Big Brother Zombie!

[otspiii]

I haven't played Mall of Horror; I had never even heard of it until you mentioned it, and I've googled it and checked it out on boardgamegeek. It does sound similar to this, but lacking the fundamental part of Trust, which I haven't addressed yet, but will on a future post.

You might be using Trust as a technical term, since you capitalized it, which might make my response invalid, but believe me when I say that trust is the very core of strategy in Mall of Horror.  In a game where two players trust each other and the other two don't the two who trust each other will be the last two standing every single game.  Everybody's actions are revealed simultaneously, so you just have to trust that the people you're cooperating with aren't going to screw you over to have any hope to survive.  This is why the game ruins friendships so badly, because the winner is generally the person who gathers the most trust and then abuses it the most effectively.

[chance.thirteen]

My concern would be the hardcore players/characters ganging up and immediately killing off all the popular type characters. If no one can leave without winning or being dead, this is a serious level of commitment, so why wait for a zombie to surprise you when you can kill everyone the first hour?

Not very well considered suggestions:

Points accumulated for tasks with others to get food or items - encourages cooperation for a while, can be taken away for directly killing another. points may also in part reflect popularity which means that being entertaining or hot or funny on camera actually has value.

Second place prizes in contests - don't know why save that two groups can cooperate and trade 1st and 2nd place more effectively.

[chance.thirteen]

Rats, wish i could edit my post.

The points idea could also have a "you must have X total points earned to open the door out." This means that you can't benefit easily by killing everyone first thing, you need to have points to get out. This means tasks will require cooperative elements, even something as evil and simple as one person must trigger something over here, while someone else triggers something over there, so the task envelope can be gotten to. Note that earned is key, you still get to spend them on getting things along the way.

[Rui!]

@otspiii: Indeed, yes, I'm using Trust just like your'd find in games like Mountain Witch, Cold War or The Dead. I think, however, that a similar tactic might be used in BBZ to get one through to the finish and win the game.

@chance.thirteen: Thanks for the idea for the points; in rpg.net I've been asking for ideas for tasks, and theirs, like yours, are terrific and I just have to use them in the game, giving credit to those that offered them.

Next: Trust, Popularity and Infection.

[Rui!]

Also: I think the main problem in the game right now would be the ganging up thing; I can't think on anything right now; I'm gonna wait for the playtest to see if anything comes up from it. But thanks!

[Rui!]

"Paul! Trust me, you be the bait, and when the dead guy runs for you I pump its skull full of lead!"

Trust

Through forced cooperation or friendship born from facing a common threat, players can simulate these relationships through the allocation of points of Trust. The mechanics for Trust exists in several games and I think its awesome, and the BBZ is a good stage for their excellence. If you feel some curiosity in them, try The Mountain Witch, Cold War, and The Dead, amongst others.

Each Contestant will establish relations of Trust with the others, through the allocation of Points of Trust. These points can be used when both competitors are cooperating in a task, a Conflict with other competitors or against Zombies. Basically, the Contestant who Trusts another gives him 1 Point of Trust, with the Trustee being able to retribute such confidence in the form of +1 dice per Test/Conflict or Combat, to aid the one who gave him the Trust points.

In one example, if Marc trusts Rita by 2 points, then Rita can use these points to help Marco, giving him +1 dice.

However, the Trust has a reverse. At any given time the Contestant can use all the points to betray the one who Trusted him.

In continuing the example above, Rita may betray Marco by adding +2 dice on a Conflict against him.

There is no limit to the Points of Trust that Contestants may give, but can only give them over the Confessionals.


Confessionals

In a reality show there is always a "Confessional" in it, in which the Contestants can talk about what happened, ramble on their doubts about each other and, thanks to the magic of television editing, about things that viewers have not yet seen. These mechanics have rarely been used in games, if I recall correctly I've only seen them on the excellent InSpectres game by Jared Sorensen, and it fits like a glove in BBZ.

During a Confessional, one of the Contestants will get up from his chair at the table and sit in another chair, put aside in the beginning of the game for this purpose. He then addresses the other players, much like he was talking to the camera on the Confessional. There he can talk about any issues related with the other Contestants, with the Tasks, etc., as if to comment on something the House.

But he can do more. He can talk about events that have not happened in game, like on television where it seems that the Contestants predict the future, and most important, is the only time in the game they can assign points of Trust. Each Contestant can speak in the Confessional as many times as he wants, but can only give 1 point of Confidence per session, or per hour of play, depending on the general length of the game.



Popularity

The Contestants compete for Popularity, as in any standard television show. This reflects that viewer reaction where they want to see their favorite Contestants carry on and win the game.

The BBZ mechanically reflects this as follows: each time a Contestant Escalates a Conflict, or each time in a Test or Conflict he has the most number of Successes of all Contestants, or when he has double the Successes of his opponent, he adds +1 Points of Popularity. The Contestant also gets +1 point for each time he decides to follow his Disorder, while endangering their safety or that of other Contestants.

Points of Popularity can be used in Tests, Conflicts and Combat, adding to the dice pool before the Test is done. This does not mean that the Popularity drops, only that the Contestant has better chances of being successful, reflecting the wishes of the viewers at home.

The Popularity is influenced by the Presence of Contestants. Starting Popularity is equal to Presença -1, and Contestants can have up to twice the value of Presence in Popularity.

If the most popular Contestant dies and becomes a zombie, all other Contestants get 1 Point for free, but the dead Contestant continues playing as zombie, which will be seen below.



"Paul, you have a sever bite wound on your arm. We do not know if you are infected or not, so we have to saw it out."

Infection

In the world of BBZ it's not 100% certain that the victim of a Zombie bite will automatically become another Zombie. No one knows exactly why, but even those killed by Zombies sometimes don't arise as the undead.

When a Contestant is bitten the Big Brother secretely Tests Vigor vs Vigor, testing the Contestant's Vigor against the Zombie's. If the Zombie has twice the successes, the Contestant will turn into a Zombie, in [Contestant's Successes]-1 Tasks time. If the Zombie only has more Successes, then the bitten Contestant will turn into a Zombie in [Zombie's Successes]-1 Tasks time.

In one example, if Marc is bitten, the Big Brother will test his Vigor with the Zombie's, in this case rolling 3 dice for Marco and 5 for the Zombie. For Marco, the Big Brother takes 2, 3 and 5, or only one Success, for the Zombie, the Big Brother gets 4, 4, 5, 6 and 6, three Successes, clearly more than twice Marco's Successes. This means that Marco will turn into Zombie immediately! If Marco had two Successes, he would become in Zombie after two more Tasks had occurred in the House, and during that time nobody knew if Marco would go play for the other team or not.

If the Contestant has more Successes than the Zombie, regardless of the number of Successes, then he doesn't becomes a Zombie. In case of a tie, roll all dice again.

There is a way to avoid Infection and prevent the Big Brother from doing this Test, which is to cut the member that is supposed infected. This radical way to avoid Infection can only be made if the Zombie didn't kill the Contestant outright, of course!

The Contestant who has a cut member to prevent the Infection Test automatically loses 1 point of Vigor and 1 point of Presence, but also gets 1 point of Popularity, for demonstrating enough Coragem to undergo such operation.


Zombies as Contestants

When a Contestant is killed by a Zombie and turns into an undead, the player does not automatically stop playing. Instead, he becomes one of the attractions of the program, and continues to gain Popularity!

When this happens, the player loses his Courage and Presence and sees his Vigor go up to 5 or any amount that the Big Brother has decided that the Zombies have in your game, is no longer able to assign and use Trust, thus is also not able to use the COnfessional, but may continue to use and gain Popularity. For each Contestant the new Zombie kills, it gets +1 to its Popularity, and for each it turns into another Zombie it gets +2!

The use of the Popularity is the same, add more dice in Combat, but the player wins one more option for the game, which is to set Tasks, as if he was a secondary Big Brother. For this, the player spends 1 point of Popularity and assigns the new Task, which must involve his Zombie, necessarily. Player discretion is advised. And also some sadism.

EDIT: I do not know how I could forget, but the good guys of rpg.net did remind me of one important aspect of all reality shows: Immunity!

Before each Task, players have the possibility of seeing that one of them is safe and away from the Zombies while their companions get on with the Task. This process is not automatic, as happens in reality shows normal: in BBZ, Contestants must agree among themselves, before each task, who will have Immunity. The method as they do this is completely at their discretion, but it is recommended that a scream or two, followed by a threat and/or a stab, is used.