Surgery, In-Laws, and Defend!

Hello all,

Well, I've managed to get an ATZ game in this week but I had to play the Defend scenario for my group a bit fast and loose as my wife was supposed to have surgery today. Which meant my mother-in-law came down to help her through the post-op and for some reason wanted to stay in the guest bedroom instead of sleeping on the couch because my ATZ board was set up with minis on the bed. Weird! ;)

Anyway, I stayed up until 1am last night finishing the game (pics and batrep to follow soon) and I discovered a couple of things. First I rolled that half my group was gone (Kaylee, Sebastian, and Neeva) while Liz, Jennifer and I were at the house with the two little girls from the Domestic Disturbance scenario from ATZ Haven. The dice said for the team not to return until 4 activations but was a bit fuzzy as to when the count started. I had them start from the first activation the zombies began attacking the barricades as otherwise Team Kaylee would make it here in no time. How do others handle this?

By the ATZ barricade rules, since 2 of the 3 people in the house had some carpentry tools it seemed like the zombies couldnt' get in very well. After all, if a survivor is on the other side with tools then even if 3 zombies tear down the barricade 1 rank then that survivor can just put it back up on their activation right? Was I doing this correctly?

Anyway, more later. Hope all are having a fun January!

Zombie Chow

Its all in Who You Know?

Happy (Not) End of the World everyone!

...Which is probably for the best anyway as my Zombie Plan is crap. ;) Curiously enough, this is also my dad's birthday so that would have been really rough.

Anyhoo I got to thinking about my upcoming ATZ:BFFOTZ game and the concept of "Loaded" PEFs. For those who don't have Final Fade-Out, its the idea of putting pregenerated gangs or survivor groups on the Potential Enemy Forces (PEFs) table so you might have recurring NPCs in the campaign. Which is a good idea IMO and I'm glad its available...and will be one of the FFO rules I import into my ATZ game.

But it got me to thinking. Since most ATZ games are generally based on the "Star" being the player themselves (even if an idealized player), then perhaps the "Loaded" concept should be taken one step further. That is, having a chance of running into people you know, either friends, foes, or general individuals you know in Real Life(TM).

How would you do this? Give a chance that any NPC you run into is one of these folks, and then have a "Who ya know" table to roll on? Would you maybe use the Zombie rule of by rolling doubles the zombie is someone you know? A third method altogether?

Zombie Chow

PS: One of my followers pointed out today that the URL of this blog could be read as "Those whore main". :P  Thanks Tony! I wonder how many people have come here looking for a porn site?

ZC

All Things Zombie: Better Final Fade-out than Zed?

Well, after some consideration I've decided to simply add some of the rules of FFO to my ATZ:BDTZ game instead of importing over wholesale. There's just too many new things I'm unsure about. Oh I like the explanation mode of FFO (as I noted in my review) but most of that I've finally figured out from the THW yahoo group and the Board of the Living Lead.

So, I'm importing the FFO campaign rules, Star Power*, Zombie rules, and firearms systems. I'm also going to use the increased attributes and talents. I might add more as play progresses but most everything else in FFO either seems too clunky or apples to oranges; a different way of doing XYZ but not IMO better. At least, it doesn't seem better from a read-thru. I might feel differently in play.

Oh, and Game 5 (last full ATZ:BDTZ) game will be up in about a week with pics and such. No, really! ;)

Zombie Chow

All Things Zombie: Final Fade-out Quick Review

      I finished a full read of the All Things Zombie: Final Fade-out rules and overall I must say I like them. There are some things I liked, some I didn’t, and others I’m “Meh” about.

      One thing that is readily apparent is that the explanations are much clearer, a multitude of examples are given, and there are almost too many page number references provided. At the end of major rules explanation a “Stop!” sign is placed along with suggested quick-games to try out that particular rule directly so you get the hang of it before reading onward. There’s also a quick review-style list that reprints an outline of the major points covered in the prior text. This alone is IMO worth the price of the new book!

      As a quick list I provide the following:

 

What I Like:

* The idea of “Star Power”, where a star character can roll dice to reduce damage or negative effects.

* Now the Reputation score is used for most successes instead of 1-3

* Firearms seem to be easier to use in killing zombies.

* The Challenges description is clearer and more detailed.

* Vehicles now move even when driver is not active.

* There are now more starting zombies on the board

* I also like how zombies now are rep 3 except when in LOS of a human; and then they are Rep 4 for Activation only.

* I do like the rule that zombies can shrug off Impact 1 damage, more cinematic.

* There are now actual rules now for an infected figure becoming a zombie during game play instead of after an encounter.

* Good rules are given for gas siphoning/Fuel resource gain.

* There are more campaign-style rules, and more tables for events and encounters. I especially like the inclusion of attacks on a group’s safe houses and vehicles.

* There are new random events, some are reprinted but others new such as figure twists ankle, grunt wanders off, etc.

* Generating building contents is a lot more streamlined and understandable.

 

What I Don’t Like:

* Insight checks are now by figure instead of by group.

* You cannot play a Police/Military class anymore, only Citizen to either Ganger or Survivor.

* Some attributes like “wuss” left out.

* Grenades no longer included.

* The sentence “Here’s how we do it.” is repeated constantly…. while I can see the necessity at times it gets old when reading.

* Zombie surprise system seems clunky, and I’m not sure adds much to the game.

* The “Cheating Death” rule should require a loss of items for the star figure.

* The Adrenaline rules I don’t like as they are portrayed as an advantage. Excessive Adrenaline can be as much of a bane as a boon, penalizing aim, attention, and the inevitable crash afterward.

* Some of the random events like Lost Children, etc. are missing but they are in ATZ Haven so I guess it’s not a big deal.

 

What I’m Unsure About:

* Melee might not work as well as the BDTZ version.

* Leaving table edge not automatic

* The new method of generating zombie locations (using a clock face) seems better but I’m not sure it’ll make much difference.

* The “Items” system seems an expansion of the IZ barter system. It seems simple enough, but we’ll have to see how it plays.

 

      The only other points I’ll mention in detail are the PEFs system and the Meet & Greet. PEFs are resolved slightly differently, but not so different that I think it’ll throw off people. Generating them is easier though, and it gives the option to “Load” your PEFs with groups at need. I have an idea that the Loading system might be a donation of Vampifan’s; and IMO it’s very nice! Keeps a cinematic/literary feel to the game with recurring villains. Like the PEFs, the Meet & Greet system is a little different too but again not sure its different enough to impact play much.

      I do miss the inclusion of the earlier scenarios such as the ATM trip and the kids’ chase. There is a free pdf Day 1 download but I wish these had been retained in FFO.

      The Quick Reference charts seem to vary a bit from the descriptions in the text, so you have a choice of which to use I guess. I don’t know if the pre-generated characters will be useful or not, but I applaud the inclusion of them. Better to have and not need, etc.; though if the BDTZ scenarios were removed to make room for them I think they weren’t a good trade.

 

 

All in All, I give All Things Zombie: Final Fade-Out 4 Head Shots out of 5, as the Mail Order Zombie Podcast grades things!

 

Zombie Chow

More about Final Fade-Out

Ed over at Two Hour Wargames has revealed more about the new All Things Zombie book at:
http://2hourblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/panama-all-things-zombie-final-fade-out.html

Its sounding a bit better as I hear more about it. From the details, it appears that its going to move ATZ more toward a RPG system and away from a strictly (or mostly) miniature wargame. I'll keep people posted, though most of you probably knew about this before I did. ;)

Zombie Chow