First attempt at a custom scenario

[GFWD]

I have finished the main quests that came with the game, so this morning my DM gene kicked in and I decided to try creating a custom adventure. This is the first scenario.

I am trying to create scenarios using only the cards in the game, so no custom made cards at this point. I have tested it with two players solo and won, though Merisiel was down to four cards.

I would love feedback on how it looks here, as well as if anyone decides to give it a play.

Thanks in advance for all feedback!

Zombies?

Players Locations #Allies to defeat
1 Town Square
1 The Rusty Dragon
1 General Store 8
2 Glassworks 10
3 Academy 12
4 Waterfront 14
5 Sandpoint Cathedral 16
6 Village House 18

As night falls the people of Sandpoint begin to transform. With no warning people’s eyes glaze over and they begin attacking, each assaulted citizen turning into a mindless zombie. Or are they? Father Zantus disagrees with the zombie hypothesis and believes the citizens of Sandpoint are under a spell. Defeat the brainwashed citizens of Sandpoint without hurting them, and return normalcy to the town.

Villain: None
Henchmen: Add one random ally per location

During this Scenario

Replace all monster cards with Ally cards (allies in location decks count as banes)

When encountering an Ally use the higher check value as the combat value for that Ally. Use only your base strength or dexterity check (no spells, no weapons, no bonuses, you don’t want to hurt them) to defeat each ally. Place defeated allies in an "Ally pile" not your hand.

Victory: Defeat X Allies to break the spell and save the people of Sandpoint (X= value in table above)

Reward: each character selects a random ally from the "saved ally" pile

[Adam J Wells]

Neat idea! i can't wait to play it and see how it works out!

[Mechalibur]

It's a really interesting idea, but it really hurts characters that have low strength and dex.

Also, Mayor Kendra Deverin is one nasty zombie.

[Steve Geddes]

I just played it through using Amiri who had finished the first Adventure, so is a little more powerful than perhaps expected, however given the design of the scenario those advantages didn’t actually come into play (in fact I realised that the bigger hand size feat exposed me to taking greater wounds more rapidly).
FWIW, the comments I’d make are:

• Whilst the idea of not killing the townsfolk is a neat twist conceptually, taking out the spells, weapons, etcetera kind of removes a lot of the tactical choices in the game. I found myself turning over a blessing, exploring, then rolling a d12 or two to see if I got over the target number. I didn’t really have much to do except for the occasional Barrier or item to acquire and the rather unimportant and automatic choice as to what to discard when I took damage (out go the weapons).
  
• It went very fast and the target of 8 allies saved seemed about right. However, given the last point it’s probably going to depend pretty heavily on which characters encounter the allies. Those with high strength dice will probably breeze through rapidly.
  
• There was no need to close the locations. I think the closure of locations is one of the important factors in the game in terms of where to go and who to send there.
  
• I think you need to have more varied barriers (maybe keep the monsters in to be fought as per usual).
  
• It felt a little to easy to get rewards – this ties in with the last point, I think. Perhaps instead of switching allies in for monsters you should rather switch allies in for items. That might match the risk and reward a little better.
  
• One thought I had would be to make the fights with the allies as per usual (allowing spells, weapons, etcetera) – but have a ‘death mechanic’ where if you achieved double to target number you’d killed them. Then you could make two piles – defeated and killed. The victory condition could be tweaked to achieve a certain target difference of “defeated allies minus killed allies”. That would make you need to “aim” for the spot between their check number and double the check number. Below that range you’d take damage, above the range would be counter productive. (This would mean that high strength characters have an incentive to give their weapons to the low strength characters, for example).
  
• As I mentioned above, I think the closure of locations should feature. Perhaps the ending condition should require that you close half the locations plus one (or something). If you don’t do that before the blessings deck runs out, the town is overrun by ‘zombies’.

Hope that’s not too critical. I like the idea – I just think it’s really important to have all the tactical choices, otherwise it becomes too predetermined and luck-dependant. I would definitely try and find a way to make closing locations important and to keep making the choice of playing cards matter.

[GFWD]

Steve:

Thanks for the feedback. I am on my way out to games night, so will reply more later, I just wanted to thank you for giving it a try.

My goal was to try something with a different win condition, and maybe I went to far by removing the closing location mechanic.

Allies for items instead of monsters is interesting, I will think on that.

The lack of tactics is a valid point. Would your view of that change if you knew this was the first of a series of adventure, so that this scenario is more about building the story idea that someone is trying to take over the town with mental control, and that later scenarios will have more tactics? Or for you does each scenario need to have tactics?

Mechalibur: I agree that it is a bit tough on some characters, I will have to think on how to give non-dex/str based heros a "fighting" chance. Although I come from a long D&D history of giving my players challenges that allow different types of characters to shine through in different situations. Maybe that doesn't work exactly the same in card game format.

Thank you!

[Steve Geddes]

GFWD wrote:

Steve:

Thanks for the feedback. I am on my way out to games night, so will reply more later, I just wanted to thank you for giving it a try.

No worries. I hope it's the first attempt of many. :)

Quote:

My goal was to try something with a different win condition, and maybe I went to far by removing the closing location mechanic.

I think this is worth experimenting with (and perhaps the closure of locations doesnt need to tie in to the win condition). I'd still utilise the various closure conditions in some way, since I find that an interesting aspect of any given scenario.

Quote:

Allies for items instead of monsters is interesting, I will think on that.

Or just more allies maybe whilst leaving the monsters in to be fought as per usual. My main point was that it felt like I was getting the opportunity to acquire lots of stuff without a huge amount of risk.

Quote:

The lack of tactics is a valid point. Would your view of that change if you knew this was the first of a series of adventure, so that this scenario is more about building the story idea that someone is trying to take over the town with mental control, and that later scenarios will have more tactics? Or for you does each scenario need to have tactics?

Well, I guess it makes a difference - I certainly appreciated the different 'feel' of the various scenarios in Burnt Offerings. Nonetheless, I think there needs to be some genuine decisions to make. With Amiri I didnt really have any moment of having a choice - it was immediately obvious what my best course of action was.

It may be that I wouldnt have noticed if I'd played one or two 'normal' scenarios first and then had a quick-and-easy, reward heavy scenario.

[Monele]

Aah, custom scenarios start making an appearance, neat! And not a bad concept to start with. I don't have the game yet so I can't playtest this, but in regard to the "no weapon/spell/etc" complaint, why not take something from the RPG system and add 4 to the difficulty if using such cards for the roll? Similar to not being proficient or using the wrong damage type.

[GFWD]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! If you want to read some more feedback this scenario and ideas are also being discussed on BGG: http://tinyurl.com/pacgscenario1

With all of the feedback here is version #2 of the scenario. Let me know what you think (and thanks!)

Uninvited Guests Adventure (working title)

Scenario #1: Zombies?

Players Locations #Allies to defeat to win
1 Town Square
1 The Rusty Dragon
1 General Store 8
2 Glassworks 10
3 Academy 12
4 Waterfront 14
5 Sandpoint Cathedral 16
6 Village House 18

As night falls the people of Sandpoint begin to transform. With no warning people’s eyes glaze over and they begin attacking, each assaulted citizen turning into a mindless zombie. Or are they? Father Zantus disagrees with the zombie hypothesis and believes the citizens of Sandpoint are under a spell. As you watch the Good Father’s eyes glaze over and he moves to attack. Defeat the brainwashed citizens of Sandpoint without hurting them, and return normalcy to the town.

Villain: None
Henchmen: Mayor Kendra Deverin, Father Zantus, Sheriff Hemlock, Ameiko Kaijitsu, Shalelu Andosana, Isoari Ganethus, Ven Vinder, Aldern Foxglove

During this Scenario

1. Replace all monster cards with Ally cards

2. When encountering an Ally use the higher check value as the combat value for that Ally. Allies require a combat check to defeat, using their highest Check to Acquire value as their Check to Defeat value.

3. Place defeated allies in a seperate Subdued Ally Pile. Do not banish them or place them in your hand

4. Pulling your punches:
- Subtract 1 from each die you roll when fighting an ally.
- Do not use any skill bonuses when fighting an ally. You may play cards to get extra dice, but ignore anything that adds a bonus
- Use all other weapon/spell/blessing/bonus cards as normal

5. Herding the townsfolk: When you close a location search the location deck and randomly distribute any remaining allies to the other locations and shuffle them into the deck.

6. Named Allies: Defeated named allies return to the box, and do not go to the subdued ally pile. When you defeat a named ally you may immediately attempt to close that location.

If a character draws a named ally in their hand (it is part of their deck) they immediately encounter that named ally. If they defeat the named ally they may attempt to close their current location deck and the ally is set beside their discard pile (you get them back after the scenario). If the named ally is undefeated or evaded they are shuffled back into the character’s deck.

Victory: Subdue X allies or close all locations to break the spell and save the people of Sandpoint. (X=value in the location table)

Reward: Each character selects one random character from the subdued ally pile.

(I banished the named allies back to the box instead of putting them into the subdued ally pile, but if you wanted to increase your chance of getting a named ally you could put them in the ally pile instead)