground, which would prove fatal for the standard Zombie if they happened to get up to the roof and try and follow a Hero to the ground.

Recommended Set-up:

Zombies:
• Horde (21): +4
• Grave Weapons: +3
• Always Zombie Heroes: +2
• Grave Dead: +3
o Dots Total: 12

Heroes:
• Barricades: +2
• Survival Decks: +3
• Replenish Heroes: +2
• Free Search (Exploration tokens): +3
• Rooftops: +2
o Dots Total: 12

[StayPuft]

This sounds really cool. I like this idea. It is also developing really nicely with all of the extra input. I think Sharkey added some good thoughts to it. I think that rounds it out nicely.

[Sharkey]

Just tweaked my post a little bit, adding +1 to the hero rolls to climb and decreased the zombie's roll by 1. Haven't had a chance to test out the rooftop in-game yet, but played some more LNOE over the weekend and balanced out some of my initial ideas for it after seeing barricades in action.