Any tips for running a 'Zombie Outbreak' type game?

[Olly]

After rewatching Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead, Braindead and Shawn Of The Dead (which may, possibly, be the most overrated movie with 'Dead' in the title ever made) I'm more than in the mood to run a 'zombie outbreak' type Ravenloft adventure.

I'm just wondering if anybody has any tips or advice on running a zombie outbreak game in a fantasy/medieval style setting, as well as perhaps providing me with interesting new angles to use and exploit to make the players' skin crawl.

Olly
xxx

[Tobias Blackburn]

There's an adventure from 2e that does exactly that. The fan favourite Night of the Walking Dead. It's avaliable for free from the Wizards of the Coast website. I'll provide the links below.

Link to the Adventure PDF

Link to the Map Zip file

Link to the Cover Zips

You'll find lots of ideas and tips in it. Hope it helps.[/url]

[Willowhugger]

I ran one that used an "animate dead" type producing fungus that had gotten out of control.

[sabbattack]

My idea is that in a fantasy setting, even ravenloft, a zombie outbreak scenario is not going to work as well as in a Gothic Earth/Modern era.

Ravenloft doesn't offer much chances for a massive "end of civilisation" zombie attack, even in Night of the Walking Dead.

On another note, Shaun of the Dead is imo the best horror parody ever, toppling even the "Night of the Vampires" by Polanski and Return of the Living Dead.

[Willowhugger]

It depends on how you run it.

A few isolated villages destroyed by a Fungus outbreak means that there's no bombing or similiar weapons to control it and the pcs know this. They may have to surrender portions of the domain to the dead.

And know that if its not stopped...the world will be overrun.

That's close enough I think.

You could run it like the Black Death, which is pretty Apocalyptical. I used the Black Plague as a theme for post Necropolis Darkon.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Since mere shock-value isn't going to carry much weight in an RPG -- the players aren't actually *seeing* the gore, after all, and it's easy for them to justify their PCs' high tolerance for violent peril on the basis of "They're adventurers, they've seen this stuff for years" -- I'd recommend you play up the "At-Each-Others'-Throats" element of the Romero movies. While bashing zombies' brains in may be routine for the players, having to deal with *living* NPCs' fears and accusations ("Stay back, all of you! This is MY root cellar, and I'll kill anyone who tries to steal my family's shelter from the monsters!"; "So who put YOU in charge, outlander!? I'M mayor in this town, and I say we make a run for it, so you can stay and die with your wounded if you want to throw your lives away!"; "That woman's a wizard! SHE must've called up the dead against us! Get her before her zombies kill us all!!!") will provide a horrific element that mere splatter can't match.

[Troile]

On another note, Shaun of the Dead is imo the best horror parody ever, toppling even the "Night of the Vampires" by Polanski and Return of the Living Dead.

I like Dracula: Dead and loving it.

Mel Brooks does a great job at keeping his parodies serious enough to actually be a movie while being insanely silly.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

If all else fails, pile on the zombies, thousands of them, then make them immune to most conventional methods of destruction so the players truly are scared of them. Plus, make them carry an infectious disease that debilitates, kills and causes those infected to rise from the grave! All parts of many zombie movies and they do work in Ravenloft, trust me, I have done it

If the players start slaughtering the zombies, do not award XP for combat, instead award it for cunning, roleplaying, planning, problem solving, etc. I had to avoid the XP for combat when I ran my game, otherwise the players would have gained far to much XP for one adventure!

As for the cuase, leave it open, then you can have it all happen again in different ways and turn it into a campaign that periodically pops up in your games The old "Oooo... and evil wizard did it" routine is long dead, as are things like Zombie Lords, vampires, liches, and so forth, be unique and reveal no actual cause, it just happened! Just like in the Romero movies where the average person in his series is concerned, most of them are unlikely to know that it was caused by Venusian radiation or a chemical leak from a nuclear power plant.

[ScS of the Fraternity]

Perhaps you could try to use a Zombie Mist?

This insidious entity raises the bodies of the dead so that it can feed on death and terror. The zombie fog is a great boon to atmosphere, since the players are essentially on the run from a sentient, glowing mist filled with shambling horrors.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

Perhaps you could try to use a Zombie Mist?

This insidious entity raises the bodies of the dead so that it can feed on death and terror. The zombie fog is a great boon to atmosphere, since the players are essentially on the run from a sentient, glowing mist filled with shambling horrors.

ZOmbie Fog also has the bonus of letting you create the movie The Fog in a Ravenloft game , just please base it on the original movie, not the remake

[Jonathan Winters]

In a hurry...

Night of the Walking Dead...

Van Richten's Guide to the Walking Dead... (Toben the Many amongst other things)

Souragne...

Have fun!!

Patrick

[sabbattack]

ZOmbie Fog also has the bonus of letting you create the movie The Fog in a Ravenloft game , just please base it on the original movie, not the remake

OMG!! they did a remake to the Mist??

When, who, why?

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

I'd use VRGtt Walking Dead and customise the zombies, maybe give them the instant spawn ability.

Make them immune to turning too.

I agree with Rotipher, play up the paranoia aspect and the closed in with unhinged survivours. Make the living more of a threat than the dead.

[ScS of the Fraternity]

If the fog isn't your cup of tea, maybe use a plauge carrier.
The zombies are created from the bodies of people who die from a hideous pnumonic plague. If the bodies are disposed of quickly, they won't animate - but if they go a day before burning, they animate.
The people these zombies kill don't become zombies, however they still spread the disease by contact. So a week later, a victim might drop dead of the original plauge and start the cycle anew.

Naturall

Or, perhaps you could try an Evil Dead theme?

Zombies are created by a malignant force, like an odem. Victims are chosen at random, possessed, and then sent to attack other targets. At sunrise these victims are freed of their curse, though they suffer from whatever wounds were inflicted upon them while they were dead.

[alhoon]

In a hurry...

Night of the Walking Dead... (for mood and ideas only)

Van Richten's Guide to the Walking Dead... (Toben the Many amongst other things) and how to make more powerful zombies

Souragne... (just make it bigger than a neighborhood)

Have fun!!

Patrick

I totally agree. Don't think on it too much! Zombie outbreaks are not about much thinking!

Make them immune to turning too.

Why? Just make them 5HD give them a +2 turn resistance and put 10 packs of 15 - 20 of them. Even a 9th level cleric will be unable to make a substantial difference.

Note from my experience. . . The mage is the problem!
But still I wouldn't give them resistances and spell resistance. The players will feel cheated if everything doesn't work. While resistance to one element just increases the interest, complete immunity to most of the wizard's spells will just turn to frustration.
Just add more of them. A wizard or even a sorcerer can have just so many fireballs and lighting bolts. Just plan ahead.

If the wizard in the party has 2 scrolls of fireball and a fireball memorized, let him use them. Just add before hand 2 packs of zombies just for him/her to turn to crispy flesh. . . Just to see more and more and more in the distance.
Let the players see that by destroying part of the hoard (even as easily as with a fireball) they don't accomplish much. However, give them the weapons to survive in the outbreak.