Night of the Living Dead...

[Col. Orange]

Okay, our Heroes (non-super) wake up in a hotel room with no idea how they got there. The power is out and only emergency lighting is in effect.

Drawing weapons, they grimly look at each other before stepping out to the corridor. Nyarg! Fifteen newly-deads shamble towards them!

After realising the futility of pumping round after round into the zombies' decaying flesh (like they're gonna be thinking about whether the GM is tracking damage... hmm), they flee.

In their terror they become separated, and the team ninja finds himself in a dead end with a veritable horde of undead shuffling towards him. After firing his twin Uzi’s until empty, he draws his katana and starts the bloody task of hacking the two dozen remaining zombies apart. It is a valiant effort… but ultimately, futile. The army of corpses press forward regardless of his attacks, until he has no room to dodge, no room even to swing his sword…

 

 

“Very nice my dear Colonel, but what IS your question?â€

 

Huh, yeah. How do I run this in a Hero game? Way I read it, ninja ends up standing in one hex hacking away with his high OCV at low DCV zombies while the zombies hope to roll 3 or 4 when they attempt to grab him.

Doesn’t seem right, or at least breeds zero drama. How to solve it though…

 

 

1) Move through? If there’s no-where else to go, where do you end up if you miss with a move through? Hell, can an enemy who REALLY doesn’t care about damage just move into your hex (maybe with you getting a free attack)?

 

 

2) Zombie “shoves†the Zombie in front of him? (Using Throw mechanics? Don’t fumble a STR roll (Zombie being shoved isn’t resisting)) As an AoE attack?

If so what damage should it do? Grab damage? If so)?

Should the player get a Dive for Cover roll, given that at this point the only free hex will probably be the one the Zombie just left?

 

 

3) Something I’ve missed? (“Something not IN the plans…â€)

 

 

Hey-elp!

[Tom McCarthy]

I't s not necessarily kosher, but you could give zombies the Multiple Attacker bonus, or surround the PC with enough of them that someone gets a shot from behind.

 

If the zombies are grabbing, then when one of them does get 3 or 4, it may be much worse than just landing a blow. 1/2 DCV target for the rest of the zombies is bad news.

 

Alternatively, maybe the zombies have levels with grabbing blades and impaling weapons since they don't mind trapping the blade in their own flesh. Once disarmed, the ninja will probably be at a real disadvantage.

 

Maybe create Zombie Fu. Buy martial arts maneuvers which are heavy on DCV penalties or elements where the attacker falls. The zombies don't mind if one or two of them fall, so long as their dinner is also prone, damaged, or at a disadvantage for the rest of the horde.

[Col. Orange]

Originally posted by Tom McCarthy

It's not necessarily kosher, but you could give zombies the Multiple Attacker bonus, or surround the PC with enough of them that someone gets a shot from behind.

 

If the zombies are grabbing, then when one of them does get 3 or 4, it may be much worse than just landing a blow. 1/2 DCV target for the rest of the zombies is bad news.

 

Alternatively, maybe the zombies have levels with grabbing blades and impaling weapons since they don't mind trapping the blade in their own flesh. Once disarmed, the ninja will probably be at a real disadvantage.

 

Maybe create Zombie Fu. Buy martial arts maneuvers which are heavy on DCV penalties or elements where the attacker falls. The zombies don't mind if one or two of them fall, so long as their dinner is also prone, damaged, or at a disadvantage for the rest of the horde.

 

Multiple Attacker bonus - Will look it up, sounds right on.

Zombies Grabbing - it's the relying on getting the 3 or 4 that gets me down.

Levels w/Grab - they have 1, I have a hard time justifying more than that to myself when they only have 5 INT.

Zombie Fu - Buffy! Nah, it'd really P.O. the players. 'Sides, even with +2 OCV, they're probably still gonna need 3 or 4, especially if Ninja starts parrying.

 

Ta!

[Yamo]

I solve this buy having the PCs for such games built on 50 total points or less.

 

Much easier for zombies to maul them when DCVs rarely top 4 or 5.

[sbarron]

Re: Night of the Living Dead...

 

Originally posted by Col. Orange

...Huh, yeah. How do I run this in a Hero game? Way I read it, ninja ends up standing in one hex hacking away with his high OCV at low DCV zombies while the zombies hope to roll 3 or 4 when they attempt to grab him.

Doesn’t seem right, or at least breeds zero drama. How to solve it though…

 

I agree with Yamo. Generally, full-on Heroes don't have problems with run-of-the-mill zombies. Characters portrayed by Bruce Willis, Arnold, Jacky Chan, or any ninja with twin uzis would make short work of hordes of zombies. Characters of this caliber are too powerful for slow, undead types. Most zombie horror involves a bunch of no-name high school kids, or yuppies, or something other than highly trained, highly experienced, and well armed Heroes.

 

In order to make zombies scary, your PCs have to be weaker than 150 pts. Way weaker. Either that, or make your zombies tougher, with things like the afore mentioned zombie fu, teamwork, etc.

 

There is a genre for bad ass heroes whooping hordes of zombies, and if that is the type of game you want to play, go for it. But if you want the PCs to be worried about fighting low level enemies, you have to create them at a point total where they should be worried.

[Talon]

Or make them ninja zombies.

[Tempuswolf]

Environmental Conditions: Cluttered, Cramped (cuts both ways though), Attacks from Behind, and as mentioned before Multiple Attack Bonus (w/ a some low chance of Co-ordinating attacks, maybe 8- or target character's Unluck).

 

Another option might be to use the Hero System Bestiary rules for swarms and attack as a Zombie Swarm if you don't want to power down your heroes or power up your zombies.

[Captain Xenon]

first of all, zombies are automatons. they take no stun. they will usualy lose parts when you hit them for damage however- but losing a head dosent stop em.

 

id say give em a def of about 6. so you need a shotgun or axe to really hurt them. damage reduction (only versus bullets) may be a good idea as well.

 

so here you have a horde of mindless automatons that shrug off a lot of damage. their moves should be grab-and-bite. bite should be an HKA, possibly a variation of the martial killing strike. so about 1d6+1 killing bite. Unless their legs are wounded, they should have full move. once they scent prey, have them to a noncombat move-through at the target. flying body tackles on the pc, grab and bite. a bunch of flesh-eating zombies moving at about 12" will put fear into the players hearts.

 

the key thing, is not to let the players know what the zombies real stats are, and to keep em coming. for best effect, you may want to vary the segments that your speed 2 zombies can act on (some of em hold their turn). getting attacked for all 12 segments of a turn will freak those munchkins out.

 

automaton(45 pts), def 6 (+30), killing strike(bite), martial grab, choke hold (11 pts), damage reduction 50% (only vs bullets)(15 pts), dex 11 (cv 4), comliness 3, int 3, str 23. 100 points before disads. with distinctive features, reputation, social and mental disads, and maybe a vunerability depending on type of zombie. 0+100 disads total.

 

id say start with just one zombie. as soon as the players down it, have a dozen more arrive.

[SuperPheemy]

for best effect, you may want to vary the segments that your speed 2 zombies can act on (some of em hold their turn). getting attacked for all 12 segments of a turn will freak those munchkins out.

 

That is so cool! You are now my hero (well at least until football season starts.) I think I'll apply that little trick to goons as well, just to keep the PCs honest.

[Herolover]

One of the things that most people overlook in HERO System, both players and GM's, is the held actions. Let me tell you it can work wonders for heroes and villians.

[Col. Orange]

Thanks all for your suggestions. Here's what I came up with after many minutes of furrowed brow (WARNING: We're entering "House Rules", something I'm rarely happy about).

 

When a characters tries to enter a hex occupied by another character, the defender has two options:

1) Retreat. Uses up a half phase but automatically moves them a hex backwards. A maximum of Run/2 or Flight/2 (or Swim/2 if in water) "Retreats" can be made but no matter how many you make it still costs only half a phase.

2) Shove back. Opposed STR rolls, defender at +2.

 

While two characters share a hex they both suffer several penalties due to the confinement:

1) DCV is lowered by two.

2) The Damage Class of muscle powered weapons are lowered by one.

3) When using weapons larger than a pistol or knife, OCV is lowered by two.

 

Any thoughts?

[Publius]

Holding actions.... DO'H! why didn't I think of that? When I do Zombies I give them interesting little abilities that we well know from Horror flicks:

 

Um....where did he go? Teleportation, with the limitations "must move through intervening space" and "can only teleport when no one is looking at them or the place they teleport through/to". This is how the shambling horde closes the gap between themselves and the hero so easily even though they are apparently moving at a slow walk. Alternate name: Never turn your back on the dead

 

Death Comes on Silent Feet Invisibility to sight and image groups, only in deep shadow and cannot use during combat. Because they come up from the darndest places sometimes. Alternate Name: "Got'cha!"

 

If they can use the Teleport ability and the invisibility it really keeps PCs on their toes. Even 150 point characters get a little jumpy with this one, esp. if you give them a major transform effect for any zombie bites or scratches that infect the PCs with a zombie disease bwaaaahahahahaha

 

In the specific case you mention (Ninja type knows darned well they are coming and is not going to look elsewhere), I can see how you might give the Zombies a special OCV bonus that only functions when they work in concert with one another as an ability: Corpse Corps OCV Bonus +Whatever, "Only works for a single member of a group of 3 or more Zombies in close combat with victim er... target" This way there are multiple attacks with bonus for groups of 6, 9 or 12 of them.