NotLD miniatures game

[Wrong Number]

I created a strategy game based on the 1968 NotLD back in the 1980s. My friends and I played it quite a few times and I even looked into getting it published at one time.

About two years I was admiring the various cool miniatures games at Origins Game Fair and it struck me that my NOTLD game would be pretty cool as a miniatures games.

I bought some items for the game over the last two years and finally about two months ago got serious about finally making my idea a reality.

Still much to do, but it's far enough along to start sharing.

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/9807/outsidelong.jpg
Long view of playing area

http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/1833/basement.jpg
The basement

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/5982/ground.jpg
Ground floor

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/4208/upstairs.jpg
Upstairs

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/4443/outsidevl.jpg

[Mr.G]

I wish I had creative people like that living by me. Great idea and cool miniatures.

[BillyRay]

I gotta say, that's pretty nifty.

Pretty DAMNED nifty.

What miniatures rules are you using? Homegrown?

[Legion2213]

That's a sweet little project you got going there. Thanks for sharing and welcome to the forums. :)

[Andy]

And my girlfriend thinks I'm obsessed.....


Nah seriously man, that looks pretty cool :)

[Wrong Number]

And my girlfriend thinks I'm obsessed.....


Nah seriously man, that looks pretty cool :)

My husband actually is very supportive and helpful. He's also a better artist than I am, so he gets called in for the tough stuff.

WN

---------- Post added at 05:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:00 PM ----------


I gotta say, that's pretty nifty.

Pretty DAMNED nifty.

What miniatures rules are you using? Homegrown?

Homegrown. I'm basically converting the paper and counters game I made into miniatures format.

The basic idea is that you as players have a chance to make different choices than the charters in the movie.

I will definitely be running this a Origins next year and may take it to horror conventions if there is interest/space to run it.

WN

[Danny]

Thats pretty neat. Reminds me of when me and my college friends took turns making scenarios for 40k. mine was the imperial guys holding a church cus it gave me a chance to get out my old plague zombies. These models made by combining imperial catachan troops and warhammer vampires zombies sprues. They were only used in a sales event called the eye of terror black crusade back in like '05 but my mates had a blast fighting these zombies instead of the usual chaos forces.:D

[SRP76]

That stuff looks great. I haven't got a clue how to actually go about "playing the game", but it would work wonderfully just as a display for people to gawk at.

[Sammich]

Oh man I remember those gaming conventions back in the mid 80s. No internet, no cell phones, and just primitive video games. Unlike the mmos today you actually had to be able to read and have an imagination to play games back then. The best one was when gencon came to town and I got to meet Steve Jackson and Gary Gygax.

Then during the off hours we were drinking in the hotel room, eating a stash of 50 35 cent hamburgers, and playing killer while evading security. All kinds of fun stuff that underage kids did back then. Those were the days.

[wayzim]

That's a sweet little project you got going there. Thanks for sharing and welcome to the forums. :)

Awesome setup, it makes me curious as to rules of play and all.
Since my Dad(Yes, I said it ... Dad) introduced the family to this odd little game called D&D, back in the 70's, I was always a stickpin and graph paper kinda player.
A Friends' NOTLD Role Play, many years back, was even simpler but very creative. Our party basically played as themselves, coming off a camping trip and into a Dead populated world. It was so effective that in the middle of play someone new came into the room and we near jumped out of our skin.
Good luck with your venture.

Wayne Z
"This ain't no Fright Flick or Creature Double Feature, babe. "
Dead Fall: Foreshadow

[Wrong Number]

Awesome setup, it makes me curious as to rules of play and all.


Part of converting the game to miniatures is changing rules to accommodate. Basically it works as follows:

All the human characters have three numbers which are Action Points, Combat Modifier and Fear. Action Points(AP) can be used to move, attack, pick up items and other actions. Combat Modifiers (CM) add or subtract to your attacks. Fear is something you need to check under certain instances like entering the same space as a zombie. If you fail a Fear check it ends your turn.

Zombies have a number between 1-15. The number of each zombie is unknown until they enter combat or attempt to break a window or door.

There are twenty items randomly scatter throughout the map including the house, barn, chicken coop, outhouse and an abandon shack on the edge of the woods. Some items are critical like the keys to the gas pump, the gun, a hammer and nails. While others are not as important. This makes the game different every time and of course depending on when you find an item might effect your strategy.

The house doors and windows can be reinforced by spending action points to break up furniture which converts them to Reinforcement Points(RP). You can then spend Action points to nail up the RPs increasing the window or doors strength. When a zombie(s) attempt to break through their number is compared with the number of the door or window they are at. If the zombies number is equal to or greater than the door they are trying to break down it is destroyed and on the next turn they may freely enter through it. If the zombie(s) number is less than the doors the attempt fails.

You can also attempt to escape by gassing up the truck.


WN

[BillyRay]

Which characters do you have available?

Just the group that made it to the farmhouse?

Or is there a Johnny, maybe a rifle-totin' local yokel option?

Just to mix things up.

[Wrong Number]

Which characters do you have available?

Just the group that made it to the farmhouse?

Or is there a Johnny, maybe a rifle-totin' local yokel option?

Just to mix things up.

The characters from the movie. Ben Barbara, Tom, Judy and the Coopers (including Karen, though she is not playable).

It starts as Ben stops the truck in front of the house.

WN

[Wyldwraith]

If I may make a suggestion,
You might not want to tie your game concept *specifically* to the events of Night/the Dead franchise IP in general.

Instead, you might want to consider constructing more flexible building-structures, multipurpose terrain feature-pieces, and a bunch of interesting objects to litter the game-board with, such as wrecked vehicles, toppled utility poles etc.

The idea being to create a "basic kit" to allow players to build multiple scenarios to play through using different combinations of the available set-pieces. Players could then construct all their favorite movie-plot-based scenarios to play through, as well as any custom scenario they can dream up.

It's a basic proven business model. Just ask Games Workshop. By making the environment set-pieces useful in more than one setting, you automatically increase the players' desire to purchase new set-pieces as they become available, because the more set-pieces they own the more complex and the greater the scale of their own scenarios.

This way you dodge treading too close to Intellectual Properties you don't own, while STILL cashing in on the appeal of those pre-existing IPs by giving the player the tools to reconstruct any book, comic, videogame or movie plot they'd like. All the while, your products are general enough in construction that no one can say you're impinging on their IP.

To continue ripping Games Workshop off, you can periodically publish additional complexities to the game rules, and kill two birds with one stone by a) Revitalizing your game with new gameplay features, and b) again encourage players to buy still more of your miniatures and set-pieces.

Basically, if you're going to bother doing it, go for it totally. Become the Games Workshop of the Zombie Apocalypse and appeal to fans of all sub-genres of zombie-related survival horror that enjoy miniature-based strategy games.

Just my .02, but I genuinely believe that if you consider my suggestion(s), you'll see the greater potential available to your concept.

[Wrong Number]

If I may make a suggestion,
You might not want to tie your game concept *specifically* to the events of Night/the Dead franchise IP in general.....

....Just my .02, but I genuinely believe that if you consider my suggestion(s), you'll see the greater potential available to your concept.


The game is not intended for commercial use or sale.

I will run it for sure at the next Origins Game Fair, possibly other gaming/miniatures conventions and maybe even a Horror convention here or there if there is interest.

WN

[bassman]

Where's the burned chair beside the porch? FAIL.

Just kidding. That's really impressive.

[MinionZombie]

Kick ass stuff!

I've always loved miniatures, and I just know if I had something like that around when I was a kid I'd have been all over it all the time. :cool: Hell, at 26 I'd be all over it. :)

[Eyebiter]

Nice diorama.

If you need inspiration there are a few free zombie miniature rule sets around

Dead Walk Again
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/27318/dead-walk-again

Blight of the Living Dead
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/32352/blight-of-the-living-dead

Send More Brains
http://sites.google.com/site/jaysgamebunker/send_more_brains

[Wyldwraith]

My apologies,
Was just seeking to be helpful. I see a great commercial opportunity in a well-designed and flexible miniature-strategy game based on the Zombie Apocalypse concept.

Most zombie-related board games to date have had relatively very basic, easily anticipated game mechanics for the zombies, and for some reason seem to try and make the zombies completely governed by a static set of rules, which essentially makes them an antagonistic element of the game-environment instead of enemies that can behave differently from game to game.

If someone actually went to the trouble of crafting a Warhammer 40k-type game, with all the attendant customization, complexity and collectible appeal in a zombie apocalypse/survival horror format, I see no reason it wouldn't be very successful.

The one commonality of zombie fans is ironically their often wildly varying tastes inside the various sub-genres. Some like classic Romero-type shamblers, some go for feral beast runner-ghouls, or zombies with some sort of twist like the viral mutations caused by the T-Virus with Resident Evil undead.

A strategy game whose structure captured that elusive Easy to Learn/Hard to Master magic while also containing rule variations for use with the core game to allow players to create strategy scenarios with their favored zombie-type could go a long way at present.

The time to do it is now. Zombie movies and novels are going more and more mainstream with every passing day, and when combined with the fan base of post-apocalyptic-flavored material could well become the next hot thing in tabletop strategy gaming.

Casual opinion poll: How many people here with tabletop miniature-gaming experience would be interested in a game of this sort? Instead of making the zombies simply automated game-obstacle-threats, go for the more classic Player versus Player format of miniature gaming.

People love to play the "evil side" these days. If they didn't, Chaos wouldn't be one of, if not the most popular faction to play in W-40k. If not Chaos then the Aliens-like Tyranids or the Necrons, etc etc.

My point is, I'm truly surprised that someone hasn't ALREADY gone all-out and done a 40k-esque Zombie Apocalypse game.

What do the rest of you think?

[Mr.G]

My apologies,
Was just seeking to be helpful. I see a great commercial opportunity in a well-designed and flexible miniature-strategy game based on the Zombie Apocalypse concept.

Most zombie-related board games to date have had relatively very basic, easily anticipated game mechanics for the zombies, and for some reason seem to try and make the zombies completely governed by a static set of rules, which essentially makes them an antagonistic element of the game-environment instead of enemies that can behave differently from game to game.

If someone actually went to the trouble of crafting a Warhammer 40k-type game, with all the attendant customization, complexity and collectible appeal in a zombie apocalypse/survival horror format, I see no reason it wouldn't be very successful.

The one commonality of zombie fans is ironically their often wildly varying tastes inside the various sub-genres. Some like classic Romero-type shamblers, some go for feral beast runner-ghouls, or zombies with some sort of twist like the viral mutations caused by the T-Virus with Resident Evil undead.

A strategy game whose structure captured that elusive Easy to Learn/Hard to Master magic while also containing rule variations for use with the core game to allow players to create strategy scenarios with their favored zombie-type could go a long way at present.

The time to do it is now. Zombie movies and novels are going more and more mainstream with every passing day, and when combined with the fan base of post-apocalyptic-flavored material could well become the next hot thing in tabletop strategy gaming.

Casual opinion poll: How many people here with tabletop miniature-gaming experience would be interested in a game of this sort? Instead of making the zombies simply automated game-obstacle-threats, go for the more classic Player versus Player format of miniature gaming.

People love to play the "evil side" these days. If they didn't, Chaos wouldn't be one of, if not the most popular faction to play in W-40k. If not Chaos then the Aliens-like Tyranids or the Necrons, etc etc.

My point is, I'm truly surprised that someone hasn't ALREADY gone all-out and done a 40k-esque Zombie Apocalypse game.

What do the rest of you think?


I'd love a game like this...price could be a concern. My only issue is no one I know in Northern Indiana would play it with me!

[Wrong Number]

My point is, I'm truly surprised that someone hasn't ALREADY gone all-out and done a 40k-esque Zombie Apocalypse game.

What do the rest of you think?

I was just a Origins Game Fair a few weeks ago and saw a book called "All Things Zombie" which I thing may have been a new miniatures rules set for zombies. I looked at it and decided I like my rules better and it was not worth $40 to me. Of course, I have been writing games since the early 80's, so I'm hard to please.

As for the concept overall, it could be fun and the lack of zombie miniatures games (I saw two run at Origins compared to 100 war type) makes me think there would be a market. I have been buying modern miniatures and buildings so that I can set up different scenarios since I'm going to have to write the rules out anyways.

WN

[DEAD BEAT]

i could use the words over obsessed or zombie geek but that would b calling the kettle black! lol :p

cool lookin' game though dude!

if you ever get this one out there you should do a DAWN game next.....that mall construction would keep you busy for years! lol;)

[Wyldwraith]

I agree,
In fact, if you're ever interested in putting our heads together to give you some feedback from someone else with experience in designing, expanding and customizing tabletop strategy games of all sorts, I'd be happy to devote some of my endless amount of free time if you decide to go all-out, and fully develop a new zombie-based survival horror game for eventual commercial release Wrong Number.

Not looking for a piece of the potential pie for my hypothetical assistance in said development, but if you happen to make a mint's worth of green I wouldn't be adverse to a thank-you in the form of a very nice gaming-spec'd PC ;)

I genuinely believe that the key is in two basic concepts. 1) As I mentioned, making the game flexible enough in its game mechanics and equally flexible miniatures so it appeals to fans of all "flavors" of Zombies/Zombie Apocalypse(s) is crucial.

While I realize that to some extent you need to provide a game-mechanics-based incentive for players/customers to buy new set-pieces and miniatures, making the miniatures single-purpose/single-context as games such as Warhammer 40k/Epic, Mage Knight or Marvel/DC Versus have has created play-environments where committing to one of these games as a serious hobby involves making an equal (and sizable) financial commitment as well.

IMHO, I feel these games have taken it beyond providing incentive to purchase, and on into the realm of "Must continue to buy new miniatures simply to remain competitive." Some would argue this isn't a bad thing, but anyone with an in-depth knowledge of any of those games knows you're looking at a hefty initial lump sum purchase to get established/have the game resources to play seriously, as well as regular smaller purchases to remain "competitive."

That's fine for a certain crowd, but not everyone can shell out 250-300$ up front, and 50-80$ every month or two from then on. This does a pretty effective job of separating those who play these games into a small long-lasting/dedicated nucleus of hardcore players with the financial resources and inclination to make the playing of one, MAYBE two of these games their primary hobby, and a much larger number of interested (often younger) players who spend a bit and try to get into the game, but soon realize they don't have, and aren't going to have the cash in the foreseeable future to make a decent go of it, who then move on to some other hobby.

Again, that's fine as far as it goes. Games Workshop obviously does a pretty fair amount of business. However, I've always felt that by making the really interesting and more complex tabletop strategy games synonymous with major recreational cash expenditures, a large potential market for such games remains untapped.

By striking a balance between the desired complexity of a game such as Warhammer 40k, and the affordability of (for example) tabletop roleplaying-games, experience has taught me there are gamers in significant numbers throughout the U.S that could be sold on such a game.

2) Also as I stated previously, its important that the game's mechanics DO NOT automate the zombies like several recent zombie board games have done. Yes, the mechanics should capture the flavor of the zombie's nature/behavior, but by making the "zombie side" as viable and interesting to play as the humans/survivors, you broaden the appeal even further. One could even compromise here and go both ways, by having game variants that automate the zombies, and rules-sets that focus on making BOTH sides the classic "Different to Play, Equal in Power" paradigm of so many of the very best strategy games in all mediums.

Wrong Number, if you decide you're interested in discussing this at length, please by all means feel free to PM me for Yahoo/ICQ/other contact info.

Take care and happy gaming.

[Wrong Number]

Wrong Number, if you decide you're interested in discussing this at length, please by all means feel free to PM me for Yahoo/ICQ/other contact info.


Thanks much for the offer. I may well take you up on it when I get this NotLD game to my liking.

WN

[Danny]

People love to play the "evil side" these days. If they didn't, Chaos wouldn't be one of, if not the most popular faction to play in W-40k. If not Chaos then the Aliens-like Tyranids or the Necrons, etc etc.


Oh jesus, necrons. Theres a game breaker. Introduce an immortal army of teleporting, phasing, self repairing robots lead by god like entities dubbed "star vampires" and its no surprise they overpowered them into such a corner they where dead on arrival.

Theres one 40k set i doubt will see a major upgrade. how many new models released for them in the last decade? 5? 3?

[Wyldwraith]

Yup,
Warhammer 40k is the perfect test-bed that simultaneously highlights both what's good AND bad in tabletop strategy gaming.

I remember when we still had a few classic game shops around here. One of them, Wulf's HQ, hosted a variety of W.H 40k tournament-campaign leagues.
They were interesting, because a specific area of the 40k universe was chosen to play in, one of the artistic-types upsized and semi-professionally color-rendered both star system, continental and (the vast majority) locale-scale maps of regions for gameplay.

Then we'd play it out in rounds, with each side allowed to field 1,250 point armies for standard deployment battles, and 1 battle in 4 you could send/play a "reinforced deployment", aka a 2,000pt army.

Every player was allowed one deployment or transportation of an army to a new system or planet (if already in-system) per round, and battles occurred when 2 sides contested for control of the same real estate. The incentive being a) Adding a planet to your sphere of influence provided various in-game benefits, such as increases in # of allowed points for deployment, multiple system/planet "hops" in one turn, and even (once you controlled the entire star system, and for each entire star system you took control of, the creation of a new 1,250 pt army for your use, and an extra deployment per army you owned. b) strategically diminishing an enemy's forces, or disrupting their control of resources.

The Campaign Rules were complex, but those three campaigns (each of which took 10-12 months to play) were the most fun I ever had with miniature gaming.

Of course, as you can expect the two best Tyranid, 1 hell-on-wheels Chaos player, and 2 Necrons raped us the first campaign. Was a perfect example of how pound for pound the punch of certain 40k factions was way above anything resembling parity of factions.

[Wrong Number]

I have been working on painting zombies for the game and thought I would share a few of the favorites I have done so far. I am going to be painting for a very, very long time.
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/4152/zombiesl.jpg

I also have had to fashion some furniture for the house. Here is what I came up with for the frig.
http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/6361/kitchent.jpg


WN

[Thorn]

I think it looks great, and I am a fan of gaming in general so it is awesome to me that it is a playable game. If it was just you making miniatures and recreating the setting from Night it would be amazing to me. The fact that you have gone the extra mile to make it playable is just a bonus in my mind.

Great job, and have fun with it and please keep us updated? It has been awesome looking at your work.

[Epidemic79]

I WANT ONE !!! I WANT ONE !!!

Seriously,extremely impressive! I luv it so much I would sell my immortal soul to get that set. And I work for a company that specializes in miniatures,and this subject matter obviously hits home for me.

Great work Wrong Number! Keep the pics coming.

[strayrider]

Fantastic job on the minis! A few years ago the kids and I spent hours and hours painting and modifying the figs that came with the ZOMBIES!!! game. Great fun!

How about some close-ups?

:D

-stray-

[Wrong Number]

I'm looking for some additional NotLD expert help on the goals for winning this game. As it stands currently a four player game is broken down this way:

Player 1 - Ben and Barbara

Player 2 - Mr. and Mrs. Cooper

Player 3 - Tom and Judy

Player 4 - Zombies


Human player scoring is as follows:

10 for each of your characters that survive or escape

5 for each of your characters that survive or escape that are infected

1 per item in your possession (there are 20 total)

5 for each character that meets your goal requirements


Zombie player scoring:

10 points each character diseased or killed

2 points for each zombie inside the house on turn 30 or when players leave via truck or are all dead


Human player goals:

Ben and Barbara - Characters stay upstairs

Mr. and Mrs. Cooper - Characters stay in basement

Tom and Judy - Characters escape via truck


The game can end one of three ways:

1. All characters are dead

2. All living characters leave the map via truck

3. Game reaches turn 30 (when the posse arrives)


These goals seem to work fine for the 3-4 player game (3 player the zombies move automatically) however, I want to have individual goals for each character thereby expanding the game to up to seven players. My initial thoughts are on this are to keep the same goals requirements for the pairs of characters, but put different values to the items for each character. An example: The Gun is worth 5 to Ben and Mr.C, 4 to Tom, 3 to Judy, 2 to Mrs. Cooper and 1 to Barbara.

So, my question is who would get points for what items using the above as an example or, do you have a better idea altogether? A full list of the items will follow in a separate post.

WN

---------- Post added at 04:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:44 PM ----------

List of Items and what they do:

Key to Gas Pump - Unlocks gas pump (duh)

Gun - Weapon - D6x2

Hand Axe - Weapon - D6 +2, May also be used to hammer up reinforcement points (if you have access to nails)

Hammer + Nails - Weapon - D6 +1, Hammer up reinforcement points

Meat Tenderizer - Weapon - D6 -1, May also be used to hammer up reinforcement points (if you have access to nails)

Matches (2) - Can be used to light Molotov cocktails

Ammo - D6 x 4 additional bullets for gun

Nails - Allows some melee weapons to hammer up reinforcement points

Tool Kit - Reduces time to remove a door by 50%

Kerosene - Need to make Molotov cocktails

Jars - Need to make Molotov cocktails

First Aid Kit (2) - Reduces one zombie attack result or cancels Karen's turn roll for 3 turns

Wood (3) - Worth 8 reinforcement points with no penalty to carry

Music Box - Worthless

Pair of Shoes - Worthless

Keys - Worthless (and to throw first time players off "look, we have the keys to the gas pump, let's go!")


So which items would be most valuable to who? Also, any key items I missed?

WN

[Eyebiter]

When designing new items consider adding in some that have both benefits and drawbacks.


Optional rules

Access to power enables certain items:

Power tools = faster barricade construction, sound attracts more zombies

House Lights = morale boost to players, light attracts more zombies

Television = gives a constant morale boost to the human players. While on also increases chance of conflict among human players

If Zombie player is able to cut the power it should have some negative effect on all of the human players.


Also I'd recommend making some way to encourage conflict between the human players. Adding in a way for one human player to screw over another throws a wild card in the mix.

Otherwise all the humans will simply gang up on the zombie player. Some competition between players to counter act the natural urge to cooperate and survive.

[Wrong Number]

Also I'd recommend making some way to encourage conflict between the human players. Adding in a way for one human player to screw over another throws a wild card in the mix.

Otherwise all the humans will simply gang up on the zombie player. Some competition between players to counter act the natural urge to cooperate and survive.

There already is conflict with the human player basic goals. Kinda the point of the post is to find ways to add more through the items. As in my example above the Gun is worth 5 points to Ben and Cooper and less to others. Just making the Zombie player lose already in no way guarantees you winning since the basic goals already conflict. I want to add some conflict to many of the items like in the example, but am not sure which items would be most important to who.

Example:

-------Ben-----Barb-----Tom-----Judy-----Mr. C.....Mrs C.....
Gun-----5-------1--------4--------3--------5--------2
Keys----3-------2--------5--------5--------1--------4


WN

[DjfunkmasterG]

Nice job man. Really Nice. Kudo's for taking the time and energy to do all of that, and I hope you get it published.

[DubiousComforts]

I'm looking for some additional NotLD expert help on the goals for winning this game. As it stands currently a four player game is broken down this way:

Player 1 - Ben and Barbara

Player 2 - Mr. and Mrs. Cooper

Player 3 - Tom and Judy

Player 4 - Zombies

How does Karen Cooper figure into the game?

[Wrong Number]

How does Karen Cooper figure into the game?

Karen pretty much follows what she did in the movie....lays there and (may) eventually become a zombie. She can be carried if you want to move her or attempt an escape via the truck. If she becomes a zombie she activates and is controlled by the zombie player.

WN

[Eyebiter]

In the SPI Dawn of the Dead board game, if one of the four heroes is infected eventually they can become a "super zombie" unit.
http://www.iguk.co.uk/blog/2006/02/dawn-of-dead-review.html


What happens in your game when one of the players gets bit by a zombie and dies? Do they return as a standard strength zombie, or a more powerful creature?

[Wrong Number]

In the SPI Dawn of the Dead board game, if one of the four heroes is infected eventually they can become a "super zombie" unit.
http://www.iguk.co.uk/blog/2006/02/dawn-of-dead-review.html


What happens in your game when one of the players gets bit by a zombie and dies? Do they return as a standard strength zombie, or a more powerful creature?

Any character that gets a "Diseased" result when attacked by a zombie flips over their character card (using the "Diseased" side) and must start with the following turn rolling 2D6. On a result of 2 or 3 they become a zombie and are thereafter under the control of the Zombie Player. Zombies that were former Player Characters do have special rules like for example they add to your fear check when attacking them and they can freely open any non-reinforced door. They also move faster than normal zombies.

Here is a picture of the character cards:

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/2568/normalm.jpgNormal


http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/9641/diseased.jpgDiseased

WN

[DubiousComforts]

Karen pretty much follows what she did in the movie....lays there and (may) eventually become a zombie. She can be carried if you want to move her or attempt an escape via the truck. If she becomes a zombie she activates and is controlled by the zombie player.


Okay, sounds good. Which circumstances lead to preventing/not preventing Karen dying and becoming a ghoul?

Also, the 'living dead' player (they weren't called zombies in the original film) should grow stronger as the game progresses, which would be akin to more ghouls surrounding the farmhouse as the night wears on.



List of Items and what they do:

Key to Gas Pump - Unlocks gas pump (duh)

Gun - Weapon - D6x2

Hand Axe - Weapon - D6 +2, May also be used to hammer up reinforcement points (if you have access to nails)

Hammer + Nails - Weapon - D6 +1, Hammer up reinforcement points

Meat Tenderizer - Weapon - D6 -1, May also be used to hammer up reinforcement points (if you have access to nails)

Matches (2) - Can be used to light Molotov cocktails

Ammo - D6 x 4 additional bullets for gun

Nails - Allows some melee weapons to hammer up reinforcement points

Tool Kit - Reduces time to remove a door by 50%

Kerosene - Need to make Molotov cocktails

Jars - Need to make Molotov cocktails

First Aid Kit (2) - Reduces one zombie attack result or cancels Karen's turn roll for 3 turns

Wood (3) - Worth 8 reinforcement points with no penalty to carry

Music Box - Worthless

Pair of Shoes - Worthless

Keys - Worthless (and to throw first time players off "look, we have the keys to the gas pump, let's go!")

So which items would be most valuable to who? Also, any key items I missed?

Music box and shoes should be worth points only to Barbara (boost morale).

Some of the main characters (Ben, the Coopers) are heavy smokers. You could have cigarettes be worth points to those characters (also morale boost, especially to Harry).

Swap out the meat tenderizer for a tire iron. It's a weapon and may also double as a means to boarding up in lieu of the more-effective hammer. It's also more true to the original film (a meat tenderizer was used in the remake).

Add dining room table and easy chair. The dining room table can be dismantled and used as both a barricade (nail table top across window or door) and weapon (table legs used as bludgeons or torches). Easy chair can be lit as a bonfire to temporarily ward off the living dead. The player will also need matches, cloth strip (for torch), lighter fluid (as accelerant for chair), hammer and nails to make best use of these items.

Add rock for the living dead as a means to breach windows and doors.

Add cement trowel which can only be used by the living dead player if Karen dies and reanimates.

[Wrong Number]

Okay, sounds good. Which circumstances lead to preventing/not preventing Karen dying and becoming a ghoul?

Also, the 'living dead' player (they weren't called zombies in the original film) should grow stronger as the game progresses, which would be akin to more ghouls surrounding the farmhouse as the night wears on.

The First Aid Kits have two uses 1) if used on Karen they will grant five "safe from turning" turns where you don't have to roll. 2) If used by another character they will downgrade one result on the Attack Results table, i.e. a "Diseased" result becomes a "Grappled". This of course is intended to create conflict with the players ;)

Excellent point on the use of Zombie, I need to change that.

Every turn the LD Player rolls and more LD enter the map.


Music box and shoes should be worth points only to Barbara (boost morale).

Exactly why I put them in there. What else was Babara really interested in anyways?


Some of the main characters (Ben, the Coopers) are heavy smokers. You could have cigarettes be worth points to those characters (also morale boost, especially to Harry).

Love this idea and I'm going to use it.


Swap out the meat tenderizer for a tire iron. It's a weapon and may also double as a means to boarding up in lieu of the more-effective hammer. It's also more true to the original film (a meat tenderizer was used in the remake).

I already have a Tire Iron, it's an item that Ben has when the game begins along with the Keys to the Truck. Barbara starts with a Knife, Mr. Copper has a Metal Bar and Mrs. Cooper has Matches. These items, unlike the ones characters acquire during the game, have no point value. The Meat Tenderizer is meant as a nod to the remake.


Add dining room table and easy chair. The dining room table can be dismantled and used as both a barricade (nail table top across window or door) and weapon (table legs used as bludgeons or torches).

Breaking up furniture and boarding up the house is already a major part of the game play (see some of my previous posts).


Easy chair can be lit as a bonfire to temporarily ward off the living dead. The player will also need matches, cloth strip (for torch), lighter fluid (as accelerant for chair), hammer and nails to make best use of these items.

You can make Molotov Cocktails if you find the components. As for the chair being used like in the movie I have went back and forth on the idea because of the additional rules complexity it adds


Add rock for the living dead as a means to breach windows and doors.

Add cement trowel which can only be used by the living dead player if Karen dies and reanimates.

I know I want to do something with the LD using tools since it was prominent in the movie though I have yet to work that out rules wise.

Thanks much for the feedback, very helpful.

WN

[Wrong Number]

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/3586/mainss.jpg

Barbara, Ben and Mr. Cooper

[MoonSylver]

You've done an impressive amount of work on this game. Don't know if you'd already seen it out not, but there's a free print n' play out there, "Zombie Plague", that's pretty good (not an EXACT recreation of NOTLD, but captures the vibe reasonably well)

http://www.fortressfigures.com/zombieplague/

There's also Last Night on Earth which is REALLY good:

http://www.flyingfrog.net/lastnightonearth/

Also the "Zombies!!!" series from Twilight Creations Inc. (They also make one called "Zombie Town" that's pretty cool & have one coming out called "The Zombie Survival Game" that sounds really interesting"

http://www.twilightcreationsinc.com/

Plus there is the Miniatures rules "All Things Zombie":

http://www.angelfire.com/az3/twohourwargames/atz.htm

Actually as a zombie gamer there's ALL KINDS of good things out there now:

Mall of Horror:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/16772/mall-of-horror

Zombie State:
http://www.twilightcreationsinc.com/ (http://www.twilightcreationsinc.com/)

Zombie Fluxx:
http://www.wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/Fluxx/Zombie/

Zombie Dice:
http://www.sjgames.com/dice/zombiedice/

Heck, just go to BoardGameGeek.com & search the word "zombie" & you'll see what I mean:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com

(Just realized I thread jacked a bit & wandered a bit off topic. Apologies in advance. As a zombie gamer I thought you might be interested though.):)

[Wrong Number]

You've done an impressive amount of work on this game. Don't know if you'd already seen it out not, but there's a free print n' play out there, "Zombie Plague", that's pretty good (not an EXACT recreation of NOTLD, but captures the vibe reasonably well)

http://www.fortressfigures.com/zombieplague/

There's also Last Night on Earth which is REALLY good:

http://www.flyingfrog.net/lastnightonearth/

Also the "Zombies!!!" series from Twilight Creations Inc. (They also make one called "Zombie Town" that's pretty cool & have one coming out called "The Zombie Survival Game" that sounds really interesting"

http://www.twilightcreationsinc.com/

Plus there is the Miniatures rules "All Things Zombie":

http://www.angelfire.com/az3/twohourwargames/atz.htm

Actually as a zombie gamer there's ALL KINDS of good things out there now:

Mall of Horror:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/16772/mall-of-horror

Zombie State:
http://www.twilightcreationsinc.com/ (http://www.twilightcreationsinc.com/)

Zombie Fluxx:
http://www.wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/Fluxx/Zombie/

Zombie Dice:
http://www.sjgames.com/dice/zombiedice/

Heck, just go to BoardGameGeek.com & search the word "zombie" & you'll see what I mean:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com

(Just realized I thread jacked a bit & wandered a bit off topic. Apologies in advance. As a zombie gamer I thought you might be interested though.):)

Yes, I aware of those games and others. My husband and I are gamers (we have a weekly group that has been running since 1982). In our joint collection there are over 2,500 games. We go most every year to Origins and I plan on running this game there.

As for other zombies games, most imo suck and are just too simple or abstract. The best zombie game is Dawn of the Dead put out by SPI.

My NotLD game was made around 1985 and this is an update to it and port over to a miniatures style game which I felt would make it cool.

WN

[Wrong Number]

I wanted to let you all know that I will be play testing this on Halloween starting at noon at my local gaming shop. Family Fun Hobbies which is in Hamilton Square, NJ. Considering that previous plays have taken 3-4 hours I doubt it will run more than once that day since I know I want to be home for the trick or treaters and of course The Walking Dead. If anyone is interested let me know because space will be limited. Also of note is that I'm maybe 1/3 of the way through painting the zombies so the cheap plastic ones will be filling in.

WN



Here is a link to the store: http://www.familyfunhobbies.com/

[ProfessorChaos]

good luck, hope it goes well.

NJ is a bit out of my neighborhood, sorry.

and yes, do tune in for the walking dead, you'll not want to miss it.

[DEAD BEAT]

I created a strategy game based on the 1968 NotLD back in the 1980s. My friends and I played it quite a few times and I even looked into getting it published at one time.

About two years I was admiring the various cool miniatures games at Origins Game Fair and it struck me that my NOTLD game would be pretty cool as a miniatures games.

I bought some items for the game over the last two years and finally about two months ago got serious about finally making my idea a reality.

Still much to do, but it's far enough along to start sharing.

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/9807/outsidelong.jpg
Long view of playing area

http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/1833/basement.jpg
The basement

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/5982/ground.jpg
Ground floor

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/4208/upstairs.jpg
Upstairs

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/4443/outsidevl.jpg

uh hemm, i don't see the naked lady zombie anywhere! lol <:0

[MoonSylver]

uh hemm, i don't see the naked lady zombie anywhere! lol <:0

I swiped her & carry her around in my pocket. She gives me a "special" feeling. :lol:

[Wrong Number]

I don't know if anyone uses the calendar, but I posted all the Halloween running of this game info there too.

WN

---------- Post added 25-Oct-2010 at 08:07 AM ---------- Previous post was 21-Oct-2010 at 03:57 PM ----------

The few living dead pictured were ones that I had around and not even for the game (just for picture purposes). It's slow painting the living dead and I have just over 30 done atm. There is a naked one, an Uncle Rege and few other "guest" appearences. I'm don't think I will have them all done too much before next years Origins.

[rongravy]

Two things popped into my mind when I saw those pictures on the first post.
One had me going back to Beetlejuice and the little town model.
The other was the scene in Zoolander where Mugatu dedicates the Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ffj8SHrbk0

Whatever this game is, I'd give it a twirl. I used to play alot of AD&D back in the 80's and 90's. A zombie dominated world would be cool to trudge around in.

[Wrong Number]

Just a reminder that this is today at noon.

WN

[Wrong Number]

It's official, I will be running this game three times at Origins Game Fair in June (www.originsgamefair.com). I'm also going to be running a miniatures version of SPI's Dawn of the Dead. As soon as I get all the details sorted out I will start another thread with the days/times.

WN

[AcesandEights]

Origins is hardcore geekery, and I mean that in the best way possible.

My hats off to you, WN! :)

[Wrong Number]

Took some pictures today of the game set up. All the furniture is in place and the red pins represent spots where items can be found. I'm running this and my DotD game next week at Origins Game Fair,

WN

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/9012/upstairssetup.jpg
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/9098/mainfloorsetup.jpg
http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/7079/basementsetup.jpg

-- -------- Post added 24-May-2012 at 10:55 AM ---------- Previous post was 21-May-2012 at 10:56 AM ----------

Doing the final "nice touches" phase of getting the game ready for it's Origins run through(s) next week. Here are the turn markers I came up with for the game.

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/6631/turnmarkers.jpg