The Stand - (Now with Zombies!!!)

[KainelWyst]

Hola.

I just finished The Stand by Stephen King (finally) and I got what I believe to be a generally awesome bit of inspiration geared toward fleshing out a campaign I've been kicking around. Thing is, I'm having problems finding a soundboard (the girlfriend likes to play, but is *very* pregnant and not so good with the hardcore, nitty-gritty, brainstorming in the first place. I'm pretty sure she tends toward irritated when I prattle on and on) for the ideas I've gotten so far and so I figured I should ask the pool of experts and ideamongers on Giantitp.

I'm planning on incorporating elements of The Stand (Such as Randall Flagg-Walter o' Dim-Marten Broadcloak as the BBEG and a population culling virus as the primary plothook) into a traditional Zombie campaign, starting everyone off as a 1st level Human Paragon and growing the characters from there. I'm intending to use some rules (such as the skill and feat mechanics) from Pathfinder and some homebrew things to accentuate a 3.5 base. I'm happy to elaborate on specifics if asked.

Like I say, I'm full of ideas and always voraciously hungry for new ones. Help is pleaded for.

[The Mentalist]

I don't know much of the book. (It's one of the King books I haven't read.) but I'm happy to be a balance sounding board. I'd also recommend that you drop casting in the campaign as I don't think that it fits with the Stephen King style worlds (I consider things like John Coffey to be a template)

[KainelWyst]

Something I'm excited about:

Weasels

First encounters tend to be limited to direrats and kobolds and goblins and tiny vipers and such. While these are all good and scary, I find they're often expected and overused.

But

Stuff's hit the fan. People are dying left and right in gouts of phlegm and vomit whilst swelling to the size of small elephants. Panic has hit the town and surrounding villages. Looting, rape and general bumhuggery has ensued. Domestic and work animals are dying of what seems to be the same problem, but the wild and predatory animals seem untouched. Three days into the mayhem, the town is overrun by rabid, vicious, bloodthirsty weasels. A pack of six or seven sets upon the ragged group of survivors attempting to bury or burn the dead. Armed with daggers and shovels and staves, they must fight for their life against the horrid, furry beasts.

I was looking up animals for a lycanthropic character when I read the normal weasel entry and was pretty impressed by what I saw. One weasel latching onto your arm and drawing one point of damage a round isn't all that threatening but imagine being swarmed by three or four, all teeth and fur and bloodshot eyes. Commoner beware, there is a new housecat.

[KainelWyst]

I was going to drop most casting, but I was intending to go for a Dark Tower feel. Kinda Nineteen. Some magic, but in a rare and random way, scenery wise. What I definitely intend to do is drop the tier one classes, although restricting magic users to anything that isn't a full casting class is also a possibility.

[The Mentalist]

E6 style casting could work here (no spells above 3rd level)

[KainelWyst]

Also, a few days after the last of the dying have given up the ghost and the intensity has settled a bit for the pcs, they encounter the first of the risen, bloated corpses of the victims of the pandemic.

Gonna make RAW zombies a bit tougher with a few houserules about called shots to the head and appendages, having the zombies (like your standard movie zombie) become inert by decapitation or destruction of the brain.

[KainelWyst]

I've never really looked into the e6 rules much. Got a link or a short description?

[The Mentalist]

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/206323-e6-game-inside-d-d.html

I think it would work quite well for this setting.

[KainelWyst]

I like the concept. Good stuff and totally doable. The thing I want to focus on, though, is survival, and even low level wizards open a lot of doors a lot quicker than I'd like them opened. So even with the E6 format, (which I will probably do, now that I know what it is) I'll still wind up restricting the classes significantly.

[The Mentalist]

Quite reasonable. I mean think about Knock, Arcane Lock, and Alarm. Get into a secure room, make it impossible to get into, and then if they do get into it you're ready for them.

Being able to sleep soundly does not make for good survival horror.

[KainelWyst]

'course not. Though, ruining what the pcs think of as a foolproof plan does incite a good bit of terror.