D&D General D&D World vs. Modern Zombies?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I do love Walking Dead zombies walking around in clothes for ten+years exposed to the elements

Given how many seasons the show spent in Georgia*, all those zombies should have rotted away after one summer.

* Even Virginia is plenty humid in the summer. Those zombies wouldn't have stood a chance, realistically.

 

[MGibster]

I do love Walking Dead zombies walking around in clothes for ten+years exposed to the elements

In one chapter of World War Z, the narrator mentions that there were a lot of naked zombies. People who died in hospital beds while wearing those little gowns, people who got bitten and grew sick in the beds at home, etc., etc.

 

[MGibster]

Given how many seasons the show spent in Georgia*, all those zombies should have rotted away after one summer.

At the end of World War Z (the book), they talk about the aftermath of the zombie menace and it's mentioned there are a ton of them in the ocean just kind of walking around the floor. There are people studying their movements and trying to figure out how Zack seems to thrive in an environment where they should have decomposed.

On the Walking Dead, every once in a while at least, they'd show a zombie walking around with some insects or maggots gnawing at it. But for the most part it didn't appear as though carrion eaters or decomposition were things they had to worry about.

 

[Tonguez]

At the end of World War Z (the book), they talk about the aftermath of the zombie menace and it's mentioned there are a ton of them in the ocean just kind of walking around the floor. There are people studying their movements and trying to figure out how Zack seems to thrive in an environment where they should have decomposed. .

Shouldnt the ones in the ocean have been crushed by the water pressure?

 

[MonsterEnvy]

At the end of World War Z (the book), they talk about the aftermath of the zombie menace and it's mentioned there are a ton of them in the ocean just kind of walking around the floor. There are people studying their movements and trying to figure out how Zack seems to thrive in an environment where they should have decomposed.

On the Walking Dead, every once in a while at least, they'd show a zombie walking around with some insects or maggots gnawing at it. But for the most part it didn't appear as though carrion eaters or decomposition were things they had to worry about.

Honestly all the Walking Dead Zombies should have vanished after the first winter or summer.

 

[Will Brandiman]

I've been looking at fast zombies, like the ones in 28 Days Later or the film World War Z (which bares no similarity whatsoever to the excellent book of the same name, grumble, grumble, mutter...). This is what I came up with to simulate the infection from the bite and the rapid 'turning' into an Infected (which is what I called my version of the zombie, again based on 28 Days Later).

Bite: Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5’, one target. Hit: 3 (1d4+ 1) piercing damage and the target must make a Constitution saving throw (DC14) or become Infected (a disease). At the start of each of its turns an Infected creature takes 3 (1d6) necrotic damage. The target's hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken. If the target dies whilst its hit point maximum is reduced in this way it rises as an Infected in 1d6 rounds. If the disease is cured before the victim dies the reduction to its maximum hit points lasts until the victim finishes a long rest.

 

[payn]

In one chapter of World War Z, the narrator mentions that there were a lot of naked zombies. People who died in hospital beds while wearing those little gowns, people who got bitten and grew sick in the beds at home, etc., et

Sure but this is ten years later! Same clothes in the elements wandering around for ten years!

 

[Oofta]

Shouldnt the ones in the ocean have been crushed by the water pressure?

If you accept the fiction that they are literally walking dead, no. They don't really have a circulatory system, they don't need to breath. They aren't just people with a bad case of rabies.

They descend to the depths, water completely fills their lungs and any other cavity such as ears, nasal cavity, etc.. The pressure is equalized so there is no crushing. They aren't living organisms as we consider them.

 

[MGibster]

Honestly all the Walking Dead Zombies should have vanished after the first winter or summer.

They shouldn't be walking in the first place. Another problem they had is that zombification seemed to seriously degrade the toughness of a human skull to that of a ripe pumpkin. There are scenes where our plucky heroes effortlessly pierce zombie skulls with hunting knives as easily as you might stab a pumpkin. Our brain pans are extremely tough and while you could certainly pierce it with a knife that knife is going to be quickly ruined. There was one memorable scene where a character stomps on a zombie's skull and the head is completely mashed as if he had stepped on a giant boiled potato.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. Whatever allows them to walk clearly does something to keep carrion eaters away and retards decomposition. i.e. They're not normal corpses.

 

[MGibster]

Sure but this is ten years later! Same clothes in the elements wandering around for ten years!

Americans can accept a certainly level of violence but we're just not the kind of people who would easily accept zombie dongs visible on the screen.