Tuesday, May 6, 2014

A Brief Interlude

"Its a long trip to the Twin Cities.  Before we decide to go, I want to see if my parents are still alive."  Ella said to the group.  "They have a small farm just east of here."  Choking up a little, she continued.  "Even if the worst has happened, it should make a good place to decide on our plans."
"Fine by me.  I want everyone to see their families again."  Allen said as he guided the SUV around a wreck, clipping a zombie that shambled out.  "Getting off the road to figure out how head west will be easier than trying to do it on the fly."
Following Ella's directions, Allen drove down a few country roads.  The zombies thinned out, and the countryside looked normal.  "Hard to believe its the end of the world."  Dawn said as she looked out the window.  "Everything seems peaceful out here."

The group is going to Ella's family farm.  I randomly determined who would have a chance to have family nearby to check on.  This will figure later when the group discusses where to go.

This is a rural area, the encounter rating is 2, it is afternoon.  Normal zombie spawn rules apply, with them appearing on a 6 from noise.  There are 8 zombies and 3 PEFs.  One PEF is inside the house, with slightly special rules.

The PEF in the house may be an encounter, per normal chances.  If it is an encounter, civilians will be Ellas parent(s), instead of national guard, it will be gangers, and if zombies, Ella must pass zed or no zed for each one encountered in the house.

Starting setup
Approaching the farm
The group entered on a country road, lined with trees.  Two zombies  were in the road past their turn off, so I ignored them for the moment.  Luckily, the group won initiative the first couple of turns, and Allen slowed down and turned into the driveway.  The group shot and dropped a couple of zeds as they drove towards the house.

Running and Gunning
Zombies foolishly stand in the way...
...And get run down.
Pulling into the yard

Allen ran down three zombies, the rotting bodies crunching as they hit the ground.  He turned around in the yard, kicking up gravel and dust that pinged against the nearby shed.  "Got a few!  Should be safe enough to get out now."
Everyone threw open the doors and jumped out, ready to face a threat.  Ella broke from the group, running for the house.  "Mom! Dad! Are you home?"  She yelled as she ran to the front door.
Everyone into action

The welcoming committee

Mark finds nothing
Storming the house

Ella ripped open the front door, to find her parents waiting for her.  "Mom!  Dad!"  She cried, tears streaming from her eyes.  "You're alive!"  She collapsed into their arms, everyone breaking into tears.
"Honey, we were so worried.  With everything falling apart, we feared the worst."  Her mother said, between sobs.  "I'm so glad you are here!"
"We'll clean up out here."  Mark said, hefting his bat.
"Once you are done, come in, we would like to meet our daughters friends..."  Her father yelled as the group moved against the nearby zombies.
Ella's parents meet her at the door

The rest of the team deals with the zombies
Gene triggers the last, empty, PEF

"...so there we were, buildings exploding and zombies everywhere."  Ella finished her story as everyone sat around the family dinner table.  "It was a miracle we survived that day!"
The smell of fresh bread mixed with the coffee and fried chicken in the house.  It had been weeks since any of the group had eaten so well.  "Thanks again for feeding us!"  Mark enthusiastically said as he finished a portion of chicken.  "I never thought I would get to eat fried chicken again."
"Well, fresh chicken is one advantage we have here on the farm."  Ella's father replied.  "If you decide to stay..."

So the scenario to get to the farm was pretty quick, and pretty much a walk in the park.  Now the group has to decide what to do.  I have divided the group into three groups.  First is Allen, who wants to hit the road.  Second is Ella, and her parents, who want to stay.  The remainder of the group is undecided.

What I decided to do is have a basic initiative roll, Allen and Ella each roll a d6, highest goes first.  Each turn, they could try and influence or oppose the other side's influence.  Each would roll versus People skill (figured it was a good use for it.)  Mark, Allen, Ella and her parents would have 2 successes to start off, meaning to change their stance to just undecided, it would take three successes.

Once everyone was out of the undecided category, there will only be d6 turns to try and influence people.
Discussions begin

Ella grabs Gene
After a couple of rounds, Allen manages to get Mark
Dawn decides to go
Horace decides to stay
 I rolled for three turns remaining to influence each side.  Allen managed to win initiative for two rounds.
Horace moves back to undecided
And then decides to go
There were a few times where each side cancelled out the others.  I tried a couple of times for each to influence to other (Ella vs Allen, etc.)  This didn't work very well.  Overall, I liked the interaction to make the decision, not just a single roll (like keeping it together) for such a major campaign decision.

Ella and Gene are going to stay at the farm.  They can help make it more defensible, and in a worst case scenario, it may make for a safe haven to the traveling group to get to.  The group will part on good terms, and the travelers will have a couple of days to get supplies and plan a route.









21 comments:

  1. Your campaign just gets better and better. I loved your scenery and after the last day with so much happening it was good to see the group earn a fairly comfortable victory.
    That was an inspired way to decide who stays and who goes and a great use of the People skill.

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    1. Thanks!

      I liked how the argument worked out. There was some back and forth, and it didn't take very long to resolve. I may refine it a touch if I have another similar situation come up.

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  2. It may have been a simple scenario but nevertheless was very interesting, especially the "game within a game" resulting in a very believeable outcome and giving two routes for further adventures.
    I realised you didn't give a blow by blow account this time around (it was, after all fairly uneccessary) but did vehicle noise generate zombies ?
    Scenery looks excellent btw.

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    1. Glad you liked it. It felt like it worked out pretty well, and wasn't dependent on a single roll of the dice.

      I didn't highlight it, but yes, the running vehicle was a 6d6 zombie maker. I think I only had 3 zombies come from the truck. With it being rural, and zombies appearing only on a 6, I didn't have many spawn.

      Compared to some other games, this one was much more laid back. It was a nice break in a way...

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  3. I like the way you've made this decision, with people changing their minds to and fro. In any case, a smaller subset of the entire group will be more manageable in subsequent games...

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    1. We'll see if the smaller group can still handle the troubles of the road. It will be easier to keep them focused, but so much can happen on a long trip...

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  4. Excellent twist to the campaign,
    Really looking forward to seeing how the story of both groups pan out

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    1. It will give some options, and some different ways to play. I wonder if the two groups will interact again...

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  5. This campaign is great.
    I"m hurry to see what will happen.

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    1. Thanks, I am glad you enjoy it! It will take some time to get the trip planned out, but hopefully not too long.

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  6. Nice short and sweet Batrep and loved the 'Influence' element, great job sir

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  7. Very good way for the decision when the group has 2 distinct decisions to make. I am going to steal the idea in my campaign (deciding or not to kill the other survivor group they captured).

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    1. It worked out pretty well, I would probably change it slightly to account for number of success on each figure, but that is probably over thinking it.

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  8. I feel like I'm repeating myself, but I really like what you're doing with your campaign. It's certainly full of ideas I need to snatch if I ever come to playing my own!

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    1. It's great that you are enjoying it! Please steal everything you like and use it! The more zombie apocalypse tales, the better.

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  9. Great report. Really like how you handled the decision making it makes sense and feels more realistic to.

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    1. It was a fun fight, and the decision portion turned out more fun than I thought. It was much more fun than just a single roll of the dice.

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  10. Very nice game, everybody had an easy time of it, I'm sure that will change soon.

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