How to create custom Walking Dead scenarios

Today we've got a fascinating blog from guest contributor Daniel Meadows. Daniel is one of the members of The Walking Dead RC and is currently busy working on all the cool stuff we've got coming up for TWD. Anyway, in this blog he gives you a guide for creating custom scenarios in All Out War. Over to you Daniel...

Having been involved in some great TWD events over the last year such as Conflict, and designed the scenarios used in the two largest AOW events so far (Winter’s End & Trial By Fire), this guest blog is going to focus on some of the considerations you might have if you want to devise your own scenarios too.

An AOW Organised Play kit is currently in the works that
will include a variety of new custom scenarios to play, new ways to play
competitively and new ideas for solo games too.

Here is an excerpt to whet your appetite and get your
creative juices flowing!

Some key variables that can alter the feel of the game
include:

• Mat Size: 
  Mantic’s TWD 20” x 20” mats are perfect for encouraging a claustrophobic
  feel where walkers are more likely to be able to gang up and outnumber
  Survivors. As a consequence, a smaller mat tends to make the Event cards more
  impactful as there are fewer places to hide from a shambling Walker. 20” mats
  can also mean that Survivors get into melee sooner, but it can make Ranged
  weapons very powerful as some weapons can shoot from deployment zone to
  deployment zone on Turn 1.

There are some suitable 24” mats that fit the TWD theme nicely. While the mats are only 4” longer in both dimensions, this does translate to a big difference in terms of playing surface. A 24” mat actually has 44% more playing surface than a 20” mat. If you were using the same number of walkers on both mats then the level of ‘walker concentration’ would be greater on the smaller mat. You would have to work harder to get past them. So as a consequence games may be faster on a 24” mat, which can be important for events / tournaments.

• Walkers: 
  If in doubt, then the standard rule of thumb ‘1 Walker for every
  15pts of a Survivor group used’ works well. So you would use 20 Walkers for a
  game with 300pt Survivor Groups. If you want to speed up play then you can
  reduce the number of Walkers slightly. Using 15 Walkers works well for 250pt
  games on a 24” mat for events.

If you want more of a challenge then you
might want to increase the number of walkers further, you could add some
Armoured Walkers from the ‘Safety Behind Bars’ Expansion or you could add a
rule where any Walkers that are killed immediately return to the game. The Organised
Play kit will include a whole selection of similar rules to modify many areas
of the game.

• Scenery: Mixing it up and including
  plenty of additional terrain can help to tailor a scenario to your needs. The
  standard Scenery Pack includes 4x Cars and 6x Barriers which equates to 14
  Scenery Points. If you want to reduce the threat of shooting a bit more then
  you might up this to 18-20 Scenery Points on a 20” mat (try 24-26 Points on a
  24” mat), and include some blocking terrain like a small building or a wooded
  area. The right scenery can really help to set the scene for your custom
  scenario.

Other variables that you can change up include the Survivor
Group selection rules, having equipment restrictions, changing how the event
deck works, and altering the Threat Tracker rules. All of these will be covered
in the Organised Play kit. Now on to the Scenario themes themselves…

It is important to select some variety in your scenarios so
that where possible there is a different focus each time. This focus could be
things like collecting supplies, killing the opposition, moving to a certain
location or achieving a special objective.

For an event or tournament, scenario variety can promote a
more balanced approach to building Survivor groups where different qualities
will be tested each time. These qualities could be regarded as things like:

Supply Scavenging

Scavenging supplies is a fundamental part of AOW and
rewarding this as a secondary objective is recommended for all scenarios. In
order to promote a team approach, a rule can be added that limits the number of
Supplies that can be carried by any one Survivor so that is equal to their pack
size. Characters with one pack space may only carry one Supply counter. This
makes it essential to plan the supply scavenging with a team approach. Other
variations could be where the Supplies have to be collected and deposited in a
certain location.

Threat Management

This aspect can be tested by having the Threat Tracker start
at a higher point, by preventing the Threat Tracker being reduced below a
certain point, by using more Event Cards that increase the Threat level and by
not stopping the game when the Threat reaches the maximum.

All these conditions can mean that the Threat Level is
higher throughout the Scenario which leads to more dangerous Events occurring
on the Event Cards, and that Survivors with Low or Medium threat are more
likely to panic.

Walker Clearance

This can be tested by clumping walkers around an objective,
as players with strong Survivors who can kill Walkers will have an advantage
and be able to get to the objectives. Adding in ‘Endless Horde’ rules can also
reward this aspect and this rule is where any Walkers killed can immediately be
placed by the player whose Survivor made the kill. This allows a Survivor to
kill a walker and immediately place it behind the enemy lines.

Survivor Slaying

This aspect is tested in a straight up PvP death match style
scenario. It is recommended that the primary scoring system for the other scenarios
encourages players to engage in the main objective and does not reward survivor
kills too much.

Co-ordinated Movement

This aspect can be tested with a dynamic element in the
scenario such as moving the whole team across the board to exit a far edge, or
to collect an object and return it to their deployment zone.

Ideas for Scenarios can come from many places. Some of mine
have come from iconic scenes from the TV Series or Comics, inspired by classic
computer games, or by thinking of a situation that you may face in the
apocalypse! What inspires you and what scenario could you turn it into?

Example scenarios will be included in the Organised Play kit but why wait… why not see what you can do and share it in the Walking Dead Fanatics Facebook group?

REMEMBER, THE SAVIORS ARE COMING TO ALL OUT WAR AND CALL TO ARMS THIS WEEK! THEY'LL BE AVAILABLE TO ORDER FROM THE MANTIC SITE THIS FRIDAY.