Hi, I came here on purpose just toIn post 106, mastin2 wrote:Nominate Venmar for Best Mutation for the two-game combination of Left 4 Dead and Walking Dead.
Both games were zombie-themed, featuring a similar mechanic. Each night, a zombie horde would attack and eat a player, acting as a vig. How the horde was handled each game differed by the theme (with it being more random when both town and scum were zombies, appropriately enough, and being controlled by the town more when the town was zombies against scum humans who had none over it), but the mechanic basically remained the same both games. In addition to the actual mechanic, the idea of 'herders' was a brilliant role that added to it, with herders in each game acting to give direction to the horde beyond the otherwise-random kills. Additionally, the role of baiter (a zombie-bodyguard drawing the horde onto yourself the first game and a zombie-doctor removing a player from the list of nom candidates the second game) was another brilliant addition to the mechanic.
It was highly-innovative, highly-original, and has a HUGE amount of potential, which once understood properly, made it insanely fun to see. It never quite got full usage, but that was partly design, in that the mechanic was there, but was always intentionally not meant to be THE driving force behind the game, and it never was. So it was there, contributing, but never overwhelming. It added a lot of interesting dynamics to how both town and scum thought in both games, and overall, was an absolute blast to play.
I don't think I've really seen any other game so far this year that has quite integrated together a new mechanic and roles associated as well as Venmar did with these two games. He deserves every bit of recognition he can get for this highly-innovative, original idea.
second this
