Campaign Creations

This thing is still going on?

L. O. L.

Consume Mucky for Health.

Wait a minute...

"Mucky! At least we have the radio to call for help!"

Destroy radio

AA7Dragoon wrote: Destroy radio

Consume headset

And there we are.  I'll do the rolls promptly.

I'll take ALL of you on.

Lavarinth is deader than a sack of doornails.

Flyinghat really does taste like chicken.

Thalraxal's was more of a bournignon.

Milldawg's corpse is quite tasteless.

Saint_Kerrigan reveals his true nature and attacks Mucky.

WedgeAntilles follows suit and attacks Mucky with his knife-gun-Thing.

Tramau is dead but has dropped the antigen.

AA7Dragoon in a fit of sane insanity, destroys the radio he spent half a week fixing.

Mucky decides to search for a bandolier for his M16 and easily manages to find it. (11-6=5 vs. 4)

Saint_Kerrigan and Wedge_Antilles both vie for the right to claim Mucky, but Saint_Kerrigan is just much quicker and attacks Mucky in a hallway, surrounded by his dying dogs.

Saint_Kerrigan shoots Mucky for 14 damage! (12+8-7=13 vs. 4-6=-2 CRITICAL FUMBLE) 6/20 HP
Saint_Kerrigan shoots Mucky for 4 damage! (1+8-7=2 vs. 4-6=-2) ?/20 HP
Mucky tries to escape and succeeds! (6-6=0 vs. 4-7=-3) 6/20 HP
Mucky's dog attacks Saint_Kerrigan for 10 damage! (12 vs. 9-7=2)
Saint_Kerrigan tries to flee and dies but has turned into....THE THING! (4-7=-3 vs. 10-6=4)

Saint_Kerrigan, now forced to exist only as a Thing, slinks off into the darkness but Wedge_Antilles now jumps onto the scene to also attack Mucky!

Wedge_Antilles shoots Mucky for 2 damage! (3+8-7=4 vs. 8-6=2) ?/20 HP
Mucky tries to escape and succeeds! (5-6=-1 CRITICAL RUN FAIL vs. 3-7=-4 CRITICAL CHASE FAIL)

While Mucky hides in a hallway cradling his bullet wound, he hears not one..not two...but three Things moving towards him but due to the corridor's narrow reach, they must attack one at a time.  After what sounds like a game of extraterrestrial rock-paper-scissors, the Thing known as Saint_Kerrigan attacks first!

Saint_Kerrigan Thing attacks Mucky for 1 damage! (7 vs. 12-6=6) 5/20 HP
Mucky shoots Saint_Kerrigan for 8 damage! (12+12-6=18 vs. 10) 8/30 HP
Mucky's dog attacks Saint_Kerrigan and misses! (1 vs. 8) 8/30 HP
Saint_Kerrigan Thing attacks Mucky for 10 damage and kills him! (8 vs. 4-6=-2 CRITICAL FUMBLE) 5/20 HP

With the last human dead and the last major non-Thing organisms dying of starvation, the Thing has spread and triumphed.  Now with the knowledge of Saint_Kerrigan, WedgeAntilles, and AA7Dragoon, they will slowly make their way north to civilization and domination of the entire world...

(Psst! Lavarinth is DEAD!)

Player Update

Pilot (Lavarinth)
Dead
Flashlight (Dropped in the fighting but still functioning)
Shotgun (No ammunition)
Thing Antigen (Combat bonus vs. Thing)

Backup Pilot/Soldier (Flyinghat)
Cannibalized

Doctor (Thalraxal)
Cannibalized

Medic-Trained Biologist (Milldawg)  Was a Thing
Dead

Head Biologist (Saint_Kerrigan) Is a Thing
0 HP
No Human Form  (Cannot use items)
Flashlight (Turned on)
Pistol (0 clips left)
Thing Antigen (Combat bonus vs. Thing)
Thing Test Tube Sample (Can no longer escape)

Chemist (WedgeAntilles) Is a Thing
20 HP
Pistol (0 clips left)
Knife (+4 Attack; Equipped)
9 Paranoia

Radio Operator (Tramau)
Dead
Thing Antigen (Combat bonus vs. Thing)

Technician (AA7Dragoon) Is a Thing
20 HP
Flashlight (Turned on)
Shotgun (1 clip left)
Knife (+4 Attack)
9 Paranoia

Dog Wrangler (Mucky)
Dead
M16 (+12 Attack; 1Clip Left)
3 Dogs (Dead)

Norwegian Scientist NPC (Is Outside)
Cannibalized

THE THING (Saint_Kerrigan)
Still Alive
10/30 HP
0 Paranoia

THE THING (WedgeAntilles)
Still Alive
30/30 HP
0 Paranoia

THE THING (AA7Dragoon)
Still Alive
30/30 HP
0 Paranoia

THE THING (Milldawg)
Slain by Lavarinth

____

Booyeah! The taste of victory is similar to human flesh! Mmmm!

Good game, everyone. I still can't believe all those crazy rolls...

And that's the game.  It was a stupendously interesting game since everyone's small choices affected how the entire game changed.

- Paranoia Count due to certain actions really added to some key combats, and whether or not the Thing won or lost.
- Tramau not repairing the radio quickly gave the Thing time to attack other strategic players.
- Saint_Kerrigan infecting certain players in the late game helped overcome some problems earlier on.
- Wedge giving out the antigens to the wrong players affected the lategame and how well they fought against the Thing.
- Lavarinth killing Tramau to keep him from becoming a Thing cost him ammunition that might've let him beat Saint_Kerrigan.

There were countless other choices that could've made the game go either way.  I tried to balance things as best I could and had to come up with a few new rules ad hoc for situations I hadn't anticipated.  (For example, both players fleeing the combat in the last day or deciding who goes first in a 5-way battle)

I've been trying to see if there's a way to easily do a web script for the game but the best alternative might be an UMS so I'll see what's the quickest way to do the game in the future.  Feel free to comment on the actions you chose to make in the game, why you made 'em, and so forth.

The final count is 3 Things (plus 1 dead Thing) and 5 dead Humans.  Let me know what you think needs balancing, especially fleeing battles, class stats, and bonuses/nerfs to the Thing.

I'll just say, unarmed people are incredibly tough to kill as the Thing!

Basically, my strategy on Day 1 was to get Thalraxal to clear people with his investigations, and then infect the people he cleared after the fact. Lavarinth I went after because he was the Thing in the previous game and because Thal inspected him first.

Unfortunately, Lav did a damned good job in fighting me off. Now I was not only wounded and forced to consume my only "free" corpse (the dead Norwegian), but I had also given Lav a clean bill of health. I decided to play cool for a while, make people wonder if I'd infected anyone during the night. All the while, my human form was doing its best to appear calm and dissuasive of violence, in order to mask my true nature.

I don't know why Flyinghat kept accusing Milldawg of being the Thing (even after cleared by Thal), but it got his paranoia count up so high that I was able to infect him with ease. Of course, I figured that it wouldn't be long before someone guessed that Milldawg was a Thing due to the high Paranoia count, so I quickly made sure that Dr. Thalraxal wouldn't get any more chances to inspect people (after lucking out on my own inspection). Milldawg nearly infected Flyinghat, and I successfully dispatched Thalraxal. Everyone jumped on Milldawg the next day, and if Flyinghat hadn't gotten the initiative on the attack roll, I would've infected him during the night. But Milldawg killed him, so I settled for destroying the radio instead.

I went ahead and made the Thing DNA, knowing that I could destroy it whenever I felt like it. I consumed a corpse as the Thing, and then went after AA7 because he had the highest paranoia count at the time (although I think it was lowered right before I attacked, but I stuck with it). Thanks to some crazy rolls, I got AA7, and together we both launched an infection campaign against Wedge (which I won with even more crazy rolls).

The key mistake on the humans' part, I think, was when Lavarinth killed Tramau. Not only did it remove a true human player from the game, but it used up the last of his ammunition. I immediately took advantage of it by assaulting the unarmed Lav. If things had gone more quickly, Mucky wouldn't have had time to respond and attack me, but I once again lucked out, injuring Lav enough to flee, and then barely dodging Mucky's attacks. Wedge finished Lav off during the night, and after that it was game over for Mucky.

Edit: Also, it's not that Wedge was giving the antigen out to the wrong players. I just made sure I attacked people who didn't have the antigen.

Yeah, if the inspection had been positive, the humans would've likely won then and there.  Also, you should've told AA7 and Wedge to attack Mucky while you cannibalized another corpse since if you had failed even 1 attack on Mucky, he would've gunned down both of your forms killing you.  (Not that it mattered since it was 3 on 1, but just sayin'.)

When I meant wrong players, it's that he gave his last 2 Antigens to players who were the Thing which meant the other human players had to either wait or try to steal the item.  I will probably make the Antigens better (+2 bonus Attack/Defense) but give the Thing a +1 "Cover of Night" Attack/Defense bonus across the board which means it'll be in place as long as the Thing isn't attacked during the day.

I'm thinking of giving the Thing Prime (first one) a one-time Mitosis special attack where it can split off a small part of itself (10 HP) and attack any player it chooses, which would keep the game going if there's just one Thing in the game who's heavily wounded.

My original plan for the Kill Lav day was to have me and Wedge attack Lav while AA7 went for the shotgun, and then have the two of them assault Mucky during the night. Wedge and AA7 chose to do things a bit differently (except AA7 still took the shotgun, which only I apparently remembered). Thankfully I got some sweet dice rolls.

Also, Wedge's last two Antigen items were quite intentionally given to Thing players (well, at least one of them was). He was following the correct protocol of giving critical players antigen items, and I just happened to get at the critical people before he could. 

I think the attacks should be modified so that both players get at least one chance to strike at each other.

Some thoughts:

a. Antigens should have a limited use, and one injection should last more than one battle.
b. The bandolier's DC should be raised or the ammunition's lowered, since the bandolier gives twice the uses for only a little less chance of finding it.
c. Don't start the game if the days are going to be two weeks long.