Random idea for a game. (Totally inspired by Kruelaid's Z-war.)
I have read some awesome Zombie survival games and really want to run one myself. As a huge zombie fan, and a D&D player, it is something I think would be really fun. It would be a traditional modern zombie survival-horror p-b-p where the characters either hook up or dont, try to survive, and hopefully carve out a viable survival solution for themselves, with the campaign ending with either human survival or undead victory.
There is a modern D20 zombie game going on that I am really impressed with. My problem is due to laziness I do not want to learn a new rules system, in fact I want it to be rules-lite to the point where few rolls are even needed. It will be all about interaction and problem solving. I wonder how much interest there would be in a game like that?
Alternatively, I thought about a game using standard 3.5 rules, maybe with no classes, or even wierder, with classes, but their abilities must be translated into modern terms. For example, the spell magic missile might be a tazer, or the cleric spell cure light wounds could be a stim drug or pain reliever, mebbe. I don't know, does anyone have any suggestions or ideas that might work?
This idea is new to me, and I am not sure if it will work out, but I just want to find the easiest way to go about it if I was to do it. I can't be buying a bunch of new rulebooks, and honestly don't have the time or brain-space to learn a new rules sytem. I am thinking the classless system would prolly work best but I feel there should be advancement and awards that come with levelling. Maybe just use HP and ability scores and each level you can add 1 point to 1 ability score. I don't know, thats why Im asking for help. I post this here rather than the Connection board cuz I want to see if I can come up with a workable solution before I see if there is even any interest in the game.
OK, thinking about it, here is an idea, classless, all characters start with 10's in all abilities and 4 hit points, but they get 4 points to spend where they want, on hp or abilities. A melee strike does 1 hp damage, a bullet does 4. I just want to keep it simple since it is about roleplaying and problem solving, burt there does have to be the element of chance, so some system needs to be in place. Cant wait for suggestions, please respond if you have any ideas!
Thanx,
J~
I suggest Atomic Sock Monkey’s Prose Descriptive Qualities (PDQ) System Core Rules.
Yes, you will have to learn a new rule system but you are going to have to come up with your own anyway if you try to beat D&D into some kind of modern zombie fest. The system is available as a free pdf. It is extremely rules light so you can focus on the action instead of a bunch of rules. It is universal so you will not have to try and hammering it into something else. I think the biggest dilemma you may have is deciding how many quality ranks your fresh meat should start with.
Interesting, Court Fool - thanx for that. They managed to make a complete RPG in 11 pages, I commend them and from perusal it seems a pretty sound system. I might consider it, however, I have a different idea, to consolidate the entire rules system into less than 11 sentences.
This will be roleplay heavy, mechanics light - much the way the PDQ is set up, things will be easy, like staking a zombie in the eye, or moderate, like staking a zombie in the eye while wriggling out of the grasp of another zombie, up thru nearly impossible - prone under a gang of writhing flesh eating ghouls. They will all have a DC, and the character add their attribute score to the roll. Minimizes while still maintains randomness - a DC of 11 would be an easy task on a roll of twenty only a 1 would mean failure (unless the ability score were lower than 10).
As stated earlier - HP and abilities would be tied. Damage would be brutal, but one-hit kills rare after first level. Of course, zombies don't really need to do massive damage, but there will be other threats as well, depending how far into the future the game goes. (Personally I would like to see the last basbtion of humanity left after 100 years or so. Like Reign of Fire, but what ghastly mobs they must always be vigilant for!)
Gaining levels would be 1 week of adventuring equals 1 level gained. 1 free ability point to spend at each level. Thats it. Or something, who knows, Im just pulling this from me arse. Of course, lets see, a max level of 20 would allow an ability score to be at least 30, were they to spend each point in one ability. That seems fairly unrealistic, but on the other hand with the rolling being 1d20+Ab a roll would range between 11 (worst roll with a standard ability of 10) and 50 (natural 20 with a maximized abiity score) so all encounters would base off 11-50 with plenty of other modifiers thought up on the spur of the moment like :
Player: I will use my Apache PC playin' mo-fo skillz to enter the television station's chopper and start it up.
DM: You actually manage to familiarize yourself with the controls, add 5 to your Intelligence roll to see if you can pilot the chopper.
etc. I think it could work, especially becuz it will be as much problem-solving as number-crunching. Yet it is important that the chance element of the die roll remain intact - I dont want any dead PCs accusing me of being unjust!
Let's see. So HP would start at 4 and could go up from there. The average melee attack does 1, the average bullet 4. Making a more difficult task would up the HP loss and also up the DC level of the hit, which I guess would add Str or Dex, hmm. Or if it is an electronic attack Int. Whatever - all the abilities. Yeah, to hit a barn, DC11, to pick out zombies who look most like actors out of a crowd and drop each 1 thru the head, DC50+