One fix for Search/Deck issues

[Grudunza]

I can never recall a game of LNOE where the Heroes, given a reasonable amount of searching, weren't able to find the Scenario Search Item(s), though oftentimes they'll be found via cards like "Just What I Needed". However, several others have complained about that and I do acknowledge that it's a potential problem, and no doubt a weird shuffle that places all of the required cards at the bottom (or top) can swing the game.

Another complaint is that the Zombie win condition of emptying the Hero Card deck is so unlikely that it makes certain Zombie cards that discard cards from the Hero Card deck kind of useless. Only once have I seen the Zombies even vaguely threaten to empty the Hero Card pile, so I would definitely agree with that concern, especially with numerous expansion cards added.

Here's a possible solution to both issues... well, maybe not a solution, but something that would help...

Alter the Sun Track so as it winds down, the Heroes draw more cards when searching. Something like this:

11+ turns remaining: normal, draw 1 Hero card when Searching
9-10: draw 2 Hero cards when Searching, choose 1
7-8: draw 3 Hero cards when Searching, choose 1
4-6: draw 4 Hero cards when Searching, choose 1
1-3: draw 5 Hero cards when Searching, choose 1

That would make it more likely that the Heroes will find what they need as the time grows shorter, and at the same time, it will deplete the Hero Deck quite a bit faster and potentially make it more dangerous for the Heroes to search later in the game. I think to offset that, the # of turns for some scenarios might have to be reduced by 1, maybe 2, and since it would seem to favor the Heroes quite a bit more (depleting the deck still seems unlikely, even with that condition added), it would probably be worth 1 or 2 dots for the Hero side. Also, the ability for characters like Jake would have to be adjusted to say that when Searching, he draws one additional card (instead of "draw two, keep one"). So for example, with 2 turns left, Jake would draw 6 cards and choose 1 to keep.

Or, perhaps a better balance could be like this:

12+ turns remaining: draw 5 Hero cards when Searching, keep only the first one drawn and discard the rest
9-11: draw 3 Hero cards when Searching, keep only the first
7-8: draw 1 Hero card when Searching
4-6: draw 3 Hero cards when Searching, choose 1 from among the 3
1-3: draw 5 Hero cards when Searching, choose 1 from among the 5

In that situation, the Heroes only get to choose from among the multiple cards once the time is running out... For the 9-11 and 12+ examples they wouldn't have the choice from among the cards; they keep the first one drawn and the rest are discarded for the purposes of deck depletion. Of course, there may be some advantage to having more cards available in the discard pile from Searches on the earlier turns to use for Pick Up abilities, but giving more use to some of the Pick Up abilities in the game wouldn't be a bad thing, either, methinks. (In this version, Jake Cartwright would always draw an additional card and for the 9-11 and 12+ examples he'd be able to choose from among the first two cards drawn.)

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Another simple rule that would help the Hero Card deck depletion issue could be that whenever a Hero is killed, you discard 5 Hero Cards from the deck, or perhaps discard Hero Cards equal to their number of Wounds, so for example, when Sam dies, 4 Hero Cards are discarded. Or perhaps just say that whenever a Hero takes a Wound, a Hero Card is discarded from the deck... that would be better because it would probably end up being more than their Wound capacity, with additional cards discarded from Wounds that had been healed. Or perhaps better yet, whenever a Hero takes a Wound, a Hero Card is discarded from the deck *and* when a Hero is killed, 5 cards are discarded from the Hero Card deck.

I think there are simple ways like that to make the deck depletion more of a danger... more conditions just have to be added where cards are discarded from the deck. But I think that's a very simple one that should be easy to remember, and is also thematic... when a Hero is wounded it also hurts their chances as a whole.

[mqstout]

It took me a couple reads to get my head around the second set. Both are interesting. Only (slight) problem is sometimes, especially early in the game, the heroes *want* more cards discarded for building pickup abilities.