So having recently started this back up, I remember that I highly disliked the fact that the Invader can win simply by killing the Marines "X" amount of times (I believe it is 5?). That seems a little unrealistic to me... and as much as I know it is simply a game, I also think that if Marine #3 gets fragged, Marine #1/#2 should be able to haul ass out of there and manage to move onto the next level.

So my question is this: Does anyone have an idea or has heard of an alternative idea to enable the Invader to win? I've toyed with the notion of "X" amount of lives per Marine, then having the Marine respawn next scenario as a 'Survivor' that was found during their escape. But I'm still trying to decide what is fair and what isn't.

So anyone else have any other ideas as to allow for the Invader to win beyond simple "# of frags"?

It's the only thing I never really liked about Doom, the whole concept of Frags. That takes us out of the horror-survior-mode into just a video game, if once you die, you just respawn somewhere. It would have been nice if there were some perma-death rules for Doom, and then the Invader simply wins by killing all the Marines (similar to Space Hulk).

-shnar

I completely agree... so the question is, how do you get around that and instead implement something that is more 'survival-horror-esque'?

The only things I have come up with thus far are two options:

Option #1: Each player gets "X" (where X is probably 2) lives and then once they expend all of them, they are done for the Scenario. But to be honest, I still don't like it, though admittedly it is a minor improvement in my eyes.

Option # 2: One life, then you're out. Problem with this is, Marines would have to compromise who would get Armor Tokens/Health Packs even more so than they do now. Without a doubt, you would need to buff the Marine Base Armor and Base Wounds... but I'm not sure to what number would be reasonable.

If I could figure out a way to make Option #2 viable, I think I would much prefer that.

Anyone else have any other ideas? Or have suggestions on how to go about Option #2?

Also, I think if the Marine dies during the Scenario, he should drop all of his gear/ammo on the location he is killed at. So the remaining Marines either have to get to the pile of goodies and pick up their fallen comrade's gear, or the next time the Marine spawns as a 'New Found Survivor' (of a new or same class), he starts out with only the basics, unless the other Marine(s) give him his old gear or divvy up weapons they have, if they were unable to get it all back.

One thought is to just boost the health/armor and then death-is-death. Something like all Marines get 3 armor and 20 health, then see how hard it is from there...

-shnar

I also don't particularly like the frag mechanic. It actually fits perfectly within the design limits to give the boardgame a PC game feel. But, when relating to realistic ideals, it doesn't make sense that someone can die and instantly respawn.

Here's a quick though/idea:

A Marine dropped to 0 life points falls down and is incapacitated. For the next two rounds, he lays still (technically out of the game). He cannot take any actions and monsters cannot attack him. On his third turn he gets up (semi-recovered) at 1/2 life points and cantinues as normal. This counts as a frag for the overlord player.

With these rules, the marine doesn't actually die. No other rules would need to be changed. No idea how balanced this is (I haven't even read the rules to the game yet) haha

But, I'm excited to play.

How about giving everyone 3 'med kit' tokens at the start of the game along with his other normal stuff. If one should get, instead he gets incapacitated. Marines who gets incapped must first give 1 'med kit' token to the invader player to continue playing, and he's laid down with double his normal hp, losing 1 at the end of his turns. He cannot move, can only shoot his pistol in his turn. Another marine (no he cannot revive himself) can sacrifice 2 movement points to bring him back up with half his normal hp. If he can't pay the invader player a 'med kit', his marine is dead (don't bother incapping him, he's dead right away). He's also dead if nobody can revive him on time.

To regain his 'med kits' back, the marine must be healed by an actual 'med kit' from the board. Doing so replenishes it to 3 again.

If all 3 marines are incapped at the same time (doesn't matter when they got incapped), the invader player wins since they cannot revive each other

So a marine originally has 9 hp, and he gets incapacitated. After paying 1 'med kit', he lays his figure on its side, takes 18 hp and can only shoot pistols. His friend comes and revives him, regaining 5 hp.

Sure turns it into a 'Left 4 Dead' Doom feeling. Note this doesn't work with just 1 marine.

And how about giving each player a first aid skill. That skill will allow to reviev a fallen marine. In game terms each killed marine will stay uncounsious to the end of his next turn in that time each marine who is in base contact with that marine can use 4 movement points to attempt to save that poor guy. To do so he is using a red dice and the range shows how many wouds the fallen marine regains. If there is a medic present in party he can roll a Yellow dice instead.

Alright everyone, thanks for all of your ideas!

I like the L4D idea, but it also seems like it would need a little tweaking first and it is a nice mod idea, but also seems a little too far from the core-rules. I already use a lot of mods, so I like to keep them nice and simple if I use more than I usually do (:

Thanks to all of your comments, I've decided to try doing this: Give each Marine a token that counts as a sort of 'Medpack' token and then expending that one token that each Marine gets to restore a fallen Marine to full health. I thought about rolling the ranged die thing, but that makes it a little too easy and the Marines could just rinse/repeat until they got all the way out. However, it's a great idea, so maybe I'll give it a shot but somehow limiting it to how many times they can do that.

So I'll let you know how this works in the next game. 3 Tokens total for Marines, 4 spaces expended to use 'Emergency Medkit' and then once you die, you die for good.

Thanks for the help!

Maybe becouse of my poor leanguage skills or becouse I didnt make it clear but in my idea you cant repeat the firs aid till you sucsess. To try this a marine have to be in base contact whit fallen camrade and he have to sped 4 movement points - so if he was not in adjacent square to the fallen marine he have to make a sprint action - then he have to roll a red dice and he can come wit one of two scores without any range - then the attemp fails - other scores are 1, 1, 2, 3 - and like I said medic can roll yellow dice and then he have only one score when attemp will fail and other are 1, 2, 3, 3, 4. And if the marine is not healed till the very end of his next turn then he is dead... for good. Oh, and that skill can only be used on marines that are on zero wounds.

Maleficus_Sadi said:

We've always played Ironman style (1 life per marine.) No other house rules to speak of. It definitely makes the game hard, but frankly we like it that way. I don't think we've actually played any level other than the first (certainly not more than one per game session) so the question of bringing players back for the next level has never really been raised. I think we would do that, though, if only so that the people who inevitably die can still continue playing and not be bored.