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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…

Two Lone Zombies

April 24th, 2015
Pittsburgh 68, Shuffling Horrors

P68-D-2LoneZ“Two lone zombies by the apple tree,
A Postman came upon them and then there were three…”

Thus begins the grim, little nursery rhyme on the back of the Shuffling Horror: Pittsburgh 68 box. In game terms, the Two Lone Zombies are the weakest zombie card in the playing deck. The card’s face value is 2 and, to succeed their attack, they must roll a two or less on a pair of dice (which means they only ever succeed by rolling Snake Eyes). Not very likely.

A 1-in-36 chance for those of you who like to play the odds.

There’s many great scenes from zombie flicks where the lone zombie prevails – so this fits in perfect with the cinematic flair of the Shuffling Horror system. In  George A. Romero’s classic “Dawn of the Living Dead” (1978) the character Roger is trying to hotwire a truck when a lone zombie shuffles up and bites down on his leg. More recently, in the Walking Dead TV series, it was a lone zombie who snuck up on a distracted Tyreese and grabbed hold.

Less zombies does not mean less danger!

An additional kicker in Pittsburgh 68 is that whenever any zombie attack rolls snake-eyes, the victim is instantly zombified, immediately becoming an active zombie card under the control of the Zombie Master (the person running the game). This applies to all zombie attacks, but is most shocking when it occurs at the hands of the least effective zombie in the deck. Some players get a good chuckle at that.

From a game standpoint, it gives the Zombie Master that glimmer of hope that, even if they have only one attack to play on their turn, they still have a chance to “go viral”. This zombification rule also allows some unexpected plot twists to enter the movie.

Even the weakest zombie can do great things…

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P68: Complete Zombie Throngness

March 15th, 2015
Pittsburgh 68, Shuffling Horrors

Sometimes you have to play your own game to learn it…

At one of my final Shuffling Horror: Pittsburgh 68 demos at Pax East, I triggered an unbelievable wave of Three Card Zombie bonuses. I went from two low value zombie throngs all the way up to six complete throngs (18 cards, 3 per throng). The bonus series was only stopped when one of the player’s reminded me of a rule that limits the number of bonus zombies I could take. He was sure I was limited to six throngs no matter what the deck was throwing at me. I honestly had no recollection of that rule and was a bit perplexed: someone knows the rules of this game better than me?!? I had to laugh.

The player went into his backpack, took out his own copy of the game, and paged through the rulebook. Sure enough, there it was in black-n-white on page 12: “A max of three bonus throngs is allowed.” This would be in addition to the Zombie Master’s initial three throng limit. Now, I could blame my forgetfulness on the fact that my brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders by this point in the con, but, there is another reason for my not remembering: it’s a rule that applies to an extremely improbable situation.

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Six Throng Bonus Limit – a rule that is easy to forget as it’s rarely needed.
That, and I had a zombified convention brain, too!

In this instance, I started the reel with two throngs: one throng had a single zombie card, the other had two zombie cards. I intentionally tried to trigger a Three Card Zombie to build my horde – I had no clue what was in store! The bonus streak was broken up by the appearance of a Sanctuary card, but that was moved out of the Dealt Hand and immediately replaced by another zombie. In the end, 18 of the 20 cards in Reel 2 were zombie cards. There are only 24 zombie cards in the entire 44 card deck…

This deal conjured up that grim moment in zombie movies where the survivors realize there probably is no hope left for mankind. It is great to know that Pittsburgh 68 can deliver that kind of terror (or excitement in the case of the Zombie Master). Luckily for the players, they had a plane to catch. We can only guess how the game might have ended.

That’s the kind of deal you remember for a long time!

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Get Ready for Shuffling Horror Week

September 21st, 2014
News, Pittsburgh 68, Shuffling Horror Week, Shuffling Horrors

Shuffling Horror Week

Halloween is coming and GameWick Games is launching a special week long series for our creepy little zombie game, Pittsburgh 68 – the Game of Shuffling Horror! The series begins the Saturday before Halloween (Oct 25) and concludes on Halloween, Friday (Oct 31). Seven nights straight of shuffling horror – and every night will be at a different game/comic store location in the NJ/NY/PA area.

The excitement of the week culminates with games run in the place where American zombie horror began: Pittsburgh, PA! Dates, times, and locations will be announced in early October on the GameWick blog and our facebook page.

How can you participate?

If you are a local gamer, just show up for the game!

If you are a store interested in hosting a game, let us know! We have a limited number of slots, but would love to hear from you.

If you own the game and want to run it for your friends or at your Favorite Local Game Shop, let us know! The more Zombie Masters, the better! Just like our Zombie World Series, we will tally all game results and see which team wins, Zombies or Survivors.

Stay tuned to this frequency for updated time and location info!

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P68 FAQ: Sanctuary in New Z-land

March 12th, 2014
Pittsburgh 68, Shuffling Horror FAQ

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It has been confirmed – the zombie outbreak has hit New Zealand! A Zombie Master there sent us an email regarding the game’s Sanctuary cards. In Pittsburgh 68, there are two Sanctuary cards: The Car and The Cellar. Both provide shelter for the survivors to rest – but these may not last long as they are subject to zombie attacks once they become occupied with “fresh meat”.

(C) 2014 GameWick Games LLCHere are the questions from Brett in New Z-land.

“Is it a Player action or Survivor action to enter a sanctuary?”

Answer: Move is a survivor action (p8); if a player has multiple survivors in play, one or all can be moved into the sanctuary. A player is free to act with those who don’t move. There are only two Player actions that prohibit multiple survivor actions: Reveal and Take+Attack.

“It is unclear as to what survivors can do in the shelter. Can they take an action or do they miss their action to gain the spoints?”

Answer: A survivor forfeits their action to gain spoints (p3). A survivor cannot act or attack while in a sanctuary – they are hiding/resting. Taking the spoints commits that survivor to staying in the sanctuary until the player’s next turn. If they choose NOT to take the spoints, the survivor freely returns to a player’s hand and may immediately act. The MOVE into the sanctuary is an action, the return is not.

(C) 2014 GameWick Games LLC “It seems that the spoints gained from a sanctuary are general spoints not character spoints. Is this correct?”

Answer: No, sanctuary spoints are character spoints. The only general spoints in the game are the seven that each player starts with (p4). All spoints gained after the game begins (via Rest) are character spoints and placed on that survivor’s card.

“The plot device card “Run For It” affects all survivors in play and if a survivor fails the check they get attacked by a zombie. Survivors in sanctuaries are affected by plot devices but can’t usually be attacked. Can they be attacked in this case if they fail the check?”

Answer: Yes, they can be attacked. Run For It is the only Plot Device card that affects every in-play survivor, even those in a sanctuary. When we play Pittsburgh 68 at game conventions we explain that Run For It triggers the scene in the movie where the survivors forgot to check that one closet in the room or don’t to look in the back seat of the car… While they thought they were safe, they suddenly discover they have a zombie problem in their hiding spot. Run For It is a short-lived zombie attack but critical to allow the zombies a breaching point.

Thanks for the questions and keep on shuffling!

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Pittsburgh 68 – Starter Script

October 4th, 2013
News, Pittsburgh 68, Shuffling Horrors

GameWick Games has released an introductory guide for their zombie card and dice game, Pittsburgh 68, A Game of Shuffling Horror.  The “Script for Beginning Play” has everything players need to know to get the zombies shuffling around their game table at home!

P68 Starter Script

Pittsburgh 68 is designed to play like a creepy old zombie flick, and the action of the game is driven by its Shuffling Horror card deck. From the dealing of the movie’s Opening Scene right down to the final fade to black, the script highlights the rules that give the game its unique cinematic feel. Topics include:

–  Dealing the Reels

–  Running the Opening Scene

–  Survivor and Zombie actions

Also highlighted are two rules that can trigger the movie’s grim end: Turning Point and Last One Standing. Two classic zombie movie plot devices that mean the end is near!

 

A cooperative game until it’s not, Pittsburgh 68 is an eerie good time for 3 to 13 players. This starter script will give readers a good sense of what the game is all about (but even more info can be found on the GameWick Games website). The link to the free Starter Script pdf can found under the Bonus Materials section on their Pittsburgh 68 page.

Slow moving zombies rule!

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P68 FAQ: Holding Items

August 8th, 2013
Pittsburgh 68, Shuffling Horror FAQ

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“How Many Items Can A Survivor Hold?”

A frequently asked question during intro convention play.

The answer is found under Players Hand on page 4 of the Pittsburgh 68 rulebook: “A Survivor Player can have three survivors in-play, each of whom can hold two additional cards (Item or Power Play).”

This means that a single Survivor can hold both The Axe (an item) and The Killing Machine (a power play card). That is a particularly brutal combo in the hands of The College Guy. A Survivor can also hold two Items, though can only use one per action. Damage from items does not stack (another frequently asked question).

The ability for a Survivor to hold two items lets them stockpile weapons, perhaps for the future use of other Survivors who appear later in the game. A Survivor can TAKE and item from another Survivor (if that player allows). A Survivor can never TAKE+ATTACK from another Survivor (otherwise a weapon, such as The Revolver, would just be passed from Survivor to Survivor to Survivor).

Oddly enough, in all the convention games we’ve played, we have yet to see a single Survivor hold both power play cards (The Scream Machine and The Killing Machine). The Killing Machine is best paired with a weapon, though…

With only two slots per Survivor, some tough choices are ahead.

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