RPG System for Zombie one-shot survival game

[Madeiner]

Hi there :)

Tonight i had a strange idea; i want to organize a surprise adventure for my D&D players.
I'd like to play a oneshot adventure in zombie survival modern game.

Game would be set in our city; each players needs to stat an "idealized" version of themselves (like, the airsoft player can be a soldier or policeman). The players would not know what we are about to play.

The adventure would start with us at a normal d&d session. We play for too many hours and eventually fall asleep. When they wake up two days later (who knows why), the DM (me) is a zombie (they will love to kill me ingame :P).
Their starting inventory is whatever we have in the house at the moment.
The world is the same as we know, with the difference that "fake" things (like fake katanas, or airsoft guns) are real and functioning.
From there, it is a sandbox game of survival.

What system would i need to play something like that? I'd like something simple to play, and especially the players need to play without knowing the system (at least for the first session; if they like it we can continue)
We normally play D&D 3.5 so anything that is similar to that is a cleary a bonus.

[Grinner]

If I'm reading this correctly, you're playing as yourselves...?

Well...All Flesh Must Be Eaten is always popular for zombie survival games...It's a Unisystem game though, so you'd have to learn the (fairly simple) rules.

Alternatively, you all could grab a couple of padded swords, pretend bystanders are zombies, and go LARPing. Be mindful of the police however.

On a more serious note, D20 Modern, with its heavy emphasis on combat, seems to be built for this sort of thing.

[dsmiles]

Well...All Flesh Must Be Eaten is always popular for zombie survival games...It's a Unisystem game though, so you'd have to learn the (fairly simple) rules.

This. Also, I believe that there's a d20 AFMBE hack floating around out there on the web somewhere.

[Madeiner]

If I'm reading this correctly, you're playing as yourselves...?

Well...All Flesh Must Be Eaten is always popular for zombie survival games...It's a Unisystem game though, so you'd have to learn the (fairly simple) rules.

Alternatively, you all could grab a couple of padded swords, pretend bystanders are zombies, and go LARPing. Be mindful of the police however.

On a more serious note, D20 Modern, with its heavy emphasis on combat, seems to be built for this sort of thing.

Thanks :)
We would be playing as an idealized version of ourselves. Anyone can choose what to be. For example, i have a player that i know practiced martial arts. Normally he wouldn't be able to REALLY use a katana, but in this game he could be a famouse karate master or whatever else he wants :p

I'll try to read a manual of AFMBE and see if i can also find the d20 one :)
D20 modern is not to our taste. I wanted something with less combat emphasis, more of a survival game with specific rules for zombie and the like.
Think walking dead the series

[eggs]

All Flesh Must Be Eaten is the goto zombie apocalypse game for a reason, but as much lighter than GURPS/d20 as it is, it's more than I'd want to deal with for just one game. But I'd still recommend checking it out. It shares basic design paradigms with D&D (focusing on physical challenges and tactical decisions more than plot- or character-based mechanics).

Taking a step away from the D&D design to something lighter, Fate 2.0 is a very light system that structures horror genre quite well, focusing on character-driven action (character generation involves players describing character traits that will matter mechanically, rather than selecting them from a list of skills/talents/feats) and providing metagame rewards for player characters to make the bad decision based on character traits that fuel the horror genre (we might all know there's a zombie in the baby's room, and that going in there is self-destructive, but a player with the "Number 1 Mom" Aspect has a good game reason to take the bait and make the appropriate genre scenes happen). Fate 2.0 is free online (Fate 3.0 also has some good stuff, but it's heavier and most of its games are either subject-specific or require some comfort with the system).

Shotgun Diaries is a lot of fun for a one-shot. Really light, but with enough structure for a DM to hold it together, and some nifty character-driven narrative elements (like the titular diaries about shotgunning). Gameplay is very different than D&D though - instead of focusing on D&D's tactical wargame, most of the actions actually placed on the players are concerned with structuring and developing an interesting story. If the game isn't free, it's really cheap.

In your position, I'd use Shotgun Diaries for a one-shot, and either FATE or AFMBE, depending on the focus of gameplay (Fate for more genre- and character-based games, AFMBE for a more lethal, tactical game).

And if there's a d20 AFMBE game, I'd honestly avoid it. Most of the early-2000 d20 system conversions are terrible. Even if I kvetched a bit about it not being super-light, you could learn the Unisystem ruleset in an hour or two, and you could walk a group of players through character-building in maybe 20 minutes.

[Madeiner]

Thanks eggs!

I am now reading AFMBE and Fate 2.0
I think i like both, especially like the fate points for doing cinema-like things in FATE. FATE also seems a lot simpler, since it seems i dont even have to build monsters. It looks pretty similar to Heroquest, which i am also familiar with.

I like the style of FATE, but i am also running a survival based game.
I want combats and tactics, but characters should be tempted to flee more than fight, since a single bite can end in contagion and death.

Which system do you think is best for this (between FATE and AFMBE?)
I am starting to fear AFMBE is more apt to provide round-to-round combat like d&d, and i dont really want normal people trying to fight hordes like they were in dnd.
On the other end, AFMBE is really made for zombie campaign, so it is maybe more appropriate for that.

[eepop]

We've run such a thing with the world of darkness rules before. It worked fairly well.

I would suggest that you make the characters for the players. It sucks to have to take away that aspect of player agency, but if you tell them to make the characters, they are going to be tipped off.

I was a player in ours, and when our DM told us that we should make "normal people" characters that would have reason to be at a nearby mall, I knew immediately what kind of game it was going to be.

If the zombie apocalypse comes up in conversation every other week or more, they will probably catch on before the game starts. Which ruins a good bit of the fun.

If you want to return some of the agency to them, premake the characters, but at just a basic level. Then after the encounter with their first zombie (you), they gain enough experience to mold their character a little more to their liking.

[dsmiles]

If the zombie apocalypse comes up in conversation every other week or more, they will probably catch on before the game starts. Which ruins a good bit of the fun.

Wait. You guys don't talk about the Zombie Apocalypse in your non-gaming time?

[SamBurke]

I hate, I abhor, and I despise d20Modern. It is farrrrrrr too vanilla for me. Just not enough choices.

If you added an expansion, it'd be better, but...

[beyond reality]

Dread is a good option for "survival" style games. It's definitely...unique (it's resolution system is jenga-based) but it's really great at giving the feel of impending doom at any time which works very well for survival games.

[Madeiner]

I have read all the manuals of the systems mentioned here. Seems like i am only missing Outbreak: undead, but i don't really want to read it.
Thank everyone :)

I have decided on using AFMBE, which looks pretty complete.
There are a few things i don't really understand, for example the aiming action (can you do multi attacks if you aim?) and the firefights cover part (if you shoot first, the other group must either cover or fire, not both?)

I wanted to ask, are there any manuals or guides describing what happens in the various stages of an outbreak? Like, what happens 1 days after a zombie outbreak, 5 days, 10 days, months?
When does electricty go out, what goods are gonna be missed first?

I remember i had a manual that explained this... somewhere, but i can't find it. I think it was for an post-apocalyptic game.

[eepop]

Wait. You guys don't talk about the Zombie Apocalypse in your non-gaming time?

I was questioning the frequency, not whether it happens at all. I don't think my group goes 2-3 days without it being mentioned. So as soon as the DM said "make normal people in a mall" I knew what the campaign was.