Zombehz - OG Myth-Weavers

Notices


Gaming Discussion

For all things gaming related.


Zombehz

   
Zombehz

Yes so, in a fantastically great choice I decided to place my latest group of adventurers in the middle of a viral zombie pandemic. I've given them immunity to the disease so they dont lose their characters inside 5 minutes of being bitten. In addition, I've decided to start them out at level 2.

I've made it nigh impossible for them to follow their "commando" instincts of "kill everything" by making the zombies respond to the moaning of other zombies as a signal that they found food.As you can tell this is semi-horror setting at the moment seeing as how they truly cannot survive an extended encounter against the undead hordes. It's been awesome so far but I know that eventually they will be able to start to hold their own against the "standard" zombies and hope to come up with a plan for bigger badder mutations of the virus on individuals people.

I've been using a little bit of the variant rules found at D&D wiki (cant post link yet) and plan to use the 'mutation' aspect as it was presented... however... I was wondering if anyone has any particularly malicious ideas for me to throw at my PC's. Whether they are the kind that the players can defeat or if they need to run I dont particularly care just as long as they've got a good flavor. (please no l4d zombehs.)

One possibility is not to level them up, or at least slow their advancement so that the common zombie is always a threat for them. However, that does have the possibility of getting boring. Perhaps you can also refluff other low-level enemies as zombies to give them other enemies to face. Change up their equipment regularly to give them different challenges as they go forth. ("Okay, we're out of ammo, but we have two machetes, a replica sword, and a baseball bat." "We have plenty of ammo, but we're down to the last can of food, and there's a hundred zombies between us and the nearest stock of food." "Hey guys, I found an RPG!")

Have you already presented it as a virus? Is there any way to change it up?

You could make a pack of zombies into a swarm. Scale size appropriately to PC level. Gives much flavor to the 'unrelenting horde'.

What about a zombie rust monster? A mutation, if you will, that has made one zombie very large (perhaps with rusted iron absorbed onto his epidermis) and capable of disintegrating metals with a touch. No barricade is safe, no vault door is strong enough to hold Rusty at bay.

You could throw in additional challenges. What if all the nuclear power plants weren't shut down? At some point, the cooling water evaporates and the plant overheats. Adds a panic element to the whole business. A zombie attack is serious business. A zombie attack in Chernobyl? Hoo boy.

Along similar notes, you could add in any number of threats that come about as a result of a destroyed society. Zombies are bad, but gangs of starving survivors that apply their brains in a way zombies can't, to get the PCs' stuff (and perhaps attempt to eat the PCs?). Hordes of the dead bring throngs of vermin. Insects, disease and miasma proliferate. Rats eat the insects and the dead. Then dogs eat the rats. (That's what happened at the blast site of Chernobyl, which is currently ruled not by rats and cockroaches, but feral dogs). Maybe they carry the disease. Maybe not.

What made the PCs immune? If it was a doctor or (perhaps without their knowledge) a vaccine years prior, maybe government spooks could chase them down to recover the cure. Picture russian special forces using an RPG to blast down the PC's anti-zombie countermeasures, forcing the PCs to make a choice between a life as a guinea pig or the zombies that are now free to attack.

Something i did is similar to a "Mutated" Zombie. I was recently running a zombie game till I get a new job which killed my time, and in this first encounter(As this group was an elite force they fought bigger,tougher enemies) I used something that resembles a giant mass made of flesh.Sure it has arms,Eyes,mouth, a nose, but it's like an over sized Frankenstein monster. They never got to see what it could do, but I had this thing able to bash, throw, eat, and destroy anything.

I.E Big Frank comes in with a small horde of zombies next to it, players are a good 50 or 60 feet away, no cars, building chunks, or rocks next to Frank, so he picks a zombie up and chucks it....Ouch. Zombies(Well most) only die if they get there "brains" destroyed. So picture this massive walking flesh thing, chucking some mobile missile at you, hitting someone, and this missile begin eating your partners leg or body.

Door of heavy metal in the way? Common zombies can't break it down? No problem, ol' frank will just punch a whole through the wall. And if he does manage to get close enough to hit you(this is one think I recommended avoiding to my players) He's got two giant fists, and a huge mouth to eat you with to boot. And speaking of that mouth, how would you feel if this things very breath could knock you unconscious? The only thing the players had against it, was it's slowness(something all modern zombies seem to lack).

Thinking a bit outside the, uh, virus for this. A total breakdown of society could force the PCs to take shelter under the wing of some morally bankrupt warlord. If the party's running low on ammunition and medical supplies, and Tim the Warlord offers to help them, but requires that any of the female PCs sleep with him -- well, that's a roleplaying situation that can't be resolved with any amount of dice rolling.

Hey I'd like to thank Dragonslayer123 for the "Big Frank" idea. that will work beautifully... and any zombies he misses with will meet an unfortunate end by meeting the wall or the concrete probably. Eventually Big Frank might find something much more lovely to throw than his fellow undead.

Raveled, I like the idea for the total breakdown of society.

As for the government... they're probably going to be sending in the "Containment" teams first and foremost... and I find it less likely that the containment team is going to find our survivors unscathed.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Raveled View Post
Thinking a bit outside the, uh, virus for this. A total breakdown of society could force the PCs to take shelter under the wing of some morally bankrupt warlord. If the party's running low on ammunition and medical supplies, and Tim the Warlord offers to help them, but requires that any of the female PCs sleep with him -- well, that's a roleplaying situation that can't be resolved with any amount of dice rolling.
Yeah, this is... this is not a very good idea. At all. I'm trying to find polite ways to express how not a good idea this is.

You need to be damned careful of pulling out topics like this on your party. You need to make sure that they're mature enough to handle them, and that they want to handle them in the game. You sure as hell don't want to just drop it in your players' laps and expect them to roll with it. You need to plan it over with them, so that you and they know exactly how far it's supposed to go, and where the boundaries will be set. And when they let you know where their boundaries lie, you need to respect those boundaries. This is especially true if the players of these characters are women. Rape is a very touchy subject. It needs to be treated very carefully.

It's possible to put touchy subjects like rape into an RP and have it work to give your players more emotional involvement, but it's not something to enter into lightly. Put it in because you and your players think it will make a stronger story. Don't put it in there just because you can't think of another good way to challenge them. If you tread right over your players' boundaries, you can destroy the trust they have in you as a DM.

Quote:
As for the government... they're probably going to be sending in the "Containment" teams first and foremost... and I find it less likely that the containment team is going to find our survivors unscathed.
Who says the "Containment" teams are going to help them? Containing the outbreak might not just mean that they have to terminate the town and all the zombies. Maybe they have to take out anyone who knows about them?

Anyway, with the zombies maybe you should have them respond to any large stimulus. Flashing or bright lights draw them like moths to a flame while loud sounds (May also cover gunshots 0_0) send the zombies charging towards the source of the sound. It would definitely kill any hope the PC's have of going terminator and gunning them down by the barrel full.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JackMann View Post
It's possible to put touchy subjects like rape into an RP and have it work to give your players more emotional involvement, but it's not something to enter into lightly. Put it in because you and your players think it will make a stronger story. Don't put it in there just because you can't think of another good way to challenge them. If you tread right over your players' boundaries, you can destroy the trust they have in you as a DM.
I agree with you on the whole 'rape' and other such possibilities. I wouldnt throw Tim the Warlord in with that plan for him. He'd probably be a bit crazy but willing to give the adventurers some food... for their guns. The Breakdown of society idea in general is a good idea because it is going to cause some people to become scavangers who want to survive at any cost even the cost of someone else's life.

As for maturity, this group I have fighting zombies is rather silly and thus the guys would probably go "Saddle up Timmy!"

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mindblow View Post
Who says the "Containment" teams are going to help them? Containing the outbreak might not just mean that they have to terminate the town and all the zombies. Maybe they have to take out anyone who knows about them?
The Containment teams arent going to help them... lol. It's just the false sense of security. "HEY THE ARMY'S HERE!!" one shouts as a member of flamethrower infantry turns toward them and a jet of flame flies toward them. The Gov. doesnt know there are people who are immune and thus anyone scratched, bitten, battered or bruised are SOL as they are a potentially zombies soon.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mindblow View Post
Anyway, with the zombies maybe you should have them respond to any large stimulus. Flashing or bright lights draw them like moths to a flame while loud sounds (May also cover gunshots 0_0) send the zombies charging towards the source of the sound. It would definitely kill any hope the PC's have of going terminator and gunning them down by the barrel full.

Lol, yeah one of the PC's already decided it would be a good idea to jump off of the lowest level of a fire-escape... he failed his tumble check. I decided that the zombie at the end of the alleyway they were in turned as he heard the loud clap. Thus started the part where my PC's came to the realization that they couldnt as more and more zombies proceeded in their general direction with every passing 1d6 rounds with the moaning of the zombies who already see them.

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Zombie_..._Variant_Rule)

I am pulling from some of the variant rules here.

Also I seem to have forgotten to mention that I am using a semi-urban arcana setting as if it were the world of Ebberon advanced to a modern time. For example the containment units will be Warforged as they are immune to diseases that arent magical. none of my players are Warforged however due to this well known trait and I want to expose them to the paranoia of anyone they encounter could be infected.




 

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Last Database Backup 2024-03-28 05:19:56pm local time
Myth-Weavers Status