Game: Kill Doctor Lucky

Thread: Re: Throwing the Game (Giving Up)

Isamoor — 2008-08-26T11:46:31+00:00

Blocking in Ticket to Ride is legitimate. I don't get angry with someone for that (although yea, I'll probably call them an asshole good naturally).

I just have something against "pass the buck" game play. I tend to not play those games for a reason. If I do play them, then I tend to just "drop the buck". Alas, I should probably just stay well clear of these games.

Thread: Re: Throwing the Game (Giving Up)

FerrumEtBombyx — 2008-08-26T06:19:19+00:00

Isamoor wrote:
I'm one of the guys that will intentionally throw it. If none of the other players will contribute anything and pass the buck to me... expect to lose.

Once a player said I had to play my fail cards in SDL. I needed to play -3 total. I laid a -1, a -1, and then a -3. There was then a fun discussion on whether I was allowed to do that. I still think it was a good move. If you know I'm not going to have anything left, you all have to spend your own fail cards in the future. If you spend your own fail cards, then suddenly I have a better chance of succeeding...

It's such an interesting meta-game conundrum...

No offense, but that's kinda lame. It's a point of strategy to "press your luck" and see if the last player has enough cards to bail you out. But for the last player to take his ball and go home because the other players had position on him, that's immature. When does it end? If someone blocks you in Ticket to Ride, do you turn the board over and send the plastic trains flying as part of a "meta-game?" That'll get them to think twice about blocking you! An absurd example, but hopefully you get my point.
Now don't get me wrong, your example of playing your -1, -1, and then -3 is fun and brilliant. I've heard of similar strategies where people played all of their initial failure cards as soon as they got them. Then your opponents have to second-guess whether you actually have enough cards to bail them all out if they pass to you. That's not "meta-game" - that's just straight "game." But deliberately losing when you could block a kill attempt is a disappointing approach to the other players' strategy.

Thread: Re: Throwing the Game (Giving Up)

Poltergeist_2000 — 2008-08-26T04:59:01+00:00

Full seven players... definately too long. I avoid that when I can, 6 is pushing it as well.

The game will DEFINATELY change for the better when not forgetting the ability to attack without a weapon. Poke the Doctor as early as you can and at every single opportunity you get. This immediately starts to burn through the failure cards and starts the accumulation of the spite tokens.

I've played both versions of Dr. Lucky and I prefer the Spite Token mechanic. It makes each murder attempt more and more difficult to foil. And remember, the spite tokens aren't being paid back to the "bank". All tokens spent in foiling a murder go to the person who attempted the murder, plus an additional spite token for the failed attempt! Folks start to get mighty spiteful.

Without the spite tokens I felt the win was rather abrupt, and out of my control. With the spite tokens I could gauge my opponents abilities to foil attempts and try to force them to use up some spite while I held onto my precious failure cards.

True the shifting piles of spite has on occassion drawn out longer than I've liked. But, I still have found the game to be enjoyable and twisted.

Reading out the reasons why the attempt failed are quite funny. And come on, a game where you can kill someone with a Too Tight Hat has got to deserve another shot.

Thread: Re: Throwing the Game (Giving Up)

paulmond — 2008-08-26T02:30:02+00:00

My family likes the spite token dynamic, so I've carefully trimmed the failure cards so there aren't so many in the deck to begin with.

Our previously too-long-and-therefore-somewhat-unfun games are now replaced by quicker games that are more fun (our four-player games take about 30 minutes). This theme/mechanic just isn't suited to an hour-plus game.

Thread: Re: Throwing the Game (Giving Up)

Isamoor — 2008-08-26T01:25:49+00:00

I'm one of the guys that will intentionally throw it. If none of the other players will contribute anything and pass the buck to me... expect to lose.

Once a player said I had to play my fail cards in SDL. I needed to play -3 total. I laid a -1, a -1, and then a -3. There was then a fun discussion on whether I was allowed to do that. I still think it was a good move. If you know I'm not going to have anything left, you all have to spend your own fail cards in the future. If you spend your own fail cards, then suddenly I have a better chance of succeeding...

It's such an interesting meta-game conundrum...

Thread: Re: Throwing the Game (Giving Up)

nerman8r — 2008-08-26T01:23:46+00:00

I will be the devil's advocate, here. I have found spite tokens to greatly speed up the game, making it less of a crapshoot how long it lasts. I would say your problem is in having too many people. I wouldn't play with more than five, for sure.

Thread: Re: Throwing the Game (Giving Up)

Rainbow Snake — 2008-08-26T00:42:22+00:00

willco wrote:
Don't spend Spite Tokens...they are a representation of your spite at having been foiled, so the number of tokens is always added to your murder attempt. In other words, after one failed attempt, your next attempt is automatically at +1. If that one is foiled, your next one is worth +2, etc. You don't spend the points, they pile up as a representation that you automatically add.

That is true, but they have another purpose as well. When you use them instead of failure cards to foil other people's murder attempts, then you have to give them away.

Yep, I've heard some whisperings about the spite tokens being bad for the game ... will try it without them next time ... sometime ...

Thread: Re: Throwing the Game (Giving Up)

mrorwell — 2008-08-26T00:36:29+00:00

Agreed. Don't use the spite tokens.

Our group tried it once with them and has never used them again. They changed the game completely and no one enjoyed it.

But we all DO enjoy the ability to kill the old SOB with a poke in the eye for one point at the end of the game.

Using a weapon and sucking up the last failure card... fun.

Killing him with a one point poke in the eye because the person in front of you burned up all of the failure cards... priceless!

Thread: Re: Throwing the Game (Giving Up)

willco — 2008-08-26T00:26:19+00:00

Don't spend Spite Tokens...they are a representation of your spite at having been foiled, so the number of tokens is always added to your murder attempt. In other words, after one failed attempt, your next attempt is automatically at +1. If that one is foiled, your next one is worth +2, etc. You don't spend the points, they pile up as a representation that you automatically add.

And, YES, being able to attempt without a weapon definitely makes the game better. I can't imagine what it would be like without it.

Thread: Re: Throwing the Game (Giving Up)

dagibbs — 2008-08-26T00:03:11+00:00

Don't use spite tokens. I actually think they break the game. Without them, you will run out of failure cards, since they don't get recycled into the deck, and Dr. Lucky will die. With spite tokens, the chance to "fail" goes up as the game progresses, rather than down.

(Spite tokens weren't in the original game published, I think the idea was added as part of the deluxe version.)

Thread: Throwing the Game (Giving Up)

Rainbow Snake — 2008-08-25T23:43:51+00:00

I'm quite disappointed with this game.
I'd heard great things about it, and had fun in the past playing Save Doctor Lucky, and scoured the games shops for KDL, before finding it was unavailable in Australia, and ordering it from overseas.

I've played it a few times with different groups of people, and there's only been one time where someone didn't decide to throw the game. Throwing the game is when you deliberately lose or deliberately cause someone else to win.

In KDL this is when a player refuses to foil someone else's attempt to Kill Doctor Lucky resulting in someone winning.

Yes I've seen there are lots of other posts about this topic. I just wanted to put in my 2c.

Most recent time this happened was on the weekend when we had 7 players (the max). Perhaps like some of you have said, this makes the game excruciatingly long? (Broken?) Perhaps that's why the players were were wishing for death and asking me if there was a rule about being able to kill each other off. We went through the discard pile 3 times.

Some people started to build up piles of spite tokens, one guy in particular, and the other players adopted the tactic of not playing failure cards so he'd be forced to use his spite tokens.

I reminded them of the KDL rule clarification (that I'd found included with the Kill Doctor Lucky... and His Little Dog, Too! expansion) that the last player must foil the murder attempt, if they can. That worked well until the intended last player on a murder attempt gleefully declared, out of turn, that he had no failure cards, and so the preceeding players immediately threw the game by chosing not to play failure cards - they weren't the last player. So someone won without trying, and I felt sick.

Some players whinged that the game was too random, some whinged that it was too strategic(???). But it's such a downer when people throw a game, that I think it will be a while before anyone can convince me to try it again.

In fairness I have to say that I've found the rules hard to read in the past, and have missed the rule that says you can try to Kill Doctor Lucky without a murder weapon, for a value of 1. Perhaps that improves things. I think I might need to make my own KDL cheatsheet, or use some of the BGG ones.

Image

zingor1066 — 2008-08-24T21:44:51+00:00

Thread: Re: The Ghost of Mrs. Lucky

Curufea — 2008-07-28T03:18:45+00:00

bonz wrote:
Curufea wrote:
Please read the entire post.
Oh, I did read your entire post.
I just thought you were referring to my variant in your first sentence.

Your variation of course reduces spite tokens.

Sorry about the ambiguity there

Thread: Re: The Ghost of Mrs. Lucky

bonz — 2008-07-23T19:02:01+00:00

BTW, I sent this variant to James Ernest of Cheapass games.

He said it's excellent, but the Cheapass website isn't maintained at the moment and they won't be releasing a new edition of Kill Doctor Lucky anytime soon.

He did send my variant to Paizo though, the publishers of the Titan colour release, as he thinks that they are very interested in new material for the game.

Well, maybe they'll release a new expansion, just like they did with the little dog.
Another high-priced expansion, this time with a 20-sided die in addition to a pawn and a rule sheet?

Thread: Re: The Ghost of Mrs. Lucky

bonz — 2008-07-23T18:57:17+00:00

Curufea wrote:
Please read the entire post.
Oh, I did read your entire post.
I just thought you were referring to my variant in your first sentence.

Your variation of course reduces spite tokens.

Thread: Re: The Ghost of Mrs. Lucky

Curufea — 2008-07-23T05:28:36+00:00

bonz wrote:
Random indeed, but I don't get how you would get rid of spite tokens.

The ghost merely acts as a witness, you can't control it in any way.
When attempting murders boosted with spite tokens, you don't lose them anyway should your attempt get spoiled by others with failure cards and/or spite tokens (in the latter case you get the tokens of others).

Please read the entire post.

Thread: Re: The Ghost of Mrs. Lucky

bonz — 2008-07-22T11:39:46+00:00

gmonk wrote:
Don't you risk making the game too long, though?
It's especially designed to increase the length for 2-3 player games.
True, with the full 7 or 8 players, the game length could indeed get way too long.
You should then omit this variant or substitute it with the dog variant

Curufea wrote:
Too random and could be used as a further game improvement of getting rid of excess spite tokens
Random indeed, but I don't get how you would get rid of spite tokens.

The ghost merely acts as a witness, you can't control it in any way.
When attempting murders boosted with spite tokens, you don't lose them anyway should your attempt get spoiled by others with failure cards and/or spite tokens (in the latter case you get the tokens of others).

When the ghost witnesses your murder attempt, it'll deny you attempting a murder in the first place, so no spite tokens will change hands at all.
Zimeon wrote:
Don't know how the game will change or if it's good, but the idea of the ghost of mrs Lucky is so goddamn good it looks like a winner.
Thank you!
Zimeon wrote:
What happens if he does find his wife? Will he die of happiness and all players lose/win?
Then he then is so happy that he will book another cruise on an ocean liner - this time the sister ship of the previously sunken "unsinkable" one.

Seriously though, Dr. Lucky is too senile to recognize the presence of his dead wife's ghost - same as he doesn't recognize the presence of his dog (he even doesn't care if poor little Shamrock gets killed right next to him)!
He'll completely ignore both and leave them behind - with the ruthless gang of you murderous players.

Come to think of it again, what if Mrs. Lucky's suicide wasn't a suicide at all!
What if a previous gang of murderers killed her?

Thread: Re: The Ghost of Mrs. Lucky

Zimeon — 2008-07-22T09:56:20+00:00

Don't know how the game will change or if it's good, but the idea of the ghost of mrs Lucky is so goddamn good it looks like a winner.

What happens if he does find his wife? Will he die of happiness and all players lose/win?

Thread: Re: The Ghost of Mrs. Lucky

Curufea — 2008-07-22T04:46:28+00:00

Too random and could be used as a further game improvement of getting rid of excess spite tokens

How about adding this variant which becomes more useful as the game progresses-

After the roll of the die, any player (in clockwise order from the current player) may spend a spite token to have the ghost appear one room away (adjacent) from the die number (each additional room away costs another spite). This way the ghost can also appear in corridors.

Each player in turn pays one or more spite tokens to change Mrs Lucky's appearance location. This continues until all players pass.

Thread: Re: The Ghost of Mrs. Lucky

gmonk — 2008-07-22T01:05:14+00:00

Looks interesting and fun, I'll have to give it a try. Don't you risk making the game too long, though?

Thread: The Ghost of Mrs. Lucky

bonz — 2008-07-22T00:00:32+00:00

Story:
Have you ever wondered why Doctor Lucky is restlessly walking around the rooms of his ample estate?
Have you ever wondered why that senile, old man can be lured of into another room so easily and gullibly follows you everywhere?

Well, the answer is he's looking for his recently deceased wife.
Mrs. Lucky suffered from paranoia and delusions and one dreadful evening she hung herself from the gallery (now we know why the rope is worth 8 points there).
From this day on Mrs. Lucky is haunting the mansion as a ghost, walking around the rooms or straight through the walls to appear anywhere and scare any visitors - or any would-be murderers of Dr. Lucky!

So you did see something up on the gallery when you arrived and met up with the others in the drawing room.
You knew killing Dr. Lucky would be even harder today...

You will need:
1x ghost pawn
1x 20-sided die (d20)

Rules:
--At the beginning of a game the ghost of Mrs. Lucky starts in the gallery (she's always coming back to the location of her demise).
--On every player's turn after Dr. Lucky and his dog (if you play with the dog variant) have been moved, you trow the 20-sided die and move the ghost of Mrs. Lucky to the room with the corresponding number. If you throw a '20', move him to the Drawing Room (0).
--Mrs. Lucky's ghost acts as a witness that can suddenly (and randomly) appear anywhere on the map.

Epilog:
This variant works very well with 2-3 players, as it adds another witness (in addition to the dog), who also has a different and new moving mechanic.
It can help in preventing those lucky, quick kills early in the round when playing with only a few players.

A lot of the time I have calculated Dr. Lucky's moves well in advance, have placed my door correctly to keep that nasty dog from spying and have collected the room and weapon cards for a specific room, only to have Mrs. Lucky's ghost appear next to me or behind my back spoiling my murder attempt.

And finally, let's hope that Mrs. Lucky's poor soul will find peace and can rest forever (so we can go on and try to send her husband right after her).

Thread: Re: When to receive Spite Tokens?

bonz — 2008-07-17T10:31:00+00:00

MeGrimlockKing wrote:
madzukas wrote:
When You play Spite tokens to increase murder value. Do you get them back if murder attempt fails? Or you have to put them back to the bank?

Don't think of it as you spending them and getting them back when used to attempt a murder. Think of the spite tokens as simply a bonus to your murder attempts. The only time they're ever actually spent is if you use them to foil someone else's dastardly plans. Otherwise, you just keep getting more and more spiteful towards the old coot.
Thanks for clearing that up!
Makes much more sense now.

The first time we played with that rule, we used a middle course:
Spite tokens used for failures and murder attempts were both discarded in the 'bank pile'.
The rounds took quite long that way.

Thread: Re: Kill Doctor Lucky font?

bonz — 2008-07-17T10:27:49+00:00

myronf wrote:
I don't know about the new edition, but the original / Director's Cut uses a font called "Willow" (I can say this for sure because I mailed James Ernest himself to ask !).
It's ITC Willow.
http://www.fonts.com/findfonts/detail.htm?pid=426948&grab_id...

It's commercial though.

Thread: Re: When to receive Spite Tokens?

MeGrimlockKing — 2008-07-13T02:48:58+00:00

madzukas wrote:
When You play Spite tokens to increase murder value. Do you get them back if murder attempt fails? Or you have to put them back to the bank?

Don't think of it as you spending them and getting them back when used to attempt a murder. Think of the spite tokens as simply a bonus to your murder attempts. The only time they're ever actually spent is if you use them to foil someone else's dastardly plans. Otherwise, you just keep getting more and more spiteful towards the old coot.

Thread: Re: When to receive Spite Tokens?

bonz — 2008-07-13T02:33:30+00:00

madzukas wrote:
When You play Spite tokens to increase murder value. Do you get them back if murder attempt fails? Or you have to put them back to the bank?
That's a good question I'd like to get answered too!

Thread: Re: Failure atempt stuck

DOCTORDINK — 2008-07-11T18:29:15+00:00

As per the clarification in the rules to KILL DOCTOR LUCKY AND HIS DOG TOO, the last player with a chance to stop the murder attempt MUST do so if able, even if this requires all his spite tokens and failure cards.

The problem I've run into with a 7 player game is that several people have a large number of spite tokens as the game progresses. So if say a murder attempt of 5 is done and the last player who can stop it has 5 spite tokens, nobody else is going to play any cards or tokens.

Thread: Re: Turn order and Spite rules

madzukas — 2008-07-10T09:37:25+00:00

There are never more than three numbered rooms in a row, so that's as far as you can follow the Doctor without using (and not drawing) a card. The problem (if you see it as a problem) is that one person may not get a move for an extended period.

So moving with Doctor through those 3 rooms you collect 3 cards and don’t use any of yours. There is a big chance to pull moving cards during those 3 moves you make and you can continue moving with doctor lucky for very long time bay playing pulled move cards. This long movement with doctor lucky gains you so much cards (on every move you will pick one) so you become unbeatable.
Yesterday we played the game and several times one player moved with doctor for five rooms together, pulling 5 cards. And the result was that he gains so big advantage that it was only matter of time when he will win. And he did both times.
I think this part needs some adjustment.

Thread: Re: Turn order and Spite rules

madzukas — 2008-07-10T09:36:50+00:00

Barticus88 wrote:
boltongeordie wrote:
Riding the Dr Lucky train is usually very fast - step into the next room, grab a card, step into the next room, grab a card - until the point where you cant ride it any more (somebody in the room that will be next, cant make it to the next room, this is the last room where you can make a murder attempt or whatever).
There are never more than three numbered rooms in a row, so that's as far as you can follow the Doctor without using (and not drawing) a card. The problem (if you see it as a problem) is that one person may not get a move for an extended period.

So moving with Doctor through those 3 rooms you collect 3 cards and don’t use any of yours. There is a big chance to pull moving cards during those 3 moves you make and you can continue moving with doctor lucky for very long time bay playing pulled move cards. This long movement with doctor lucky gains you so much cards (on every move you will pick one) so you become unbeatable.
Yesterday we played the game and several times one player moved with doctor for five rooms together, pulling 5 cards. And the result was that he gains so big advantage that it was only matter of time when he will win. And he did both times.
I think this part needs some adjustment.

Thread: Re: When to receive Spite Tokens?

madzukas — 2008-07-10T08:54:19+00:00
When You play Spite tokens to increase murder value. Do you get them back if murder attempt fails? Or you have to put them back to the bank?

Thread: Re: Obsessed Board Gamers Episode 23: Video introduction and review for Kill Doctor Lucky

Yokiboy — 2008-07-08T18:58:43+00:00
PimpMC wrote:
What's wrong with Clue?

I mean, I haven't played it in over 15 years. But, I remember liking it.
Don't try it now then, just live with your happy memories. Please trust me... please!

Thread: Re: Obsessed Board Gamers Episode 23: Video introduction and review for Kill Doctor Lucky

tickmanfan — 2008-07-08T18:44:42+00:00
Is it me or does Colin remind you of Harold Ramis when he smirks at the camera?

Thread: Re: Obsessed Board Gamers Episode 23: Video introduction and review for Kill Doctor Lucky

PimpMC — 2008-07-07T14:57:27+00:00
What's wrong with Clue?

I mean, I haven't played it in over 15 years. But, I remember liking it.

-Colin

Thread: Re: Failure atempt stuck

Zimeon — 2008-07-03T09:38:20+00:00
No, there is no solution, nor should there be one.

Forcing other players to play Failure cards instead of you is perfectly valid. The less failure cards your opponents have, the greater the chance of you succeeding in your murder attempt. You don't have to play ANY cards (or tokens) at all! However, if you don't play anything, there s a possibility that the other players can't stop the murder, and then you've lost.

Consider the following scenario. Four players A, B, C and D. A makes a murder attempt of value 2.
B has tons of failure cards but plays none, expecting C and D to stop the kill.
C does the same, excepting D to stop the kill.
D: "I have only 1 failure card!!!!"

A wins, everybody laughs. If D had failure cards but says "no, I won't play any, because you are so mean to me and didn't help me!" I can only say I wouldn't ever again play with that person.

There was a recent discussion about a murder attempt with a high value, and all people refusing to play any failure cards because the last player had tons of spite tokens. This last player promptly refused to use them and the game ended. That is a different story, because in this case, as the last player had to use about 4 or 5 spite tokens to stop the kill, she would have given away her chances to win (I believe the other players had lots of spite tokens too). Shortly, by not playing any failure cards, the other players forced her into a non-win situation she couldn't possibly get out of, only so that they could win. So she shortened her pain and ended the game earlier. In this case, I think it's a valid choice for future games: "If you want me to use my spite tokens to stop the kill, next time you'll have to help!"

But not using Failure cards? I mean, like Thomas said, what the heck was your friend supposed to use the failure cards for, after the game was ended? Buy beer with them? It's not that he was in any worse position if he had had to play them. And you had already played Failure 4? I don't understand your friend's reasoning.

That said, a murder attempt of valule 9 SHOULD be a win.

Thread: Re: Failure atempt stuck

minordemon — 2008-07-03T09:26:19+00:00
It is the weakest part of the game. And if it fails here, it is not a game for your gamegroup.

Thread: Re: Failure atempt stuck

Bad News [bnw] — 2008-07-03T09:17:02+00:00
He rather had the game end than give up his failure cards? Odd. What was he supposed to use them for after the game?

It seems quite valid tactict to force the other players to play failures instead of you.

Thread: Failure atempt stuck

madzukas — 2008-07-03T08:58:56+00:00
I played game with 2 of my friends. One of friends made attempt to kill doctor it had kill value 9. I played only 4 failure cards (value 1), because I wanted to use spite tokens I had, to make kill attempt on next move. But my other friend refused to play other 5 failure cards, because he said, that I should at least increase failure value with tokens if don’t have failure cards and it’s not fair that he needs to give more failure cards than I do, because I will be next for attempting to kill doctor and not he. So the game ended.

Is there any rule that could arrange who has to give most failure cards. Maybe it can be the user that will go next.

I think this part of the game is the weakest. Is there any solution?

Thread: Re: Obsessed Board Gamers Episode 23: Video introduction and review for Kill Doctor Lucky

MeGrimlockKing — 2008-07-02T21:21:02+00:00
I was looking for a good title to round out my game order so I could get the free shipping and, bam, that same day you put up the review for Dr Lucky. I look forward to killing the old coot in revenge for having to play Clue all those times!

Thread: Re: The wrong person to play with

madzukas — 2008-07-02T18:09:54+00:00
I also played game with 2 of my friends. One of friends made attempt to kill doctor it had kill value 9. I played only 4 failure cards, because I wanted to use spite tokens I had to make kill attempt on next move. But my other friend refused to play other 5 cards, because he said, that I should at least increase failure value with tokens if don’t have failure cards and it’s not fair that he needs to give more failure cards that I do, because I will be next for attempting to kill doctor and not he. So the game ended.
Is there any rule that could arrange who has to give most failure cards. Maybe it can be the user that will go next.
I think this part of the game is the weakest.

Thread: Re: Obsessed Board Gamers Episode 23: Video introduction and review for Kill Doctor Lucky

Yokiboy — 2008-06-26T14:17:11+00:00
Nice review Colin. I own the old CheapAss version, but have never been able to get it to the table, or even tried that hard to get it played. The version you reviewed looks very nice though.

Thread: Re: Obsessed Board Gamers Episode 23: Video introduction and review for Kill Doctor Lucky

enzo622 — 2008-06-26T04:21:25+00:00
Great job, Colin. I think you do a very good job of taking the time to analyze a game and not just demo it. I thought you did a good job explaining the strategy of the game. Keep up the good work.

As to this game, you asked if it's for me -- nah, not so much for me, but I enjoyed the review nonetheless.

Oh, and I like how if you stick around for the end of the review the sheet falls down and you get to see the hookers and cocaine behind you. You game like a rock star, dude!

Thread: Re: Obsessed Board Gamers Episode 23: Video introduction and review for Kill Doctor Lucky

willdesigns — 2008-06-26T00:35:46+00:00
Colin, Excellent review, I will definitely add this to my wishlist as soon as my group gets tired of Zombie Plague.

Thread: Re: Obsessed Board Gamers Episode 23: Video introduction and review for Kill Doctor Lucky

tankexmortis — 2008-06-24T21:54:47+00:00
Thanks, useful as always. I did feel like you got a little too far off-script this time, at least as compared to your previous videos. There were a few moments where I felt like you were trying too hard to ad-lib. You do a better job than I would, though!

Thread: Re: Obsessed Board Gamers Episode 23: Video introduction and review for Kill Doctor Lucky

clockwirk — 2008-06-24T21:17:54+00:00
Great job as usual. You had me chuckling with your image of the would-be killer waiting to swing at the decrepit old man as he comes careening through the room in his wheelchair. Good stuff!

Thread: Obsessed Board Gamers Episode 23: Video introduction and review for Kill Doctor Lucky

PimpMC — 2008-06-24T16:30:31+00:00
Episode 23 is up. In this episode, I talk through Kill Doctor Lucky, which is a 3-7 player game with a very fun theme. As always, you can watch the streaming version or download the file directly to your computer. This time though, I'm trying out our new streaming host. Give it a look, it works great.

Higher Quality (download): http://m.podshow.com/media/15871/episodes/116560/obsessedboa...

Lower Quality (streaming): http://obsessedboardgamers.blip.tv/#1026083

Hope you enjoy and don't forget to let us know if this is a game for you.

Thread: Re: The wrong person to play with

KingCroc — 2008-06-23T01:21:16+00:00
fizzatbeyond wrote:
KingCroc wrote:
A player who decides to throw the game in order to keep another player off balance in future games shows a level of strategy that doesn't belong in this game. Or many other games for that matter.

Her and her husband mainly play scrabble extremely competitively, in that they keep track of who won the most games that year, so I can see how that would be the case.

Well, that does justify it to some degree. But it's just a shame that they couldn't turn down this hyper competition long enough to play a game fairly. Playing a series against the same opponents isn't the same as playing a one-time fun game against a bunch of opponents you aren't going to face again. But then again, turning off that kind of attitude isn't always easy.

Still, I'd definitely wouldn't be interested in playing with these folks in the future, considering the game might be won or loss based on personal vendetta. Then again, this is Kill Doctor Lucky, and the whole game is built upon killing someone just because. So maybe it isn't out of theme after all.

Thread: Re: The wrong person to play with

fizzatbeyond — 2008-06-22T14:22:25+00:00
KingCroc wrote:
A player who decides to throw the game in order to keep another player off balance in future games shows a level of strategy that doesn't belong in this game. Or many other games for that matter.

Her and her husband mainly play scrabble extremely competitively, in that they keep track of who won the most games that year, so I can see how that would be the case.

Thread: Re: The wrong person to play with

kuhrusty — 2008-06-21T09:10:00+00:00
ced1106 wrote:
I'll sometimes do the same of course. Then, on the second game, play completely opposite.
If you deliberately threw the first game, I don't think I'd stick around to see the second game.

Thread: Re: The wrong person to play with

ced1106 — 2008-06-21T05:18:19+00:00
fizzatbeyond wrote:
Finally my Wife (who was the player after my Mother-in-Law) attempted a kill, and the playing of failures went around the table ending with my Mother-in-Law. Her husband did not put any failure cards in knowing that she had enough to stop my wife. Well that was not OK, she let it end then and there.

Heh. We had a similar situation, except replace "her husband" with "gaming jerk" and "mother-in-law" with "me". I rather clearly told him that I would not put in more Failure cards than he did. Guess who ignored what I said. Guess who didn't win the game.

It's a grey area. While more *gamers* won't allow you to play the meta-game, it's at least a diversion when playing with the non-gamers.

Andrew has an amusing way of playing KDL. He will play failures, even if it's not "the" strategy you're supposed to follow. He'll accumulate a large hand of cards, and others will assume he has failures, so they won't play them. Then he doesn't play any failures -- and, at the end of the game, will reveal the he really *didn't* have any in his hand.

I'll sometimes do the same of course. Then, on the second game, play completely opposite.

As said, amusing.

aka. Washu! ^O^

Thread: Re: The wrong person to play with

KingCroc — 2008-06-21T05:12:29+00:00
I don't quite agree.

Choosing not to play a failure card on the risk that it might cost you the game is a risk-based strategy. I haven't played the new version of Kill Dr. Lucky, but in the old version I did that often. Part of the game is measuring the risk of passing too many times in hopes of strengthening your chances of winning. If you do this, and the next player doesn't have enough failure cards to stop the murder attempt, then you screwed up. But you didn't screw up because you were trying to lose. You screwed up because you gambled and lost.

But intentionally throwing the game because you don't want to let another player get to a stronger position isn't a game-winning strategy. It's the opposite. It's a spite move. And not much different than picking up the board and throwing it across the room because if you can't win then who cares?

The difference is subtle, but important. At least to me. When I passed playing my own failure cards and ended up losing the game because of it, I felt like I'd gambled at lost. But my goal was never to lose. It was to try and get to the most strategic position I could. Though it didn't pay off, it wasn't the same as intentionally losing to teach someone a lesson.

I equate this with playing Risk and intentionally focusing on a single opponent and ignoring others, not because that one opponent is a serious threat, but because you just don't want them to win. Or focusing solely on sending one player's pieces back to the start in Sorry, even as the other players waltz to the finish line.

Throwing off the game dynamic in some misguided versus mentality isn't the same as playing efficiently or ruthlessly or even recklessly in my book. I suppose you could call someone who plays to win a jerk, but someone who plays to lose is just no fun at all.

Thread: Re: The wrong person to play with

pmagnus — 2008-06-21T03:41:01+00:00
KingCroc wrote:
It's a simple game. A player who decides to throw the game in order to keep another player off balance in future games shows a level of strategy that doesn't belong in this game.

Although it does make sense to threaten to throw the games, so that a player who ends up being early or in the middle of stopping the early murder attempts can't just horde all of their failure cards. My wife is fond of that strategy.

There are different ways of being a jerk. Not playing a failure card when you are the last person is one way. Not playing any failure cards when you have a tremendous surplus of them is another way.

Thread: Re: The wrong person to play with

KingCroc — 2008-06-20T21:59:47+00:00
rlcoffey wrote:
KingCroc wrote:
In this case, while your father-in-law was playing with some strategy (forcing his opponents to burn their failure cards) she was clearly not. After all, losing the game because you don't want to lose is rather immature.

Not necessarily. If you are playing a series of games, there could be a strategy to what she did: Losing one intentionally in order to prevent the father-in-law from using the same strategy again.

Maybe I'd believe it if these were regular gamers. Although playing a metagame on this level is a bit absurd to me even if it were the case. This is Kill Doctor Lucky, after all. It's a simple game. A player who decides to throw the game in order to keep another player off balance in future games shows a level of strategy that doesn't belong in this game. Or many other games for that matter.

I'd probably never play a game with anyone who employed this strategy either against me or other opponents. Play the game you're playing. Not the game you might playing next. But different folks have different gaming goals, and as long as you can find a gaming group that shares (or at least tolerates) your preferred style of play, then it's all cool.

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ZockErik — 2008-03-26T23:28:57+00:00
Weapon Card (Chainsaw) - German Cheapass Edition

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ZockErik — 2008-03-26T23:27:49+00:00
Room Card - German Cheapass Edition

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Missing - German Cheapass Edition

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ZockErik — 2008-03-26T23:26:30+00:00
Card (back) - German Cheapass Edition

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ZockErik — 2008-03-26T23:23:14+00:00
German Cheapass Edition

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Martin Ralya — 2008-03-20T03:52:31+00:00
Comparison of the new edition cards (color) with the original cards (blue)

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Starring a wine cork as Dr. Lucky

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Monsters Menace Dr. Lucky: Watch out -- I think Kronk is carrying a tight hat!

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kilroy_locke — 2007-11-14T05:15:12+00:00
That's me and the good doctor... just before things got ugly.