Zombie RV Rules - modification, interpretations, clarifications.

[Doug ex-em4]

I invite anyone with an interest in these rules to post here if there are questions, suggestions etc.

I’ve a few points I’d like to air but for now, just something that occurred to me this morning. The rules say that a zombie in base contact with a survivor will attack. I’ve played it so that the zombie has to have an Action available before it can attack so that if it takes 2 Actions to get into contact, it can’t attack that turn because an attack requires another Action. How do you play it?

Oh, and another couple of things, this time on noise. What do you think would be the Noise value of breaking a window? I reckon 1 noise point. And how about the noise of your vehicle arriving on the table. Should that generate Noise points?

I’d be interested to hear how others view these points and anything else about the tules players want to raise.

Doug

[nozza_uk]

I’ve a few points I’d like to air but for now, just something that occurred to me this morning. The rules say that a zombie in base contact with a survivor will attack. I’ve played it so that the zombie has to have an Action available before it can attack so that if it takes 2 Actions to get into contact, it can’t attack that turn because an attack requires another Action. How do you play it?

We play it that if the zombie ends its move action in base contact, then it can attack.

Oh, and another couple of things, this time on noise. What do you think would be the Noise value of breaking a window? I reckon 1 noise point. And how about the noise of your vehicle arriving on the table. Should that generate Noise points?

I guess it would depend on the size of the window. Something like smashing a glass pane on a door might be 1 noise, throwing a TV through a larger window might be a 2.

Concerning the van, we play that it doesn't generate noise at the start.

My first question is what happens when your roll a Natural "1", you go out of ammo. We played the natural "1" as the shooter wildly firing and missing and going out of ammo (ala Fistful of lead) and generating noise. However, I've seen it mentioned that they didn't actually fired no shot (making no noise).

Also, has anyone played human vs human using the rules?

[mikedemana]

I've never played human vs. human. As to the other questions:

• I play the zombie has to have an action to attack. It is part of the game, keeping your distance. Remember, though, if you don't kill the zombie, you risk another attack trying to break away.

• I let players add +1 noise to whatever they do, representing shouting, banging things, whatever. So, +1 noise for breaking glass makes sense.

• For the vehicle, I just use the movement noise if it is in motion. I let survivors run back to it and use it to go pick up others at the end of the mission. However, I usually have barricades (burnt out cars, etc.) keeping them from joyriding through the mission area -- though I do want to try that sometime! 

• I consider the natural "1" when shooting can be either out of ammo or a jam. Typically, I don't give them noise for 1's. I figure they are in deep enough doo-doo with going out of ammo!

• Since others are using the "Supplies for Re-roll" rule (previously, I did not because the supplies were too important for the campaign), I am thinking of doing this: Each time a character scavenges supplies, they get a "Luck" token. It can be used for that character one time in the game for a re-roll. If nothing else, it is another encouragement to scavenge more supplies!

Thanks for creating this thread! It's a great idea and brainstorming place, considering how many of us are playing Zombie RV.

Mike Demana

[Doug ex-em4]

I agree with Mike on the out-of-ammo issue. If a 1 is rolled on the first potential target, the gun is OOA and thus, does not create noise. If there are multiple targets for one shot, any 1’s rolled on subsequent targets, are simply misses and do create noise.

Talking of ammo, I treat the "extra ammo" that comes with the starting equipment as something that renews each game, rather than a one-off.

Keep the RV chat coming……

Doug

[Legionnaire]

Even though I have opted for a different rule set for my own personal End of The World gaming, I am very much enjoying reading about all the fun various people have with these rules. And the different takes and settings! So much creativity.

Granted, I haven't really read the rules, but I always feel a 1 in 6 chance for Out of Ammo is quite harsh. I assume that it's for fast easy play with very little adding up/ subtracting, so probably in the right spirit of the game, otherwise there wouldn't be so many of us playing that game here  .

Regards,

Legionnaire.

[Sunjester]

We also play the zombie has to have an action to attack a PC.

Also that a roll of 1 is OOA and no noise.

 We have taken the view that most things not specifically in the rules cost 1 noise.

Shotguns only count OOA is a 1 is rolled for the closest target, for anyone else in the spread a 1 is just a miss.

We changed zombie push back to knock down. It then takes them their entire turn to struggle back on their feet.

We felt there were too many zombies and it was too hard to kill them, so we are experimenting with 2 options. Firstly to spawn less zombies per turn and secondly make shooting more effective by being +1 at close range instead of -1 at long range. The jury is still out on which one we are going to use.

[mikedemana]

Shotguns only count OOA is a 1 is rolled for the closest target, for anyone else in the spread a 1 is just a miss.

I forgot to mention, but that is exactly how I play it, as well. The collective mind is powerful indeed... 

I had never considered the extra ammo was renewable...hmm. Of course, with my vehicle rules as part of my road trip campaign, I am planning on letting characters with Tinker be able to create extra ammo.

Great responses so far! I like how we think very similarly. 

Mike Demana

[Doug ex-em4]

Even though I have opted for a different rule set for my own personal End of The World gaming, I am very much enjoying reading about all the fun various people have with these rules. And the different takes and settings! So much creativity.

Granted, I haven't really read the rules, but I always feel a 1 in 6 chance for Out of Ammo is quite harsh. I assume that it's for fast easy play with very little adding up/ subtracting, so probably in the right spirit of the game, otherwise there wouldn't be so many of us playing that game here  .

Regards,

Legionnaire.

The out of ammo rule is a killer and it’s one reason why I choose to interpret the "Extra Ammo’’ equipment as I mentioned in my previous post above.

We also play the zombie has to have an action to attack a PC.

Also that a roll of 1 is OOA and no noise.

 We have taken the view that most things not specifically in the rules cost 1 noise.

Shotguns only count OOA is a 1 is rolled for the closest target, for anyone else in the spread a 1 is just a miss.

We changed zombie push back to knock down. It then takes them their entire turn to struggle back on their feet.

We felt there were too many zombies and it was too hard to kill them, so we are experimenting with 2 options. Firstly to spawn less zombies per turn and secondly make shooting more effective by being +1 at close range instead of -1 at long range. The jury is still out on which one we are going to use.

I’ve adopted the knockdown after a knockback result but I’m allowing the zombies to stand up by using 1 action, not the whole turn. So far, I haven’t reduced the number of Zeds or made the shooting more effective.

What is occurring to me more and more is that the risk-reward ratio isn’t very attractive. Getting through a scenario is tough and you don’t get a lot for it.

Doug

[Legionnaire]

Just putting an idea in here, regarding the risk vs reward. From what I gather, the scenario you pick tells you where and how many "loot" places. The places investigated might even turn up nothing of value!  . How about just simply add a token or two,  1D3 maybe?

Regards,

Legionnaire.

[Doug ex-em4]

Just putting an idea in here, regarding the risk vs reward. From what I gather, the scenario you pick tells you where and how many "loot" places. The places investigated might even turn up nothing of value!  . How about just simply add a token or two,  1D3 maybe?

Regards,

Legionnaire.

Yes, loot is quite formulaic and not that good. There are several Search tokens, the locations of which are known, once you’ve fought your way up to one, you then have only a 50/50 chance of there being anything there. If there is, you roll on a "Loot" table to see what you've got. Maybe extra tokens would work or maybe reduce the chance that a token yields nothing or maybe make the yield from a successful Search a bit more rewarding.

I think adding experience, which we’ve done, should help. So far, we’ve limited it to making limited improvements to skills and other benefits  but I think we need to add an ability to use XP to buy "stuff". In fact, now I think of it, maybe successfully Searching a token yields some loot AND a bunch of XP. This goes in the general XP pool and be used as mentioned above . Actually, I quite like that idea.

Doug

[Legionnaire]

Of course it depends on what kind of game you want to play. But to me, fighting for your life and only finding a big pile of nothing is not very cricket! Maybe, at least you should be able to find something useful even if it's just a snazzy scarf  .

But, as far as XP rewards go, I too kind of like that approach. The model has tried to help out the group, for the common good and should be rewarded for that in some fashion  .

Regards,

Legionnaire.

[Dan55]

As far as rolling a "1" during shooting, (is it a jam or OOA), why not use the opportunity to make the shooting a bit more interesting. Create a tiny chart and use it whenever a "1" is rolled. For example; 1 - 3 = jam, 4 - 6 = OOA. This gives you the ability to adjust it to your liking.  If you hate the OOA result then make the chart 1 - 5 = jam, and 6 = OOA.

[mikedemana]

Yes, loot is quite formulaic and not that good. There are several Search tokens, the locations of which are known, once you’ve fought your way up to one, you then have only a 50/50 chance of there being anything there.

Hmm...I didn't consider that a failed search roll meant there was nothing there. I always interpreted it as you didn't find it, yet. You can keep looking on your next action, and next, and next...if necessary.  I can ask the author what he intended, but he is pretty happy with people looking at his rules as a "toolkit" and changing what they want in them. 

Mike Demana

[Doug ex-em4]

Hmm...I didn't consider that a failed search roll meant there was nothing there. I always interpreted it as you didn't find it, yet. You can keep looking on your next action, and next, and next...if necessary.  I can ask the author what he intended, but he is pretty happy with people looking at his rules as a "toolkit" and changing what they want in them. 

Mike Demana

Mike I was going by the rule which says "Search tokens can be searched only once (remove the search token)."

I’m going to introduce XP for characters reaching search tokens, even if they’re barren. I look upon them as an objective so if you reach it, regardless of whether there’s anything there, you’ve done your job.

Doug

[nozza_uk]

One house rule we introduced was that the survivors get a +1 when they outnumber a zombie in melee.

Has anyone tried playing against the Rottzies (opposing human gang) from the 'A Place to Chillax' campaign yet?