Alchemy's Workbench #15: Even More Panic!

It's official, I am hooked on Castle Panic. Tunnels and Trolls, obsessed and, it seems that when I'm not homebrewing for one of late, I'm tinkering with the other.

It's no surprise though. Both systems are elegantly light (although it has to be said that the Wizard's Tower expansion is far too convoluted for it's own good) and, welcome said tinkering.

Convolution aside, The Wizard's Tower expansion has certainly given me some food for thought though. Particularly the new rules that it introduces that allow some cards to strike certain monsters at ranges they normally couldn't given the right circumstances. It's a simple tweak (although you wouldn't think it looking at the rulebook) and, a great idea! It adds some real depth.

This set me thinking, why not go the whole hog and completely redesign the deck, and if I'm redesigning the deck, why not the monster tokens and theme too.

So after a quick brainstorm, I came up with what I think are two ideal candidates. Doom and Resident Evil, of which I decided to run with Doom. Not that Resident Evil isn't a fine game but, with Fireside Games already having a zombie style panic game in the works, creating my own when I had a choice seemed a bit moot. Not to mention, I know a damn sight more about Doom. :0).

The New Board

The board itself won't change much, other than the names of the rings, which will become Short (S), Medium (M), and, Long (L).

The New Deck

The new deck will keep the color codings of the original game but, the actual cards themselves and their capabilities will change vastly. Each card will have a value after S, M and, L, showing how many points of damage that it will deal to any one target within that ring (of the appropriate color). If it has no value, it cannot hit a target at that range and, a value of zero means that it can be expended (should you just want to remove the card from your hand) but, will do no damage.

Each card can be used to hit only one target at one range regardless of the number of various values and ranges listed on the card before it must be discarded.

Weapon cards will include Chainsaw, Pistol, Shotgun, Super Shotgun, Chaingun, Rocket Launcher, Plasma Rifle, BFG9000. Doubling up on the original four "Hit" cards (Swordsman, Knight, Archer, Hero).

The New Horde

Like the weapons, I am still working on the special rules and values for the monsters but, I expect them to include the Zombie Man, Shotgun Guy, Commando, Imp, Demon, Cacodemon, Mancubus, Revenant, Lost Soul, Pain Elemental, Baron of Hell, Hell Knight, Arch Vile, Arachnotron, Spider Mastermind, Cyber Demon.

So Far, So Good!

After posting up my recent homebrew crossover for Castle Panic and ZOMBIES!!! I have had chance to give it a quick test and can happily report that for all intents and purposes, it seems to work.

Admittedly, so far  I have only had one chance to play it through (on the Standard difficulty setting) but, the game I played was neither too easy nor a dire struggle. It had it's moments, such as when I spawned two hordes of six zombies in a row but, with just about half of my walls and towers remaining at the games end, I feel it was a fair match-up.

Since that test though, I have also picked up some more ZOMBIES!!! goodies that were on sale at my FLGS (ZOMBIES!!! 2: CORPS(E), ZOMBIES!!! 3: MALL WALKERS, and a Bag O' 100 Glow in the Dark Zombies) for a grand total of £20 (absolute bargain) and, my creative juices have been flowing again.

The sculpt for both the original zombies and the glow in the dark zombies is identical, so I quickly realised that if put in a bag and mixed, they'd be indistinguishable from one another until drawn. I could, if I wanted, have two different types of zombie assault the castle without the need to draw up and print tokens. Awesome!

So here we have it, Zombie Panic 1.5!!! Now with added Uberness!

Zombie Panic 1.5

All the rules are the same as Zombie Panic!!! with the addition of uber zombies and, the following optional difficulty settings.

Uber zombies

 Uber zombies vary from game to game, where they are either very tough or, very fast (but you get to choose which). If you choose very tough, uber zombies have 2HP instead of the standard one (lay it down when it is first hit, removing it from play on the second hit).

Very fast uber zombies move forward two sections at a time, instead of the standard one.

For added challenge, you may choose to flip a coin (or roll a dice) before play to randomly determine which of these abilities all of the uber zombies will be granted this game.

Standard Game .5: Spawn 1D6 zombies each turn. 40 regular zombies and, 10 uber zombies in the spawning pool.

A Hard Game .5: Spawn 1D6+1 zombies each turn. 60 standard zombies and, 15 uber zombies in the spawning pool.

A Virtually Impossible Game .5: Spawn >2D6 (roll 2D6 and spawn zombies equal to the highest number shown) each turn. 80 standard zombies and, 20 uber zombies in the spawning pool.

A Hell Froze Over Game .5: As a Virtually Impossible game with the following additional rule:

Return Of The Living Dead

 Whenever a double is rolled for zombie spawning return that many zombies from the scrap heap (pile of defeated zombies) to the spawn pool. No zombies spawn this turn.

 

If there are both standard and uber zombies in the scrap heap, uber zombies are returned first.

First Look: The Wizard's Tower

It's here! It's here! It's finally here!!

After a long wait for it to come back into print, The Wizard's Tower expansion for Castle Panic is available once again.

But was it worth the wait?

From an initial look over the box contents, I'm going to go with a resounding yes. In fact, it's better than I expected! Initially I was hoping for maybe a few new monsters and, I knew that the inclusion of the spell cards would add another dimension to the way that the game played but a brief read through of the rulebook reveals that they have done much, MUCH more.

The strategy is a lot deeper once you add the expansion, you get to make more meaningful decisions and, the introduction of immunities and "mega boss" monsters really takes the whole experience to a new level. Well, I assume it will but, I'm yet to give it a whirl.

I'm also impressed that the aesthetics of the game have remained just as appealing with the expansion too, as the look of the original game was a large part of it's appeal.

Really looking forward to breaking this one out. :0).

Alchemy's Workbench #14: One More Panic!

After posting up my variants in the pipeline for Castle Panic I was suddenly struck with a bolt of inspiration that I think could really work!

Instead of the standard circular attack area, this variant uses a grid and the grand daddy of all tower defense games, Missile Command, as it's theme. The "missiles" will all be programmed to move in a very D&D adventure system style (in order to home in on towers). The deck of cards that the players draw from will also be replaced.

Instead of Swordsmen, Knights and, Archers, the deck will be largely populated by letters and numbers, which are referenced on the grid to hit incoming missiles in the style of Battleships. There will also be a few cards that substitute for any letter, any number, any letter or any number, as well as other special effects cards.

I'm still mulling this one over at the moment but it's fast falling into place. It's also far enough detached from the original game that it might even be permissible to offer as a print and play game right here! :0). 

Alchemy's Workbench #13: Other Sources Of Panic

In addition to the zombie variant I mentioned in my previous post, I have a few other ideas that are in various stages of development for other sources of panic. It's amazing just how flexible this game model is!

Star Wars Panic: Really need to come up with a better name for this one but basically you'll take on the roll of the Death Star as the rebels make runs through your trenches in an attempt to bullseye that womp rat.

Mechanically the range will cover aspects such as TIE Fighter and Defensive Gun Batteries, whilst "boss" monsters will include Luke in an X-Wing and, the Millennium Falcon. As for regular enemies I'm thinking mostly X-Wings and, that most cards will simply be re-skinned (Barbarian becomes "Use the force").

This one needs a fair bit of work but should be a fun little project.

WWII Panic: Inspired by the Battle of Britain / The Blitz but with very little historical accuracy to actual events (purely cinematic) other than that it will be anachronism free.

Again, this is very much just a re-skin (although expansion is a possibility) at the moment with the premise that you are defending a large city from incoming enemy aircraft. I am much further along with this idea with the following substitutions worked out so far:

• Swordsmen will become Anti-Aircraft Guns.

• Knights will become Fighters.

• Heroes will become Aerial Aces.

• Missing will become Blackout.

• The Barbarian will become Fighter Squadron.

• Drive Him Back will become Low Fuel.

Alchemy's Workbench #12: Panic Stations!

Given how much our little group both loves zombies and Castle Panic, I was delighted to come across this news snippet.

We were pretty sure that there was never going to be an undead expansion released for the original game as it is very much a family affair and, I agree. The wide appeal of the game is a big part of what's made it a success. That said, there has been a great cry out across the Internet that this is what gamers where looking for. So the release of a zombie themed game that expands the mechanics, creating more of a gamers game is a dream come true.

But this doesn't mean that you can't add zombies to your Castle Panic. Just that you'll have to homebrew it!

Now I could sit down and design counters, print counters and, use counters but with what I have at hand, there is an easier route. Because I have ZOMBIES!!!

Now, these rules are still very much at the draft stage but if you have a copy of Castle Panic and want to give them a try, I'd love to hear how well they worked for you. You don't even need ZOMBIES!!! Any counters will work as all monsters in this game are identical (until I get creative anyhow) ;0).

Zombie Panic Homebrew

Play is pretty standard with a couple of alterations:

• The monster tokens are not used in this variant.

• At set-up, place 1 zombie in the forest section of each numbered ring (6 in all).

• All zombies have 1HP.

• All zombies move 1 in the monster movement phase.

• Instead of drawing monster tokens you roll D6 based on the difficulty (see below) to spawn zombies and then roll 1D6 for each zombie spawned, placing it in the appropriate forest section (as if you had drawn it as a monster token).

• You win the game when all zombies are destroyed.

 In order to keep the game fresh you can alter the difficulty of the game with the following adjustments:

Standard Game: Spawn 1D6 zombies each turn. 50 zombies in the spawning pool.

A Hard Game: Spawn 1D6+1 zombies each turn. 75 zombies in the spawning pool.

A Virtually Impossible Game: Spawn >2D6 (roll 2D6 and spawn zombies equal to the highest number shown) each turn. 100 zombies in the spawning pool.

A Hell Froze Over Game: As a Virtually Impossible game with the following additional rule:

Return Of The Living Dead: Whenever a double is rolled for zombie spawning return that many zombies from the scrap heap (pile of defeated zombies) to the spawn pool. No zombies spawn this turn.

Blog Spot #1: Precognition - Something Cool That Almost Happened

The wonderful thing about role playing games is that you never really know how things are going to work out, despite the best planning. The more incredible thing is when you game with kids, the unpredictability is even greater.

I run a AD&D game for the kids where the 12 year old is playing his second character. In this game, he is a half elf Thief-Acrobat, the cousin of a major political family in the city they are based out of. The 7 year old has been showing interest in playing, but she is still not to a point where she wants to learn rules and such. She is a half elf Thief-Mage that pretty much has any 1-3rd level spell that the group needs. She tends to run away from conflict initially, then lets me know what she wants to do. I then help her with her actual course of action. It is fun, and it keeps the boy's character alive more often than not because he tends to run his thief like his 100 HP Barbarian.

His character also has psionics, so he has a few special abilities associated with that 1st edition system. One of these is 'Precognition', which gives him a chance to determine the possible outcome of an immediate decision. He attempted to use it earlier in the adventure and the role was not successful.

However, later on in the dungeon delve, they burst into a room where the two dark elf opponents were aware and waiting for them. A few bad roles later, the entire group was dead, dying, or running away.

Ding Ding...Precognition....

I said stop...and to the boy...reverse back to you opening that door. What just happened is the vision that you got when you touched the door.

Both kids got a bit excited and actually came up with a decent plan on how to handle the situation a bit better, and the outcome was far more appealing to them.

Good times...

Original Post @ The Delving Dwarf