Suggest a System: I Want to Run A Zombie Game...

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[MENTION=48215]Kinneus[/MENTION]
For a different take you could run My Life With Master and have the players play the zombies! It is a fairly mature horror game, with *very* different rules.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=48215]Kinneus[/MENTION]
For a different take you could run My Life With Master and have the players play the zombies! It is a fairly mature horror game, with *very* different rules.

 

[Piratecat]

You could also use Pelgrane's "Fear Itself," which adapts the GUMSHOE system for normal (not uber-competent) people. It does a fantastic job of simulating a great horror movie.

 

[FunkBGR]

I'm currently running a version of War of the Dead by Daring Entertainment (which is originally Savage Worlds) using Unknown Armies by Atlas Games. Unknown Armies is very similar to BRP, in that it's d%, but it's more cinematic for me, and has funky Madness Meters for encountering the world after zombie apocalypse.

The other system I had considered running this in was Nemesis, which is a variant of the ORE system. You can find a free copy here from Arc Dream Publishing. The nice thing about it is that it again uses those same Madness Meters, AND has a system worked out for headshots built-in.

Surprisingly, I never considered running it in Savage Worlds. I'm not that into the system, unfortunately. I do recommend War of the Dead though, and just remove all the railroad it contains.

 

[S'mon]

Surprisingly, I never considered running it in Savage Worlds. I'm not that into the system, unfortunately. I do recommend War of the Dead though, and just remove all the railroad it contains.

That's what we're playing - our GM has been good about not forcing us down the railroad, though this does mean not all material is used and it won't take 52 weeks to play through. Not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[enrious]

As for Microlite... honestly never heard of it. Where can I find out more about it?

It is basically a stripped-down version of d20 (although there are variations also made of OD&D, AD&D, etc.)

I'd go to The Microlite20 RPG Collection | RetroRoleplaying and download the Spring 2010 Revised Collection (link on the right of the page).

What you get are the Microlite20 rules (think "Replacement rules for 3.x to play fantasy role-play) and then about 40 odd genre variants, such as Modern rules, Spycraft, Star Trek, Star Wars, Zombies, Western, Superheroes, and so on.

As I said, I was able to make a rulebook that fit on one page using M20, M20 Modern, and Rabid (all three included in that Spring 2010 Revised Collection) and use it to run a tabletop version of the Left 4 Dead game.

Very fun one-shot and it could easily be run at a con or with dm's taking turns, or as a filler while awaiting some for the game session.

 

[Kinneus]

Thanks for all your suggestions, everybody. I think I might've found exactly what I was looking for in the Microlite "Rabid" supplement. Wish I had the time to test out all these great systems, though...

Once again, thanks for all your help. You guys rock.

 

[sjmiller]

It's not zombie horror specifically, but it does the job great: Deadlands.

I prefer the old pre-d20 version, which you can get as free PDF's now.

Where are you finding the free pdfs? I've been wanting to get Deadlands for some time, just never got around to it.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

You could also use Pelgrane's "Fear Itself," which adapts the GUMSHOE system for normal (not uber-competent) people. It does a fantastic job of simulating a great horror movie.

Fear Itself is a good choice. Another game I recently came across - even more rules light - would be Dead of the Night, by Steampower Publishing.

 

[Argyle King]

GURPS Horror was recently revamped for 4th Edition.

GURPS Horror