I'm working on a one-shot for my friends based on the game Mall Madness. It's a silly little game where a group of level 10 characters will focus on shopping for a few rounds to try and get magic items that they can use in a boss fight against the "Black Friday", which is functionally just an Adult Black Dragon. I think I've got the core of the concept down, but I'm curious if anyone has any advice to either make the game more exciting, or to simplify things if it's too complicated.
What I especially want criticism and suggestions for are the magic items. The idea is that each store sells a normal item, but each item functions as an existing magic item. I tried to make most of them useful, but a few are deliberate traps. But some of the concepts were had to think of appropriate items for... so let me know if you like this concept, or if I need to explain anything else about it.
Mall Madness
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, as Midwinter approaches. This, the shortest day of the year, is celebrated with the giving of gifts and the sharing of kindness with friends or family. Or at least, that’s what the songs say. All of you know that it means one thing… Shopping! It’s the biggest shopping day of the year, and you’re all competing for one thing… to impress the Princess of Camelot High… Mindy. The Princess asks for only two, simple things… the most expensive product the mall has to offer, and the heart of Black Friday.
Everyone starts the game with $150. To get more money you must go to the bank in the center of the board. As an Action, you can use the ATM… Arcane Teleporter Machine, which teleports a random amount of cash to you from your bank account… roll a d4 and multiply the result by $25.
The mall is crowded, making it difficult to move at your full movement speed. Instead, to move, Roll a d10, then move a number of spaces equal to your roll. You cannot move diagonally at this time.
To purchase an item, you must enter a store and use an action to pay the item’s price. Each store only sells a single item of value. Visiting a store that has already sold its item instead grants a random common magic item for $20, or $10 if it’s on sale. The only exception is if a clearance is at a particular store, in which case a second valuable magic item is available for purchase at clearance price.
Any item purchased can be instantly attuned to if it requires it, and doing so ignores any class or race restrictions. However, any magic item used in combat cannot be given as a gift to Mindy.
At the top of each round, have one player roll a D6. On a 5 or 6, Shuffle the 2 Sale and 1 Clearance markers. On a 2, remove one Sale marker until the markers are shuffled again. On a 1 remove the Clearance Marker.
To Shuffle the Markers, roll a D20 once for each separate marker, placing each marker on the appropriate store and adjusting the price. The Exception is the Arcade and the Food Court. On a roll of 2 the DC for getting a +1 Weapon or Armor in the Arcade reduces to a DC15. On a roll of 1 all players must move to either the Pizza or Ice Cream shops (their choice). The Sale or Clearance Marker is removed until the markers are shuffled again, but everyone gets one free sample.
After each player has purchased at least 1 item, each time someone purchases an item roll a d20. On a 1, the Black Friday appears. If the Black Friday fails to appear, it next appears on a roll of 2 or lower, then 3 on lower, and continues to grow until the Black Friday appears.
After the Black Friday appears, players can continue to shop for more items.
Sounds like a jolly fun scenario @TransmorpherDDS reminded my of the twilightcreations board game extension ZOMBIES!!! 3 Mall Walkers shop till you drop... which made me think one of the mechanics of that game was you draw cards some of which could be beneficial to you ie move twice but also ones to hinder other players, which you could save and play in another player's turn, as well as bad for you or everyone cards that you must play immediately... as your players are competing to get the choicest items maybe something like this would add an extra dimension to the game?
anyways sounds super fun hope you and your players have a fab time
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
This honestly sounds brilliant. Personally: I'd be sure to actually make a battle map for this since geography and movement speeds might actually be pretty useful to have on hand for them to mess with. Come up with some thematic names for the shops. And certainly have at least some variety in each one; even if it's just superficial. Players can get VERY invested in that sort of thing even if it's just a note on a character sheet.
I did a mall adventure for a Christmas one shot a few years ago and lists of magic items was honestly what I spent the most time on.
It was a level 20 one shot, and the goal was that the party had to do last minute gift shopping for a king who forgot to get his rival a gift (potentially threatening war between the two kingdoms). Each player started out with a certain amount of gold and had to search a mall full of all the biggest magic items and had to choose which they judged to be the best gift. To apply some pressure, in addition to combat encounters, I set up cursed advertisements for the different stores, so that when players looked at it and failed a wisdom save, they would be compelled to run to that store and spend X amount of gold there. It was fun as a challenge because, while it takes away from the gold you'll eventually need to buy the expensive gift, you do still get cool magic items from all the shops, and having them randomly foisted on the characters was amusing.
The thing i had fun with was sorting them into different shops. I had a weapons shop, an armor shop, a clothing shop, a potion shop, a lesser artifacts shop, and a greater artifact shop. I had about 15-20 items per shop, though you might have fewer options for items appropriate to level 10.
The other thing I did was I populated the mall with monsters (that had their own business there) and each store had its own challenge/attractions. For example, outside the greater artifact store, there was a Pit Fiend and some other devils picketing the store and not letting anyone in, because their sale of such powerful artifacts was really cutting into their soul bottom line; since people who usually sell their souls for such power can now just buy it in retail. So the players had to defeat the devils or convince them to leave in order to gain access to the best stuff. Or, there was a food court where the menu options were "meat", "vegetarian", "discount "or "spicy". Whatever the players ordered, they would have to kill first. The vegetarian option was two awakened trees (one was a giant carrot and I think the other was broccoli or something), and for the spicy option they had to kill an ancient red dragon. The discount option was that the denizens running the food court would just wrangle up some commoners for them. The potion store had challenge where they could win free stuff by drinking from unmarked bottles and having to deal with the random potion effects, and I think it was the lesser artifact store was staffed by one incredibly rude goblin who was immortal, and resurrected any time the players killed him.
This honestly sounds brilliant. Personally: I'd be sure to actually make a battle map for this since geography and movement speeds might actually be pretty useful to have on hand for them to mess with. Come up with some thematic names for the shops. And certainly have at least some variety in each one; even if it's just superficial. Players can get VERY invested in that sort of thing even if it's just a note on a character sheet.
Oh, when I described it as a "Mall Madness One Shot", I meant in the sense that I'm using an actual Mall Madness board as the map. So don't worry, I have that covered :) It's a fairly small map, all things considered, but at least it's got an upper and lower floor and a few features that can be used tactically.
We had a bunch of delays on this so we only just now finally played this game last night. It was pretty fun, but unfortunately didn't accomplish the effect I was going for.
The idea I had was that everyone would have to tactically decide whether they wanted to use the magic items they purchased in the big fight at the end, but all my players have been really stressed out lately so I lowered the difficulty of the final boss... it was based on an Adult Black Dragon, but dealt less damage overall. So when the "Black Friday" burst into the mall and it turned into a fight nobody even considered using their magic items against it, which kind of defeats the purpose.
If anyone is interested in running something similar, I think you have to really put a wide gulf in the power between the monster at the end and the players. But ultimately everyone had a lot of fun with the game and there were a few moments that had people dying laughing.
I'm working on a one-shot for my friends based on the game Mall Madness. It's a silly little game where a group of level 10 characters will focus on shopping for a few rounds to try and get magic items that they can use in a boss fight against the "Black Friday", which is functionally just an Adult Black Dragon. I think I've got the core of the concept down, but I'm curious if anyone has any advice to either make the game more exciting, or to simplify things if it's too complicated.
What I especially want criticism and suggestions for are the magic items. The idea is that each store sells a normal item, but each item functions as an existing magic item. I tried to make most of them useful, but a few are deliberate traps. But some of the concepts were had to think of appropriate items for... so let me know if you like this concept, or if I need to explain anything else about it.
Mall Madness
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, as Midwinter approaches. This, the shortest day of the year, is celebrated with the giving of gifts and the sharing of kindness with friends or family. Or at least, that’s what the songs say. All of you know that it means one thing… Shopping! It’s the biggest shopping day of the year, and you’re all competing for one thing… to impress the Princess of Camelot High… Mindy. The Princess asks for only two, simple things… the most expensive product the mall has to offer, and the heart of Black Friday.
Everyone starts the game with $150. To get more money you must go to the bank in the center of the board. As an Action, you can use the ATM… Arcane Teleporter Machine, which teleports a random amount of cash to you from your bank account… roll a d4 and multiply the result by $25.
The mall is crowded, making it difficult to move at your full movement speed. Instead, to move, Roll a d10, then move a number of spaces equal to your roll. You cannot move diagonally at this time.
To purchase an item, you must enter a store and use an action to pay the item’s price. Each store only sells a single item of value. Visiting a store that has already sold its item instead grants a random common magic item for $20, or $10 if it’s on sale. The only exception is if a clearance is at a particular store, in which case a second valuable magic item is available for purchase at clearance price.
Any item purchased can be instantly attuned to if it requires it, and doing so ignores any class or race restrictions. However, any magic item used in combat cannot be given as a gift to Mindy.
At the top of each round, have one player roll a D6. On a 5 or 6, Shuffle the 2 Sale and 1 Clearance markers. On a 2, remove one Sale marker until the markers are shuffled again. On a 1 remove the Clearance Marker.
To Shuffle the Markers, roll a D20 once for each separate marker, placing each marker on the appropriate store and adjusting the price. The Exception is the Arcade and the Food Court. On a roll of 2 the DC for getting a +1 Weapon or Armor in the Arcade reduces to a DC15. On a roll of 1 all players must move to either the Pizza or Ice Cream shops (their choice). The Sale or Clearance Marker is removed until the markers are shuffled again, but everyone gets one free sample.
After each player has purchased at least 1 item, each time someone purchases an item roll a d20. On a 1, the Black Friday appears. If the Black Friday fails to appear, it next appears on a roll of 2 or lower, then 3 on lower, and continues to grow until the Black Friday appears.
After the Black Friday appears, players can continue to shop for more items.
Prices
Normal / Sale / Clearance
20. Drug Store
Perfume Potion of Greater Invisibility
$100 $60 $40
19. Men’s Shop
Coat Cloak of Displacement
$120 $90 $60
18. Shoe Store
Boots Boots of Levitation
$90 $70 $50
17. Electronics
Tape Deck Staff of Thunder and Lightning
$150 $85 $55
16. Phones
Telephone Sending Stone
$60 $40 $20
15. Pets
Exotic Parrot Figurine of Wondrous Power
$200 $100 $50
14. Book Store
Art Book Protective Verses
$50 $30 $15
13. Toy Store
Video Game Lyre of Building
$50 $30 $15
12. Department Store
Floor Lamp Sunblade
$110 $80 $40
11. Fashion Boutique
Sweater Robe of Stars
$80 $50 $30
10. Card Shop
Collectible Cards Deck of Illusions
$45 $25 $15
9. Jewelry Store
Earrings Stone of Controlling Earth Elementals
$50 $25 $10
8. Sunglasses
Designer Shades Goggles of Night
$150 $100 $75
7. Record Store
Compact Disc Siren Song Lyre
$20 $15 $10
6. Computer Store
Software Reveler’s Concertina
$100 $55 $25
5. Sports Shop
Tennis Shoes Boots of Speed
$85 $65 $45
4. Camera Store
Pocket Camera Ghost Lantern
$100 $50 $25
3. Kitchen Store
Dishes Ring of Acid Resistance
$125 $75 $35
2. Arcade
Random Prize
DC 10 Ability Check
+1 Weapon or Armor
DC 20 Ability Check
1. Food Court
Food (+3 to a movement roll)
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Sounds like a jolly fun scenario @TransmorpherDDS reminded my of the twilightcreations board game extension ZOMBIES!!! 3 Mall Walkers shop till you drop... which made me think one of the mechanics of that game was you draw cards some of which could be beneficial to you ie move twice but also ones to hinder other players, which you could save and play in another player's turn, as well as bad for you or everyone cards that you must play immediately... as your players are competing to get the choicest items maybe something like this would add an extra dimension to the game?
anyways sounds super fun hope you and your players have a fab time
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
This honestly sounds brilliant. Personally: I'd be sure to actually make a battle map for this since geography and movement speeds might actually be pretty useful to have on hand for them to mess with. Come up with some thematic names for the shops. And certainly have at least some variety in each one; even if it's just superficial. Players can get VERY invested in that sort of thing even if it's just a note on a character sheet.
I did a mall adventure for a Christmas one shot a few years ago and lists of magic items was honestly what I spent the most time on.
It was a level 20 one shot, and the goal was that the party had to do last minute gift shopping for a king who forgot to get his rival a gift (potentially threatening war between the two kingdoms). Each player started out with a certain amount of gold and had to search a mall full of all the biggest magic items and had to choose which they judged to be the best gift. To apply some pressure, in addition to combat encounters, I set up cursed advertisements for the different stores, so that when players looked at it and failed a wisdom save, they would be compelled to run to that store and spend X amount of gold there. It was fun as a challenge because, while it takes away from the gold you'll eventually need to buy the expensive gift, you do still get cool magic items from all the shops, and having them randomly foisted on the characters was amusing.
To generate the shop inventories, I used the Sane Magic Item price guide (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8XAiXpOfz9cMWt1RTBicmpmUDg/view?usp=sharing)
The thing i had fun with was sorting them into different shops. I had a weapons shop, an armor shop, a clothing shop, a potion shop, a lesser artifacts shop, and a greater artifact shop. I had about 15-20 items per shop, though you might have fewer options for items appropriate to level 10.
The other thing I did was I populated the mall with monsters (that had their own business there) and each store had its own challenge/attractions. For example, outside the greater artifact store, there was a Pit Fiend and some other devils picketing the store and not letting anyone in, because their sale of such powerful artifacts was really cutting into their soul bottom line; since people who usually sell their souls for such power can now just buy it in retail. So the players had to defeat the devils or convince them to leave in order to gain access to the best stuff. Or, there was a food court where the menu options were "meat", "vegetarian", "discount "or "spicy". Whatever the players ordered, they would have to kill first. The vegetarian option was two awakened trees (one was a giant carrot and I think the other was broccoli or something), and for the spicy option they had to kill an ancient red dragon. The discount option was that the denizens running the food court would just wrangle up some commoners for them. The potion store had challenge where they could win free stuff by drinking from unmarked bottles and having to deal with the random potion effects, and I think it was the lesser artifact store was staffed by one incredibly rude goblin who was immortal, and resurrected any time the players killed him.
Oh, when I described it as a "Mall Madness One Shot", I meant in the sense that I'm using an actual Mall Madness board as the map. So don't worry, I have that covered :) It's a fairly small map, all things considered, but at least it's got an upper and lower floor and a few features that can be used tactically.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
We had a bunch of delays on this so we only just now finally played this game last night. It was pretty fun, but unfortunately didn't accomplish the effect I was going for.
The idea I had was that everyone would have to tactically decide whether they wanted to use the magic items they purchased in the big fight at the end, but all my players have been really stressed out lately so I lowered the difficulty of the final boss... it was based on an Adult Black Dragon, but dealt less damage overall. So when the "Black Friday" burst into the mall and it turned into a fight nobody even considered using their magic items against it, which kind of defeats the purpose.
If anyone is interested in running something similar, I think you have to really put a wide gulf in the power between the monster at the end and the players. But ultimately everyone had a lot of fun with the game and there were a few moments that had people dying laughing.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium