Dawn of the Dead in DnD?

[SiderisAnon]

I also think that an interesting concept to explore is, if Hell is full, where the souls of zombies whose brains are destroyed go?

You want to mess with your players and want to give their characters a real goal for further saving the world: What if the souls don't actually go anywhere? What if bashing the brains in just makes the body stop working, but the soul is still trapped there in the remains of the corpse? Do you leave the souls in an eternal tormet of being trapped with no mobility and possible sensory deprivation or do you look for a way to free them all? Could be a good epic story arc.



Thanks for the book link. It looks quite interesting.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Ok im in the habit of recreating movie monsters for d20. So i'll share a little ability i made for my Romero Zombies.

Infectious Bite (ex): When a character has been bitten they must make a Fort save (DC 15+half Zombies HD) or lose 2d6 Constitution drained. On a Successful save the character must make another Fort save at a +1 Difficulty. Said character must do this every hour until all his Con has been drained. A character slain by this Infectious Bite rises as a zombie 1d4+1 rounds later Per Con Drained. There is no known cure, aside from cutting off the infected limb on the following round.

I also gave them immunity to Turning and Rebuking and positive and negative energy does not affect them due to the fact that it was radiation from a satellite that had been to Venus that caused the Zombies to begin with, and not magic. I also made them vulnerable to critical hits (assumes the critical hit was their head).

 

[Nyeshet]

Hmm, the 'always come back as a zombie' bit is interesting, but it makes more sense to me as a variant of unhallow or desecrate. Any that die in the area come back automatically as zombies, but perhaps the region itself is constantly growing - a planar rift or mix of sorts.

Perhaps all the zombies are similarly surrounded by an aura of desecration, such that any that die near them come back as zombies. So while being killed by the zombie is sure to bring you back as one, merely dying near them could be just as bad. If nothing else, it may make the mystery of how it is spreading more mysterious. (No, you are not cursed and are not infected with any disease or poison, but 1d4 rounds after you died you still come back as a zombie.)

 

[Crust]

So, how could you run an end-of-the-world zombie slaughter-all via George Romero in DnD?

Age of Worms. "Champion's Belt" module from Dungeon #128.

I plan on doing my best to make sure Auric (or some fighter) is consumed by the ulgurstasta, effectively turning an entire arena full of specators into wights in the burst of negative energy. That should render the next four or five gaming sessions into a suitable "Dawn of the Dead" experience, with thousands of wights streaming through Waterdeep, infecting everyone they kill.

Now that I think about it, maybe that will lead to more than five gaming sessions.

 

[Kristivas]

Nice. Lore-wise, I'm gonna go with some of the suggestions you guys have given.

The evil god I'd written about committing suicide closes off the way to the afterlife. While it's not "Hell is full", it goes about the same premise.

Everything that dies does become the Living Dead, even if they get hit by a rock.

The bite of the dead won't cause zombiefication, but it will cause a vicious disease that drops con until the victim dies (and rises up). I'm thinking about making the DC 18, so that most common folk and low level NPCs will succumb.

Ghouls do seem better than zombies.


Some questions...
1. What would be some good ways to resolve this in the end?
2. I don't want everything to be the same. Most Living Dead will have basic 'ghoul' stats. There are a few encounters I'd like to make special when the PCs rise in levels. Maybe a ghouled dragon, ect. Suggestions to tie into this?
3. Would existing powerful undead (Liches, Vampires) be able to command and control some of these undead?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

1. What would be some good ways to resolve this in the end?
2. I don't want everything to be the same. Most Living Dead will have basic 'ghoul' stats. There are a few encounters I'd like to make special when the PCs rise in levels. Maybe a ghouled dragon, ect. Suggestions to tie into this?
3. Would existing powerful undead (Liches, Vampires) be able to command and control some of these undead?

1) That would be dependent upon what animates the zombies and what they're vulnerable to. If its "Hell is full" type stuff, the world will be a living hell until Hell is reopened somehow. If its just a zombie plague, might I suggest lots of area effect fire and acid attacks.

2) Ghouls are intelligent- let the beghouled use tactics. Zombies created by unfamiliar magics or reasons might have unusual vulnerabilities (like salt) or powers (faster than normal, great strength). "Zombies" animated by a virus or fungus wouldn't be turnable, nor might "Undead" that are just vehicles for powerful souls trapped in jewelry...

3) Again, it would depend upon the reason for the undead plague. Fungally/Virally created undead aren't really undead, thus would avoid control as much as turning.

 

[Iku Rex]

I did find a way around this but it is by no means stanadard D&D. Treat the infectious bite as the product of a virus -- a virus is technically a living organism, and therefore not subject to being cured per the standard D&D rules for such things. It must be killed.

(A virus is technically not a living creature. Even if they were alive, many non-virus diseases are caused by living creatures like bacteria, various parasites or fungi.)

 

[AFGNCAAP]

Well, I'm planning a zombie survival adventure for one of my campaigns as well. However...

I was going to go with the curse route--specifically, the dying curse route. I was going to have the event be localized to one area (an island, specifically--I didn't want this to spread to the mainland and become the dominant campaign theme), as a final defiant spell cast by a dying opponent.

I was considering making a ghoul/zombie hybrid: cannibalistic, diseased bite, relatively mindless, slow & shambling in movement, deadly in a mob. Intended to have them be 1 Hit Die creatures, & didn't want to use a template (I wasn't going to have any extraordinary non-humanoid zombies at all, so a generic monster for use would work great).

I also intended to use this for a low-level (1st-5th) adventure--at a point where the PCs are tough enough to possibly survive, but not to where this would be a cakewalk for them.

As it is, the zombie survival adventure would directly follow another adventure, inspired by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and other outcast cannibal clan-themed tales/movies. A inbred family of mongrelfolk would be the culprits. One of them would take Leatherface's role (complete with a mask made from faces, and a serrated greatsword of wounding [as a chainsaw stand-in]), another would be the decrepid patriarch, another would be the frantic lunatic (ala Chop Top/Hitchhiker), another would be the responsible/abusive eldest brother/leader (ala Sherriff Hoyt/The Cook), etc. One of the family (maybe the lunatic, maybe the partriarch--didn't decide who) would be a necromancer (either a dread necromancer from Heroes of Horror, or a multiclassed cleric of death/necromancer wizard). This necromancer would animate the skeletons of their victims & send them out as "hunting parties" (along with a member or two of the family); and it would be this character who'd cast the dying curse of the cannibalistic undead (animating the corpses of the slain family members, as well as afflicting the recent dead of a nearby friendly village).

The PCs would have to escape the island (I intended for it not to be feasible for the PCs to wipe out all of the undead), having to fight off the undead versions of villagers and friends who the PCs met and helped previously (in order to make it a bit more heart-wrenching on the PCs, and to make the villains that much more vile).

As it is, I'm reading over the recommendations, too.

 

[EditorBFG]

So now my question is, is anyone converting Shaun of the Dead to D&D?

Best zombie film since the original Dawn of the Dead. But how much damage does a Sade album do?

Thanks for the book link. It looks quite interesting.

Oh, Monster Island is awesome.

A crazy thing happens in that book. It happens early on, so I guess it isn't a spoiler. A doctor, examining zombie brains, realizes that it must be lack of oxygen to the brain during death that causes zombies to act so mindless. In order to survive as NY is completely taken over, he infects himself on purpose, then uses a machine to keep oxygenated blood flowing to his brain as he dies and rises again. When he awakens in his apartment as a zombie, he is completely mentally aware but is still a zombie. Zombies don't chase him, but he is intelligent... and, he realizes, immortal. Then he feels hungry... The really crazy part comes later on, but that I won't give away.

Just a wild, crazy gem of a book.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

So now my question is, is anyone converting Shaun of the Dead to D&D?

Best zombie film since the original Dawn of the Dead. But how much damage does a Sade album do?

I'd say 1d2, x2 crit (so it can be as bad as a dagger on a crit), but it instantly shatters when used (thus the 1d2--luck may allow those broken shards to actually do damage/stick in on impact).

And, if you want to get into the humor side of things, the album used (Batman soundtrack, Sade, etc.) could provide a damage modifier (positive or negative).