Describe your zombie apocalypse

[Alan]

extra-terrestrial option: an odd space object is seen to enter our atmosphere, trailing an odd green light. The object impacts ground in rural West Virginia, and then all hell breaks loose.

Alan

CLASSIC simplicity! Redneck'd ground-zero!

Moonshine, shotguns, fierce family loyalty and a "survivalistic" outlook. How could that *not* be a hoot?

"Must be one-a dem gubmint EYE-ARE-ESS folk, what with da grey skin and shamblin' walk." *BLAM!* *BLAM*
"That'll learn em'."

[Blood axe]

I like "28 days later", not a fan of "28 weeks later" though. Except the first 10 minutes when they are hiding in that house. When that guy is running across the field and more and more of the Infected join the chase is terrifying. After the opening action though, the movie blows IMHO.

Try Simon Clark's "Blood Crazy" book (if you can find it) - all the people over 18 yrs. or so, go insane and try to kill their children , then anyone elses. Kids remain unaffected and try to survive. Of course a bunch of kids turn bad- Lord of the Flies meets Dawn of the Dead.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Not that I'm opposed to zombies, but it seems to me that there are two or three basic types:

You're inside a building of some sort, and the zombies are outside looking for a way in.

You're inside a building of some sort, and the zombies are in there with you. You're trying to find a way out.

Then the rest is you're outside, looking for a building to hide inside. Zombies can be either inside or outside. (Sort of a Schrodiner's Zombie Cat problem)

Is there anything else? Is there a need for anything else? I remember on The Isle of Dread there was a Zombie Master, but the zombies were under some control. Sort of like slaves, without the hassle of feeding them...

[Blood axe]

I agree with you for the most part. But you can say the same thing about most Fantasy adventures.

You met at a Tavern, enter dungeon, kick in the door, kill the monster, take the treasure, rinse & repeat.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

I agree with you for the most part. But you can say the same thing about most Fantasy adventures.

You met at a Tavern, enter dungeon, kick in the door, kill the monster, take the treasure, rinse & repeat.

Ummm. Maybe. I usually avoid the Meet in a Tavern trope if I can. I also try to stay away from the

Kick down the Door and Kill Anything Inside to Take Their Stuff
and
Take the Dingus to the Garbage Pit and Throw it Away.

type of adventures. Right now I'm doing a pirate adventure (and yes, I did have zombies in the "You're in a building with zombies, trying to find a way out), but there have been swashbuckling shipboard fights, a party where the rich and famous showed up and got drunk, and a rescue at your own place. Yes, there were dungeon crawls tossed in, but so far no "Long Walk."

That's why I wondered about other types of zombie adventures.

[Zevious Zoquis]

Most of the "other types" of adventures in a ZA game would revolve around encounters between different groups of survivors and the struggle for limited resources. You could sort of look at it like Mad Max with zombies. You could easily come up with adventures that don't involve a single encounter with a zombie really...the characters would have to deal with all the classic survivor groups - the biker gang, the religo-fascist nutbird crew, the seemingly decent lone wolf who turns out to be a psycho serial killer, and always in the background theres the risk of letting your guard down and walking around a corner right into a horde of rot-walkers.

[Blood axe]

The number of Zombie adventures is extremely low. I cant find any. Hopefully someone will remedy that for RotWorld.

[gentleman john]

The best sources for alternative zombie adventures imo are Eden Studios' All Flesh Must Be Eaten world books. They have published a number of setting books, each with multiple worlds in them. Of course, you may think that zombie adventures just boil down to surviving the zombies, but the philosophy behind most of the adventures written is that the zombies are merely incidental. If you treat the zombies as a force of nature that causes problems or prevents certain options being taken, rather than as a force to be defeated, then the options for gaming increase.

I have used this philosophy in the past for my zombie games and it did seem to work quite nicely. The players were not forced to confront the zombies. Rather, the presence of the zombies constrained their choices and forced the players to be more creative.

[Blood axe]

Ive seen the setting books- but there arent alot of actual adventures to run.

[Goblinoid Games]

Ive seen the setting books- but there arent alot of actual adventures to run.

No, not adventures. Coming up with worlds I think is easier. I do plan to release something for support in this area. Oh for those curious, I actually was a contributor to Eden's book "Worlds of the Dead."
I used to have a fan site for Eden's games around 2003-2005 or so but then went on to do my own things.