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BOSS RPG | Basic Old Skool System

Are you ready for the BOSS? We are in full-throttle play test mode with our new Basic Old Skool System. For our WEGS Old Skool…

GameWick News

Big News! The New GameWick Games Shop is Live!

And here to celebrate with us is the talented Mr. H.P. Lovecraft who stars as The Night Clerk in Shuffling Horror: Innsmouth 32! (The Innsmouth…

Shuffling Horrors!

Big News! The New GameWick Games Shop is Live!

And here to celebrate with us is the talented Mr. H.P. Lovecraft who stars as The Night Clerk in Shuffling Horror: Innsmouth 32! (The Innsmouth…

Oh Schrute!

December 10th, 2018
Pittsburgh 68, Shuffling Horror Alt Rules, Shuffling Horrors

During a game of PITTSBURGH 68, a player commented that the Jack of Zombies looks a bit like Dwight Schrute from The Office – that added a bit of fun to that game for sure!

PIC-SH-News-600-FTV-Schrutes

When the cards above appeared on the movie screen during a recent game, I commented, “What’s better than one Schrute…” These twins reminded me of an original playtest rule that allowed the Director to gain bonus attacks for a throng built with matching cards. A throng with a pair of Schrutes got you two attacks for that throng. Three of a kind got you three attacks from that throng.

A long forgotten rule from the vaults!

Blog-BanAd-66-They-Shuffle-

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Fear The Fade (Alt Rule)

February 11th, 2018
Shuffling Horror Alt Rules, Shuffling Horrors

Attention Shuffling Horror Directors! It’s time to turn up the horror in your games! As per the written rules, the Fade Out token can only be placed at the end of your turn. Well, it’s your movie, isn’t it?!? Why can’t you place it whenever you want to give the players a good scare? Guess what… now you can… And we’re even amp-ing up the game’s cinematic vibe at the same time for no extra charge!

Pic-SHN-FO321-600

The Fade Out Countdown

After the conclusion of any survivor’s turn (survivor’s NOT player’s), the Director may place the Fade Out token on any Item or Power Play card on the movie screen. The Director also places the 3, 2, and 1 countdown tokens along the top of the movie screen (next to the Reel Pile). The picture above demonstrates the set-up you can implement at the start of a game.

After the conclusion of each subsequent survivor turn the Director removes one countdown token. When the final countdown token is removed, so is the Fade Out token and its marked card. This screen card is discarded and a replacement card is drawn from the Reel Pile.

No countdown token is ever removed on the Director’s turn – only after a survivor’s turn. Also, the replacement card cannot trigger a Creature Feature (if one occurs it is ignored).

Fade Out is now much more terrifying. It previously gave players a full round to strategize; they now have a 3-2-1 countdown to act. Just like in a movie, the best weapon might end up in the hands of the least capable survivor, but…

Them’s the breaks in an alien/zombo apocalypse!

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The Graveyard (Alt Rule)

October 29th, 2015
Shuffling Horror Alt Rules, Shuffling Horrors

Quick tip for Shuffling Horror play!

Use the box as a trophy wall to hold Zombie or Familiar Face cards eliminated with a headshot. This is a good place to stick Plot Device and Sanctuary cards after they are played out, too. This is what we do at our convention games; players love seeing the box fill. It also allows the Director and players to assess how much zombie power is still left in the deck.

Blog-Pic-SH-Tips-Graveyard

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Zombo-matic (Alt Rules)

October 27th, 2015
Shuffling Horror Alt Rules, Shuffling Horrors

GG-tm-ZedZombie tmEvery Shuffling Horror director brings their own personal touch to the game. Zombo-matic is a trademark move of Director Don Purcell. It’s an option he applies to a very specific circumstance: when a player’s last survivor is eliminated with a snake eyes roll.

As per standard rules, if a zombie rolls snake eyes on its attack roll, the attacked survivor is immediately infected and turns into a zombie. The zombie player who attacked takes this survivor card and places it in their hand as a Familiar Face.

Purcell’s twist is that, if losing this Survivor card causes the player to join the Zombie Team, he allows the player to keep it as a Familiar Face in their own hand. This lets that player start their next turn with a zombie already in play (and quite a powerful zombie at that). This is a strategic benefit for the zombie team, but such a play might also immediately trigger the Turning Point; normally a player waits until their next turn to draw their first zombie card. A Director must strategically think out the value of this gift before it is given.

Due to the double qualifier that applies to this play (rolling snake eyes, last survivor) Zombo-matic is not something that will happen very often. When it does, it is terrifying: without any warning, someone you trusted in the party is suddenly a zombie in your midst.

It is something that happens in almost every zombie film and perfect for Pittsburgh 68 play!

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Continuity (Alt Rules)

June 30th, 2013
Shuffling Horror Alt Rules, Shuffling Horrors

As per the normal rules of Pittsburgh 68, a reel immediately ends when the final card of the Reel Pile is eliminated or taken. The current turn is over and no other player action may be taken. This is important, because the next reel resets the turn sequence to the first payer to the right of the Zombie Master.

GG-tm-ZedZombie tm

For this reason, it is to the players’ advantage to delay the end of a reel to allow as many Survivors to act as possible, while assuring that the Zombie Master does not get a final action.

In games with a large number of Survivor players (4+), the Continuity rule is encouraged. This rule simply resumes the action with the player whose turn was next, but was cut short by the end of the reel. This also gives the game a sense of film continuity, as opposed to a choppy non-sequitar grindhouse-style cut of a grainy, gritty B movie!

The Continuity rule also allows the Zombie Master’s turn comes up that much earlier during the round, too.

Keep in mind, that Reel 4 always plays around to the Zombie Masters turn.

The final reel is never over until it’s over!

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Background Zombies (Alt Rules)

June 30th, 2013
Shuffling Horror Alt Rules, Shuffling Horrors

Experienced players know that the flow of Pittsburgh 68 can change in a heartbeat: the turn of one card can trigger an avalanche of zombies and immediately ruin the Survivors’ best laid plans. Then there are those odd games where the Zombie Master just can’t get their footing. What’s a ZM to do?

As per the rules for the Opening Scene of Reel 1, any zombie that appears in the first three cards automatically “stumbles” into the Zombie Master’s hand as lone zombies. This is not done for the start of the subsequent reels: Reels 2 through 4 have no Opening Scene stumble. However, if there are no in-play zombies at the start of a subsequent reel, the ZM can try to introduce some Background Zombies to get things started.

To do so, the ZM starts the reel as normal, shuffling the Dead Pile and dealing the requisite number of cards for the reel. The ZM then secretly draws a number of cards from the Dead Pile. The number of cards drawn is equal to the current reel number (two cards for Reel 2, three cards for Reel 3, and four cards for Reel 4). Just as the rules for the Opening Scene, any zombie that is drawn is immediately placed as a lone zombie. Non-zombie cards are returned to the Dead Pile.

Background Zombies

At the start of a reel, there can be no zombies in any Zombie Player’s hand.GG-tm-ZedZombie tm

After the shuffling and counting of the Reel Pile, the ZM draws a number of cards equal to the reel number from the Dead Pile. Two cards for Reel 2, three cards for Reel 3, and four cards for Reel 4.

Any zombies that are drawn may be placed in the ZM’s hand. All other cards are ignored and returned to the Dead Pile.

Drawn zombies cannot be used to create throngs, and must be placed as lone zombies in the ZM’s hand. The exception to this is Reel 4 if all four cards are zombies. The fourth card can be placed to create a throng or given to another Zombie Player’s hand.

The reel then begins as normal.

An advantage of the ZM secretly previewing the bonus cards is that they will get a sense of what cards are NOT in the Reel Pile. While drawing zero zombies is a bummer, the knowledge that The Cellar or Killing Machine won’t be coming into play can be very gratifying…

As with all other Alt Rules, at the start of the game, players should be told which Alt Rules are in play. For Background Zombies, wily Survivors can strategically thwart the ZM’s bonus by leaving a zombie in play.

But who really wants to leave one of those things around… Always leads to trouble… Remember Bub?

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