My D20 Modern: Zombies game

[ZombieMaster86]

Hey I'm new to this place but I've been running this game for about a year now and I thought I might get some outside ideas from other DMs, or Players to give the game a little flair. It's taken from mostly the D20 Modern Core Rules but I've modified some of the rules to fit my taste. I have 3 or 4 regular Players, all Level 7, Smart, mostly Tough, Strong, and another Tough Hero. If you like I can get you the Character sheets and jazz to go with.

The Zombie stats are as follows:

Zombies are not damaged by fire, but will light adjacent squares ablaze including PC characters.

HP:20 Body/10 Head
Intitiative:-1
Speed:10-15 ft per round (about six seconds)
Defense:(Body 15/Head 20+)
Base Attack Bonus:+1
Grapple:+2

Slam Attack: +1 1d6+2 pts. of Damage
Grapple: If a zombie successfully Grapples (via an opposed grapple check) it gains an automatic attack of opportunity to bite doing 2d4 + 1 damage, avoid by a Reflex Save + Escape Artist (skill ) Stacks with Dodge Bonuses.


Special Zombies

Introduced around Level 5

Seeker:a quadruped, dog-like creature with the ability to sniff out Humans. Has 10 ft twin tentacles with barb-like protrusions at the ends, (think Displacer Beast)

Hp:51 Body/ 20 Head
Initiative +2
Speed: 40 ft per round
Defense: 16 Body/21 Head
Base Attack Bonus: +4
Hunt Humans: Can smell a human within a mile.


Tentacle Attack: 2d6+4 within 10ft
1d8+2 Bite


Bosses:


Behemoth: A giant monster, human-like but a story high with giant over sized fists. Cannot shoot it's head because it's face is imbedded in its chest.

HP:80
Initiative -2
Speed: 10 ft per round
Defense: 21
Base Attack Bonus:+5
Fortitude:+9 Reflex: +6 Will: +3
Grapple:+20

Slam Attack:2d8+4



I have more if you're interested but I just want to show a little of the numbers bit before I get to the Story.


I set the game in a town and used Google maps pretty much map out the world, the hard part is the floor plans, I hate making floor plans, if I could get my hands on some it'd be awesome but that's just not the case at this time.
I've had the players start out in a medium size neighborhood clear a couple houses for loot. (For purposes of the game I don't use the wealth bonus system, instead items are scavenged traded in a barter system such as ammo, water, food, equipment etc,.) They eventually setup a camp inside a huge high school. They've seen a lot a combat with just regular zombies and taken a bunch of hitpoints of damage. (They alone are immune, but I don't reveal it.) I've had them take runs of stores that have been scavenged, there are rules in D20:Apocalypse but I don't have it. I roll 2d10 and get 5s for 55%, and decide it is halfway scavenged of goods. They find food, first aid supplies, and water enough to carry in a large backpack. Even Walmart has shotguns, and ammo. I decide to mix things up with some human adversaries, that shoot back. (can get you their stats) But what I want to know is, if anybody had any ideas on side quests I could send them on, I'd be open to any and all opinions.

[limejuicepowder]

While you may have already figured this out and are incorporating it, what caused the zombie outbreak? Is there a "leader" or at least controller of the zombie hordes? That's probably main quest line, but still.

Depending on the composition of the party and their character history (i.e., what they would know how to do), options include:

1) finding the power plant and getting the power turned back on. Or if this doesn't appeal, setting up a system of generators, etc.

2) rescue missions: maybe the characters see a plane/helicopter go down relatively close to their position. Lure the characters by making the vehicle military or medical, thus promising some reward in valuable supplies.

3) flash fires threaten to consume the town, and the PC's must figure out how to protect their base. Strategically placed water towers make it possible, but hordes of flaming zombies will have to be beaten back first.

[NOhara24]

I don't like the idea that Zombies are immune to fire. They're the same as humans, just already dead. They burn just like humans in every way(faster if they're mummified), meaning that their brain also gets cooked, just as if they were alive.

I'd just use the rules that are given from 3.5: 1d6/round until it's extinguished or they're dead. And if they get a grapple or a successful attack on a player, the player makes a reflex save or they catch on fire too. Simple enough that fire isn't rendered ineffective, and dangerous enough that the PCs will still think twice about setting them on fire.

Also, what sort of zombies are these? Infected or legitimate undead romero-esque zombies?

[TonyTron]

I have more if you're interested but I just want to show a little of the numbers bit before I get to the Story.

I'm curious about the other creatures you've got going :smallsmile:

[ZombieMaster86]

@ Nohara24: Well, I just didn't want the fire to really damage the zombies, because I mean, they don't feel pain, even if they're on fire it really does not do anything to deter them at all. I mean I could see if you wanted me to still damage the zombies when they are on fire, but I just wanted to address the fire issue. It's also worth noting that I didn't tell the PC's that they are immune to fire, they just assume that it's doing damage. And they are infected zombies, but they are dead...


@TonyTron: I make up zombies as I go, the seekers really fit a specific task that I saw becoming a problem in the game. My players are very smart in the fact that they do as much as they can (smartly I might add) to avoid combat, or at least mind-less combat as they can. They are constantly outsmarting me in the ways that I can deliver combat to them. So I saw that I needed a zombie that was unavoidable. Thus I created the Seeker, by being able to track and find humans by scent alone, I can always throw a random encounter in there, or add them in plus zombies if I want to challenge them. There was another zombie awhile back, that wasn't really that special, just that he was able to hear things a little better than your average zombie, and when he did, he screamed at the top of his lungs and came at you, drawing more zombies to the area. I tried to be smart about what I did, and didn't create for the game, trying to keep in mind the balance of it all. I don't always get it right, but my players seem to have a good time, and I guess at the end of the night, that's all that matters. But originally, my idea for the special zombies was that I took a specific trait, or sense, or physical abnormality, to diversify the special zombies. I thought maybe I'd have one for sight, hearing, smell, etc., but the game just evolved too quickly for that to happen.

@limejuicepowder: I have an idea of what caused the zombie outbreak, don't really have a leader in mind just yet. The power is still on because unknowable to the PCs, the Power Plant has been fortified and held specifically for the precious need of power during the apocalypse. I'll probably throw a settlement in there too just to make it believable. I like where you're going with number 2 and 3 I'll have to throw those in, thank you. At this point in the story my players have moved to University of Maryland Baltimore College (UMBC) and have setup a wall around it. Have a slew of survivors probably 70 strong. They have enough food for about two months, a decent bit of ammunition, and plenty of clean water. They've started to make machines and whatnot to start making themselves self-reliant. One player even had the idea of starting an indoor hydroponic garden for growing produce. I'm having trouble finding things for them to do, but it may also have to do with the fact that I don't have the main storyline nailed down yet otherwise they'd probably be progressing there. My idea for the story is that it's an alien virus recovered by the military off of a meteor or something. They start to study it, experiment with it, containment fails and the outbreak occurs. Or, they study it, experiment with it, and weaponize it, some gets either stolen, lost, or broken and the outbreak happens. I also did want to have some kind of big-time company involved, like Umbrella in the Resident Evil Series. I recently had my players go through a facility belonging to FutureTek so I think I'll go with that. I've also given them some experimental stuff like a stealth module that has so many uses per day before it needs charge, and a prototype weapon that deals sonic damage in a cone. Really I need ideas for side quests, they could be incredibly involved, or take 10 minutes I couldn't care less, but I would be open to anything you guys could come up with. If you need more background let me know.


-ZombieMaster86

[ZombieMaster86]

Bump! For the Win!

[Physics_Rook]

Sounds like an interesting game you have going there. :smallsmile:

I'd definitely like to hear more about it, and the creatures (stats and all if you're able) that you've made for it.

Story-wise, I'd recommend making the virus from something other than the military/government, because it's really been done to death. :smalltongue:

Creature-wise you might check out the Left4Dead series of games for inspiration. :smallcool:

For quest related stuffs, I'm drawing a blank at the moment.
Maybe they're tasked with capturing a zombie/zombie boss for research by a third party.
Search and rescue of the hapless innocents.

P.S. Bumping a thread isn't so cool around here, it's considered spam.

[Ravens_cry]

I would give them protection from fire or resistance to fire, but not immunity. They may not care the way living humans do, but they are still made of flammable things. Hair ignites, meat burns and chars, and fat, we make candles from fat.

[ZombieMaster86]

@Physics Rook: okay thanks for the heads up won't do it in the future. As it stands right now it's mostly just the seeker creature, and a vomit fiend from the back of the D20 Modern book, which I made into like a Boomer, but instead of exploding he like spits at you, attracting zombies. I've played the Left4Dead series and so have my players, so I am hesitant to make like-creatures, unless they are portrayed in a way that seems at least somewhat original, maybe xtra abilities or features, or perhaps a different behavior than the one anticipated. As far as research related stuff, my Smart Hero already start studying the virus and I could tie that in for him, thanks.

@Ravens_cry: Okay point taken, resistance to fire sounds reasonable. Will take it under consideration.

[Krazzman]

Did you consider reading through some All Flesh must be Eaten? If not...DO IT. It's a pretty cool system that features Zombies, Zombies and some more Zombies.

You might introduce "Vampires" later on or some "Spore"-Infected (I planned a one-shot based on the Music Video to Metallica's "All nightmare long"). Also think about the Resident Evil Mutations and of course the L4D Specials. Read some "the Walking Dead" (but if you are sensible to rape, you should skip some...).

If D20 is a bit like DnD 3.5, maybe you should make some Templates for a Body-builder Zombie (Tank) and so on.

Also you should google for Al Bruno 3.
He's an Fun/Horror Author that happens to be quite good. He has most of his work ONLINE and FOR FREE!

[Mordokai]

Dead Rising 2 may offer some inspiration to you, as far as quests go. Capturing zombies has already been mentioned, as well as saving survivors, but from what I read, your players are already doing that.

Maybe they have been framed for the outbreak? Make them clear their name. If you're feeling sadistic, add a timer to it. There's a cure hidden somewhere and they need to find it and have a dose of it, every now and then, or they turn.

Yes, I basically just ripped an entire game. You didn't say you were looking for originality :smallbiggrin:

[NOhara24]

@ Nohara24: Well, I just didn't want the fire to really damage the zombies, because I mean, they don't feel pain, even if they're on fire it really does not do anything to deter them at all. I mean I could see if you wanted me to still damage the zombies when they are on fire, but I just wanted to address the fire issue. It's also worth noting that I didn't tell the PC's that they are immune to fire, they just assume that it's doing damage. And they are infected zombies, but they are dead...
-ZombieMaster86

It won't do anything to deter them because they're on fire. That's all good and fine, but there's still the being burned "alive" part of it. Fire doesn't kill because of the pain. Fire kills you because it's doing horrible, horrible things to every square inch of your body that it touches. Just because your zombies wouldn't feel pain doesn't mean that they wouldn't suffer physical damage from fire. They need to take damage from fire.

Especially if your players are setting them on fire all the time thinking it does damage. You can have the zombies act normally (charging and attempting to bite the PCs) that's all good and fine, but they would still take 1d6 per round because they're being burned.

[ZombieMaster86]

Okay so noted, zombies will take damage from fire from now on. Tonight is a game night so I'm super pumped. I really haven't thought through what's going to happen tonight, I'm having writer's block again. I think I'm going to go with limejuicepowder's idea and go with the flash fires, cause that sounds like a cool idea. Make them steal a firetruck, wicked. Thank you every one else for all your input so far I read this just about everyday to see if other's have posted, and I do take everything into consideration. Thinking of introducing a new special zombie, if any of you have any great ideas feed 'em to me.


-ZombieMaster86

[Jaygonzo65]

I love the system you are using. I'm starting my own campaign. The crazy part is I'm using the same city as you. If you read this I want to get ahold of you to talk shop. I have some questions to ask you.

[VladDragoon]

I love your ideas. This will be my 3rd or 4th zombie campaign since you jave had yhis going for quite some time im impressed! Also ive made a zombie where when it goes to "scream" to alert the other zombies it opens its rib cage and rattles, and if zombies get to boring dont be afraid to throw in angels and demons to make it just an over all apocalypse and allow PC'S to make a pact with them and the other will focus on them

[bookkeeping guy]

D20 means level 20 is the limit?

I'm curious too how this will work?

Is this a world like ours where there are only humans or are there other supernaturals hidden among society too?

What about other creatures like demons? The zombies had to come from somewhere too right?

[LordOfCain]

D20 means level 20 is the limit?

I'm curious too how this will work?

Is this a world like ours where there are only humans or are there other supernaturals hidden among society too?

What about other creatures like demons? The zombies had to come from somewhere too right?
Why is it always the threads about the undead that the thread necros visit?

[ZombieMaster86]

Okay, so funny story I had completely forgotten about this thread, ran the game into the ground and hadn't played or ran anything for awhile. Fast forward to today and I was searching for Zombie RPG d20 Games and came across this old thread. I'm very pleased with the new replies on such an old post but I have good news for you, due to the popularity of this game my friends have decided to give it a throw back and we're doing a new run and because of that I'm revamping it and rewriting it so those of you who have been asking me about materials I'm going to dig out what I can (realize this is like four or five years ago worth of materials) if I can find them I'll share them, if not I am going to just have to re-write everything, which I don't have a huge problem with, seeing as it's going to have to be fairly fresh in my mind pretty soon. Reflecting back on what worked and what didn't work in my game I am going to be playing with some rules and gameplay mechanics, possibly a quasi "magic" system. I'm not speaking in a sense of strictly magic like, what we would assume to be black magic, Shooting fireballs for example. Rather, I was thinking along the lines of extraordinary, but still very human, abilities. It's pretty common knowledge that in a short burst of adrenaline people can lift or exert themselves well beyond their limits, but not without penalty. There are people in the world with incredible agility and I know that yes, that is exactly the way the D20 Modern Class system was kind of based around but they didn't leave much room for anything else in the way of abilities outside of the core rulebook. Which are fine and they work, sometimes, based on what kind of character you are trying to build. But without really having anything solid and in stone what I was thinking was maybe coming up with a pool of abilities that are class restricted, like a few for each class, and make it exclusive. Perhaps they can't get all of them, maybe they have to choose one OR the other between levels or something to that effect, and also add the chance of failure, like this ability will NOT work 100% of the time when you're lower levels to make it less OP. But it would work essentially like a magic system where outside of their normal attacks and abilities they can attempt these "spells" that have a chance to fail and spend the "mana" regardless. If it succeeds they obviously get the benefit of the spell but like any double edged sword there needs to be a risk/reward nature. SO maybe the ability succeeded, but they now have to suffer some kind of temporary penalty, or if they did not succeed etc., etc., I'm not one for adding new rules to games, but since I've already kind of dissected D20 Modern to fit my needs I'm already kind of playing a cut and pasted game as it is. Overall, just stay posted because I plan on pouring a decent amount of effort into this again because it turned out pretty well last time.

[ZombieMaster86]

D20 means level 20 is the limit?

I'm curious too how this will work?

Is this a world like ours where there are only humans or are there other supernaturals hidden among society too?

What about other creatures like demons? The zombies had to come from somewhere too right?

The source rulebook for the game I designed revolves around the D20 Modern core rulebook. It is essentially D&D 3.5 with some modified rules for modern technology, things like guns, vehicles, and air combat rules which are kind of convoluted and complicated which is a big reason why I modified the game to my uses and wrote my own rules. Now I will warn you this is not an easy task, anytime you change a base game ruleset it tends to upset the balance of the game mechanics and you'll have to "test" run some games to see how well, or badly, you've adjusted. As it states in the D20 Modern opening, essentially the world is built upon extra ordinary people. Like the protagonist in any action movie you've ever seen, these are the caliber of people that your characters are playing. So like for example it might be a bit far fetched to think that an average human being (an NPC which doesn't even register as a Level 1 Hero of any class) to be able to survive a massive gunfight and not succumb to gunshot wounds. Or to make that life saving catch at the last moment to save the day, accurately track and hit moving targets on the move. These are examples of things that, while extreme, are perfectly within the realm of extra ordinary humans in the real world. Once your character hits about Level 5, in real world terms your character is now among the top 1% of human beings to ever live. These are the Tesla's, the Einsteins, the Audie Murphy's, the MLK's, or even Bruce Lee is a great example. Past Level 5 you are moving into the realm of beyond human capability breaking into the almost super human. Which makes it a great system to make it the base mechanics of any game you can come up with. Because it tries to make a real world analog outside of a magic system which I never really use, it's easy to come up with ideas. Now that being said, once you read the core rulebook about ten times cover to cover we can talk about where I started. With a pretty good understanding of the core rules I set about modifying and changing the rules i didn't think would work well for my game. To save myself the trouble of having to make more maps than I had to, I used google maps to set my backdrop so that each of my players could get an overworld view at any given time, saving me the chore. Unless they were inside a buliding somewhere, I didn't have to draw floor plans for ****. This helped me focus on fleshing out the meat of the world and the role play instances and setting the mood and describing the world, since I was already using a reference of the real world to be my game world. I broke the zombies into two different types, your run of the mill vanilla zombies, and then I would make up special zombies to fit my needs as the game went on. I found that by being able to make a special zombie with a unique characteristic exclusive to it only, not only was I able to keep my players on their toes, but also fix problems I saw arising in real time that were making the game and the group stagnant. For example the first special zombie I made was a zombie which simply heard much better than the others and once it heard something would make ungodly noise, attracting others along with it. Which solved a problem I found initially where not only would my players smartly avoid combat, they would have a bad habit of meta gaming if I didn't keep the action going. It was kind of a perpetual cat and mouse game and I have to hand it to them they played out the game very well and outsmarted me at every corner for the most part but that's kind of what I like about games like this, it still by no stretch was easy for them. It all boils down to what kind of game you want. I ran a game that tried it's best to maintain some kind of realism, without going too over the top. You may like a game that's opposite of that I don't know, but I like my game because it's simple you don't have to know a lot of the D20 Modern rules to run it, it just uses a lot of the base mechanics. If you're still reading this you obviously have an interest in the game so I'll send you some stuff if you want to know more about it.

-Mike

[Halarond]

The source rulebook for the game I designed revolves around the D20 Modern core rulebook. It is essentially D&D 3.5 with some modified rules for modern technology, things like guns, vehicles, and air combat rules which are kind of convoluted and complicated which is a big reason why I modified the game to my uses and wrote my own rules. Now I will warn you this is not an easy task, anytime you change a base game ruleset it tends to upset the balance of the game mechanics and you'll have to "test" run some games to see how well, or badly, you've adjusted. As it states in the D20 Modern opening, essentially the world is built upon extra ordinary people. Like the protagonist in any action movie you've ever seen, these are the caliber of people that your characters are playing. So like for example it might be a bit far fetched to think that an average human being (an NPC which doesn't even register as a Level 1 Hero of any class) to be able to survive a massive gunfight and not succumb to gunshot wounds. Or to make that life saving catch at the last moment to save the day, accurately track and hit moving targets on the move. These are examples of things that, while extreme, are perfectly within the realm of extra ordinary humans in the real world. Once your character hits about Level 5, in real world terms your character is now among the top 1% of human beings to ever live. These are the Tesla's, the Einsteins, the Audie Murphy's, the MLK's, or even Bruce Lee is a great example. Past Level 5 you are moving into the realm of beyond human capability breaking into the almost super human. Which makes it a great system to make it the base mechanics of any game you can come up with. Because it tries to make a real world analog outside of a magic system which I never really use, it's easy to come up with ideas. Now that being said, once you read the core rulebook about ten times cover to cover we can talk about where I started. With a pretty good understanding of the core rules I set about modifying and changing the rules i didn't think would work well for my game. To save myself the trouble of having to make more maps than I had to, I used google maps to set my backdrop so that each of my players could get an overworld view at any given time, saving me the chore. Unless they were inside a buliding somewhere, I didn't have to draw floor plans for ****. This helped me focus on fleshing out the meat of the world and the role play instances and setting the mood and describing the world, since I was already using a reference of the real world to be my game world. I broke the zombies into two different types, your run of the mill vanilla zombies, and then I would make up special zombies to fit my needs as the game went on. I found that by being able to make a special zombie with a unique characteristic exclusive to it only, not only was I able to keep my players on their toes, but also fix problems I saw arising in real time that were making the game and the group stagnant. For example the first special zombie I made was a zombie which simply heard much better than the others and once it heard something would make ungodly noise, attracting others along with it. Which solved a problem I found initially where not only would my players smartly avoid combat, they would have a bad habit of meta gaming if I didn't keep the action going. It was kind of a perpetual cat and mouse game and I have to hand it to them they played out the game very well and outsmarted me at every corner for the most part but that's kind of what I like about games like this, it still by no stretch was easy for them. It all boils down to what kind of game you want. I ran a game that tried it's best to maintain some kind of realism, without going too over the top. You may like a game that's opposite of that I don't know, but I like my game because it's simple you don't have to know a lot of the D20 Modern rules to run it, it just uses a lot of the base mechanics. If you're still reading this you obviously have an interest in the game so I'll send you some stuff if you want to know more about it.

-Mike

Hi Mike, You wouldn't be up for sharing that rulebook you wrote would you? Or any of the rules, skills and equipment you designed?

Do you have a copy?

Thanks!