Zombie Apocalypse

[Thisismypassword]

Hiya En world. I'm going to be DMing a modern D&D campaign full of zombies. By now, we're firmly rooted on the use of 4TH edition and have the big ideas put together. refluffing ranged weapons as guns, which classes to use , etc.

From there, we could use some help. As a Dm, i'm looking for ways to make a single bite lethal without being career ending to keep the tension up. Following that though, I want to make a minion-like zombie so i can throw tons of dead at my players (i'll still have some L4D style zombies as well, any ideas greatly appreciated) I'm also trying to think of the origin and setting of the zombies. So far, my favorite is a virus like in 28 days later in a 1940 time period, but I'm completely open to any other ideas. (another one i like is the Nazi Zombies origin)

For the players, im trying to institute some way of spray and pray for machine guns (wall X within range Y?) and for carbine/ sniper rifle, a headshot attack (no idea). I wouldn't like to leave non-ranged martial classes in the cold, so I've been trying to think of how to re-fluff controllers into demolitionists of sorts and make arcane/ divine power more technologically powered.

Thanks in advance for any and all help and please let me know if you have any ideas regarding other facets of the game to fiddle with outside of my requests (though i'm still trying to use as little homebrew as possible; re-fluff is preferred)

 

[Reydragk]

I REALLY don't feel like 4e will work well for a modern campaign. You could make it work with a LOT of homebrewing, true, but I feel like it would make more sense to use a gaming framework that works with the setting you want. My personal recommendation would be Savage Worlds.

 

[bbjore]

Reskinning 4e to work in the modern era can be done, and I was able to implement firearms in my 4e game just fine, but you have to put some thought into what you want to do, and try your best to keep it simple. Firearms work well as superior version of bows or crossbows, just look at how they make superior versions of any range weapon and go with that. Remember, hit points are real damage, so you don't have to make guns do ridiculous damage or have crazy abilities, let powers do that. But I do suggest you give some of them the "heavy thrown" property, and allow a character to use Strength for ranged basic attacks.

As for bringing controllers and defenders into the game, that's where it gets tricky. The thing is, if you're going 1940s era or whatever, a lot of the classes (implement ones especially) don't really exist, but that's fine, you don't need that many. The martial classes work just fine, as only the fighter doesn't have innate ranged powers. But, you'll still want a defender to hold back the hordes while his buddies shoot them, so it should still work, especially with a little bit of multiclassing. Your idea for a controller using demolition could also work, but I think it would require more work along the house rules front, a refluffed seeker might be fine, and I guess you could switch a wand or rod with a gun and choose appropriate powers, but I do think that would take a bit of work. I suggest talking to your players and figuring out what sort of class they want to play, and find a way to make it work. One thing I did, is I made some of the firearms heavy shot (basically just heavy thrown), and allow classes proficient with firearms to take ranger power swaps.
The newer essentials builds might work especially well with your idea, as they have fewer powers, and a lot of their abilities function both in range and in melee. There's even a controller ranger build coming out in November. But really, the martial classes hold their own quite well using firearms, even the fighter, although he may want to take some power swaps.
As for headshots or burst fire, I would let striker features or powers like quarry damage, or multi-attack powers take care of that issue for the most part, and create item specific powers for larger more unique weapons that aren't used on a regular basis (chain guns...).
Remember, hit point damage isn't real damage, it's just a track of how close you are to a kill shot, so whether or not it's three bullets being fired or one, just roll the dice like you do with the normal rules and figure out if you killed a zombie or not. This should also work with the zombie bite rules as well, consider most "hp damage" close calls, scratches or the like, something that wouldn't infect a PC, but then find a way to model an infectious bite, disease and all. I'd consider a zombie power that could only be used on a crit. or while the target is bloodied or at 0 hp, which would then infect the PC.

You have some good ideas here, try them out, you'll still have fun because you with friend, and then let us know how it turned out.

 

[toshi]

Amethyst is a 4e Setting that contains modern classes and equipment: Dias Ex Machina

You should check out this free introduction to their new mechanics:

Biohazard Playtest Module: Amethyst not only presents a vibrant and original setting utilizing 4E rules, it also offers new rules for incorporating modern and science fiction elements to your own homebrew game world. Biohazard is a stand-alone adventure not within the canon of Amethyst set far enough apart to showcase what can be done with our rules in a foreign setting. Download this free 25-page adventure now!

 

[Dias Ex Machina]

Amethyst is a 4e Setting that contains modern classes and equipment: Dias Ex Machina

You should check out this free introduction to their new mechanics:

The biohazard module Toshi suggested is a great place to start especially since it's actually a zombie apocalypse. It should help immensely. I will add the firearm rules in Biohazard were at a earlier stag in testing, and the final rules presented in Amethyst Foundations are a bit more refined.

PM me if you need any help with your campaign.

 

[Kzach]

Firstly, anyone who is playing in a Zombie Apocalypse game has to first agree not to be a whiny douche if their character dies. The simple fact of the matter is that the character IS going to die. The odds are against you surviving at all. That's kinda the point of the scenario.

Once everyone accepts that it's as good as a given that their characters are going to die, you can then bring up the roleplaying requirement. Zombie Apocalypses aren't, as most people might think, all about the head-shots and ghoulishness. They're about disparate groups of people having to work together to survive and about human nature our self-destructive behaviours.

If you're group isn't into roleplaying, then I think you'll find the entire situation of a Zombie Apocalypse will become boring very quickly. You need to have PC's with strong personalities and players who can be trusted to clash in game but not out of game. This is one of the few instances where you actually want someone to play an evil sonofabitch. That guy who blocks the door when you're moments away from being swarmed by an army of undead. The one who hoards the last candy bar and sleeps through his watch. But you can't kill him, 'cause he's human.

The next thing you need to do, as a DM, is setup encounters that fool everyone into thinking they're completely boned, but in actual fact, the encounter is just dangerous enough to give a sense of urgency and fear but not overwhelming enough to end the game in the first session.

This is... tough. It's not something you can do without knowing your group well. Some groups will find a perfectly balanced encounter to be a nightmare whilst others will breeze through it and wonder if the DM is just giving away XP.

Minions, in this case, I think are essential. I would make 90% of encounters with minions and I'd say every hit on a minion is a head-shot, automatically. They're the slow moving zombies that are easy to target and hit. They're the ones that form mobs and grow into a massive swarm before you even realise how screwed you are.

As for bites being lethal, this is where you really have to run with the entire concept of hit points being representative of more than just actual physical damage. A bite, for instance, turns out not to have penetrated the jeans. Everybody in the team watches you for a day or two before trusting you again. Personally, I'd probably go with a critical confirmation roll to determine whether or not bites transfer infection. Ie. if a zombie gets a crit on you, do damage as per normal but roll again. If the subsequent roll is another 20, the character is out of luck and just got infected.

This can lead to some bizarre, but fun situations. The hero gets swarmed by a pack of zombies and manages to get out bruised and battered and even cut, but not infected.

Head shots are your biggest problem, IMO. I would probably increase the threat range of weapons as a start, from 20 to 19-20. Any crit being a head-shot. I'd probably also say that any maximum damage roll is also a head shot, so that even if you didn't roll a 19 or 20, but you rolled maximum damage, you still hit the monster in the head. I'd do the same for kill shots, ie. the shot that reduces the zombie to 0 or fewer hit points is automatically a head-shot just by virtue of it killing the zombie.

The problem with that then becomes weapons with multiple die rolls. A shotgun, for instance, you would think would be something like 4d4 or 3d6 or something. And it's more likely that a shotgun blast would blow something's head off than a single shot (and therefore single die) weapon.

Some things to think about, anyway.