wick Posted October 10, 2015 Report Share Posted October 10, 2015 Has anyone adapted Hero System to do a modern era Zombie Apocalypse? How would you build the zombies, infection etc...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 10, 2015 Report Share Posted October 10, 2015 Look in Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- it's got a Zombie scenario. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted October 11, 2015 Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 Well, one of our former forum colleagues, William "Yamo" Mistretta, did use Fifth Edition Hero System to adapt the world of George Romero's "Living Dead" movies. He put up pretty detailed campaign guidelines on his personal website, and although that's now defunct the archive of it can still be found below: Twilight of the Dead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninja-Bear Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 I miss that website. If I ran a zombie game, I wouldn't make a bite automatically make you a zombie though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Tom 2009 Posted October 24, 2015 Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 I think that the biggest threat in a "Zombie Apocalypse" campaign wouldn't be the zombies themselves -- it'd be the idiot Hollywood screenwriters who keep 'upgrading' the bloody things (I mean, really -- zombies that run as fast, if not faster, than their victims?!). Major Tom 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninja-Bear Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 There was a series of zombie movies which had them super leap and were incrediably fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Agenda Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 28 Days? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Oh yeah, that reminds me... Michael "Susano" Surbrook's HERO 5E write-up for The Infected, from 28 Days Later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninja-Bear Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 28 Days? Thats one but I was thinking of an 80's/90's series of movies - Return of the living dead perhaps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted November 22, 2015 Report Share Posted November 22, 2015 I hate the bite makes you a zombie shtick. Now a zombie bite should be pretty dire (think komodo) and be high risk of death, and if death leads to zombie....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Zombie Apocalypses are among me least favorite kinds of settings, but my understanding is that they're less about the zombies than about the dwindling group of survivors and what happens to them under all the stress -- not the easiest thing to replicate in a tabletop RPG..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 I like the Morning Star trilogy by Z A Rechtit has both fast and slow zombiesif you got bit and did not die you turned into a fast zombie(about 3/4's speed of a normal humanyou could kill them like a person(blood loss,heart/lungs) this will stop them for an hr or so if you died of wounds and had been bitten you became a slow zombie(head shots only) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomosmax Posted December 8, 2015 Report Share Posted December 8, 2015 Zombie Apocalypses are my favorite games. I love this game Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn Webster Posted October 7, 2021 Report Share Posted October 7, 2021 I have been running a home-grown zombie apocalypse campaign for over a year now. I didn't make the zombies particularly dangerous, just regular people with extra resilience (damage reduction 50% but not in the head, and some extra STR, BODY, PD and STUN). Infection is airborne however so there is a change of catching the disease which turns them into "zombies" just from being near them (random change 8-, 11- or 14- to catch it depending on the level of contact, a CON roll after 2 days of symptoms to survive it, and every time you survive you get a +1 next time). I am using a custom "hero point" system to make sure players don't usually die on a bad roll. Technically the "infected" in my campaign are not actually zombies since they never died - just got sick and got tougher and dumber. As others have said, and the various long-running TV series demonstrate, the main enemies in this genre are actually other survivors. As modern society descends into a feudal (or barbaric) system. Some local groups of hardy, well equipped or just lucky people organise themselves to survive the harsh dangerous environment, the zombies become less of a danger and more of an environmental hazard. These groups are not constrained by the pressure of broad cultural standards, and instead organise themselves around a wide variety of power structures, from brutal warlords, to ideology-driven cult, to the superstitious idol-worshipping zealots, there are so many ways people can get weird. This also lends itself nicely to episodic campaigns, as the party encounters each new group or society and need to work out what sort of people they are, what capabilities/resources they have, and whether they can trust them. They party is approaching the 12 months anniversary of the apocalypse (it was a "there from the start" beginning) and there is now the question of what do the zombies eat? I am assuming they start with pets and then wildlife, maybe plants, etc, but I wanted it to be at least somewhat realistic with no mysterious magic force resurrecting the dead and keeping them alive. There is a significant logistical difference between cities and country areas to consider. In the country there will be plenty of passive wildlife and vegetation to find, but in the city it is unlikely that the entire population could possibly get enough energy from that to survive. In the country areas, greater separation means that "soft" populations might organise themselves into survivable positions ,lead by a few capable fighters (law enforcement, ex-military, martial arts practitioners, etc). In the cities however, the population density would mean that few citizens will avoid succumbing to the cascading effect of infection, violent contact, and resulting transmission. Only those lucky to develop a miraculous resistance as well as having fair pre-existing combat skills are likely to survive to form hardened gangs of survivors. In any case, the party is now moving on to deal with the real threat - the human "Dark Army" which masterminded the apocalypse to take over the world, in collaboration with their AI partners which took over the great-power global defence (and attack) systems. It is not yet clear whether the Machines and the Dark Army will remain tight or whether one will betray the other eventually. Sowing dissent among the Dark Army leadership is going to become part of the next phase which will have a "Matrix-like" cyberspace element to it. In any case, I think you need to have a significant non-zombie element in a "zombie apocalypse" campaign, whether it is a big conspiracy or large social structure formed after the world changes to provide a recurrent enemy, as well as the isolated "pocket societies". There are only so many warehouses and sports stadiums full of zombies to lay to waste and after a few gaming sessions, when the party works out their vulnerabilities (doesn't need to be headshots, of course) that gets pretty repetitive. There is also the variety of interesting settings - take any modern place and imagine how it might be changed to provide a defense against the zombies. Using real-world landmarks familiar to the players is a lot of fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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