Ever want to pull a "Dawn of the Dead?"

[Griffith Dragonlake]

I ran a campaign based on the historical Black Plague except that the plague created cannibalistic zombies instead! It was a lot of fun to watch the fighters pile the corpses up so high that it granted cover. Now I had already banned Turn Undead as a clerical ability since all the deities were Neutral. I also ruled that Plague Zombies could only be damaged by magic, silver, or cold iron. This meant that the townsfolk and villagers were highly vulnerable. Oh and of course only the destruction of the head would stop the zombies. This gave each zombie the equivalent of a cloak of displacement, i.e. 50% chance to hit the head.

I really freaked out my players when they confronted cannibalistic zombie babies whose first words were "bwains…"

 

[Baron Opal]

Assuming that the infection dose not pass to animals and that all humanoids become zombies, when is the area safe to recolonize?

 

[Warren Okuma]

Assuming that the infection dose not pass to animals and that all humanoids become zombies, when is the area safe to recolonize?

It is always get's recolonized. A very rich farmland... And the infectious zombies doesn't spread...

 

[Aeric]

I've always wanted to lead such a game.

The catch being that all the PCs would be limited to NPC classes. I think this way, you would get closer to the "zombie feel" that would otherwise go away once wizards can cast fireball and fighters can hack through 8 bodies a round.

This is a point I've heard before, but remember that in a zombie apocalypse scenario, the horror isn't from the helplessness of the mortals vs. the zombies, but the overwhelming number of the zombies. Wizards run out of spells, wands run out of charges, and fighters eventually succumb to exhaustion. Those zombies, though, they keep on comin'.

That being said, however, such a game is better aimed at low-level characters of any class, not just NPC classes (a couple of magic missile spells won't mean much against the thousand zombies shambling down Main Street). I would also adjust XP advancement so that it peaks at a certain level and doesn't increase any more; you kill one zombie, you've killed them all. I suppose at higher levels you could get into zombie giants, dragons, etc., but then you've left the realm of zombie horror and simply slapped a template onto an already formidible monster.

 

[Quartz]

You can always trot out the good old Evil High Priest of Orcus as the source. He's a lich, so he's immune. As mentioned earlier, one of the key things is that the zombies just keep coming. So it doesn't really matter how high level you are. Blast a hundred with Meteor Swarm? There's another hundred attracted by the explosion. And you can't escape via Teleport, Plane Shift, Gate, etc, because there's a Dimensional Anchor on the whole area and Flying gets you attacked by flocks of undead crows (or worse). So you've got to find the source and stop it there. Of course, being a lich, he's got a phylactery, so he'll be back for the sequel.

One thing you shouild remember: the fighters especially are going to be in the thick of it, and are going to receive significant damage, so you'll need to make sure other party members can keep curing them.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I've actually been thinking of doing this, and I've read a pretty solid story hour where it was effective.

 

[Tetsubo]

I've been considering doing a Skeleton Plague sort of campaign.

Disease: Skeleton Plague

Contact, Infection DC 18, Incubation 1 day, Damage Special.

This magical necromantic disease effects any mammal it encounters (animal, humanoid, giant, magical beast or monstrous humanoid). The disease has no immediate effect so long as the victim remains alive. Once the victim dies however the disease goes into full effect. The victim’s flesh rapidly rots from their body (within 24 hours). On the next night the victim rises as a skeleton of the appropriate size and HD.
The most insidious aspect of the disease however is that it is highly contagious and any infected victim become a carrier. Entire families, villages or cities can be fully infected and never know. Until the first person dies…
Remove Disease has no effect on this illness but the Heal spell does.
Scholars have speculated that this disease was created by Dragons as a counter measure to humanoid competition. There is some weight to this theory as any mammal with a Draconic heritage (Dragonblooded subtype) is immune to the disease.

I was running my last campaign with the plotline that the Dragonstar Empire was going to "drop" into the campaign world. One day they would just show up and state, "We are now in control". Sadly the game broke up before I could pull it off...

 

[Wraith-Hunter]

I've been considering doing a Skeleton Plague sort of campaign.

Disease: Skeleton Plague

Contact, Infection DC 18, Incubation 1 day, Damage Special.

This magical necromantic disease effects any mammal it encounters (animal, humanoid, giant, magical beast or monstrous humanoid). The disease has no immediate effect so long as the victim remains alive. Once the victim dies however the disease goes into full effect. The victim’s flesh rapidly rots from their body (within 24 hours). On the next night the victim rises as a skeleton of the appropriate size and HD.
The most insidious aspect of the disease however is that it is highly contagious and any infected victim become a carrier. Entire families, villages or cities can be fully infected and never know. Until the first person dies…
Remove Disease has no effect on this illness but the Heal spell does.
Scholars have speculated that this disease was created by Dragons as a counter measure to humanoid competition. There is some weight to this theory as any mammal with a Draconic heritage (Dragonblooded subtype) is immune to the disease.

I was running my last campaign with the plotline that the Dragonstar Empire was going to "drop" into the campaign world. One day they would just show up and state, "We are now in control". Sadly the game broke up before I could pull it off...

Change it to Zombie and you've got it!

 

[SpiderMonkey]

I've been tossing around the idea of an FR campaign in which there are two massive, world-spanning events early on in the course of things:

1) The Stars Become Right and there is a massive eclipse - Shar reaches her hand out and blocks the sun. Darkness reigns for days at a time. Dendar the Night Serpent is loosed and corpses the world over rise as shadow-tainted undead. And they spread undead to those they kill. Real classic zombie plague stuff.

2) Shar's lucent sister responds ... drastically - the Tears of Selune, the trail of asteroids that follow the moon in its orbit ... fall. By divine providence, almost all of them survive atmospheric insertion. It's nuclear armageddon, only the fallout isn't radioactive, it's magical. Millions die, cities are laid to waste, and the landscape is forever altered. Sadly, it does not stop the march of the undead, but merely slows it.

Post-appocalyptic zombie-infested FR campaign. Booyah!

Nice!

 

[Jeremy757]

Ha. That's just cruel.

Yeah I know, yet my players keep coming back for more. Bwah ha ha ha.