When I started Doomtown I was not sure what FRC was after but I liked them cuz evil circus performers! After reading the flavor text and cards of sets I had and didn’t have I got the impression that Ivor had a rather sinister goal but he died in Showstopper and his plot was so not what I had in mind.
Sure he had some zombies (kinda what I thought) but after reading some stories on AEG plus the Saddlebags I got this was what I had in mind.
Ivor is a demon with the circus either demons in humonish form or people who sold their souls to him under his command as he plays as the diplomatic deal with the devil angle. His plan was to destroy the town with a plague he created and unwittingly to Ms Morgan had control over. This would slowly kill the town and he would provide a ‘cure’ made by one of his minions (The barker from Light Shineth…?) that would then instantly kill anyone who took it so he can absorb their souls become a demi god and send Gommara to literal Hell and unleash the end of humanity. Him blowing up the place and having a zombie army not what I had in mind…
@Balder from Doomtown Reloaded’s story team was kind enough to do a (huge) Q&A thread, linked below. This helped give closure on various plot elements, gave deeper information on various characters and maintained enthusiasm while the game moved from AEG to Pinnacle (unknown to most of us in the thread, including Balder!).
Your man Ivor Hawley gets a few mentions in the thread, as does the future arc for the Fourth Ring. We’ll have to see what direction Pinebox Entertainment takes the faction in!
Too bad he’s dead I was hoping he’d just have to come up with a Plan B but I guess even with my idea or some varation of it he’d have to die but.
Demon of Deception:
10 cost, 4 Upkeep.
Influence 2
Stud/Bullet: 1
Abomination, Huckster 2
Effects: Treat this as Ivor Hawley, When this enters play unboot all Abominations you control. If this is a shooter and you win the shootout make a huckster check if you win by 5 or more against aced dude gain Ghostrock equal to half their grit rounded down. This can’t equip guns or horses.
“Now for my greatest TRICK!!”
Was hoping something ridiculous like this in Showstopper or Curtain Rises(?) (whereever this card my avatar is on)
I’d like to have seen a “raid”/boss style deck like some other card games have done, where one or more players can play against a specific over-powered deck with specific overpowered cards. A super-charged Ivor would have been perfect for this - it is a good way of making a thematic scenario without printing a card that breaks the game. Special scenario rules (dudes starting with special attachments/extra resources etc) have been a good halfway house in the past - it lets you print the cards in a balanced way for general use and power them up in the special scenario (the Warlord CCG used this trick well).
Harrowed entertainment were/are working on this kind of thing, check out their facebook page below and look for posts about “Kingdom Come”:
I saw Curtain Rises at Origins AEG booth and was like “Oh HELL YES!!!” Nope no Experienced Level 2 Ivor as the freaky badass demon I was like “Welp screw this.” And didn’t see Unstoppable.
Also I felt Ghost Town was going to be about an abandoned town away from Gomarra and involve new Ghost keyword for Dudes… AEG made so many dissapointing choices that or I read way too much into things
Ivor’s plan was something like that, from what I understand. The explosives and zombies were his backup plan that he was forced into enacting after it was discovered he and the circus were up to no good.
I thought this worked well - made the heroes and villains both seem competent, particularly with the massive body count Ivor Hawley and his minions were able to inflict on named characters. Victories mean more when come at a cost.
Splendid thread linked below tracking the body count, including how various characters perished: