Zombie Month: A Blast From the Past: A 2003 Campaign Document!

Back in that timeframe I was prepping to run All Flesh Must Be Eaten, the Zombie Survival Horror RPG.

It just so happens I still have the 2 page basic synopsis and thoughts I had for a rough campaign outline.  Sadly, the game didn't go very far and the 2 PCs were entirely too powerful, and trying to run a game at 9am on a weekday when I was maybe getting 2-3 hours of sleep beforehand just wasn't happening.

So here is some scans of the document.  For fun, or perhaps to inspire some cool zombie campaign ideas for yourself:

I would probably do things a lot different these days, and would probably have corporate oppression rather than governmental.  (Mainly since I don't listen to right or left wing crazies and pay attention to the real world as best I can.  Which might explain why I am on antidepressants these days, but anyhow.)

It surprised me that I had a jetski scenario in mind for a zombie game when a rather popular horror zombie game used such a scene (but in a totally different part of their story) a couple years later.

Enjoy!

Zombie Month! All Things Zombie! Actual Play Experiences

And by experiences I mean, "Things myself and a friend found in playing that the rules don't bother to mention".

Maybe I just misread the rules.  I've gone over it in play, and now again before doing another minicomic talking about my issues with some pictures for quick reference.  (I like pictures.  They are shiny.)

(Y'all know the click for bigger drill by now.)

Yeah.  This game for 60 bucks is a complete disaster.  Its limited in scope, overly luck dependent, missing obvious and important rule situations, got a totally borked set of timing for events, and the game's design makes it possible you will lose just due to a bad Zombie card draw.  

Heck, the scenarios don't even list partial victories!  Just all or nothing for the most part!

If this was a 5-10 dollar print and play PDF game or a 15-20 dollar minibox game ala the old Steve Jackson games I would say its a fun little diversion for what it is, and any flaws could easily be houseruled.  

But as a 60 dollar game I have been waiting for since preordering in July 2008?  INEXCUSABLE.

Thick cardboard mapsheets that have tears in them just by virtue of being thick cardboard folded.  The fact that you have 4 maps but you can't even use all 4 sides at once due to them being double sided.  Lock N Load's first game used thin laminated cardboard sheets that were single sided allowing for lots of fun scenarios.  (And it was only a 35-40 dollar game.  With 5 sheets each almost as big as one of these mapboards.)

Yay a full color big manual.  That's missing obvious information, has such loose timing rules its almost a complete mess, and not even enough scenarios to justify the price even if the rules were totally clear!

I mean, the rules don't even have SCALE information listed in them.  This is something nearly every hex n chit game has in them!

This game WASTED money on high production values instead of gameplay, what really matters.  Yes, the counters are great and the maps do look really pretty.

But the game is so lacking its not even funny.

Its an ok play if you aren't paying for it, but as someone who did, I feel cheated honestly.  For any sad sack unlucky enough to pay full MSRP plus shipping you are getting cheated, AND Lock N Load is repeatedly punching you in the groin.

Maybe a FAQ will fix the rules queries, but for a game in development this long it should be AIR.  TIGHT.

Zombie Month! First Look Review of All Things Zombie!

I have slaved over a hot keyboard to bring you the gameplay first look review of All Things Zombie!, in all its too expensive for what you get glory.  Enjoy!

(As usual click on the pictures for a larger one.)

So there we go!  It only took 1 3/4ths years to get, and with some mild board damage, but I finally got the game and for much cheaper than its MSRP.  Is it worth 60 dollars?  HELL NO.  It is worth 30-35?  Sure!

Its quick, its fun, its coop, competitive, or solitaire, and it looks nice outside of the aforementioned board damage.  Still, I wished it was either cheaper or its costs were used to provide more game instead of a fancier one.  Lock N Load isn't a big company so this format of game costs more than they should probably do.  There just isn't 60 dollars of content here.

Zombie Month! Unboxing of All Things Zombie!

It took an age and a half, but the game I paid for in July 09 (meaning it doesn't count as part of my 2010 purchase limits) finally has arrived after insane amounts of delays.

Let's start with the unboxing.  I will have more time to read and play it next week.  Expect a proper review Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.

(As always with my images, click on them for a bigger version.)

I've been a tad busy, especially since with all my new money from not buying games I probably won't get to play any time soon I have started keeping fish:

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Triceratops: Dana, Marie, and Nova.

Like my gaming, I did my research before even starting the aquarium.  But y'all don't care about my fish sorority, so let's get to the overpriced zombie goodness!

This game came in at a perfect time, as most of my upcoming blog projects involve our brain eating corpse friends, so expect April to be ZOMBIE MONTH here at Wargame Dork.

I've got tons of zombie related content to get to, so look forward to it!  

Tuesday Game Reports

Zombies mayhem, with myself, MagicDrew, and 9IN. (Followed by a quick game of Three Dragon Ante which was called for time but MagicDrew was OWNING at.)



As the picture showed, we played Zombies!!! with the first two expansions. By endgame, every zombie was on board (we used dice to keep track of zombie kills) and all but one of the Military Base tiles was on the table. I nearly won via 25 zombie kills, but 3 failed attack rolls took me and half my zombie kills out. With a nearly open heliport on the base (thanks to a quick and easy house rule where if there are no zombies left to place, the location is zombie free) 9IN ran in and took it. My luck at zombie killing failed when I needed it the most. Nobody actually went into the mall at all, and 9IN and MagicDrew both grabbed Jeeps from the Military Base Motor Pool allowing for some high speed shenanigans. It was a fun, quick night of action and adventure.

I still want to do a "Survival Horror" styled set of houserules to the game though. Maybe 5 life at start, 10 life max, 6 starting bullets, hand size as big as your current life (damage means you choose and discard a car), discard as many cards as you want and play as many cards as you want per turn (but only 1 during each player's turn including your own), and dying takes you out of the game entirely. But dead players on their turn move 2d6 zombies and may draw and discard up to a 3 card hand (only 1 discard per turn, and may only play 1 card per turn) in order to kill off everyone else.

And now that we have played some I need another bag of zombies, which would have made 9IN actually have to EARN his escape, and had our board filled with many more hungry undead.. Oh.. and they have a CLOWN related expansion coming out.

You heard me.

ZOMBIE.
CLOWNS.