Zombies: Plot Help

[1upus]

C Baize: Actually something that is happening in a group I am involved in. Although, being a RPG, it hasn't really gotten ugly as of yet, as everyone involved still has fairly altruistic feelings towards the community, and the hunter/killer PCs have convinced the leader that it is still important to ensure the surrounding area is relatively safe for the community. But I'm sure, over time, the guys they left back home will crack and start the argument afresh.

Jezter6: Lots of cool information in Year of the Zombie. One thing I did like about that setting was their concept of feral children. One possible storyline you could run with as suggested in the setting is the dilemma of feral kids. Do you try to civilize/educate them? Or do you treat them as enemies. Back to the moral debate and arguements....what if the group differs in their opinions.

Kinda like messing with players minds when it comes of gaming. Best games I've had and run have had gamers argue in game within themselves. Problem is it requires a certain kind of player to get into things.

 

[DnDChick]

As for the cause of the zombies, what about having Nanites be the culprit? These tiny little robots could, for whatever reason you decide, swarm all over the medula oblongata (or cerebral cortex or whichever part of the brain it is that is supposed to be the most primitive, etc.) and reanimate the body with just enough life to move and have base instinct.

This is also why undeath spreads ... the nanites reproduce throughout the corpse body, slowing decay and keeping it from falling apart. When introduced into living tissue, the nanites swarm to the brain and shut it down except for those most basic of functions.

Voila! A non-virus, virus-like technological reason for zombies.

Also, this gives you an avenue for the occasionaly "tough zombie." These are people who, for whatever reason, got an "overdose" of the nanites and are therefore tougher, stronger, and more infused with "life" (as it were). Zombie lords!

If you go with the nanite idea, you can have living people who are more "in tune" with the nanites than others. Maybe its some sort of psychic ability, or maybe they are like virus carriers that are for whatever reason immune to being "zombified" by the nanites.

With practice, they can learn to mentally "contact" the nanite swarms in the zombies and have some very limited control over them. You could even use a very scaled back version of the turn undead ability from D&D. You could even work it into a feat with some strict requisites.

This gives you three benefits:

1. A neat new "power" for the PCs to find out about on their own through trial and error.

2. Something for the PCs to have in their favor in the face of overwhelming odds. Of course, you will have to strictly monitor it to avoid abuse.

3. It gives you ample opportunity to introduce villains who have mastered zombie control and have made themselves into the nearest equivalent to necromancers.

 

[Bagpuss]

To be true to the zombie genre you need plenty of reasons for the PC's to hate each other, yet still depend on each other. Most PC's should have major personality flaws, there can be a couple of white-knight-type heroes, but most should be anti-heroes, or zeros and one might be a serious villan, but of course needs the work with the others too survive.

 

[Prest0]

All interesting ideas. I particularly like the players AS zombies thing, that sounds like a fun short game.

Then you might be interested in our 1-shot zombie game called Weekend Warriors. Players start out as soldiers, but those who are killed by the zombies come back to eat the brains of their companions!

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

Ok, aside from the 'things to kill' part, the things to do sounds pretty reasonable, but also...typical.

What non-typical sub-plots are there?

Not only that, how do you hook the players on it? I mean, aside from them wanting to be 'good guys'...building a shelter for others may not be in their cards, they may be worried about themselves.

How do you get them to follow anything but the 'kill zombies' plot?

90% of surviving a zombie apacolypse, YotZ in particular, is trying to become better armed and protected, as well as maitaining a safe place to run.

Now, YotZ follows the "Conspiracy Theory" as far as things go, so atypical subplots the PC's could run into include the following:

Someone out there is training and arming Risers, using them to capture groups of people, overrun settlements, and guard convoys. The people doing this could be part of a rogue scientific group who is using crude cybernetics to control the Risers, along with Clockwork Orange-esque training methods.

There's an area that the Risers will not go into, but people that enter eventually disappear. Where are they going, and who is kidnapping them?

A bunker system that could easily hold the PC's and the people that are with them, AND the current inhabitants of the bunker, is being denied to the PC's and thier group. They could even ambush the group to take thier equipment and pick/choose from those they want. The PC's would have the delima of whether or not to just walk away, allow the people in the bunker to pick and choose and confiscate gear, or whether to "take it."

A radio message on loop suddenly changes to a live broadcast, telling everyone within hearing range to come to a safe place detailed in the message. Getting there is half the battle, and unrepentant scum are victimizing those on the way. When the PC's arrive, have one fo the guards be reconisable as the raiding scum, and the settlement inside being intolerable.

Strange radio bursts keep getting picked up at a certain time (This works best for Texas or Florida based groups) and over the next week or two the PC's see a shuttle take off, land, take off again, and land again. Someone has seized a NASA site, and is sending shuttles up for some reason.

Robots have begun appearing. Mean, nasty ones. PREDATOR and SWORD viariants. When one is investigated, a surgically altered human brain is found in control (read the Rat Controls Airplane news articles) and the beacon can allow the PC's to triangulate on where they are coming from.

A power group is rapidly making areas of a large city safe. However, the ruling class is despicable, the laws are tyrannical and deplorable, and the disparity between the ruling elite, thier guards, and the masses is horrible. The PC's are offered a job as security forces, and must decide whether or not oppressing the rest of the citizens for the luxury of the elite is all right or not. Add in a favorite NPC "vanishing" now and then, and whispers of something horrible.

A wolf pack is following the PC's, gaining strength as it does. The PC's are harried and harrassed at every opportunity by knife wielding little savages. The leader of the pack is one of the PC's relatives, and she burns with absolute hatred over the fact the PC abandoned her to her fate.

Rumors speak of a crashed airplane nearby, one that went down loaded with treasure. The plane is full of cocaine siezed by the DEA. All kinds of groups want it, some for benign reason (anesthetic) and other want it for more unsavory reasons (population control and to make the slaves work longer and harder) but the PC's are marked for death.

The PC's have to break out of jail, the guards having succumbed to the Rising and leaving the PC's locked in the cell block. As food runs out and the more predatory cons killing others, things get desperate.

The PC's are military, and have to figure out a way to return from the Middle East with the Rising in full swing. To top it off, the ships sailed and the planes flew early, stranding tens of thousands of troops in the Middle East. Surrounded on all sides by an indigenous population that blames the soldiers for the Rising, the PC's have to find a way out of the Middle East.

Aboard the PC's flight, a man hiding a bite succumbs to the Rising, and in the ensuing chaos, the plane crashes in a harsh environment, wounding over half of the passengers. The PC's have to lead the suviving passengers through harsh terrain, with no supplies or equipment.




Need more?

 

[andrew_kenrick]

All interesting ideas. I particularly like the players AS zombies thing, that sounds like a fun short game.

How about Bottled Imp's Lord of the Night: Zombies? It deals with all manner of zombies and zombie movies, but it's mainly about playing zombies. Of course it's d20 fantasy, but it'd be easy enough to port it over.

 

[talien]

I recommend: Blood and Brains: Most Likely Scenarios for Reanimation. It's free: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=3098&Src=EnWorld

HOLBROOKLYN, NJ -- We at the National Center for Reanimation Prevention and Control (NCRPC) routinely deal with a variety of zombie infestations. It's a testament to the effectiveness of our organization that you are not currently drooling while you sip brains from your friend's skull. It's a dirty job, but somebody has to get paid very little (and no benefits) to do it.

That said, the NCRPC is always preparing for the worst. We have plotted out a series of disaster scenarios that could take place if we decided to call in sick for say, thirty days in a row. Presented here for your eyes only are those scenarios. Don't say we didn't warn you.

And oh yeah, if you see a guy with a shotgun standing over a twitching, smoldering corpse, a little "thank you" every once in awhile wouldn't hurt.

( A collection of adventure hooks for Blood and Brains.)

 

[Peterson]

You could have your PC group stumble across the strange...and occult. It could help break up the "See zombie, shoot zombie till twitching stops, shoot again for good measure" approach.

Perhaps a small, lightly fortified community is ran by a Diabolist - or turned to Diabolism as a way to protect their community. Imagine what could happen with a fiend on the loose.

Let's just hope fiends can resist the Rising....


Peterson