EldonG |
Ok, it's just an idea. Maybe I've been watching too much Walking Dead...
What would be more interesting, set in a fantasy/medieval or modern?
I've never seen it in a fantasy world...but I have ideas.
By the way...there is NO WAY I will do this without a lot of feedback, so if you just like your game served up to you with little effort on your part...don't bother asking.
EldonG |
At this point, not much outside of the specific question...modern or fantasy/medieval...but I'd also need more on the style of the campaign people wanted to play in. I've heard that sandbox tends to fail as pbp...but that's what a zombie apocalypse seems to beg for.
I can fake it...make it seem more sandboxy than it is...within limitations...
psychicmachinery |
Another vote of fantasy quasi-medieval zombie apocalypse. Sandbox can be tough on pbp, but a survival game might be interesting. Sure, the PC's need to avoid becoming food for the unquiet dead, but they also have to find food and shelter for themselves. Craft and profession skills become much more important, that sort of thing. I would also be cool to see lots of variant zombies and higher level undead as the party progresses.
Gmpastrana |
I'd love to play in a fantasy zombie campaign. I'm a big fan of walking dead and I'm having withdrawls since the season finale.
I've tried modern campaigns but they usually fall somewhat flat so I prefer fantasy. That being said, GM fiendish did something similar recently and got quite a bit of feedback on it. Her post was titled Walking Dead of Golarion if you want to take a look.
Being able to craft our own stuff and whatnot would go a long way toward making things easier than they are on the show. Of course, finding materials and food could still be pretty difficult.
Murph. |
So, my miscellaneous feedback:
* Fantasy/medieval yes -- and I think E6 is very appropriate, since I think it's important to the genre that the average character *not* be tons more powerful than the average monster.
* On that note, maybe even a no-9-level-casters restriction, for maximum desperation / grittiness?
* The initial "raw survival" phase seems like it makes for an okay sandbox. Then there's the obligatory "Figure out what caused this / how to fix it", which gives the GM plenty of room to hook the PCs into things whenever the sandbox seems to be slowing down.
* Question of PvP -- there's an assumed breakdown of civilization and social conventions = lawlessness. Would you want to keep this mostly external to the PCs, or allow it within the group? (Or even encourage it within the group?) Any of those are probably fair game, but you would want to be VERY clear which of those games people are signing up for.
* Where would you want to start the campaign? At the outbreak of zombie apoc, where the PCs might not even be facing zombies yet, so much as panic and deterioration of society in advance of the zombies? At first contact between the PCs and the zombs? Some weeks or months later? Perhaps you could run it as a series of vignettes -- play each of these phases as long as all find them interesting, then fast forward / reboot to the next?
* Here's an archive of another zombie-ggeddon campagin writeup, though spread across a forum interspersed with other posts about other campaigns: http://home.nerbonne.org/dnd/oaksparthread-N.xhtml
Bane88 |
Yeah just some quick notes on things that would make this cool IMO,
-Enforcing the climate rules, because fatigued is a b@#ch and exsposure is dangerous.
-The limiting of spell casting to proabaly item creation and whatever other spells they can cast with easily found components, dung? sure, jewelery as a component, proably much harder to find.
-Survival as a skill that player's just get and gain a rank every 2 or 3 levels, a ranger will be better at it, but hey everyone is learning it is a "Class skill" because hey apacolypse.
The sense of needing to flee, zombies aren't scary. 100 zombies is scary. and other people should be more frightening and dangerous than zombies.
just my two cents.
Luke_Parry |
I would certainly be interested in this, and would prefer a fantasy setting.
I agree that E6 would probably suit this style of campaign fairly well; once you get too high level, and you have people able to fly all of the time, and roast large areas with evocation spells, most zombies would become less of a threat.
Tsiron Ragmar |
I like the idea.
However... I'm okay with Summoner at E6, but what level should we cap Eidolons at so that they can be on par with the rest of the party/enemies?
I'm thinking that you get 1/4 a EP per level, before favored class/archetype bonuses. That way, if you optimize it right, you could still get a pretty powerful Eidolon, but he wouldn't be as gamebreaking as he would normally be.
GypsyMischief |
This would be the ultimate dopeness. A fantasy setting zombie apocalypse is something I've always wanted to try.
I feel as though the opening of the game would be a sort of natural sandbox, rich with Pre-apocalyptic goodness; People holed up in buildings, migrations of refugees dotting the landscape, madness, anarchy, fires, the whole shabang. Though this assumes that the campaign would begin hand in hand with the outbreak...perhaps a sort of "After the bomb" concept would be a fun direction? With the great plague happening a great while in the past?
Just spitballin, man.
Versys White Dove |
I'd e pretty interested in this especially in how whilst yes we may have survived the initial few weeks and are ready to start trying to work out why but you still have that worry that things can still go south.
Also when were you thinking of starting this? Pre apocalypse would I think be quite cool with the pc's watch as the world starts to crumble and break apart around them and panic sets in. Their priorities would rapidly shift to justpure survival...
EldonG |
I'm thinking of a start...at the beginning.
PCs would start in the same area, but not as a group. Whether they know each other or not depends on the individual.
I do want magic limited, but present.
Cure Disease needs limitations in particular.
Who would want to play what? Let me see character ideas.
psychicmachinery |
Yeah, I definitely think an Inquisitor, as it's a class I haven't played yet. While Sarenrae and Erastil seem like possibilities, an Empyreal lord wouldn't be out of the question either.
Will it just be the party amid hordes of undead, or are there NPC's who we are trying to provide for as well?
I'm guessing that a community would be something that we would have to build, but it could be done. That would probably be a motivation for my character, i.e. seeking out and bringing together other survivors.
psychicmachinery |
npc's who could then turn on us for their own gain? ;)
Also, remove disease is a 3rd level spell, which is the highest level spell available in E6 as GMpastrana pointed out, so it's not like we would have a ton of access to it starting out.
Delay disease might be another issue, although, now I have a thought about an alchemist, which is another class I've been meaning to give a go... Any limits on race?
Doomed Hero |
Some thoughts:
I've run and played in this sort of game before. In my experience, the thing that makes the "feel" start to slip is Third Level spells and readily available healing magic.
Some Recommendations-
Give casting classes the Split Slot feat for free, and when they get third level spell slots, they instead get an extra two first level spell slots.
Healing Magic shouldn't heal normally. Instead, it heals the bonus normally, and the rest simply converts lethal damage into non-lethal damage. For Example: A 3rd level cleric casts Cure Light Wounds on a zombie bite healing 1d8+3 damage. 3 damage is healed normally. 1d8 damage is converted into Non-Lethal damage.
As for the location-
The issue with PbP Sandboxes is that Sandboxes work best when the players have ready access to a map and a reason to go to any particular place. video games do this by piling on side quests to encourage explorations. In RPGs the only way I've ever seen it work is to run it in in an Earth Modern setting and pick a place that can be easily checked out with Google Earth and Google Street View (this makes for some really amazing immersion if you pick a place like Detroit, which already looks pretty apocalyptic these days)
If you go with a medievil/fantasy setting, either make it one everyone knows well and apocalypse-ize it (it's been fifty years since the return of Tar-Baphon. The world is a ruin now) or use a "generic" fantasy setting that no one has any pre-conceived notions about.
Anyway, that's my advice. Once the ideas are a little more concrete, I'll throw together a character concept. :)
True Repentance |
I tried to get into Fiendish's game.
I reckon playing an alchemist would be tons of fun. Depending on how you go with it starting (man-made/curse from the gods/random) a scientist who had been researching such a plague. Or researching some way to cure it. A relatively unimportant scientist of course that isn't privy to any very important information regarding what happened but his research in game would help uncover things.
Chirurgeon, Vivisectionist, Reanimator and maybe even Internal Alchemist would be possible apropriate archetypes for such a person. Thinking about it more I think Vivisectionist/Internal Alchemist would be lots of fun.
Theorythmus |
Hi, I'm interested in this idea.
Was thinking of a paranoid (the drawback) human ranger (trapper or skirmisher archetype [so no spellcasting]), who has been surviving on his own accord for a while. And although he doesn't truly trust anyone to not turn on him, he knows he needs to find and help others in order to survive.
Murph. |
Whee!
I'd be interested in a human Fighter, either archer or shielded fighter archetype. Either way, a soldier on furlough when the zombies struck, trying to get back to his unit / family / other macguffin of your choice, and fallen in with other survivors in the process. Overprotective drawback, obviously. :)
Take that as a starting trope; I can flesh out backstory as you decide setting / timeframe?
EldonG |
Oh...and as you build characters...feel free to tell me about your neighborhood. I'll start with a small region...no cities, but if you need a town, go for it...5 or 6 villages, no problem...feel free to mention sites that matter to you...lakes..
rivers...hills...mountains...farms...ranches...temples...camps...whatever. You guys can help me design your region. :)
EldonG |
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This is a sample map of mine...its a full city, and took maybe 30 hours...Wild Roc Roost