Would you play this?

[reanjr]

Sounds like fun to me. Not at 1st level, though. 1st level commoners are way to susceptible to random chance. One thing that might be fun is to make them really low level but give each player a few characters. Say, three commoners and one of expert, warrior, aristocrat, or adept. That would be kind of neat. Zombie Fodder.

 

[Kaodi]

Why Ditch Magic?

I don't think that having no magic entirely would be any good. That means, by the technical rules, no one with craft (alchemy), no one that can use a wand or scroll... I think the idea of wizards without their spell books would be cool. Or, you could allow magic, but add in material components for every spell, or just allow spells that have material components, so that there is more of a resource aspect to it. Besides, if you can only cast three spells a day, and you have to survive zombies for 24 hours out of each of them, I don't think you are going to be casting spells willy nilly unless you want to have your brain eaten. And maybe zombies are unnaturally attracted to magic users, for their juicier brains!

 

[Satori]

Just allow 1st or 2nd level PCs with NO divine magic...then fill your city with ghouls.

Not zombies, ghouls.

The DnD "zombie" is more akin to a voodoo walking corpse...a walking "Corpse Robot" with no mind, no instinct, and no hunger.

A DnD "ghoul", on the other hand, is MUCH more like your classic movie "Zombie".

Think about it!
-They move fast
-They're relatively strong
-Anyone killed by a ghoul becomes a ghoul
-They hunger for human flesh

You could remove the Ghoul Paralysis if you think it doesn't fit...but knowing that one claw attack could cause your demise would put a lot of players on alert.

 

[freebfrost]

You might want to rent/buy Dead Rising for the Xbox 360 for some inspirational ideas.

 

[IcyCool]

You might want to rent/buy Dead Rising for the Xbox 360 for some inspirational ideas.

Be sure to visit the "Home Depot"-like store in it, and pick up a power auger. That's the most entertaining weapon in the game (aside from driving the delivery truck through the crowded underground tunnels).

 

[Stormborn]

As a one shot I would play it, given low level NPC Classes and a well detailed small city. However, I think the idea could work as a minicampaign just as well with low level PC classes.

Imagine this:

The city of Goldenrod was built on top of the remains of the Red Keep, once ruled by your typical evil demonic warlord type. The city is a typical walled city with a small fortress that houses a garrison of the royal army, a temple of the standard pantheon, etc. When digging a new well the citizens of the keep discover the Red Keep's dungeon, filled with nasties of course, and put out the call for adventurers to go in and clean it up. Enter the PCs.
The campaign begins as the 3rd level PCs emerge victorious one night from their forays into the dungeon. Filled with a sense of accomplishment and pride they go to the nearby inn to celebrate, only to find the pretty barmaid feasting on the remains of the owner and his family.
While they were beneath the city a powerful curse spread through Goldenrod and infected nearlly everone. The ones that were not infected are likely dead or in hiding. The PCs are stuck in the middle of the city, its just after dark, the city gates are closed, and the pacts of ghouls and ghasts that are searching for survivors have got the sent of fresh meat. Add into that the piles of corpses that are turning into zombies, rat swarms, and unchecked fires. Throw in some random interactions like living NPCs that beg them to help, a few death cultists that welcome the change, an "evil" monster or two that only wants out and will take the help of the PCs if possible (only to back stab them at the first chance), carrion crawlers and other scavanging critters, and few notes that there is still pleanty of wealth in the city to be looted by greed adventurers. Most importantly keep the CR at least 2 above the party level, swelling as needed based on numbers of opponents and maybe a special templated critter or two.
You could easilly go from having a band of cocky adventurers whose first instinct is "kill em all and loot the bodies" to a group of desperate people just trying to survive the night and make it a few more blocks closer to the wall.

To me the mind set that a player would have when given an NPC class is "Oh, this is a weak PC that is going to die before the end." Give them and PC class and tell them only "I am going to run a game of horror" and they will assume they can survive. Then prove them wrong, always backing off or giving them a small respit when things look their worse before plunging them back into it. That would, IMO, be a far more fun game to run or play in.

 

[awayfarer]

Kaodi, I have two problems with allowing magic. The first is that it takes away from the "Average Joe"-ness that the PC's would have. If you can conjure fire out of mid-air or knit a broken bone by touch, you simply aren't average. Part of what I liked about this idea is giving them a feeling of vulnerability.

The second thing is that magic is a powerful and easily renewable resource. A good part of the terror in a survival/horror themed movie or game is centered around the lack of available food, weapons or other necessary resources. Imagine Dawn of the Dead if everyone morning there was a beam of light in the mall and pearly white shotgun shells descended from heaven. It's be a boring movie if they had a divine source of aid that couldn't be permanently emptied. I could see the PC's going out, having an encounter, saying "Whoops, the Adepts out of spells" and retreating to a hidey-hole to rest. Now, you could stop them from resting somehow so that they didn't regain those spells, but in doing that the end result would be the same as if you had disallowed magic to begin with.

I can understand why people would be a little leery about that. Magic is a big part of the average D&D game but I could see it putting a crimp in the mood of the campaign.

Satori, I like that but what I might think of doing is adding them in as a leaner, hungrier zombie. Maybe the characters see a huge horde in the distance and figure it's not a big deal because they can easily outrun the shamblin corpses. All of a sudden a number of zombies jerk as if being pushed out of the way by something else, something quickly shoving and tearing its way through the crowd.

Freebfrost, I'd love to play that but I only have a PS2. D'oh!
Maybe I can read up on it and mine it for ideas.

 

[JVisgaitis]

I'd recently been playing Resident Evil a bit and so the ideas been fresh in mind.

What you need to play is Dead Rising for the XBOX 360. Crazy crazy...

 

[Mycanid]

Well ... I personally never really went in for the "ultra-undead" emphasis thing (or Cthulu, etc.), so I would probably find it boring. BUT, I know that many people do enjoy that sort of thing for some reason.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Lord Pendragon, I don't picture it going more than 5 sessions at most. Just long enough for PC's to find implements of destruction and get the hell out of dodge. It could probably be done in one session but I think I'd aim for two or three. I guess I should have said "adventure" rather than campaign.

In that case I'd say you're fine. Even if it might not be as fun as I'd like, I'd certainly be willing to burn a few sessions for a concept my DM was really into. And if you managed to hook me in the first session, even longer.