What elements do you look for in a PA game?

[Elbows]

Hi all,

Due to a long-standing desire to paint up some wasteland adventurers with gas masks and AKs and the like, I've decided to make a con-capable simple table top miniatures rules set for myself and my buddies to play.  I know there are several out there, but I often drum up rules sets as a hobby, so this is also something for me to waste some time on during the dark hours of the night.

The general environment would be a Stalker:Shadows of Chernobyl style --- basically an abandoned overgrown Eastern European landscape.  I'm not very fond of comic aspects of a game unless they create themselves, so no Fallout/Borderlands style elements really - more gritty.  That being said, what do you look for in a post apocalyptic game, what would attract you at a convention?  (Disregard minis and terrain as that'll come later).

Do you want to play as a single model, a small group, a posse, or an army?

Do you want overwhelming, scary odds or balanced play?

Do you want to simply gun it out with another treasure hunting party, or play a scenario?

Do you like cooperative games vs. a single evil GM, or two parties playing against each other?

What really gets your blood pumping?  I'm leaning toward a small cooperative band against randomly generated waves of infected ghouls...throwing in some elements of noise (weapons and actions generate noise, which draws the attention of the beasties).  Just looking for what attracts you guys to the genre. 

[Cherno]

From the top of my head:

Small group, maybe 3-5 models per player.

Scary odds, it shouldn't be too easy. The environment should be dangerous.

Goal-oriented games are preferable, as opposed to "kill all enemies". Especially with 3 players, two will duke it out and the third one will mop up any survivors easily. Better to have each group have it's own goal so they have a reason to engage and move around.

Coop games are my favourite style, with or without GM. If there's a GM, it can be hard for him to realise a fair challenge to everyone without giving one player an advantage.

If it's just a simple scenario and/or all-out combat, a straight Versus mode is fine too.

Aside from that, what I would expect from a Stalker-like game:

- A certain fear of the unknown, strange things happening in dark places, not every threat is visible at first sight (radiation, invisible mutants)
- Looting abandonded buildings and stashes for random equipment
- Interaction with the environment (starting a generator to create light and noise, using an old construction crane to move a container blocking a bunker entrance out of the way)
Surprises for the players, such as the sudden appearance of a Monolith squad near the end when all players have to move their figures to the exit without getting killed.

The spawn-through-noise-mechanic is included in All Things Zombie

One short scenario idea: Artifact hunt

The table is scattered with random artifacts of different values, but the players don't know the values of each artifact until they pick them up and even then hide it from their enemies. Once a certain threshold of artifact value is reached, the group has to move to a vertain building, start some kind of machinery there and then get to the exit (or maybe get to a radio antenna and call for extraction). the team that gets out first gets extra points, but in the end the team that got out AND has the highest score wins. Of course, once one group starts moving towards the "end-game trigger", everyone else will become suspicious and will gang up on them while frantically trying to collect more artifacts

[Elbows]

Cool, almost everything you've mentioned is already incorporated into my 3-4 pages of notes...so it looks like I'm on the right track!  To be honest, I've never played the Stalker games, just going on the art I've seen...it's definitely the style I'd be leaning towards.

Keep the ideas coming guys, thanks.

[msears]

I always prefer a sand box approach to these kinds of settings, where the group makes the decisions and lives or dies by them. With PA stuff if it gets too 'on rails' then you lose the emotional investment of the players, and fast, at least in my experience.

So yeah, make a bunch of small, seemingly random encounters and have the players stub their toes on them while they are scavenging or what have you. Throw in some big threats on the horizon and work on the world surrounding their community a bunch and you should get a few weeks out if that .

I think my posts are getting vaguer than I would like as it gets later in the night! Hope this helped.

-M

[Elbows]

Well, I ordered my first batch of cards.  Please excuse any gaming redundancies in this post, but I don't play or get around the PA scene too much for gaming.  I'm sure many of the mechanics are similar to most.

I went with 7 random character cards (each mildly different), 7 types of weapons (20 total), and 25 types of gear (70 cards total), as well as an event deck.

The players will be issued an objective on a board, and then draw a character, a weapon, and three pieces of gear --- proceed as allowed.  I have always loved randomness (basically having little to no control over what you get to work with).  The event card is drawn each turn ranging from nothing to huge waves of baddies, enemy scavenger groups, radioactive storms etc.

I have precisely ZERO miniatures or terrain assembled, so this will be a long way coming, but I'll be playtesting in the next month or two.  If it turns out to be fun, I'll post some pictures.

This would very much be a one-off adventure unless people feel to need to run it in a number of scenarios.  Character survival is not guaranteed at all.  Players could play it at a con relatively easily, step up - draw your cards, and play.  Game mechanics are very simple, but include a wealth of possibilities.  We'll see.

[Elbows]

Rather than start a new thread, figured I'd ask here...what are some good large beasties I could look at for this game?  I only have a small number of types of bad guys the characters encounter (most of the game is based around survival and clever manipulation, not so much hordes and hordes of bad guys).

One of the types is simply called the Abomination --- should be rather large (think Troll/Ogre sized) and is a malformed mutant from the wastelands.  I'm just trying to think of a good model for it.  Only need one or two.  Any ideas?

[zizi666]

Maybe the Rackham Dirz creatures.
Aberration or Aberration Prime would suit you best.
The background to these models is that they are created with technology, not so much evolved/mutated and thus there are some mechanical parts on 'em.

[Dr. The Viking]

I think PA should be focused on survival and scavenging... and for this I think a player run gang that you follow in every game is best.

Each scenario should then deal with that gang vs. some despicable adversary run by the GM or a guest player if you're lucky enough to have more than one gaming buddy. Be it another gang, critters, shortage of supplies (find water or die for instance) or something else. 

[Elbows]

Yeah, this set of cards and counters I created/ordered will be the first run - test the waters, see if anyone is genuinely interested in it.

I looked up the Dirz - a bit too purpose built for me.  I'm looking for a kind of large fleshy golem/elemental type guy, but something that would have come from flesh to start with.  Also trying to locate some 28mm scale carrion, vultures etc...no luck so far. For the basic baddies, I'll be using simple Mantic zombies to represent irradiated wasteland "Chasers".  Besides, I figure every gamer should have a couple dozen zombies on hand for the mass of games/scenarios that seem to involve them.  

I will grab some feral wasteland dogs as well.

EDIT: Looks like some of the Hordes warbeasts from Privateer Press will probably fit the bill for the big beasties.

[zizi666]

Malifaux has a vulture

And Reaper has this set :

[has.been]

I like a lot of what has already been said, so I will just add a sugestion(or two). Give players some choice e.g. have one vetran figure or two average or four novices. Use a pack of objective cards, each player draws (& keeps secret) one card at the start of the game. This can be anything from 'must get out of this alive' to 'find some spark plugs to get a vehicle moving' .  All players (in theory at least) are on the same side i.e. against the 'mutants/undead etc.' When a player thinks he has fulfilled his mission he reveals his card. This should lead to no-one being sure what the other players realy want. I can not take credit for this idea, it is in a most excellent (& old) game called Sea Strike (my version was released by Wargames Research Group about 40 years ago). As for every one against a common enemy you could look at 'Pony Wars' set of rules.

[Elbows]

I like the ideas of the objective cards...perhaps have each one listed as team or solo --- but you don't reveal them regardless?  That could be fun.  Good ideas, keep em coming.

Thanks for the link to the birds, I'll have to check them out.  perhaps I should just find some vulture toys at the discount bin...surely they exist.

[Infojunky]

Do you want to play as a single model, a small group, a posse, or an army?

I run games for small groups controlled by each player.

Do you want overwhelming, scary odds or balanced play?

Do you want to simply gun it out with another treasure hunting party, or play a scenario?

Do you like cooperative games vs. a single evil GM, or two parties playing against each other?

Yes to all of them, it really depends on the mood of my group. But most offen linked scenarios with the players playing either opposing roles or together depending on the specifics...

I am planing and running a number of linked games, from near RPG "dungeon crawling" in the ruins of a blasted metropolis to motorcycle, car/truck and bus gangs competing for territories a'la Necromunda/Gorkamorka.

What really gets your blood pumping?  I'm leaning toward a small cooperative band against randomly generated waves of infected ghouls...throwing in some elements of noise (weapons and actions generate noise, which draws the attention of the beasties).  Just looking for what attracts you guys to the genre. 

I don't do to many "Zombie" games but the waking hordes scenario can be an amusing one both in cooperative and competing styles.

I tend to run a lot of games in the style of Very Old DnD, basically a miniatures game with varying amounts of role playing elements. Laserburn, Warhammer40k:RogueTrader are good examples of this sort of play.

[Nimrod]

One of the types is simply called the Abomination --- should be rather large (think Troll/Ogre sized) and is a malformed mutant from the wastelands.  I'm just trying to think of a good model for it.  Only need one or two.  Any ideas?

In my games I use this model: http://www.maelstromgames.co.uk/index.php?act=pro&pre=dag_dag_brd_ind_141_000

Model looks quite abominable to me.

As for type of game i prefer playing, you can see AAR of one of the games played in our local club: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=36881.0

[Elbows]

That howler mini is great!  Precisely the kind of thing I'm looking for, perfect!