Overview:
It’s spooky season! We’ll celebrate the usual way, bobbing for apples, sipping pumpkin spice lattes and battling to the death against the forces of darkness under the full moon.
You’re enjoying an evening stroll with a dozen of so of your friends when a revenant (or maybe a werewolf or a vampire) appears. Why? Because it’s October, and that’s their job (don’t judge!). You and your friends get to work together to defeat the monster. Lucky you!
A monster will be randomly generated each week. Each round, monsters reduce players’ points and lead to the deaths of the weakest players. At the end of October, the last player standing will win the game.
What you should do:
Before October begins, choose a player class (Archer, Wizard or Slayer) and communicate it to the Grand Poobah. Click the image below to enlist in the army against evil's unholy terrors!
Once you've registered your chosen class, you're good to go! But if you'd like to look under the hood and understand the game mechanics, keep reading (totally optional, only if you want the technical details of how Powerball numbers convert to monster slaying).
How it works:
Each of the game’s four rounds will take place during each of October’s four weekends.
Each round’s monster hurts players simultaneously as they hurt it.
Player points: Your points indicate your health. More points = harder to kill. Fewer points = a more-likely date with the grim reaper. Each monster hurts you by reducing your points. Your points each round will be as follows:
Round 1: Player's 2nd assigned Powerball # x5 = Rd. 1 points
Round 2: Player's 3rd assigned Powerball # x5 + Rd. 1 remaining points = Rd. 2 points
Round 3: Player’s 3rd assigned Powerball # x5 + Rd. 2 remaining points = Rd. 3 points
Round 4: Player's 4th assigned Powerball # x5 + Rd. 3 remaining points = Rd. 3 points
The Monster Mash (the 3rd powerball number drawn on the Wednesday preceding each round) will generate a monster based on the chart below. The percentage indicates how destructive the monster is.
Each player class is affected differently by each monster. Here's how that breaks down:
DOOMED class: You'll take the full force of the monster's ability.
100% monster takes 100% of your points, so you're a goner.
80% monster takes 80% of your points.
60% monster takes 60% of your points.
VULNERABLE class: You'll suffer 75% of the monster's ability.
100% monster takes 75% of your points
80% monster takes 60% of your points (.75 x 80%)
60% monster takes 45% of your points (.75 x 60%)
RESISTANT class: You'll suffer 50% of the monster's ability.
100% monster takes 50% of your points (.50 x 100%)
80% monster takes 40% of your points (.50 x 80%)
60% monster takes 30% of your points (.50 x 60%)
Monster points: An 80% monster has 800 points. A 50% monster has 500 points, and so on. So it's the monster's maximum damage ability x10.
Example: The following three players take on a 70% (so, 700 points) Revenant named Melissa:
Cupid - an archer with 243 points
Merlin - a wizard with 306 points
Buffy - a slayer with 218 points
Melissa shows up, all gruesome and undead. The stench of rotting flesh permeates the graveyard where this (of course) is taking place. She's nasty. The three players deal 767 points damage to Melissa (their combined point total at the beginning of the round), which will totally send her back to the grave. But not before she deals the following damage to the example players:
Cupid - 70% of her 243 points = 170 points. Because Cupid's VULNERABLE to Revenants, Melissa will take 75% of that number of points. So he'll lose 128 points. 243 - 128 = 115 points remaining at the end of the round.
Merlin- 70% of his 306 points = 214 points. Because Merlin's RESISTANT to Revenants, Melissa will take 50% of that number of points. Merlin will lose 107 points. 306 - 107 = 199 points remaining at the end of the round.
Buffy - 70% of her 218 points = 153 points. Because Buffy's DOOMED against Revenants, Melissa will take 100% of those points. Buffy will lose 153 points. 218 - 153 = 65 points remaining at the end of the round.
Here're their point totals at the end of the example round:
Cupid - archer - VULNERABLE class - start: 243 points; end 115 points. He lost 53% of his total points.
Merlin - wizard - RESISTANT class - start: 306 points; end 199 points. He lost 35% of his total points.
Buffy - slayer - DOOMED class - start 218 points; end 65 points. She lost 71% of her total points.
Hurting the monster: These monsters are badass, but they're outnumbered. Each round, all player points are added together and compared to the monster's score. Whichever side (monsters or players) has the greater number will survive the round. Occasionally, the monster wins a round (why am I suddenly Team Monster as I write this?).
Culling: It's bitterly cold outside. At the end of each round the two weakest players (or 25% of players, if there are 12 or more players) die of hypothermia, exacerbated by their injuries. You're super-skilled but you still forgot to bring a parka, dumbass. Your mom's going to go on and on about it with a sad shake of her increasingly-wrinkled head for the rest of her life, too.
Winning the game: The last remaining player will be declared the winner. If more than one player survives to the end of the game, or if a monster wins and all players are eliminated, the player with the highest score will be the winner. In the event of a tie, the standard tiebreaker will be applied to determine exactly one winner.
