The Campaign Builder's Guild

to sort of jack an idea from halo, how about a final stage, right before they just starve to death where they becoming ticking viral timebombs, shooting them squirts massive amounts of infected bodily fluids. In essence a zombie hand grenade or suicide bomber.

Also, you could have the initial experimental zombies, the "firstborn" transform into veritable juggernauts, feeding off of zombies and humans alike to add mass and muscle to the point of obscenity.

Lastly, fighting other survivors would be interesting too, not everyone is gonna see survival as a group effort.

just some ideas...

Again, thanks for your ideas, they always help. I like the idea of having almost starved zombies being ticking time bombs, as you put it.

  Perhaps, Starved Zombies just lay or sit on the ground, not making any noise at all, slowly dying. When the starved Zombie is provoked, it goes berserk and attacks anything it sees, running around attacking zombies and humans alike, even ripping through walls.

   Just an idea, maybe i'll add it and maybe I won't.

Okay, just summing up what I have so far.

  Zombie Dogs-Fast yet weak zombies, low to the ground. When they do get attacks in they do alot of damage. Usually are solitary or in groups of 2-6.

  Zombie Shamblers-Slow zombies that are able to take a tremendous beating. Use pack tactics to close in on prey. Headshots are the best way to kill them. Usually found in groups of 3-20.

  Zombie Runners-Fast zombies that can only be stopped by being killed. Are not tremendously hard to kill, a few shots to key points usually does the job. Will stop at nothing to get to prey, found spread out all over until the prey makes their presence known, then they mass together into one huge mob.

  Starved Zombies-Here's my new idea for a zombie. A starved zombie looks and acts like a normal shambler, except it never groups up and will attack any other zombies that provoke it. It walks around, moaning, until provoked. Then goes into a mad rage, attacking and chasing anything around it that moves. Since this includes other zombies, it might be a smart tactical decision to shoot a starved zombie that is in the center of many other zombies. They will chase the attacker until it is killed. It seems much stronger then all other zombies and can rip through walls easily, and can throw things out of its way, run faster and take more hits then other zombies. To prevent every zombie that is deprived of flesh to become this way, maybe this zombie is not lacking food but a different kind of nutrients, or maybe it just died hungry, or had some mental condition. The idea is, though, that it acts like a starving animal.

   Okay, how is that? Any other ideas for types of zombies? I want to stop around four types, because lots of different types of zombies running around kind of diminishes the feel I wanted to go for.

Okay, after some thinking, I have come up with a new zombie. Basically a mundane zombie that has bright red, glowing eyes, and is very skinny. Its fingernails have grown into four inch long claws, and all its teeth into small, razor sharp fangs. It is extremelly fast, can jump high and climb across walls and ceilings. It has a heightened sense of smell, and often stalks and ambushes the PCs. They hunt in packs of 2-3. One may attack the group, distracting them from the front, while two more drag off othe PCs from the back. I haven't came up with a name for them yet, maybe zombie stalkers. What does everybody think of this idea?

They sound perfectly nasty, although pack tactics does insinuate some form of intelligence.

Yeah, but keep in mind that these aren't dead people with no minds, they are infected humans, which means that they still have working brains, but they think like animals that don't feel pain and have a hunger for flesh. So pack tactics could just be a mutation of normal infected instincts.

Here's the links to some cool pictures that give a good idea of what I was aiming for setting wise, they were to big to put on the page.

  http://www.newsgroper.com/files/post_images/post-apocalypse.jpg

  Of course that specific one above shows the city pretty badly destroyed, that would be many, many years after the initial outbreak.


 http://www.anglotopia.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/london-hq-sunny.jpg

 This is one of london, and if there were zombies shambling around, it would be almost perfect.


   

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Okay, here's the zombies I am working on right now. There are five, so that is enough types, but if anybody has ideas regarding editing and changing these five types, i'd love to here them.

                                          ZOMBIE HORDE
  Zombie Dog-Very fast but very weak, zombie dogs strength is in packs. Although they only take a few well placed shots to stop or kill, one of them can knock you down, and then the rest of the pack just gather's around and tears you apart well your on the ground. They usually go for the legs and try to pull you down, and then bite for the neck.

  Zombie Runners-Zombie runners are fast, and somewhat strong. They run fanatically towards any smell of flesh, taking the most direct route, which is often slower, meaning that they tear through walls and floors and climb over anything in their way. However fast and bloodthisrty they are, the only thing they think about is eating, and they do that as fast as they can. This makes them much easier to defend from, because they do not surround or attempt to corner their victims. They are extremelly deadly when they swarm though, and runners in numbers is a horrible thing, because when their is two hundred zombie sprinting towards you and ripping through anything in their way, its not a good thing.

  Zombie Shamblers-Zombie shamblers are much slower then all other types of zombie, which gives them their name, shamblers. But they are more intelligent then other zombies, surrounding their victims and cutting off exits with their own. The only way to kill them quickly is taking their head off, because they can take extreme ammounts of damage. Since they move so much slower, they don't act on instinct alone, and can use strategy to trap and devour their enemy, slowly but effectively. This particular type of zombie shows signs of intelligence, giving hope to survivors everywhere that this outbreak might be stopped, because if the zombies can think when their slower, maybe if their bloodlust is gone they will be able to think and reason like humans again.

  Zombie Brutes-These zombies have somehow become larger and more aggresive then others, and although they have not gained in intelligence or in muscle, they have certainly gained ferocity, attacking anything that looks or smells like prey on sight, not including other zombies. They can bash through walls and throw heavy objects easily, and can crush survivors easily with their extreme energy alone. These zombies hair has also fallen out, leaving them completely bald. They do not hesitate and it seems like they never feel pain.


  Zombie Stalkers-The most feared of zombies, the zombie stalkers have their reputation for good reason. They use pack tactics, and are a mutated version of zombie, more intelligent and more cunning. Their bodies are also mutated. They are very skinny and have very pale skin, and the ends of their fingers have grown into sharp claws. They have blood red eyes that glow in the dark, and have infrared vision. All of their senses are heightened, and their teeth have grown into small, sharp fangs. They can climb extremelly well, and often prefer climbing along walls or ceilings rather then walking. When they do choose to walk though, they are very quiet and can run very fast even for a zombie. These horrid creatures use intelligent pack tactics to send their victims running into other stalkers, and cornering them to tear them apart. These are easily the most terrifying zombis.


        So how does this seem? What changes does everybody think should be made? Any suggestions? Anything out of place, that should be gotten rid of?

I'm trying to think about characters now. I don't want classes or anything like that, so i'm thinking of a system sort of like gurps.

     So a character starts out with a certain ammount of starter points. These are the points used to create the character. You can spend points in categories like occupations (soldier gives you skill with guns and tactics, paramedics and doctors in healing and medicine, engineers in fixing things, etc.) The occupations give you bonuses in the appropriate skills. Then points can be spent in skills, and then starter items. The GM can assign points at any time, for any reason he see's necessary (things such as making good decisions, killing a whole lot of zombies, barracading a house well, etc). This points can be spent in skills.

            You can also spend starter points in base attributes. Everybody starts with eight in everything, and then four points total can be spent raising them where it seems necessary. The reason I want there scores so low is because these are real people, not heroes or anything.

    So far I don't really have any idea what I want to do for health, but I want it to be very low and realistic.

Quote from: SurvivormanZombie Dog-Very fast but very weak, zombie dogs have lost all instincts of non infected dogs, and do not understand pack behavior. Therefore they usually are found away from other dogs, but if there are other zombie dogs there they either ignore them or fight them off for food. Zombie dogs pose the most threat when out in confined spaces, since they are so fast they can quickly corner their prey and attack them. When they do catch their prey, the first attack their legs, pulling them to the ground, and then immediately go to the neck.

These are the only zombies in your setting that have gotten dumber from the transformation. You realize that, right? Dogs without pack tactics or a boost in strength are relatively easy, especially if we're talking household pets unused to real-world running about and hunting. I suggest rolling these guys partially into the stalkers, below, as a pack of wolf-like dogs with advanced stalking techniques would be downright horrifying.

 

Quote from: SurvivormanZombie Runners-Zombie runners are fast, and somewhat strong. They run fanatically towards any smell of flesh, taking the most direct route, which is often slower, meaning that they tear through walls and floors and climb over anything in their way. However fast and bloodthisrty they are, the only thing they think about is eating, and they do that as fast as they can. This makes them much easier to defend from, because they do not surround or attempt to corner their victims. They are extremelly deadly when they swarm though, and runners in numbers is a horrible thing, because when their is two hundred zombie sprinting towards you and ripping through anything in their way, its not a good thing.

You mean they follow the scent, right? There's no magical radar for them to detect the direction of the scent for real. In which case, the only time they would break through walls is if the smell is feeding through an air duct. You might also want to remember that the human body is not meant to dig though drywall, brick, concrete, etcetera with our bare hands, and that these guys, realistically, would be left with stumps for hands after a few weeks of this.

They seem alright, but remember that scent travels, and is one of the most natural, instinctual things we try to cover up to disguise ourselves.

Quote from: SurvivormanZombie Shamblers-Zombie shamblers are much slower then all other types of zombie, which gives them their name, shamblers. But they are more intelligent then other zombies, surrounding their victims and cutting off exits with their own. The only way to kill them quickly is taking their head off, because they can take extreme amounts of damage. Since they move so much slower, they don't act on instinct alone, and can use strategy to trap and devour their enemy, slowly but effectively. This particular type of zombie shows signs of intelligence, giving hope to survivors everywhere that this outbreak might be stopped, because if the zombies can think when their slower, maybe if their bloodlust is gone they will be able to think and reason like humans again.

So they exhibit social behavior? These guys must also be pack-based, as I can't see the reason for hundreds of these guys to surround a single person or two, they'll only feed a tenth of the hunting party, at most. What do these guys do when they aren't hunting?

Quote from: SurvivormanStarved Zombies-These zombies have somehow become larger and more aggresive then others, and although they have not gained in intelligence or in muscle, they have certainly gained ferocity, attacking anything that looks or smells like prey on sight, not including other zombies. Nicknamed starved zombies because of their way of seeming to not eat any of the things they kill, these zombies have somehow gained strength superior to all creatures their size. They can bash through walls and throw heavy objects easily, and can crush survivors easily with their extreme energy alone.

The name really doesn't fit anymore. They sound like beefed up runners, really. What makes them unique other than 'they're bigger?'

Quote from: SurvivormanZombie Stalkers-The most feared of zombies, the zombie stalkers have their reputation for good reason. They use pack tactics, and are a mutated version of zombie, more intelligent and more cunning. Their bodies are also mutated. They are very skinny and have very pale skin, and the ends of their fingers have grown into sharp claws. They have blood red eyes that glow in the dark, and have infrared vision, and the ability to see heat. All of their senses are heightened, and their teeth have grown into small, sharp fangs. Instead of eating their victims flesh, they bite into their victims and extrete some kind of acid through their mouths, turning the insides into a gory soup, that the stalker can drink. The stalkers immune systems cannot process solid food. Victims of a stalker look like dried up husks of human bodies.
    Stalkers hunt their victims, prefering buildings or city blocks or other places that allows them to use their pack tactics to hunt their victims. They hunt in palcs of two to five, and use teamwork to bring down their prey, something unheard of in zombies. They also seem to have a pack hierachy, as a specific member of the group eat (or rather drinks) first.

infrared vision IS heat-vision; heat is measured via that band of energy. Eyes that glow in the dark are useless, as they can't see anything. At best, they're highly reflective. Immune systems don't process food, their digestive systems do. Pack tactics aren't unheard of, as these guys use them. Personally, I'd scrap these guys. They sound like a weird mix of a vampire and a spider. Roll the pack bit into the dogs, where it makes sense.

Good call for the zombie dogs. I'll make them pack based.

You are right about the starved zombies. They are really just buffed normal zombies. Maybe i'll change their names to zombie brutes, or something like that.

  As for the stalkers, you have no real argument as why I should get rid of them other then you think they are wierd. I'll probably get rid of the whole melting inside to drink think, it was just a random spark of creativity that wasn't originally intended.

 

I've decided to go with Gurps for the official system, just so I wouldn't have to create one from scratch. I only have Gurps lite, so its not the really advanced rules or anything. Here's the link to gurps lite  http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/lite/3e/gurpslit.pdf.

   It is set in the near future, so tech level is 7 (modern).

 There are two races: immunes and semi-immunes.

   Immunes
 Immunes are immune to all affects of the infection, and are basically just normal humans. They are just like any other dude. Has all the normal attributes of a human.

   Semi-Immunes
 Semi-immunes are immune to most of the effects of infection, but not all. This means they have some mutations. They are treated as normal humans, but they may choose advantages and disadvantages reserved for only semi-immunes. Their looks are also altered by the advantages and disadvantages, which will be stated along with them.

                         Semi-Immune Advantages  

  Claws         5 points
  Your unarmed melee attacks always do
+1d damage. Pyschical Alteration: Fingernails have grown into sharp claws

  Infravision   15 points
 You have the ability to see in the dark for a distance of thirty feet.
Physical Alteration: Eyes glow red in the dark.

  Infected Speed   5 points
 Your speed is multiplied by 2 because of infected traits.
 Physical Alteration: Large bruises all over the body.

  Infected Resistance     20 points
 Your HT score goes up by four.
 Physical Alteration: Gray or starch white skin

                      Semi-Immune Disadvantages

     Infected Rage     -15
  You have an uncontrollable temper. You always have a -4 on NPC interaction.

     Bad Smell    -5
  You have an odor of rotting meat hanging around you. You always have a -2 to NPC interactions.

  I'll add more when they come to me.