Death Rising (we'll call it so, until Nate and I don't figure out a different name) won't be a combat-based game (we all know this) since fighting zombies will be a mean to get things done, NOT the main goal of the game (this is not a shoot-'em-up game, it's a survival-resource management game.
Shadow Operations, on the other hand, will focus more on the fighting aspect, but still, killing guards won't be the main goal of the game.
In either case, the combat system will be crucial to determine if the gamesystem is actually something new, or if it's just a dice-chucking frenzy, like many other games.
Lets talk about Dearh rising, for now, and lets leave Shadow Ops for future musings.
What I wanted lend to the player(s) is that a horde of zombies will attack him/them, not just one, two or three zombies.
What I have learned is that there are game, like Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game, at least from what I have seen and played, there are not going to be many zombies on the boards (at least, not enough to say that it's actually a horde. In fact, if you fight one, or if you fight 4, there is no real difference in the mechanics or the results (very differently to what happens, for example, in Dead of Night.
Zombicide, on the other hand, while I didn't like it, I have to say it had a really nice mechanic, where, the more you kill, the more zombies spawn... which gives the impression of an actual zombie slowly closing in on you.
So, how will the combat work:
there will be 2 types of attacks: ranged, with ranged weapons (doh!) and hand2hand (with melee weapons (again, doh!).
When attacking with ranged weapons, you will combine the character card, and the weapon card, placing one OVER the other, alligning the weapon card on the corresponding weapon mark on the character card. You then get a range (the length of the 2 allignerd cards) and a combination of 2 numbers: one number is the number of dice (on the character cards) that will be rolled (different from character to character); and another one, on the weapon card, which tells the number that needs to be rolled (or higher), to hit.
So, say the Redneck has a 3 near the shotgun mark, on his character card, and a the shotgun has a 3 on its weapon card: in this instance, you would roll 3 dice and take down a zombies within range (360° around the character) for every 3+ rolled.
Of course: shotguns will have a shorter range, compared to a rifle (which will differe from character to character, based on the proficiency the character has with a specific weapon. similarly, the number of rolled dice will differ from character to character, based on his/her proficiency with a weapon.
It might seems chaotic, but it's actually very easy: just lay the 2 cards, one over the other, on the corresponding weapon mark, and you have all the info you need.
To add some more choices, there will be ammo: ammo will be limited, but a player can decide to spend 1 ammo, to roll 1 extra die.
Close combat will be different: the character can attack any zombie within range (range corresponds to the short side of a character card: so everyone has the same CC range): what differs is the number of dice rolled by each character, PLUS the combat modifier of the weapon used (if no weapon is used, the character is fighting bear handed, and no modifier is applied).
The redneck will roll 2 dice, plus he is using a baseball bat, which will add +3 to the result: he scores a 7+3=10.
To the result, you subtract the number of zombies within range, and kill the remaining result.
Say that, in the example above, the redneck had 6 zombies within range, he would put 4 down (10-6=4), leaving 2 to be activated in the zombie activation phase).
So, in practice, to kill ALL the zombies within range, you have to gain a result which is double the number of said zombies.
Seems complicated, but it actually is quite easy.
Since all zombies attack any human within range (which is also the length of the short side of a card, you get how important it is to kill all zombies within CC range).
This mechanic gives the idea of a horde of zombies: the more zombies, the more you have to roll, and you cannot just take one by one; but you have to deal with ALL of them, at once.
Tomorrow I'll explain the movement portion of the rules, which seems the one Nate likes best, and that makes the game a halfway between a boardgame, and a miniature game, having the eas of play of the first, and the flexibility of the second.
More on that in out next episode.
stay tuned
Shadow Operations, on the other hand, will focus more on the fighting aspect, but still, killing guards won't be the main goal of the game.
In either case, the combat system will be crucial to determine if the gamesystem is actually something new, or if it's just a dice-chucking frenzy, like many other games.
Lets talk about Dearh rising, for now, and lets leave Shadow Ops for future musings.
What I wanted lend to the player(s) is that a horde of zombies will attack him/them, not just one, two or three zombies.
What I have learned is that there are game, like Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game, at least from what I have seen and played, there are not going to be many zombies on the boards (at least, not enough to say that it's actually a horde. In fact, if you fight one, or if you fight 4, there is no real difference in the mechanics or the results (very differently to what happens, for example, in Dead of Night.
Zombicide, on the other hand, while I didn't like it, I have to say it had a really nice mechanic, where, the more you kill, the more zombies spawn... which gives the impression of an actual zombie slowly closing in on you.
So, how will the combat work:
there will be 2 types of attacks: ranged, with ranged weapons (doh!) and hand2hand (with melee weapons (again, doh!).
When attacking with ranged weapons, you will combine the character card, and the weapon card, placing one OVER the other, alligning the weapon card on the corresponding weapon mark on the character card. You then get a range (the length of the 2 allignerd cards) and a combination of 2 numbers: one number is the number of dice (on the character cards) that will be rolled (different from character to character); and another one, on the weapon card, which tells the number that needs to be rolled (or higher), to hit.
So, say the Redneck has a 3 near the shotgun mark, on his character card, and a the shotgun has a 3 on its weapon card: in this instance, you would roll 3 dice and take down a zombies within range (360° around the character) for every 3+ rolled.
Of course: shotguns will have a shorter range, compared to a rifle (which will differe from character to character, based on the proficiency the character has with a specific weapon. similarly, the number of rolled dice will differ from character to character, based on his/her proficiency with a weapon.
It might seems chaotic, but it's actually very easy: just lay the 2 cards, one over the other, on the corresponding weapon mark, and you have all the info you need.
To add some more choices, there will be ammo: ammo will be limited, but a player can decide to spend 1 ammo, to roll 1 extra die.
Close combat will be different: the character can attack any zombie within range (range corresponds to the short side of a character card: so everyone has the same CC range): what differs is the number of dice rolled by each character, PLUS the combat modifier of the weapon used (if no weapon is used, the character is fighting bear handed, and no modifier is applied).
The redneck will roll 2 dice, plus he is using a baseball bat, which will add +3 to the result: he scores a 7+3=10.
To the result, you subtract the number of zombies within range, and kill the remaining result.
Say that, in the example above, the redneck had 6 zombies within range, he would put 4 down (10-6=4), leaving 2 to be activated in the zombie activation phase).
So, in practice, to kill ALL the zombies within range, you have to gain a result which is double the number of said zombies.
Seems complicated, but it actually is quite easy.
Since all zombies attack any human within range (which is also the length of the short side of a card, you get how important it is to kill all zombies within CC range).
This mechanic gives the idea of a horde of zombies: the more zombies, the more you have to roll, and you cannot just take one by one; but you have to deal with ALL of them, at once.
Tomorrow I'll explain the movement portion of the rules, which seems the one Nate likes best, and that makes the game a halfway between a boardgame, and a miniature game, having the eas of play of the first, and the flexibility of the second.
More on that in out next episode.
stay tuned