Zombie Dice House Rules

[MChexx]

For those interested, we added a few extra rules to our Zombie Dice games last night.

If you roll 3 brains on a single roll, add one brain to the total you've already netted. (Therefore, if you had six brains eaten before you started your turn, and you roll 3 brains on your first roll, your six goes up to 7. If you get shot gunned before saving your brains, you end your turn with the 7. I hope that translated well.)

If you roll 3 shotguns on a single roll, your total brains for the game is reduced to zero.

If you roll 3 footsteps on a single roll, your turn ends. You cannot continue that turn.

If you get shot gunned before rolling any brains, lose one of your previously accrued brains.

These rules seemed to play well with the three players we had last night. Anybody else have any house rules for Zombie Dice?

[C. J. Burke]

We try to rotate who goes first because going last is a big advantage. (Well, it should be an advantage, but in the end, the last player never seems to win in our games.)

However, it got too confusing for some of us to do that for each round of one game, so we usually have to do it for subsequent games.

I'd be interested in house rules that forced (or encouraged) some kind of interaction between the players. I worry about larger games where you get

"3 shotguns ... okay, I'm going to check the #### a second -- call me if I'm not back before my turn"

[grimblefig]

Originally Posted by MChexx

If you roll 3 brains on a single roll, add one brain to the total you've already netted. (Therefore, if you had six brains eaten before you started your turn, and you roll 3 brains on your first roll, your six goes up to 7. If you get shot gunned before saving your brains, you end your turn with the 7. I hope that translated well.)

How often did this happen in your games? My first thought is that this accelerates an already fast increase in the number of brains this player gets. Maybe have this decrease by one the number of shotguns this player has instead?

Originally Posted by MChexx

If you roll 3 shotguns on a single roll, your total brains for the game is reduced to zero.

Harsh. I would think that this would slow down the game, more than anything else. Of course, I am also curious as to how many of these you saw in your experience.

Originally Posted by MChexx

If you roll 3 footsteps on a single roll, your turn ends. You cannot continue that turn.

I like this one. The probability of it happening does not change based on the color of the dice rolled, since all three colors have two sides with footsteps.

Originally Posted by MChexx

If you get shot gunned before rolling any brains, lose one of your previously accrued brains.

This is more reasonable than the 3 shotguns rule above. I would probably use this result for both of those rolls, myself.

Originally Posted by C. J. Burke

We try to rotate who goes first because going last is a big advantage. (Well, it should be an advantage, but in the end, the last player never seems to win in our games.)

How do you figure that going last is an advantage? The only thing that you know that the other players did not is the number of brains that all them banked. Everything else is exactly the same for all players.

Originally Posted by C. J. Burke

I'd be interested in house rules that forced (or encouraged) some kind of interaction between the players. I worry about larger games where you get

"3 shotguns ... okay, I'm going to check the #### a second -- call me if I'm not back before my turn"

I agree. The drawback to this game is that it is essentially a number of people sequentially playing a solitaire game to see who can win first.

As for ideas on how to get people to interact, my first thought would be to somehow spend banked brains to be able to do something -- on the theory that zombies eat brains to gain brainpower that is constantly decaying in their dead flesh. What to do with my elevated brainpower, I do not know. There isn't much that you can do to affect another player without completely hosing them. Maybe spend a brain to have the current player roll two dice instead of three? I will have to go look at cards from the game 'Give Me The Brain' for ideas.

---

My only other contribution would be the idea of how to turn Zombie Dice into a "drinking game" -- use something like this to make a number of brain-shaped jello shots. Then for each brain banked, you eat a jello brain -- of course, this would have the opposite effect to my theory above as to the reason that zombies eat brains. Maybe one jello brain per three or five brains banked would be better.

[C. J. Burke]

Originally Posted by grimblefig

How do you figure that going last is an advantage? The only thing that you know that the other players did not is the number of brains that all them banked. Everything else is exactly the same for all players.

Because the game doesn't end when someone wins. The game ends after the last player rolls his dice (win or lose).

If you're the first of four players, you don't know whether you should stop and bank at 10 brains or push your luck and gain nothing. If you go last, you know what the other three people have done. The first player can't know if any of the other three will have a game-ending run of brains. The last player always knows if he's lost if he'll have another turn after this one before he even rolls the dice. And if he knows it's his last turn, he's got nothing to lose by pushing his luck (unless you have some kind of multi-round scoring system).

[Rudkin]

The way we play is:

Once someone gets to 13+ brains every other player gets one more chance to beat that score. When it gets back to the player who first got to 13+, stop and compare scores. Whoever has the highest score wins.

While this might mean that some players get an extra turn, it still works out well, and I've heard no complaints. It is nice not having to keep track of who went first that round, and it also removes any advantage one might gain from going last.

Gameplay-wise, it makes it interesting once someone gets to 10-12 brains. Do they stop now and try to get a really big score (at the risk of other players catching up), or do they go for that 13th brain right away?

[grimblefig]

Originally Posted by C. J. Burke

Because the game doesn't end when someone wins. The game ends after the last player rolls his dice (win or lose).

Ah, I forgot about that part.

[Solelron]

Originally Posted by Rudkin

The way we play is:

Once someone gets to 13+ brains every other player gets one more chance to beat that score. When it gets back to the player who first got to 13+, stop and compare scores. Whoever has the highest score wins.

While this might mean that some players get an extra turn, it still works out well, and I've heard no complaints. It is nice not having to keep track of who went first that round, and it also removes any advantage one might gain from going last.

Gameplay-wise, it makes it interesting once someone gets to 10-12 brains. Do they stop now and try to get a really big score (at the risk of other players catching up), or do they go for that 13th brain right away?

So then the first player who got to 13+ doesn't get another chance, though the people in front of him got an extra turn?

[BonzaiiSheep]

Hi guys I figured a thing that I think is fun, I just bought the game from warehouse and they even threw in 2 silver pieces :-O
so I thought to myself, why not make a coin rule for ZD? and I did, the rules are as follows:
Once a turn if you encounter fleeing victims you can pick a dice with feet and flip a coin, if it ends Munchkin side up you make it brains, and shotgun if it doesn't. }:)
When the coin has been flipped you give it to the next in line or maybe the one with the fewest or most brains whatever catches your fancy :P
It is a great way to get rid of those pesky military types (red dice) as it improves your odds from 1 in 6 to 50-50, also when you end up with one foot and wont take the chance by rolling 3 dice you can just flip about it, as well as it just adds a fun little break from the dice rolling :P

[Rudkin]

Originally Posted by Solelron

So then the first player who got to 13+ doesn't get another chance, though the people in front of him got an extra turn?

That's exactly it.

It seems to work quite well, and is pretty fair, since each player has a bit of control over whether he or she will to be the first to 13 or not (you can always press your luck and keep rolling until: oops! I got three shotguns. Guess I'm back down to 12 [or less], or stop just before getting to 13). The danger in waiting, of course, is that it gives other players a chance to catch up to you.