Game Report: Custom Scenario in progress

[thanatos]

Sorry my replies are so slow - I've been in meetings for a couple of days at work, and have gotten home so late the past two nights that I've just rolled into bed.

The scenario isn't really based off of Saw, the quote in the game report was just a small homage. The player who came up with the idea was basing it more off of a loose adaptation of Manhunt. The idea is fleshing out more to be that Victor, and possibly Jake, used a lull in the action to drug the other heroes and separate them, blocking themselves off in the middle of town to try to make off with what they assume is a fortune (LNOE backstory seems to indicate that Woodinvale has occasional zombie outbreaks that don't necessarily affect the rest of the world, which is why, despite the zombie apocalypse, the small-minded crook is trying to get paid).

The more I think about it, the more I think Victor cracking the safe should be based on a single skill-check, possibly two or three (we will play test trying to crack the safe a few times). After all, one of his skills is "Lock Pick," so he wouldn't just be guessing the combination - he'd be approaching the safe like a pro. With a single skill check, he needs to roll a 6. With two or three skill checks, he needs to successfully roll a 5 or a 6 each time.

The point of blowing the safe is the same reason any crook would blow a safe - expedience. You take a loss on your profits in exchange for getting out faster. I do, however, like Nitro's idea of the safe actually having a book of the dead or some such inside, with penalties for lower demolitions skill checks. If Jake is used as well, then Jake, knowing more about the previous outbreak (per flavor text from the LNOE rulebook), has lured Victor into helping him with the promise of a fantastic "treasure," which is actually the book. In this situation, the "villain" player controls both Jake and Victor. Since Victor is the criminal with lock picking and, presumably, safe-cracking experience, only Victor may search or attempt to crack the safe, while Jake can try to reinforce barricades as they are damaged using standard barricade rules (once we release the final scenario, I will include barricade rules for those who do not have Survival of the Fittest).

Not allowing Jake to search is, once again, intentional - his hero ability would give the villains an unfair advantage in trying to mill for the dynamite.

So keep in mind, Victor is not so much trying to torture or pit the other heroes against one another as he is trying to divide, conquer, and then slip out in the confusion.

We have revised the safe now so that, if dynamite is used, the following rules apply based on the demolitions roll:
5 or 6 leaves the contents unscathed - the book of the dead and money (after all, Jake knows that if there is no money at all, Victor would probably break his neck). Whoever holds the book is "invisible" to the zombies, which makes escape much easier for one person (if Jake is also used, however, he still has to get through whatever zombies are in the way)
3 or 4 destroys the money and damages the book, meaning the villains must simply escape with the book.
1 or 2 destroys everything in the safe. The destruction of the book instantly places a zombie in every square of the manor house. If there are not enough zombies in the zombie pool, remove them from elsewhere on the board, STARTING with zombies in the same space as heroes.

For the demolition roll of 1 or 2, If Jake is being used and both Victor and Jake survive the zombie attack, they must battle each other to the death before being allowed to leave the manor house (Jake is mad at Victor for bungling the safe crack, Victor is mad at Jake for making him risk his neck for a stupid book that is now so damaged as to be worthless). For these fights ONLY, doubles are not required to wound the other villain - high roll wounds, ties do nothing. If Jake and Victor are in the same space when zombies attack, they must fight each other, in addition to the zombies, each time they fight zombies.