"Buffy" Board Game Season 6: playtested
Geenius at Wrok
Q: When Buffy is resurrected, what happens to the Buffybot?
A: Buffy replaces the Buffybot. It does not keep fighting.
Q: How many life points does Andrew's demon have?
A: Seven.
Q: Can Drusilla be summoned, dusted, then summoned again?
A: According to the BtVS Board Game FAQ, slain Evil minions can be
summoned again. So the same ought to apply to Drusilla in this scenario.
Q: What exactly is the effect of wounding a Trio member?
A: Well, he's not unconscious, but he's "subdued." In other words, he is
no longer an active participant in the Evil cause, so flames should have
to be applied first to the Evil characters who are, which would mean
unwounded Trio members and both wounded and unwounded demons. However, if
there are enough flames to move all actively evil characters AND a subdued
Trio member as well, Evil could have that Trio member make a break for it.
A subdued Evil character could escape by reaching a manhole and playing
Sewer Crawl.
Q: Do Mr. Trick and Vamp X get 2 Majik dice, like their counters say?
A: No. All the generic vamps get 2 Fight and 1 Majik.
Q: Can Jonathan's "Groundhog Day" spell be cast if Jonathan has been
subdued?
A: Clearly the designers of this game decided to allow a certain amount of
laxity in various areas. In that spirit, any Trio member can use any of
the three Trio tricks (time acceleration, demon summoning, "Groundhog
Day"). However, these tricks may not be used until the Trio have entered
the game.
Q: Won't Willow just stop casting spells once her black marker reaches 1?
A: Uh, yeah, looks that way. It also takes quite a bit of time to get
there. So I've decided to tweak her Majik rule a bit by adding the roll
of one movement die. If it comes up a plain face, she moves her black
marker down one space, but if it comes up a full moon, she moves her black
marker down TWO. This adds a greater measure of risk to her spellcasting.
Incidentally, I gave this scenario two dry runs. In the first, the three
starting vamps chewed up Xander, Willow and the Buffybot, who managed to
dust two but were finished off by the third. In the second, Good killed
two of the vamps and resurrected Buffy, but the third vamp clung to life
for quite a while because it got its hands on the Orbs of Nezzla'khan!
However, Xander found the Majik Sword and handed it off to Buffy, who cut
quite a swath through the baddies with it. The Trio summoned Andrew's
demon twice AND Drusilla twice, but Buffy laid waste to them with the
sword. Willow never went dark, and the Good team subdued all three
members of the trio (Andrew, embarrassingly, got beaten up by regular ol'
breaky-crayon Willow). I have yet to see how the presence of Dark Willow
affects things.
--
Und sperrt man mich ein im finstern Kerker § Keith Ammann is
Dies alles sind nur vergebliche Werke § gee...@cifnet.com
Denn meine Gedanken zerreißen die Schranken § www.cifnet.com/~geenius
Und Mauern entzwei -- die Gedanken sind frei! § Lun Yu 2:24
Neil Ottenstein
> After a couple of playtests I noted the following issues:
> A: Well, he's not unconscious, but he's "subdued." In other words, he is
> no longer an active participant in the Evil cause, so flames should have
> to be applied first to the Evil characters who are, which would mean
> unwounded Trio members and both wounded and unwounded demons. However, if
> there are enough flames to move all actively evil characters AND a subdued
> Trio member as well, Evil could have that Trio member make a break for it.
> A subdued Evil character could escape by reaching a manhole and playing
> Sewer Crawl.
That sounds good.
> Q: Won't Willow just stop casting spells once her black marker reaches 1?
> A: Uh, yeah, looks that way. It also takes quite a bit of time to get
> there. So I've decided to tweak her Majik rule a bit by adding the roll
> of one movement die. If it comes up a plain face, she moves her black
> marker down one space, but if it comes up a full moon, she moves her black
> marker down TWO. This adds a greater measure of risk to her spellcasting.
Another thing that you might consider is for the more powerful spells,
to make it more risky. Those spells that require more magik faces
have more chances to move the black marker TWO spaces.
Neil
L. Scott Johnson
>Next to Willow's life point track, place a black
>marker in addition to the white marker.
>Every time Willow rolls Majik dice, move the black marker down one space.
>When it hits 2, Willow must give up the Tara card if it hasn't already
>been used. When it hits X, Willow turns into "Dark Willow" and splits off
>from the Good team.
>After a couple of playtests I noted the following issues:
>Q: Won't Willow just stop casting spells once her black marker reaches 1?
>A: Uh, yeah, looks that way. It also takes quite a bit of time to get
>there. So I've decided to tweak her Majik rule a bit by adding the roll
>of one movement die. If it comes up a plain face, she moves her black
>marker down one space, but if it comes up a full moon, she moves her black
>marker down TWO. This adds a greater measure of risk to her spellcasting.
>
>Incidentally, I gave this scenario two dry runs. Willow never went dark,
How about moving Willow's black marker down a number of spaces equal
to the number of Majik symbols rolled on the Majik dice?
And, any turn in which Willow doesn't attempt any Majik dice roll at
all, move the black marker down one space (or, for real fun, move both
the black and white markers down one, to simulate withdrawal
symptoms).
--
L. Scott Johnson (sjoh...@math.sc.edu)
http://www.math.sc.edu/~sjohnson
Tan Coul
didn't get very far into it as each time the vamps moved straight to
their respective corners and snaffled the goodies, OrbsVamp then
picking off the good guys one by one. While rolling successfully for
magic on one die six times out of six is a matter of luck, the chances
of good breaking through the vamps before they lucked in still seems a
little too small, and we had two possible thoughts on the matter:
1) reduce the vamps' life points to three, so that if they don't get
the goodies quickly they're likely to die in the attempt. This tilts
things the other way, though, so the rule that good can win without
resurrecting Buffy would need to be reassessed - maybe as soon as each
vamp is dusted, the equivalent member of the trio should be
automatically summoned? Alternatively, as soon as all three vamps are
dusted Willow moves to the Buffybot and auto-resurrects the Buffster,
thus triggering their appearance?
2) Start Willow with the crucible in her possession, but adding that
Buffy can only be resurrected on her starting square. We also toyed
with the idea that it should be Willow and Xander, rather than the
Bot, which should have to meet there, while the Buffybot was off
slaying and being slain. Also we had Willow starting in the Summers'
house for this idea.
Neither of these has been playtested yet, so they more than likely
crash and burn, but any thoughts would be appreciated - or are we just
missing something in the initial set-up that obviates the need for
them anyhow?
One more question also - do the Trio start out from the Hellmouth, or
somewhere else?
--
Colin B.
"These endless days are finally ending in a blaze..."
Brent Ross
// A: Uh, yeah, looks that way.
That's probably a sign that either:
(a) Willow's transformation may need less control (ie more risk
when casting spells). This could be as risky as a chance
on every spell cast that she converts... for example, roll
one of the movement dice with her magic dice and if it
rolls higher that her "dark" marker she converts... lower
the marker by one after each spell.
or (b) Dark Willow needs to be beefier so that Willow's
player has real incentive to go alone. As it currently
stands, Willow isn't very robust, and even if she does
stumble into the healing spell she wouldn't technically
be able to use it (it only works on others). In fact a
fair number of research cards just aren't very useful
for Dark Willow. Perhaps, Dark Willow shouldn't be
allowed any cards, but instead she has a spell list from
which she can cast one spell per turn (ie Heal Self,
Oblivion, Teleport Self, Teleport Other). This might
better represent the "True Magick" that Dark Willow and
season 7 Willow have.
There's also the possiblilty that this scenario should be split
in two: one for the Geek Trio and one for Dark Willow. Just because
the default senario set has one per season shouldn't mean that
everything from a season should be pushed into a single senario:
for example, the Judge scenario is really a small part in the middle
of season two. In fact, there are plenty of single episodes that
could make decent scenarios.
Brent Ross
Geenius at Wrok
> The gang playtested the scenario a couple of times last Sunday, but
> didn't get very far into it as each time the vamps moved straight to
> their respective corners and snaffled the goodies, OrbsVamp then
> picking off the good guys one by one.
Eep! When I playtested the scenario, I ran those vamps a little more
mindlessly. Maybe I should throw in a rule that the starting vamps can't
pick up artifacts. My OrbsVamp was a terror too.
> 2) Start Willow with the crucible in her possession, but adding that
> Buffy can only be resurrected on her starting square.
The rule that Buffy can be resurrected only on her starting square already
exists. Starting Willow off in the Summers home is an interesting idea
and makes sense from a continuity standpoint, but is it necessary? I feel
like this scenario has an awful lot of special rules already.
The Buffybot only starts on the Buffy start space. It doesn't have to be
there for the resurrection.
> One more question also - do the Trio start out from the Hellmouth, or
> somewhere else?
Giles' House is the basement lair. The Trio start there.
Geenius at Wrok
> How about moving Willow's black marker down a number of spaces equal
> to the number of Majik symbols rolled on the Majik dice?
Ah. I like this. Much more elegant than rolling a superfluous movement
die.
> And, any turn in which Willow doesn't attempt any Majik dice roll at
> all, move the black marker down one space (or, for real fun, move both
> the black and white markers down one, to simulate withdrawal
> symptoms).
Actually, I think the above rule might be enough. I'll give it a whirl.
L. Scott Johnson
>
>> How about moving Willow's black marker down a number of spaces equal
>> to the number of Majik symbols rolled on the Majik dice?
>
>Ah. I like this. Much more elegant than rolling a superfluous movement
>die.
>> And, any turn in which Willow doesn't attempt any Majik dice roll at
>> all, move the black marker down one space (or, for real fun, move both
>> the black and white markers down one, to simulate withdrawal
>> symptoms).
>
>Actually, I think the above rule might be enough. I'll give it a whirl.
Without the second rule, you end up with Willow avoiding becoming Dark
Willow by simply ceasing the spell-casting when she gets too low,
right?
Geenius at Wrok
Yeah, but WITH the second rule, you have her turning into Dark Willow even
if she never uses any magic at all. It should be avoidable, just not too
easily avoidable.
With the first rule, the Majik die rule, you're going to have Willow
taking a big hit when she first resurrects Buffy. She has to roll two
Majik symbols to do that. If she rolls her own three dice plus Tara's
two, that gives her a 1 in 32 chance of going dark RIGHT THEN. If she
went and got the Urn of Osiris herself, which she'd also have had to roll
for, her chances of going Dark upon resurrecting Buffy are upped to 23 in
56, about 41 percent! Sooner or later Good will be backed into a corner
where it comes down to losing Willow or losing, period.
That's my theory, anyway. More playtesting is needed.
Chris Byler
People who talk about Willow "simply ceasing the spell-casting"
haven't played the game much, I think... A Willow that doesn't cast
any spells is little better than a dead Willow (although I suppose
that's still better than an evil Willow). When playing Evil (with the
normal scenarios) I almost always go after Willow first if I get a
chance - even if I'm playing one of the villains that doesn't have to
kill her to win. She's just too dangerous alive.
--
Chris Byler cby...@vt.edu
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the
baker that we expect our supper, but from their regard to their own
interest." -- Adam Smith, _The Wealth of Nations_
Tan Coul
Byler) wrote:
>On Fri, 25 Oct 2002 14:09:11 GMT, sjoh...@math.sc.edu (L. Scott
>Johnson) wrote:
>>
>>Without the second rule, you end up with Willow avoiding becoming Dark
>>Willow by simply ceasing the spell-casting when she gets too low,
>>right?
>
>People who talk about Willow "simply ceasing the spell-casting"
>haven't played the game much, I think... A Willow that doesn't cast
>any spells is little better than a dead Willow (although I suppose
>that's still better than an evil Willow). When playing Evil (with the
>normal scenarios) I almost always go after Willow first if I get a
>chance - even if I'm playing one of the villains that doesn't have to
>kill her to win. She's just too dangerous alive.
Plus to bring an element of roleplaying in, the Willow player should
not cease spellcasting at that point - he should avoid frivolous use
of magic, sure, but not cease altogether - and, after all, once Willow
sees red he gets the chance of a solo victory rather than having to
share the glory :-)
L. Scott Johnson
>On Fri, 25 Oct 2002, L. Scott Johnson wrote:
>> Without the second rule, you end up with Willow avoiding becoming Dark
>> Willow by simply ceasing the spell-casting when she gets too low,
>> right?
>
>Yeah, but WITH the second rule, you have her turning into Dark Willow even
>if she never uses any magic at all. It should be avoidable, just not too
>easily avoidable.
>With the first rule, the Majik die rule, you're going to have Willow
>taking a big hit when she first resurrects Buffy. She has to roll two
>Majik symbols to do that. If she rolls her own three dice plus Tara's
>two, that gives her a 1 in 32 chance of going dark RIGHT THEN. If she
>went and got the Urn of Osiris herself, which she'd also have had to roll
>for, her chances of going Dark upon resurrecting Buffy are upped to 23 in
>56, about 41 percent! Sooner or later Good will be backed into a corner
>where it comes down to losing Willow or losing, period.
>
>That's my theory, anyway. More playtesting is needed.
Could be. But once Buffy's back, there would be little that could
entice the good player to roll the Majik dice for her when it means
that she could go Dark.
If you find it to be a problem (and maybe it isn't), you might allow
Warren's character some method of "killing Tara" to help her along.
BTW, if the Willow player's plan is to win via the Dark Willow victory
condition, there would be no incentive to resurrect Buffy before
getting started down the path to the Dark Side, right?
Tan Coul
Johnson) wrote:
>
>If you find it to be a problem (and maybe it isn't), you might allow
>Warren's character some method of "killing Tara" to help her along.
I think you've hit the nail there - that's exactly what's needed, as
it also resolves the problem of the Willow player either doing
everything to avoid turning evil or alternatively avoiding doing any
good such as restoring Buffy before 'blacking out'...
Allan Goodall
What I need is a line drawing as seen from above. I will consider line
drawings from other perspectives, however. The AFVs in particular are modern
day or science fiction vehicles.
These drawings will be used as counters in a game, like the vehicle counters
found in Squad Leader and Advanced Squad Leader.
Any help would be appreciated!
Allan Goodall agoo...@hyperbear.com
http://www.hyperbear.com
"We come into the world and take our chances
Fate is just the weight of circumstances
That's the way that Lady Luck dances
Roll the bones." - N. Peart
Neil Ottenstein
> starting vamps chewed up Xander, Willow and the Buffybot, who managed to
> dust two but were finished off by the third. In the second, Good killed
> two of the vamps and resurrected Buffy, but the third vamp clung to life
> for quite a while because it got its hands on the Orbs of Nezzla'khan!
> However, Xander found the Majik Sword and handed it off to Buffy, who cut
> quite a swath through the baddies with it.
I tried it out last weekend and the starting vamps won realtively
easily. Willow had to go dark in order to defeat one of them, but was
so far down she was easily killed.
The problem was that the vamps have quick access to 3 out of the 4
artifacts. In this case they ended up with the Orbs, the Majik Sword,
and the item to resurrect Buffy. Having Spike around would have
evened things up and possibly made it so the Good could get 2 of the
artifacts instead of just the one in the Intiative area.
Any other ideas?
Neil
Chris Davis
the first one I received on this subject.... I just wanted to make sure - is
this an expansion that's being released for the Buffy board game (US
version), including seasons 5 and 6?.... :-D
BTW, I'm in England, and season 6 has just started, so please don't spoil
anything for me.... ;-)
Chris.
Tan Coul
Yep, that's the one, though it (currently at least) only exists on
this ng, having come from the fevered brain of our of our denizens -
and if you don't want to be spoiled I'd delete this thread pdq, or at
least don't read it till the whole season has run ;-)
Geenius at Wrok
> Geenius at Wrok <gee...@cifnet.com> wrote in message news:<20021022170511...@shell.cifnet.com>...
>
> > Incidentally, I gave this scenario two dry runs. In the first, the three
> > starting vamps chewed up Xander, Willow and the Buffybot, who managed to
> > dust two but were finished off by the third. In the second, Good killed
> > two of the vamps and resurrected Buffy, but the third vamp clung to life
> > for quite a while because it got its hands on the Orbs of Nezzla'khan!
> > However, Xander found the Majik Sword and handed it off to Buffy, who cut
> > quite a swath through the baddies with it.
>
> I tried it out last weekend and the starting vamps won realtively
> easily.
Yep, I've play-tested it once since then. My sister's boyfriend played
Evil, and the vamps romped. I'm thinking of having the large flame not
count at all, rather than count as a small flame. Then the possible Evil
moves are 1-1-2-2-3-3 rather than 2-2-3-3-3-3.
> The problem was that the vamps have quick access to 3 out of the 4
> artifacts.
Spotted this problem too. I went back to earlier scenarios and noticed
that in none of them does Evil have easy access to more than two of the
four Artifacts. I'm thinking maybe the starting spaces need to be
changed.
Still don't think adding Spike is the answer.
Neil Ottenstein
> Yep, I've play-tested it once since then. My sister's boyfriend played
> Evil, and the vamps romped. I'm thinking of having the large flame not
> count at all, rather than count as a small flame. Then the possible Evil
> moves are 1-1-2-2-3-3 rather than 2-2-3-3-3-3.
That would help a bit.
> > The problem was that the vamps have quick access to 3 out of the 4
> > artifacts.
>
> Spotted this problem too. I went back to earlier scenarios and noticed
> that in none of them does Evil have easy access to more than two of the
> four Artifacts. I'm thinking maybe the starting spaces need to be
> changed.
>
> Still don't think adding Spike is the answer.
Probably moving the Darla vamp down to the other side of the board
would do the trick. Then Good would have quick access to that
artifact. That would even things up a bit.
Neil