Zombicide:TFT

Realizing that Halloween was coming up, I decided to start painting a pumpkin beholder that I got on a Reaper Bones KS a few years (!) ago. Then, because we needed to play a game this weekend, I decided to combine Zombicide and The Fantasy Trip as this was my Sunday 1 friend over to play game or workout (we alternate gaming and working out at his home gym - we met at a gym several years ago and somehow struck up a good friendship. Even got his kids playing TFT for a bit).

We've been playing Zombicide as it is a fun and easy to play coop game. Which we usually die playing but it is always fun. But we both missed playing TFT and I had the idea of combining the two. So I did. 

First, as I was painting the pumpkin beholder, and I had a Fantasy Trip garden hex map a friend gave me, I went with the garden leading to a dungeon. Pumpkins grow in gardens after all! There were objectives in the garden as well as the dungeon, so used some of the various coins I have to mark objectives. Each was a random treasure card from the TFT cards Kickstarter I backed several years ago, though I did go through the pile and picked ones I thought could be useful. Instead of spawn points, we rolled a die. Odd meant a spawn, even nothing happens. When we got a spawn, I had a 2d6 table we rolled on. A seven meant nothing happens, and I tried to stick the more dangerous spawns at the top and bottom. Then another d6 for hex direction, and 2d6 for how far away they spawned from us. If we were split apart, a die toll to determine which character was the origin point.

Turned out to be a lot of fun: the speed of playing Zombicide with the complexity of using TFT combat. I hit both sides of the luck: I actually got a very rare triple damage and killed off the giant pacman toad with a single hit, but when attacking the beholder dropped my weapon. We ended up getting in and out all in one piece, a lot of which was due to luck honestly.

We're going to expand out the encounter table to give more variety (we did somehow get the beholder two times, but also the Am Bust two times. Rolling more dice would reduce the chance of repeats) but it worked pretty well

As TFT does not have a beholder, I used AI to stat one out for me. It came up with something pretty good:

Attribute	Value	Notes
ST	40	Big, tough rind; can take a beating.
DX	12	Moderate agility; floats eerily but not fast.
IQ	14	Cunning and magical; capable of spellcasting.
MA	6	Floats slowly through the air

🎃 Special Abilities


Floating Horror: The Pumpkin Beholder levitates naturally, ignoring terrain penalties unless magically grounded.

Pumpkin Pods (10): Instead of eye stalks, it has 10 writhing vine-like tendrils, each ending in a glowing jack-o’-lantern pod. Each pod can fire a different magical effect once per turn:

1. Fear Gaze: Casts Terrify (IQ 14 roll).
2. Rot Ray: Deals 1d+2 damage and causes armor to decay (-1 armor).
3. Sleep Spores: Casts Sleep (IQ 14 roll).
4. Fireburst: Casts Fireball (2d damage).
5. Confusion Mist: Casts Confusion (IQ 14 roll).
6. Vine Snare: Casts Control Plant to entangle.
7. Shadow Beam: Casts Darkness in a 3-hex cone.
8. Hallucination Pulse: Casts Illusion to distract.
9. Pumpkin Bomb: Throws a flaming gourd (3d damage, 1 hex radius).
10. Anti-Magic Glare: Cancels one active spell (IQ 14 roll).

Central Eye (Jack-o’-Lantern Core): Emits a constant anti-magic aura in a 3-hex radius. Any spell cast within this zone requires an extra IQ roll or fizzles.

Immunity to Mind Control: Its alien gourd-brain is resistant to charm, control, and illusion spells.

Weakness – Fire Vulnerability: Takes +2 damage from fire-based attacks (it’s a pumpkin, after all).

The Pumpkin Beholder is a seasonal terror summoned by deranged druids or cursed harvest rituals. It floats silently through moonlit fields, its pods glowing with malevolent intent. It prefers ambushes and psychological warfare, using illusions and fear before unleashing its more destructive powers.

I created the tables for encounters. We'll expand those tables some more based on the minis I have :) Need to use my toys!

almost done painting

and my random encounter tables, mk 0.1:

2	Pumpkin Beholder
3	1d6 Goblins
4	Baby Dragon
5	1d6-2 Ghouls
6	Am Bush Plant
7	Nothing
8	Bloodtree
9	Giant Bullfrog
10	Elemental – roll on Elemental table
11	Giant Cave Bear
12	Pumpkin Beholder

 

1	Earth
2	Air
3	Stone
4	Fire
5	Metal
6	Water