Zombie Apocalypse interest check

[MusicNoteAngel]

I have been seriously craving a group zombie apocalypse story. I thought it would be really neat to play it out roughly 1-2 weeks after the out break has started and civilization is quickly spinning out of hand. We would start in the same area, possibly an abandoned apartment building or something to that nature, and potentially create a large group or a couple mini groups.

These would be average humans, no fantasy or super natural elements besides the zombies.

This is a very raw idea right now. I would love if those interested could bounce around more details or suggestions to really help flesh things out. I would think 5-10 people would be ideal.

[PhantomPistoleer]

Interested!

[Oldknight]

I would be game for this idea, seems like it could be really fun

[MusicNoteAngel]

Oh yay! I have been tossing around ideas for zombie biting/attacks. I do not think it would be very realistic if every single person was guaranteed to live without being bitten however I am not sure how to factor that in.

[PhantomPistoleer]

I think that if someone wants to change character, then maybe kill them?

[Antipaladin of Calista]

I'd be interested in this idea as well. What if for the bite/attacks you had a rule where if you are in a situation where it takes a character more then three steps to escape the bite they get hit.

ex: Jack is standing at one end of a hallway with two zombies in it. He moves quietly hoping they dont hear him (1). As he reaches the first one he manages to narrowly avoid it, hugging the wall for dear life (2). As he reaches the second he realizes that he will have to kill it to get past (3) so he pulls out his screwdriver to stab it in the brain (4). He success, but at what cost as the sound of the zombie hitting the ground alerts the zombie from before and in a matter of seconds Jack is pined to the floor with his throat ripped out.

The fourth step killed him since it was over three.

[Rex33]

I'd also be interested, as long as there is still space available

[MementoMori]

This sounds fun.

[insaneplots]

count me in i do have several questions of course.
What area would the building (Country/ State) be in and of course time of year?
Before the major outbreak was there any indication of minor incidents that were covered up by the government?
If we did have time were players able to get enough supplies or could be presumed to have some of the supplies (IE Weapons meant to be weapons and now tool.)

[MementoMori]

MusicNoteAngel: Do you have any specifics in mind?

I hope I am not stepping on any toes, just trying to brainstorm. Here are few ideas:

I think it should start just on the outskirts of a fairly major city, not quite the suburbs, but not downtown either. They would see the full carnage, but be close enough to the edge of the city to possibly escape the chaos. In a place that's temperate. Late spring would be a good time since it would give the characters time to gather supplies, move around before winter locked them in somewhere.

In reply to insaneplots about the indication of the outbreak: Perhaps a character could be involved in the news/govt/military have the inside scoop? Or at least know someone in the news/govt/military that they've heard rumors from? Or perhaps it is first reported as some sort of illness, but it spreads/mutates so rapidly that there is no concrete information?

I also think that the characters should start off with what they have, whether it be from the cars/homes/business/etc, or things they've found. It makes it more exciting if everyone isn't fully prepared right off the bat. It gives the characters a purpose when moving about if they are looking for supplies/weapons.

Just brainstorming.

[insaneplots]

I wasn't saying that everyone is armed and dangerous but perhaps someone is an avid hunter or collector of swords/ knives or a paramedic/ nurse, and one person is ex Military. I know even though not prepared for something like this in real life I could pull a survival kit together out of what I have at hand including at least one firearm and hand to hand bladed weapons (I collect angelsword knives and have a sword and hand ax on my list for next year.)

The problem with a zombie Apocalypse in this day and age there is always a small percentage of people just waiting for it to happen and even if it's not the Zompoc they are prepared for some major breakdown in government and the need to fend for themselves or a small group.

[MementoMori]

Right. I mentioned that perhaps someone could be a part of the government/military, and that they characters should start out with the things they own. Of course that would make some more prepared than others. As long as there is a variety I think it's all good. The characters are survivors so I don't think they're all protecting themselves with corkscrews and butter knives, haha, just not that everyone should have a full artillery at their disposal.

[Blinkin]

While I am exceptionally wary of joining a zombie apoc. game, it's incredibly easy to gather a survival kit with less than an hour's notice, particularly if you are in, or near a city. "real" weapons are usually overrated as guns are without exception pointless when discharging one usually won't kill a zombie and will tell the rest of the horde just where dinner is. But, improvised weapons aren't hard to come by and speaking for myself, give me a half-ass stocked kitchen cabinet of cleaning supplies and I can make about a dozen goodies that'll even make a zombie's day bad. ;)

Sadly, the two games that I have been involved in, by two different GM's both pretty much involved a high... very high mortality rate, constant running and trying to keep your skin in one piece more than actual role-playing. The characters never got so much as a whole hour to gather vitals, much less talk or develop characters... and you never saw just one or two zombies, you always saw dozens and any noise had them on top of you.

If someone can offer me some reason to think that this one may be different, I would be willing to offer up something character wise.

My personal preferences is that no one starts out with everything that they need. If you have a gun or "real" weapon, for example, you're going to be light on something just as vital... be it food, water, common sense... That way, there's a reason for everyone to depend on each other and band together. Part of the setting is survival and that means that you have to work for it.... not that you're sure to die if you slip up the first time, or that a bite has to be fatal, just that you have to think and be creative.

As for the question about bites... make it a percentage thing. If you hit a good enough save, for lack of a better word, you may get sick, but you'll recover. If you don't, you'll get sick and not recover. I have had 4 characters plop down and die over teeth marks that didn't even break the skin... they got bitten. A 5th was killed (twice) because someone thought that she had gotten bitten. The idea is that YOU don't know if you're going to survive or not until the fever breaks and you're not puking your guts out. It adds to the drama and the question, "Do we kill him now, or wait and see?" It brings back some of the moral questions about what's right and what's best.

Anyway, my two bits worth and I'll ask for 10 cents back. ;)

[MementoMori]

Blinkin: I have had the same experiences with this type of thread. While the violence an action are exciting, the characters are what really make the role  play interesting. They need a goal , something they are working towards for an actual story to be present. Gathering supplies, looking for weapons, seeking shelter, trying to find surging friends or family  members those are the things that build a good plot.  Not just running around killing everything, undead or otherwise.

As long as people playing are okay with killing off and rebuilding characters I think your idea about infection would work great. And gives the role play a sense of suspense.

[insaneplots]

With that it can bring in the idea of carriers people not turned into zombies still alive but with the virus in their system they can get others sick and infected they could be carriers and not be aware or were bitten thought they got aware scott free but then end up infecting anyone they would swap fluids with.

or the walking dead approach that every one is infected and if they die with the brain intact they turn.

[Blinkin]

Oh, I don't mind loosing a character if the death means something or is just from my own dumb luck or decisions. It goes with Role-playing. When I said running, I meant that fighting wasn't very common. Every time the party tried to fight even a single zombie, the party either suffered a death, or a crippling injury that had to be cared for. The net effect was that the party moved slower, had less resources and were subject to more attacks. All that they did was run.

Both games started in the middle of New York.... in Summer. Aside from a record breaking heat wave and thousands of zombies running about, there was the threat of the military nuking the city, so the goal was to live, and get out of the city... In a 72 hour period, the partys managed to travel a full 5 city blocks and had 2 deaths. One from an accident, the other from the first dying unnoticed and killing one of the party before it could react... meaniing that both party members had to be killed twice. This was just trying to move without getting trapped by gangs, zombies or looters. They managed to find a vending machine on the first day and were surviving on cheetoes, chips and candybars. Water was from a working spicket in a backyard on the second day. That was all the time that they had to "hunt" for things to survive.

I agree whole heartedly that charcters die. I'm not thrilled about it, but it's part of the setting. I just don't like the automatic death from a bite or always going for the throat. If, for example, the disease's survival rate was... say 25%, someone bitten has that much of a chance of surviving a bite or infection... they just don't know which it'll be until it passes. I like the suspense and the question that every character has to ask, "Do we kill him before he kills us, or will he survive?" There might even a minor immunity given for surviving... it may go to 30% after that. Like getting the chicken pox, once you've gotten it, you can't get it again.

If the game is about the characters, working to survive and achieve a goal, I'll give it a chance. If it's about a hopeless run with no chance of survival, I'll pass.

[MementoMori]

I'm with you Blinkin.

[insaneplots]

I could see a group of maybe five or six they each have a small amount of supplies not enough to survive getting out of town but they can. The theme first figuring out who can do what if they are going to dig in or bug out. Digging in would mean figuring out what's gonna happen. If they bug out where their going. Perhaps a percentage skill system if we're doing a percentage chance system for if you're infected. At that rate you may as well just make it a Dead Reign Game.

[Blinkin]

I dislike the idea of carriers, it means that the PC death rate is going to be closer to 100% as you cannot keep from trading bodily fluids and a carrier will kill just as well as an actual zombie. To add to that, most carriers are immune to the disease, so eventually, the whole world will be either dead or carriers. The dead will die out (pun intended) because no new zombies are being crated because a zombie attack doesn't create new ones. Death rates will return to something more like normal and cremation will become the rite of passage into the underworld... that or a spike into the brain at death. Like most animals, they will not hunt a diseased member of their own kind, so nothing to draw a zombie anyway.

I've seen it played as a weaker version that is something like a bad flu. You get sick, spend several days violently sick and weak and then recover. It's the same effect as surviving a bite, only more random (Like catching a bad cold).

The problem with any kinda skill set is that you either have to decide if it works, or not. You can run a systemless game with only a few "house rules" that the GM rolls a die and settles the live or die thing. It's incredibly easy with or without a system based game to become a "super" character by simply saying, "I can do everything, see, here's my skill list!" I've seen characters like that and it's more of a drain on a game than a help. If you can do everything what do you need us for? Meat shields while you use your amazing skills? It's hard to create a balanced character without a system, but the problem with a system is that everyone has to have access to it (IE, spend money, have time to read a file, deal with experts who work the system for maximum benefit, etc). Freeform gives more freedom, but GM's have to be careful to make sure that each character isn't too powerful over the rest.

For an example, My won skill set(s) include practical knowledge of most forms of construction, procedural law, research, operation of heavy vehicles, gunsmithing, blacksmithing, fensing and melee combat (formalized compitition, but that's beside the point), camping, chemestry, lock-picking, engine repair, and the list goes on and on. I've had a diverse series of interest and professions over 45 years and I'm a natural student. I also speak a smattering of 4 languages, but really only enough to ask for bathrooms, order food and ask how to get from here to there... also the standard greetings and good byes and the ever important, "How much?" On the down side, I'm blind, in not great health and require some very, very expensive medications that are not common in most pharmacies of the world if I want to survive more than a week.

So, what would I bring to a group in a survival setting? Knowledge and practical, hands-on information and the ability to defend myself at close ranges.... but I would be a burden on the group at large because of the physical.

In short, I would be a fairly balanced character, if I were a character. I've seen characters who could do everything I just listed, and more, who is also exceptionally strong, fit and good looking to boot... what's his downside? "Oh... ummm.. wel.. I get hives from strawberries..." or "I'm afraid of monitor lizards." What a balance! ;)