Ruemere,
Thanks for taking the time and effort to read and comment. I am going to have to respectfully disagree with you on a number of points.
No worries. The only thing I can offer, are opinions (and some reasoning to back them up).
True - keep in mind that this is a work in progress. I have a great cartographer working on an atlas style map with me and once that's complete Aruneus will have it's face(s).
As most auditors say - we are making recommendations based on current state of affairs. Glad to hear that there is a development going on.
No more or less trivial than it would be to burn and incinerate lots of cities in an major "real life" war. Higher level characters do find zombies more of a hindrance than a threat - but the world is not full of higher level characters. It's full of people like you and me, who are not properly buffed fighters.
Here is where you are strongly advised to have a look at medieval demographics. Heartily recommended article:
Medieval Demographics Made Easy - Numbers for Fantasy Worlds.
The math is simple and brutal - it is not going to take longer than a week for a 8-10 level party to clean a city [1][2]. There are 50 weeks in the course of the year. So, at the end of the year, your continent is going to be largely zombie free provided there is at least one 8-10 level party on this continent.
[1] Stage one: all people who cannot defend themselves, either die, flee or succumb to zombishness. Stage two: a single effective moan brings all zombies together. Stage three: burn
fiesta. That or channel energy. [2]
Zombies will not wander away from cities en masse (the cities are miles away from each other, and there are not many highways).
Zombies do not think - if you lure them into narrow streets, just burn the quarter.
[2] For additional achievement points, invite local Druids and let them use elementals. They should not object to a free serving of destruction derby of royal proportions.
Is not welcome by you or some portion of the community. The folks who've play tested this (either with me or in their own groups) found it quite workable and enjoyed the added Romero-esque feel I was going for.
Standard caveats apply. Also, what levels did you run? My current party is around 12 - 14th level.
Probably true - but one organization isn't ruling the world, just three Human kingdoms. Think of oh. . . the catholic church in modern US or African politics. They may not be the rulers of the world, but they are influencing the lives of every single person in large political areas.
Ah, I see. I was mistaken since you had used term "apocalypse". In that case, this is a non-issue.
Or tremendous stress which would induce a population to follow dictates from a seemingly safe source. I can think of lots of political leaders who rose to power on a promise, made good on that promise but also introduced "burn the wizard" doctrines which were followed. Think of just about any fascist regime in the 20th century, or any dictatorship.
In medieval times, the organization of the society is highly different.
Hence suggestion to have a look at Renaissance, attempts to reform corrupt church and ambitious visionaries with few scruples.
I am not questioning your example of recent history, merely pointing out that background for such sweeping change should be more relevant to your world.
I can understand you not liking a zombie genre high-fantasy game. That's fine. But do keep in mind that this is just that and I'm also trying to conform to a few standard zombie rules based on George A. Romero's model. Slow zombies, brain must be destroyed, one bite fatal.
I GM for a group of people, who like to pick holes in my plots or set-ups. At the end of most story arcs, I reveal most behind-the-scenes happenings and respond to their queries. And get a lot of feedback.
While this is sometimes painful, I welcome the process wholeheartedly, since in the end, I learn how to avoid problems.
The way I make assessments of various systems, settings and other products, is a direct consequence of their criticisms and insights.
The point I am trying to make here: your concept of the setting may be crushed by mechanics of d20. My suggestions were based on assumption that you want to scale the threat across level range.
Apparently, I was mistaken.
In this case, my recommendation would be to restrict yourself to E6 variant of d20. Otherwise, once you go public with a setting, you may experience problems with enterprising players [3].
Regards,
Ruemere
[3] Ravenloft. The setting, under which rules had to restrict character abilities.
