Night of the Living Dead turns Post-Apocalyptic

[Remjin]

Hello everyone,

 

I've just been thinking about converting a campaign idea I had originally written for d20 Modern (since I couldn't find any people to play Hero with me at the time) to Hero. Mechanics aren't hard, so I'm not asking about that... though ideas on that are interestingly different are good.

 

Now, this isn't happening anytime soon since the two groups I'm involved in are currently supers games (one Champions, one Heroes Unlimited, not too keen on the 2nd one... ) with the Champions group having mostly "usually the GM" types playing. I'm content and happy to just play in their games as they come up since everyone in the group seems to have a fair bit of talent for such things. The group playing Heroes Unlimited, however, could go for this, as I don't see a whole lot of talent there and I'm happy to run episodic, short-run campaigns. Also, one of the players is biting at the bit, HARD, to run some kind of game... which is also fine with me, though I have little confidence in him for more personality reasons rather than from previous experience. IN ANY CASE (sorry, I tangent way too easy)...

 

The basic idea behind the game is nothing new or ambitious in concept. The players will play normals, or versions of themselves if they prefer, with low overall point values. Perhaps they can play "idealized" versions of themselves, doesn't really matter. They're gonna be normals or some sort. =)

 

Of course, the zombie plague breaks out, slowly but with logarithmic growth, and the players must strive to survive, as per the usual genre conventions. Nothing new there. Now, here's where I'd like some suggestions, as that simple concept will probably last several sessions via survival, resource gathering, understanding, and the what-nots of players able to enjoy whatever chaos they wish to undertake.

 

As I plan on this happening, and there hopefully being a continued game AFTER the "apocalypse" of zombies wrecking the earth, what else to make this game go beyond the usual horror flick?

 

Changes I'm implementing to try and retain some level of "what-the-heck is going on?!" feelings of confusion and not knowing what to do...

 

- basic zombies use only the Medulla Oblongata (sp?) or lizard brain, thus the forehead shot everyone will try will rarely work. I'm figuring beheadings will become the norm, or very specifically targetting that part of the brain.

 

- addition of different types of zombies, thus not everyone becomes the same old thing over and over. Additional types include fast zombies, intelligent zombies (perhaps retaining their personality), and whatever other variant comes up as interesting.

 

- allowing plain ol' blasting the thing to shreds (doing enough Body) works just as well, if still a bit hard on the resources.

 

- not giving a reason why this is all happening and allowing the various sources of panic and confusion within society (e.g. government, religion, selfish people, morons, hate groups, or anything established) confuse the issue more.

 

For a later plot-point is the influence of the actual reason this has happened, and why some of the old rich and powerful are still fine and alive and seemingly in on it...

 

I figure that once past the whole "get stuff, survive, find food and water, establish some order" phase is complete, then the post-apocalyptic part really starts in. New societies, cultures, moral dillemas and frameworks, etc.

 

What I'm really looking for is good ideas to fit the genre, other story elements and what-not i could include, good ideas for some of the horrors that await the players, things of that nature. Any constructive contribution is a good one, I think. I've written over 30 pages of stuff from news-cast contents to random lists of story elements that could come into play are, etc.

 

The way I'm running this game is completely open-ended. I only script the major events that move the world on, NPC actions and plots, locations, things outside of the PCs and their direct environment. While zombies may be coming from all over to congregate at the Mall (ala Dawn of the Dead), it doesn't mean the PCs have to be there for it. Thus, I'm looking more for things outside of railroading the PCs and all that. I'm mostly interested in seeing what the PCs would do in a situation like this.

 

Since they're starting out as normals with probably no overtly relevant skills, and thus no combat monsters and such, I'll be giving out a few extra poitns a session to represent the survival instinct kicking in and the quick lessons of going from ambulance dispatcher to zombie plauge survivor. Afterall, shooting a few hundred rounds in the stress of survival instinct should get them better at shooting pretty quick, etc.

 

Thanks for taking a look!

 

Responses from nuclear powers affecting the world and

[Sketchpad]

Re: Night of the Living Dead turns Post-Apocalyptic

 

Something that could be interesting and provide some variety is to have the plague affect other creatures differently. Sure, a human may become zombie-like, but what about those dogs? Or a bear? Maybe the virus mutates them differently ...

[Remjin]

Re: Night of the Living Dead turns Post-Apocalyptic

 

I thought about that, and its certainly a possibility, but I worried about eventual world ecology changes and the food change and such... and what if the game actually runs on for a really long time? What are the guys gonna do, go vegetarian? Ewwww... =) Maybe if only a minority were infected somehow, and only later, as a sort of later mutation. My original idea for why the plague begins is due to an incredibly expensive treatment to give people a sort of immortality, which ends up kind of creating an underground society of the rich and powerful... but somehow gets loose in a raw form that creates the current situation. Or possibly having it be on purpose, as a form of elitist plot or something of that nature. I hadn't really decided yet, and wanted to keep it all mysterious and vague to the players anyway until they reach quite heroic levels of experience. =)

 

Oh, and I also worried about making it too much like Resident Evil... I want to keep the flavor relatively simple, though your idea does make sense, I'm just not sure about it yet. One of the campaign elements I want to delve into is the moral question within the question of the undead... with varying degrees of awareness, its got to become a question.

 

I'm hoping that I'll have a chance to insert a scene involving something the guys can sympathize with, whether it be a girlfriend or child, perhaps a parent, even, who is undead yet aware. No different, just undead, and with the oddest craving for a certain kind of meat they can't quite figure out yet... and hoping that dilemma will play out in a dramatic fashion. Imagine fighting your companions over whether or not to cut your mother's head off while she's baking you cookies, or worse yet if your mother were involved in the conversation, with the expression of her own dilemma in BEING undead. Perhaps she was a devout christian/jew/muslim/buhddist/Wiccan/etc. How does SHE feel about it? Hmmm... this might make for a good argument on why not to have players run themselves, so I don't have to try and match their actual family... =)

[Toadmaster]

Re: Night of the Living Dead turns Post-Apocalyptic

 

Watch Land of the Dead, it is pretty much what you are describing, small communities of humans living in fortified cities to keep the zombies out and raiding dead towns for supplies.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Night of the Living Dead turns Post-Apocalyptic

 

I think you'll find some useful suggestions and guidelines, as well as fairly thorough HERO mechanics, on William Mistretta's excellent Twilight of the Dead website.

[Remjin]

Re: Night of the Living Dead turns Post-Apocalyptic

 

I've seen Land of the Dead, and it may become a model for some of the civilizations AFTER the apocalypse. I'm wondering more on ideas for dynamics to introduce outside of the usual cannon of films, or from films a bit less popular than those by Romero. =)

 

Thank you for the link, I'll definately be checking that out. Looks like somethign to add to the usual rules, just hoping all the creative folks here can give me something outside of the norm and some suggestions for character, plot, or environmental ideas beyond the norm.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Night of the Living Dead turns Post-Apocalyptic

 

Understood. Still, if you check Mistretta's site under Chapter IV, "Survival Horror Campaigns," and Chapter V, "Permutations," you might find some fresh ideas.

 

Zombie survival horror isn't my thing, so I'm afraid I'll be of little further help to you.

[Remjin]

Re: Night of the Living Dead turns Post-Apocalyptic

 

That's okay. I just got done reading the whole thing. Very interesting stuff, and some very good points. Most helpful, thank you very much for giving me the link!

 

Mostly I liked his thoughts on maintaining the mood and other such elements. His whole modification of the genre to various power levels, environments, and such was good but not relevant for what I want. A lot of useful stuff, a lot of stuff I'd already considered, but all good. Excellent. Repped ya. =)

[Toadmaster]

Re: Night of the Living Dead turns Post-Apocalyptic

 

I forget to mention the Zombie Survival Guide, you might find a number of interesting ideas and its a fun read.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400049628/sr=8-1/qid=1155784747/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-9950955-6653567?ie=UTF8

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Night of the Living Dead turns Post-Apocalyptic

 

I forget to mention the Zombie Survival Guide, you might find a number of interesting ideas and its a fun read.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400049628/sr=8-1/qid=1155784747/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-9950955-6653567?ie=UTF8

 

Beat me to it. That book is a pocket sized complete campaign setting, just add system.

 

Repped for beating me to the punch.

 

Oh, and to Remjin...

 

Seach the term Zombie and you'll find a fair number of threads on the subject. It's a neat genre

[Remjin]

Re: Night of the Living Dead turns Post-Apocalyptic

 

thanks, guys, most helpful. I completely forgot about the search function.

 

and if that book is what I think it is... I've been wanting that. excellent.

[Sketchpad]

Re: Night of the Living Dead turns Post-Apocalyptic

 

Another game that could provide convertable material is "All Flesh Must Be Eaten" by Eden Studios. The game is the go-to for Zombie Survivor Horror .. good stuff

[Remjin]

Re: Night of the Living Dead turns Post-Apocalyptic

 

Shoot, I almost bought that game JUST for the awesome title. I didn't even look inside it until I had been ranting and raving about it for like 15 minutes... =)

 

Alas, it was too pricey for such a small book that I would never use... but that reminds me, perhaps I can find it used and unwanted somewhere. =) I'd like to own it for its title alone, but the contents make me curious. What little I saw didn't impress me, overall, but great genre book it seemed, as you suggested!