I'd really like to see some more circus folk expansions for IFOS.
Maybe a Fat Lady, moves D3, can spend a power token to move one space further OR do a squash attack and crush all the Martians in the square with her during the fight segment.
How about a Lion Tamer with whip and pistol.
What about JUMBO the circus elephant. She could take up two spaces and make attacks with her trunk or a stomp attack with her feet. She'd be a good match for THE BEAST.
A clown? Maybe he scares the Martians.
What about a card for a portable record player with a "Yodelin' Slim" record on it. When played it causes the heads of ALL the Martians in adjacent squares to explode on a 5+, but is SCRATCHED and unplayable on a 1-4 (same roll)
Anybody tried playing the two games together with a Zombie player, a Martian player, a Townie player and a Carnie player?
I've only been able to play the game one day so far. Give it time. We'll be all cooking up some custom stuff soon enough. The Lion Tamer is a given, methinks. The board and cards as they are and all.
I plan to try the combined game rules only once I've played each of the scenarios a few times on their own.
Thanks for your response. Yes, I've only played IFOS one time, the beginner scenario and I've played LNOE a couple of times, again only the basic scenario but I have all the expansions and am anxious to branch out.
I have to admit I was a little disappointed in the preview of CONQUEST as I've already posted, but I'll see what the game looks like and get it if the rest of the group wants to play it.
Again, as stated, I was hoping it was going to be the Martians vs the Military in some clever new way. Oh well, I'm sure it will be a good game.
I have not played ATOE.
Again, thanks for your response.
Skip
All those ideas sound great! I could totally get behind the Fat Lady and the Lion Tamer.
My biggest question right now though, having only played the game once as well, is WHAT IS MAGICK!? and why is there none to pick up even though there is a Magick tent! lol. Have I missed something or are we going to see Magick based characters like a Gypsy or Fortune Teller in the expansions as well. Crossing the fingers.
So many possibilities!
I played Conquest shortly in Gen-Con with Zombie Jesus (can't remember his actual name
) and I had a blast. I don't feel it was nearly as polished or atmospheric as any of the other flying frog games but given it was printed out and pasted to a spare aToE game set, it had a ways to go so I'll be holding on to the Faith(card). From reading some of the older postings about Invasion, there were lots of doubters then, but look how it's turned out! Absolutely love it. Haven't seen a Flying Frog Productions product yet that didn't deliver all it promised and more. I was talking to Jason and Scott Hill while demoing the games and they both agreed that the way they approached game development was to simply go about creating a game THEY would want to play. Seems to have worked out well so far.
I'm really glad you liked the FAT LADY idea. I thought she sounded like fun.
I was trying to think up a way to do THE MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE with some cool special ability but I've drawn a blank.
I also approve of the idea for the Elephant! Not sure if Jumbo is the ideal Player character, even though Elephants are notoriously intelligent. Just doesn't strike the same chord as JoJo, The Dancing Bear. That was just a stroke of genius. STILL! I want more Circus animals! (Also, there's already Bosley, the Trained Elephant ally!)
In reading Ray Bradbury and other similar authors I've always enjoyed stories about "The Tattooed man", in the circus setting. Suitably creepy and disturbing yet goofy! I just don't know how he would fit in with the game mechanics.
As for "THE MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE", perhaps that spot is already largely taken by the Human Cannonball charcter, Achibald. I can't imagine his abilities would be too different. One swinging down the other being shot up. Still, the title certainly is a grand one!
Perhaps there's more room for a tight rope walker of some sort, in the same vein but with a more distinctly different set of abilities. Using his/her move action to cross from the Big Top to any corner location. Or something like that perhaps
Edit: Just flipped through the allies cards and the Flying Farini Twins already exist too! I was playing around with an idea for Siamese Twins and was thinking of them so I didn't mention it. But they aren't! I don't know how Siamese twins would work though! Two brains, 4 eyes, 2 noses, so maybe a higher ability to search but a lower agility. :/
Oh yes, the Flying Farini twins. I think they should incorporated into the game ASAP!
Here is another thought regarding the elephant/bear issue. I used to be a reporter (long long ago in a galaxy far far away) and I did piece on the Ringling Bros Red Unit (they have two touring circuses, the Red and the Blue).
Do you know what the two most dangerous animals are in the circus. Not the lions, not the tigers, not the elephants. It's the chimps and the bears. The saying goes you'll never meet a chimp trainer/handler with all their fingers. It's the first thing the chimp chomps down on when they go berserk.
When we were video-taping with the circus in Houston they had to clear all the passages and get EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE out of sight while the bears were moved from their cages to the arena. Bears are very likely to charge a stranger.
So...now how do you feel about Jumbo the elephant?
(10-14-2010 06:01 PM)Skip Nicholson Wrote: [ -> ]Here is another thought regarding the elephant/bear issue. I used to be a reporter (long long ago in a galaxy far far away) and I did piece on the Ringling Bros Red Unit (they have two touring circuses, the Red and the Blue).
Do you know what the two most dangerous animals are in the circus. Not the lions, not the tigers, not the elephants. It's the chimps and the bears. The saying goes you'll never meet a chimp trainer/handler with all their fingers. It's the first thing the chimp chomps down on when they go berserk.
When we were video-taping with the circus in Houston they had to clear all the passages and get EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE out of sight while the bears were moved from their cages to the arena. Bears are very likely to charge a stranger.
So...now how do you feel about Jumbo the elephant?
Hmmm... Fascinating. I did not know that was the case!
The biggest complaint, if it's a complaint at all. More of an observation... Is that the bear is still rather humanized! As you say, the Elephant would be something on the level of the Zorg Beast. Could we really classify it as a Hero character. With it's trunk it might still be able to search but using some of the items? Hardly! So maybe we impose some special limitations, but unlike the lightweights and holy characters, it might get fairly specific!
It's worth mulling over....
Sure, Jumbo can "search" but any items or weapons found are discarded. Event cards are kept and may be played. This widens the inventory for the "pick up" and still gives the Hero players a helpful event card. To compensate maybe the elephant gets a automatic power token just like Jo-Jo.
Jumbo still gets to move a D6 but she may not be very agile when it comes to dodging zapper shots.