Mark Furhman did the planting!


Seriously though, Zombies is cool, but I like to harken back to the days of Wizardy, Zork, and other such games.

Zombies is awesome, first time i played it, a Zombie freak friend of mine got it, and was about to win until i infested myself with zombies to get the kills and win...After that, acording to him, the game sucked, and he gave the game to me.

I have wanted to play Zombies! for some time. Give Me The Brain! is good. May I recommend the B-Movie goodness that is Grave Robbers From Outer Space?

-TM

Thanks for giveing some props to Steve Jackson Games.....this old geek's refuge for
really amazing and creative wastes of time.
IF you havent' already you should really check out the Heroklix Horrror Klix line.....
Freaking amazing.....

Another great article Wil.

There's other zombie games, too. "Maul of America" from Kenzerco, which I haven't played but suspect involves slaughtering zombies in a large mall, (perhaps the Mall of America), and "Mall of Horror" which is more about politicing and treachery to try and have the most points worth of survivors at the end of the game. Since the game ends only if everyone's in a single location (and each player has to move one character every round, and there are occupancy limits on all buildings, so that's a lot easier said than done), or if the total number of survivors drops below a certain threshold...well, it gets bloody. You *can* kill zombies, with the right cards, but it's a temporary reprieve at best. The more effective way of clearing out zombies is to shove someone into their waiting arms to be eaten. You vote on who. And there are other wrinkles. Simple, but kind of fun. Not a game for those prone to carrying grudges, however.

Other horror-themed games:
The two Lovecraft CCGs, Call of Cthulhu (from Fantasy Flight) and Mythos (out of print), both strong games although I prefer Mythos (too bad it didn't catch on).

Arkham Horror, the new edition from Fantasy Flight. It's one of my favorite games ever. Lots of enemies to fight, different things to encounter, all the characters are precisely balanced and every one offers a different play experience, as do the various Ancient Ones that serve as primary antagonists. And it's been expanded once already, with a second or even third on the way.

Betrayal at House on the Hill: a pastiche of every B horror movie ever. You have a handful of stereotypical horror movie characters wandering a spooky old house. You lay out the house as you explore, with many rooms possessing special effects and/or icons that cause you to acquire useful items, encounter frequently unpleasant events, or encounter the spooky omens (which are useful as well). Every time an omen is viewed, a roll is made at a difficulty equal to the number of omens so far. If the roll fails, the Haunt begins and the omen that triggered it as well as the room it was in are referenced on a chart to determine which of several dozen scenarios you are playing. Another chart is consulted to reveal who, if anyone, is the Traitor. If there is a Traitor, they go into another room to look at the relevant section of the Traitor's Book, while the other players consult the Heroes' Book (these are approximate name). Then each side starts working towards their particular goals. It's fast, it's simple, and its fun. The only problem is that depending on the Haunt and who is made the traitor, the heroes can be placed in a no-win situation right off the bat, and/or certain characters may wind up being utterly useless. But since it typically plays out in no more than an hour or so (and can be much faster), you can always try again.

Wil, will you come over to my house and play INWO? I can't get anyone else to play with me.

I always enjoyed Fury of Dracula, but only as long as I got to play Peter Cushing.

WARHAMMER BITCHES!!!!


www.ordofanaticus.com

Warhammer's less a "pick this up for Halloween" game and more a lifestyle. ;P

I would probably buy that just for the figurines.

SJG was what really pulled me out of RPGs and into your more simplified board games.

Car Wars started out REALLY SIMPLE. Granted a million updates later and you're like, "Fuck, Boat Wars? Does the vectoral movement work like it did in space in Snapshot?" Eventually the system collapsed under it's own sheer massiveness and unweildyness. And a crappy computer game adaptation.

I kinda lost a bit of faith when they started focusing more on GURPS and started becoming more of an RPG company, even moreso when they dabbled in the hateful CCGs. CCGs are the biggest "Let's fuck the gaming consumer out of their last dime" since Games Workshop made a science of it.

Car Wars was cool, but Paranoia was THE game.

(But I also liked TMNT - Heroes Unlimited - Rifts...)

Seriously, Games Workshop has the best gaming backgrounds, barnone. You're right though, they rape you till the back of your throat hurts, then they slam home for the brain...

Also worth mentioning that one of the authors of The Illuminatus! Trilogy, which inspired the Illuminati game isn't doing too well right now.

The real key to SJG's success in the eighties gaming market was that they knew when and how to swim against the tide.

Back then there were three basic game models:
Boxes. Expensive, they take up space, eventually they break down. Can be sold in a gaming store, mail order or whereever the hell the "upper crust" like Avalon Hill sold their games. Or toy stores, if you're TSR.

Booklets in bags. Sometimes even xeroxed. Pretty much only sold in game stores.

TSR did something revolutionary by making hardcover books. They managed to get these into bookstores, so that people who lived nowhere near a gaming shop (or didn't know such things existed) could buy their games. Many of their players never knew other such games existed.

What SJG did was take the box, make it indestructable, and make it effectively cheaper. Instead of custom printed cardboard boxes, they got a bazillion identical black plastic boxes. Each title got a different front and back sticker. For the gamer this allowed them to put pretty much EVERYTHING that the game wanted or needed in a small box you could almost fit in your pocket. It kept the game in good shape, and seemed like something more substantial than the old ziplock baggie that similar "micro-games" tended to come in.

For gaming pieces they also took some revolutionary and smart steps as well. Usually you had plastic pieces (Monopoly, Risk and SOME geek games), lead miniatures (pricey and bulky) or thick cardboard counters (wargames and most tabletop beer and pretzel games used them, and they usually had but two colors, black ink on whatever color background).

Steve Jackson Games instead went with rather thin cardstock, but printed with really good full color ART (at least for the Car Wars product line, Ogre I seem to recall being a counter type game). Whether or not it was cheaper than the thick cardboard counters, you could fit more in the baggie, and they made the game come alive. No need to have them punched and perforated, the owner just cut them out with scissors.

Later on they had their Car Wars counter and game cover artists take on the lead miniatures crowd with Cardboard Heroes. You didn't have to trim and paint them, and once you cut, folded them and put them together, you had a fully functional monster or character. And they looked GREAT.

Beyond the components, the games sometimes turned gaming on its head. Unique ideas, like Car Wars and Illuminati, but the tops for this was Ogre. This was a very basic tank wargame. But... they turned the genre on its ear by putting it in the future where one side had a whole bunch of tanks, hovercraft and infantry, and the other side had one single huge and immensely powerful tank.