Be Excellent To Each Other

Actually, we weren't, but I wasn't going to point this out to anybody. It was unlikely that anyone would get us, sure, but possible.

I vote 3.

Congratulations on a most excellently well-played round of charades.

Aye option 1...option 3 at a pinch

There was no queen in the beginning of Alien 3 either.

In special circumstances, facehuggers can make queens.

It was a complete Cluster Farm weren't it.

Congrats to Grimelda though, he won the day significantly.

"Nerr"

Maybe this topic needs an actual poll, or a new thread with a poll?

Unless half the remaining players want option 2, im going to offer up option 3 in a new signup thread and congratulate the players who won the first Aliens Scum.

ill give it till the end of today 10pm for people to have checked there PMs and had a look here.

The Marines are immune, Grim..., provided you continue to use the Seal The Door action.

We checked this (obviously), and they're not.
However, it's not as bad as we thought, because we (at least, two of us) though a company role existed that didn't.

Why not? Quote from the rules:


The Company assassination is an attacking night action.

Hicks can be roleblocked preventing the seal the door night action.

Ripley could accidentally roleblock Hicks.

We thought the company had a roleblocking guy but they don't. So actually all I'd have to do is say that Hicks is X and then we'd win.

I think a restart would be a better option, just so you know the aliens actually get to do something in AlienScum. Also I would like a restart since I barely had a chance to do anything the first two days.

I really should join in one of these soon, just to know what the hell you're all talking about

I wouldn't advise this as your first one. Really.

I'm trying to remember the comedy sketch it reminds me of, where a few geeks try to initiate a newcomer to the rules of their ridiculously complicated card or board game. It was good, whatever it was.

duely noted

if we do rerun it id welcome DavPaz to join in as its unlikely we will have as many players.

Give it an extra couple of days before you start and I'll run an eye over the rules if you want, look for any gotchas that might be in there. Should have done for this one, really, but didn't bother as I wasn't playing.

It's always baffling at first, though, so I reckon jumping into this one is as good as any, really.

I think it might just need a properly defined order of actions.

There's a few other bits in there - The company win condition being screwed by a single death, for example. Also giving the marines an investigate and a kill on the same team with the ability to communicate is incredibly powerful. The townies side is normally balanced by having both but not knowing who they are.

I didn't bother until part of the way through day 2, and even then nowhere near as thouroughly as I'd usually do. They weren't that easy to read.

I feel all the Marines actions are too complicated to keep track of though. They should maybe just have a kill and a protect, likewise for the company.

And perhaps it's not even necessary to have a queen alien, just an alien "serial killer" role, and a company man who can plant a facehugger by night.

No disrespect to LS but I do think he was trying way too hard to work in elements of the film, it would be better as a looser tie-in that plays along traditional scum lines.

OK well Im going to work on a redraught of the rules.

If nothing else, its all fresh (in my mind), and they could be used at a later date.
Craster thanks for the offer - you can look over my redraught if you like please rather than the mess that is up there now.

I have also considered making the Marines night actions less powerful too...

What about instead of the company having an action they know the identities of the aliens? and they'd need to keep one alive until the end.
Also instead of the doors sealed protecting all the marines I think it should still leave hicks vulnerable so its not too powerful.

My take on it:

An alien. Wins only if survives to the end and all marines are dead.


Marines' win condition: get rid of the alien, at least one of them survive to the end

1 marine with a night kill action
1 marine with a protect action
1 other marine

Company win condition: protect the Alien, and at least one of them survive to the end

1 company man who can kill (with a facehugger)
1 company man who can protect
1 other company man?


Colonists win condition: Kill all the company men and the Alien to win.

Throw in a Burke as a town investigate option.


Too simple?

Burke doesn't make sense. Make it Newt, as she could fit into the air ducts.
Would the facehugger become an alien?
Also, the Marines either shouldn't be able to talk to each other or shouldn't have night roles. They are the game version of the Mason's, and are too powerful otherwise.

What about the ruleset I posted on page 15 of the upcoming games thread?

Damn, I forgot about Newt and Ripley! OK, Newt is investigator. Ripley can communicate with Marines but has no action.

Yes, perhaps the Aliens should multiply but then it starts to get complicated again

How about Mafia vs townies?

Quite.

[edit]Editing fool.

Oh, I'd forgotten / missed that. Looks good and carefully thought out!

Can we give it a try?

Heh. That too, though, of course.

Just simplify it back down, would be my vote. The last couple of games have been getting too complicated - the more rules there are the harder it is to work out what's going on or what you shoudl do. In some ways SawScum was perfect, in that we had no rules that we were aware of.

Simplicity is good, I think. I thought I'd made the GhostBusters game too simple, but everybody liked that one.
The SawScum was a ballache to run, trust me

That was a good one, actually - the Batman one was a bit complicated, but not too too much.

I just think a return to vanilla may be a good idea for the next one!


I can believe it!

Either way, I'd be up for another game.

Okay so i've missed today because of work but i could make the game 'open' again , however it would be against my win condition so i think call it now and try again :-)

(Oh and Grim... aint as bulletproof as he'd like to think)

Thankyou Gorman!

I like complicated rulesets, because I like having to stay on my toes and not being sure I've got everything covered when I'm in a game. I think it makes things fun.

I still really like my Batman rules, actually. Yes, it's possible for people to get stuck in Arkham all game, but they can still contribute even if they can't vote. It's an interesting dynamic, I reckon.

I'm not reading [x] rules, though.

I'm Peck!
No, I'm Peck!
*Massive clusterfuck*
*Mr Dave wins*

Being able to lock in Arkham the only person who could let people out of Arkham was genius.

If someone explains the Batman rules to me in simple words I'll be up for playing that one.

Regardless of simplicity, the rules need to be concise, easy to read, and constant.

Story setting and similar shouldn't be in the rules, but rather, in the game.

Ok ive been working on it

In simples:

3 marines Hicks Vasquez Hudson who can communicate via PM
- Once per night phase, nominate marine to either Motion Track (id faction) or kill (2 friendly fires allowed)
- Alternatively, 1 seal the door is allowed. No other night action, but protects all marines in the game.
- Hicks needs to be alive to do the Seal the Door, if he dies the option is lost
- Marines immune to FaceHugs

Company
- same as before, Kill or Investigate (this yields the Role of that player).

Aliens
- Same as before
- However if Queen dies, moderator picks a live alien at random and assigns them the task of maturing to the next Queen.
- To mature they need to survive 2 day phases. At the end of the 2nd day phase they can choose a FaceHug again as per the Queen in the night phase directly after.
- Appreciate this is not canon, but allows the Aliens a chance to rebuild.

Bishop, Ripley and Newt
- same


Win conditions also slightly different.

Colony: all Aliens dead, Marines and Colonists kill The Company (who they learn are trying to secure an Alien after all!!).
The Company: Company Members kill all Colonial Marines and outnumber Dumb-Ass Colonists. At least one Alien is alive.
Aliens: everyone else is host or dead.




Some minor differences for the 0-1 characters.
If your interested see the attached.

Contrary to what Mr Dave says I think some scene setting is required for this type of Alien Scum game based on the movies.

That's 11 pages long

it was always long

anyway first up its not clear enough. now its clear its too long?

make your mind up