Dungeons and Dragons Zombie Apocalypse

[Socks]

I just started working on turning D&D 5e into a Modern Day Zombie Apocalypse Survival. I'm going to try and post everyday on what I have got so far. I'm taking the 5e rule set and turning it into a Modern Day RPG. At the moment I am working on Classes, Backgrounds, Skills, and Weapons. If you would like to give ideas tell me. I would love to have some help. My buddies and I will be testing how smooth the game will run and give it tweaks as we go. I really would appreciate any help. Thanks. P.S. I know about publishing on Wizards.com, but I'll have to wait until I finish the game and when the 5e publishing is actually available.

[dream]

The D20 Modern SRD (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/msrd) and this (http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/my-new-d20-modern-campaign) might help.

A 5e Modern hack should be fun!

[Socks]

Update 1: Sharpshooter class finished. Completely based off of the Ranger class, but is proficient with Rifles and Sniper Rifles instead of bows.

[Arbane]

One thing: How do the zombies work? If one bite means "Kill your character NOW before they turn", D&D-style passive defenses won't be too good. (I suggest you use HP as actual Plot Armor, and any hits taken above 0 HP are just the PCs exhausting themselves fending off the zombies without actually getting hurt.)

[Socks]

I think I'm just going to keep normal D&D fighting with zombies. Basically they bite/slash you to break your armor defense. I'll maybe create a way if a zombie bites you and drops you to 0 HP then you need Meds kind of like the little girl in Dead Rising with Zombrex. Anyway. Thanks for the question, but at the moment I'm working on classes. Haven't got to in depth with the zombies.

[smcmike]

I think I'm just going to keep normal D&D fighting with zombies. Basically they bite/slash you to break your armor defense. I'll maybe create a way if a zombie bites you and drops you to 0 HP then you need Meds kind of like the little girl in Dead Rising with Zombrex. Anyway. Thanks for the question, but at the moment I'm working on classes. Haven't got to in depth with the zombies.

If your running a zombie campaign, starting with the zombies seems like a good idea. There are a number of aspects of zombie horror that just aren't modeled very well with the basic rules, but could be included, even in class abilities.

The basic issue is that HP are great for high fantasy, where wounds are abstractions, but wounds are key to zombie horror. You don't whittle away at a zombie's hit points, you either slow it slightly, disable it, or kill it with one blow. Similarly, damage from zombies is largely an either/or thing. Either they but your they didn't. Before that, it's largely grappling.

So, I'd want a sharpshooter to be great at one-shorting zombies from a distance, almost automatic... But slow.

I'd also want to include machine guns which are really bad at stopoing zombies, but ok for disabling them or slowing them. Also flamethrowers and explosives. Maybe a different class to get good at that.

Doctors are an obvious class. I'd want them to rely heavily on finding medical supplies.

Techies too. Auto repair, electronics, explosives. Construction skills aren't very game-like, but very useful against zombies, so that too.

Sneaking and picking locks is still a useful niche.

Quiet ways to kill zombies seem pretty important, so silencers, bows, and melee weapons are all useful.

[Socks]

Yeah. For gunplay I think I'm going to have a person be able to fire 3 times. If you hit you roll a D4. 1=Arm Shot, 2=Leg Shot, 3=Torso Shot, and 4=Head shot/Instant Kill. The classes I have right now are Sharpshooter: Which is a Ranger. Hunter: Which is your Rogue mixed with a Scavenger type. Doctor: Will be a modified Cleric with no Magic. Mechanic: Custom with traits in restoring cars and creating weapons. Runner: Custom build with a needed high Dexterity and light armor. Civilian: Which will basically be the Bard of D&D. Not Great at anything, not terrible at anything, but pretty good at everything. There might be one more. I can't seem to find where I wrote the classes down.

[smcmike]

I think you should also include a class for big tough guys. The guy who can kick a door in or hold it shut or wade into a pile of biters armed with a hammer and walk out again.

[Socks]

I could do that. If you have ideas for it tell me.

[Slipperychicken]

I just started working on turning D&D 5e into a Modern Day Zombie Apocalypse Survival.

Why are you using D&D 5e for this? There are so many systems which would do it better.


Even the first system I could think of, Shadowrun 5e, is better suited to this. It has much better rules for armor, injury, gunplay, vehicles, movement... really everything you're trying to kludge D&D into doing. It keeps PCs on a human scale while still letting their abilities improve (as even an advanced PC will go down after taking enough bullets). There's even a mechanic for plot-armor. Obviously one would ignore the hacking, super-tech, and magic stuff. You might have to write in some rules for starving and fuel use, and maybe some stats for armor made of road signs, but that's about it. The PCs would be low-wealth humans (no magic or augments) with stats and skill selection to set them apart. It also allows more customization and nuance between characters than D&D's classes and skill proficiencies would permit.

[Arbane]

Why are you using D&D 5e for this? There are so many systems which would do it better.


All Flesh Must Be Eaten is an RPG specifically for zombie-pocalypse games. It's based off of the Unisystem rules, and I've heard it's pretty good.

[Inevitability]

I once read a very interesting suggestion for games like these. When someone is bitten, it doesn't mean instant death. Instead, the wound starts to fester and infect over the course of several days, and the bitten person becomes weak and bedridden. After a few days of sickness, two things can happen. (A Constitution saving throw would be best to determine which one)

There is the possibility of a person fighting off the infection and surviving. Depending on how dark your game is, he might end up more or less as he used to be, or he might lose a body part, retain a blackened bite mark that bleeds when he moves too much, become more (or less!) vulnerable to future bites, have occasional cravings for raw meat... No matter what, he doesn't turn into a zombie.

The other possibility is the victim suddenly dying and rising as a zombie within seconds.


The catch? It is impossible to determine what is going to happen. So while you can immediately off anyone who is bitten and then burn the corpses, doing that will result in wasting many lives that could have been saved. On the other hand, letting a victim live can just as easily result in a new zombie.

[Slipperychicken]

The catch? It is impossible to determine what is going to happen. So while you can immediately off anyone who is bitten and then burn the corpses, doing that will result in wasting many lives that could have been saved. On the other hand, letting a victim live can just as easily result in a new zombie.

The solution to that is pretty easy: Just get some adequate restraints (preferably involving metal, a muzzle, and possibly a cage to boot) and lock bitten people up for quarantine until you're certain they're not zombies.

[Inevitability]

The solution to that is pretty easy: Just get some adequate restraints (preferably involving metal, a muzzle, and possibly a cage to boot) and lock bitten people up for quarantine until you're certain they're not zombies.

Hm... Then change it so that proper healthcare does increase the chance of survival, which makes locking people into a cell just a very effective way of creating zombies (that have to be killed later, wasting valueable ammunition and time) within your own base.

[Slipperychicken]

Hm... Then change it so that proper healthcare does increase the chance of survival, which makes locking people into a cell just a very effective way of creating zombies (that have to be killed later, wasting valueable ammunition and time) within your own base.

If proper healthcare is what you need, then you just need to chain the would-be zombie into a good bed (muzzle and all), maybe give his restraints some slack, and establish a minimum distance to be kept for non-essential contact.

[Socks]

Update 1: I have created the list of packs, melee weapons, and Fire arms. I also added a new skill area. Players can have proficiency in Accuracy. There will be Rifle, Pistol, SMG, Shotgun and Sniper Rifle Accuracy. I will probably add more weapons as I go. Before I get to the issues when a Zombie bites you, I have to finish creating the classes. Thanks for all the tips and help. Keep em coming.

[Socksy]

I just started working on turning D&D 5e into a Modern Day Zombie Apocalypse Survival. I'm going to try and post everyday on what I have got so far. I'm taking the 5e rule set and turning it into a Modern Day RPG. At the moment I am working on Classes, Backgrounds, Skills, and Weapons. If you would like to give ideas tell me. I would love to have some help. My buddies and I will be testing how smooth the game will run and give it tweaks as we go. I really would appreciate any help. Thanks. P.S. I know about publishing on Wizards.com, but I'll have to wait until I finish the game and when the 5e publishing is actually available.

First of all, nice username :smallwink:
For a survival game... ditch anything which can cast high-level spells. Even the healers. Especially the healers!:smallbiggrin:

[Socks]

Update 2: I have finished the Sharpshooter and Mechanic Class. The Hunter class is almost done.

[Berenger]

The solution to that is pretty easy: Just get some adequate restraints (preferably involving metal, a muzzle, and possibly a cage to boot) and lock bitten people up for quarantine until you're certain they're not zombies.

Don't do this. We did so in our zombie campaign and while it was completely reasonable, it was exceedingly tedious for players whose characters were put out of order for days on end [RL weeks, because play-by-post is slow]. If you do, make sure you have ersatz characters ready or can fast-forward the action to the end of quarantine without derailing the plot.

As for Hit Points, as always I suggest the Vitality Points (abstract stuff) + Wound Points (actual physical injuries) variant. Vitality loss can't result in infectious injuries, wound loss can.

[Segev]

I have not read the 5e MM, but in 3e and earlier, the proper monster to model "zombie apocalypse" zombies is not, actually, the zombie: it's the ghoul. They eat their own former race's flesh, they're fast and dangerous, and their bite infects you with a disease which, if you die of it, causes you to rise as a ghoul, yourself.

[Lord Torath]

I have not read the 5e MM, but in 3e and earlier, the proper monster to model "zombie apocalypse" zombies is not, actually, the zombie: it's the ghoul. They eat their own former race's flesh, they're fast and dangerous, and their bite infects you with a disease which, if you die of it, causes you to rise as a ghoul, yourself.Hey! Those are Fake Cheater Zombies!TM (http://www.goblinscomic.org/01082013/) Everyone knows zombies are slow and shambling! :smallbiggrin:

[Segev]

Hey! Those are Fake Cheater Zombies!TM (http://www.goblinscomic.org/01082013/) Everyone knows zombies are slow and shambling! :smallbiggrin:

I'm not a huge fan of the zombie apocalypse genre, but every time I see the standard ones, I feel the urge to foam at the mouth and declare, "Those aren't zombies! Those are ghouls! Zombies are less intelligent and slower and don't eat things!"

[Socks]

Slow progress. I have been doing other things. I would like to know a good way of keeping track of supplies.

[Segev]

I believe there are rules for how much a creature needs to consume in terms of rations per day. Other than that...you just keep a literal count of everything that the party has.