Pittsburgh and Raccoon City, Pennsylvania-the Land of the Dead and the Biohazard Zone.
Nocturnal Skyline of Raccoon City, taken from a surveillance helicopter.
When the Vanishing occurred, the CLULESS virus scanned the Internet and local fiction sources (novels, movies, the like) and found two things: the ‘Resident Evil’ novels by S.D. Perry and the ‘Dead’ series by George Romero. These were the two key elements used for its Vanishing ‘transformation’.
Right after the people Vanished, Pittsburgh was flooded with zombies and zombie-like Fiction monsters and one of the many small towns deep inside the mountain ranges was replaced with Raccoon City, in the same way that Mannington, West Virginia was replaced (but Mannington was replaced with Quagmire).
On Pittsburgh, the zombies that appeared are a combination: the zombies as they have appeared in Romero’s original movie series (dumb and slow, with the occasional ‘smart’ one), and ‘zombies’ as they appeared in some newer movie concepts (fast-moving and savage). On Raccoon City, the monsters that have appeared are those of the ‘Resident Evil’ series. On both cities, for some reason the zombies, the monsters, and even the viruses have stayed within the limits of the city and surrounding areas (it has been suspected to be CLULESS doing some preventing ‘behavioral reprogramming’ on the monsters), but ‘just in case’, the military and a couple of the corporations (DiggersTech and Stingray Industries) have raised a blockade around them.
Even then, some of the more nasty Factions and corps have used both cities as ‘testing grounds’ for biological weaponry of their own, and adventurers have braved the blockades, in order to obtain the ‘treasures’ that have been left behind (Umbrella technology, loot, experience, the occasional Fiction that has appeared by accident inside the city limits and needs help leaving-and that they provide for a price…).
Following are the three kinds of zombie:the common 'slow' zombie (a.k.a. the 'Romero'-class), the 'turbo' zombie (a.k.a. the 'Boyle'-class, a reference to '28 Days Later'), and the 'smart' zombie (the 'Bub'-class, one that, considering its rareness, has become a sort of 'leader' among other zombies).
Common Zombie: Medium undead; HD 2d12; hp 13; Init -1; Spd 10 ft.; Defense 9, touch 9, flat-footed 9; BAB +0; Grap +1; Atk +1 melee (1d6+1, slam) or bite (1d3+1 plus infection); Full Atk +1 melee (1d6, slam) or bite (1d3+1 plus infection); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SA Infection; SQ undead, headshot vulnerability, light fascination, move or attack action only; AL none; SV Fort +0, Ref -1, Will +3; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 13, Dex 8, Con -, Int 3, Wis 10, Cha 1.
Skills: Listen -2, Move Silently +3, Spot -2. Feats: Toughness.
Turbo Zombie: Medium undead; HD 2d12; hp 13; Init +1; Spd 40 ft.; Defense 11, touch 11, flat-footed 9; BAB +0; Grap +1; Atk +2 melee (1d6+1, slam) or bite (1d3+1 plus infection); Full Atk +2 melee (1d6, slam) or bite (1d3+1 plus infection); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SA Infection; SQ undead, headshot vulnerability, light fascination; AL none; SV Fort +0, Ref +1, Will +3; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 13, Dex 13, Con -, Int 5, Wis 10, Cha 6.
Skills: Listen +0, Move Silently +1, Spot +0. Feats: Toughness.
Smart Zombie: Medium undead; HD 2d12; hp 13; Init -1; Spd 20 ft.; Defense 10, touch 10, flat-footed 9; BAB +0; Grap +1; Atk +1 melee (1d6+1, slam) or bite (1d3+1 plus infection); Full Atk +1 melee (1d6, slam) or bite (1d3+1 plus infection); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SA Infection; SQ undead, smarts, rally, headshot vulnerability, move or attack action only; AL none; SV Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +5; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 13, Dex 10, Con -, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 12.
Skills: Listen +2, Move Silently +4, Spot +2. Feats: Iron Will, Toughness.
NOTES
Action Points: Zombies have no Action Points.
Headshot Vulnerability (all): Zombies only suffer one-third damage from crushing, piercing, slashing, or ballistic damage done to any parts of their bodies other than their heads. Attacks which damage a zombie in the head automatically do triple damage. Specifically aiming attacks at a zombie's head suffers a -4 "to hit" penalty. For random shots, 1 in 10 successful attacks hits in the head. Other forms of damage, such as fire or electricity, damage zombies as normal and are not modified.
Infection (all): Each time a human is bitten by a zombie, the human must make a Fortitude save against a DC equal to 15 + damage of the attack. (For example, a 3 point bite is DC 18). Those failing this check become inflected and start loosing 1 Constitution point per hour. At Constitution 0, the human turns into a zombie equal to the type which started the infection (common, turbo or smart). Inflected humans do not become worse if additional damage is done after the initial infection.
Light Fascination (common, turbo): At night, zombies become easily distracted by sudden bright lights. When first exposed to headlights or flares, the zombie must make a Will save vs. DC 10 or become fascinated, taking no actions other than to pay attention to the light, for as long as the effect lasts. It takes a -4 penalty on skill checks made as reactions, such as Listen and Spot checks. Any potential threat, such as a hostile creature approaching, allows the fascinated creature a new saving throw against the fascinating effect. Any obvious threat, such as someone drawing a weapon or aiming a ranged weapon at the fascinated zombie, breaks the effect but does not allow the zombie initative that round. A smart zombie may shake a fascinated zombie free of the effect as a standard action.
Move or Attack only (common, smart): Because of their slow nature, zombies can either move or attack in a round, but not both. Turbo zombies may both move and attack normally in a round.
Rally (smart only): A smart zombie can coordinate the actions of common zombies within 30 feet. In such cases, common zombies gain a +1 competence bonus on attacks, Listen and Spot checks, and Will saves. Common zombies under the influence of a smart zombie's rally become immune to Light Fascination, though this weakness immediately returns should they move 30 feet or more away or if the smart zombie is destroyed. Other benefits from this ability will vary; examples may include the smart zombie showing common zombies how to use firearms or leading a pack of common zombies though city streets to a specific location. Turbo zombies cannot be affected by this ability.
Undead (all): Zombies are immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, necromantic effects, and mind-affecting effects. They are not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, energy drain, or effects of massive damage, or any effect requiring a Fortitude save unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless. Also, zombies cannot heal damage on their own, even if they have an Intelligence score greater than zero. Zombies are destroyed immediately if reduced to 0 hit points or less.