"Smart" Zombie Film [D20 Modern]

[Karoht]

So my friends and I were talking about Zombie movies, and how there really aren't any zombie films where the party is even remotely smart about what is going on or how to approach the issue. Hollywood likes to pick average shlubs and stick them up against zombies.

Well, we thought we might make our own 'smart' zombie film. But then we though, maybe we should explore the issue in the manner of our people.
Roleplaying games.

The idea is, if we can pull off a good 6 sessions where the player party is still realistically challenged. If the party makes reasonably intelligent decisions and preparations, that should benefit them, but they should remain challenged.

Any ideas on how to challenge the party? Overwhelming numbers is probably going to be the most challenging aspect, initial lack of supplies.
Most of the party will probably go with Fast Hero/Tough Hero, I know one is interested in being the Smart/Dedicated Hero Skill Monkey.

For our zombies:

We're going to go with a Left4Dead style zombie.
-Headshots are super effective, though body shots are still relatively useful.
-Melee weapons are reasonably useful, depends on how good the melee combatant is. Improvising melee weapons might carry lesser penalties, or no penalty.
-Flaming zombies are a liability, but fire is sometimes useful. Depends on the fire, depends on the zombies
-"Special Infected" should be present, but they should be boss-tough and more unique rather than being commonly encountered, at least until the final session/s.

[Bluuegg]

Has anyone pm'd you about this topic? My play group and i were talking about a sort of zombie survival campaign to get into. i am very interested in how this turned out for you! :-).

[Twilightwyrm]

I found this helped:
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Zombie_Rules_%28D20_Modern_Variant_Rule%29

[navar100]

The reason why they're dumb in zombie movies is because there's always at least one character who is The Jerk and one who is The Stupid. They can be the same character. The Jerk is the uncooperative bastard and The Stupid refuses to stick with The Plan and brings the zombie hoard into the Safe Haven. The Hero knows they are The Jerk and The Stupid but can't bring himself to kill or abandon them on the first opportunity. Hero will kill Jerk only when Jerk finally tries to kill Hero. Stupid dies from his own stupidity.

Night of the Living Dead - The Father is Jerk and Stupid
Shaun of the Dead - David is Jerk, Ed is Stupid
The Walking Dead (tv show) - Shane and Merle are Jerk, Dale and Carl are Stupid, though Carl may have finally wised up third season.

As long as no one in the party is Jerk or Stupid, you'll have a Smart game. Don't have Jerk or Stupid NPC party members either.

[Namfuak]

Forcing the party to take to rooftops and either improvise ways across or have to use their oft-neglected jump skill.

Building they are holing up in has a gas stove in a lower apartment, which is accidentally turned on (but not lit) by a zombie, and eventually another trips the sparker and causes an explosion, forcing them to escape the burning building while zombies from around the city come due to the noise.

Another person/group mistakes them for zombies (or simply want them to go away) and start attacking them with a sniper rifle while they are fighting zombies.

To get into a military outpost, the party has to fight zombies in military body armor, which gives them damage reduction against bodyshots (if you are doing called shots, which it sounds like you are doing).

The party raids a police station, where they find prisoners who haven't been bitten because zombies can't get into their cell. They have to decide whether to free the person (after all, they did commit a crime). Possibly to make it more dramatic, make it someone who was on the news about how he was recently arrested for murdering someone (so they aren't just people who got thrown in for drunk and disorderly conduct or something equally harmless).

[Karoht]

So far the 'no stupids' rule seems to be in effect. 'no jerks' is a bit harder to ensure, but we can deal with it.

Against the basic D20 Modern Heroes, I've got a few homebrew rules I plan on throwing on the basic zombies noticably easier to kill, which should make the non-basic undead more significant.

Basic zombies are easy to kill. Every weapon gets two critical threat ranges VS a basic zombie. It's normal threat range, Example: 19-20 X3 and the 'zombie threat range' of 15-20 X2. The explanation is that zombies are piles of rotting flesh, their bones are barely holding together, etc. This is to make melee weapons a bit more effective. The two do not stack, so if one rolled 19 and confirmed it, the crit effect chosen would be the X3, not X6.

I want improvised armor to be a thing. Say the party stumbles across a sporting goods store? They find dirt biking equipment and football equipment.
Against a zombie it will provide some temporary hit points, some AC, and potentially even some DR.
The football padding is like the equivilant of plate armor due to it's body coverage and ability to absorb impacts. It's AC is treated as 4 (half for improvisation), with 20 temporary hitpoints (4x5) and a DR of 2 (half the AC).
The dirt bike padding is lightweight, flexible, has plastic hardpoints but that plastic isn't designed to take more than a hit or two. The AC is 2 (half for improv) with 10 temporary hitpoints (2x5) and a DR of 1 (half the AC).

Improvised weapons will likely be at no penalty, but they will break easily.

Guns are all going to be range touch attacks VS Zombies. Same with things like bows/crossbows. I'm also going to include a piercing rule with such weapons. Killing blow = piercing effect, does a second attack at anything within a 15ft line behind the target.


As for 'playing smart' I'm going to try and encourage a lot of smart practices. Two person rule for going away from the main group (even the bathroom). If they want to stop and fortify a location, and they have the time and are willing to obtain/scavenge/repurpose the materials, then go for it. They will receive full benefit of every last preparation they make.

If they 'play dumb' then the system will punish them. If they rambo it up and don't bother to carry backup weapons, then they'll suffer for it. If they decide to walk around in gore covered clothing for days at a time, they'll start making fortitude saves. If they split up they'll get caught alone. Etc.

So now it's just a matter of challenging the group when they are playing smart, without being completely unforgiving about it.

EDIT:
@Nam
Pretty much everything you said. I can throw lots of X-Factors at them, so long as they don't look like ass-pulls or DMPC's gone bad.