baby zombies... would u go there?

[Joe dirt]

would u ever have a game where baby zombies were a thing?

i was thinking of an adventure where the heros are investigating a lab full of tubes upon further investigation they find that they are full of babies in a fluid.

a few of the babies are even vampires

[smcmike]

Yes - this is
a classic horror trope, and can be played for big laughs.

[Lombra]

I'd have a game with anything as long as it's done properly.

[Sariel Vailo]

I have done it.

[Sigreid]

I'd prefer toddlers. Just old enough to walk. That said, sure.

[ImproperJustice]

There is a famous savage worlds Zombie setting called Zombie Run and the “Newborns” are a common type. They are surprisingly fast, hard to spot, and can climb walls and ceilings.

Personally, I avoid anything harmful to children in my games. Maybe because that’s what I deal with IRL. I like my fun pursuits to avoid such realities.

You may want to consult with your players before hand, to avoid making anyone uncomfortable during play.

[Sigreid]

There is a famous savage worlds Zombie setting called Zombie Run and the “Newborns” are a common type. They are surprisingly fast, hard to spot, and can climb walls and ceilings.

Personally, I avoid anything harmful to children in my games. Maybe because that’s what I deal with IRL. I like my fun pursuits to avoid such realities.

You may want to consult with your players before hand, to avoid making anyone uncomfortable during play.

This is a good put. My characters tend to be lawless and destructive because its fantasy, but I have lines I dont cross even with my fantasy misanthropy such as having a character be a slaver.

[Ventruenox]

That's one I am not likely to use. Real life experiences have affected how I view dead or undead babies.

[Scripten]

I've run a game with an encounter involving Mylings (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myling) (in a slightly modified and less RL religious context), but I don't really like involving children in adventures at all. Neither I nor my players enjoy imagining children being injured or killed.

[A Fat Dragon]

This is something you would have to ask your players about.

For me, I see it as something that can develop an air of unease, rising tension, or simply enough, the “line” between return and no return:


“After many months of traveling and adventuring, the party returns home, with only one last dungeon to go through. As the smoke billows over top the village they used to call home, they raced through the groups of shambling Undead soldiers, summoned by some evil necromancer. The town is burnt, and overrun, but not fully destroyed. They race to the town center, only to be met with a small, horrific creature, and an even more horrifying realization; everybody they knew and loved had been killed, and turned into zombies.”

[nickl_2000]

Personally I wouldn't do it in a game I'm DMing. I'm a father and other in my group are father's who could be uncomfortable with the idea of it. I would instead make them something like animated dolls or something equally terrifying without there being any children hurt.

[Waazraath]

would u ever have a game where baby zombies were a thing?

i was thinking of an adventure where the heros are investigating a lab full of tubes upon further investigation they find that they are full of babies in a fluid.

a few of the babies are even vampires

I did it some years back, in a 3.5 campaign. Bought a nice, new, book with new siege engines, including a balista that shoots negative energy and turns people into zombies if it kills them. Since I was going for a siege adventure, and wanted to describe all the gloomy horror that a siege (historically) was, I went all in with adding fantasy horrors. So I described a scene where balls of fire and black, cackling energy were falling from the sky, and a mother running with a baby was hit by one of the black balls, and the mother crawling after the fall to her baby to see if it was ok, and reaching it was (of course) eaten (screaming) by her own (zombiefied) baby.... until one of my players said: "eeh... dude... is this really nessesary?" And then I cut it back a bit.

And that was before over half of my group has babies themselfs (or is expecting them). So I don't think i would again (but, to be honest, it was fun).

And as said, it's a good horror trope, also in D&D. See for example the undead stilborn baby deity in the 3.5 undead book, Libris Mortis. If you think your group is comfortable with it, just go. And you, as the DM, can deceide the 'feel': more serious horror, or fun, over the top horror. Just pick what suits best.

[Osrogue]

Hm, I’m okay playing a game that has children zombies. They are pretty unsettling. Not baby zombies though. They don’t pose any real threat. They would just make people feel bad.

If I was running a game, I would rather have Halfling zombies and try for a comedic bent because of the massive heads they have in this edition.

I can tolerate dead children, but I’d rather not have players killing children, or anything resembling children, and I’d rather run away than kill zombie children as a player as well.

[GlenSmash!]

Depends on the group. A couple I play with lost an infant a few years ago, so at that table I wouldn't.

At another table I might.

[Joe dirt]

Hm, I’m okay playing a game that has children zombies. They are pretty unsettling. Not baby zombies though. They don’t pose any real threat. They would just make people feel bad.

If I was running a game, I would rather have Halfling zombies and try for a comedic bent because of the massive heads they have in this edition.

I can tolerate dead children, but I’d rather not have players killing children, or anything resembling children, and I’d rather run away than kill zombie children as a player as well.

zombies in my world can infect someone with a disease and anyone that dies becomes a zombie. the vampire babies are actually hundreds of years old and are super intellects that have trapped the room so that after the pc's enter the door slams shut behind, either splitting the party or trapping the party in the room and the glass on the tubes break filling the room with a slick slime that creates a fog effect (pc's must make saves every round or fall down when they move in it) and zombie babies that can bite them with possibility of a disease

[smcmike]

Depends on the group. A couple I play with lost an infant a few years ago, so at that table I wouldn't.

At another table I might.

Yeah, wow. I would stay a mile away from the idea with that group.

For other parents of small children, I think the idea of zombie toddlers or babies is quite relateable - mine are often trying to devour me.

On the other hand, I would never use more realistic plots about children in peril, since they strike too close to home even for people who haven’t experienced that kind of loss. I don’t think an action-adventure game is the right context for grappling with those sort of issues.

[alchahest]

talk to your players if you're concerned about things like this. For example I have a player who's got a needle phobia - I wouldn't ever put him in a position where he's forced to imagine needle based torture for example. it's cruel to the player rather than to the character, and that is a line I would never, ever cross intentionally. And if I ever cross it unintentionally, I apologise, we wind back, and we do something different. Part of being in a social game (and especially running one) is being responsive to peoples' concerns and ensuring there is consent prior to continuing.

You can have a dark game with murder, rape, torture, zombie babies, whatever you want, but please, for the sake of your friendships, make sure your players are on board, and you aren't going to make them regret playing this game with you.

[Joe dirt]

talk to your players if you're concerned about things like this. For example I have a player who's got a needle phobia - I wouldn't ever put him in a position where he's forced to imagine needle based torture for example. it's cruel to the player rather than to the character, and that is a line I would never, ever cross intentionally. And if I ever cross it unintentionally, I apologise, we wind back, and we do something different. Part of being in a social game (and especially running one) is being responsive to peoples' concerns and ensuring there is consent prior to continuing.

You can have a dark game with murder, rape, torture, zombie babies, whatever you want, but please, for the sake of your friendships, make sure your players are on board, and you aren't going to make them regret playing this game with you.

thats why im asking the questions. and thanks for the input

[Ventruenox]

On the other hand, I would never use more realistic plots about children in peril, since they strike too close to home even for people who haven’t experienced that kind of loss. I don’t think an action-adventure game is the right context for grappling with those sort of issues.

I would second this view.

You don't always know who may have had those experiences and who hasn't. Child loss in particular is not something that gets talked about. Even for grieving parents, those discussions rarely happen among those friends and family you would expect to be supportive. Losing a child goes against the natural order of things, and the very thought makes people uncomfortable, so even the strained conversations typically get redirected. They say time heals all wounds, but that isn't true. Grief will rear its head at the most unexpected times, and the pain can be as fresh and overwhelming as the day it happened, even years later.

You want to know how to kill an evening's session? Triggering someone at the table with this would do it.

[Waazraath]

I would second this view.

You don't always know who may have had those experiences and who hasn't. Child loss in particular is not something that gets talked about. Even for grieving parents, those discussions rarely happen among those friends and family you would expect to be supportive. Losing a child goes against the natural order of things, and the very thought makes people uncomfortable, so even the strained conversations typically get redirected. They say time heals all wounds, but that isn't true. Grief will rear its head at the most unexpected times, and the pain can be as fresh and overwhelming as the day it happened, even years later.

You want to know how to kill an evening's session? Triggering someone at the table with this would do it.

+1 This is why I think you can do something like this when you're all teens or in your early twenties and nobody is thinking about having kids. Later... I'd be damn careful with it.

[Elminster298]

The ONLY place I have ever(or probably would ever) done this was in a tabletop Call of Cthulhu game. The players were in a small rural city taken over by undead. They were passing behind the high school when a horde of "prom night dumpster babies" attacked them. In any other system I would stay away from this except for VERY specific situations.

[Vorpalchicken]

The ONLY place I have ever(or probably would ever) done this was in a tabletop Call of Cthulhu game. The players were in a small rural city taken over by undead. They were passing behind the high school when a horde of "prom night dumpster babies" attacked them. In any other system I would stay away from this except for VERY specific situations.

All from the same dumpster? All from the same high school? In a small rural city? Kids today.. Too bad they didn't have mage handys made available at a reasonable rate.

[Scripten]

All from the same dumpster? All from the same high school? In a small rural city? Kids today.. Too bad they didn't have mage handys made available at a reasonable rate.

The Goat of a Thousand Young sure was busy that night.

[PhoenixPhyre]

I didn't do zombie babies, but I did do a monster whose thing was summoning exploding goblin babies (toddlers, really). They'd toddle over to a target and blow up in a spray of acidic gases.

She was a goblin shaman who had gotten involved with a cult of a particular demon prince that loved to make living "art" out of creatures.

That was at level 2 or so--the climax of that campaign at level 20 was foiling an invasion of the center of the universe (the Astral machine that powers the sun) by that same demon prince. They kicked his tentacled, ugly, squeaky behind so hard it was almost comical.

[Honest Tiefling]

Personally, I avoid anything harmful to children in my games. Maybe because that’s what I deal with IRL. I like my fun pursuits to avoid such realities.

You may want to consult with your players before hand, to avoid making anyone uncomfortable during play.

As a law-abiding citizen with a healthy respect for justice and other stuff like that, I feel wrong agreeing with a dude named Improper Justice. But I think that for some, it isn't disturbing while for others it can be quite uncomfortable. Asking your players is always a good idea!

I personally try to avoid such things, but admittedly plenty of creatures formed from the dead flesh of many people. So I guess it might be implied?

[Spore]

No I wouldnt. I played South Park Stick of Truth and this has the crass version of it and I did not mind it. But I would never subject anyone to it.

And the jokes surrounding this werent incredibly funny to begin with

[Sigreid]

Just to be the Devil's advocate for a second, if you have the right group it can be extremely satisfying to battle and defeat something truly horrific.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Just to be the Devil's advocate for a second, if you have the right group it can be extremely satisfying to battle and defeat something truly horrific.

I agree. I've had some really good battles by having some really horrific enemies.

One in particular was practicing human sacrifice, demon summoning, and cannibalism (and feeding the later victims the flesh of the prior victims). The party was very motivated to clear them from the planet.

[KorvinStarmast]

would u ever have a game where baby zombies were a thing? I was thinking of an adventure where the heros are investigating a lab full of tubes upon further investigation they find that they are full of babies in a fluid. a few of the babies are even vampires Cleric uses "turn undead." Next?

[Laserlight]

Cleric uses "turn undead." Next?

Or wizard uses Fireball.

Story-wise, yuck, and mechanically they're no threat to the PCs, so no, I wouldn't. In Call of Cthulhu, maaaaaaybe, but not in D&D.

[SirGraystone]

I wouldn't do baby zombies, but I would a 7 or 8 years old vampire with the right group. With 200 years old vampire in a child body telling her "story" to the players, how she's all alone since the dark man killed her family, that she doesn't understand what happened to her but now the sun hurt, that she's always cold and hungry. I would play her sad story to the group until it's time for her to kill them. :smallamused:

[Sigreid]

I wouldn't do baby zombies, but I would a 7 or 8 years old vampire with the right group. With 200 years old vampire in a child body telling her "story" to the players, how she's all alone since the dark man killed her family, that she doesn't understand what happened to her but now the sun hurt, that she's always cold and hungry. I would play her sad story to the group until it's time for her to kill them. :smallamused:

I've read this book. 😁

[Asmotherion]

Less a question of would you and more of should you.

One of the most important abilities a DM should have is the ability to read the atmosphere in the room. Is there a Pregnant Woman Player/New Mom/New Dad? Perhaps one of the players has a history with abortion, and this is going to remind them some past trauma. Know your players. Know your game.

If you feel ok to risk bringing a socially awkward topic to the table, and feel that your players will rather believe that "this is an artful depiction of something creepy" rather than "this is not ok", or have a player just burst into tears, then just go for it.

If, on the other hand, you have players with more frail mentality (or suspect that) or think they may make some connections with real life subjects, better play it safe than sorry.