Random vs. Hand-Picked Characters

[T Sean Collins]

The rules suggest that all Hero characters be randomly drawn, but if all players agree, then the Hero players can choose their characters. So, if you're the Martian player, to you agree to let them pick, or do you make them drawn randomly?

[Orguss]

We always force random on our games. In IFOS some have ridiculous power token usages. And some are like JoJo and suck.

[TheHun]

This is one for consideration since some characters are obviously much stronger than others.

On the one hand, you don't want to force a weak character on a player who will have no fun because of the character.

On the other hand, you have different fingers..... Sorry, couldn't resist.

Seriously, though I think the best method is to select a balanced character party based on the difficulty of the scenario so that both sides have a competitive chance of winning.

A group of weak characters in a difficult scenario won't have a chance unless they are experienced players against a novice Zombie/Martian player.

A potential solution could be based on a character point system.
The players are given a number of points based on the difficulty of the scenario being played. The players choose whichever characters they want as long as the sum of the character's points are under the scenario point total.

Some suggested character point costs:

Sheriff Anderson - 15 "Guns don’t kill zombies, Sheriff Anderson kills zombies"
Rachelle - 14 "She starts the game with a revolver, flashlight, and an ability to ignore any wound she receives on a roll of six. That is quite a package"
Jake - 12 "In a scenario that requires certain items he may actually be the best character to have"
Sally - 12 "Despite her diminutive stature the High School Sweetheart may actually be the best pure fighter in the game"
Amanda - 10 "Her real strength is her hiding ability, which essentially makes her a traveling cornfield"
Sam - 9 "The only character with four health boxes, he’s the one that you want slugging it out with the zombies"
Johnny - 9 " With blitz ability, his potential for destruction is unmatched, with a decent weapon he can decimate the enemy ranks in a single turn. He also wins fights on ties, which is like giving him a +1 to each fight die"
Father Joseph - 7 "He has one of the biggest handicaps in the game; he is unable to use guns. He is also immune to Last Night on Earth cards though, so pairing him with Becky makes a pretty good combo"
Kenny - 6 "Kenny is able to focus his anger and kill a zombie in a fight even if no doubles are rolled. In order to use this ability Kenny has to take a wound (not a great option considering that he has two health boxes) or discard an item that he has (which is seldom worth a single kill)"
Becky - 6 "The problem with Becky is that she can heal the other heroes, but she has to be in the same space as them (which is seldom recommended) and that is her only power"
Billy - 4 "Clearly not a power player, but if you need someone to get the keys to the truck or sacrifice himself to destroy a spawning pit, Billy may be your man"
Jenny - 4 "Not a very useful character. Her ability to keep hand weapons from breaking has it’s uses, but she should really be avoiding close combat anyway. Bonus from barn and cornfield are nice, but hanging out there the whole game isn't the best idea, either"

(character rankings based on http://gametheoryblog.blogspot.com/2009/...king.html)

I'll leave it to someone else (or another time) to assign point totals for the scenarios.

After posting, I just noticed this is in the IFOS area. Sorry for the LNOE basis but the general concepts still apply.

[mqstout]

Father Joseph is, at your scale, 17. And Nurse Becky, if Father Joe is in the game, becomes a 13. I would swap Sally and Sam. Otherwise, I would tend to [roughly] agree.

[SPARTAN VI]

Currently we do completely random drawings. However, the change was gradual with LNOE.

We used to always select our own Heroes in LNOE, but found that the same characters were consistently chosen leading to similar feeling games every time. Billy, Jenny, and Becky were almost always neglected. So we adopted the same selection rule we use with Bang! Every player draws 2 Hero characters and selects 1.

With NEW players, we always allow them to select their Hero, in fact we usually recommend someone like Sheriff Anderson or Rochelle. The idea is to give them a Hero that is more likely to kill a ton of Zombies, so hopefully the new player will feel they've contributed more, enjoy the game more, and be willing to play it again.

[mqstout]

I haven't played enough of IFOS to have a favorite yet. Except everyone has great fun with the cannon use of Archie.

[T Sean Collins]

(10-27-2010 07:52 PM)SPARTAN VI Wrote:  Currently we do completely random drawings. However, the change was gradual with LNOE.

We used to always select our own Heroes in LNOE, but found that the same characters were consistently chosen leading to similar feeling games every time. Billy, Jenny, and Becky were almost always neglected. So we adopted the same selection rule we use with Bang! Every player draws 2 Hero cards and selects 1.

With NEW players, we always allow them to select their Hero, in fact we usually recommend someone like Sheriff Anderson or Rochelle. The idea is to give them a Hero that is more likely to kill a ton of Zombies, so hopefully the new player will feel they've contributed more, enjoy the game more, and be willing to play it again.

This has been an issue with my games as well. If a game requires a scenario search item, Jake is automatically on the team. If the scenario search item is Fire, Mr. Goddard is there for sure. My biggest (only?) complaint about the game(s) is that they didn't seem to balance the characters out much. Some are obviously more useful than others. But it feels kind of wrong to punish the Hero Players for this- "Play these weak characters, even though the game doesn't really give you any reason to."

[isd_blues]

All depends on who and how many are playing. In a 2 human game I tend to let them pick one and get the other randomly. With new players we will suggest they take one of the more sturdy characters.

[avpan]

for new players, random is a good way for them to get a feel for the game

[Canadian Pittbull]

random is the ONLY way my group plays. We don't like taking the easy way and picking the best characters. Life isn't easy in a world where there are the beginnings of a Martian Invasion. :P