And being the judge at said store, yes, I too would like to read more ideas as to how other venues will be handling it too. If I run it Madrigorian's way, he and his buddy will run away with the event, smashing everyone else in their path, possibly making the event no fun for anyone else. If I make random teams, then it ruins the fun for Madrigorian, but makes it potentially more fun for everyone else, giving many more players a chance at winning, and the event being more competitive. Any and all ideas are welcome and encouraged, cause I have no idea what to do here ... lol

Um... not really the exact way it goes.
It's not my fault that I am one of the best players there, is it?
Nor is it my fault the my best friend (who I share a collection with) is the other best player there?
Why should we be 'punished' with restrictions on us being in the same gang, when Neca isn't even saying that? Or better yet, why force us to play in gangs with people we would honestly prefer NOT to be in gangs with?
Don't think this was too cool of a way to bring it up, honestly.
If no one from our venue has even mentioned it yet, and we haven't even asked them yet, then why try to pre-emptively stop me and my friend from being on the same gang?

~Mad

Furthermore, If it is the intention of Neca to make the prizes for more competitive play, then that is what I am doing, isn't it? Playing competitively... If our other players want to win, then they should have to beat me and other good players rather than get forced onto gang teams with good players... that is not competitively earning anything? If they beat me (which they have fair chance to since most games are sealed, which is even playing field), then they will be the stronger gang??? I do not see why this is such a dilemna for you.

Just out of curiosity, but the 36 gang tokens that are in the month one kit, those are for the players, correct? And presumably there's six tokens for each gang?

Are players supposed to stick with a single gang for the six months and hang on to their token from month one? Or can they change and just switch out before the event? What's the way that WK intended/recommended?

You know after reading that I can't say I am not a little disappointed that there is no Bat Shark Repellent to attach to the utility belt. I would be the happiest guy in the world if that was a real thing.

There are six tokens per gang because there are six months of play for NML. That is to say, one gang could go on to win all six months in one's store, and therefore the store would need six separate tokens to mark victory with (again, one for each month/zone).

You all cannot imagine how pleased we are that folk seem so excited about the "Gangs" element for NML. It really seems to be a concept that has been embraced in the manner it was offered in, and I think that's wonderful.

And to answer your question; sure, folk can stick with one gang all six months, or they can switch gangs as well (which plays to some characters in the source material IIRC). Again, we can provide the framework but it falls to stores to run the events as they see best; if you want folk to stick with one gang, so be it. WizKids is not going to come to your store and wag our collective finger at you.

I hope this helps.

Yeah, how about that?

Like King Shark needs a silver bullet. The guy already had below average attack values! Sheesh!

In the 70's Batman carried a microscope in one of the tubes in his utility belt. Why not have a Bat-Microscope?

Bat-Microscope: Batman ignores the use of Perplex on all defense values of characters targeted by him for close combat attacks, as well as any bonuses provided by on any attack.

That's up to your local Judge. I'm not keeping a Penguin for myself as I'd rather have gangs of 4 (and more importantly could have the numbers for it). I think it would make the tournaments more enjoyable for my players.

Well first off you know you can't please everyone. As hard as I work on most of my events, someone will whine and complain so I just accept it and move on.

I approach my "job" as giving players a tournament experience they can't get anywhere else. Therefore I do create lots of hoops for players to jump through. And as I explain it to my players, not all my ideas are things you may want to play. I post them in advance so you can choose the events you find fun and so you can stay home for those events you don't like.

I wouldn't worry about your so-called best players being upset. If they want the piece bad enough they will follow the rules. Their only other choice is to just sit out of the events - which if they always win, is this really a problem? I mean, is it really necessary one player wins every LE prize at the venue???

I develop enough build restrictions and scenarios that any player can win on any given Friday. In my IG tournaments, for example, I've had 6 different champions.

Anyway to my current crop of ideas: (please note - especially my players - these are just ideas I am considering and nothing is written in stone).

A) Players choose who they want to form up with.
Pros - people choose who they want, "everyone" happy
Cons - stacking the deck, someone feels left out, teams of left-overs may not be happy

B) Random Drawing
Pros - its random, incentive for better players to help weaker players with team building and strategy
Cons - someone could get the dream team or worse, someone could get the nightmare team

My guys aren't going to get to change their gangs. Blood in / Blood out, ya know.

Issues:
24 players maximum would fit using WK stuff. I've had 18-26 players show up for IG so it may not be an issue.

How to deal with BYE's?

Players unable to attend?

New players come in?

How would an "At Large" gang work? Killer Croc was his own dude - could a few players just be "at large" and not form a group. Would they not be playing for the Penguin? Could they win it on their own? Could they just merge around through different gangs each tournament - lending their mercenary ways for the right 'cost'?

Is there some way stronger members of a team can help the weaker members? If someone misses a game is that gang screwed that week? Is this a problem?


Scoring gangs: (ideas)
At the end of the evening gangs compile their Victory Point count. I like this idea because some "winners" score little points due to taking too long. Others could stall or run away for the win. Great for the individual tournament but could hurt your gang (play cutthroat for Ultimate Clayface but by doing so you reduce your chance of getting Penguin). I've gone 1-2 in a tournament and yet had the 2nd highest Victory Point total. While everyone got smashed 500-0 in their losses, mine were 500-412 & 500-325.

Overall Champion could gain an additional 100 Victory Points for his gang.

Fellowship Winner could gain an additional 200 Victory Points for his gang.

Possible bonus point games - certain effects like most Crit Hits, KO through knockback, - something for gang points. Maybe rival gangs - double KO points vs a certain gang? How about making it a rivals week - random drawing, every gang assigned an Arch Enemy. Whenever players happen to face an Arch-Enemy - DOUBLE KO points!

Maybe use the No Mans Land Points somehow.

Set-Up:

Pre-Week: Gang Assembly

Players will compete in a tournament to determine gangs first. After event is done, gangs will be formed (Utility Belt given out as prizes).

A) Top 6 players could be "team captains" and draft the remaining players.

OR

B) Top Player and Fellowship player choose a gang each. Rest are randomly drawn to choose where they want to go. Once a gang has 4 players - its full.

OR

C) Grab a piece of paper with a gang symbol on it - that is who you belong to.

Gang Rules: (I made my IG events all Marvel only - I always have some form of restriction plus all my games are Golden Age)

By choosing a gang you build a team with the following build restrictions (subject to change - again, work in progress here!)

GCPD:
TA: PD
Keywords: Police, Detective, Politician,
Powers: Support

Batman:
TA: Batman Ally, Outsiders
Keywords: Detective, Martial Artist, Birds of Prey
Powers: Stealth

Killer Croc:
TA: Suicide Squad
Keywords: Animal, Brute
Powers/Abilities: Swim

Two-Face:
TA: Batman Enemy
Keywords: Gotham Underworld, Politician,
Powers: Prob Control

Joker: (anything with Joker in the name)
TA: Batman Enemy
Keywords: Monster
Powers: Perplex

Black Mask:
TA: Batman Enemy
Keywords: Ruler, Soldier
Powers: Mastermind

The idea would be each gang has its thing. As Superman was barred from entering Gotham in the story, guys like him that are just to easy to use will be barred.

I really want this game to be very street level and so am tossing around ideas to create that feel.

The other events of the month are designed to allow players to use their gauntleted up Supermans and Power Cosmic crap - but not No Man's Land.

I'll share more ideas as they come to me and I look forward to seeing ideas from others.

I'm glad people are getting more into this than the IG. I started a thread about what each IG event would be and it was bombarded with "I'm just doing what WK suggested" - Zzzzzzzzz....

I like that idea. posting again so I can find my post (and thus your post). Thanks!

Regarding Tyroclix' scenario above (which looks very cool):

1. Does everyone have to have all those ta's and powers to be on the team? (for ex., if you're GPD, everyone has to have Police and Support? Or everyone has to be Police and gets Support? Not sure I understand....)

2. Not up on my DC... Why is Croc Suicide Squad? I don't think any of his versions even have S.S., so if I understand correctly you couldn't use him?

Just as a reminder, its a brain-storm so it may sound more confusing than it will be once its ironed out.

For the team restrictions, I'm thinking all NML games will have a figure cost cap around 105 points (no one more than that).

I'm thinking about adding a must-use figure on your team, like GCPD must field a Gordon while Batman needs a Batman, Joker - a Joker, etc.

To answer your question - assuming I was a member of the GCPD, figures I used would have to have something from the list.
So I could build a team of Commissioner Gordon (Police TA, Police and Politician keyword), Tigra (Police keyword), Batman (Detective keyword), and Donald Blake (Support).

Your second question - I was trying to flesh out something that would define the teams. Killer Croc isn't a gang-leader - so what would help out a Croc-style team? The Suicide Squad just feels like an at-large team and I wanted every gang to have at least 1 team ability to build from, as well as a few powers and keywords.

Just like Joker is a wildcard on most teams so I may add the Wildcard TA to legal figures in his gang.

Just an idea, anyway...

Ah, that makes more sense. We had some similar ideas at our venue... Looks pretty cool. I like joker as wild-card, but I'm stil not feeling SS for Croc; there's just not that many SS members out there, seems kind of limiting (but like I said, I'm not up on DC so maybe I'm wrong). Maybe instead Croc's gang can't have a TA (or can't use it if they have one), but they get the loner feat for free? Just a thought.

I like that idea a lot. I'll probably wait to see if Killer Croc gets the Batman Enemy TA or not. Hopefully he doesn't and he is priced and given a dial that allows him to play on his own.

Batman Enemy TA is great for those characters that run with henchmen but that isn't Croc's style. Fingers crossed.

If Madrigorian and his buddy teamed up and won all the games they played but say 4-6 people made their own gang wouldn't the other gang still have a chance to win over all. I mean sometimes they will be going up against people of the same gang or people outside Madrigorian's gang and have a good shot at gaining points. So if a gang of 4 outscores Madrigorian's gang of 2 then the top 3 players in that gang get the prizes, if Madrigorian can outscore them even when outnumbered then his gang deserves the prize. I find it hard to believe that if A gang had 6 people they couldn't get more victory point than the 1st and 2nd place people combined.