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Tuesday 22 October 2013

Customising ATZ encounters

I'm a big fan of All Things Zombie (both literally and in the context of the excellent miniatures rules). While I love the PEF (Potential Enemy Force) resolution tables as they exist, they often throw up requirements for figures I don't have. Now this is fine in many ways, and I can re-roll or fudge it to my heart's desire. (Usually, I end up thinking of new figures I would like to add to my collection!) The rulebook also suggests pre-loading PEFs, to match what figures are available, but I find myself wanting a different solution. I also would quite like a draw deck of encounters, rather than rolling on charts.

So I really want a method which is:

a) Card based
b) Reflects my collection better
c) Is easily adjustable

 To this end I am toying with the following solution. (Note it doesn't precisely reflect the probabilities of the tables in the rules, but I'm fine with that!)

I'm starting with a deck of 12 zombie cards, based upon how long it has been since the outbreak (using the divisions from the rules). Zombie cards will represent either 1d3 or 1d6 zombies:



Days
Cards with 1d3 zombies
Cards with 1d6 zombies
1-10
8
4
11-20
6
6
21-30
4
8
31+
2
10


The d3 or d6 roll will be modified as follows:




Day
Evening
Night
Rural
-2
-1
0
Suburban
-1
0
+1
Urban
0
+1
+2


Then a certain number of cards, each representing 1d3 civilians are added to this deck, again based on the days since the outbreak

Days
Civilian cards
1-10
6
11-20
4
21-30
2
31+
None!

Again, the die roll is modified according to location and time of day:




Day
Evening
Night
Rural
+2
+1
0
Suburban
+1
0
-1
Urban
0
-1
-2



To save referring to the tables I'd probably note the modifiers at the start of the game, so if it is evening in an urban environment, I'd just note Z+1, C-1 and only check again if the time of day changes.

Added to this I'd want to make a set of cards representing specific figures in my collection, so SWAT team guys, gang members, armed survivors and whatnot. Each card will specify the miniature and all applicable skills, weapons and stats. These would be added randomly to the 'core deck to bring it up to 24 (having the effect of there always being 50% chance of human or zombie encounters). What I like about this is that I can easily add new figures into the game as I buy them, or adjust the proportion of the character types with little effort, so I could add more military encounters if I am near a base, for example.

So if my encounter took place on day 15 of the outbreak I would have a deck consisting of:

  • Six cards of 1d3 zombies
  • Six cards of 1d6 zombies
  • Four cards of unarmed normal civilains (REP3 for those who 'know the lingo')
  • Eight cards of other random forces.
To add to the chance of getting the 'fun' cards, if a modified roll for Zombies or Civilains comes to less than 1, the card is discarded and the next one drawn.

I just thought this up on the train home from work today, so I have no idea how it will work in practice. All I knew is that I wanted the core of my collection (zombies and unarmed civilians) to be represented, along with a random selection of other figures which were prepared beforehand.

When I get a chance to try it out, I will report in full!

6 comments:

  1. Its a great idea. Theres a lot of people getting custom card decks made for there own projects lately. Might be something to consider.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! At the moment I'm planing on using a card maker for Magic The Gathering, thin card and card sleeves. Will see how it turns out!

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  2. I was working on something a bit like this a while ago, but it got stalled. Would have had full descriptions of the people encountered (i.e. numbers, REPs, weapons) and would have dispensed with dice rolls altogether. I hadn't figured out exactly how this would work...

    So, good luck with your plans; I'm looking forward to seeing further developments!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's what I plan on doing for all humans, except the standard civilians will all be straightforward unarmed REP3 types. And the zombies and REP3 Civs will have a die roll for how many. The rest will be like the 'Mad Axeman' character card a posted about a while back.

      Using a minimal number of for rolls allows for some variability in a smaller number of cards and mods can factor in where and when the scenario takes place.

      Anyway, it's early days yet, so we'll see how it goes!

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  3. Card decks are definitely the way to go, sounds like a great idea

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers, Ad. Updates will be on the blog as and when they happen. I drafted cards for the 'standard' zombie and civilian cards the other day, but won't post them until I can take pictures to use on them. Given that they will form the bulk of the deck, I think this will be a quicker project than anticipated!

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