From Bean Me! Pedia

Contents 1 Terms Of Note 2 Using The Template 3 Storyline 3.1 Cause 3.1.1 Alien/Demonic Invasion 3.1.2 Genetic Experimentation 3.1.3 Magic/Religion 3.1.4 Note 3.2 Infected Regions 3.2.1 People ‘Living’ In Infected Areas 3.2.2 Zombiegration 3.3 Aftermath 3.3.1 First, Panic 3.3.2 Second, Defensive 3.3.3 Third, Turning the Tides 3.3.4 Fourth, Victory or Rinse and Repeat? 3.4 New Groups 3.4.1 Destructive Anarchist Force, Terrorists 3.4.2 Human Liberation Front 3.4.3 New Post Office 3.4.4 Pro-Zombie Party 4 Possible Futures 4.1 Bastion of Humanity 4.2 Zombies Politicized 5 Conversion Tools 5.1 Converting Cities 5.2 Converting People 5.3 Zombies Beget Zombies 5.4 Zombievolution 5.5 Helpful Tools 5.5.1 CIA - The World Factbook 5.5.2 Google Earth 5.5.3 MapQuest 5.5.4 Wikipedia 6 Zombies 6.1 Forms of Infection 6.1.1 Bite 6.1.2 Breath 6.1.3 Claw 6.1.4 Death 6.1.5 Fluids 6.1.6 Time-Delay 6.1.7 Combos 6.1.8 Save Checks 6.2 General Zombie Information 6.2.1 Cold 6.2.2 Electricity 6.2.3 Fire 6.2.4 Head Wound 6.2.5 Light Sensitivity 6.2.6 Living or Undead? 6.2.7 Mindlessness 6.2.8 Morale 6.2.9 Severe Body Damage 6.2.10 Flesh 6.3 Zombies Types 6.3.1 Slow Zombies 6.3.2 Fast Zombies 6.3.3 Smart Zombies 6.3.4 Zombie Lords 6.3.5 Prodigium 6.3.6 Animal Zombies 6.4 Zombie Pack Mentality 6.5 Zombie In-Fighting 6.6 Players as Zombies 7 ‘Z’ Checklist 8 End Word

Terms Of Note

DAFT – Destructive Anarchist Force, Terrorists, the title given to any bands of Living and/or non-mindless dead who extorted or otherwise terrorized other survivors during the Z Infestation

HLF – Human Liberation Front, fervent group of Living active during the Z Infestation with the single goal of protecting humankind while destroying the Z Horde

Living – Any humans who were not killed or converted during the Z Infestation

NPO – New Post Office, an organized group of Living who deliver letters and information during the Z Infestation, they often map the new world

PZP – Pro-Zombie Party, title given to anyone who was in favour of the Z Infestation and the Z Horde

Sneakery – To move or act with the intent of being sneaky, mischievous, or otherwise unseen or undiscovered in an act that may be perceived as undesired by others

Z Horde – Zombie Horde, relating to zombies world wide as a whole

Z Infestation – Zombie Infestation, the time period between when the zombies were introduced to the world and until they were ‘solved’, commonly when humanity was losing

Z Pact – Zombie Pact, treaty signed by both the Living and the Z Horde that agrees on borders and peaceful resolutions

Z War – Zombie War, renaming of the Z Infestation once the Living and the ZN came to peaceful terms

ZN – Zombie Nation, the area(s) controlled by the once Z Horde where the Living are restricted access to and the Z Horde is not allowed to leave

Zombiefied – The proper term for something that has been turned from its normal state into one directly related to that of a zombie

Zombiegration – Shorthand for ‘zombie migration’, the habitual/instinctual act of a large group of zombies leaving one area for another, such as when seeking more prey

Zombieism – Something that shows characteristics or likenesses similar to that of a zombie or the movement in art and/or other societal areas to something more relevant to that of the zombie era

Zombieization – The act of making something a zombie or giving it zombie-like qualities

Zombielician – Shorthand for a ‘zombie politician’, a zombie who, usually, is either a smart zombie or Zombie Lord belonging to a political group associated with zombies

Zombievolution – Shorthand for ‘zombie evolution’, the, usually, spontaneous change of a zombie’s current type to one that is of ‘higher quality’

Zombification - The process of something changing a quality or entirety from its norm to the quality(s) of that of a zombie, such as a Living turning into a zombie

Zombified – The slang for anything that changes to resemble or show qualities or characteristics of a zombie aspect yet is not a zombie itself

Zombifun – Shorthand for ‘zombie fun’, a, usually, sarcastic term for anything involving zombies that could be considered ‘fun’

Zombinimal – Shorthand for ‘zombie animal’, any non-human zombie

ZW – See Z War

ZWE – Zombie War End, year the ZW ended and the Z Pact was signed by the Living and the Z Horde and often when the ZN is unofficially created

“God I hate zombies…” – R.D.

Using The Template

‘Z’ is for ‘Zombie’ is a Template based entirely around helping people make a zombie-based game or integrate them as a part of a Campaign in a way that harkens to the way they are commonly perceived. Whether they are the entire basis of a modern Campaign or a small additive to any genre is up to the individual OM but this Template will talk about zombies as though they are the basis of the modern world and its adventures. Because there are so many variations of zombies and the worlds they inhabit much of the Template is suggestions and ideas for people to use in the game or use to make their own. Rules for certain aspects have been included for things such as Attributes and Skill changes.

So please, enjoy crafting an undead world and sending Players through a gauntlet of gory mayhem.

Storyline

“It was a cooler, darker night than the norm. I remember thinking that because I cancelled my nightly walk because of it. It wasn’t worth being cold, I’d thought. Little did I know at the time but that sentiment likely saved my life.”

Humanity had risen from its darkest ancient times to a new world. They had overcome numerous obstacles and challenges and achieved great things; shining in even their darkest times. But their greatest peril always had been and perhaps always would be themselves; more than they ever expected. Surviving the most difficult of journeys, many of the species alive did not think the greatest had yet to come.

Mysteriously one night the modern world was thrown into upheaval; a new threat had arisen. It came silently and without warning but was quick to engulf a great portion of the human race. It was not concerned with race, religion, gender, or age; killing mercilessly and without pause. Its flock came from the humans who fell prey to its unrelenting emotionless wave of death.

That which came was the so-called living-dead or ‘undead’, soon to be termed ‘zombies’. Humans who no longer lived yet their bodies refused to lay to rest. Even with many of the Living fighting back and destroying the zombies their numbers continued to grow exponentially; for every human that fell a zombie rose.

In that one night the human world as it was known turned into an entirely new war against a foe no one could have ever expected. As the light began to shine again after the dark, it only meant the darkness was moving to a new, unsuspecting place. Humanity may have survived the first night, but they knew there was more to come. How long could humanity hope to survive the ‘Z Infestation’…?

Cause

“I didn’t know what was going on at first; I don’t think anyone knew what was coming but we all knew when it arrived. It was the screams in the street that first got my attention. I had decided to look out the window instead of my front door; again I think this saved my life. I saw them shambling, running, attacking… waiting. The waiting scared me most, waiting in front of doors where they couldn’t be seen only to attack whoever opened it to see what the screams were about.”

For a possible goal or even just to try explain what is going on, it is best to choose a ‘cause’ for the Z Infestation. This not only gives a purpose beyond endless zombie killing but can provide an end other than eliminating each and every zombie out there. Starting as unassuming survivors and ending up as the saviours of humanity is perhaps one of the most heroic ends possible.

Or the cause provides an alternate possibility to playing with zombies. Playing as zombies or perhaps the force behind the zombies. A new perspective and possibility for anyone who desires to play and/or root for the other side of the fight. Playing from the non-Living perspective the basic end desire of playing for the ‘other team’ would likely change to annihilating or converting the entire Living population.

There are three basic possible storylines to the cause of the Z Infestation: Alien/Demonic Invasion, Genetic Experimentation, or Magic/Religion.

Alien/Demonic Invasion

“I hear them… I see them… they come to me in my dreams. What are they? What do they want? Why won’t they leave me alone?! They whisper things, horrible things. They want me; they want me to do things, things to help them. Sleep is my only release from this new, horrible world, but they have taken even that from me. Why? Why…”

This possible explanation involves otherworldly beings assaulting the human race by using them against themselves. It is usually paired with one of the other two possible causes (i.e. a disease made by aliens or demons using dark arts) or could be something wholly different, like a parasite that lives within the brain and maintains the body enough to function as long as the brain is intact then spreads itself through saliva in the bite.

Regardless the type of invader and their style of ‘zombieization’, it gives a centralized foe for the Players to fight and maybe even eventually defeat thus solving the Z Infestation. A demon risen in a country or a crashed spaceship that once destroyed ends the Z Infestation could be a discovery the Players make and eventually go to defeat, all the while fighting hordes of zombies (and maybe the odd alien or demon on the way!).

Genetic Experimentation

“Was it meant to benefit man-kind? Or was it some accidental discovery that got out of hand? Accident or not we’ve seen the result. Most people feel that if the creators are still alive they should face a Living judgement. Haven’t enough people died already that we do not need to kill our own? Isn’t that just aiding the problem?”

This possible explanation involves, usually, very secretive government/corporation construction of a genetic agent that creates things with very similar ‘symptoms’ of ‘zombieism’. Most likely a ‘direct infection’ agent that cannot spread via airborne methods that somehow ‘escapes’ the lab, possibly an infected worker who escaped the lab to keep from being put down/contained or was going to sell the agent when things went horribly wrong; a general lab breach could work as well, like an airborne virus that only activates on death.

Regardless of how the agent ‘escapes’, the lab it came from or a person who knows about it could hold some form of ‘solution’ to the Z Infestation. A cure or details of how to produce a cure could be found within this location, perhaps one of the most heavily infested areas possible. This provides not only a possible ‘rinse and repeat’ world of zombieism (i.e. a second outbreak after it is cured) but a ‘contained zombie world’ (i.e. zombie pets) without the constant fear of death and with the luxuries of life restored (i.e. power, running water, T.V., zombie-free streets, etc).

Magic/Religion

“God? What god? I can easily believe in devils now though. Whatever evil brought this upon us is surely out of this world. People whisper of dark arts and dark gods. Is it one, the other, or both? I’m too busy trying to live to stop and think about what might have caused this, especially if it involves some dark force.”

This possible explanation involves usually either religious prophecy or someone practising dark arts from a book they really should not have been reading. Ancient religions such as the Egyptians’ are a usual source of curses or ancient dark sorcery that one day would resurface to cause further havoc; and an archaeological discovery of an ancient evil book is a great way to kick it all off. An intentional action or not this could leave a powerful tool out somewhere providing the ability for someone to control the zombie horde.

Either way this allows perhaps the widest range of choices and solutions and can even allow the introduction of more plausible, non-reality options. Magic can begin appearing in people, hidden sects of religions with the task of fighting undead can surface, magic laced technologies could appear, or just about anything else that goes beyond our ordinary world as desired even in our own timeline.

Note

Remember, these are just options for explanation. The OM should choose whatever best suits their desire and their views of what a world infested by zombies looks like and what caused it. And just because there is an explanation does not mean the Players will know off the bat, finding out what caused the new world could be half the fun! Or causing it could be great fun!

Infected Regions

“As I armed myself and barricaded the entrances to my house I began to wonder if this was some sick, isolated joke or whether maybe the world over was going through what I was. Later when I had more time to think in the Trenches, only a few days or so after the Z Infestation, with no outside help in sight, I became extremely worried this might be the last pocket of humanity remaining.”

After deciding what caused the Z Infestation and how the OM should consider how much of the world has been infested. Just a city? Province/State? Country? Continent? Or maybe the world over? This should depend highly on what caused it, where it started, and the style of spread (if it is whenever someone dies then pretty quick, bite only and only one original zombie then probably pretty slow). Fleeing to un-infested islands or even a whole ‘safe’ continent could be alternative goals to just killing everything that moves that should not be.

People ‘Living’ In Infected Areas

“When I finally felt it safe enough to leave my house under the cover of day, armed to the teeth, I drove around slowly for a while looking for signs of other survivors. I knew I had to keep a cool head so even though my eyes momentarily locked on anything moving, I couldn’t let myself freak out and crash now. I finally made my way past the penitentiary when I saw them: People patrolling the walls with guns. I pulled up and they shouted for me to rush in, I complied without delay.”

Not everyone is going to die/‘convert’ in the first night. There is likely to be survivors living in areas naturally fortified or difficult for zombies to access (i.e. hills, the natural enemy of zombies). These areas, commonly referred to as ‘Trenches’ or ‘SZ’, sleep or safe zone depending, rely on terrain or other human structures that prevent zombie access but still allow the Living in and out and are preferably strong enough just in case they start applying pressure (a chain-link fence only lasts so long).

These areas are things like apartment buildings, penitentiaries, malls, and other buildings with either a lot of stairs, tall walls, or locked entryways the zombies cannot pass. This does not mean all of these buildings would be safe, only those that were not breached. An open late mall could have automatic sliding doors even a zombie could get through or someone could accidentally let one in an apartment building and it could make it into an elevator/stairwell (nothing worse than going to get on the elevator only to find a zombie already inside). The Living are likely to gravitate towards wherever has the least zombies and the most protection.

Zombiegration

“After a few months it started; sudden influxes of walking dead populations. We were soon to discover that large groups of them, once the final survivors either left, were overrun, or hid well enough, they would leave the area en masse in search of new… food. A full city’s population migrating in a constant stream from a dead city in search of a live one is quite a sight; though it is a soon to be dead city.”

Zombies wander, its a fact. Like any predator or beast seeking food, once their primary source is gone they will migrate en masse to the next nearest supply. When a city’s Living population dips low and the rest cannot be found or are dead zombies will leave either in clumps or random directions alone, depending on the zombie. This means that when a city is ‘randomly rolled to death’ (see Converting Cities) or an OM chooses that the remaining population is ‘gone’ to the zombie population or have left. Migrations do not have to happen, but they are something to consider for both logic and the odd unexpected happenstance to throw in (a well running city of trenches could quickly be thrown into turmoil by a nearby zombiegration).

Aftermath

“There were quite a few people gathering in these ‘camps’, or as I came to know them ‘Trenches’, everywhere else being ‘No Mans Land’. Some had it worse than others but the general mood was far from pleasant. One little girl, no more than five or six, I met at the penitentiary damn near broke my heart.”

“Mommy and daddy were acting funny, walking real slow. Big sis took my hand and put me in the car. There were more people acting funny outside. She drove us around with a funny look on her face and kept saying she wasn’t sure if we’d make it. Make it where? Will mommy and daddy be coming soon? I miss them.”

An OM should also consider the aftermath and the various ‘stages’ of a Z Infestation. Considering how long each stage will last, which stage they want the Players to start in, and the general attitude and happenings of the world over. Different areas can be in different stages, the initial ‘night of darkness’ might not even happen in other parts of the world for weeks. This can let Players travelling around to experience different levels of fighting and allied aid among other things.

First, Panic

“Many were taken in their sleep without ever waking to the coming dawn of humanities greatest challenge. Those unfortunate enough to wake up faced a world many could not handle; some succumbed to the coming darkness aware of their fate, others chose a more pre-emptive end, and less still survived, persevering to the bitter end before them in hope of seeing a new world. I was too scared to stop hiding and running for the first few days until I made it to the Trenches.”

In most places the first thing to happen will be governmental anarchy. Laws will be meaningless, most people stealing food, weapons, and/or vehicles. They are not likely to turn on one another, there being a far greater threat and their concerns turning more to survival and necessities than anything else. As well most will understand that the more Living allies they have the longer they are likely to live.

Places that were already armed or far from civilized areas are likely to remain safer or zombie free altogether; at least at first. Without guidance and enough ammo even military fortifications are likely to fall eventually and zombies have a tendency to wander, some might eventually make it to rural areas. Most of the time they will follow those who were able to escape the cities, seeking unsuspecting fleeing prey.

During this stage there will be mass hysteria, panic, and fear. Anyone who knows nothing of zombies will suffer from horrible morale problems and general chaos will cause almost as many problems as the zombies. This stage lasts for anywhere between the first night and the first month, depending on how long it takes for major urban areas to be overtaken.

Second, Defensive

“With more time to think in peace and relative safety, the bulk of the screams ending after the first week, I thought about how things could have escalated so quickly. The first to be taken were the homeless, prostitutes, and others unfortunate enough to be on the streets that night. Then public places open at such late hours were invaded: bars, night clubs, and hospitals were prime targets through their inhuman eyes. A highly disturbing epiphany, but morbidly true I feared.”

Once the panic has subsided and as long as one side has not wiped out the other, the losing side will have taken any fortifications possible. The opposing/winning side at this time is likely to begin an extermination campaign or maybe one of study or even ‘farming’. At this point both sides will know enough information about the other to understand weaknesses, movements, and general mental self of the others.

Places with a large enough functioning population and good enough defences will start moving back towards a ‘normal’ life. Once fortified and the populace is properly trained for survival and there is either ample food or ‘safe’ gathering techniques even the constant threat will seem lessened. As the people become more comfortable with their situation life will become more bearable.

During this stage the hysteria will have given way to a quieter, constant fear. While the morale may never fully recover at least by this time people will have better understanding and cooler heads. Both sides’ losses are likely to fall tremendously, perhaps the defensive side eliminating more enemies in their struggle for survival than they lose. This stage lasts for anywhere between hours, days, or even permanent depending on desire of game/Campaign.

Third, Turning the Tides

“There was talk about fighting back beyond the walls to retake the city. In our food and ammo runs we had made contact with other Trenches, apartment buildings and malls, other places full of the Living. Miniature societies had formed in these places. I was torn between fighting and just living. Their numbers couldn’t expand without us Living so as long as we held out they couldn’t prosper but eventually things might go wrong or they could break through. A situation of possible ‘damned if we did’ and ‘damned if we didn’t’.”

After enough oppression from the other side, the losing will rise up to overthrow their oppressors. Leaving their fortified zones and hiding holes to fight back with all they have. Previous fears and insecurities have been overwritten with anger and fervour. Their desire for a better, more secure life for themselves and others fuels the drive of vengeance.

By this point any strongholds that have not been broken, left, or wiped out will likely feel strong enough and angry enough to actually leave and try and end it one way or the other. This does not mean the fortifications will be abandoned and everyone becomes a nomadic war machine but that they will start venturing outside of the fortifications to hunt down nearby enemies. Perhaps even when their city is liberated, another nearby city might be assailed next for the ideal of freedom.

During this stage any fighters or leaders still alive will begin rallying their comrades into retaking what they have lost. The losing side, tired of losing, will use the information they have learned thus far to turn the tides and fight back, breaking a far too dispersed enemy, usually through guerrilla tactics. Death rates are more likely to sky-rocket on the once winning side as new tactics and prepared forces strike back. This stage lasts for anywhere between hours, days, or even never-ending depending on the success of either side and the desire of game/Campaign.

Fourth, Victory or Rinse and Repeat?

“The strong among us rose up and called for us to retake the city. There had been communications between the Trenches and it seemed they were thinning in numbers as we picked them off daily from the walls. Could it really be possible to take back the city? They whipped many of us into an angry frenzy with talk of how things were and what was taken from us. I was moved by the speeches and sentiment but still cautious. If we were going to leave these walls en masse and found them too great we needed a returning strategy.”

Once the tides begin to turn and the original massacre fuels a new rage it will turn from a one-sided fight to all out war. In this time the guerrilla and defensive tactics used will change to bands of extermination, relying on force and power over stealth and sneakery. This will be the do or die time of both sides. If both sides truly desire victory, now will be the time.

One of two things will happen during this time. One side will be victorious in the complete destruction or containment of the other or neither side will be able to truly defeat the other and the world will forever be locked in a war between the living and the dead. Whole cities, provinces/states, or even countries are likely to be of one control or the other, enemy strongholds having been purged or evacuated in mid-war. Life deep within friendly controlled territory will likely take on semblance of what it was before the Z Infestation but front-line fringe fighting may never end.

During this stage the final gambit will begin for both sides. The fear instilled in the Living will have been forgotten and the locations taken by the undead will have been completely overrun and secured. As well whoever might be controlling the Z Hordes could be close to their own demise, it being tactically wise for the Living to destroy such a foe before thinking of cleaning up the rest of the Z Infestation. This stage lasts for anywhere between hours, days, or eternity depending on the success of either side in their blitz attack or maintained assaults and the desire of the game/Campaign.

New Groups

“After that night people were quick to find new niches in life. New jobs, ideals, and beliefs were quick to arise and adopted among the survivors. These groups vary greatly in ideals and tasks depending on desires and goals, ranging from the cream of the human crop to the scummiest. The majority of us survivors were decent human beings as were many of these new groups, however some were as dangerous as the damn walking dead.”

These are possible groups of people to be used within a Campaign for fleshing out the world or even giving the Players a possible starting idea. As well such groups can provide alternative goals, allies, or opposition. Of course they are not necessary, required, nor the only options available. They are listed as guidance and ideas if the OM wishes to use them or make their own.

Destructive Anarchist Force, Terrorists

“While almost everyone had been forced to become an anarchist in one form or another, there were those who took it to an extreme. Claiming to be surviving or adapting to this new world and that now is the time to remove the remnants of failed governments and society to promote a new agenda; an evil agenda. As though the world didn’t have enough trouble, these sociopaths not only gave anarchists a bad name but made it that much harder for the rest of us to live.”

Shortly after the Z Infestation, once the chaos and panic of the initial stage had subsided, and the survivors had fortified themselves, groups of people joined together to try craft the new world by their desire. Many of these groups, while not usually connected to each other, were not out to recreate old governments or bring order to the survivors; they were out for power and greedy desires. They claim it is in the sake of governmental anarchy and is a choice of life of this new era.

Far from a unified force, they are closer to roving bands of thugs which have all been labelled as one category. While they still fight and kill the Z Horde as necessary or at times use or join up with smart ones, they extort and rob the other survivors as desired. Taking food, fuel, and anything else they desire, usually not even for a service at all but just so the group does not have to find such needs themselves. Most everyone sees them as using the ideal of anarchy as a shield for selfish brutal greed, making them seem as terrorists more than anything else. For this reason many Trenches will bar access or even kill any known ‘DAFT’ if they come too close, knowing full well their history of methods for getting what they want.

Human Liberation Front

“Against the coming swarms rose a new breed of fighters and warriors. Scary in their own rights I could not help but admire them. They fought with all their hearts against the invasion and were responsible for much of the extermination that protected the various Trenches from destruction. When they came to my own Trench, travelling city to city, Trench to Trench, I was close to joining and leaving with them - but I knew I was needed there more.”

Throughout the Z Infestation there were those who refused to hide or give in at even the darkest times. These random people were quick to find and join each other in their hatred for this new foe and their desire to purge the world of them for the good of humankind. They did not care of governments, borders, politics, or anything that did not directly relate to the extermination of the Z Horde or the survival of humankind. Rough uniforms, badges, and other identifiers have been in production since many of the extermination groups joined to form a unified HLF.

They were fast learners and had excellent fighting capabilities, tactics, and weaponry. They took whatever advantage could come to them as long as it would not put any Living beyond themselves in danger. Any to break such protocol were quick to be disbarred and removed from the HLF. While still human, their high values and near unshakable morals cause many to see them as the epitome of humanity and the fighting forces.

New Post Office

“There were a few people crazy enough to literally run between Trenches and even cities in the hopes of delivering important information or supplies. They used whatever vehicles they could get their hands on, including animals, in their mad dashing. They were perhaps the most well respected people of the new world, taking food and fuel as needed as payment to deliver news and objects. Thanks to them a lot of loved ones could soon rest at night knowing family and friends were safe.”

After the Z Infestation much of the modern conveniences and luxuries were destroyed or otherwise removed. Without these technologies communications that were taken for granted were soon gone, separating families and friends from each other with nary a second glance. However travelling men and women around the world were quick to establish the New Post Office, an organization of anyone who was willing to travel among the Z Horde just for the purpose of delivering letters and supplies for those seeking word from the outside world.

Most people thought the idea of racing between Trenches and cities to be completely insane. This aside even more people were very appreciative of what the NPO did for everyone. In cities where they set up they often have a fortified hub used as a production, distribution, and communication centre for their members. The NPO carry very specific documents of certification to prove legitimacy which are difficult to reproduce allowing many to deliver without question, beyond that each member is very diverse. For their delivery service fees they charge minimum fuel and food as necessary but most gladly accept tips, fat NPO’s do not last as long and they know it. In addition to delivery they also map Trenches and rate zones, rating the level of Z Infestation and quality/quantity of human populations in the areas they visit. Should an NPO not return or otherwise knowledge of their demise is attained, their last known location will be considered dangerous and will be investigated carefully before other NPO will dare enter.

Pro-Zombie Party

“These people were insane without a doubt. I am not sure why but they saw these walking corpses as saviours and to some even as gifts of some god. To both my only thought was this: insanity. However they became dangerously insane when they tried to help spread the ‘gift’ to other Living, willing or not. It became apparent very quickly not to let these people anywhere near you.”

It was not long after the Z Infestation that there rose those who believed the zombies to be a blessing. They came from all sorts of backgrounds and reasons, claiming the arrival of zombies was all for the ‘betterment of humankind’; that being so-called ‘turned’ was their gift to the Living. The majority of the Living did not agree with them. Many of the Living were willing to put up with or tolerate these people until they tried to spread their beliefs by force or treachery as necessary. Entire Trenches have been wiped out because of these people, usually by tricking them into opening their gates, then opening them for the Z Horde once let in or by infecting themselves then getting inside and wiping out the Trench on their own, causing others to count known PZP as ‘kill on sight’ targets.

Because for the most part they are not a unified group others simply refer to anyone exhibiting signs of approval to zombies as PZP. While many of the PZP are preachers, trying to spread their beliefs like some sort of new religion, there are others who try forcibly to convert the Living to the other side. Both are rarely accepted kindly amongst the non-PZP. Those PZP that do not freely convert themselves are sometimes known to keep zombies on leashes or chains, guiding them like animals and keeping them for various reasons and desires; some said to even be able to communicate with or control them mentally as well as physically.

Possible Futures

“I found I spent much of my time dreaming of the future; the future had this not happened. It was happier to say the least. My thoughts would have been more pleasant, more focussed on myself and my little problems which seemed like so much back then. Dreams of a life free of true worry, the worry of survival. It was nice to dream, but the nagging truth of reality kept winning.”

Everything up to the point of the Z Infestation follows roughly the same history and timeline of our own world, although the odd historical events or group might be created or modified for use of the game. After the Z Infestation has gone one way or the other? Everything is up in the air of creativity. Depending on the cause chosen almost any option is available to the OM.

Bastion of Humanity

“It had taken a many great years of hardship and turmoil for humanity to finally overcome the threat long enough to establish the Bastion of Humanity. A great mega-city capable of protecting its population against anything beyond itself, and even then government and the services provided by such had been re-established. The population lived unworried of that which had for so long threatened to make us extinct.”

Unable to wipe out the Z Horde and stop the Z Infestation, humanity chose an alternate route. Many larger Trenches pooled their population and resources into one. They freed their city, purging it of the zombies and set out to purge nearby areas. However they soon found there was but a handful of survivors beyond themselves and the infestation was too great. Instead of attempting to exterminate the world’s problem they chose to turn their freed city in a bastion for any and all of humanity left in the world.

Much of the city was basically scrapped and redesigned base up, planning contingencies for as many issues that might arise as possible. It became self-sufficient for food and even many pre-modern techniques and technologies were resurrected in one form or another, such as blacksmithing, to aid what modern conveniences remained, such as the varying electrical generators that were rebuilt or survived.

Surrounding the city they built an enormous cement wall taller and smoother than any could hope to climb, especially the walking dead. A secondary inner wall was erected so as to allow an ‘inspection safety zone’, where incoming or outgoing people had to pass one wall, which was then closed, and wait before being allowed to pass the other wall. They cordoned off each area, separating the farms, the living districts, commercial zones, and any other diverse areas from each other, in case for any reason the outer wall should be breached the sectors could be quarantined and safely purged if necessary. New technologies and design structures were adapted for the city, much of it in light of the necessity to preserve resources and space.

Survivors outside the city who hear of it are quick to seek it out. As long as they are not infected or of those who seek to infect the bastion, they are never turned away. Thanks to the inspection zone even those being assailed by a Z Horde are able to enter, forced to remain within the zone with both doors closed until thoroughly inspected. Search and recover squads from the bastion make regular trips to the outside world, seeking other survivors, technologies, and resources as well as exterminating any infestation they might come across. They benefit from the best armour, weapons, and vehicles available to the bastion.

Should the city last long enough technology may advance significantly beyond our own, especially if founded near/by existing labs or people of technological backgrounds. Eventually it may even be the last of the living human population remaining on the planet.

The bastion is designed to be used as either a sort of ‘home base’ for the Players to operate from or as a goal for the Players to arrive at. Which city, the exact design, total population, and the technologies should all be determined by the OM before integrating it into the game. As well it should be kept in mind it would likely take months to years of construction when considering a timeline unless the history has been altered, in which case it might have even better technology/modern conveniences (i.e. an experimental mega-city). This could make it so the Players first purge the city before reclaiming it.

Zombies Politicized

“We had survived so much only for our own to turn on us. Mind you it wasn’t as bad as it could have been; it was only politics after all. But no one was impressed in the least when politicians turned any and all issues of the walking dead into some political issue. My opinion was always that maybe a few too many politicians had survived.”

Should humanity survive to a point where enough of a nation’s government is intact or rebuilt it is likely zombies will take on a whole new issue: Politics. Rifts will form between those who think the zombies need to be studied, those who think they should be completely and utterly wiped out, and those who wish to preserve them, considering them a new species and should be treated as any other. As democracies and other nations face such sentiments it provides entirely new problems. Politicians use the issue as political platforms to the point everything else seems to be moot. This leads many to fear that one day someone might do something foolish for the sake of politics.

It may not seem that politicized zombies would make them any greater a threat, but the truth is as long as an issue in the government is in debate they will not act; and they control the military. During the debates, campaigns, elections, etc, the zombies will be unhindered. If there is a force controlling them this may give them the tactical manoeuvring they need to gain the upper hand. Not to mention what might happen should a Pro-Zombie Party gain any power or do anything foolish, meaning even if all the zombies are in captivity they may not be for long.

In most game scenarios politicized zombies would not be all that important, however it could add the possibility of role reversal, sending the humans from dominating in the Z War and having zombies close to extinction, to humans struggling to retake ground or perhaps being endangered themselves. As well it could allow for reasons to a Campaign, such as why a ‘special forces’ group only had to fight zombies in the ‘safe world’ once in a while instead of everyday (i.e. the zombies wandered out of their habitats).

Perhaps the worst possibility of all things to do with zombies politicized is the possibility of a ‘zombielician’ or a ‘zombie politician’ (a politician that will not die of old age!). Smart zombies who learned to talk and interact with normal humans and Zombie Lords might easily work themselves into the political world of the living. Once there is proof that not all zombies are mindless killing machines and that they think and feel just as the Living, will they not deserve as much if not more consideration than animals? Just because average Joe Zombie cannot defend himself in a human’s court of law, does not mean he does not deserve defending. To this end the world could be divided among the humans and the zombies in a peaceful yet tenuous situation around the various borders. With zombievolution it could be hoped that eventually the entire ZN population would be a thinking, responsible people instead of mindless walking corpses and peace could finally be assured.

“Your Honour, while it is highly regretful that John Smith Zombie left our city, crossed the border into Living territory, and nearly started another epidemic within a Living city, Mr. JSZ does not represent the Zombie Nation as a whole and this incident in no way reflects the ZN’s views or desires. Mind you the ZN has yet to seek litigation in this court for the numerous Z murders and thefts of personal property that have occurred within our borders since the signing of the Z Pact of year 0ZWE, the pact which not only ended the Z War but was meant to protect both sides from such senseless acts of aggression yet has not been fully enforced by both sides.”

Conversion Tools

“No matter how hard we tried, life just couldn’t go back to normal. Too much damage had been done. Yet we were unwilling to surrender so the only option was moving towards new lives, surrendering everything we once held dear. Change isn’t always good, but sometimes it is forced. We learnt too many lessons this way; the hard way.”

While Storyline and Possible Futures are just for setting up story and figuring out how you got everywhere, here is a guideline for turning our world into their world. The guide does not have to be followed precisely or at all, it is here to provide assistance for people who want to do it quickly and without much effort and are seeking new ideas.

Converting Cities

“Entire cities turned to death. It wasn’t like a war anyone could have ever imagined. No smoking craters, no destroyed buildings, no marching armies. A swift silent death over in just a few nights, only the odd crashed car or fire broke the façade of a sleeping city, revealing its true nature. It was dead.”

Not every city will be completely turned, some not at all, and others will be a raging battle. There are many factors that would contribute to the level of infestation of any area; population, terrain, style of infection, etc. However, instead of carefully plotting each and every city, although you might wish to do some by hand, there are easier methods using the roll of dice to figure out everything for you.

First you must discover the population of the city in question. Once this is known you roll a d%(d100) for conversion. The number here is how many people after at least the first twenty four hours are converted into zombies, or ‘% zombie’. Roll another d%(d100) to determine how many of this percent left are alive or dead. You can either determine whether the roll is ‘% living’ or ‘% dead’ such as through a coin flip or simple logic. If the %z is low, such as 1%, and the %l/%d is high, such as 90%, it is highly unlikely 90% of 99% of the city has died while only 1% is converted. You could always say 99% were converted and 90% of the unconverted survived or just leave it to random happenstance. If you are left with a decimal assume there are portions of zombies functioning without the rest of itself.

Naturally these numbers will begin to vary drastically after the first day, but should apply well to start. The numbers should change quickly over the next few days and weeks depending on style of infection. If it is a very slow spread rate/style then the %z will quickly change to %d. If it is a very quick spread rate/style then the %z will increase while the l% is quick to change to one or the other. How much these change can be simple logical assumptions or flat out random dice rolls daily, weekly, monthly, or otherwise as often as desired. (i.e. roll a d4, 1 is %z to %d, 2 is %l to %d, 3 is %l to %z, 4 is %d to %z, changed by the roll of a d%(100), if the dead cannot get back up just count 4 as ‘no significant change’).

These rolls can be applied to just one city, province, country, continent, or even the world over, as the varying population and densities means each area will still have far different numbers of infestation, living, and dead.

If you want a higher chance of one thing instead of another, rearrange how you roll and/or add a ‘seed’ amount to one of the ratios. For example if you wanted more survivors then you roll in order of l% then %z/%d. While this does not guarantee increases one way or the other, the odds do favour the likelihood of more living than either zombie or dead because the %d and %z will be further divided. Or you could use seeds such as adding +20%z and subtracting -10%d/-10%l to a maximum of 100% and minimum of 0% after roll. The basic rolling styles are:

%z then %d/%l

%z then %l/%d

%l then %d/%z

%l then %z/%d

%d then %l/%z

%d then %z/%l

For extreme ease, a ratio of 33%/33%/33%/1%MIA can easily be applied to give a city true ‘even grounds’.

Converting People

“The few cases I bore witness to the full conversion process I was horrified. Innocent. Happy. Sad. Angry. All types of people turned to one melancholy look under pale skin. The look of death worsens when it rises and moves, attempting to spread among the Living like a contagion. They started by looking as they had just died. The more time that past the more dead they seemed; death and decay going hand in hand.”

Not everyone will turn out to be the same form of zombie. While the possibilities are entirely up to the OM as to which zombie types are to be used, it gives a general guide of the likelihood of what people would become. For random ‘zombieization outcome’ of any kind follow this next guide, if one zombie type is not used, add its % odds to another zombie type when rolling. For a balance of ‘Z Horde power’, whenever someone is converted roll a d%(d100) here to determine their type:

Slow Zombie: 1-75

Fast Zombie: 76-90

Smart Zombie: 91-100 (roll again if it lands in 91-99 twice, Smart Fast)

Prodigium: 2 consecutive 100 rolls (if you roll 100, roll again, roll a third time to see if they will be a regular Prodigium, Smart Prodigium, or Zombie Lord)

Zombie Lord: 3 consecutive 100 rolls

Beyond random selection an OM can just choose which type a person becomes or can switch the odds around, such as the Prodigium requiring 3 rolls of 100 and the Zombie Lord only 2, or make more Smart Zombies by switching their odds with Fast Zombies.

In addition to randomly rolling up zombies to fight, it is also suggestible to pick what percent of the zombies in a converted city are of what type of zombie. The easiest method is just to use the zombie odds listed above as the break down for the total population. For example, using all five zombie types a city with a zombie population of 11,257 would be converted as follows:

Slow Zombies: 8442 (11,257 * 0.75)

Fast Zombies: 1688 (11,257 * 0.15)

Smart Slow/Fast/Prodigium: 1125 as 843Slow/282Fast/0Prodigium (we know that roughly 10% of the total zombie population will be smart and can assume 75% of them will be slow and 25% fast, the likelihood of a smart Prodigium in such a small population is extremely low)

Prodigiums: 1 (1 in ten thousand)

Zombie Lords: 0-1 (1 in a million)

With this method all you have to do is mark every time a zombie of a certain type is destroyed, leaves, or is created and mark every time a human dies, leaves, or arrives, and sooner or later either the zombie population will be zero or the Living population will be zero; either way the city fight will basically be over until the next influx of either side. Also keeping track of the dead population should guarantee everything is in order and the numbers on both sides add up properly. This should make it easier for any city with the goal of purge or rescue.

Zombies Beget Zombies

“I began noticing an unnerving trend. When the slow ones infected people they became slow. When the fast ones infected people the result was a fast. And in the rare off-chance a so-called ‘smart’ one infected a person they too seemed to rise as such. Was this some sort of evolutionary adaptation, forcing the newly afflicted to be as the afflicter, thus producing more of the same ‘breed’?”

When someone is infected and is on the path to conversion they will become one of five types. A good question to consider is: Will they be the same type as their infector? In truth it makes sense that slow zombies will make more slow zombies and fast will make more fast. This option cuts down on the randomness and amount of dice rolls that might be necessary.

If some randomness is desired, rolling for ‘smart mutation’ or other mutations (i.e. a slow zombie creates a smart slow zombie or a Zombie Lord/Prodigium). What this means is on infection you roll a d%(d100), 1-90 would be normal slow/fast, 91-100 smart as well, 100 x 2 Prodigium, and 100 x 3 Zombie Lord.

Zombievolution

“Had I not been so horrified I would have been amazed. Before my very eyes I watched one of them change rapidly. Like any of the others it seemed to be walking about aimlessly, no direction in its ‘life’ except towards the nearest moving object, when suddenly it stopped and started to convulse. I waved over others and we all watched - eyes wide and mouths agape - as its skin stretched and muscles bulged, its face a silent scream, before suddenly its body exploded in muscle. It was a monster like none other - evolution like none other. A new thing to watch for, as this new fiend took more than one shot for it to stay down for good.”

Zombievolution is a good excuse for introducing new foes to the Players, whether it is used to explain the rise in new types of zombies or just a way to shake things up (i.e. an OM might decide they shot themselves in the foot by only having slow zombies or the Players see a room of slow zombies only to find a few turn into Prodigium, wouldn’t that shock them!). These evolutions, if a chosen part of the game, can be completely random or chosen as desired of the OM (i.e. re-roll the zombie type at the beginning of a fight and if ‘better’ it evolves or make it set so that once the Players get to the laboratory’s genetics room the zombie there turns into a Prodigium). Zombievolution should not be an ‘every zombie’ sort of thing, but more so either completely random or set for special battles (i.e. roll a d%(d100) at the beginning of a fight and if 90 or greater it evolves or as a set ‘boss’ battle). Certain things like demons/aliens or a special drug might be able to ‘force’ zombievolution.

Helpful Tools

“Guns. Guns are your friends. The only issue is guns can run out of bullets. In this day and age bullets are perhaps the most valuable commodity after food and water. Oh, and booze! Without booze there would be many a night people couldn’t survive. Food, water, bullets, booze. In that order. Although before any of this happened, I doubt any of us knew how to use my personal friend Mr. Axe. Hello, Mr. Axe, how are you? What’s that? Guard duty tomorrow? No booze while on guard? Huh, that’ll suck.”

These are professionally made tools by other companies but can still be useful for this or any other modern day Campaign. Finding a website for a specific town, or even living in one used in the game, can be very helpful for ideas like battlegrounds, Trenches, and Quests. However, thanks to these other tools you can easily use cities not only far from you, but even places you have never heard of before using such a tool. Not only does this keep you from having to build maps and cities for the game, but it lets the game have numerous locations that could be visited with relative ease, keeping it from getting dull or boring for being stuck in one place too long.

Thanks to the maps and information provided by tools such as these and the real world, all an OM has to consider is where Trenches form and whether specific people are alive or not. It is suggestible to make all specific friends and foes random people so as not to promote any unsavoury emotions or situations.

As well, an OM might want to consider looking through these guides and tools and mark down possible Trenches and places the Players might need to go to for fuel, food, or even weapons (bullets may be free in this new era, but that does not mean Players will not run out). This should save time later on when the Players go out searching for such essentials, whether it is a quick detour at the beginning of the game or multiple food runs later. Remember, while the perishables might turn to rot soon enough, canned and dried goods and bottled water should last in your average supermarket almost indefinitely for most Campaigns. Also, even the biggest of malls and stores will run out of supplies sooner or later, so keep it in mind but try not to let it be oppressive to the overall game (unless the goal is to start growing food/leave the city in search of more, then it should be OK).

CIA - The World Factbook

This tool is loaded with vast general information about countries and the world over. Almost anything needed to be known about a nation can be found within here. The main uses of the tool are population and maps, but it also gives great information to give a good look into how the nation acts and functions. It can be found online at:

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

Google Earth

This tool allows a near perfect image of almost anywhere in the world. Buildings, terrain, and almost anything else necessary for outdoors information can be provided by this tool. The basic version and other various tools should be provided free at:

http://www.google.ca/intl/en/options/

MapQuest

This tool provides countless terrain and city layouts. It is very useful at finding specific buildings or locations within a city while providing shapes, sizes, distances, and things like street names. This means even without visiting a city you could easily navigate it. Much of the services provided are free and easy to use and can be found at:

http://www.mapquest.com/

Wikipedia

This tool provides volumes of information on just about anything. Game wise you can find population and city size on almost any individual town or city in almost any country. Beyond population it will usually also detail any important relevant information about cities such as famous malls, sky scrapers, towers, universities, etc. All this help and more can be found at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Zombies

“Things were amazingly similar yet not to the movies. For starters they weren’t mumbling about brains or breaking free from the earth and many of them were far from decaying… yet. But the fear and death was very real. And the smell… something one could never get from a movie was perhaps the most horrendous part of it all. For with smell comes memory, an instinctual fear bred into all of us who survived.”

The meat of any game involving zombies can be found here. Zombies can be of any race, gender, or age and still be as effective as another zombie, a scary thought considering regardless of where or what a zombie came from it is almost as dangerous as every other. Yet fighting the same zombie just a different look again and again could get quite dull, even if there were a hundred same zombies coming at you and all you had was a pocket knife. Instead varying forms of zombieism have been provided in an attempt to make it so situations should never feel repetitive or dull.

Forms of Infection

“One of the first things the Living picked up on was how the Z Infection passed. The Z Infection’s rapid rate of passing was quickly deterred once people knew how to prevent it in themselves or stop it in others. Once they themselves were about to be taken or they witnessed another about to ‘turn’, many suffered a quick head injury, self-inflicted or not.”

Before even considering what types of zombies are to be used one should consider which styles of infectious spread are used. Regardless of style chosen it should relate to the original selected cause and infected regions of the Z Infestation. A human created virus that converts people is far less likely to be air-borne unless it only ‘reactivates’ people on death and then it is only likely to cover a small portion of the Earth. Before selecting, desires of the type of zombie world should be determined. As a guideline, here are example infection styles:

Bite

“Normally in a human-to-human fight one does not think to bite their opponent or worry of their opponent biting them. But against these walking corpses that is not the case. We’ve had to retrain ourselves to avoid not only hands but teeth. They try to grab the Living, hold them still, and sink their teeth in our flesh. One might fight well enough against one, but when dozens of hands hold one down, a bite is almost inevitable.”

The infection is passed from a zombie to a Living via the bite and likely the saliva therein or a magical ‘injection’ depending on the storyline/cause. With the Bite rule active any damage dealt on a successful bite attack by the zombie counts as passing the infection.

Breath

“Even their proximity is dangerous. A sneaking breath over your shoulder or a straight wisp to your face is all it takes. It used to be considered rude to breathe so heavily on someone, now it is outright dangerous. You can see the roiling cloud of contagion they breathe at the unfortunate. It is always on my mind if someday they should learn to cover the world over in such a cloud. I think then we would be doomed.”

Zombies possess the innate ability to pass the infection in close ranges through direct mouth-to-mouth breath. While zombies do not normally breathe infection it becomes instinctual that once near the Living they release a modified dense visible cloud of infectious zombie gas. Whatever is within this gas dissipates quickly, preventing large build-ups or roaming clouds of infection. A range, area, and duration should either be predetermined or allow the zombies to extend their breath (i.e. 0.3m/1ft range in a 1.5m/5ft diameter for 1round for 2NAR CT or +0.3m/1ft per EP or per NAR). With the breath rule anyone who breathes while in the cloud becomes infected (remember, people can hold their breath roughly 1round per Con Mod).

Claw

“Avoiding a human’s punch or kick is one thing; it just hurts if you fail. But one of theirs’? Failure means so much more. Their nails alone can infect the Living with that horrible… contagion. Their ragged steps and stumbling swipes are so much more dangerous than one might think. The tiniest of scratches could literally end one’s life.”

The infection is passed from a zombie to a Living via the scratches from now claw-like nails such as through a magical parasite contained within/beneath the claw depending on storyline/Cause. With the Claw rule active any damage dealt on a successful unarmed claw attack by the zombie counts as passing the infection.

Death

“Death was no longer a thing of mourning. It was a thing of fear. Whatever caused the horrible transformation only happened after a person passed on. Because of this funerals changed greatly. No longer was it coffins and marches, it was beheadings and burnings. Nothing guaranteed they would not re-rise save a large hole in the head, the removal of the entire thing, or the complete destruction of the entire body.”

With or without any pre-necessary actions of the zombies, the death of a living person results in them converting to a zombie and getting back up.

Fluids

“The corpse itself was an infectious means on its own. Like a disease, should their bodily fluids come into ours we would be infected. This means what blood, saliva, or other fluids still exist in those shells are as dangerous to us as the walking body itself. Most at risk was our water and food supplies, they seemed to like to bleed near them. But this should not discredit the dangers of close combat, the very reason I wear both goggles and a mask and cover all wounds at all times now.”

Depending on whether the zombies are actually ‘living’ humans that are ‘brain zombified’ and not walking corpses or are indeed walking corpses determines how useful this is. It is easy to shuffle away the odd explanation under ‘how would you know?’ for dried-up-corpses, but that tactic is suggested to be avoided where possible. Regardless, fluids as a source of infection requires a bit of forethought, such as whether rolling will be done to see if blood spray from a zombie cut can get in a person’s eyes, how long will zombie blood be contagious after it is spilt, or will that lake ever be safe to drink from? While somewhat a hazardous (game-wise) style of infection, it could be coupled very well with a PZP who carries a vial of zombie blood so they can sneak into a Trench and take it or ‘poison’ everybody. With the Fluid rule any zombie fluids that enter a Living’s body (i.e. injection, ingestion, spray into eyes) a person becomes infected.

Time-Delay

“Conversion after infection wasn’t instantaneous. Thank whatever gods may be out there for that. It may not have been enough time to put your affairs in order, but at least it was enough for a final word and the chance to take your own head. No one wanted to admit it, but of everything in our favour, this might have been the best of all advantages.”

After being infected it takes X units of time until that person turns into a zombie. When using Time-Delay it is best to pick a consistent time such as ‘5minutes’, 10minutes and add a die roll, or making it only a die roll (i.e. roll a d6 after infection, the result represents seconds/minutes/hours/days until conversion).

Regardless of style of infection the OM should consider adding the ‘time-delay’, basically how long it takes after the infection happens to full conversion. This can be applied to any of the other styles in almost any combination, such as bite/death/time-delay, so once someone is bitten, after they die one way or the other, it takes X unites of time to rise again as a zombie, if it was bite/time-delay then X units of time after being bit, dead or not, they will become a zombie. Without time-delay it would either be ‘bite, dead, zombie’ with no delay or ‘bite, zombie’ instantaneously.

This should also be considered if cures or preventative drugs are used in the game. If someone instantly goes from bite to zombieization then would a cure really be all that useful? If they do not have time to drink a vial, inject themselves with a needle, say a prayer, or do whatever is necessary to stop the infection then what good is it?

Combos

“There were so many things we had to learn to avoid. Bites, nails, and even getting close enough as they could breathe on a person. Regardless, proximity to the walking corpses was an undesired occurrence under any circumstance. Even when they had been long from moving, coming anywhere near a once walking corpse was unsavoury.”

There is nothing wrong with using multiple infection styles, in fact the more styles used can increase the challenge for the Players. Not only do they have to avoid death in general, but now they have to avoid things ranging from bites to claws lest they get infected. Even if an OM does not start with more than one infection type, do not rule out ‘evolution’. Zombies might adapt or their masters might adapt them to better pass the infection because the infection is not passing fast enough.

If combo is used to make multiple infection styles each in conjunction with time-delay then keep in mind both time-delays do not have to be the same period of time. After a bite it could take hours to convert whereas with the claw after they die from whatever reason it could only take seconds to convert and get back up. It is entirely up to the OM.

Save Checks

“It is a wonder I find myself thinking on quite a bit. Some people once infected seem completely unaffected! Yet those same people I have watched be infected another time and much to my dismay turn; not to discredit those I have seen survive multiple infections. It seems while I have no evidence of ‘immunity’ to the infection, I find there are those who are definitely more resilient. This brings grave concerns of those who don’t hesitate to end those infected… what if they wouldn’t have turned? Moral dilemmas have more than once been the death of a person.”

For the Players sake an OM might wish to allow a person’s Physical Resistance Check to be used in an attempt to fight conversion each time they are infected. Without access to a cure this could be the Players’ only chance at not being ‘zombiefied’ once infected. The check should be based on something such as the damage dealt by the zombie’s attack that causes infection +d20 or they make a Level check (standard unarmed ‘medium size’ 1d4 + Light/Medium/Heavy attack Str bonus +d20 or Level + d20). Then adding to or multiplying their Level/damage by 5 to 10 to find the check required to stave off infection if desired to balance with the average human’s Physical Resistance.

For infections that activate on death it could be used to see whether or not they would actually get back up (they might just stay a corpse). Or, even if infection is desired to be guaranteed, each point of success on the roll could be how many units of time (i.e. hours) the conversion is staved off, a few hours to get a cure is good incentive to get moving.

General Zombie Information

“After the first few days we were quick to learn anything that might help us against the walking corpses. Beyond being horrific in appearance, actions, and general appeal, there was much to be gleaned by fighting and watching them. Some was gained by accident but I always thought that accidental information was as good as intentional.”

All zombies (except maybe lords and Prodigiums) follow a same basic set of guidelines (i.e. bullet to head and they go down). Instead of each zombie regurgitating the same thing over and over, things that remain constant for each zombie will be listed here. As well the OM should read over and choose which strengths/weaknesses they want, some common examples are:

Cold

“Winters were as bad for us as they were for them. While as far as I could understand they were just walking corpses, it seemed severe colds not only slowed, but seemed to kill them. Unfortunately I cannot substantiate these claims as full truth as I have heard others talk of the warming spring thawing them and bringing them from hibernation. I am still unsure if either of the rumours are wholly true.”

Depending on whether the zombies of the game are ‘brain zombified’ or walking corpses will strongly change how effective cold is against them. If they are a normal, living human in every other matter of the word then the cold will likely affect them a lot, even killing them if in a cold enough climate. If they are a walking corpse then the worst that can probably happen is their body freezes solid and they cannot move until thawed. With the Cold rule zombies either take damage from Cold as normal, only damage from Cold hitting their head, or if their HP is reduced to zero by Cold they are frozen for a period of time (i.e. 1minute per Cold damage which ‘recovers’), without it assume Cold deals them no damage.

Electricity

“We discovered a great weakness of the assaulting corpses was good old electricity. While I do not know the exact reason it is so effective, it seems that a large enough jolt might not just slow them down but put them down permanently. This discovery was greeted with much rejoice, electricity was easy enough to produce and could take down numerous bodies in one shot and made a fantastic defence, chain-link fences no longer seemed so weak while the juice flowed.”

Brains and bodies are governed by electrical impulses. This means regardless of living or dead zombies, like a living human who works via small amounts of electricity, large amounts of electricity should ‘short circuit’ and maybe even kill a zombie. With the Electric rule Electric damage not only damages a zombie but has the chance of stunning or, if enough damage, kill the zombie outright (reduces HP to 0), without it assume Electric deals them no damage.

Fire

“They don’t seem to feel or notice pain as far as I can tell. This became apparent when we were testing the feasibility of fire as a weapon. Once ignited the corpse continues to move as though nothing happened until eventually just crumpling to the ground, dead for good. My assumption is that the fire sooner or later destroys or overheats the brain to the point it can no longer function and it just dies. Fire would be used more, but the dangers of spreading are too apparent.”

Eventual total body destruction of a zombie is almost inevitable if nothing else can put out the fire. Unlike the normal living most zombies do not feel pain or at least they do not show it, so until the fire completely disables/destroys them they will continue to act normally, most likely attacking whatever lit them on fire. Zombies will only die from fire when their head has taken their total HP in damage. Without this rule assume Fire will not damage a zombie.

Head Wound

“It didn’t take long for people to realize a body shot was pointless against the ‘walking dead’. But more importantly it was also quickly discovered a sharp enough blow to the head would put one down – permanently. Although the issue of clubbing or shooting the face of a loved one still claimed victims in it’s own right. Those alive today no longer suffer such qualms.”

Zombie HP works far differently from the average living or the average undead. Everything dealt to a zombie has no major effect unless the damage is to the head. Sure, a zombie’s body can be damaged or even destroyed, but that does not mean a zombie will go down. Until the head has taken enough damage the zombie will just keep going (usually 5 or 10, remember, if you are using the Core, Random Rules, Hit Location that each body part has different HP amounts based on the whole). Head wounds are seen as the ‘zombie standard’ when it comes to putting down zombies for good (nothing like a torso, two arms, and a head pulling its way towards you to creep you out!). Remember, head attacks ‘forehead or better’ are +3AR Aimed Shot or better for the average human. Without the Head Wound rule assume zombies are treated like any other creature for dying from damage taken.

Light Sensitivity

“The day time was the only safe time to go outside for two reasons. First it was the only time we could see without our precious fire or electricity. Second it was the time the least of them were out. It wasn’t that the light hurt them or they needed rest I was quick to discover, but it was that it seemed to bother their eyes. Was it harder to see us in full light so they sought dark places to wait?”

Light Sensitivity is a reason why zombies are not outside as often during the day; it is harder to see their prey. Because their senses no longer work as well as they used to or have adapted to better hunt their prey, light now either just confuses them or hurts their eyes. At night now though the light the Living needs to see attracts the zombies to it like a moth to the flame, any light sources visible at night will result in zombie swarms. Giving Darkvision of 25 to 50 could be the easiest method to using Light Sensitivity.

Living or Undead?

“Time and again I sit there wondering if these things really are alive or dead. Is it like they suffer from some sort of debilitating mental disease? Or is something actually keeping them from the grave somehow? I thought of checking for a pulse or body temperature, but not only do I think that might be inconclusive given the circumstances, but I also think it a bad idea to get that close to a… ‘living’ one.”

This is actually a very important thing to consider. One might just naturally assume a zombie to be ‘the walking dead’, but in truth ‘original zombies’, those the myths were based on, are disputed whether they were actually voodoo raised dead or drugged people at the command of a ‘zombie master’. This should hinge strongly on the OM’s depiction of a zombie world, things such as the perception of zombies, and the cause (i.e. can a zombie bleed out, is the head the only kill spot, do they need to eat and breathe or is cannibalism just for fun?). ‘Living zombies’ could lead to things such as the Z Infestation ending on account of starvation and the name of the game is attrition. A scientific cause to explain ‘undeath’ is difficult while ‘insanity’ is fairly easy. The ‘Living or Undead?’ rule is more a distinction and an explanation than anything.

Negative Constitution is a way to keep track of the HP of an undead or similar creature. Unlike living creatures their bodies do not regenerate but they are not quite an object so do not have DP. -Con also means that healing effects from Life magic have the opposite affect, damaging the undead rather than healing it, the same goes for damage caused by Death magic, healing the undead instead of damaging it. As well effects that lower Con only serve to bolster the undead by adding HP rather than killing it, vice versa for gaining Con. Effects such as Status Afflictions (except possibly berserk), disease, poison, toxins, Exhaustion Points, Pain, weather effects, bleed damage, and vital organ damage no longer affect the undead. As well the undead no longer have to drink, eat, or breathe. NLD instead only deals 1/3 of the damage rounded down but takes directly from the undead's HP.

Mindlessness

“It doesn’t seem to me that they think. Not in general for the average among them anyways. They don’t pick targets, places to mill about endlessly, or use tools. Had they their wits about them they might think to use vehicles or door handles or go places they might better find and ambush prey. Instead they seem to follow instincts, walking about until they find something they might infect.”

To most when they hear the word ‘zombie’ they think it to go hand-in-hand with ‘mindless rube’. And most of the time they would be right. If zombies knew how to drive cars, swing weapons, or even open doors the amount of danger they pose would increase exponentially. As such, beyond walking and clumsy attacks, the zombies lose every other mental function. Every Major and Minor Skill and Ability/Spell is lost and cannot be used by the zombie in addition to forgetting how to turn a knob. Without this ‘option’, almost every zombie would be a ‘smart zombie’. The Mental Attributes become 3(X) (X being whatever it was before becoming a zombie). Mindless zombies would have no Morale.

With Mindlessness an OM should also consider whether or not they would attempt to 3D, attempt any attacks beyond Grapple and infection, if all attacks would be Light, Medium, or Heavy, and whether it would be one, two, or three attacks at once.

Morale

“At first everyone suffered at the grip of fear. There was confusion, panic, and chaos; no one had any idea as to what was going on. But as time went on we got our wits about us and began to understand our situation more. Thanks to this cooler heads prevailed and our high level of fear turned to cautious paranoia; or as I like to think ‘survival instincts’.”

Most undead or other unnatural things that have never been dealt with before come with a presence of fear. People do not know how to deal with things they do not understand and when they seem to be outside the norm it tends to freak them out… a lot. Zombies would fit well into the ‘not understood’ category of things, at least at first. Depending on the stage/time passed since the initial Z Infestation this Morale hindrance might have passed or at least lessened (i.e. no penalty after a month or half the penalty in the second stage with one fifth or one tenth in the third stage and one tenth or none in the fourth stage).

Unless there is something more unnatural about the presence of zombies, the negative Morale given off should be either based on the highest Level of zombie in the group or just a hard 10 at a range of sight. Each zombie beyond the first would not necessarily subtract 10 each, but along with ‘numbers Morale’ each additional zombie should subtract an additional -1Morale to the overall zombie Morale penalty.

Severe Body Damage

“While a bullet or sharp blow to the head seemed the best way to put one down for good, if that was impossible or implausible at the time it seemed massive damage to the torso and overall body could do the job. This wasn’t the preferred method by any stretch, as they could take quite the beating, but at least it was an alternative for times you couldn’t help but strike the biggest piece of the target.”

Hacking a zombie limb from limb might be entirely necessary. But how much damage can one limb take before coming off? Assuming the density of human flesh is close to that of ground beef, following the Materials guideline for Break Resistance/Durability Points we can determine that limbs and bodies over have the following stats:

Flesh

Density – 0.95g/cm³

BR: 35% for 25.5mm/1". 1.75% per 25.5mm/1" after first, 54.25% for 0.3m/1ft and an additional 21% per 0.3m/1ft.

DP: 8.75 per 25.5mm/1" (BR*0.25) (because flesh is squishy and not fully solid, this might be considered ‘inaccurate’)

In truth the average joint/body part is 51mm/2” to 76.5mm/3” wide with about 151mm/6” deep for the torso so considering that it should not take entirely all that much damage to fully sever a limb.

Beyond just limb hacking, there is the option of making it so that a large enough amount of damage dealt to the torso could kill a zombie as well. A ‘body HP’ of triple to quintuple normal human HP (30 to 50HP) could be as much damage a zombie’s body could take before the whole thing dies for good.

Zombies Types

“After watching them for sometime from my ledge of the Trench, penitentiary rather, and listening to others who came through I began categorizing them. I came up with four major categories and a sub-category. The bulk of them appeared to be what I dubbed the ‘slow’, after them came the ‘fast’, both of which had the ‘smart’ sub-species, those that seemed to guide the others, then the most fearful were hard to pick. They were either the ‘Zombie Lords’, those who seemed living yet walked amongst the dead, talked to them, guided them, and the hulking monstrosities, the ‘Prodigium’, basically Latin for ‘monster’. The weak yet intelligent or the monstrously strong even though lacking of higher mental functionality? Both were scary in their own regards but choosing the more fearful was difficult. Thankfully both seem very rare.”

The biggest difference between zombies is their stats and how they ‘possibly’ see the world. It is not something commonly thought of, but considering ‘how do zombies tell the difference between the living and a zombie?’ could really turn the game around perspective and possibilities wise. If an OM does not want to deal with the different sensory styles of the zombies for whatever reason then they can be easily ignored, they are only listed as a possible explanation as to why zombies never seem to attack other zombies. OM’s should consider counting all zombie Attribute changes as ‘temporary’ in case a cure is ever used on the afflicted.

Slow Zombies

“If I had to pick favourites of the five it would be these, the most basic of your walking corpses. Physically and mentally both slow and weak. They walk slow, attack slow, and even seem to think and react slowly to the world around them. If all were of this kind our chances would improve greatly.”

Stats - As standard human (10 for all) except as follows:

• Coord/Ref/Str are halved

• Can no longer move at any Speed beyond Walk

Sensory – The overall brain of the zombie no longer works the same. Only two senses seem to work at all as necessary for everyday zombie life: Visual and Audio. Although it is suggested zombies track the Living over great distances by smell, this is unsubstantiated and cannot be supported with factual evidence.

• Visual: Instead of clear colours and shapes everything seems a black and white blur. The only shape that registers is humanoid (animals are fairly safe) and only if it is moving faster than the average slow zombie (5Spd), that speed or under and they think it is another zombie. If anything ‘registers’ visually to a slow zombie they will ‘lock’ onto it and follow it until they lose sight of it or they get close enough to infect it. Once locked even if the person stops or slows down they will still be marked to the zombie and will be pursued until they leave sight.

• Audio: Zombies tend to make little to no sound beyond shuffling and the odd escaping gas. If anything else is heard, such as talking or screaming, they will head in that direction until they see something or become otherwise distracted (i.e. another sound, an attack, etc). Even if a person is going 5Spd or less, not registering to the zombie as non-zombie, if they begin making any non-zombie noises they will be marked and targeted visually as well as audibly.

Fast Zombies

“I hate these buggers. Not only are they able to move as fast if not faster than the average person, but they never seem to tire. This means not only are they harder to hit and quicker to attack, but if there are too many to fight you have to find a place to hide or a good bike. Beyond hiding or transportation it has become standard when facing these to pray and stand your ground to take as many of them with you.”

Stats - As standard human (10 for all) except they are almost always running unless fighting or looking for something (do not forget charge damage bonuses!). However they seem to no longer be able to Sprint, Running as a person would for great distance rather than shorter speedier dashing, seeming to have lost the knowledge necessary to do so.

Sensory – More functional than to be expected, fast zombies seem to retain the full spectrum of senses but only truly rely on visual and audio.

• Visual: While distorted slightly from their once living vision, fast zombies still see the full range of colours and shapes. However this is not entirely useful due to the other zombie types, as such they only pay attention to anything moving between slow zombie speed and fast zombie speed (roughly 5Spd and 40Spd) or is carrying anything that might separate them from a zombie (i.e. weapons, bags of groceries, but not necessarily a backpack, etc). Once they see anything that catches their interest they will lock onto it and chase it without end. Because they can actually make out colour and fine details leaving their sight does not ‘reset’ their ‘vision mark’ immediately and may take up to three days (their Mindless Wis Stat, average 10days if smart). Other actions such as wielding a weapon or waving to someone else might also alert them to a Living.

• Audio: Zombies tend to make little to no sound beyond shuffling and the odd escaping gas. If anything else is heard, such as talking or screaming, they will head in that direction until they see something or become otherwise distracted (i.e. another sound, an attack, etc). Even if a person is going 5Spd or less or 40Spd or more, not registering to the zombie as non-zombie, if they begin making any non-zombie noises they will be marked and targeted visually as well as audibly.

Smart Zombies

“These sub-species make any so-called ‘normal’ walking corpse all the more fearful. Since we discovered them we had to modify all our securities. Doors are always locked now, just because the average dim-wit among them couldn’t figure it out doesn’t mean these ones can’t. The others seem to benefit from them as well, gaining the bonus of tactics. A word of the wise: Don’t get into your car without first checking the back seat, there might be a surprise.”

Stats – As the zombie type they are except ‘Mindlessness’ does not apply but they still lose Major/Minor Skills and have the ‘drive’ of their type. Beyond being smarter themselves, smart zombies can lead and teach regular zombies, usually only sticking to those of the same ‘breed’ (i.e. smart slow zombies are not likely to lead fast zombies and vice versa). What this means is not only do they retain some higher mental functions but they can have the other zombies they lead perform these tasks for them. As well simple tactics such as ambushing, getting into vehicles and waiting, shooting guns, and other such simple plans are not beyond them. The only hindrance is once the smart zombie is dead, the normal zombies are quick to forget and return to their normal aimless wandering. Smart zombies are likely to only command/travel with a group of zombies up to their Intelligence Stat (usually 10). While their exact method of communication is unknown, it appears to be simple pointing and gasps and wheezes.

Sensory – As the zombie type they are in addition to visual full colour and shapes. Smart zombies can also differentiate between living and the dead much more easily than regular zombies. While normal zombies might not notice non-jagged movement or nods or the non-pale skin, a smart zombie who sees a Living and makes a Notice/Seek check of 60LoD (a 50/50 chance since they likely have 10Intu/Wis) or versus an Entertainment (Act) check will alert the smart zombie that they are indeed living and they will then alert all nearby zombies.

Zombie Lords

“These people are somewhere between the living and the undead as hard as it is to believe. I don’t know if it was their genetics or some twisted will that prevented them from completely converting once they had been infected. Because of this they hung in the balance. Those who could communicate with and command legions of the undead or those who would follow their humanity and use such powers for good. Unfortunately I have heard of but one who chose the latter.”

Stats – Zombie Lords retain everything (Skills and Abilities included) yet still have negative Con even though they actually regenerate as per the living. Essentially they are still living except for that the only means of death is as per a zombie and they do not require to breathe, drink, etc. In addition to ‘unlife’ a Zombie Lord can communicate with all other forms of zombies, even commanding up to one zombie per Intelligence Stat.

Sensory – As a normal person in addition to Darkvision 25.

Prodigium

“These hulking brutes may be mindless but that doesn’t make them any less fearful. A man and a half tall and the same ratio wide, if one were to battle a bear my money would be on it. I’ve seen these grotesque masses of muscle turn living and walking dead alike into gooey piles of mess. I don’t think they really care what it is as long as it stops moving.”

Stats – Almost quintuple the physical power of a normal human, a Prodigium gains +40Con/Str (roughly 50 for each) in addition to Con becoming negative; Coord/Ref only gain +10 (usually 20). Their Mental Attributes remain the same as before they became a Prodigium or are affected by Mindlessness depending (if they turn out to be a ‘smart Prodigium’ then they would likely be 10). Their Speed remains base (likely 10) and they will commonly shamble everywhere at Walk although if necessary they can do short ‘charges’ at Spd*5 for 1round but require 1round of ‘rest’ before they can do so again. Unlike normal zombies, Prodigiums grow to a minimum of 2.1m/7ft to a possible 3m/10ft. Prodigiums have extremely strong limbs and do not have reduced HP for any of them.

Sensory – Prodigiums rely on either sight or sound to find targets yet benefit from the full range of senses.

• Visual: Somewhere between that of slow and a fast, Prodigiums see vague shapes with a fair colour range. However unlike either type they really do not care about the rest of the world. They will generally just wander around and should anything that can move get in their way they will move it with extreme force, sometimes even moving what normally would not move. They are fairly docile otherwise considering, yet if a smart Prodigium or Zombie Lord begins controlling them they might do anything from kill other zombies to seek out the living. If they do see a target and are commanded to attack it or are attacked they will lock on and not forget the mark until they have smashed it with extreme prejudice or are told to forget it.

• Audio: Although not usually caring of what they hear, Prodigiums hear quite well, in fact. Should they be commanded to seek out noises or a particular noise maker that they can hear they will be able to track it down fairly easily and will deal with it as commanded.

Animal Zombies

“Perhaps the worst part - or rather worst addition to - this whole catastrophe was when even those of nature turned against us. Pets turned rabid killers by the same contagion that turned humanity in upon itself. I am unsure exactly how this might have happened, had it mutated and spread to other species or was it always able to be so contagious?”

Note: It is highly suggestible to consider zombinimals very carefully before adding them. Animals are generally smaller, faster, and able to go where humans, and as such human zombies, cannot go. Before unleashing a swarm of zombie rats on the Players, an OM should consider things such as which animals can be infected, if they are any different from human zombies (i.e. random rolls could = Prodigium zombie rats!), and whether or not they spread infection to humans or just other animals. Not to dissuade OM’s from zombinimals, just pointing out that there is much to think about.

Stats: Depends on zombie type and animal.

Sensory: Depends on zombie type and animal (i.e. a snake zombie could find people by body heat… interesting).

Zombie Pack Mentality

“They seemed to act like wolves. Roaming the streets in packs, never seeming to be alone at anytime; real unfortunate because seeing one meant there was never just one. Was it some form of primal instinct or maybe something else keeping them from being loaners? Maybe they kept the human desire to never be alone. Regardless of why, for us trying to stay alive the more that came at us at once time the harder it was for us to accomplish our goal.”

Zombies do not seem the type to wander around as loaners; they seem more likely to follow a pack mentality. Even without smart zombies to corral them it is still a possibility worth considering. Not only does this make it a little more challenging for the Players but it can easily be explained as ‘instinctual residue’. Even without any other explanation zombies have sensory attractors, so a sound or sight that attracts one will attract many regardless.

Zombie In-Fighting

“I couldn’t believe my eyes the first time I saw it happen! The different ‘types’ seemed to be at odds with each other. I had seen it many times before when the fast ones passed by the slow ones it seemed as though the slow attempted to grapple and attack the fast, but nothing ever came of it. Yet one time one of the fasts came to close to a slow and was struck. Soon the other fasts and slows were caught up in some sort of corpse brawl! It was amazing on multiple levels.”

A possibility beyond the standard just Living versus zombie and Living versus Living is the addition of zombie versus zombie. As mentioned of ‘zombie senses’, different kinds of zombies see the world in different ways, meaning how they pick their prey might confuse one type of zombie about whether another type of zombie is living or not. What this means is one type of zombie might attack another type of zombie, resulting in ‘zombie in-fighting’!

This has many significant meanings. If the zombies do not just seek out the Living because it is hard-wired that way and do so more like a shark instead it means they can be manipulated (i.e. make something else seem like prey). If all it takes to avoid a slow zombie attack is moving a little different supply runs would be a lot easier. In fact zombies might be encouraged to act as buffers, placing ‘chained’ zombies in front of a Trench could be the difference between a successful fast zombie attack and them being bogged down or even taken out by a larger group of ‘slow zombie watch dogs’. Also there is nothing like Zombie Lord turf wars or smart zombie alpha pack leader battles; will the city be slow controlled or fast? And which of the alpha smarts will become alpha king?

While zombie in-fighting is not a necessity, it gives any game an additional twist, especially if the Players are not fighting on the side of the Living. Playing as smart zombies who gain enough power to zombievolve to Zombie Lord or smart Prodigium then lead other zombies or attempt to crush Trenches on their own while wiping out the competition are all interesting possibilities to put a fun twist on the game. Nothing like a Zombie Lord and a few of their Prodigium pals trying to take over a country to put the fun in zombifun!

Players as Zombies

“At first I wandered the lands like all the others, a mindless rotting shell. Then after killing and consuming the flesh of living and dead alike I attained thought. All of a sudden it was like a fog lifted. I continued my murderous rampage, manipulating the mindless to do my bidding until finally it happened again. My mind and body changed. I was no longer walking death but I wasn’t quite alive. Yet somehow I felt I had the best of both worlds.”

Accidental Player party conversion or not, playing on the alternate side of the norm could be incredibly fun. Depending on the cause of the storyline the Players could even go as far as playing as the demons out to control the world, the angels trying to stop them, or even aliens who accidentally unleashed the plague and are trying to stop it (oops, we released the zombies on you but we killed them all, we cool?). Other mythical things can be introduced for Players to be or as enemies (the Raelnor Major Skill Compendium has some good examples). Even playing as smart zombies who retain Major/Minor Skills and Abilities and working towards ‘zombievolutions’ (i.e. every 5Levels they can zombievolution from their random zombie type to the next one, slow->fast->Zombie Lord OR Prodigium).

While there is no zombie Major Skill, bending the smart zombie type to allow the Players to retain and advance other Major Skills as normal could allow them to remain as a zombie yet still be formidable enough to survive as they fight against humans. As well the zombievolution as mentioned could be a goal, so starting as a Zombie Lord or smart Prodigium is not necessary, and building up from smart slow to one or the other could make it all the more interesting. Even remaining as just smart fast zombies who use weapons and Major Skills could be dangerously fun enough.

Ultimately though the goal of the game will change drastically depending on which side the Players choose. Instead of being the expertly trained hidden religion faction out to save the world from the Z Infestation, they are the Z Infestation out to ‘destroy’ the world and as such stop or otherwise remove the faction from the world. If the Players should choose the alternate side to the game and play as zombies, demons, aliens, or a nerd with a book, the entire focus of the game will have to be reconsidered. As such an OM might want to know which side the Players will play on before converting cities and selecting things such as causes, groups, and zombie types used. It will not always be hard to switch a game from ‘good guys’ to ‘bad guys’, but the more forethought used the less effort it should take.

‘Z’ Checklist

“We knew if we forgot or faltered on anything they would spring on such an opportunity to overwhelm our prison Trench. With such grisly thoughts on our minds we were quick to train ourselves to survive in the new world. Each of us depended on the other and no one wanted to let down another or be let down themselves. While the rules of the new world were never truly written, they were always well understood.”

To help keep track of all the selections an OM makes for their game, this ‘Z’ Checklist is provided for easy recording and data retention. Merely check of the boxes that fit the selections or write in necessary data. An extra area is included for special notes or necessary details. The checklist can either be modified and marked as desired in this document, or, more suggestible, for mobility and easy carrying/sharing a printed version (double-sided might be best) should not take much time, ink, or effort.

End Word

And such are the horrors contained within the ‘Z’ is for ‘Zombie’ Template. While somewhat macabre and disturbing in parts, just remember as much to my glee and others disdain as it may be, zombies like those listed in here do not really exist. So please, even if you see someone acting like a zombie do not go for a head shot without confirmation! Only you can prevent accidental zombie paranoia related injuries.

Also, should zombies ever arise remember some of the tips and tricks listed above. Cooler heads prevail and guns need ammo, spend it wisely. Best of luck to any who might find themselves staring down death’s grin in zombie form, real life or not.

The root word zombi/zombie was used:

Title: 1

Table of Contents: 18

Terms of Note: 41

Using the Template: 5

Storyline: 40

Possible Futures: 23

Conversion Tools: 47

Zombies: 199

‘Z’ Checklist: 14

End Word: 6

This List: 3

Total: 397

Zombie, zombie, and zombie.

That Sentence: 3

New Total: 400

Number of times the ‘Z’ word will be used in the next book?

Hopefully: 0

“Ever since that first cold, dark night, my mind has constantly been circulating the same questions without end. Would we succumb to the same sort of fate as so many before us? Or would we persevere and bring a new era of humanity into this world? More so would we want to bring new lives into such a world? No matter how many times these questions rose again, I knew the answer would always be simple: Wait and see.”