ZOMG Zombies!!!

[the_taken]

On the subject of DCs/auto-infect, I think it a lot depends on what kind of tone you want.  If you want your typical D&D-esk hack&slash, then that formula works pretty well.  It's low enough that those with good fort saves should have a good chance of saving, while high enough those with low saves will still fear it.

On the other hand, if you want the tense horror vibe more than the action movie vibe, the auto-infect ensures players take extreme precaution not to get hit at all, and thus are far more likely to run, hide, and so forth.

Only you can know which kind your players would like, since that's just a matter of taste.

The auto-infect will only encourage every character to be a high stealth and agility swashbuckler type.
What if a player wants to be a sumotori ex-girl scout leader with a chocolate mint flavoured chainsaw, avalanching into a pack of undead with reckless abandon, severing limbs and giggling like a psychotic tomato, ignoring the feeble chicken scratches with impudence?

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Yeah, exactly my point TT.  That's why he needs to know whether his players want horror or hack&slash.  I don't know what "sumotori" is, but it sounds like that character belongs in hack & slash and not true horror.

SG, I second the idea of the virus spreading to other creatures.  Perhaps it doesn't happen at first, until it mutates or something.

[the_taken]

Sumotori = Sumo + Tori (which was added because my spell checker is retarded)

[DeeL]

Hey Xathan, welcome back and thanks for the shout-out.  

Teeter-totter, if someone was to resurrect my old ZA thread, it would have to be you.  You have a beautiful mind.

I'm a little late, I know, but I will observe this - mechanically, this is actually starting to look a bit like UrbanDead.  You get infected, you're a mindless zombie, then as you devour the hapless survivors you get faster, tougher, more resilient and more articulate, and your claws and teeth grow more dangerous...

With UrbanDead, of course, you can get cured with a bit of work, but that might actually work in some such setting.

[the_taken]

Hmmmm... Hinting to someone else to do the thread necromancy for you. You are clever and devious. It might just work.

Zombie Apocalypse - I may take a look at this later.

My current zombie fixes are playing RE4 on the 'No merchant Challenge' and the Newgrounds game called Endless Zombie Rampage.

[the_taken]

I think I've created a new form of thread necromancy. Most of the threads I reply to usualy die soon afterwards. I've seen some that lasted for months 'till I posted. Creepy...

[Xathan]

Hah, well, tihs one isn't dead yet.

The first session went really well. We decided to go with a fort save, a sucessful save not representing an resisted infection, but rather a failed bite - the skin wasn't broken, so the infection didn't transfer. So far, the players have encountered both Andrea and Pox - I'll post the full details later on today. :)

[the_taken]

It's been three days!!!

[Matt Larkin (author)]

It's been three days!!!

They might be the slow-moving kind of zombie.  I don't recall if he specified whether they're the fast modern-movie kind, or the slow shambling kind.  You've got to expect it to take longer if they're the slow kind, after all.

[Xathan]

Haha, sorry for the delay. I'll post the write up in a couple of hours - I'm working on it now because I have to game again tonight. :)

[beejazz]

I don't know if you've already covered this, but it might be better to treat the infection as a disease like (IIRC) mummy rot. You keep making saves periodically until you fail. You will become a zombie. The question is when.

Also, with the millitary black ops theme, be sure to leave the occasional high-powered goodies lying around. They might use up their batteries before the session's over, but give 'em lasers. Or the neural interface might go crazy, but give 'em powered suits.

Not every session; just enough to give 'em an incentive to be curious, despite the risks.

[the_taken]

Hand out one suit of reactive armor.
+10 AC for the next 10 attacks, then it's just a Kevlar suit. (Kinda like armor in DOOM, eh? Don't forget the confetti.)

[Numinous]

MESSAGE FROM XATHAN!

Hey guys. I'm running to actually play the game soon. I have the first night's write up 90% done, but trust me, you want me to edit it first. I'll get it and then tonight's writeup done tomorrow and post them - thanks for waiting!

Thank you, that is all...[/center]

[beejazz]

*bump*

Let us know how it went, man!

[Xathan]

Argg! I need to just stop saying when I plan on posting things, so I stop failing to meet said times. Pool opening + sickness + game = no time to post. Now that the busy weekend is over, though, I should be posting in something that, while isn't a regular manner, at least gets to visit a regular manner on alternate weekends with approved supervision. That being said, here's what's up:

Session 2 hasn't happened yet. With only two players, one bailed, and it's pointless and stupid to NPC half your players, so I had to cancel it. It looks like it's going to be wed, but not sure - my players are about as regular and predictable when it comes to game as I am when it comes to posting. Actually, theyâ,¬,,¢re probably worse. However, thatâ,¬,,¢s not what you care about. You want the story, the action, the drama, and I am happy to oblige. This is going to be the detailed summarized version of the story â,¬' once the game is finished, Iâ,¬,,¢m possibly going to write it in narrative format with dialogue and plot and such that just doesnâ,¬,,¢t exist in the game as is.

[note=Why so little on the PCs?] What I give you is the amount of detail they put into their characters. I work with it â,¬' they both usually have well developed characters by session 3, it just takes them awhile to figure out who they are in game. It makes the first few sessions much weaker than the rest of game, but I can deal with that.[/note] We start off with our protagonists, whoâ,¬,,¢s names Iâ,¬,,¢ve misplaced, so Iâ,¬,,¢ll call them by their playerâ,¬,,¢s names for the time being. There is Ted, a city cop stuck on traffic duty on day 0, and Case, playing a female motorcycle enthusiast/mechanic who was on her way out of down on day 0. Case is speeding considerably and drives past our valiant cop, who leaps into actions and pulls her over. She decides not to try and pull a fast one, and lets Ted pull her over. While they talk, a homeless man wanders onto the street, staring vacantly ahead. [note]Both Ted and Case metagame horribly in the first few sessions, so I have to throw red-herrings into the game as much, if not more, than actual leads to increase tension. I scale it down as the game goes on and they stop metagaming.[/note] A few shouts from Ted gets the manâ,¬,,¢s attention, who turns to him slowly and laughs before shuffling off into the night. Frustrated, Ted walks back towards Case â,¬' only to watch an SUV hit the divider and flip. Ted radios for backup as he moves his car to block off the highway, while Case hops in â,¬' she has considerable first aid training, and offers aid in return for Ted letting her off with just a warning. He agrees, and they leap out of the car and walk towards the SUV.

Case clambers atop to the divers side door, seeing the driver, a short-haired woman, sitting in the seat, her neck bent at a fatal angle and her head is deeply gouged. To be certain, she checks the driverâ,¬,,¢s pulse, and determines that yes, she is dead. He climbs down to inform Ted, who radios this new information in. Around this time their backup arrives, Robby Green, a cop fresh out of the academy who happened to be in the area, and his partner Joseph, who sits in the car. Robby looks over and points excitedly â,¬' the woman is standing up on top of the SUV, if unsteadily. Case is stunned â,¬' both in game and out of game, since in game she is rather skilled at first aid, and out of game he knows he rolled a natural 20, which in my game gives you a +5 on skill checks, bringing her total to 33, which is pretty damn impressive even if you arenâ,¬,,¢t at first level. Regardless, the woman turns to them, but her balance is off and she falls over the divider, landing immediately in front of a passing semi.

[ooc]At this point, though neither realized it, they just learned their first important facts about zombies. One is that, upon infection, the subject is comatose and registers as clinically dead for two minutes, give or take, before reanimation. The other is that, upon reanimation, the zombies are extremely clumsy at first, much like a newborn child â,¬' which makes sense, because thatâ,¬,,¢s what they essentially are. (none of the original persona remains) Finally, the broken neck and gouged head indicates that head trauma may not be a sure-fire way to deal with the zombies. They are only going to rarely actually see reanimation, so hopefully theyâ,¬,,¢ll pick up on these facts quickly.[/ooc]

The coroner arrives not long after the fire truck blocks off the other side of the highway, and she examines the body after listening to Ted and Caseâ,¬,,¢s stories. Because their crime scene takes place in the middle of a major highway, she works as quickly as possible. The detectives who arrive ask Case to stay overnight, courtesy of the state, while they sort things out, and Ted goes with the coroner.

Here things start getting strange. The coronerâ,¬,,¢s report is that the head trauma of the crash and the subsequent striking by the semi both happened postmortem, the only sign of premortem injury being a bite wound which, due to bruises on the victims arms and legs which are consistent with grabbing and the location of the bite (At the joining of neck and shoulder) the coroner believes was obtained during a sexual act, likely nonconsensual. Interestingly enough, searching the victims possessions revealed her to be Private Jordan Lynch.  Ted is sent to relieve the detectives with Case, since they clearly have their work cut out for them.

[note=Meanwhile, in the Metaâ,¬Â¦]We take a game break here, and they both let me know theyâ,¬,,¢re sick of plot and ready to get to killing zombies. I decide not to waste time spinning out the rest of the buildup I had planned, and cut to the chase. I really want to run this scenario sometime for a group that cares about more than combat, because I have a lot planned I just canâ,¬,,¢t use with this group, because they wouldnâ,¬,,¢t care.[/note] Ted arrives and talks with Case shortly before a knocking on their door is heard, and a man shout for them to check on the news. There are reports nationwide of riots and attacks that â,¬Å"are like something out of a horror movie.â,¬Â Turning off the TV, someone knocks againâ,¬Â¦and continues to knock, consistently and loudly. Suspicious, they look through the peephole. A hotel maid is standing there, head down, knocking at the door. She doesnâ,¬,,¢t respond to their attempts to talk to her beyond continued pounding, which is seeming less and less like knocking and more and more like attempts to batter down the door. Grabbing guns (Case carries one after a mugging a few years back), they open the door, and the woman attacks. Case shoots and hits her in the shoulder while Ted misses. Cases bullet, however, barely slows the woman down. They shoot again, and the woman hits, managing to grab onto Case and bite a large chunk out of her motorcycle jacket. Case calls a shot to her head and wins the roll, dropping her.

More than slightly concerned, they prepare to flee the hotel, when they hear screams from upstairs. Ted rushes into action gallantly, and Case follows reluctantly, only sticking with Ted because of strength in numbers. They find a man, his fist through a door, attempting to batter it down with his free hand. Shooting him down, they open the door and free Andrea Cross, who will become the third member of their little group.

Thatâ,¬,,¢s what I have for now. If there is interest, tune in next time, in which they observe the state of the city, a cop becomes a criminal, dead bodies both animate and not abound, fortifications begin, a priest turns up at the opportune moment, and the plot thickens.