ZOMBIE Boardgame project HELP wanted!!!

I agree with Tricky about the twilight creation's game: i do not enjoy it so much. It's well made, nice graphics, lots of good ideas but the fun part is almost absent: waiting for the final tile to appear is not very exiting! I find it to be a looonng and slooooowww game. The worst part is the akward "re-spawn"...i mean you're dead...then you just come back to, again, wait for the heli tile to show up...

I'm certain there are better ways to convay the feeling of a Zombie ridden world!

I didn't try Mall of Horror but it does seem fun.

Having time on my hands...i would enjoy a joint effort :)

soul

Sounds good to me.

Any idea how long each game of this will take to play? Will there be campaign possiblities?

Carl

It seems to me that a good bit of the tension in zombie movies comes from the characters being killed off one by one and turning into zombies. Unfortunately, if you translate that to a board game, then those players are eliminated and have nothing to do for the rest of the game. You could have them control their character as a zombie (as in Maul of America), but unless they can win as a zombie, they may not play it "to the hilt". If they can win as a zombie, it seems like it would take some of the tension out of being a human. If you allow them to "respawn" as another human, it definitely reduces the tension.

I just thought of an alternative which might or might not work. Suppose there is not a one-to-one identification between players and human characters, but each player gets some number of action points each turn which they can use on behalf of any of the characters. As characters are killed off, the number of action points each player receives should be reduced, both as an incentive to try to keep characters alive and to avoid a "superhuman" situation when you're down to one or two characters.

I think this would increase the tactical options open to you -- do I spend actions to help a character search for the antidote or gain some other benefit, or do I try to get another character out of a dangerous situation, or do I use them to fight zombies?

First a disclaimer: I've never played any zombie games. It's not that I don't want to but I've just never had the opportunity.

Second, I am a fan of the Zombie movie genre. I especially like the original 'Night of the Living Dead'. It still remains one of my favorite horror movies.

With that being said, I think you have a good idea for a game. I like the idea of once you're bitten, you slowly turn to a zombie. One word of warning, a player may go kamikaze once he gets bitten. By that I mean, once he's infected he may throw caution to the wind and just start attacking zombies recklessly. I think it's vital to have a way you can actually die. I.E. if you take enough damage, you're flat out killed and removed from the game. Does that make sense?

Also, have you considered the time frame of the game? I.E. if the game took place over several days/nights then it might add some interesting aspects. If the players only had to hold off until morning, it might add some interesting tension. Then you could add a day phase where certain things could be done, like resting/healing, looking around for supplies, digging in, etc. (Even if it takes place over one day, a preceding day phase might be nice where players could search for supplies and dig in).

I think it might be an interesting mechanic whereby the number of zombies greatly gets larger and larger thereby adding to the tension and eventually making it impossible for players to survive past a certain point (if they hadn't already gotten the cure/antidote). This would especially be good if the game time took place over several days. I.E. each night a set number of zombies could 'spawn', with the number increasing each night, thereby making it harder and harder to survive each new night.

Just my thoughts. Interesting idea. Good luck with it.

-Darke

Interesting ideas guys! W

What could be cool for the amount of turns a player survives as a human once he has been bitten could be a hidden information mechanic: only the bitten player would know how much time he has left. A card with the amount of turns left for him to survive. The lenght would be random(many cards, one picked at random at the beginning of a game). The length of turns would mean a character's resilience to the zombie plague.

Even the tough guy could be weak to the plague.

soul

I like the ideas you're offering Nestalawe, now we just need to find out HOW to implement those ideas:)

soul

Background:
(movies) - Night of the Living Dead, 28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead (new)
(games) - Zombies Ate My Neighbor (c'mon it's so awesome!), Resident Evil (a lot of em), Zombies!!!, Betrayal at the House on the Hill.

Okay so now you know where I'm coming from! I LOVE zombies and the varied horror themes they accompany!

FIRST I think it's important to define your zombies. What I mean by this is do you want them to be slow moving brain eaters or super psycho fast killers? It seems like you want the zombies to come from a disease (so a cure can be found and players have a defined purpose) and in a house which gives me a distict Resident Evil feel for the whole endevor. GREAT! (and please correct any assumptions I make about what you want this to look like)

SECOND, as others have mentioned, I think the timeframe is very important as to the story arc of your game. IMHO I'd maybe want something along the lines of 2 days with a day and a night phase each with different options for each phase, but who knows. This will give the game the right tone of urgency. Do you want this to be the whole film of a zombie movie, or just one intense scene?

THIRD, It's probably because I just got it new and played it, but I would HIGHLY recommend researching/playing Betrayal at the House on the Hill. I just got it and played 2 scenarios (despite bashing on the Geek) and ABSO-FREAKIN-LUTELY love it! In the game you search the house which is made up of modular rooms with different event, item or omen cards to go with it. As Jpwoo menioned above, movement is cleanly taken care of by moving between rooms rather than squares/hexes which keeps the cool complicated details in the game by abstracting that part out a bit - definitely cool!

You MIGHT even want to use some ideas from BatHotH - like maybe it's somewhat scenario driven (BatHotH comes as 50 different scenarios/games in one) and sometimes the zombies are slow moving people who actually came from graves (like Night of the Living Dead) and the object is to survive until the military gets there AND another scenario is more like Resident Evil where players have enough time to solve a mystery and find out how to stop things themselves.

Also! I really like the ideas mentioned in this thread thus far about action points and secret infections...so classic. =)

As an unabashed zombie enthusiast please feel free to PM me on here and pick my brains about anything in particular (especially in relation to Betrayal as I really feel like that might have some aspects that you're trying to achieve...that, and I KNOW Betrayal's mechanics can be executed 100 times better than they sadly were...) Anyway, those are my ideas/visions/interpretations. Feel free to take what you like and leave what you dont - that's what BGDF is aaaaaall about! And a hearty welcome to you as well!

Just because I like coming up with (hopefully) original titles, might I suggest:

Dread.

Optionally, capitalize except for the "r'...i.e. DrEAD. Though I'd recommend the original version, as that does look a little like Dr Ead.

"Fear of Flesh" was my first idea, but it's fairly overused already.

Discord

One convention of the zombie movie is that in the beginning of the movie, a single zombie usually provides a significant challenge for the humans, whereas by the end of the movie they're usually happily blowing away dozens of them at a time. Try to keep that in mind... in the early game, players should have access to less effective weapons, and struggle to defeat fewer enemies.

As the horde grows, so should the players' ability to dispatch them. (A possible way to implement this is to make the powerful weapons limited in ammunition, but equally effective against groups of enemies as with single ones. Since there are fewer enemies in the early stages of the game, the desired flow creates itself. Imagine: I have shotgun with 2 rounds, and a machete. The shotgun can take out 3 zombies at once from a distance, while the machete is difficult to kill a zombie with and means that I have to get close to it, which is dangerous. I'm facing a single zombie early in the game. Wanna bet I save the ammo and try the machete method. even though it's the more difficult way?)

...this seems like it would be too chaotic and unpredictable for my tastes... how could I possibly cover all 20 entrance points at once? If you use, say 2d10, then you get 19 possible entry points, with a likelihood that they'll appear in some places rather than others.

2 - 1% chance
3 - 2% chance
4 - 3% chance
5 - 4% chance
6 - 5% chance
7 - 6% chance
8 - 7% chance
9 - 8% chance
10 - 9% chance
11 - 10% chance
12 - 9% chance
13 - 8% chance
14 - 7% chance
15 - 6% chance
16 - 5% chance
17 - 4% chance
18 - 3% chance
19 - 2% chance
20 - 1% chance

Make your front and back doors the high-concentration entry points, and scale them outward from there, down to the less likely areas. This will still provide you with a nice unpredictable influx of zombies, but will allow:

a) your players to have at least SOME chance of setting themselves up to defend properly

b) you, as the designer, to channel the game more effectively. Want tension? Put the best weapons stashes and first-aid kits farthest away from the most-likely entry points. Stuff like that.

~Josh

PS - Great thread. Very inspiring. Now I've got zombie games on the brain.

I started following this over at BGG, and it sparked my interest. I have been toying with the idea of a horror themed game for some time, but seem to hit the same roadblock.

IMO, the problem arises, in what the motivation is cinematically, and what will actually work in a boardgame mechanic. How do you create the atmosphere of tension and irrational fear, within the confines of a boardgame. What makes Zombies!!! and to some extent Maul of America work is that while the basic scenario is satisfactory, it can be long, but it gets you through the mechanics. Continued play can have the endgame goals changed, allowing for very individual game play. The downside is that play is still more action and/or more strategy oriented, and not so much horror.

Alternatively, you have a role-playing option, with minitures. I have toyed with this idea myself, being both a old hand at rpgs, and a long time table top minitures wargamer. But this doesn't seem to be the path you wish this game to follow. I would be willing to discuss this further with you, and possibly we could help each other out with our respective projects. Brainstorming is always a good thing!

Andrew

I like Voracious, thats a cool name.

Beside the Zombies outside, as the players explore in the inside certain tiles should have Zombies spawn in them.

If you are sold on the Grid based move/range etc you should at least consider switching to the roleplaying game/descent model. Where you have a movement allocation. And essentially two actions per turn.(or two half actions in rpg terms)

Movement up to your MOV score is an action. Attacking is an action. Doing something like barracading is an action. Searching a resource locker is an action. You can choose to double up if you want, so you could double move. double attack etc...

This mechanic is almost cliche'd but it works very well.

I think creating a positive (enjoyable) anxiety in players of a board game is a good goal, but creating other emotional states (fear included) seems like an extremely difficult proposition for a board game. Even computer games, which are far more immersive, are only rarely able to really affect me. You have some good ideas, and I never want to naysay anyone's ambitions, but I think you might be setting your self up for discouragement. I guess as long as you worry about making an enjoyable game first, and specific emotional states second, you're on the right track

I am so glad that this thread came up because I just started a zombie game of my own. This thread is swarming with ideas and I plan to use a few on my own game. Brilliant!

Justin

A few ideas...

1. Civilians/Helpless Bystanders.

As well as the players, there are a large number of neutral units. Civilians follow simple movement rules, and should be slower than Zombies. A handful of Zombies start in a circle around the board. There should be enough that the players might contain a few "breakouts", but would be virtually impossible to stop the Zombie populace from increasing overall.

There could be some action-related interaction as well. Example: Shouting "This Way!" costs 2 Action Points and moves all Civilians (in range)1 square closer to the player. You could also use them as diversions/body shields in desperation...i.e. Zombies might move D6 squares towards the closest living unit.

Essentially this reduces the need for extra zombies to appear during the game, and gives the players something to do besides searching & completing mission objectives. Also, if you barricade certain rooms, then you're pretty much sacrificing any civilians outside your defences. There might also be a Victory Point for each civilian alive at the end of the game.

2. Wound cards.

Whenever a player gets damaged by a Zombie, they get a Wound card, facedown. For each wound card, you lose ONE action point. 5-6 wounds cards = dead.

At the beginning of each players turn, they rotate their wound cards 90 degrees. When a card returns to its original position(giving them 3 turns after wounding, as they wouldn't get wounded in their own turn), the wound card gets turned face up.

Face up cards will either be "Uninfected" or "Infected". If Infected, the character is replaced with a zombie and the player now controls or helps control the Zombies. If a Basic Wound, it continues to restrict Action Points, but may be healed by a First Aid Kit or a Doctor character.

The ratio of Uninfected/Infected cards should be chancy enough that a player won't start gunning down his teammates to gain the edge before he becomes a zombie. Also, if it's possible to be wounded from a non-zombie source, (i.e. standing behind a zombie that another player has shot at), then you'd search the Wound cards for X Uninfected cards, then reshuffle the Wound cards. So the more uninfected wounds the players have, the greater chance of getting an infected one.

3. Multiple Levels

This would be a bitch to implement without a really large board, but essentially adds different floors. So you get stairs, possibly a laundry chute for a hasty escape(maybe child character only), etc.

Perhaps the basement is pitch black, and you need to find a flashlight to search in it. You can run down there in an emergency, but Zombies might get + to their movement in darkness. Of course, if you find a flashlight and a fuse, you might be able to repair the mains switch down there, turning all the lights on the house on(giving zombies a -1 to their movement, buying you a little extra time). (assuming the outside is twilight and the rest of the house is normally "dim"...i.e. no modifier)

Sometimes, the flashlight will randomize IN the basement, so you'll have certain "impossible" objectives at the beginning of the game, but you won't know what they are until mid/late game.

Discord