A Night in the Lonesome October
A HorrorClix Campaign by Kavik1969

The good doctor eyes his ex-sanguinated host cautiously. Never the less, he raises his goblet in toast. “To friendship, dear Count. May we all find what we’ve come for.”

Vlad the Impaler smiles and nods, but does not touch the glass before him. “A pleasant thought, Jack, but we both know that the time for niceties has passed. Only one side will be victorious, and I would be lying if I said I wish you good luck.”

“No need for false sympathy. I am sure my allies would be insulted to think they need anyone’s luck. And you, Vlad… You’ve always bounced back from defeat well. I’m sure you’ll do so after this one too.”

“Very droll. Perhaps you’ve forgotten how you were very nearly defeated last time. Were it not for the interference of the Great Detective, things would have turned out quite differently. And it doesn’t appear he will resurface anytime soon, does it?”

“Is that what led you to switch sides, Count? I never truly pictured you the type to bow to a master, no matter how nihilistic you’ve become.”

The dining room door swings open suddenly, and Igor lurches in, heedless of the social impropriety he is committing. “Doctor Jekyll says the stars are right once again,” he mutters.

“Some other time then, Count.” Jack the Ripper offers a half-bow and heads out into the night. “We mustn’t keep Henry and Rasputin waiting.”

Background:
Once again the Openers and Closers have gathered to play the Great Game. Should the Closers win, the world will remain as is. Should the Openers succeed, the Great Old Ones will return, bringing the End Times with them. The final gathering takes place in a cemetery, where both the living and the dead are used to determine the new winner.

Fans of the Roger Zelazny book should get what I'm suggesting, but I'll try to be as clear a possible to make this playable by all.
A Night in the Lonesome October, at Wikipedia

Objective:
Each faction attempts to slay as many of their opponents’ monsters and victim tokens as possible. Once all the starting victims are slain, play moves into Stage 2.

Setup:
Each player must control at least 1 Unique or Limited Edition piece, which cannot be duplicated by any other player. These pieces, if not mutually agreed upon by all players, will be placed in a pool and drafted in the order of initiative (highest dice roll picks first, etc.). When all players have picked their first raft, any desiring a second Unique or LE may continue to rotate through. The remaining pieces in each army should be chosen from the player’s own figures.

Army Size:
This game should be played with 400 pt teams if there are 2 or 3 players; 300 pts if there are 4, 5 or 6 players. The number of moves is determined normally (i.e. 3 moves per turn for a 300 point game, etc.).

The Avatar of Cthulhu and Bishop Luzifer are NOT available, as they will appear elsewhere in the scenario. Aliens and Predators are also not recommended, though playtesting may suggest otherwise. Likewise, non-humanoid horrors like the Giant Amoeba or the Pod Mother are also discouraged, as they feel unlikely to have cooperated with the other monsters enough to have reached this point. B.P.R.D. cabal members and other Guardians are not recommended, as slaying victims is important to the scenario (if a Plot Twist allows for Guardians to slay, this may change).

Each player brings 6 victims. Closers should use Cultist tokens if available, otherwise care should be taken to distinguish between Closer victims and Opener victims (divide them into male / female, teen / adult, etc.). For this phase of the scenario, cultists are considered to have a Move of 4, are all male, and may be transformed into minions. No matter how many players there are, only 12 victims are placed on the map; the rest will be used later.

The number of Closer players and Opener players should be the same. In the case of an odd number of players, the undermanned faction will be allowed 100 additional pts per player to construct its armies. These points do not increase the number of actions a player may make per turn, not how much a victim is worth.

Time Limit:
Stage 1 is dependant on completion of a task. Stages 1 and 2 together should take no more than 2 hours total; otherwise, Stage 3 should be skipped or delayed, unless the players REALLY have no lives outside of a collectible miniatures game. Stage 3 should last no more than 1 hour.

Map:
Stages 1 and 2: Crumbling Mausoleum or other outdoor map (2 maps side-by-side are recommended for 5 or 6 player games). Stage 3: Temple of Cthulhu

Play:
Stage 1 ends when all the starting victims are slain or removed from play. At this point Victims are added up, and the faction that has slain more of its own victims receives the aid of a summoned 200 pt cabal; either the R’lyeh cabal (if the Openers) or the Order cabal (if the closers). The other team gains a lone benefactor in the form of the Avatar of Cthulhu or Bishop Luzifer, as appropriate.

The players in the faction that slays more of its opponents victims are allowed to return 1 used Plot Twist each to their crypts for use in Stage 2.

Stage 2 begins with the unused victims places on the map, the players’ monsters returned to their starting positions (though retaining all damage, victims, and other effects of Stage 1). The additional monsters are placed on the remaining blood stains.

These newcomers are controlled as victims, not monsters, except that they may only be moved by players in their respective factions. They may not initiate any attacks, but they may be attacked by any monster, and unless destroyed, they immediately retaliate as a free action controlled by the player on the left of the attacker. Note that this means only the Field Agent and Faith Priest, if used, can retaliate against ranged attacks, and then only as allowed for standard rules. No Summoned Monster can be blooded, or make any attack that is not retaliatory (the Brine Witch’s Impel power can still be used, however, as it is not based on making an attack). Any cabal and members controlled by the appropriate faction gain the cabal benefit as per normal rules.

At the end of Stage 2, add the victory points for each faction, leaving out any opposing victims slain. If the Openers win, then Stage 3 consists of a standard 1800 pt Cthulhu Awakens! scenario, all injured monsters (but not killed ones) are healed, blooded monsters remain blooded, no Summoned monsters or minions take part, and the Great Cthulhu begins play on his Immortal Fury dial.

If the Closers have more points at the end of Stage 2, the Openers must sacrifice their own monsters to make up the difference (round up) or the game is ended. If the Openers meet this requirement, Stage 3 begins as a 600 pt Cthulhu Awakens! scenario, all injured monsters (but not killed ones) are healed, blooded monsters remain blooded, and no Summoned monsters or minions will carry over to this phase.


Special Scenario Rules:
In multiplayer games, all members of a particular faction are considered ‘friendly’ for the purpose of cabal, boss, and other powers and actions.

Plot Twists are used normally; again, the cultists (if used) are treated as males with 4 speed. Sub-Plot cards are not allowed in a player’s crypt, but players are given 1 free Minion sub-plot each (of their choosing) that are automatically considered in-play.

Only your opponents’ victims are worth points; however, only your own victims can be used to blood your monsters, or to snack. All other powers dealing with victims (Spree, Intimidate, Minion, etc.) behave normally. Players may activate or move any victim when it is their turn to do so.

This scenario may lend itself well to campaign-style play, in which case smaller skirmishes are encouraged before players engage in Stage 1 (see Optional Rules for Campaign / Storyline Play, below).

The winner of this campaign is the player with the most victory points at the end of Stage 3, counting ALL victims slain throughout the scenario. If the Openers succeeded in bringing forth the Great Cthulhu (without sacrificing their own monsters), each member of the faction receives 25 pts. If the Closers won Stage 2, all players in that faction receive 25 pts. If Cthulhu is eliminated during Stage 3, all players still controlling monsters receive 25 victory points. There are no points awarded specifically for landing the killing blow on the Great Cthulhu.

Insane monsters are only controlled by members of the opposing faction for the duration of the power.

Plot Twists may not be shared by members of the same faction. If Players A and B are both Closers, A may not make Minions based on B’s card, nor does Player B benefit from a Ticking Clock played by Player A.

The Summoned Monsters in Stage 2 should not be treated as Minions. They cannot accumulate Action Tokens, they are not subject to removal from play as minions may be, and their Free Action retaliations are controlled by the Player to the left of the one who attacked. Their Point Values are added to the Victory Points of the monster that kills them, ONLY if controlled by the Opposing factor. So a Closer cannot take out Bishop Luzifer in order to beat the Openers’ total VPs, though Bishop Luzifer could be sacrificed to keep the Openers from collecting points for the kill.

Finally, I would encourage ZMs to allow a player that lost all his pieces in Stage 1 to use his faction’s cabal as his own army in Stage 2 (and 3). In such a case, the opposing faction should be granted use of all its summoned cabal monsters, even if it did not have the most Victory Points at the end of Stage 1.

Optional Rules for Campaign / Storyline play:

If inserted into an existing campaign, ignore the figure Drafting rules in favor of whatever system is already in place. If used as the basis for a new campaign, increase army sizes to 900 pts, with at least 200 pts built from monsters sharing a common trait with the 1st round draft Unique / LE. In such a case, begin the game with 2 Player matches of 300 pt armies (1 hr rounds), ignoring factions and have the winners and losers face each other the same way. The monsters in Round 2 do not have to be the same monsters as Round 1, though monsters injured in Round 1 are healed before Round 2 begins. However, monsters that are killed in either Round 1 or 2 are eliminated from the game, and may not be used in Stage 1, 2, or 3.

Armies that are decimated in Stage 1 may be supplemented with surviving pieces to reach the total 300 or 400 pts allowed. Stage 3 may only use those monsters that compete in Stage 2, as it is considered to occur immediately after Stage 2.

Questions, Comments, Concerns or Suggestions regarding this Campaign can be posted in our forums