Sun Track Cards

[Grudunza]

In another thread, I suggested the possibility of Sun Track Cards. These would be drawn each time the Sun Track is moved and remain in effect until the next Sun Track Card is drawn. These would be, in essence, like Headlines on the Mythos Cards in Arkham Horror.

The idea would be to keep these balanced between favoring/hurting the Heroes and Zombies, and the effects would generally be small-ish and may not always have any affect on a particular turn, but they could add a little flavor and mix things up a little bit. Below are a few examples I threw together... Please reply if you have any ideas for other cards. Ideally, considering these are "Sun Track Cards", there would be at least a few more cards like the Dark of Night/Dawn is Breaking card, where the Sun Track itself comes into play. But you know, whatever works...

I'm thinking there might be some means for each side to cancel these cards... for example, the Zombie player could sacrifice a Zombie, and the Hero side could discard an Item or take a Wound, or something like that.

Anyway, here's what I've got...

[bigbertha1000]

Dude, you really are a fountain of ideas. Personally, I have myself wondered at times whether something could be done to invlove the sun-track more in the game. I've read that a lot of people don't even use the sun-track, which for me is crazy given that the 'running out of time' aspect builds a great tension-mounting crescendo.

I play Arkham Horror a lot more than LNOE and often think that there are a lot of great semi-transferable mechanics in that game. Granted, AH is considerably more complictaed and takes a month to play, and that is what I like about LNOE - simplicity and the 'plug-in' aspect of the rules variants being dreamt up by players like yourself. Like your previous Zombie Hero Ability variant, this could compliment the game in almost the same fashion (except this one wouldn't have a dot quota assigned to it given that the final deck would be balanced anyway). I'll get thinking and see if I can come up with some offerings.

[bigbertha1000]

Well, I spent the last hour brainstorming and madly typing ideas. These are pretty rough-cut and probably need a bit of re-wording, re-working or binning completely. They're yours to do with as you will.

Fork Lightning (pro hero)
The zombie player must roll 1D6 for every explosive grave weapon zombie currently in play. On the roll of 2+ the zombie immediately explodes.

Night Terrors (pro zombie)
All Heroes with keyword Student are frozen with fear. They may not move, search or perform any form of action for the remainder of this turn.

Long Arm of the Law (pro zombie)
Any Hero WITHOUT keyword “Law Enforcement” may not use any of their special abilities for the remainder of this turn. All zombies gain an extra fight dice.

Tight as a Drum (pro hero)
Zombies may not move through walls. They may only use doorways to enter/leave buildings.

Baleful Moon (pro zombie)
The Zombie Player(s) may roll 1D6. On the roll of 4+ each zombie player may spawn 1 randomly drawn grave weapon zombie (if the zombie limit allows).

The Witching Hour (balanced)
If the Sun-Track is higher than 13: The zombie player may draw 2 extra zombie cards above the full hand and then choose 2 to discard.
If the Sun-Track is lower than 13: The Hero players may each discard one item to draw and keep 2 hero cards.

Industrial Accident (balanced)
If The Plant is in the game, any hero currently within its walls must discard one item. Any zombie within its walls is killed on the roll of 2+.

Lost Below (pro zombie)
Any hero who begins this turn in a sewer may not move, search or perform any action. (Unless they possess a Flashlight, in which case they may move only).

Limber Minds (pro hero)
Any hero with keyword “student” may take a free search if they are currently in either the high school, gym, library, general store or diner.

Rapid Decay (pro zombie)
All zombie player(s) must immediately sacrifice two zombies or discard 2 zombie cards not currently in play.

Demoralised (pro zombie)
Heroes may not use any Heroic Hero card.

Last Few Shells (pro hero)
If the Gun Shop is in play, place 3 ammo tokens inside the building. Remove one token every turn thereafter.

Surplus Materials (pro hero)
Any hero currently adjacent to a barricade may place one reinforcement token on it on the roll of a 3+.

Too Many Cooks (pro zombie)
Any heroes who begin this turn in the same space as another hero may not move (though they may perform other actions). If any affected hero has keyword strange, they may not perform any action at all.

Moment of Clarity (pro hero)
No weapon can be discarded due to breakage or lack of ammo for the remainder of the turn.

Winds of Change (pro zombie)
If there are any barricades currently on the board, the zombie player may choose one to remove. Reinforced barricades are unaffected.

Advanced Decomposition (pro hero)
No zombie card affecting the movement of zombies may be played for the duration of this turn (eg. Shamble, Dragging Meat, Tide Of The Dead, Relentless Advance)

Dwindling resources (balanced)
If the Sun-Track is lower than 10:
No zombies may be spawned this turn,
If the Sun-Track is higher than 10:
Heroes may not heal themselves by any method this turn.

Cabin Fever (pro zombie)
Any hero currently in the same building as another hero must exit the building on this turn or suffer one wound.

The Night Draws On (balanced)
If the Sun-Track is higher than 7:
All zombies may move 2 spaces instead of one. Zombie Heroes may add 1 to their movement roll.
If the Sun-Track is lower than 7:
All heroes may add 1 to their movement roll.

Military Airstrike (balanced)
All heroes must get inside a building this turn or suffer one wound. The zombie player must roll 1D6 for every zombie currently outside. On the roll of a 4+, the zombie is killed.

Well, that's my mind exhausted for the moment. The last one was a bit of a joke, not to be taken too seriously, though it could be adapted to be a little less harsh. Or alternatively, it could be the 'killer card'. Every deck has one.

Let me know what you think.

[Grudunza]

Wow, that's terrific. On a very quick glance through, I love many of these ideas, including the airstrike! I'll have to go through them more closely later and report back... Thanks!

[Grudunza]

bigbertha1000 Wrote:Personally, I have myself wondered at times whether something could be done to invlove the sun-track more in the game. I've read that a lot of people don't even use the sun-track, which for me is crazy given that the 'running out of time' aspect builds a great tension-mounting crescendo.

Yeah, I think that's really missing out on a big part of the game to disregard the time element, and I know the scenarios were tested and balanced with that in mind. I could see doing that for a specific scenario or two, especially a custom scenario where the objective is cut and dry for one side or the other to complete their objective, regardless of any time element.

[Grudunza]

Quote:Fork Lightning (pro hero)
The zombie player must roll 1D6 for every explosive grave weapon zombie currently in play. On the roll of 2+ the zombie immediately explodes.

Not an idea I would want to use, because I wouldn't want to require any expansions for these. Granted, I have SOTF, so I could certainly use it, and I don't know if anyone else would actually try these out, anyway... But at least in theory, I would want these to be inclusive of those who just have the base game. Also, this wouldn't necessarily be pro-Hero, as they could suffer if they happen to be next to any Exploding Zombies. And that's fine, but in terms of counting the balance, that would be more of a "leaning Hero" one. I like the "lightning" idea a lot, though. What else could we do for that?

Quote:Night Terrors (pro zombie)
All Heroes with keyword Student are frozen with fear. They may not move, search or perform any form of action for the remainder of this turn.

Too harsh for this deck, I think. Losing a turn is huge, and this could potentially lose the entire Hero turn if you were playing with all Students. But I love the idea of a Sun Track card that targets just Students. How about something like "Curfew: Any Student Hero that is outside is immediately moved to the Police Station. If the Police Station is not in the game or has been Taken Over, then they are moved inside the nearest building."

Quote:Long Arm of the Law (pro zombie)
Any Hero WITHOUT keyword “Law Enforcement” may not use any of their special abilities for the remainder of this turn. All zombies gain an extra fight dice.

The first part is enough, I think.

Quote:Tight as a Drum (pro hero)
Zombies may not move through walls. They may only use doorways to enter/leave buildings.

That's a great one.

Quote:Baleful Moon (pro zombie)
The Zombie Player(s) may roll 1D6. On the roll of 4+ each zombie player may spawn 1 randomly drawn grave weapon zombie (if the zombie limit allows).

Again with the expansion thing... How about something like "Baleful Moon: The Zombie Player(s) may roll a d6 for each Spawning Pit on the board. For each 6 rolled, immediately spawn a new zombie there."

Quote:The Witching Hour (balanced)
If the Sun-Track is higher than 13: The zombie player may draw 2 extra zombie cards above the full hand and then choose 2 to discard. If the Sun-Track is lower than 13: The Hero players may each discard one item to draw and keep 2 hero cards.

That one is great, though it really favors the Heroes at that number (it's much more likely to be lower than 13). Change the number to 7 or 8 and I think it would be balanced.

Quote:Industrial Accident (balanced)
If The Plant is in the game, any hero currently within its walls must discard one item. Any zombie within its walls is killed on the roll of 2+.

Nice, but I would make that the Plant or the Factory, to give it more likelihood of taking effect. The idea of an industrial accident happening at two different places at the same time is kind of silly (if both places are in the game), but I suppose it could be considered sabotage.

Quote:Lost Below (pro zombie)
Any hero who begins this turn in a sewer may not move, search or perform any action. (Unless they possess a Flashlight, in which case they may move only).

Expansion only...

Quote:Limber Minds (pro hero)
Any hero with keyword “student” may take a free search if they are currently in either the high school, gym, library, general store or diner.

Nice, but I might suggest calling it "Familiar Territory" or something like that.

Quote:Rapid Decay (pro zombie)
All zombie player(s) must immediately sacrifice two zombies or discard 2 zombie cards not currently in play.

Nice, but wouldn't that be pro-Hero?

Quote:Demoralised (pro zombie)
Heroes may not use any Heroic Hero card.

That's a great one.

Quote:Last Few Shells (pro hero)
If the Gun Shop is in play, place 3 ammo tokens inside the building. Remove one token every turn thereafter.

Expansion only, though I'm sure something could be done involving Guns or Ammo cards...

Quote:Surplus Materials (pro hero)
Any hero currently adjacent to a barricade may place one reinforcement token on it on the roll of a 3+.

I like it, but again, expansion only.

Quote:Too Many Cooks (pro zombie)
Any heroes who begin this turn in the same space as another hero may not move (though they may perform other actions). If any affected hero has keyword strange, they may not perform any action at all.

Nice, but perhaps too powerful.

Quote:Moment of Clarity (pro hero)
No weapon can be discarded due to breakage or lack of ammo for the remainder of the turn.

I had thought of that before, but the problem is that it would make some weapons like the Baseball Bat invinceable.

Quote:Winds of Change (pro zombie)
If there are any barricades currently on the board, the zombie player may choose one to remove. Reinforced barricades are unaffected.

I was trying to think of something for "heavy wind" earlier... Nice, but again, expansion only. What else could we do for "wind"?

Quote:Advanced Decomposition (pro hero)
No zombie card affecting the movement of zombies may be played for the duration of this turn (eg. Shamble, Dragging Meat, Tide Of The Dead, Relentless Advance)

That's a great one.

Quote:Dwindling resources (balanced)
If the Sun-Track is lower than 10:
No zombies may be spawned this turn,
If the Sun-Track is higher than 10:
Heroes may not heal themselves by any method this turn.

Nice, but again the question of whether the number is right. I don't know offhand, but I'd guess that the average number of turns for all of the scenarios is about 15, so I would think that 7 or 8 would be a good middle point.

Quote:Cabin Fever (pro zombie)
Any hero currently in the same building as another hero must exit the building on this turn or suffer one wound.

Very nice.

Quote:The Night Draws On (balanced)
If the Sun-Track is higher than 7:
All zombies may move 2 spaces instead of one. Zombie Heroes may add 1 to their movement roll.
If the Sun-Track is lower than 7:
All heroes may add 1 to their movement roll.

That's good, but I think the effect is better for the zombies. They are, in essence, doubling their movement, whereas Heroes just add 1 to theirs. Now granted, all of these Sun Track specific cards are an either/or thing, so I guess if it benefits the Heroes at all, then it benefits them and they should be happy about it. But it seems as though, if it happens to be drawn where it benefits the Zombies, then they get a greater benefit. So maybe the Hero bonus could be +2 to movement?

Quote:Military Airstrike (balanced)
All heroes must get inside a building this turn or suffer one wound. The zombie player must roll 1D6 for every zombie currently outside. On the roll of a 4+, the zombie is killed.

I actually like that idea, but I would change it to say: "At the end of this turn, all Heroes who are not inside a building take one Wound. The Zombie Player must roll a die for each Zombie that is not inside a building. On the roll of 5+, the Zombie is killed." That way, the Zombies also have a chance to move inside. And I think 5+ is better.

[bigbertha1000]

Well evaluated. These were quick-fire ideas, ripe for the moulding into something playable. I agree with the premise of keeping it core game only, even if it precludes some ideas. Like I said before, these are just kernels of ideas - use them as you wish.

In regards to the "wind". How about storm damage rendering all/some buildings inaccessible? Maybe allowing access if in posession of a fire axe/chainsaw/crowbar?

I really struggled trying to think of building-specific ideas. Anyway, my other half has badgered me for a game tonight (like I need coercion!) and I use actual game sessions to get the neurons firing. Maybe I'll get something new later.

Hope these ideas helped.
G

[Lyude]

Hope u like them here you have my brainstorming :P

Pro-zombies:

I've learned to use this!
- choose a random zombie. It gets a hand weapon from the hero deck for the remaining game or until killed.

Red moon
- any hero killed during the red moon become a zombie hero.

Acidic Rain
- all heroes must move inside a building during this turn, heroes inside a building can't get out. zombies are unaffected.

Hysteria
- No event cards can be played this turn.

Monstruosity
- A hero within 3 range of any zombie must run of them.

Is that you Mr. Goddard?
- If a hero zombie is in play, it gains +1 movement and +1 fight dice against any student.

Claustrophobia
- No heros can finish their turn inside a building, if they do roll a d6 with 3+ they lose half their items/events.

Crazy madness
- If a hero kills a zombie during this turn they must roll a D6 with a 5+ they lose their next turn.

Brains in my soup
- The zombies move 2 spaces if moving that quantity can reach any hero.

Pro heroes:

Muuuuuuu!
- If the farm is in play, animal cards can be played as if they are in the hero's hand. If not, any hero can search for an animal card and put it in their hand (only once)

This world is for the living!
- Heroes win on ties during this turn.

Intensity
- Heroes can fight 2 times against the same zombie, during the second fight if a zombie is fended-off, it inmediately dies. If the hero loses the second fight he loses any item (hero's choice).

Deviant shout
- All zombies within 3 spaces from any female hero must move inmediately 2 spaces back and can't get closer than 3 spaces this turn.

Home run!
- Hand weapons don't break this turn.

Your garbage is mine!
- Heroes can search outside buildings this turn and use resourceful ability.

Wrath of god (magic? xD)
- If the church is in play all the heroes gain a random weapon bonus from a card in their deck for every fight they do.

Burn them!!
- During this turn, heroes don't need any fire item to explode items,if Mr Goddard he can search for any explosive card.

Balanced:

Law in town:
- If the police station is in game, all guns get +1hit and can't run out of ammo, when the turn finish put a taken over token in the police station.


Darkness is coming... for you:
- if turn 10 or more: heroes get an extra fight dice
- If turn 9 or less: zombies move d3 this turn.

Full moon:
- If turn 8 or more: heroes can't be killed this turn.
- If turn 7 or less: all the heroes killed during this turn become zombie heroes.

Reinforcements are coming!
- If turn 7 or more: spawn 4 zombies
- If turn 6 or less: kill any zombie beaten in a fight.

Earthquake!!
Any zombie/hero outside a building lose their turn. If inside a building roll a d6, with a 6 that building is destroyed and any zombie there is killed, any hero there take 2 wounds.

[Grudunza]

Okay, I've updated the original post above to include 36 cards that I've put together for this (with much help from y'all!). If you're interested in this idea, then please look through them all and let me know if there are any in particular that you DON'T think should be included, or if any might be changed or reworded or renamed. And if you have any more ideas, by all means keep 'em coming... The cards above are just a sample set and I would like to have as many good ones as possible to choose the final set from.

Also, I'm wondering what a good number of cards for this deck would be... It might seem that more variety would be better, but my original thought was to have it be about 24 cards, so that you'd likely still get some different ones coming out each game, but there'd be less chance of the balance between Hero favored cards and Zombie favored cards skewing one way or the other in a particular game. Of course, if you're playing a 13 turn scenario like Revenge of the Dead, then even with only 24 cards in the deck you might get the balance off where more of the Zombie favoring cards come out. But I think that might be more likely to happen with more cards in the deck.

In any case, 36 is the maximum number, regardless, as I already have 16 other cards for the Zombie Hero Abilities committed for the Artscow deck, and I want to have two "rules" cards included as well. But what do you think? Should it be maxed out to 36? Or 24? Another reason for making it only 24 is that I was hoping to also include another 12 card variant deck for Outdoor Encounters, mentioned in another thread. But if 36 seems like a better number for the Sun Track deck, then I'm happy to defer the Outdoor Encounter thing...

[Lyude]

I think 24 cards will be ok, but your reasons for 36 are also good... you'll have more variety.

I would do this changes to the cards you post:

Power Lines Down --> I'll change it to power down or power cut and amaybe add text to say lighters/torchs can ignore this effect (as always)

Dark of night--> change to Darkness

Vaporous cloud--> I'll change it to: Momentary Intelligence. It makes the zombies clever for 1 turn (that's the reason they ignore the hunger and it's momentary ofc)

Help from a friend--> I think it's a bit overpowered if you can take 4 townsfolk cards. maybe make it once per turn? or only if the heroes share the same square?

Power surge--> I don't understand quite well the text, why is it called power surge? maybe change it to claustrophobia or soemthing like that if reduces the movement if you are inside a building.

Blinded with rage--> It doesn't fit the meaning of the action, a hero lose their turn because killing a zombie is something that enfeeble their mind (at least, they have killed someone) going nuts. But I can't recall anything at the moment :S