So I have been thinking over this idea for a zombie game for quite some time now and have decided that it is time to sit down and work out the kinks in the idea and I would greatly appreciate any kind of input to the game.
Basic idea of the game:
The game board is a grid with 6 rows and 10 columns. The players goal is to move from one end of the grid to the other and back. The starting point is one space outside of the grid and the end point is one of each of the 6 rows. At the end points is some goal that the player have to recieve and bring back to the start point to recieve score.
Since the board is divided into 6 rows ans 10 columns a d6 and a d10 will be used to determine points on the board. In the setup phase players will roll the d6 and the d10 to place 7 obstructions covering points on the map creating a maze to move trhough that is different every time.
Based on your perfomance and wheter or not you survive your return trip to the start point you will recieve points that you can spend in a shop to better your chances to surive to the next turn and incrase your highscore.
What makes the game stand out:
First of all the zombies, when a player move from a location on a board a zombie will be placed there that will chase the players forcing them to move trough the board in a snacth and grab kind of a way which I think is suitable for a zombie scenario.
If the player feels that there is to many zombies chasing him he have the option to set fire to a point and thus killing all zombies moving through that place on the board. But the fire can and will spread to adjacent spots on the board, making the initial maze even harder to travers.
If a zombie catches up to the player, the player must fight the zombie using a d10, rolling under your fight stat results in you killing the zombie, rolling over results in the zombie hurting you, If you get hurt you draw a infestion card to see if you have chaught the virus. A player can take three wounds so you can draw three infestion cards before you are dead. If you have two or more infestion cards when you die you turn into a zombie and will start controling the zombies and working against the rest of the players.
A note on the charaters:
The character cards is divided into 6 areas. Head, 2 arms, torso, 2 Legs where each area give a bonus to your base stat. Each leg gives a plus 1 to movement for a total of 3 movement including your base stat. 3 movement = Move three locations on the map. If you get hurt by a zombie you roll a d6 and cover up the area on your character card with a zombie body part, turning you gradualy into the zombies you are fighting and covering up your bonus from that body part. So for instance I get hit by a zombie I roll a 6 on the dice indicating my left leg. Instead of having 3 movement I now have 2 movement beacouse my left leg is hurt. The same principle goes for arms, if you have to healty arms you can carry two handed weapons,
Turn order:
The players move cross the maze trying to find a good way across the city to the civilians they want to save. Once everyone have taken their movements they draw an area exploration card giving them either a test to pass or confirmation that they found something usefull.
When they get to the area where the cilivans are they have to pass some kind of a challenge to get into and save the civilans.
When the palyers have taken their turns they chek if anyone have turned into a zombie, Roll a d10 on a zombie chart to see if they need to place more zombies on he board or if the zombies move.
They also roll on a wind direction chart to see if the fire spread in any direction.
After these steps are done the players take their turn again,
What I want to add to the game:
First of all I want to add a gasoline tank that one of the players have to carry around with him. The gasoline are used to set fire to areas on the board and can only be used a limited amount of times.
Special infected zombies that alter how the game are played when they enter the board.
An backpack where players have to store what they find in their exploration phase.
A solid system for progression based gameplay where you get a better chance of beating the game the better you have don in previous turns. I'm trying to base it on Fibonnachis number sequence 1.1.2.3.5.8
A very visual feel to the game,
Core ideas of the game:
Fast paced, tactical, semi-cooperative, progression based, visual
Any ideas, thougts or question is greatly appreciated =) I have attached an draft for the game board with obstructions and charater cards.
Kindest regards.
Jens Thernström
jens.thernstrom@gmail.com
Thanks=) Yes, you are right in the consern about not adding to many elements, I want a very streamlined game where you can play a couple of rounds in 2 hours. But what I would like to work on is the progression based nature of the game to give the players the feeling of "If only we play once more I can get a higher score"