Sunday 6 October 2013

ATZ FFO supplement - High Rise to Hell

High Rise to Hell (hereafter referred to as HRTH) is the newest supplement for All Things Zombie - Final Fade Out by Two Hours Wargames. It is written by Ed Teixeira, the head honcho of THW.
HRTH is a scenario pack that takes place in the Prosperity Corporation headquarters situated in an urban centre wherever your campaign is set. The goal of the player characters is to search the building in the hope of finding the Cure to the zombie virus that has affected so many. Whether there is a Cure to be found there or not remains to be discovered. If it does exist there, it won't be easy to find.
Each floor of the building is a separate encounter with six storeys above ground and three underground. Access to the upper floors is via stairs or elevator, whilst access to the underground section is restricted to elevator only, and then only with a key card or a computer override.
The scenario features a wide variety of opponents to be dealt with. Most are hostile but some are friendly or neutral. Opposition includes the obvious - Pro Corp security personnel and scientists and of course, the ever present zombies. Smart zombies and Ragers, both of which were first detailed in the I, Zombie supplement, are also present, although their rules have been slightly tweaked to make them fit in with the high rise environment. The oddities that can be found include vampires, werewolves and aliens. The vampires are not of the traditional supernatural kind of legend but are genetically modified humans known as Stage One Vampires and the more powerful but rarer Stage Two Vampires. The aliens include a smattering of races from THW's 5150 universe. I'll say no more, so as to not spoil your surprise. Strictly speaking, the werewolves are also another alien race from the 5150 rulebook - the Lycaons. An important point to remember about Lycaons is that their wolf form is their natural form and they can transform into humans. They are not humans who can transform into wolf-like creatures. Human survivors, gangers and magic users (known as Casters) are also present. Full rules for all opposition are provided along with the option of using any of them beyond this scenario. Indeed, some of them could join your party to aid them in future encounters.
The scenario includes five pre-generated Grunts to be led by your Star, if you want to use them. There are one each of civilian, ganger, military, police and survivor. I'd imagine most folk would want to use their own crew and that's fine. However, by using the pre-generated Grunts, it allows some of their backstories and motivations to come to the fore when they meet certain characters in the high rise.
HRTH opens the world of ATZ to a host of exotic races and creatures, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your point of view. Those looking for more variety in their campaign or tougher opposition when their crew are all Rep:5+ will most likely welcome the challenges brought by the fresh blood. However, some of you may decide that there is no place for anything but zombies in a zombie apocalypse. If that is the case, then this supplement is not for you. On the other hand, if you can accept the premise of a zombie apocalypse it isn't too big a leap of faith to accept vampires and Lycaons. The way the new races are introduced and presented has a logic to it that makes sense.  My personal opinion on the matter is that I can accept the concept of HRTH as canon in the world of my own ATZ campaign. However, it is not a scenario that I'd want to play until at least one year of campaign time had elapsed. HRTH is not a scenario for starting characters. One of the things that I particularly like about this supplement is that if you do successfully complete the encounters, there is scope for further encounters involving Pro Corp and the aliens.
Another big plus about this supplement is that it addresses what I felt was a major omission from the After The Horsemen rulebook, namely the lack of rules for the likes of vampires and werewolves. I also think it is a good idea introducing some of the races from the 5150 series. They add even more variety to the mix.
A PDF version of HRTH costs $17.00 from the THW webstore, whilst a hard copy costs $20.00. I ordered the hard copy and got the PDF version for free. I'd like to leave by mentioning a new ATZ project that Ed has just launched on Kickstarter. This is for a range of 28mm scale figures, including casters, vampires and werewolves found in HRTH as well as zombies, smart zombies and assorted human types. You can find them here - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1377449800/28mm-all-things-zombies-and-more-miniatures?ref=email
I've already made my pledge for it. The sculpts look very good indeed. Ed's Kickstarter project for the 15mm ATZ figures was a success, so hopefully, this will be too.

42 comments:

  1. I have not once regretted getting HRTH. I like the options it gives us as players. That's always been the strength of THW, we can craft pretty much any sort of game we want.

    I have never considered the lack of monsters and the like in ATH to be a failing. I'm more excited about seeing car rules down the road from Machinas, and think that's the biggest gap we've got right now. It's definitely interesting to see the differences of opinion people have!

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    1. It's not hard to guess why I was waiting for rules for vampires. Vampirella in ATZ will totally kick ass!

      I forgot about the vehicular combat rules missing from ATH. I certainly look forward to seeing them fully developed in the future.

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  2. Nice review Bryan, Also you can create some of the special baddies from resident evil by re-skinning some of the new creatures

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    1. That's a good point, Simon. Umbrella Corporation FTW!

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  3. I bought FFO believing it to be the FINAL supplement. I do not want to part with any more of my "Hard earned" no matter what the supplement covers. It could be used in a different setting of course but I don't want to use the same rule sets for different settings it's too much like "Same meat different gravy!" Signed Major Grump, Grumpy Terrace, Grumpville. The South!

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    1. There's no reason why FFO can't be your FINAL ATZ supplement. If you don't want the "extras" found in HRTH then there's no need to purchase it. Mind you, I don't buy your argument for not wanting to use the same rule set for different settings. I think that's a "good thing." It works for GURPS and it works for THW's products.

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  4. On some level, I agree with Clint, but I understand that supplements are sometimes a necessary evil, if they are just scenarios.
    Your review seems very fair, though but I can't help thinking that ATH is better off without Werewolves and Vampires and to bring them into the FFO set of rules for what is essentially a Zombie game is a bit suspect.

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    1. Different horses for different courses, Joe. However, it will be a very long time before I introduce other undead elements into my campaign. There is so much that I want to do with just zombies.

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  5. I understand the reservations of some but this is how they continue to make money for their initial releases but you usually find something you can use or adapt.

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  6. Good to have you back mate!

    Great review. And must concur with Mr. Quinton. Umbrella Corp!!!

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    1. Thanks, Johnny. Hopefully I'll get back to my normal schedule of posting twice a week from now on.

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  7. I'm a great lover of Tex's stuff, but I was disappointed with FFO. I forked out and got 2/3rds of the stuff I'd already bought in Haven, Giving up the Goat etc. Now I do like his stuff and it is innovative and a great play. However, I'd need something REALLY different to buy something in this range again. PS thanks for the review VtG, balanced as usual.

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    1. I'm sure we can all agree that HRTH won't be to everyone's taste but I was more than happy with it.

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  8. Thanks for the review but I'm on the fence about adding aliens and vampires.

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    1. You don't have to add them but if you do want to the rules are there.

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  9. I did have the original rules, I won them in a blog comp from Sean, Fran asked if he could take a look at them and I haven't seen them since!!

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  10. I keep meaning to give ATZ a look, so thanks for the review

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  11. While I don't play ATZ and thus I have no need for this supplement from a zombie gaming view point, I'm not sure I'd want to buy it. I don't like mixing other stuff with my zombie apocalypse (but if I'd play a game set in a biological experiment lab, that'd be fine :P) but I like the idea of a *last chance* to find a cure in a building...I'd probably only need a peek at such rules to adapt the ideas for Strange Aeons :P

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    1. Next time you visit I'll let you have a peek at the supplement, Mathyoo.

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  12. The supplement looks interesting. Gaming wise does World Work games or any similar company make `plans' or scenery suitable for the scenarios? The D+D dungeon tiles don't cut it !!!!

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    1. The scenario doesn't go into detail regarding scenery thus giving you free rein to use whatever works best. The Stoelzel's Structures Modular Lair sets and the WWG Mayhem Police set would make for ideal terrain boards.

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  13. Aliens, vampires and werewolves are not really my thing, at least in a zombie game. However, I wonder if HRTH would have suitable rules for a demon biker :-) ?

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    1. Colgar, there is no reason why you couldn't substitute your own opposition in the scenario. Demons instead of aliens and vampires would work just as well. just use whatever is available (and suitable) from your figure collection.

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  14. Thanks for the review. With HIgh Rise to Hell there's a lot of things going n=on the the ATZ. Reading some of the comments I realize that it can be confusing as the what do you need and what you don't need. So to help with this I did All Things Zombie Chronicles.

    It's a free doc explaining it all and more importantly, providing ALL the Table of Contents for each book. It allows you to see exactly what's in what.

    http://site.twohourwargames.com/ATZFFO/ATZChronicles.pdf

    Please take a look and hope this helps.

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    1. And I really need to have coffee before getting online!

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    2. Thank you Ed. This is great sir!

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    3. That's a very useful document, Ed. Thanks for sharing it here.

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  15. I totally understand that it might not fit for some people. I was the same originally with Resident Evil...Mutants? What was that all about... but now I'm pretty open and just go with the flow. I'd definitely give it a play, even if it just for a change of pace.

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    1. I agree. That's why vampires, werewolves and the like took forever to appear in THW, I'm not in to then myself but people did want them. I wanted to find a way to fit then into ATZ without the traditional reasons. Just trying to give folks options.

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    2. Options are good, Ed. This way we can pick and choose what to include in our campaigns. I approve.

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    3. I love the idea of options. I have read some vampires vs zombies books that I would like to game.

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  16. Sounds good, im not sure about using vamps in zed games, a little hokey, giant spiders would be cool

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    1. I agree to a point on the vampires. That's why I had to rationalize in my mind where they would come from as the traditional one wasn't working for me. Hmm, rationalizing vampires?

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    2. Giant spiders? Holy crap! I think I could live without them. As for vampires, they are far too cool to ignore. As for rationalising them, Ed, they could have been around for millenia but being secretive very few people know they exist. The zombie apocalypse could be the spur for them to go public as their food supply (humans) dwindles and needs protecting. I can think of a lot of uses for including vampires in my ATZ campaign.

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  17. Good review Bryan, Ed is really mixing everything into the pot, must be trying to make gumbo.

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