Zombie Survival Horror [3.5x] Ideas?

[WeeFreeMen]

I am basically asking for any ideas that you guys would conceive as fun in this type of setting. I plan on hosting it and have the system worked out as well as the "Infected" and the PC "Survivors." I will probably put it up on homebrew so it can be torn apart viciously.. but non the less feedback is always good.

In light of this. I am a new DM, and when I say new I mean we just got done w. Rokugan campaign and now I'm running one of my own for the first time..so I wanted it to be as close to Real life as possible and I like Zombie apocolypse type genres (as does our group).

The group will be heading from Central FL to Upstate NY (Essentially traveling along the whole East coast. I have set up a tier system (State by State) for big encounters and scenarios. But I am lacking as to my problem solving puzzle type stuff. IE: The bridge is out now you got to...<Insert clever answer>
My questions:

1) Name some possible real life scenarios that could happen in such an environment, that you would perceive as fun or challenging.
2) What would you consider the CR of the average human? (Assuming lv3 average). Also any Skill checks that are made for the average Joe, or a link to a scale or system for such things.
3) Do any of you have any advice as to how to emerge a player into a scary environment? Any music suggestion? Specific details or settings? (I already have a pretty good one were they have to go to a hospital were the Children ward is infected..Think Quarantine)

And any other general advice will help.

As far as player options go, like I said I already made them a pretty decent player class (Survivor). As far as feats go Im thinking PH and PH2? They seem to be the most tame. And as far as setting goes its Zombie Horror Survival (Flight as opposed to fight) and its been 3 months since the "outbreak"

*Apologize for the Wall of text, thanks in advance for any advice it is greatly appreciated.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Don't use 3.x? It models undead and such well enough for an undead apocalypse, but Survival Horror is just not modeled well by it. Horror at all is terrible in a game where Cthulhu has stats. Use All Flesh Must Be Eaten with the fantasy expansion, it's easy and awesome.

[Bulwer]

Regarding 3), I think something important is the atmosphere of hopelessness. You don't want the players thinking that with just a few more levels, they could take on the whole world. Restrict their power-- anyway, if they're rolling dice to survive, they've already made a mistake.

[kjones]

Is your setting modern? If so, why are you using D&D? All Flesh Must Be Eaten is a good one - I've tweaked d20 Modern to work with zombies, if you're interested.

[Talic]

To use Survival Horror with 3.x, you need to homebrew the Zombies to be nastier, and the players to be less nasty.

I limited caster progression, included spell failure for ALL caster classes (CL10 cap, 10% spell failure rate, universal).

I then turned the zombie into nigh unkillable against normal attacks (it'd lose arms, legs, etc, taking penalties to attacks and actions as it did so), and only critical hits, precision damage, and attacks at severe penalties (improved cover +8 AC) were accurate enough to target the head, which could lay them low.

I beefed up the zombie to have a disease, a nasty disease, like mummy rot. Saves don't cure you. Failures do wis and cha drain. it gets to 0? 1d4 rounds later, you're a zombie. If you die for any reason while infected, 1d4 rounds later, you're a zombie. Cure? Remove disease by a 10th level caster had a 50% chance of curing before they turned to a zombie.

Further, effects that made targets immune to disease? only 50% effective.

Zombies weren't truly dead, though they shared many traits with the dead. That did render them vulnerable to crits and precision damage (provided players knew the head was a weak spot, they could use precision damage), and also made them immune to turning.

[Brock Samson]

Play Deadlands: Hell on Earth. Not D20 deadlands, but the good ol' fashioned one. If you're a half-decent DM, terror does not even begin to describe how you can make your PCs feel.