I was talking to a buddy of mine at work here, and he was describing a "new" form of Halo that some folks are playing off hours just for fun. Be it "emergent gameplay" (the new hot buzzword in game design), or an open set of tools, we've all probably come up with our own fun/rules games with our favorite titles, and I figured since it's been ages since I posted anything here, I'd share a few, as they're my favorite kind of game.

Demolition Derby Halo. The idea here is that everyone agrees to not use any weapons, and the only way you're allowed to kill someone is via vehicular manslaughter. Be it a ghost or a banshee (mad skillz), you have to run, not gun, them down. Now, before everyone jumps down my throat, I'm sure someone else has played this before, somewhere else on the planet, so let's not all jump on the "welcome to last week" bandwagon on me here, because it got me remeniscing about some of the old "make your own fun" games I've played with friends in the past.

Zombie Hunter. The game is Goldeneye for the N64. You're gonna need 4 controllers, and have all the characters unlocked (I think...it's been awhile). The "Zombie" player MUST use Bootsy Collins (aka Baron Samedi), as he looks most like a Zombie what with the torn up white jacket, pants, and facepaint. And let's face it, there is nothing more terrifying than a clown-faced zombie in a white top hat. At least not in Goldeneye, anyway. The Zombie is on his own team, and takes the maximum health handicap bonus (+10). The other three players (The Zombie Hunters) can be anyone they want, are on a team together, and must take the minimum health handicap bonus (-10). The Zombie cannot use any weapons, and must kneel at all times. Even more important than kneeling, the Zombie player must make "rar" zombie noises the entire time he's playing, varying emotionally depending on his situation. The Zombie Hunters can use whatever weapons they want, not that it will do them any good.

Now, there is one more very important rule. When the Zombie makes a kill, he must bend over the kill and make hamburglar style zombie noises, indicating he is consuming the dead body. Everyone else is free to pee their pants and scream in terror when the Zombie crawls comes kneeling around the corner. And trust me, until you get the hang of being a Zombie Hunter, you will scream (while laughing), because that Zombie is nigh unstoppable, and one hit from him or a friendly bullet from your own team-mates will kill you.

First team to 10 kills wins. I don't think I've ever seen a round where the Zombie didn't win, because the Hunters were too busy accidentally team-killing themselves into negative digits while desperately spraying the Zombie with bullets to keep it from advancing as they screamed like cheerleaders.

I've heard of this being played in Halo as well, but there's nothing really "zombie" about Master Chief with a sword.

Tag Team Racing The game is Project Gotham, but I imagine it can be played with any racing game on Live that allows you to use any car of your choosing, and doesn't stop the game when someone reaches first place.

The idea here is that you've got 8 players, 4 teams, all color coded. The two man teams are divided into two drivers: one takes a Mini Cooper (or similar tiny-assed slow car), and the other takes an Enzo (or equivalent superfast car). Only the Minis count towards the lap/position/finish line, and there are no other rules. The Enzos can drive however they like. They can shield their Mini from attack if they want, or they can drive the course backwards and slam into minis or other Enzo blockers head on. It really doesn't matter. The only thing that counts is the color of the first mini to cross the finish line.

Best played with good friends and not a lot of alcohol. Keep baseball bats, knives, and any other bludgeoning tools out of reach.

Battlefield Golf You'll need a copy of BF2 for this, and a cooperative server (preferably one you're running). You'll need to load Sharqi Penninsula (32 or 64) as the map, and set it to 300 tickets so that the game doesn't end before you're done golfing (alternatively you can have someone go out and cap a couple of flags so it's even before you start, and then you won't get flag attrition ticket loss). We ran this one with about 5 guys in it, but really, you can put as many in it as you can manage.

The reason you need to use Sharqi is because up in the NW corner of the map there is a 3 hole golf course. Have everyone meet up at the Clubhouse, and resist the urge to shoot each other. It only makes the golf part take longer, although it can be hilarious at times.

The "good guys" are the tournament officials here. Two guys spawn in on the US side as medics, and drive on out to the golf course. The rest (3 or 4 if you'd like a complete golf outing foursome) spawn at the Clubhouse using the Assault kit (for the grenade launcher), grab some carts Vodniks and head on out to the first tee (it's not labelled, just pick whichever hole looks good to you).

Pick who hits first, and send the Officials (US Medics) down the fairway a bit to spot where the first ball M203 grenade lands. It'll leave a char mark temporarily on the ground, so one of the medics has to run out and drop a medic bag on it to spot the shot landing before the char mark dissappears. Everyone else hits, with the Officials marking the ball craters.

If you run out of M203 grenades, have someone spawn in as a support caddie kit, or one of the foursome can just go commander and drop some crates on the fairway for ball reloading.

Eventually, you get to the green, which is where the fun is had. You can either claim to "lay up" your shot, which is to say you can try to shoot closer to the green without actually hitting it, or you can "go for it." Going for it = trying to hit the pin, and the pin is one of the Course Officials (US Medics). If you're the pin, it's your job to run around like a crazed monkey hopped up on meth, trying not to get hit. Every missed shot is counted towards the hole. The Course Official (pin) MUST BE KILLED for it to count as a holed shot, ending the hole. The second Course Official can run out and rez the pin, or if he's the Squad Leader, the pin can respawn there.

Repeat 'till the round is over, and count up the shots. Whoever wins gets bragging rights, I guess.

Got your own Make Your Own Rules Games? Leave 'em in the comments.

Posted by bowler at July 26, 2006 11:15 AM | TrackBack