The Zombie Game

[Edsel]

Last night I had to run another one-shot game for our group since our current GM had gotten boned on his work schedule and was unable to attend. Due to his being absent on Saturday night several other players took the oporturniy to do other things as well. As a result we had a grand total of only four people (myself, Kevin, Audie and Chris).

 

I chose to run a game using the Twilight of the Dead rules. I recommend this website and setting it is very well done. Twilight of the Dead is a Hero System setting based upon the Zombie movies of George A. Romero.

 

Since we only had three players I allowed the characters to be built on 50 points with up to 50 additional points in disadvantages. The normal rules recommend 25+25 but with only three players I figured they'd need the help.

 

Since we all live and play in Oklahoma City, I based the game in Oklahoma. The characters were three buddies on a fishing trip at the beginning of the end. The characters were as follows:

Jack Taylor (played by Audie). An automotive mechanic who has three ex-wives and four teenaged kids aged 13-17 years old living in the Oklahoma City area.

Dirk Humphry (played by Kevin). He is pawnshop owner whose shop is located in Del City on Reno Ave. He is married but has no children.

John Smith (played by Chris). He is a semi-homeless Vietnam veteran who lives in a trailer out behind Dirk's pawnshop. He works for Dirk and provides night security for the shop.

All of these characters are in their early to mid 40s.

 

The scenario was done on the fly since I had no prep time for this. I ran the whole thing on the spur of the moment.

 

The game starts with the three buddies in Dirk's bass boat on Lake Ellsworth (just north of Lawton in Southwest Oklahoma). They are cat fishing. On the boat, in addition to their fishing gear, they have a Ruger Mk II .22-calibur pistol and a Marlin .22 pump-action "gallery gun" rifle. (The guns were taken along as anti-snake/snapping turtle weapons). They have a radio and a cooler full of beer and some sandwiches. They were bright enough to mention that they had a radio, which they were listening to. Their luck fishing is mediocre. It is one o'clock on July 7th, a hot and sunny day.

 

At about one o'clock they hear the first reports of a disturbance in the city of Lawton. Not much just a confused report of some sort of a shooting incident involving a group of people. A little later they notice what seems to be some smoke rising in the direction of the town of Elgin. Within thirty minutes the radio is reporting that some scattered rioting seems to be occuring in Lawton and that the police are encouraging people to remain indoors while the police restore order. At about this time John thinks he hears some distant automatic weapons fire coming from the direction of the Fort Sill Army base. They notice that there seems to be several fires burning in the area as smoke is now seen to be rising from the direction of Fletcher, Elgin and several other points at varying distances.

 

By two o'clock the radio has reported that the violence that has broken out in Lawton seems to be, at least, a regional phenomena since they are getting report of similar disturbances in Oklahoma City, Altus, Elk City, Ardmore and across the state line in Wichita Falls Texas. The three buddies figure they'd better pack it in and head back to Oklahoma City, their homes and families.

 

By a quarter after two they are pulling the boat out of the water and getting the trailer hooked up to Dirk's Ford F-350 Crew Cab pickup. Dirk has a 30-30 M1889 lever-action rifle in the truck. The group has 100 rounds of .22LR ammo and 24 rounds for the 30-30.

 

The reports on the radio are very scary by this point. Roving gangs of people seem to be wandering the streets and murdering anybody that they find. As the group pulls onto the road to Elgin, and thence the HE Bailey Turnpike to Oklahoma City, the EBS takes over the radio station and announces that a national state of emergency has been declared. All National Guard and Reserve military personal are ordered to report to there designated mobilization areas. The three buddies are now driving as fast as they safely can when they approach the Turnpike entrance at the town of Elgin (junction of US-277 and I-44). From the overpass they only catch the barest glimpse of the town. There seems to be a police car stopped on US-277 with its lights on and door open but they see no sign of the officer. Dirk, who is driving, thinks that he saw some lying down behind one of the buildings (he saw them from the knees down). Whatever had been on fire here was now only smoldering so they could not clearly tell what it had been.

 

As they speed northeast past the town of Fletcher they notice that the cemetery seems to be somewhat "dug-up". Perhaps there have been several funerals lately? They see a couple of people slowly walking around on the cemetery grounds. The distance is too great to make out any details. There seems to be a fire or two burning in Fletcher, but they do not concern themselves about this since they only desire to get home as soon as possible.

 

Just as they get past Fletcher the EBS urges all people to not use the interstate highways since they are needed for the strategic movement of official government forces. Reports now state that gangs of people are roaming the countryside throughout the United States killing anyone that they encounter. Scattered reports hint that this may be a global phenomenon. They choose to ignore the advice on the radio and stay on the interstate, passing the next exit ramp a couple of miles past Fletcher.

 

Earlier, Dirk and Jack had used their cell phones to contact their families in Oklahoma City. Dirk found out that his wife had closed their pawnshop and was hold-up in the shop with the doors locked. Jack called his kids. Jack's oldest boy (seventeen) was in his car with some friends, dad ordered him to go home and call his twin sister (who the boy said was at the mall) and tell her to head home as well. Jack's fifteen-year old son was at his home playing video games. Jack told him to shut it off, watch the news and stay put. Jack's youngest son (thirteen) was at Whitewater Bay (water theme-park) and so he had to leave a voice mail for the kid telling him to head home immediately.

 

Just after the EBS broadcast they try their cell phones again to find that all circuits are busy. The radio advises people to find shelter, stay indoors and lock-up. People are asked not to use their cell phones since emergency traffic needs the bandwidth.

 

Approaching Chickasha they see that traffic is backed-up getting into the city. It looks like a police roadblock of some sort. They switch-out drivers at this point since Jack is the best driver in the group. They cross the median and find a place to drive off the highway, through a fence, through a field and then onto a section-line road. They manage to keep from loosing the boat and trailer. They bypass Chickasha and, using section line roads, they make their way to US-277 near Tabler, east of the city. A pall of smoke can be seen hanging over the city of Chickasha, sirens and gunfire are heard in the distance.

 

Their going up US-277 is slower than normal. With traffic being urged to stay off the interstates the two-lane highways are busier than normal. At Tabler they pass a gas station were numerous people seem to be helping themselves to gasoline. The door to the station stands open and there seems to be no attendant. Fortunately Dirk's pick-up has a pair of 30-gallon saddle tanks and a 26-gallon main tank. Due to a lucky die roll, they had topped off all the tanks (86 gallons) just before arriving at the lake.

 

They pass through the town of Blanchard to see that several fires are burning here as well. Gunfire is heard in the distance and several houses have doors standing open. They see people hurrying about and some are shooting at slow moving people down some of the local streets. They aren't able to make out much detail as they speed through the town. As they approach the I-44, US-277 junction north of Newcastle things become much more interesting. For one thing they see a National Guard heliocopter using its M60 door gun to fire at something off east of the highway!

 

It seems that several disheveled-looking people are standing on the highway in the path of traffic. People are swerving to avoid them as best they can. An older white Lincoln swerves into the median and bogs down. Jack, with his high moral code, decides to stop and help. As they stop they see three nearby people start to approach in awkward, shambling steps. As they open the doors to get out they all smell the stench of rotting flesh. One of the pedestrians approaches within three hexes of group and they realize that this person is truly sick (he looks like a rotted corpse). Fearful they order the person to stop and Dirk grabs the 30-30 rifle. The zombie continues to shamble toward them so Dirk shoots the zombie in the chest, knocking it back a step but otherwise having little effect. The first zombie fight begins.

 

Initially there are three zombies close by and the group has one 30-30 rifle, one 22 rifle and one 22 pistol. It takes them a little while to realize that only a headshot will kill the zombies (they role-played this well since of course they knew this all along). They rescue two elderly ladies from the bogged down car but only after one of the women has a finger bitten off and suffers a second bite to her shoulder. Also during the fight two additional zombies eventually get into the action. Three of the zombies are killed. One is shot with a flare gun (they got 5 flares left). Jack smacks one upside the head with a gasoline can. A oncomming car runs over a zombie, failing to kill it, then looses control and rams their parked pickup at about 20 mph. Dirk who is in the back seat firing out the back window at the time, is temporarily knocked out by the impact and take a 3 BODY wound to his left forearm.

 

Eventually they speed away in their damaged, but drivable, pickup with Dirk and Jack in the cab and John and the two old ladies in the boat. Once they get some safe distance they transfer everybody into the cab of the pickup and head onward toward Oklahoma City. Their idea is to drop Mabel and Edith off at the first government strongpoint they get to.

 

They soon realize that another roadblock will prevent them using the I-44 bridge to cross the Canadian River. They exit west onto State Highway 37 and take it to County Line Road and turn north. They cross the river using this, lesser traveled, bridge. They head to SW 29th street and then turn east toward the city. They will then turn back south at May Avenue to 44th street and head east to the National Guard Armory. They will have to pass the Czechoslovakian National Cemetery to do this.

 

As they approach the cemetery they see that numerous cars are stopped and crashed all over the road. About a dozen zombies wander through the wreckage (some are eating). Jack determines that if he drives through a couple of front yards he can make it past this obstacle. He succeeds but they loose the boat and trailer doing this (so much for their fish and cooler of beer and food). A zombie manages to clamor into the bed of the pickup when the trailer catches the corner of a stopped vehicle slows them. After a some frantic shooting they manage to kill the zombie and no one is bitten. I don't think anybody remembered to dispose of the corpse now laying in the back of the pickup.

 

They finally make it to the National Guard Armory which includes 23 National Guardsmen, 6 Hummers with .50-cals., and about a hundred terrified civilians. The 23 guardsmen are commanded by 1st Lt. McKenzie, who is normally the XO of the company, however these soldiers represent all that have shown up. This armory is part of an anti-tank unit so they have a lot of old Dragon ATGMs and such (not really the best weapon against a zombie). Due to the lack of troops here they have been able to distribute some weapons to the able bodied civilians on sight. Each of the PCs is able to get an M1911A1 pistol with 21 rounds.

 

The PCs want to press on to Dirk's pawnshop in Del City but it is now 6:30 and with the chaos on the streets it could be dark before they managed to get there. Lt. McKenzie advises against it. He suggests that they wait until morning. The Armory is a strong point with a guarded perimeter where they can more safely pass the night. Of course inside the armory they have setup a temporary morgue with about 40 bodies! (ought to be an interesting night).

 

The PCs are leaning toward ignoring Lt. McKenzie's advice and pressing on. However this is where we had to call the game for the night. Since it was a one-shot we may never continue this adventure, but we'll keep the characters and this narrative incase we get a chance to continue in the future.

 

Later I may post the HD2 files for the three PCs and the zombie's but right now I have a clogged Kitchen sink to attend to.

[Edsel]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

The attached zip file contains the HD2 file for the zombies and the artwork that I used for them.

 

I am not posting the HD2 files for the three player characters. I doubt that there is much demand for three fourty-something Okie fishermen.

[Eosin]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

Sounds like last night was a riot!

[Toadmaster]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

Good job, love them zombies. Okie bass boat fishing action, zombie-fu, finger biting-fu, AAAARmy training sir... big Ford truck smashing zombies-fu and lost a bass boat full of beer (the most horrifying scene of all). No mention of any nekkid cheerleader zombies but thats what sequels are for.

 

(Apologies to Joe Bob for stealing his schtick)

 

 

Sounds like you guys had some fun, I've been reading All flesh must be eaten, so I'm already in a zombie mood. I wonder when we will see Zombie HERO.

[Edsel]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

Yeah, it was the thread dealing with All Flesh Must Be Eaten that turned me on to the Twilight of the Dead site. It was a blast. Each of the PCs earned 2 XP for their adventure. All of them spent the points buying 2-point penalty skill levels in order to more effectively target the head.

 

They put several holes in Dirk's pickup before they managed to get a called shot on the zombie that had hopped into the bed.

[PaRappaTheRappe]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

I hate playing zombie games. AFMBE was hectic because those dead guys were everywhere, and there was this kind of desperation to our attempt to reach the harbor. Normal joes, no superpowers, zombies all over the place, ugh. GMing it must be fun though.

[palehorse]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

Since we all live and play in Oklahoma City, I based the game in Oklahoma.

 

Hey there neighbor!

 

Sounds like a blast... but of course, when it comes to all things zombie I'm biased.

[ghost-angel]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

I love me a good zombie story!

 

That gave me the creeps as I read it, especially those opening parts where no one is sure what's going on, suspense is one of my all time favorite things in movies and RPGs.

 

 

Thnx for sharing that, very cool indeed....

 

Zombie Movies are one of my favorite genres.

[devlin1]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

You need to see Shaun of the Dead.

[Edsel]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

Shaun of the Dead looks like a riot. I do not remember seeing anything about it before. On the trailer page it lists April 9th (four months ago) as the release date. I don't remember it showing up in OKC. I wonder if it is available on DVD for rental?

[devlin1]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

That was the release date in the UK. It comes out here in the US September 24th. I was fortunate enough to see two advance screenings of it and meet director/co-writer Edgar Wright and star/co-writer Simon Pegg. Definitely see it. It's fried gold.

[Edsel]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

You need to see Shaun of the Dead.

Finally caught this movie last night at the local theater (cinema). It is well worth the price of a matinee ticket.

 

I just found out that our normal GM will not be able to attend tonight's game. This means that our trio of intrepid anglers will continue their flight through zombie land.

 

If I can get the time and get my lazy butt to write-up tonight's adventure, I will continue the above story in the next few days.

 

EDIT: Our GM was able to get free at the last minute and so was able to run our normal Fantasy Hero game. Sorry this means that the story has not yet been advanced so no update will be posted at this time.

[Frenchman]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

What happened to the two old ladies in the boat? Maybe they catch up on foot...

[Guest bblackmoor]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

I've been reading the Zombie Survival Guide lately.

 

Lots of fun zombie-related stuff in this book, including some "case studies" of documented outbreaks of zombie-ness. I don't normally have an interest in post-apocalyse games (they just seem depressing to me), but I think it might be fun to play or run a one-shot zombie "outbreak" game.

[Edsel]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

What happened to the two old ladies in the boat? Maybe they catch up on foot...

Along one of the quiet streches of road they stopped and moved everyone into the cab of the pickup. (Long before they lost the boat). The old ladies (one of who is infected) will likely be left at the National Guard Armory.

 

In a way I kind of look forward to the next night Eosin is unable to run the game. The Zombie game is a blast and takes almost no preperation. Just put hordes of zombies where ever the characters go then sit back and watch the carnage.

[Edsel]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

I've been reading the Zombie Survival Guide lately.

 

Lots of fun zombie-related stuff in this book, including some "case studies" of documented outbreaks of zombie-ness. I don't normally have an interest in post-apocalyse games (they just seem depressing to me), but I think it might be fun to play or run a one-shot zombie "outbreak" game.

 

Yeah I've heard of this book and even looked it up on the web. I may yet break down this evening and order it from bestprices.com

 

I recently purchased the game Zombies, by Twilight Creations Inc. It is a real blast and has only fueled my current Necromania.

[Guest bblackmoor]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

I was talking with one of my creepier gaming friends, and it turns out he read the Zombie Survival Guide recently, too. So I may get to play in a zombie game the next time we get together. Way cool undead carnage. Woot!

[Sketchpad]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

We occasionally play All Flesh (heresy, I know ) and it's usually great fun ... especially when we have body counts caused by other PCs in hystarics And I agree, Zombies! is an awesome game ... I need to get 3 and 4 at some point

[Guest Champsguy]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

Since we all live and play in Oklahoma City, I based the game in Oklahoma. The characters were three buddies on a fishing trip at the beginning of the end. The characters were as follows:

Jack Taylor (played by Audie). An automotive mechanic who has three ex-wives and four teenaged kids aged 13-17 years old living in the Oklahoma City area.

Dirk Humphry (played by Kevin). He is pawnshop owner whose shop is located in Del City on Reno Ave. He is married but has no children.

John Smith (played by Chris). He is a semi-homeless Vietnam veteran who lives in a trailer out behind Dirk’s pawnshop. He works for Dirk and provides night security for the shop.

All of these characters are in their early to mid 40s.

 

...Where do you play? Game HQ?

 

You live in OKC, and you know Audie (as far as I know, there's only one Audie), but I don't recognize your picture. I'm in OKC, and our group has recently splintered. Half the group has been playing up at New World. Anyway, I was just trying to figure out why I didn't recognize you.

[Edsel]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

...Where do you play? Game HQ?

 

You live in OKC, and you know Audie (as far as I know, there's only one Audie), but I don't recognize your picture. I'm in OKC, and our group has recently splintered. Half the group has been playing up at New World. Anyway, I was just trying to figure out why I didn't recognize you.

 

We normally play at my house, which is less than half a mile east of Game HQ. Audie lives about half a mile further east in an apartment. I have a large game room and it beats the crowd and noise of the rooms at Game HQ. I imagine that we are talking about the same Audie since I know he has friends that frequent New World. I have been an active gamer in Oklahoma City since 1970 (I started with Avalon Hill wargames in 3rd grade), but it is amazing how many gamers in the area I have never met.

[Guest Champsguy]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

I haven't actually played in a game with Audie, but some of the people I play with have, so I've heard stories.

[Edsel]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

I was talking with one of my creepier gaming friends' date=' and it turns out he read the Zombie Survival Guide recently, too. So I may get to play in a zombie game the next time we get together. Way cool undead carnage. Woot! [/quote']

 

I just bought this book and am in the process of reading it. It is pretty entertaining so far and potentially has a lot of excellent background. In the Zombie Survival Guide they indicate that the cause of zombies is a virus that they call Solanum. I have gotten the idea, from other sources, that this may be taken from the most recent remake of Dawn of the Dead (just released on DVD). I have not seen this movie yet. Is my guess correct?

 

If you have seen the movie is it a good remake? Worth the money to rent or buy?

[Sketchpad]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

I just bought this book and am in the process of reading it. It is pretty entertaining so far and potentially has a lot of excellent background. In the Zombie Survival Guide they indicate that the cause of zombies is a virus that they call Solanum. I have gotten the idea, from other sources, that this may be taken from the most recent remake of Dawn of the Dead (just released on DVD). I have not seen this movie yet. Is my guess correct?

 

If you have seen the movie is it a good remake? Worth the money to rent or buy?

I saw it in theatres and bought it when it came out last Tuesday ... loved it, have watched it twice and will watch it again tonight

[Toadmaster]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

I missed the Dawn of the dead remake in the theaters but just got it on DVD and it is worth getting, after watching it twice I'm really in the mood for some zombie gaming, just don't know if I can get my players interested in some AFMBE. A couple other fairly recent movies to consider are 28 days later (not to be confused with the Sandra Bullock movie 28 days), Resident Evil and the Night of the Living Dead remake (actually about 1992 so maybe not so recent), all full of zombielific goodness. Something a little disconcerting about the zombies in dawn of the dead and 28 days later is the zombies are fast.

 

Dawn of the dead has plenty of special features on the DVD that would be good for setting the tone of a game including news reports following the spread of the zombies and a short film demonstrating the proper method of dispatching zombies.

[Edsel]

Re: The Zombie Game

 

I think that I'll nab a copy of the movie in the next couple of days.

 

I have found out that our normal GM (Eosin) will be unable to run his Fantasy Hero game during November. Odds are that I'll get to run one or two more secessions of our Zombie Hero game this month. Since we have a good history so far I will take up the action where the last game left off (see the first post in this thread).