March 24th - Zombie Redux

Hi all,

I'm planning on giving the Zombie kriegsspiel a second run-out at the March 24th.

First things first, for those who are interested, please sign-up in the Doodle link below. The earlier I can get an idea of numbers, the easier the design process.

http://doodle.com/nkwzkukdhwxretmx

As with last time, we'll be attempting to get through two games in a day, each of which will run somewhere in the region of 2-3 hours. Personally I enjoyed the opportunity for a half-time post-mortem (quite literally in some cases!), as it meant I actually got to eat a sit-down lunch. More importantly however, it gives those who helped me umpire the first game the opportunity to play in the second game, and vice-versa, if they wish.

For those who weren't present last time, a brief introduction to how the game worked:

The game was set in a school (not in any way based upon my old school...). Each of the players represented the leader of a school clique; the Bullies, the Nerds, the Jocks, the Foreign Exchange Students and so on. The main aim for the players was to survive the Zombie infestation with as many of their clique going un-devoured as possible until the helicopter arrived to rescue them. In addition, each group was given secondary aims, achievement of which was also taken into account when deciding a winner. These were usually subtle ways that their group could 'improve' the school or take petty vengeance on another clique. For example, two groups were racing to reach the school hamster, but one group intended to rescue it, whilst the other planned to flush it down the bogs.

In each classroom that the players entered, they were presented with a list of items that they found in that room. These ranged anywhere from the mundane, such as textbooks, to the antique hunting rifle which the geography teacher kept above his classroom door. They could make use of whatever they found in the classrooms, and carry a limited store of weapons with them for fighting Zombies.

Aside from the Zombies, the main threat to the players was the teachers (definitely not in any way based upon any of my old teachers...) who were inexplicably immune to the Zombies. Suggestions that this is the result of form of kinship have gone unconfirmed. These continued to roam the school heedless of the threat to the students, confiscating their weapons, pelting them with basketballs and generally making a nuisance of themselves.

The main aim, in designing the game, was to build in as much opportunity for player creativity as possible. If they wanted to leave all the gas on in the Chemistry lab, and light a match, then we tried to game for it. In one game that meant half the school was on fire by the time the helicopter arrived.

This time out, I'm looking to make a few under-the-hood tweaks, but the main difference will be a new scenario. At a bare minimum, I can promise you a different school map and some new secondary objectives for the different cliques. However, I've got a vague hope of basing this game in a completely different social setting, with completely different participating groups. We'll see if inspiration hits and I can come up with something. Even if not, you won't be playing exactly the same game as last time!

So, once again, please sign up for the Doodle, take a look at the forum thread for the previous game, linked below, and if anyone has any suggested tweaks from the last game, or has an idea for the setting of the forthcoming game, please feel free to let me know!

https://kriegsspiel.forumotion.net/t341-uk-september-2012-k-spiel

Sounds like brilliant fun - look forward to seeing how it all pans out, and should be there on the day.

Doing a little quiet planning in advance in case it winds up like the last one - pistol-wielding cheerleaders, ninja exchange students, oh my!

I see the doodle roster's looking a bit more healthy now, and another player has just emailed me about the game. In order to finalise the design, I know Phil would like a clearer idea of final numbers, so if you are thinking of coming please use the doodle link to register.

Martin (J)

Hi Martin/Phil

Just a thought. Ay mileage in getting palyers to give u e mail contact details in order to give an additional contact point for those who do not get on to the forum often??

Happy to be told to wind my neck in if all is in hand from your perspective

Cheers

Steve

And any word on the likely setting, or will that be a surprise on the day?

Megan and I will be there!

Mr. Digby wrote:Megan and I will be there!

Splendid. Numbers are looking healthy.

I think Phil is hoping to post some extra details this weekend.

Martin (J)

Hi all,

Good to see so many people up for it!

In case anyone is unclear about the time, we'll be looking to start about 11. A quick post on behalf of the old man. As we'll have to get there a bit earlier to set up, if anyone is planning to get a lift with us from Harpenden Station, we'll need to pick you up about 10:15.

Justin - Inspiration for a new setting hasn't struck me, so it will still be based in a school. The new map, new missions, and at least one new group will be there as promised though

Steve - Never a need to wind your neck in, but I wasn't sure what you meant! Taking a stab at it - I'm pretty happy to work from the doodle in terms of commits.

On that note, if anyone else is interested but hasn't committed yet, please do sign up. Link ---> http://doodle.com/nkwzkukdhwxretmx

All the best, see you next Sunday

Phil

Just checking the arrangements to get Sam & Justin to Little Gaddesden and back. I'm happy to pick you both up from Harpenden Station if that's convenient. Alternatively if you're coming from London, someone else (Paul?) might be able to give you a lift.

There was some talk about you walking from one of the stations,but it's really not the weather for it at the moment

Martin (J)

A thought - do we have the beverages situation sorted for Sunday?

Martin wrote:Just checking the arrangements to get Sam & Justin to Little Gaddesden and back. I'm happy to pick you both up from Harpenden Station if that's convenient. Alternatively if you're coming from London, someone else (Paul?) might be able to give you a lift.

There was some talk about you walking from one of the stations,but it's really not the weather for it at the moment

Martin (J)

Looking at the weather forecast (a lovely sunny 4 degrees on Sunday) we've decided to take Paul up on his kind offer - so we'll be getting up to Berkhamsted around 9:30 and exploring around the station area for a good hour since we've pre-booked the tickets. Nothing wrong with that, it'll be nice to just relax and plot our inevitable rebirth into the zombie hordes.

Excellent news! So I'm in the clear, liftwise

Look forward to meeting you & Sam.

Martin (J)

I will try to get there earlier this time but with an 18 year old daughter you know how long things can take to be got ready in the mornings...

Snow forecast for my neck of woods at weekend. Might stop me from making the journey. Hope they have it wrong...

If I do make it down I can bring fresh coffee and tea bags and will call in at shop to get some white stuff for those who like it weak...

If I don't make it down some one else will have to sort it...

Its my job tp bring tea, etc, but when Megan is with me I just can't promise to be there on time

The weather is a concern. Could I ask everyone who's planning to come to please email me an up-to-date mobile phone number.

Martin (J)

Have just discussed weather situation with Phil, and the intention is to review again lunchtime tomorrow (Saturday) and make a final decision then.

At the moment the game is still on. To run this game, we would need everyone who has signed-up to be there, so could I ask you to not rearrange your lives before noon tomorrow please

Martin (J)

No rearrangements planned on our end - we hope everything goes well and will check back tomorrow afternoon.

Snow situation here not good. The main road is just about passable but side and country roads I have no idea and would guess not good. As I use side and country roads to get down South I would guess that I will not be able to make it unless we get a decent amount of rain...

I will double check the road stuff with BBC to see what the local delays are showing...

Hi All.

Really sorry, but we're going to have to cancel tomorrow's game. We're apparently getting intermittent snow in the Gaddesden area for at least the next 18 hours, and there doesn't seem to be any likelihood of thaw before tomorrow. It sounds like the situation is even worse in the Midlands too, where at least 3 of our players coming from.

We're going to have a look at re-arranging, so on that note, I've created a new doodle poll taking us up to the 21st of April to if there's a weekend enough people can make. Please fill in all dates you could make.

http://doodle.com/eq4aaenq93kiesr3

Thanks, and sorry again!

Phil

Really sorry to hear that Phil - we were looking forward to meeting up with you all!

Unfortunately we already had tickets bought a couple of weeks ago, so we'll see if there's anything else on in that part of the world on Sunday.

From the 30th we're up in Preston, so I can't see a way we could get to either a Redux Redux or the ECW event, as the earliest we could get to Berkhamsted would be close to 12, after near 3 hours in transit.

Unless someone is driving down from that area (and has spare room for a couple of half-frozen Aussies!) it looks like our debut will have to wait until May or later. Good luck with the reschedule, and hope all have fun!

Best,

Justin

Megan and I didn't see these posts and drove down to Little Gaddesden today - roads perfectly clear and very light traffic. I think we should not cancel games with "English" snow as our weather forecasters always paint a blacker picture than it really is.

Anyway had a lovely drive, snowy scenery was worth it alone plus an excellent lunch in the pub!

Gosh Diggers, sorry to hear that. I did email you yesterday afternoon to say it was cancelled. Did you not get that?

I wonder whether a more reliable communication method would be by text? We would need participants to provide mobile phone numbers to the person organising the game. Thoughts anyone?

Martin (J)

No, purely my fault for not reading the forums the day before or checking my e-mail that morning. No need for a more secure comms method, just a need for me to wake up!

For some reason I've really got out of the habit of checking my e-mails. To my surprise the other day it had been a week since I'd last looked!