Consolidated to a new blog!

I’m combining a lot of my individual game blogs into a single place, so that they’re easier to update. So if you want to see more of Brains, or other games I wrote, visit
http://horizongamesblog.wordpress.com/brains/
Thanks for your interest.

Looking Ahead

With the release of v1.2 I’m pretty sure the rules are done. There are no glaring issues or problems and the numerous playtest games have all been enjoyable.

If I continue to tweak the ruleset I worry that I’ll just add complexity to it. Sure it’d be a neat game element to have vehicles and special zombies and so on, but then the focus of Brains is lost.

So basically I’m saying enjoy v1.2, and assume that’s pretty much the final word on Brains!

Brains Core Rules (v1.2)

Annnnnd I’m back. As I predicted it’s been a while since I needed to revisit Brains. But I had a friend who wanted to get into tabletop gaming, and I figured a 7 page ruleset involving Zombies (everyone loves Zombies!) would be a great starting point. So I dusted off the rules, made a few changes, and voila v1.2 is here.

• brains-v1-2.pdf
• brains-v1-2.doc
• brains-v1-2.odt
• view online

As before I kept a changelog:

Changelog from v1.1 to v1.2

- Changed Headshot to be roll >= Headshot = kill, instead of < Headshot
  (This was so the roll style of a Headshot is consistent with To-Hit)
- Updated Headshot numbers for all weapons to reflect this change, for example <2 becomes 6+
- Increased Longbow To-Hit from 9 to 8
- Put "auto" for some Headshots instead of "-"
- Trimmed down unnecessary fluff in the Map section
- Added a Setup section for how to begin the game
- Changed Search results, 6 is Searcher's Choice, Ammo was moved down the list
- Reformatted information on search results and added explanation for each result
- Reformatted Profession Benefits
- Reformatted Heroic Moments to fit the new search formatting on one page

A big noticeable change was changing Headshots so you roll >= the Headshot value instead of < Headshot. To be honest I don't even know why this wasn't the mechanic to begin with as it's consistent with the rest of the game.

Regardless give it a shot and enjoy some more Zombie slaying fun.

(Rather Blurry) Game Photos

I took some blurry photos of the last couple of games and thought I’d share them here.

These games are using cardboard buildings from Games Workshop’s Mordheim, plus a smattering of old figures for the Zombies. The first game was when I was testing v1.1 and just has 2 players, while the second is with friends and has 3.

I recently purchased a 100-strong Bag O’ Zombies and will try to get future game pictures when those are used…then the horde will look a bit more coherent.

So without further ado…

(click on each image for the full size)

Hopefully this will inspire your own games, or at least give you an idea of how the rules translate to the tabletop.

Tips for Speeding up Play

A few optional techniques to speed up play. The game already plays super fast, but sometimes the intensity and suspense can drop as someone moves dozens of zombies. Anyways these ideas were created from experience with the game, so feel free to comfortably use any or all of them:

Counters: To reduce writing use counters, tokens, or markers for every statistic. For example:
Life = heart counter
Heroic Moment = star counter
Partial Move = arrow counter
Health Items = round counter with number of Life written on it
Weapons = round counter with Range, To-Hit, and Headshot written on it
Ammo = multiple empty shell casings, or beads or glass tokens

Cards: Create custom cards for Search results so that all the information is present without needing to roll.

Summary Sheet: Create a small index card sized sheet with available Human actions on one side and Zombie actions on the other to prevent referencing the rules.

Measuring Stick: Create multiple pre-cut measuring sticks 4″ long to allow each player to easily and quickly help with Zombie movement.

Timed Turn: Allow 30 seconds (or less) per player to perform their Human turn, including dice rolls. This helps create a sense of tension and panic.

Mass Move: When moving multiple Zombies, just measure movement for the closest figurines, and pile any nearby Zombies in behind without measuring. This is instead of moving each individual Zombie, which can take quite a while.

Mass Roll: When performing a Ranged Attack roll 3 dice at once: 2D6 of one color and 1D6 of another color all at once. The 2D6 represents the To-Hit and the 1D6 represents the Headshot roll.

Scattered Raise: Use a Directional Dice to place Raised Zombies, instead of rolling for table side. Roll 1 Directional Dice per 2 Zombies and place them 12″ away (or less) in the direction indicated.

Development Ideas for v1.2

As I mentioned in a previous post, ongoing development of Brains can be a bit difficult. This is because there aren’t a lot of rules to tweak, and I have to restrict myself from adding needless complexity (which would ruin the purpose of the game).

So I do have some minor ideas for a possible v1.2, but eventually I’ll hit a wall where the ruleset cannot be improved anymore. I mean I could possibly add an “Advanced Rules” section, but that would clog things up and remove the beautiful simplicity of the system.

Anyways, here is my “todo list” for v1.2:

- Change Search results so 6 is Choose and Ammo is moved down the list
- Start the game 1-3 turns in, to give the Humans time to prepare
- Clean up and clarify The Map section somehow (diagrams?)
- Think up more Objectives, or give more specific examples?
- Add detailed Search results generation tables for weapons
- Add detailed terrain generation. Special buildings like Class X Gun Shop, Hospital, etc.
- Reorder headers and content and add a table of contents

For future posts I want to include a few pictures of an actual game in progress, plus some tips on making weapon/ammo counters.

Though after v1.2 posting could become a little quiet. I guess that’s the downside of a smaller project like this…you completely finish it quickly!

Brains Core Rules (v1.1)

Soon after v1.0 I applied some changes, fixes, and improvements to the game. These came about from further playtesting and ideas the players had.

So here is v1.1 which was a quick update about 2 weeks after the first release. Again any feedback is welcome.

• brains-v1-1.pdf
• brains-v1-1.doc
• brains-v1-1.odt

If you care about the exact specific modifications since v1.0, I did maintain a changelog.

Changelog from v1.0 to v1.1

- Reordered Partial Move cirumstance list
- Added Zombie attack limit to 6 at once
- Bullet listed the example weapons
- Alphabetized example weapons
- Changed how Raise Zombies is done
- Added Cleanup Zombies turn action
- Note about moving through figurines
- Rules around changing elevation
- Added limit of 10 Zombies per player
- Allow each Human to Search each building once
- Added 1 Morphine to standard initial equipment
- Add 2D6 Ammo when a Ranged Weapon is found
- Lower Search difficulty to 8 instead of 9
- Allow Humans to transfer equipment within 4"
- Allow Homemade Flamethrower to be used at any time
- Added another Class of weapons (now 1-6)
- Increased Assault Rifle Headshot from 5 to 6
- Increased Sniper Rifle Headshot from 6 to Auto (-)
- Increased Longbow Range from 8 to 10

Some v1.0 Thoughts

Here is an excerpt from a game summary I wrote for something else. This was the first testing of the rules with multiple people, and ended up going very well. These types of games helped shape the changes that went into v1.1.

“So Brains went off without a hitch, and was better than I could have expected. Sarvonis had a lucky search at the start and got an autoshotgun (which he gave to Penelope). Then we had to kill 20 Zombies, which was pretty easy since we held out at a 2 floor inn, killing the Zombies as they slowly climbed up. Once we reached that objective we added another which required us to reach a police station and finish off the rest of the Zombies once we were there. By the way we were are the cap of 30 Zombies by then (oh baby so many Zombies).
So we fled away with a few close calls, some desperate searching, etc. When we reached the police station I found a Handgun and rolled a terrible 4 for the ammo count. Sarvonis got a health item, and Penelope got a pump shotgun. I gave my revolver ammo to Sarvonis, took the shotgun, and split the shells with Penelope.
Then held at the door against probably 24 or 25 Zombies. We kept spamming morphine and bandages on Sarvonis, and basically killing 3 Zombies a turn. Classy finish too because there was a Knocked Down Zombie and a still live Zombie on the ground floor. Penelope lept down from the second floor to automatically finish off the Knocked Down Zombie in Melee. Then did the stylish thing of killing the last Zombie with a Longbow.
All said the game took 2 hours or so, and everyone had a blast. The rules worked out to be very balanced with three people and pretty much went off without a hitch. I need to make one small change to the Search results table, but otherwise I think things are pretty much solidified. It’s really hard to resist adding more complexity. I mean the rules are basically done…that’s all I need to do with them.”

Brains Core Rules (v1.0)

Here is the first release of the Core Rules. Version 1.0 in all it’s glory. Like I said it’s only 8 pages, so take a quick look, then print it and have some fun playing the game. Your first match will likely take the whole evening, but after that you can plow through a game in under an hour. And remember since the Zombies do not strategize their moves, you can even play the game alone. It’s more fun with the dynamics of a group though, so you can share in the panic.

• brains-v1-0.pdf
• brains-v1-0.doc
• brains-v1-0.odt

Feedback is more than welcome.