Werewolf XLI - Apocalypse Awakens! - rules and signup thread

[hoopsguy]

The format for this game is going to be a little bit different than a traditional werewolf game. So I figured I would go ahead and post the rules ahead of time so people can determine if this is something that would be interesting. I've bolded the sections that are significant deviations from standard play (about half the rules).

(Edit) I'll start taking sign-ups now but will hold a couple of spots in reserve for a couple of WW old-timers I'm trying to coax back into the mix. I'll be looking for 25 players for this game, with the intention of starting Wednesday if the game fills up quickly or Thursday regardless of numbers. From a balance perspective, I think 25 is the right number to play with.

Please post any questions in this thread. Tyrith will be helping me with some of the moderation duties (if there are 25 unique roles, there are going to be a bunch of calculations and unique PMs to manage) so either of us should be able to help explain anything that is unclear.


Moderator Source Note #1 - There have been a pair of superhero games on BoardGameGeek, one involving Thanos and another that was an X-Men based game, that got me looking at comics as source material.

The Werewolf Gauntlet: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/112679

X-Man: The Cure: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/117348/page/1

Moderator Source Note #2 - this game will be based very loosely upon the X-Men story "The Twelve". This was a story that was hinted at for a decade before a clumsy cross-over event was launched sometime in the mid-90's. For me, it was a case of expectations far exceeding the delivery. Hopefully this game does not parallel the comic in that respect ...
Here is a summary of the original story in the comics. Note that I will be quite liberal with my adaptation to werewolf and that events are likely to deviate substantially from the comic version.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocaly...lve#The_Twelve

Background:
"The Twelve" were first mentioned by X-Men foe Master Mold and later referenced in the diaries of noted precognative Destiny. The names of the twelve are unknown, but they are closely tied to a future where Apocalypse rules the earth with an iron fist.

Each of the heroes finds themselves in the deserts of Egypt after an encounter with the minions of Apocalypse, the Dark Riders. You have battled your way into the inner sanctum of Apocalypse to face the world's oldest mutant once and for all.

Players: 25
Evil/Werewolves: Apocalypse and his four horsemen
Good/Villagers: Everyone else

During sign-ups, each player selects a Marvel comics hero or villain that they would like to play during this game. The moderator has the right to refuse a selection (Apocalypse can not be selected) but will try to accomodate any reasonable selection. Once twenty five players have signed up and selected their characters the moderator will assign roles/powers.

The game begins with randomly assigning the role of Apocalypse. The player who is assigned Apocalypse will retain the guise of his selected character, but will gain the extra abilities associated with this role. Apocalypse can then choose his four horsemen, with the knowledge of the players and their hero/villain, but not knowledge of their roles/powers. The game then proceeds with 20 good guys and 5 villains.

Win Conditions:
Evil: eliminate "The Twelve" from the game. Evil knows the identities of the Twelve (out of 20 heroes). When all of these characters are removed from the active roster Evil wins the game
Good: defeat Apocalypse and his four horsemen.

Characters:
Each character will be assigned a set of powers, as well as ratings for Health and Energy.
Health - how much damage a character can sustain before they are killed
Energy - the currency for taking actions. All powers cost at least one point of energy
Powers - these will differ from character to character. As you would expect with a comic book theme, some characters will be inherently more powerful than others
All characters recover 3 energy and 1 health per day unless otherwise noted. Health cannot exceed the starting value, but there is no cap on energy levels. If a character does not launch an attack during the Day cycle they will only recover 2 energy. This is in place to encourage participation and to remove any incentives to skipping an action during the day.

Day Cycle:
Each character declares their attack and their target in the thread - use caps and bold at the bottom of your post to declare this. A post in the thread assumes that one point of damage will be delivered. However, characters have the option of delivering additional damage. PM the moderator if you want to deliver extra damage.

Once an attack is issued it cannot be revoked. Additional attacks may be initiated, assuming there is energy remaining to execute the attack.
At the end of the Day cycle, the character who receives the most effective damage (some damage may be negated by use of active or inherent powers) is eligible for lynch. If the effective damage is greater than their remaining health, that character is removed from the game.
Additionally, a second character who sustain a level of effective damage greater than or equal to twice their health rating (ex: Health of 6, if reduced to -6 or less they would fall under this rule) will suffer the same fate. So it is possible for there to be no "lynch" or for their to be two "lynches" in a given day. The tie-breaker for 2nd kill, if it comes to that, is 1.) furthest value from zero 2.) most damage sustained in current day.

Since the amount of total damage sustained is not published (until day results are tabulated), the order of attacks and the player executing the "kill shot" will be noted in the end of day summary. The characters faction will be revealed upon death, but it will not be revealed publicly if the character was a member of the "Twelve".

Night Cycle:
Many characters will have powers that can be used during the Night Cycle. Additionally, the forces of Apocalypse will be able to initiate a night kill that is not related to expending health/energy (standard wolf kill). Heroes may be able to impact the night kill through use of powers. Below is the order for night actions. In cases where multiple actions fall in the same sub-category and order does matter (two attacks on same target, for example) a random number generator will be used to process the order.
Order of Night Actions:
1. Defense actions
2. Research actions
3. Attack actions - heroes first, then villains
4. Energy/health regeneration

Powers:
There are four classes of damage: physical, energy, psionic, and magical. Characters may have resistances to some or all of these damage types.
Characters may have active or passive powers. Active powers must be declared - in the thread or via PM, as specified by the character description. Passive powers are always active.

Example:
Active Power:
Laser Beam (1) - does one point of damage for each point of energy used
Passive Power:
Tough Skin (0) - subtract one point of damage from all physical attacks against the character

Expect that there will be some duplicate powers, depending on character selection (Iron Man and Doctor Doom, for example) but a ton of unique powers as well. Powers should be a reflection of the comic book character, but likely will not be an exact representation. This is done for both game balance and to introduce some elements of unpredictability in the game.

Teams:
Heroes may form "teams" by mutual declaration. When a team is formed, they have the opportunity to deliver additional damage by acting in unison (+0.5 additional damage for every member of the team) . However, if there is a villain participating in the team they have the opportunity to sabotage the effectiveness of a team's actions (-2 cumulative damage). Teams can be formed and broken up at any time. The declaration of a team must be agreed upon in the thread. The team should be announced in bold, with the name of the team and all member of the team. Additional benefits may become available for teams who remain together for a sustained period of time.

Additional Notes:
1. If you try to use a power and do not have enough power to use it the power will not activate
2. If you try to use a power and use more energy than you currently have, the moderator will assign all remaining energy to the power
3. No editing posts
4. Actions are processed in the order posted. So if someone issues an order such as "protect Solecismic with a Force Field" that will impact future attacks but have no bearing on attacks already launched
5. Character powers will take precedence over any rules posted in this thread. The rules here are meant to apply to the majority, but in some cases may not apply to a small minority
6. This is a comic book setting. Expect some new mechanics for this game that pay homage to a comic book universe.
7. Playing in character is highly encouraged. The moderator reserves the right to reward players for especially good role play, either publicly or privately.
8. All PMs to the moderator should be addressed to both hoopsguy and Tyrith to make sure the action/question/concern is properly processed.



Sign-ups:
1. Schmidty (Hulk)
2. Path12 (Silver Surfer)
3. Barkeep49 (Magneto)
4. Blade6119 (Moon Knight)
5. DaddyTorgo (Professor X)
6. AlanT (Warpath)
7. Swaggs (Storm)
8. Anxiety (Hawkeye)
9. Chief Rum (Gambit)
10. Ardent Enthusiast (Daredevil)
11. Thomkal (Cannonball)
12. WVUFAN (Dr. Doom)
13. Spleen1015 (Mystique)
14. LoneStarGirl (Captain Marvel)
15. Bonegavel (Wolverine)
16. Jonathan Ezarik (Spiderman)
17. gi (Captain Britain)
18. Raiders Army (Deadpool)
19. ntndeadcon (Mandarin)
20. Mr Wednesday (Mathemanic)
21. SackAttack (Captain America)
22. GoldenEagle (Juggernaut)
23. Grammaticus (Venom)
24. Eaglesfan27 (Iron Man)
25. Talgian (Mr. Sinister)

Alternate #1: Dodgerchick
Alternate #2: Lathum
Alternate #3:

[Schmidty]

I'm in, and I'd like to be the Hulk.


(If this counts as the sign-up thread....)

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

I'm in, and I'd like to be the Hulk.


(If this counts as the sign-up thread....)

I wasn't originally intending for it to be the sign-up thread, as I didn't want to disrupt Cronin's game. But I also wanted to be able to get started fairly soon after his game is done and I'm going to be out of town from Friday - Monday, so with a different game type I wanted to give people a chance to see if it looked interesting so sign-ups could proceed quickly on Monday night.

That said, I can see where that would be confusing. So lets make it easy. I'll take sign-ups here as well.

[Lorena]

Uhh... this sounds really, really awesome... but I get confused enough as it is, this game might be a bit much for me.

Is it possible to learn as we go along? I'm pretty interested but am afraid of making a major, major mistake in confusion.

[Tyrith]

Learning as you go is encouraged Hoops and I are always available for questions.

[Lorena]

Screw it, I love me some Jean Grey... in pls.

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by Dodgerchick

Uhh... this sounds really, really awesome... but I get confused enough as it is, this game might be a bit much for me.

Is it possible to learn as we go along? I'm pretty interested but am afraid of making a major, major mistake in confusion.

I would expect everyone will be learning as they go along in this one. The last game that was as fundamentally different as this one was Barkeep's Treasure Hunters game, and Day 1 was pretty chaotic for a lot of people - especially the bad guys

By all means, ask questions ahead of time to try and establish a comfort level. Usually people get the hang of a new rule set like this one by Day 3, due to the collective conversation.

[Lorena]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

I'm in, and I'd like to be the Hulk.


(If this counts as the sign-up thread....)

This is so you! "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry!"

ROOOOAAAARRRRR!!!

Few minutes pass by and you're back to normal.

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by Dodgerchick

This is so you! "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry!"

ROOOOAAAARRRRR!!!

Few minutes pass by and you're back to normal.

Hell yeah!!!

[Barkeep49]

I'll be Magneto thank you.

[Blade6119]

ill be my moonknight(i think that was his name)!

[DaddyTorgo]

i'm so the hell in. i guess i hafta pick who i want to be though hmm.

well since barkeep is being magneto...i'll take charles xavier plz

[Alan T]

I'm in! I will pick Wolverine.

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

i'm so the hell in. i guess i hafta pick who i want to be though hmm.

well since barkeep is being magneto...i'll take charles xavier plz

So good of you to join me Charles. So good indeed.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

So good of you to join me Charles. So good indeed.

Perhaps we can see eye to eye this time Erik? Set aside our differences and work together for the good of mutant-kind?

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Perhaps we can see eye to eye this time Erik? Set aside our differences and work together for the good of mutant-kind?

NO TALK!!!!!!! SMASH!!!!!!!!

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

NO TALK!!!!!!! SMASH!!!!!!!!

lol

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Perhaps we can see eye to eye this time Erik? Set aside our differences and work together for the good of mutant-kind?

Charles I always want to work for the good of mutant-kind. Always.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

Charles I always want to work for the good of mutant-kind. Always.

how about human-kind? i realize they aren't so much a factor here, but can you square yourself with saving all of those who you hate so much in the process?

[hoopsguy]

AlanT will now be playing the role of Warpath.

Wolverine is once again available if anyone wants him.

[Antmeister]

I shall be Nightcrawler.

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

I shall be Nightcrawler.

Welcome mutant to our little conclave. Nice to have a first timer like you around.

[Antmeister]

By the way, I don't know what the hell is going on. Dodgerchick thought I should join this random game of chance and luck.

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

how about human-kind? i realize they aren't so much a factor

Thank you for summing up my feelings so well.

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

Welcome mutant to our little conclave. Nice to have a first timer like you around.

Thanks, now I shall see how brual this is.

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

By the way, I don't know what the hell is going on. Dodgerchick thought I should join this random game of chance and luck.

The community has put together a primer at: http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...ad.php?t=53377

I'd take a look there and there are many of us who can help answer your questions going from there.

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

Thanks, now I shall see how brual this is.

It need only be brutal to those who stand in our way.

[DaddyTorgo]

Erik Erik Erik...I was praying you had changed and we could work together once again. Together we would be nearly unstoppable!

[Lorena]

By the way, if anyone is opposed to Ant and I playing together, I will gladly step away to have him play.

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

I shall be Nightcrawler.

That was my second choice.

I'm happy that you finally broke down and joined the WW craze.

[Mr. Wednesday]

Originally Posted by Dodgerchick

By the way, if anyone is opposed to Ant and I playing together, I will gladly step away to have him play.

You just (both of you) need to be able to deal with the possibility of ending up on opposite teams. OOG friendship has been known to be leveraged by the devious.

[Mr. Wednesday]

Suggestion for hoops, you might want to post the characters that were previously indicated as desired in the other thread, so anybody who didn't already pick one doesn't accidentally step on toes.

[hoopsguy]

MrW, I'm fine with people going ahead and picking new characters - creating the ones earlier basically made it so I would not have to create 25 from scratch between the sign-up and start of the game. Here is that link:
http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...ad.php?t=53059

I haven't posed any limitations that the people requested in the other thread are locked in for the person who suggested them (many people suggested multiple characters) although I would hate for someone to be discouraged from playing because someone beat them to their favorite character.

On a somewhat related note, if anyone is thinking about playing this game but doesn't know anything about Marvel comics I would encourage them to post what kind of hero they would like to play and I (or anyone else who knows a bit about the Marvel universe) can provide some suggestions.

[Abe Sargent]

Just spank my ass and call me Hawkeye!!!


-Anxiety

[Lorena]

Originally Posted by Anxiety

Just spank my ass...


-Anxiety

Ask and you shall recieve

[Chief Rum]

I don't know the Marvel universe for squat, but I would like to play. I don't really care who I am, so I wouldn't mind if someone who did know what they were talking about picked me out a cool character who is available. Once I have a name, I can go wikipedia and find out what I have gotten myself in for.

Oh, and please really pick me a cool character (I don't care if good or bad), because it would suck for someone to pick me a crappy character for a joke.

Or I will just take a character at random.

Thanks!

[path12]

I don't know much about the Marvel characters either, but in looking through wiki I think I'd like to be Silver Surfer.

If someone had their heart set on that already, I'd be happy to switch to a random choice.

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by path12

I don't know much about the Marvel characters either, but in looking through wiki I think I'd like to be Silver Surfer.

If someone had their heart set on that already, I'd be happy to switch to a random choice.

You're omnipotent. We might as well crown you the winner.

[Lorena]

After much deliberation, I'm gonna pull out of this one. I wouldn't feel comfortable with Antmeister and myself both playing at the same time.

Besides, it'd be a lot funnier to watch him fall flat on his face from the outside

[Poli]

I'm assuming I'm accepting a reserved slot.

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by ardent enthusiast

I'm assuming I'm accepting a reserved slot.

Well, there is the little matter of choosing your hero/villain to play ...

[Thomkal]

Well I suck at werewolf, but the theme and Hoops asking me to play is enough to make me sign up. Undecided on what character I want to play.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Well I suck at werewolf, but the theme and Hoops asking me to play is enough to make me sign up. Undecided on what character I want to play.

I hope people don't stay away from playing WW because they feel they aren't good at it. I personally like having you or other folks who don't play as regularly in at times just because it changes things up and makes things less predictable at times. All that should matter is if you enjoy playing or not. If you have fun who cares what others think of your abilities

I constantly have people every game talk about how harmful I am leading people wrong when I'm a villager. I don't let that keep me from playing

[hoopsguy]

So many ways to make fun of Alan here

But I'll stifle my snarky remarks to agree that people should play the game to have fun. I generally have more fun with a bigger, more diverse pool of players so I hope that moderators create immersive games for players and that players treat their fellow players well within the games, thus creating that fun experience people want to come back to when sign-ups are posted for the next game.

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I don't know the Marvel universe for squat, but I would like to play. I don't really care who I am, so I wouldn't mind if someone who did know what they were talking about picked me out a cool character who is available. Once I have a name, I can go wikipedia and find out what I have gotten myself in for.

Oh, and please really pick me a cool character (I don't care if good or bad), because it would suck for someone to pick me a crappy character for a joke.

Or I will just take a character at random.

Thanks!

Here's my backup character in case I hadn't gotten Hawkeye - hoops created his rules:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_%28comics%29

He was Marvel's most popular character in the early seventies and the face of the Avengers during that time.

-ANxiety

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Alan T

I hope people don't stay away from playing WW because they feel they aren't good at it. I personally like having you or other folks who don't play as regularly in at times just because it changes things up and makes things less predictable at times. All that should matter is if you enjoy playing or not. If you have fun who cares what others think of your abilities

I constantly have people every game talk about how harmful I am leading people wrong when I'm a villager. I don't let that keep me from playing

Oh I have fun when I play WW Alan, but when evil or part of a team, my suckiness hurts the team. Blade spotted me pretty easily as an evil last game I played. So that I don't like too much. I'm not one who likes all out analysis of every last rule and scenario from the start of the game as many seem to like here, so that gets me in trouble. If people would just leave me alone it would be fine, lol.

[WVUFAN]

I'd love to play in this.

I'll be Iron Man.

[WVUFAN]

Originally Posted by Anxiety

Here's my backup character in case I hadn't gotten Hawkeye - hoops created his rules:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_%28comics%29

He was Marvel's most popular character in the early seventies and the face of the Avengers during that time.

-ANxiety

The Vision rules!

[spleen1015]

I'm in!

Mystique for me please!

[spleen1015]

I think Chief Rum should be Forge. He's cool, right? I don't know how we would work his abilities into WW though.