D20 Zombie/Apocolypse Campaign

[FlyingWhale]

Reminiscence. I wanted to share a little, in a continuing piece, about a game I ran back in the hayday of my tabletop rpg career.

I ran a game a few years (4) back that took place in the modern era, and setting. The players consisted of Jason, Kyle, Nikki, Damian, and Andrew. Oh, afterthought, I played myself as an NPC. Well, usually most gaming groups I've encountered always put a bit of themselves into their characters regardless if they're a level 10 Radiant Servant of Pelor on Thursdays or the star quarterback on Fridays. Anyway, after 6 years of playing I decided, I shall run a game. Back to the story...

"Make a level 3 character as if it was you for fun. Standard modern rules, you have a 74 point reservoir. Good luck."

Heh. So, everyone makes themselves. At this point, they know I want to run a game really badly, they will be level 5, it will take place in the sky, and standard D&D 3.5 rules. They know nothing of what awaits them :)

See, I put absolutely ABSURD amounts of background, detail, and time into this. This game was my baby. I told absolutely nobody of my Zombie Campaign :) Anyway, I made at the very least, 50 custom creatures an templates for baddies, (which I will GLADLY post up) over 100 status affects, at least 20 combat maps... It was ridonkulous. More over to the point for Post1...

So, the setting is South Florida. August 18th, 14:30 EST. Andrew is playing a certain computer mmorpg that will not be named, Jason is on an extended vacation at home, Nikki is chilling because she just graduated, Damian is doing whatever it was he did, and Kyle was at work. Oh, and I was at home because I was the NPC.(level 5 shhh)

Meanwhile...

Unknown US Air Force base, Utah. A special research facility dedicated strictly to controlling the DNA in lab mice hoping to create a new form of domesticated nature. A genetic lobotomizer. It was deemed a failure due to the instability of the mice(See: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/09/0901_050901_wormparasite.html) and sent off to be disposed of... That never happened.

Unknown US Air Force base, Nevada. A small amount of the original strain made for Utah has made its way to the telcomm sector and has begun spreading rapidly, finding the new human hosts to be a perfect match. Again this strain rides on the backs of it's hosts to the genetic R&D here where it breeds and mutates with thousands of other viruses. This base however, was created for the soul purpose...Of Bio-Warfare...

So, I will get back and post much more asap! Time for dinner and a good run. Be right back!


Also, the purpose of this is to hopefully inspire someone into running their own game, or perhaps give someone an idea to spice their games... Or at the very least, my own enjoyment of sharing something that was dear to me! Any and all comments are greatly appreciated!:smile:

[Solaris]

Hm. I'm starting up a free-form forum-based Zompocalypse right now. Mine's more Fallout 3-style Wasteland than straight-up zombies attack, though.

[DueceEsMachine]

This is very funny, because we have done similar games, but I don't get to play myself, according to all the tests we've found online, my stats are too good. lol.

Very fun idea though, because who -wouldn't- want a zombie apocalypse to happen? Honestly? Okay, yeah, I wouldn't either, but it's fun to fantasize about. Think about it - it no longer matters what color your skin is, how you speak or what area or social status you were born into. Everyone is now equal, and we're all food.

The draw, I think, of a zombie apocalypse is that it puts everyone on equal footing, and your ability to survive, your will to live and to do whatever is necessary is what makes you great. I dunno. Just my thoughts - but I'll definately be watching for more!

[Solaris]

This is very funny, because we have done similar games, but I don't get to play myself, according to all the tests we've found online, my stats are too good. lol.
Hey, it's not your fault you're naturally superior to those around you. We live in a culture of arbitrary fairness.


Very fun idea though, because who -wouldn't- want a zombie apocalypse to happen? Honestly? Okay, yeah, I wouldn't either, but it's fun to fantasize about. Think about it - it no longer matters what color your skin is, how you speak or what area or social status you were born into. Everyone is now equal, and we're all food.

The draw, I think, of a zombie apocalypse is that it puts everyone on equal footing, and your ability to survive, your will to live and to do whatever is necessary is what makes you great. I dunno. Just my thoughts - but I'll definately be watching for more!
I agree. The post-apocalyptic scenario has a lot of appeal, especially for people bored with how safe and comfortable our society is.

[FlyingWhale]

@Solaris--- I've seen that listed on the forum area, the post by post games... I will give that a true go! Sounds like fun to me :smallcool:

@DueceEsMachine--- You know what? That IS funny! hehe it was the same thing with me! I'm not anyone to go on about myself, but marathon running, survival training, Marine Corps, working as a carpenter, mason, and electrician... It's just not fair compared to say, Kyle who has done nothing but work at Petsmart... hehe OH and!!! Who wouldn't want a zombie/apocalypse? Someone who doesn't get a second chance when it comes:smallamused: If I am barricading a door/window and need to go get fuel/ammo/survivor/food whatever... and I tell them to cover me/continue barricading/etc and they have hesitation or an outright refusal... They get a boot to the head and are served for zombie-chow. These are things friends and I throw around the table all the time... We have numerous plans that have been printed out and stashed in our glove-compartments... That's sad. Sad but cool. Mostly sad...


Z-day continued...

Satellites crash and we all fall down. So, unbeknownst to anyone, the situation has beyond reached critical as many of the bio-satellites not only loose trajectory(they're powered military ones, they don't just float along), they are outright being sent down. Well, I admit, I'm one of the last to speculate on what happens with nuclear/and bio-war... But I imagine 95% at the very least is gone right off the bat if all the big-govs push the shiny red button at once. That being said...

To give another show around the scene... We are playing at my house, we begin around 6pm, it is August 18th 2006. The sun is already completely clouded over and it is pretty dark already. We play in my living room, tables facing both the hallway to the front door, and the back windows facing a lake. I thought it gave us a good vibe, there is a dark lake reflecting moonlight occasionally, and the front door... Just daring us to turn our backs... So! Has anyone ever played Devil May Cry?http://bluelaguna.net/splash/devil-may-cry.php

Well on all the alums, anything with a title like... "Ghost Ship - Sinking" is ambiance, whereas "Nightmare Sealed World - Battle"... Well you aren't idiots, it's all battle music. Anyway, that along with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Syndicate We have ourselves one hell of a soundtrack for a good old fashioned zombie-off.
Now I also lit two, three-wick candles and placed them in the kitchen and bathroom, so no-one gets hurt. Then I draped red, rope light around the ceiling to give us our playing light. back to zombies!


I believe the day was either Tuesday...or Thursday.. I dunno... Well, Kyle is at work and this is say... Well the first few satellites have crashed down in middle America, a few have landed over in Asia, and a whole crapload in Africa. At the moment it is being dismissed as a series of meteorological oddities. Even if they did quarantine entire cities... :) Can't risk the radiation or possibility of hostile elements in those space rocks... ANYWAY it's being waved off. A lot of the communication orbitals have also been impaired or (shut off:smallsmile:) and there is a huge gap in information.
So. Kyle is at work, 4pm~ he goes on break. It's just about like any other day but a lot of places have been struggling with the severe communication issues. He drives over to a few fast-food joints, not in the mood. He stops in eventually at Burger Kang. Empty? Strange... He goes to the counter, nothing going on but a few things on the grill burning. 'Was that a siren?' He starts to back out away from the register when he hears something softly scraping and squeaking back towards the doors. As he walks slowly to the doors he sees blood? on the floor and hears a woman's voice from inside begging for help. The voice is a quite, almost whisper, with the defiant sound of someone who refuses to give up, but all the volume of someone holding on to a string. He goes to open the door, just as it gets about an inch open, she screams, "God no! God help me! Help...Gah!" He sees a moments glimpse of blood pooling on the floor, an open stall door, and what he could have sworn what was once a woman in the middle of it all.
He rushes to his car drives full speed home in a panic and crashes in a ditch. (lol) There is a good bit of traffic at this point, and it's the swerving crashing kind. He doesn't notice the smoke in the air or the storm coming in, but two 747 Boeing planes just went down by Port Everglades (Major-huge port in south florida) and one into a hospital. He starts the long run home on the side of the road, passing by, which he does notice and think to be an alarming amount of other people also running around.

Cut: Jason. Sitting at home playing some sort of video game. Cable company comes over to replace something with his TV. This is actually the quickest intro to anyone because J-dawg doesn't understand not on the meaning of, but how to "Role-Play". Cable van crashes into house, his step dad goes out and starts a brawl with the dude and anyway Jason leaves for some reason. The game always goes to a standstill with him. Anyway... this also calls for a break into what we decided was fair...

Family/Loved Ones - They were left out of the game, no one wants to play a game where you potentially are in a situation where you blow your wife's brains out or are eaten by your children.
Pets - Were left in for the case of Damian. No man should own 5 Chihuahuas. Period. They all were zombified and eaten. It was hilarious. For us.
Myself - I played myself as an NPL (non-player leader) to directly point them in the right direction. At one point everyone wanted to stay inside a van until it was all over. I grabbed my guns/gear and honked the horn a few times as I got out to start my trek to Wal-Mart. (Everyone needs a leader)

So, Nikki is easy, she is visiting with me at the time so, well, we played ourselves in "real time" basically... So yeah. Simple. We are just hanging out eating pizza... Shut up.

Damian.. He lives in a courtyard Spanish Villa type apartment complex. I forget what he was doing. I am pretty sure he was at his house just... Well let's not dwell on him. Someone is at his apartment slamming on his door, his dogs barking like crazy. He is (that's right, I remember now) awoken by this and goes to investigate. In underwear. Goes to the peephole, no one is there. Kisses his dogs or whatever and goes back to bed. He has some sort of nightmare of some crazy mutants eating him alive and wakes up in a sweat. He grabs his replica swords and goes back to bed, as the door gets a rap again and the dogs once more go nuts. He check one more time, this time he opens the door. No one there. ( I rolled a spot check:4) As he goes to shut the door, the door bursts open as a man half covered with torn clothes, and half boils and blisters goes after his dogs. Damian makes a wild thrash and contacts, dropping the man with a broken sword in hand and half a head rolling around. He gets dressed, long story short he gets down his stairs and gets surrounded... A neighbor of his (Firefighter/Soldier) is also there but for some reason with a bushwacker in hand. Gives Dame a chance to escape as the man takes the horde. Dame is parked within 6" of each car on his sides. He has to crawl through his car to get in from the trunk! hehe. I hate Damian. JUST as he avoids one grab, he hacks off an arm and breaks sword 2/3. Gets into his car, as he is about to close the door, without looking back, a hand grabs his pant leg and he hears a scream, he thrusts his broken longsword into a fresh throat. As he hops into his driver seat and looks out his rear window, his neighbor is thrashing around with a fresh hole in his throat. Yeah I gave Dame a break and was letting someone give him cover and go with him for support. He stabbed his throat out. Irony. He starts driving to, for some reason, Publix. Beats me. We will come back to this.

Andrew. He is playing, I'll say it, though I despise it, World of Warcraft. I despise it because him and his "friends" are the stereotypical WoW players. Not only that, when you hear how that game breaks relationships, friendships, families... Yeah that's him. Anyway... The story here is 3 days AFTER "Z-Day". Z-day, Which is effectively where we are in our story back with everyone else. After 3 days straight of WoWing, he gets hungry for some Chinese, so goes to take off to the mall. In classic Andrew routine, someone is roaming around his backyard chasing after and occasional bird or cat. He ignores it. A little background on Annie. His father is an ambulance chaser, (everyone has t be something) and just throws money at him. So, annie wants, annie gets. Regardless of this we are good friends. Anyway, he ignores this crazed, half naked, man in his yard. He lives in a estate. heh. Gets into his car, starts the drive to Sawgrass Mills Mall. The roads are flooded with people walking, running around, imagine a scene from a bad zombie movie. He just willy nilly drives right through it all to the mall. More over. Andrew gets to the game like... 3hours late. I make him sit out of the room out of earshot until I am ready to bring him in. He knows NOTHING of the game insofar!!! It's hilarity. Well he hits something on the road and swerves almost into a lake. He gets out to investigate, it looks a lot like he hit a horse. He's driving at night and not wearing his glasses and on top of that he was screwing with his radio. (Yeah , I rolled a 13 spot check... Then we minus like the 10 for not wearing his necessary corrective lenses, AT NIGHT, radio flipping, and playing with his phone). So yes, he hit a horse. As he goes to look at it, it's roughly 200yards away, people start rushing towards him. He goes to ask someone if they could call 911 because he left his phone in his car... They respond... "Arghhaanngg" He replies, "What's that? I can't understand you!" They in turn say, "ARHGHNNGAHHNN!" He rolls DING DING DING!!! FIRST PLAYER ROLL OF THE GAME!!! a Sense Motive check to see what's going on. He rolls a total of 13. He realizes they are very intent on destroying him. He runs to the car, finds out his keys are locked in, breaks the window gets in, starts the car and drives to Wal-Mart.

I believe at that time, Jason is on guard and everyone devises a plan to get him inside a fully, fortified(as far as they are concerned... muahaha) building.

Break. When we return, what happened to everyone else those first three days? Also: Who are the players?

So, thanks for watching part 2 of Z-Day :) Be sure to tune in in a few days for part 3 and a few spoilers on some of my custom creations! Over 50 fully custom baddies, 100 new status effects, and more combat variants than you can shake a boomstick at!