Zombie Plagues in your Campaign Setting

[Nightchilde-2]

I ran a Savage Worlds game (which I called Zombpocalypse) where this sort of scenario took place. The PCs were high school students on a field trip to a local military base when the outbreak took place. While magic existed, it was very VERY rare, and very limited (none of the PCs had magic).

It. Was. Awesome. It took the zombies a bit, but they eventually managed to break into the base, forcing the PCs into a REALLY tough position. One of the PCs got infected. The best zombie kill was before the PCs got into the weapon stash; one of them beat a zombie to death (well..back to death) with an office chair. They only escaped by getting ahold of a nearby Army helicopter and convincing the pilot to swing by the base to pick them up.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

... assuming the players want to fight nothing but undead.

Not really. At some point, the zombies become more of an environmental hazard than something to fight. At some point, when the PCs become sufficiently powerful and cleanse a certain area of zombies, I just would let them explain their tactics and then say: "Okay, you expend your spells and kil XX zombies." I would only bother to play out a fight against zombies if there is more at stake - for example, if some of them make a breakthrough into a safe haven and the goal is to kill them fast before they infect a large number of people. In such races against the time, the fight becomes exiting again even if the PCs aren't in danger themselves.

But in the zombie movies, humans often turn out to be their own worst enemies, so once zombie-killing gets boring, you can build on that. For example, there might be powerful NPCs who want to be in charge of the PCs' safe zone and plot to eliminate them - or people from another safe zone want to raid their supplies. And then there are all those tough monsters who require lots of fresh meat to survive - but meat is getting rare in this world, so they attack the safe zones instead. How about dragon attacks at 3'o clock in the morning?

And once the threat of the zombies subside, you need to establish a new civilization. Then you have to deal with humanoid raiders who survived the plague in better shape than humans, human warlords trying to create their own realms, looters who uncover dangerous artifacts that were left unguarded during the plague, and much, much more.

No, "fighting undead" is only one aspect of such a campaign - there are plenty of other things to do for the PCs. What the zombie plague does is make the setting far more dynamic than in most campaigns, and it allows the PCs greater freedoms in establishing themselves as leaders in the world because of the resulting power vacuum.

 

[hong]

And once the threat of the zombies subside, you need to establish a new civilization.

That's boring. No stuff to take.

No, "fighting undead" is only one aspect of such a campaign - there are plenty of other things to do for the PCs. What the zombie plague does is make the setting far more dynamic than in most campaigns, and it allows the PCs greater freedoms in establishing themselves as leaders in the world because of the resulting power vacuum.

Existing campaign worlds never seem to lack for areas suffering from a power vacuum.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

That's boring. No stuff to take.

Hmmm. You must have different play style preferences. My players love building up a new civilization.

And besides, what is bigger stuff you can take than land? In other campaigns, PCs are exited about gaining possession of a new magic sword. In such a campaign, the PCs can take possession of the former capitol of their kingdom... and all the artifacts that were left behind in it when the undead took over!

Sure, the gold coins will be nearly worthless, but there won't be a shortage of magic items for the PCs to take...

Existing campaign worlds never seem to lack for areas suffering from a power vacuum.

Yes, but who wants to create a realm in some gods-forsaken tundra or other remote wilderness? In most settings, the prime locations have all been taken already.

 

[hong]

Hmmm. You must have different play style preferences. My players love building up a new civilization.

I played Civilization 4. It kicked my ass.

 

[Sound of Azure]

I played Civilization 4. It kicked my ass.

Animal cruelty

 

[hong]

Animal cruelty

It's the impact of this board, mang. My spelling's gone all American.

 

[atomn]

As Nifft suggests a commoner has no rights, if its for the survival of those more important (or indeed the country as a whole). Plague is in city X? Fine, fireball away, start in the poor quarters and we'll rescue those of importance (and this is a common, accepted facet of life in many DnD settings).

I think this type of attitude would make for a great roleplaying confrontation between a "fireball away/survival of those most important (or country as a whole)" group and a "try to save everyone, no matter how dire the situation" group, regardless of which side the PCs fall on.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I think this type of attitude would make for a great roleplaying confrontation between a "fireball away/survival of those most important (or country as a whole)" group and a "try to save everyone, no matter how dire the situation" group, regardless of which side the PCs fall on.

In many ways, such a campaign is less about killing zombies - after all, they are fairly dumb and repetetive opponents, and once you have figured out some good precautions and tactics, killing them becomes pretty much a routine job.

On the other hand, the pressures such a situation puts on humans, and how they react to this pressure is pure gold in role-playing opportunities. Force the PCs to make hard decisions about whom to save and whom to abandon, and remind them that the clock is ticking.

 

[Cyberhawk]

You should take a look at Eden's All Flesh Must Be Eaten website (www.allflesh.com) and take a look at the messageboards. It's a treasure-trove for zombie survival horror...even if you're not actually using the All Flesh rules.

They also have a specific sourcebook for fantasy settings ("Dungeons and Zombies" I think...). The fantasy book is supposed to have d20 conversion stuff too.

(heh..and no I don't work for the company or anything)