Zombie suggestions requested


3.5/d20/OGL


I'm using the Resident Evil D20 rules that Zeta Kai posted in Giant in the Playground forums. They were extremely helpful in setting up a small zombie apocalypse adventure for my players.

However My players as well as I are all Zombie film/game buffs. I know they will not meta-game as they are mostly all mature players and will do their roleplaying well. They've seen it all however, and that brings me to what I would like some help with.

I know scaring them will be difficult, but I want to focus on surprising them.

This is what I have so far:

Common Types:
Slow Zombies (Night of the living Dead, RE1/2/3)
Fast Zombies (28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead, RE4)
Smart Zombies (RE4can use doors,ladders,simple weapons)
Dog Zombies (RE series)
Crow Zombies (Re series)

Uncommon Types:
Lickers (Wall climbing, tongue lashing RE1-5)
Hunters (Leaping, Clawing RE1-2-3)
Tank (Tough and Strong, Left 4 Dead)
Boomer (Attracts other zombies with its vomit, Left 4 Dead)

Bosses:
Tyrant (RE series)
Giant Crow Zombie (Huge Sized crow) Made this one for an aerial battle

What I would like are some suggestions on other types of zombies that others may have. Don't need to stat them up, but you can if you feel so inclined. They are in an urban environment but there is a zoo, so other types of animal zombies are welcome.

I'm working on a shambling corpse gatherer that spews out the foul digested remains of victims and other dead zombies that it has fed on. Unlike the boomer this will not attract other zombies, it will just sicken/nauseate the players and deal a little bit of acid damage.

Description:

The Spitter, is a humanoid zombie that appears to have an elongated jawline that seems rubbery and disjointed and has a large pulsating pear shaped sack growing out of its back. The sack pulsates as it digests the remains of its victims or fallen zombies it has fed on. The Spitter emits a nauseating aroma of decaying flesh and bodifly fluids. When provoked the Spitter will unleash it's stored fluids in an explosive strem of acidic bile to stun new victims, after it has subdued them it will eat them and whatever it expelled.

Many thanks for any assistance provided. :)


Undead crow swarms. There are useable stats in Pathfinder #2, if you have it.


I do, haha, I forgot about those guys. :D Thanks for the reminder.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Breeder Zombie
This zombie looks like the remains of a woman late in her third trimester. Her swollen abdomen bulges and quivers. Suddenly, half a dozen (1d6?) fetus zombies burst through her rotten skin, trailing foul umbilicals as they latch onto your companions' faces. As they devour your living flesh, you notice that thick globs of it ooze along the umbilicals, causing the breeder zombie's abdomen to heal over and expand.


Zohar wrote:
I'm using the Resident Evil D20 rules that Zeta Kai posted in Giant in the Playground forums. They were extremely helpful in setting up a small zombie apocalypse adventure for my players.

You could have purchased Sidetrek Adventure Weekly Presents: The Undead Chronicles (OGL) PDF and saved yourself a lot of time and energy. All kinds of cool zombies in this on including a zombie killing prestige class. This adventures series was written by many of the same writers that have work with Paizo on their adventure paths so the quality is top notch. The Sidetrek Adventure Weekly 2: The Undead Chronicles also comes in individual adventures also. Just a thought...


Smilodan, That's gross! I like it! :D I think they will go well in the Hospital Area. :3

And thanks for the link LMP I will look into it. I didn't think to look through the Paizo store for past adventures. Thanks!

Scarab Sages

LMPjr007 wrote:
Zohar wrote:
I'm using the Resident Evil D20 rules that Zeta Kai posted in Giant in the Playground forums. They were extremely helpful in setting up a small zombie apocalypse adventure for my players.
You could have purchased Sidetrek Adventure Weekly Presents: The Undead Chronicles (OGL) PDF and saved yourself a lot of time and energy. All kinds of cool zombies in this on including a zombie killing prestige class. This adventures series was written by many of the same writers that have work with Paizo on their adventure paths so the quality is top notch. The Sidetrek Adventure Weekly 2: The Undead Chronicles also comes in individual adventures also. Just a thought...

Cool, that looks pretty sweet.

Otherwise, I'd say make them all like me - devilishly handsome, witty, stylish, and completely bad-ass mo-fo's with mad skillz.


Zombies that look like boomers, but stab themselves and explode-- doing damage and knocking people prone. (Myth: The Fallen Lords)

[oh Myth, I miss you.]

-Ben.


Zohar wrote:

Smilodan, That's gross! I like it! :D I think they will go well in the Hospital Area. :3

And thanks for the link LMP I will look into it. I didn't think to look through the Paizo store for past adventures. Thanks!

Just be careful who you use that with :-~


ZOMBIE SUGGESTIONS:

  • TORSO (13 Ghosts/Return of the Living Dead) - Zombies who receive more than half their health in damage in a single attack deteriorate from the waist down and gain the 'Pounce' ability. Also possible to use as starting encounters, not just a mechanic that may never occur.

  • CRAWLING CLAWS: (Monsters of Faerun) - Grappling & Swarm fighting hands with low health.

  • SKIN MAN (Jeepers Creepers 2) - Theatrically this was a demon, not an undead. Zombie has excessive sheets and folds of skin allowing short term flight. Zombie collects humanoid skin to stitch(assimulate) onto itself. Being as the other mutations are present I thought this a possible alternative to the HUGE CROW boss, having vampire-like stats.

    ---------------------------------------------

    MECHANICS:

  • Having poked movie zombies with a stick once before... When I attempted to make 'movie zombies' I used ghouls, replacing paralyze/revulsion with a FEAR AURA (DC 13/Shaken 1d4rds/Affected only once in 24 hours) I would NOT use this if there are going to be 'boss zombies/mutations' running around.

  • DISEASE - Rage virus variety(STRONG - 1d4 Rds), T-virus variety(AVERAGE - 1d4 hours) or Living Dead variety(WEAK - 1d4 days). I would make all of them DC13, but thats up to you and the level of the campaign/encounter. I would NOT use this if there are going to be 'boss zombies/mutations' running around.

    This is shortened a bit as the actual post got destroyed.

  • Dark Archive

    Indestructible Zombies (Return of the Living dead - Original Punk Rock version)

    Zombies which cannot be destroyed by conventional HP loss, maybe the players need to find a way of pinning or trapping them to get around the threat. Dismemberment just means unattached limbs keep on attacking.

    Final destruction when animating force destroyed (that or a nuke).

    RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

    Auxmaulous wrote:

    Indestructible Zombies (Return of the Living dead - Original Punk Rock version)

    Zombies which cannot be destroyed by conventional HP loss, maybe the players need to find a way of pinning or trapping them to get around the threat. Dismemberment just means unattached limbs keep on attacking.

    Final destruction when animating force destroyed (that or a nuke).

    Nuke 'em from orbit; it's the only way to be sure.


    Auxmaulous wrote:
    Zombies which cannot be destroyed by conventional HP loss, maybe the players need to find a way of pinning or trapping them to get around the threat.

    Not a bad idea for a "zero" level starter adventure actually. How else are they going to find out that you have to "shoot them in the head"? Or whatever creative means certain mutated zombies might require for destruction.

    Silver Crusade

    Remember the Crimson Heads from Resident Evil Remake?

    Any normal zombies that aren't burned or given proper rites by priests will rise again, having biologically or magically mutated into a blood red, ghoulish form. The eyes burn with an inner light, the flesh on the fingers has withered and hardened to make them bone-like claws, the thing's breath comes out in a fowl mist, and it is FAST. Stronger than normal zombies as well, bursting through doors that normally couldn't.

    Then there's the "unkillables".

    Spoiler:
    Lisa Trevor, and to a lesser degree Nemesis.

    Quote:
    Hunters (Leaping, Clawing RE1-2-3)

    Don't forget the Gamma Hunters, with a Swallow Whole ability. Lurkers(giant frogs) should do the same thing, except with a ranged touch attack to follow up with the swallow attack.

    And then there's Yawn(the giant snake from RE1), the giant worms(Grave Digger(RE3), Gulp Worm(Code Veronica), the giant alligator(RE2), and Neptune(zombie shark from RE1 and RE:Outbreak). And the Brain Suckers and Drain Deimos from RE3. But those take it out of zombie territory by quite a bit.

    The Exchange

    In return to Castle Ravenloft, there were zombies that were Hard to Kill

    Hard to Kill (Ex) Whenever a zombie would take
    enough damage from a melee or ranged attack to be
    destroyed, roll 1d20. On a result of 11 or higher, the
    zombie ignores all damage that would reduce its hit
    points below 1.

    They also carried a disease that turned people into zombies, but it would only do so if they died; the disease doesn't do any damage by itself.

    Disease (Su) Necromantic infection—slam, Fort DC 13
    negates, incubation period instant, damage sickened/—.
    An infected creature that drops to –1 hit points or fewer,
    or that dies, rises as an infected zombie in 1d4+1 rounds
    unless properly treated (remove disease or remove curse)

    Dark Archive

    Zohar wrote:


    However My players as well as I are all Zombie film/game buffs. I know they will not meta-game as they are mostly all mature players and will do their roleplaying well. They've seen it all however, and that brings me to what I would like some help with.

    I know scaring them will be difficult, but I want to focus on surprising them.

    I know all the crunchy monster variants are incredibly cool, but if your really really want to scare your players then environment/situation and atmosphere are more important than the zombie variants -which IMO should be used sparingly.

    Say it is an urban environment, well - even slow traditional D&D zombies would scare the hell out of the party if done right.
    What does a party do when encountering hundreds, yes hundreds of theses things (don't worry about xp, treat is as one threat)...and they are in an environment or area where they have little movement or choice - alleyways, sewers, even clogged up and blocked city streets.

    If it's in a D&D game then the cleric will turn away, and maybe you get some area effect spells. Reducing the turning ability (maybe in certain areas) or how they react to mass damage spells (fireball) can change an encounter ENTIRELY. If in a modern game, little or no ammo, explosives, etc would do the same thing. If you are going to change how much damage they can take from a fireball/grenade, etc be consistent - since that matches with genre. Once the players get the rules then they will adapt or figure out how to survive while dealing with the situation.

    Control lighting - if a magical D&D type world then have the undead sap or reduce magical light effects to a dim glow... that would scare the hell out of the party, conceal the monsters while at the same time maybe let them know the things are nearby.

    If in a modern game control or limit the effective use of electronics, communication etc (Box canyon, mountains, or low gas/power for big gear)

    Throw the slow or fast zombies at them and then change it up with a variant. The circumstances/environment for each fight alone (fighting in a church, on a crashed bus, up a lighthouse, etc) should be pretty unique with whatever stock zombies you decide to use, so save the weird stuff for the right time. Let them figure out how to deal with the core creatures with consistency for a bit and then hit em with the asylum, tar, headless, torso, preggo, indestructible, surgically combined monstrosities you can think of.

    Just my two bits

    Oh yeah, you also need an NPC to sell out the PCs to save his own hide - maybe he unwittingly opens a gate holding 500 of these things while trying to make a break...or locks one behind himself when he gets ahead of the party being chased by 500 of these things.


    Cool suggestions so far--I love the zombie genre btw! Here's some ideas from Brian Keene's books--

    1. Symbiotic Zombie: similar to the fetus idea, but this one involves rats, birds or other creatures that began by feasting on the walking corpse only to become infected themselves. Each zombie becomes a small swarm as well as a zombie.

    2. Gross zombie: the zombies that went bad, got damaged but are still ticking, etc. These ones explode nastily over you, drool, slobber or mess you in some way just by attacking, are partly liquified, you name it. For example a zombie who is in a helmet of some kind (construction worker, soldier, whatever) which is all that is keeping the badly damaged cranium together...

    3. Theme party zombie: this is more for colour than anything--theme party zombies are things like undead bands still mindlessly clutching their instruments, wearing bloodstained and torn uniforms; zombie soldiers, zombie tourists with battered cameras, flipflops and torn flowery shirts, what have you.

    4. Former acquaintance. This is vital--you have to have at least one encounter with someone that vanished, went to the can and never came back, was a turncoat that ran off, whomever--but who turns up as a zombie.

    Silver Crusade

    Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

    Let's not forget everybody's favourite zombie game Left 4 Dead:

    Hunters - Have the Pounce ability
    Smokers - Prehensile tongue attack (use choker stats but change to undead)
    Boomers - Big fat fatties which cover PCs in bile (summons a swarm of 1d4 zombies to attack from out of the room)
    Tanks - Unstoppable juggernauts that require the entire party to take down (Improved Overrun, Improved Bull Rush, Large Size)
    Witches - Combat monster that can tear a team apart.


    Auxmaulous wrote:


    I know all the crunchy monster variants are incredibly cool, but if your really really want to scare your players then environment/situation and atmosphere are more important than the zombie variants -which IMO should be used sparingly.

    Say it is an urban environment, well - even slow traditional D&D zombies would scare the hell out of the party if done right.
    What does a party do when encountering hundreds, yes hundreds of theses things (don't worry about xp, treat is as one threat)...and they are in an environment or area where they have little movement or choice - alleyways, sewers, even clogged up and blocked city streets.

    This is totally correct. You need to make your players feel like they are the last people on the planet, moving from hiding place to hiding place to avoid being devoured by a massive, relentless, unbeatable enemy. Dangle their objective in front of them like bait, then just when they think they have it in their grasp and might be safe...THATS when you hit them with a nasty zombie variant or boss.

    An example: You have hit your players with the zombie swarm and they have escaped by the skin of their teeth. They look for a strong point to hold while they recuperate. They find one...a basement, an old fort in the woods, the top of a skyscraper (depending on the setting), something along those lines. They reach the place unmolested... only to find the remnants of another group. Maybe they find their grisly remains, or perhaps all they find is spent ammo and dried blood. Nothing like a scene of failure to give your players a big sinking feeling in their gut while you set up a "defend the point" type of encounter.

    If you feel like adding a little flair, you can hint at the next zombie variant your going to unveil by the way the people died or the way their defenses were circumvented. Were they overwhelmed by superior numbers or did something smash its way in through a wall? If there are bodies, how did they die? If there are not, did the bodies get up and walk away after, or were they devoured to the bones?

    To cap off the creepy factor, you can hint at something much much worse going on. For example, if the zombies up to that point have been basicly mindless drones, you might have their new hiding spot have a room with a lone body staked up against a wall, his guts devoured and his blood used to write mad unintelligible symbols all over the wall. If just to say... something out there is THINKING about what its doing. And it doesn't like you.

    Lantern Lodge RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32

    I'm not sure they ever really explained what it was, but I've always thought it would be cool to use the Creeper from Jeepers Creepers in a game.
    Basically this monster ate parts of people to sustain his own life. If it lost a leg, it would eat someone's leg and it would grow back. In a fantasy game, you could reuse almost ANY monster in the book, under the pretense that these zombies ate them and gained their parts.
    Zombies with dragon wings? Check.
    Zombies with beholder eyestalks? Check.
    Zombies with displacer beast tentacles? Check.
    The possibilities are truly endless.


    Personally, I've always enjoyed the "oops - I've been bitten by a zombie but I'm still human and haven't turned - how do my compatriots deal with me" dramatic question.

    Now that's some good role playing (assuming they don't have a cheap fix like "cure disease").


    There was a d20 Modern "Zombiepocalypse" book that had a particularly nasty case of "Zombie-itus". There was no saving throw, once bitten, you were doomed. There was no medical cure, just a matter of time before you turned and chow-pounced your friends. Your best friend? A mechanic and a Bradley AFV. Your other best friend? Some one who knows how to break into anything. Ideally, YOU are your own best friend.

    I'll get the exact title of the book later on, great stuff!


    Thank you everyone for all of your suggestions. :)

    I really like the Jeepers Creepers, but the Huge Crow stays. It's a special encounter in case the players attempt to flee in a News Helicopter thats been abandoned at a helipad on News Building. It will be priceless to see them fight through a horde of zombies that have taken up residence there and take off, thinking their home free. Then CRAW! CRAW! A Huge Crow shreiks at them as it attempts to assert its aerial superiority and wings them. It'll be amazing.

    However I think I will use the Jeepers Creepers flying zombies, incase they attempt to stick to rooftops too often. lol I also like the Hard to Kill mechanic. I think I will use that ocassionally. It will keep them on their toes.

    As for the mood of the city this is what I have worked out so far.

    The City has suffered a devastating biological disaster, intially there were scattered reports of murders throughout the city, then it quickly escalated to mass murders. The police were unable to respond to such a widespread disaster and the national guard were quickly called in. Soon the reports stated that the dead were walking and were hungry for live flesh! At this point the National Guard had initiated a citywide evacuation. However the amassing of people to be evacuated proved too delicious a target for the increasing zombie swarm. They swarmed the long evacuation lines and it quickly became impossible to identify zombies from the living in all of the madness that insued. The national guard barricaded one bridge after eliminating ALL possible threats on the bridge and destroyed the other bridges out of the city. The cities exits were all blocked off and heavily guarded to keep the infected in, and 6 days later planes flew above the city dropped leaflets detailing the plans to any living civilians left in the city. In 28 days the National Guard will stage a second evactuation, hoping that the zombies will starve themselves to death. Supplies of food and water will be periodically dropped into the guarantine zone to give any survivors a fighting chance. An extraction point is mapped out on the leaflets, and on the 28th day an alarm will be sounded when the evacuation will begin. After the operation is concluded bombing will begin if the infected still pose a large threat.

    The city itself is a warzone bodies litter the ground. The streets run red from the massacre of thousands. Stores, cars and buildings are in shambles from looters, and the desperate trying to survive. With no power and no water the city itself is stagnant and near death, some buildings are still running but are on backup generators. Their are other survivors but not all are helpful. Street gangs protecting their turf patrol their neighborhoods attempting to fightback. Small militia lead by a deranged old man is intent on defending their city have stayed and roam the city killing anything and everything that isn't one of them. Some police have held their ground in the City police department and are holding their ground and trying their best to help any survivors.

    I have many of the different locations of the city mapped out and lots of detail at each to set the mood. (Using a map of Raccoon City as the city itself)


    Do you have a good list of modern equipment for vehicles, military vehicles and so on? Apart from that it sounds like you have a good scenario put together and it sounds like a lot of fun.


    I also like the fast, intelligent (but maniacal and crazy) skeletons and zombies from "Army of Darkness" and "Return of the Living Dead".

    "Send... more... paramedics..."!

    Also, the animated deer trophies and stuffed animals in "Evil Dead" and "RotLD" were great. They could be interesting encounters, if not necessarily frightening combatants.

    There are some good monsters in "Brain Dead", too, especially the slithering puddle of undead intestines.

    Ghouls are a lot closer to film zombies than creatures equipped with the zombie template. I think Malhavoc Press put out a PDF of a ghoul template a while back, that had some ghoul fever rules.

    Be wary of low-level monsters with the equivalent of a death attack: zombie-itis should be removable with a remove disease or remove curse. I've thought that the best way to handle it is if the zombies have a normal slam attack, and a bite attack that they can only use with a grapple check. That's a lot easier to handle for a low-level party than a simple bite attack, and more cinematic: there are lots of scenes in "Dawn of the Dead" of people wrestling with zombies, trying not to get bit.

    Survival horror should be difficult at low-level, since parties can go through their resources so quickly, but fireballs make zombie swarms too easy. It may be better to plan out a couple of cinematic encounters and chase scenes (rescuing the chapel, barricading the stairs, escaping through the roof) rather than having the party slog through a bunch of combat encounters out in the open where they'll get cut down one by one.

    Some time ago, I spent some time wathing "Night of the Living Dead" and "Shaun of the Dead" to map the layout of the old farmhouse and the Winchester onto a 5-foot scale. I'll have to convert that to digital sometime.


    I do have some stuff but not all.

    Working on vehicles right now D:

    First up is the Helicopter, then I got to work on the SWAT APC that the cops are hiding and planning to use for their escape (Just in case the Players find it and try to steal it) Then random car/truck/van. Also will need specs for National Guard Humvees.

    I have:

    Small Arms:
    Semi Auto Pistols (Standard 9mms)
    Burst Pistols (Custom 9mms)
    Single Pistols (Magnums, .50 cals, Revovlers)
    Semi-Auto Shotguns
    Double Barrelled Shotguns
    Hunting Rifle (Sniper Rifle)
    Sub-Machine Gun
    M4A1 Assault Rifle

    Heavy Weapons:
    Flame Thrower
    Grenade Launcher (Explosive/Incendiary Rounds)
    Rocket Launcher

    I also have some Armor/Equipment/Tools:
    Armor
    Leather Vest Light Armor
    Tactical Vest Light Armor
    Kevlar Armor and Helmet Medium Armor
    Hazardous Material Suit Medium Armor
    Riot Gear: Shield/Helmet/Body Armor Heavy Armor

    Equipment
    Backback
    Messenger Bag
    Tool Belt
    Utility Belt
    Bandolier
    Gas Mask
    Nightvision Goggles

    Tools
    Batteries
    Flash Light
    Nylon Rope
    First Aid Kit
    Adrenaline (gives a good amount of Temp Hitpoints that last short time)
    Pain Killers (Gives small amount of Temp Hitpoints for a few hours)
    Bat
    Fire Axe
    Portable Fire Extinguisher
    Propane Tank
    Molotov
    Food
    Water
    Sleeping Bag
    First Aid Spray (Heals as Cure critical)
    Green Herbs (Cure Moderate)
    Red Herbs (Changes Green to Cure Critical)
    Blue Herbs (Cures Lesser Restoration/Anti poison)


    Goblin Witchlord: the problem is that unless you have the means to recharge a wand of fire or something like that, spells and modern ammunition run out. Zombie scenarios involves thousands if not millions of the things. Even a midlevel to high level pc group will be daunted by that. I've done both, in both a modern zombie game and in D&D with pcs surrounded by an army of ghouls and zombies, and the realization that they won't stop coming is intimidating.

    So for example I had a pc group that had the following weapons in one scenario:

    - 40mm grenade launcher (over/under for an M4)
    - M249 SAW
    - HK Combat Automatic Weapon shotgun
    - M40 Sniper Rifle
    - MP-5 SMG
    - 3 Frag grenades each, 2 WP grenades each

    Bear in mind in this scenario each one had full ammunition to start with. They were trying to get evacuated from a condo complex in an overrun city having completed their mission, but were surrounded by the walking dead--literally every street had some shambling down it. This army of the dead was lead by faster more intelligent zombies--not capable of running but of moving reasonably quickly. By the time the helicopters arrive they had run out of all grenades of all types and were down to a couple of clips each.

    As for the equipment lists, I think you can download the D20 Modern equipment and vehicle template lists for free on WOTC.


    Goblin Witchlord wrote:

    I also like the fast, intelligent (but maniacal and crazy) skeletons and zombies from "Army of Darkness" and "Return of the Living Dead".

    "Send... more... paramedics..."!

    Also, the animated deer trophies and stuffed animals in "Evil Dead" and "RotLD" were great. They could be interesting encounters, if not necessarily frightening combatants.

    There are some good monsters in "Brain Dead", too, especially the slithering puddle of undead intestines.

    Yeah I plan on having some 'smart' zombies that will use small arms and simple tactics like flanking or not falling for some obvious traps that the players may put up or chase them into dead ends.

    Goblin Witchlord wrote:


    Ghouls are a lot closer to film zombies than creatures equipped with the zombie template. I think Malhavoc Press put out a PDF of a ghoul template a while back, that had some ghoul fever rules.

    Be wary of low-level monsters with the equivalent of a death attack: zombie-itis should be removable with a remove disease or remove curse. I've thought that the best way to handle it is if the zombies have a normal slam attack, and a bite attack that they can only use with a grapple check. That's a lot easier to handle for a low-level party than a simple bite attack, and more cinematic: there are lots of scenes in "Dawn of the Dead" of people wrestling with zombies, trying not to get bit.

    Yeah I will have them do a grapple check first before they can bite. They will ocassionally jump out of no where and initiate this sometimes. Got to get in a good scare. The DC will be moderately difficult to avoid being infected. But not impossible, but there will be no known cure that the players are aware of. I want to stick to the no cure for zombie infection.

    Goblin Witchlord wrote:


    Survival horror should be difficult at low-level, since parties can go through their resources so quickly, but fireballs make zombie swarms too easy. It may be better to plan out a couple of cinematic encounters and chase scenes (rescuing the chapel, barricading the stairs, escaping through the roof) rather than having the party slog through a bunch of combat encounters out in the open where they'll get cut down one by one.

    Some time ago, I spent some time wathing "Night of the Living Dead" and "Shaun of the Dead" to map the layout of the old farmhouse and the Winchester onto a 5-foot scale. I'll have to convert that to digital sometime.

    Yeah they will be level 5 when this starts and I am using NPC classes instead of the normal pc classes to begin with to represent them being everyday folks in an extraordinary situation.


    Zohar wrote:
    But not impossible, but there will be no known cure that the players are aware of. I want to stick to the no cure for zombie infection.

    Yessssss.... :) And make sure to drop hints (if asked) like "maybe it's just a scratch and it won't get infected".


    I_Use_Ref_Discretion wrote:

    Personally, I've always enjoyed the "oops - I've been bitten by a zombie but I'm still human and haven't turned - how do my compatriots deal with me" dramatic question.

    Now that's some good role playing (assuming they don't have a cheap fix like "cure disease").

    I had a Ranger based on the Castlevania series who almost caused a party(level 6-ish) incident because he failed(rolled a 1) a Knowledge Religion check and was determined the bitten/scratched party members would change within a few days. I also had one other convinced(another failed roll, lol!), but a majority of the party was against it.(Meta-gaming, cuz none of them actually rolled INT check or anything, they just refused to go along with it at all. It was a new group with new friends, long story short, it ended up being a low-RP high-Dungeon Crawl party anyway.) The verdict was that no one changed after 3 days, a flustered Cleric(bitten) and a very tired Ranger later, he was wrong.(Yea, it was the cleric who also failed, LMAO!! In his defense he has crappy dice.)

    ------------------------

    I also agree setting is more important than the monster variants. In my attempt I mentioned above the zombies were upgraded to ghouls with minor fear and weak disease to try and comply with typical movie standards. I was likely going to allow called shots to the head (-8) as well since the party was only 4 ppl at level 3, it wouldn't have made things too easy.

    Then my setup was... "It's getting dark and you see a small hamlet nearby that would probably be a good place to rest inbetweens stops. You see no one , the place appears recently abandoned.
    (insert player banter and DM grinning).
    (Eventually...) You hear strange moans from out in one of the fields..."
    I was hoping for a very "Night of the Living Dead" feel as I enjoy the classic zombie movies a bit more.

    Never did play it, DM anxiety, people tend to stop showing up after I DM once or twice despite telling me "How much fun they had." And I'm a brutally honest kind of person so then we go back to whatever else it was we were doing that is NOT me DM'ing.


    Zombie alligators in the sewers.
    Swarms of zombie mosquitoes.
    If there's a museum, why not a mummy?


    So we had out first game on Saturday. It went very well. They escaped the Mall that they started in, made it to a gunstore and looted it for some small arms and ammo. They are currently rummaging through Umbrellas Research Facility.

    One of them has been bitten, and is unaware of his status. He missed the DC by 1. I rolled discretely to see how long before he turns. However a little while later while I got up to get a drink I think I spied him looking at the notebook I wrote my note about how many hours hes got left before he turns. I only wrote "Hours 1" He has 4 hours before he turns. So I dont know what he knows. I'm thinking I'm going to make him THINK hes infected, but not actually be. Just to mess with his head and the other players. Since he looked when he should know better.

    What do you guys think?
    Mess with his head? Or turn him into a zombie.


    Braaaaainzzzzzz...


    Mess with his head. I agree, he should know better than to look at the DM's notes. But, since he still is, if you make looking at the notes an unreliable source of information, then perhaps he'll learn his lesson.

    So, mess with his head. The messier, the better.

    Silver Crusade

    The best result would be if the rest of the party killed him as a preventative measure, and then once it's done tell them ooc that he had actually made his save (even though it's not true).


    Hehe, Yeah I think I will make him and the other players think hes got it.

    I think I'll drop some subtle hints to the others that the wound he receives looks to be particularly nasty bite. Or that some of the injured skin has taken on a dark hue. And let him know that he feels a bit light headed/feverish.

    See if the players over-react. lol I'll treat it as Filth Fever for the time being. He might even take himself out or become more reckless thinking that he already contracted the virus.

    lol :3 So many things to do with him. He will rue the day he looked at my notebook.


    I agree--give him an infection but don't tell him what it is. It sounds like a good start.


    Filth-Fever sounds great! However I would take it a movie-step further... You let him get sick with the fever and when he starts to get better, you wait for those oh so key words to come out of his mouth 5 or 6 sessions down the road...

    Player - "I'm starting to feel better guys."
    DM - "Funny you should say that, cuz just as you do you get a sharp pain that shoots throughout your entire body, like your blood is on fire."
    Player - ...

    BLAMO! Zombie transformation begins! 1d4 rounds of mutation later his party is doing what they should've done when he got bit!

    Bad players deserve only the most wicked punishment, not knowing they're going to be punished, muhahahaha!


    Daniel Moyer wrote:

    Filth-Fever sounds great! However I would take it a movie-step further... You let him get sick with the fever and when he starts to get better, you wait for those oh so key words to come out of his mouth 5 or 6 sessions down the road...

    Player - "I'm starting to feel better guys."
    DM - "Funny you should say that, cuz just as you do you get a sharp pain that shoots throughout your entire body, like your blood is on fire."
    Player - ...

    BLAMO! Zombie transformation begins! 1d4 rounds of mutation later his party is doing what they should've done when he got bit!

    Bad players deserve only the most wicked punishment, not knowing they're going to be punished, muhahahaha!

    Heh heh ... a multiple stage disease .. first stage seems like normal stuff (Filth Fever) that eventually goes away (well, presumably). A second stage is something nastier, say Blinding Sickness. Third stage is zombification, barring major magic (Heal or super-Heightened Remove Disease)...

    Dark Archive

    Plus you can always leave more notes next session with some cryptic/idiotic suggestions to see if he is reading them.

    "Zombification sets...Needs calcium ASAP, 3 gal of Milk, Gasoline on wound or he will turn on buddies. Maybe turn outside Bobs Bigboy restaurant", etc.

    Just to see how he acts.


    The stage of his bite wound will be this:

    Part1: Nasty Bite, bleeds more then it should. Make a point to the others that the surrounding tissue looks a bit odd.

    Part2: Develops a mild fever. (By now he's bandaged up the wound, hopefully) Make a point to the others that he doesn't seem to be feeling well and his movements have slowed (from the Dex dmg of the Filth Fever)

    Part3: Fever lessens. Point out that the bandages must be changed. When they are point out the sickly muckus surrounding the wound. (This would be just normal for recently bandaged wounds, just described in a bad light) I have to make sure the others see this.

    Part4: He starts to feel better, with his newly wrapped bandages. Before too long though he feels a searing pain in his arm.

    As for him I think he'll be a bit more reckless judging from how he has reacted in the past to his characters when he feels he gets bored of them. He'll probably assume hes infected and put himself in more danger to get the character killed so he can move on to a new character. I think it'll be amusing that if he does get himself killed he'll have done so with only Filth Fever and not Zombification. If he manages to stay alive, he'll just turn into one.

    The advice to put bogus info in my notebook is priceless. I will have to try that to see if he tries it again.

    Dark Archive

    This site has a couple of articles on how to modify undead in various ways.

    More of the same.


    Thanks Set, that will go extremely well with the Libris Mortis stuff in the next session.

    The group is currently rummaging through an Umbrella Research Facility. The building is in ruins and parts of it are on fire, a large hole in the wall of the building provides access. They went in and started snooping around finding out that a sample of the T-Virus is in the lowest section of the facility. (Unknown to them the whole and destruction of the facility was caused by the now escaped Tyrant) The building still has some power, so they were able to access the computer and get a small glimpse as to what Umbrella was working on. They will need to get access cards from two rooms on lower floors.

    I think what I will do with the first floor they have to go to will give them some time to tinker with the computer, then a little while later give them some Listen checks. The elevator will ding but not open. (Caused by a Licker tripping the signal for the arrival of the elevator, which is stuck on the bottom floor.) They can open it and get a tongue lashing, or not and the Licker will ambush them when they come up. Moments later however a swarm of zombies will be coming up from the lower levels. (Which is what the listen check will actually be for, hearing the zombies climing hte fire exit stairwell.)

    The lower levels will house the different adjusted zombies that Umbrella was doing testing on. They will get some notes on the Tyrant but not any real crunchy data on it. I have a CIA agent(PC1) thats going to be trying to steal research notes and remove any information of the governments involvement. I also have a double agent, an Umbrella agent posing as an FBI agent (PC2) who is trying to frame the government with evidence suggesting the government strongarmed umbrella into developing and weaponizing the virus. PC3 and 4 are just regular folks, so Im not sure how they will react to these events. They are the ones currently holding the Harddrive that has the evidence so far.

    It will be interesting to see how this plays out. :3


    One thing I almost forgot: you MUST now and then describe zombies as people. Don't say "You see a zombie in a suit and tie approaching you" every single time. Sometimes it's going to be obvious, but at other times, especially from a distance, describe them as people. Especially if it's someone they know or saw before. Saying "You see an elderly woman approaching you struggling with her purse. Seeing you she reaches out a hand..."

    BTW, I was thinking about your Umbrella scenario, which sounds very fun btw, and thought you might find this helpful: http://www.geocities.com/eviloverlord668/afmain.htm This is a link for a fan site for All Flesh Must be Eaten, the zombie game, and you might find this useful.

    Community / Forums / Gamer Life / Gaming / D&D / 3.5/d20/OGL / Zombie suggestions requested All Messageboards

    Want to post a reply? Sign in.
    Recent threads in 3.5/d20/OGL