Running a "Dawn of the Dead" zombie game in d20 D&D?

[arwink]

For my money, the best fantasy zombie apocalypse I've seen is actually Kingdom of the Ghouls by Wolgang Baur. It appeared in Dungeon back during the 2e days, but largely involved sending PC's through a vareity of areas that had been taken over by the undead. Even if you don't want to keep the adventure as is or the ghoulish minions, it's worth a peak for the inspiraton.

 

[ptolemy18]

One of our GMs did a couple sessions of a zombie-infested world (fast zombies, ala Dawn of the Dead)

Fast zombies? *New* Dawn of the Dead, you mean!

Personally, I think that the D20 system isn't well-suited to horror games because the hit points and levelling system make it too easy for characters to shrug off damage which, if you were using a more "realistic" system, would be serious stuff. Basically, D20 is innately heroic ("Even though I can't beat this monster now, I will be able to after I gain a few levels"). D20 isn't grim-and-gritty, unless you do something radical like lowering the Sudden Death Threshold from 50 HP to 10 HP, like in D20 Call of Cthulhu. (Yeah, yeah, I know there's some horror rules in LORDS OF MADNESS... and Wizards is releasing HEROES OF HORROR... but converting D20 to horror without massive rules changes is like disassembling a car and rebuilding it as a motorcycle.)

Despite that.... I think you could still run a pretty cool D20-fantasy-zombie game. Zombies are very versatile.

You might want to consider working from a low-magic, low-good-guys setting like SPIROS BLAAK or MIDNIGHT.

My advice:

(1) Make sure the enemies are really tough and the players are always in horrible danger.

(2) Keep it a short campaign. That way people won't level up too much, and if everyone dies, they won't have gotten too attached to the characters anyway.

(3) Since it sounds like you're using a pretty standard D&D-fantasy campaign setting, keep an eye on the clerics. Assuming your "zombies" are going to be undead (even if they're actually Wights or Ghouls or Viral Deathspawn or whatever), turning undead will be a very powerful ability. Of course, you don't have to get rid of it, just keep it in mind when designing encounters and figuring out the "logic" of the campaign world (i.e., maybe all the survivors are gathered in the temples, where the clerics are.)

(4) Personally, I would recommend doing the zombie infection as a Disease effect, and maybe giving the Disease Spell Resistance (like in AFRICAN ADVENTURES) so a single "Cure Disease" won't necessarily work. But that's just one way of handling it.

(5) This is also just my personal advice, but I would recommend screwing with the characters' expectations as to what kind of zombies they're facing. There's so, so, so many different kinds of zombie-esque monsters to choose from. If you really wanted to be mean, you could have different kinds of zombies and zombie-monsters (the RESIDENT EVIL effect)... or you could have the zombies "evolve" as the campaign goes on... ("Suddenly they've gained the power to regenerate everything except fire damage! Their movement rate jumped from 20' to 40'! Oh no, now they can Spider Climb!!! AGGGHGHHH!!")

Good luck! Hope it works out!

Jason

 

[Mishima]

Zombie Fantasy Horror Apocalypse (oh my!)

I've been doing something very similar, that is, a full scale zombie apocalypse in the midst of the Wilderlands setting. I've found it to be a natural mix. Following a cataclysmic event (namely the death curse of the Wraith Overlord...but it could be anything in your campaign), the tombs opened and a new breed of contagious undead has been released. Now they are a scourge across the lands, especially since they are extremely resistant to being turned and require the classic death blow to the brain to be stopped. Many villages have been left to die, others with better protection have become xenophobic and anti-religious. The priests of the various gods are having a hard time, since any corpse that dies gets up and walks, and this somewhat conflicts with messages of an afterlife. Elsewhere, decadence has increased with rulers and wizards holing themselves up on their estates and concentrating on meeting their own carnal desires. The land is a dark place, though not quite as desperate as many modern zombie horrors. The element of magic is the main reason. However, I've also made the zombies difficult for necromancers to control...but not impossible...so some are trying to take advantage of the situation. More often than not, they find themselves victims of the shambling horrors they thought to dominate. An organised response has been slow from the Invincible Overlord (or whatever ruler) due to protracted warfare with his neighbours and new difficulties in drawing taxes from his subjects. However, it wouldn't make sense to suggest that there is absolutely no hope (as is often the case)...again because of magic. Maybe, JUST maybe there is a way to end the plague.
I haven't decided what that is myself yet.
One more point. I did use AFMBE D20 conversion rules to knock up the zombies. If you fancy faster undead in the vein of the pooey new Dawn of the Dead, heck just use classic ghouls. Works for me.

Sorry to bore you all....back to normal transmission.

 

[FoxWander]

Wow, lots of good ideas and info. Keep it coming.

Thanks Cutter for the idea of close npc connections. I had totally forgotten the horror aspect of having to deal with your next door neighbor or favorite innkeeper as a zombie. Or worse, their cute, adorable little kids!

Many people suggested the 'Turn Undead' problem. I've got a plan to deal with that, which I'll explain in a sec in the quick rundown of my Zombi-geddon scenario.

First, I'd really like to incorporate the Tomb of Horrors and it's sequel. I've always liked those and I found a way to have it all make sense. Plus, I get to have both creepy build-up bits AND wake up to full-on zombie horror bits. I'll run them through a few beginning adventures to let them level up and to establish their presence and NPC connections in a quaint, somewhat secluded, island community. They'll return from one adventure (having gained the appropriate level) and have something of interest to one of their friendly contacts out on the island. But the locals on the mainland say they haven't heard from those folks in awhile. The PCs investigate to discover Zombie Island. All their friends and buddies are now a ravenous horde bent on devouring them. They'll eventually spot a rune covered (semi) uber-zombie that seems the be the source of the contagion. (and yes, I want to have it be a magical disease effect) But before they can kill it, it escapes. I'll try to instill in them a strong desire to track the thing which will lead them into a vast swamp. Along the way the Rune Zombie will infect even more people that the PCs will have to deal with. Eventually they'll make their way into the swamp and find the legendary Tomb of Horrors and the very start of what will one-day be the Black Academy. Hopefully I can get them to actually go into the Tomb (at least the new 3.5 version isn't as deadly as it used to be, AND it's been updated to fit better with the sequel). They'll make it thru the Tomb and I'll make sure they ALL get soul-sucked in the final battle!!

Why kill them all you ask? Because then I get to have the Zombi-pocalypse bit. They get soul-sucked, but somehow are not completely destroyed. Effectively they'll just be Soul Trapped. Lots of time will pass which they are on aware of. They'll have strange visions and dreams and then, in a flash, they'll be freed. I'm not sure if I'll have their bodies reform (as the spell) or if they'll possess new bodies (low level acolytes at the academy)- whichever, they'll find themselves in the middle of the Black Academy after Acererak's has succeeded with his apotheosis!! The lich has become the embodiment of undeath and the 'black intrusion' of the sequel has infected the world. (including it's making things more resistant to turning!) Anyone who dies, or was dead, has risen again into some form of undeath! (so I also get to have lots of different types of zombies- slow, fast, wall climbing, reforming from hacked of bits, still attacking even while hacked to bits, etc.)

The PCs will have to find a way out of the academy and survive long enough to discover the few remaining strongholds of the living. Eventually they'll discover that while Acererak was successful in his plan, he is still bound to his phylactery (and more importantly, he is not aware of this weakness) If they can destroy his phylactery, they'll undo all his evil works and all the lifeforce that he's stolen thru the ages will be returned. (a cure!) So they'll have to go back into the Tomb (which will be amped back up to 1st edition deadliness ) and beyond, thru the City That Waits and to the Fortress of Conclusion.

All told, it should be a campaign worthy epic. What do you all think?

 

[Particle_Man]

Spawn of Kyuss, a la Age of Worms, might give you something to work with.

btw, Army of Darkness is out in print form. Deadites...Zombies...close enough...?

 

[Templeton580]

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