Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Half_Dragon_Infernal 04-26-08, 09:10 PM	I've read Lessons DMing with my GF, and was wondering what other tips there are for running a Zombiegeddon?
twad 04-26-08, 11:04 PM	BRrrraaaaaiiinnnnsss..... And plenty of them. Just keep coming. Non-stop. Still dead and kicking. Slow and unsteady. That, and the threat that the "zinfection" might overcome the PCs. Cut them off from their comfort zone, limited supplies, half-mad survivors. Edit: Little or no hope to "win" or save those that have been infected. The overall panic, confusion and chaos. PCs should feel that they only have eachother to rely on to survive, and they must keep the risk of being bitten/punched at a minimum or else they might catch the curse too. With a zombiegeddon.. you want to play the smart way, cuz the heroic way just makes you one of them faster.
pigknight 04-26-08, 11:08 PM	In DnD you can animate any flesh. ATTACK OF THE BACON! Funny at first then the PCs get paranoid.
heffroncm 04-26-08, 11:18 PM	The first portion of Expedition to Castle Ravenloft has a decent zombie plague. I'm going to be fleshing it out and expanding the scope into a more apocalyptic good time.
Half_Dragon_Infernal 04-26-08, 11:23 PM	So, endless numbers, and people doing idiotic things. Got it. I was gonna have this (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1006870) world experience it, and the PC's are caught in the Shield Port.
taradusis 04-27-08, 09:18 AM	I reccomend going with ghouls rather than zombies depending on party level.
Half_Dragon_Infernal 04-27-08, 10:16 AM	I've read Lessons DMing with my GF, and he made up his own stats for them. I'm making my own stats also, for certain reasons. Actually, here they are now: Twilight Zombie Always NE Medium Undead Init -1; Senses Darkvision 60 ft. Listen +0, Spot +0 Languages Language AC 11, touch 9, flat-footed 11 (-1 Dex, +2 natural) hp 22 (3 HD); Fast Healing 1; DR 5/slashing Fort +1, Ref -1, Will +4 Speed 30 ft. (6 squares, Can't Run) Melee Bite +3 (1d3+1 plus Infectious Bite) and 2 Slams -2 (1d6) Space 5 ft., Reach 5 ft. Base Atk +2, Grapple +3 Atk Options Infectious Bite, Spawn Abilities Str 12, Dex 8, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1 Special Qualities Undead Traits, Critical Death Feats Improved Toughness Infectious Bite (Su): Anyone bitten by a Twilight Zombie takes 2 points of permanent ability damage per hour to both CN and CH until death. This can only be removed by a Wish or Miracle spell. No save. Spawn (Su): Anyone killed by a TZ or after recieving an Infections Bite rises as a TZ and 1d4+1 rounds. Critical Death: TZ only truely die when their brain is destroyed. They can survive any other type of damage and Fast Heal it at the rate of 1hp per round. Lost limbs are not reattachable or recoverable. A successful critical hit upon a Zombie kills it instantly, as will a Coup de Grace. Otherwise, delivering a head blow will cause damage that will not Fast Heal and can kill a TZ. Such head blows require a -10 to the attack roll, due to the difficulty of the shot. ________________________________________ _________________________ Variations: Spitters (Spit internal organs every 1d4 rounds, 1d6 bludgeoning, ranged touch attack, 30 ft., 25% of adding 1 point of acid damage), Skinnies (Reduce hitpoints by 10, Change DR /slashing to DR /bludgeoning, increase dex by 4, reduce strength by 2), Bloated (Decrease speed to 10 ft., Increase to large size, add 3 HD), Floaters (Add 1 HD, decrease speed to 10 ft.)
taradusis 04-29-08, 10:34 PM	How about a few starting points? A black ovoid tumbles thru space. As it enters the atmosphere it heats up and strange green runes appear on the surface. It lands in a town or city where the PCs are staying. As authorities and PCs approach the ovoid it explodes in a wash of ebony energy.Magically releases the Z-infection and causes 10% of the population in the city to go zombieMagically slays 10% of the city. Their bodies hit the ground. They begin to shake and roll about. Then the skeletons rip free of the corpses and begin to attack the living. I call this the "Night of Bloody Bones".Lands near graveyard,graveyard yeilds up it's dead,multiple types of undead? One "Deadite" for every living person?Another scenario is bats who carry the Z-infection. The first idea is part of a necromantic invasion.Suppose an undead dragon or wyvern was to carry a huge flock of Z-infected bats to a major city and release them?Suppose a preist went mad and decided to get even with a town? He creates the Z-infection and infects a large number of bats. He puts the bats into barrels and leaves them around town as a surprise? The Pcs catch on and have to stop the madman before too many bat swarms are released into town.Just a few thoughts.
Half_Dragon_Infernal 04-30-08, 09:28 AM	Bats, I don't like as much. The unlife bomb? Nice.
CheesieM0nkies 04-30-08, 09:39 AM	Bats, I don't like as much. The unlife bomb? Nice. Lol, seconded. A thought for your twili zombies is to ignore your head-target idea and instead give them fast healing 23, so that you have to drop them in one hit; which means getting their head. Also maybe give the zombies something like swarm, so they get +1 attack for each additional zombie next to the target. This encourages PCs to use tactics and keep moving/defend in bottle necks etc. My first thoughts: The problem with zombie campaigns is it will favor certain classes, namely clerics, undead hunters etc. It will hurt rogues because they baisically NEED a truedeath crystal and its safe to assume in zombieville those are hard to find. It creates some nice campaing hooks and adventures, such as escorting people or protecting the food supply Thats my 2 cp's
Flesh 04-30-08, 11:53 AM	I'm in the tail end of running a zombiegeddon type campaign thats about to hit the 1 year mark and it's been an interesting ride. First thing I did was not make them zombies though, they were infected creatures that spread (in 1d4 rounds) the disease by biting and had enough intelligence to swarm grapple. Next I gave the bite no saving throw, yup none. I was REALLY unsure about doing this to start but it worked out exactly as I wanted, zombies never became an obsolete threat due to it and it made it much easier to explain why X high level well known hero got eaten. Finally I made the disease unique in that it never changed the creature type so clerics didn't reign supreme/rogues could still backstab and so on but it was incurable by all known magic so things like remove disease didn't cause the whole story to collapse. Low levels (1-6) worked exactly like I thought they would, standard horror flick stuff with survival being the goal, I don't think they actually killed a zombie for 2 levels and they only fought the first one to save several innocents. They actually became sort of pirates for many levels, raiding the mainland for supplies and loot while looking for survivors, best time of the campaign and I should have dragged it out longer. Mid levels (7-12) was almost not a zombie game, they fled to the other continent and began to search for the cure. They didn't really focus that much on it due to small story arcs getting in the way to much (my fault) but eventually got back on track and started raiding the old continent for things they would need to cure it. Creation of new spells and magic items that affected the zombies was huge during this time period. High levels (13-current 15/16) became them vs the creators of the plague as well as vs other powerful NPCs who wanted to use the zombies for their own agendas. They have such a huge list of powerful enemies that they basically are hiding out and just teleporting in and out of spots to achieve goals now but they have all the information on "how" to cure the plague but are still gathering the last of the tools to do so. My advise would be to plan out the mid levels much better then I did as the low and high level stuff takes care of itself, assuming your game goes that long of course. If you have any specific questions I'd be happy to answer, it's been a heck of a fun campaign to run and I recommend it to anyone.
AntiDjinn 04-30-08, 01:46 PM	My group recently finished a zombieocalypse game and here is what made it work: 1) Change the undead. Make it clear that these zombies are different from those in the MM. Ours had turn resistance and retained some of their memories (enough to use weapons and cast spells). They were not created by Animate Dead, but seemed to rise of their own accord. It took us a while to figure it out, but some of these undead moved purposefully and served a common cause, while others were mindless and savage. Physically, they all looked alike. After we learned to deal with the foot troops, we were beset by dark riders on undead mounts. 2) Change the rules. When the catastrophe struck the rules of magic changed for our game: Any use of a necromantic spell resulted in a number of undead (not under the control of the caster) arising nearby. Teleportation resulted in powerful and hostile outsiders being gated in, and generally sent the caster to a random destination. Use of divination involving contact with other planes called for a Will save to avoid insanity. Use of summoning spells got random and baleful results. We thought some high level necromancer or conjuror was responsible, but it turned out such casters were the first to die. In fact, almost all the high level mages in the game died on the first night. Clerics could still pray for spells (divine magic in our game is powered by the faith of the caster) but not receive counsel from their gods. 3) Change basic goals: From getting cash and prizes to simple survival. In our game the gold standard collapsed in a single day. All the survivors (multiple races, including former enemies) from our region wound up holed up in a small walled town. We had no idea if this was local or the entire world was affected. Wealth meant nothing. When we raided neighboring areas for supplies (between waves of undead, at least there was a pattern) we walked right past gold and gems in favor of food, clothing, and weapons. It was very clear from the first day: This is different. This is not just another module. This could well be the end of life on the material plane. btw: It took us a while to find answers, we were too busy just trying to survive. What we eventually learned was that the apocalypse was triggered by a very low probability event: The interaction of two BBEG's plots. A powereful necromancer completed his ritual of apotheosis just as an extraplanar warlord sundered the barrier between dimensions with his invasion force. Both of them got screwed, but the event resulted in a world with a corrupted arcanosphere and tangled connections to other planes.
Demetri_Knighthawk 04-30-08, 03:03 PM	had an interesting zombie adventure, not sure if it qualifies or not for zomiegeddon or not. It was a special summersfield festival, all were singing and dancing, the kings orders were that none were to work this day and celibrate the 'dayshadow' a solar eclipse that happened once a year. During all this revelry a priest to a shadow god was performing a ritual during the total eclipse, and botched it, rolled a natural 1 botched it. "Klato baroda necktie!" botched it. A purple beam was cast over the city and surrounding 10 miles, anyone who had cast a shadow in the purple light fell over dead (fort save DC20 to die in flesh, DC20 will save to die in spirit) Those that fell arose, differently from each other, those that failed both arose as shadow puppets (plane of shadow rather than negative plane, key indicator was no shadow cast on the ground and dead flesh) the shadowless (failed only the will save, living people without souls, sentient but 1 step closer to LE on the alignment chart, could only heal[recive benifits/gain hp by resting] in shadows of buildings/darkness.) And the undead (failed only fort save typical corporeal undeads, dead body cast a shadow) Whatever one lacked they felt a desire to take from those who had it, shadowless would try and take others shadows, the pupets sought others physical health. Whoever made fort and will were unharmed, but now surrounded by lots of others who were lacking something. For ease of gameplay we assumed that 10% made both saves or were actualy inside and out of the way of the light. the majority of the game was firt grouping together, then making a break out of the city, several adventures later they had to go back to this place to slay the botching priest and strike a sunsword into the center of the city.
1 ton ghost 04-30-08, 05:05 PM	Here are some tips you've asked for... -Firstly, read, or at the very least peruse Zombie Survival Guide and World War 'Z' by Max Brooks. Excellent, very practical, and decidedly realistic in scary fashion. Later was a best seller if you can believe it. Many good ideas in there. I know it's a farce, but black comedy was never so black. The rest reads like a rather grim, yet lifelike sociological exam. -All Flesh Must be Eaten is a good RPG in this fashion. Very customizable and dark. -Romero's first 3 zombie movies, Day of the Dead being his favorite & most graphic. Land and Diary of the Dead were, um, not so fresh but had merit(s). -28 Days/Weeks Later for a more modern realistic feel, better acting too. Some points of order: -Sometimes the survivors are worse than the zombies. They will often do way more damage to get your food, women, weapons, etc. They're smarter and far more desperate than the zombies. Motivated, tool use, etc. Probing raids of other survivors break up monotony of another zombie fight and allow for breaches in the defense and a means to acquire "new treasure" as zombies' Treasure Type is "clothes on back". -Food is the only currency after a while. Pockets of survivors become like cults. Any cleric w/ Create Food and Water becomes like a god after a while. Cannibalism, hoarding and profiteering predominate as means to survive, which is turn fosters higher conversions to Evil alignments. -Evil divine types can control/Rebuke them into holding areas for orderly disposal or tricking other zombies, etc. Think Somali warlords keeping towns blackmailed w/ the zombies instead of UN relief shipments. Make for nice BBEG vs the rank and file "grunts". -Ironically, other undead get pi$$ed at zombies; killing off mutual food supply. Vampires and other sentient undead need the living and have very good movitation to stop the onslaught lest they perish too. In "Under the Fang", vampires have human dairy farms. You get a 1/2 gallon of blood at Kroger's, mostly animal blood, 10% human. Need license to spawn, etc. Good x-overs and strange alliances predominate, but most zombie scenarios do as they are rooted in mircocosms that must succeed or everyone dies. -Certain areas just become flushed w/ Negative Energy given zombie population density. Treat like naturally occuring Desecration or Unhallowed FX? Some evolve into full blown ghouls, lacedons (even floating "sanctuaries aren't safe"), whatever undead you wish to introduce given PC lvl vs. CR -Use Mobs (DMG II) for sizeable threat as individual CRs are weak -Becoming a necropolitan might be a viable "way out" and provide intel. -Up disease incidence. Waterways become polluted, granneries rot unattended (ergot infestation is like LSD, whole villages would trip out in Middle Ages, die horribly). Undefended cattle die. Carrion feeders can spread plague too (consider how far a bird can fly in 1 day). The list goes on. Just consider a few basic truisms and the rest will occur to you in time. Borrow from as many books and movies as possible. 1)Zombies (and people) go where the "food" is. Graveyards are actually safe. 2)Most ppl will lie about being infected. Self-preservation overrides all else. 3)Do you need to be nipped to Turn or just die naturally or otherwise? 4)Watch for Turn/Rebuke. Carefully monitor PC lvl vs. undead HD or ommitt.
Half_Dragon_Infernal 04-30-08, 08:13 PM	Your first tip was done about a year ago. :D The graveyard part is actually in the ZSG! I have not seen any of the movies, or own DMG II. The part about pi$$ed of undead I actually thought about. I was going to have the PC's be in THE center of the civilized world. 1. It's a major trade city. 2. Populated by city vampires (Vampires without water or mirror weakness, but lack gaseous form, alternate form, children of the night, etc., which means they are pretty much not supernatural, but have the classic stuff and are turnable) 3. My own version of guns are owned by many parts of the city. The city would actually not have anyone infected inside, but my own version of zombies aren't going to let that stopthem! Spitters, with the acid, can eat through the all-stone walls. The city though lives off of it's trading, and thus many residents would go crazy. It is already established that the walls are all stone, and the wall to the water actually has stone doors. It is the toughest wall, because it is the barrier between the pirates in the ocean and the nation-continent.
pigknight 04-30-08, 08:18 PM	Buy and play Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos.
Half_Dragon_Infernal 04-30-08, 08:28 PM	I've done that before already.
turalisj 04-30-08, 08:54 PM	Have a Bard/DirgeSinger raise an army of undead. Everytime he uses his bardic song ability, the zombies start breaking out into dance ala Thriller. :D
green_yawgmoth 04-30-08, 10:10 PM	Buy and play Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos. or just read (www.wowwiki.com) about the scourge and the events of The Frozen Throne.
Half_Dragon_Infernal 04-30-08, 11:06 PM	Turalisj, PLEASE STOP BEING FUNNY! YOU ARE TOO FUNNY! SIG THIS NOW!
turalisj 04-30-08, 11:31 PM	Who's being funny? Seriously, the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the description of the dirge singer, was Thriller. :D I'll even stat him up.
Dravda 05-01-08, 12:45 AM	Expedition to Castle Ravenloft had a pretty good zombie infestation. The key, I found, was to make the zombies SCARY. That means that standard hp 12 zombies are OUT. The ones in Ravenloft had 42 hp, DR 5/slashing, 6 HD, and forced a save vs. disease on EVERY HIT. Definitely emphasize the lengths people will go to in order to stay alive. Killing each other for food, lying about being infected in order to stay with the group, looting, etc. When it gets really scary is when the prices triple or quadruple overnight, and no magical items are available. That's in places that are stable enough to even have shops open. Most places, they'll have to slaughter crazed peasants for their meals. Also, introduce the element of confusion as to who's even the enemy. Have other evil creatures, from blackguards to liches, come and offer them alliances. After all, good/evil is a luxury now. All anyone wants anymore is to survive another day. -Count Dravda
Thubby 05-01-08, 02:37 AM	keep it low level, as a party's ability to handle numbers jumps exponentially with each level. if not, make those they try to protect hard to protect. sure they can survive, but can they keep six 4hp villagers alive? it's like the curse of immortality. this relies on you making the survivors very real, the PCs have to care about them, or it's a statistic.
turalisj 05-01-08, 07:12 AM	wrong thread >.>
navar100 05-01-08, 08:36 AM	As a one-shot adventure, it'll be fine, but as an on-going campaign it won't work. The difficulties in running it as a one-shot adventure is the reason why an on-going campaign won't work. Once a character gets bit, game over. Melee dedicated warriors are toast. They will eventually get bit, and there is no cure. Archers will run out of ammo eventually, but they can probably find more. Spellcasters are going to run out of spells. They need a place to rest. If the party does manage to secure an area, they can never leave it. As long as someone can cast Create Food & Water, they'll survive, but then then what's the point of playing if you can't leave the area. There's nothing to do. I do have a Night of the Living Dead type of an adventure for an ongoing campaign. What I added was that there is a way to stop it. Should a character get bit, there's still time to cure him. All that's needed is to end the effect that's causing the zombiefication. The party finds clues to the solution in the House. Of course, they have to leave the House. Better hope they do it before nightfall.
Half_Dragon_Infernal 05-01-08, 09:32 AM	I was thinking running this at maybe 2nd level. 3 more until wizards can do some serious blasting. I'm going to use the CD turn damage variant. I was thinking that drinking water from a mystical fountain in the mountains would be the ultimate cure. More PC's could be inserted through current survivors becoming better at tasks, or through new survivors that would be encountered.
1 ton ghost 05-01-08, 10:58 AM	Your first tip was done about a year ago. :D The graveyard part is actually in the ZSG! Those books were awesome. Loved Survival Guide for its simple brilliance, but reading Entertainment Weekly one day, they plugged the Hell out of World War 'Z' which surprised me. Top seller, bla bla bla, so I bought it. As for the last tip, I know, that's why I recommended it. "Graveyard Terrain" is in Hereos of Horror or Libris Mortis if I'm not mistaken. Tactically, it's the way to go. Easilly contained given walls/gates, retreat points to mausoleums (all stone), cover everywhere, catacombs make for good choke points, etc. Highly defendable, safe. I have not seen any of the movies, or own DMG II. And you call yourself a zombie fan...tsk tsk. Go to Blockbuster, get a Netflix account, download them, do something. Those movies are the whole reason this genre got kicked off to begin w/, so it stands to reason you should start there. Even Romero's 1st is a cult classic. There's a reason they show it EVERY Halloween. Seriously, the first 3 rock, "Dawn of the Dead" '04 was excellent too. "Return of the Living Dead" (very graphic 80's punk black comedy) isn't bad, but those zombies are very smart, fast, and unkillable. Peter Jackson's "Dead Alive" is f'ing funny as Hell, but very gross indeed. They plug it secretly in "King Kong" (crate on ship says Sumatran Rat Monkey). Lot of them out there. The part about pi$$ed of undead I actually thought about. I was going to have the PC's be in THE center of the civilized world. 1. It's a major trade city. 2. Populated by city vampires (Vampires without water or mirror weakness, but lack gaseous form, alternate form, children of the night, etc., which means they are pretty much not supernatural, but have the classic stuff and are turnable) 3. My own version of guns are owned by many parts of the city. It seemed simple enough, "No food = death" unless you're ditching Dietary Requirement for Inescapable Craving. Even then, after a century or 2, you're not gonna' give that up easy. They might even become bastions of defense and sanctuary...it's just their "tax" might be a little steep or questionable. Is your focus on the vamps or the zombies then? Seems, eh... Guns? Is this like an Eberron campaign or something pseudo modern? Be very careful introducing such foreign dynamics. Too many cooks and all that.... If PCs are in the middle of the world, that's where the outbreak will be the worst. Greatest concentration of ppl = most zombies. I would consider starting in a small village where it's more intimate w/ easier logistics, etc. then move into lareger urban centers for supplies, weapons, refugees. The city would actually not have anyone infected inside, but my own version of zombies aren't going to let that stop them! Spitters, with the acid, can eat through the all-stone walls. More like "Land of the Dead" then. Pittsburg is cordoned off and kept kinda' safe, no undead inside, that is until of course , they get a bit clever, yada yada yada. Acid spewing zombies? Um, ok. So, basically, after the first day of outbreak, that's pretty much it then, right? If no real wall can sperate them, then the attrition would skyrocket. Why are you adding all the extra bells and whistles to them? The city though lives off of it's trading, and thus many residents would go crazy. It is already established that the walls are all stone, and the wall to the water actually has stone doors. It is the toughest wall, because it is the barrier between the pirates in the ocean and the nation-continent. I'd figure they'd go crazy due to impending death, not lack of trade. Stone walls again->acid spewing zombies? I guess the redeeming quality you mentioned was its coast. Pirates might stand to make a decent campaign arc given the promise of sanctuary for a price like the vamp listing prior.
taradusis 05-01-08, 02:27 PM	I also think that a plague ship that drifted into port with zombies on board would be a good start? Sort of like the way Dracula travelled to england in the Bram Stoker book. Imagine the PCs are hired to take on pirates and find the Zombies instead.
1 ton ghost 05-01-08, 03:19 PM	I also think that a plague ship that drifted into port with zombies on board would be a good start? Sort of like the way Dracula travelled to england in the Bram Stoker book. Imagine the PCs are hired to take on pirates and find the Zombies instead. Oh, that is an excellent plot hook. Nj. Especially a 1st encounter they are really not supposed to win. I hate it when PCs assume every fight is a winnable one...short trip, quick grave. So, they engage kill a bunch and must withdrawl while the zombies slowly but surely diffuse through the port to the rest of the town. It's nice, simple, has a clearly defined starting point and possible end point (the ship again I suspect).
navar100 05-01-08, 06:16 PM	Living Dead (undead) Hit Dice: 2d12 (13 hp) Initiative: +0 Speed: 30ft Armor Class: 10 (DX +0), touch 10, flatfooted 10 Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+7 Attack: Bite +8 melee (1d8+7) or grapple Full Attack: Bite +8 melee (1d8+7) or grapple and bite Space/Reach: 5ft/5ft Special Attacks: Vorpal Bite, Infectious Bite (CO drain), Sudden Strike 1d6 Special Qualities: DR 5/-, Turn Resistance +2, Scent, Blind Sense, Create Spawn, Undead Traits, Vorpal Vulnerability Saves: For +3, Ref +0, Will +0 Abilities: ST 20, DX 10, CO -, IN 1, WI 10, CH 1 Skills: - Feats: Weapon Focus (bite), Improved Grapple Environment: Any Organization: Any CR: ?? Treasure: None Alignment: Always Neutral Evil Advancement: None Level Adjustment: -- A Living Dead has the appearance of a zombie but is far more deadlier and dangerous. Combat: Unlike a “normal” zombie, a Living Dead can take the normal move action and standard action in a single round. Also unlike a zombie, a Living Dead has miniscule intelligence enabling it to react to circumstances. Sudden Strike: If a Living Dead catches a living creature flat-footed or otherwise denied its DX bonus to AC, it will attack the creature with its bite attack, doing an extra 1d6 damage as it tears off its flesh to eat. Improved Grapple: When attacking a creature not flat footed or denied its DX bonus to AC, the Living Dead will attempt to grapple the creature, not provoking an attacking of opportunity. If successful, it immediately makes a bite attack. Infectious Bite: A creature bitten by a Living Dead immediately loses one point of Constitution. This is considered a cursed disease. The creature will continue to lose 1 point of Constitution every 10 minutes. A creature reduced to 0 Constitution in this way dies and rises 1 minute later as a Living Dead. Any creature who otherwise dies during this time will also rise in one minute as a Living Dead. The Con drain can be staid by a Remove Curse followed by a Restoration, Greater Restoration, Limited Wish, Miracle, or Wish. Only afterwards can the Con drain be healed by normal means. A Living Dead will ignore a corpse of a creature who just died due to the Con loss but will continue to eat the corpse of a creature who is killed during its attack. If no other living creatures are within 30 ft, the Living Dead will devour all flesh spending 1d6 minutes doing so. If living creatures are within 30ft it will eat for 1d6 rounds before setting off to attack the living creatures. If there are more than one Living Dead within 30ft of the kill, all will attempt to devour the corpse. Vorpal bite: If a Living Dead confirms the crit after rolling a natural 20, it has bit through the skull of its victim, killing it instantly and eating its brain. Damage Resistance: Living Dead are quite resilient. They are easy to hit but hard to kill. They have a DR of 5/-. Turn Resistance: Living Dead are treated as having 2 HD more to resist turning/rebuking. Scent: Living Dead can smell living flesh within 30ft regardless of obstructing barriers of less than normal stone walls. Blind Sense: A Living Dead has normal vision. However, if it picks up the Scent of living creatures within 30ft, it can function normally in darkness, including magical darkness. Vorpal Vulnerability: Despite being undead, a Living Dead is vulnerable to some critical hits. If a creature attacking a Living Dead rolls a natural 20, he can roll to confirm the crit. If successful, he has instantly killed the Living Dead - chopped off its head, bashed in its skull, pierced into its brain, or any method depending upon the weapon used to cut off the Living Dead’s brain function. DR is ignored in this case. A creature does not have to be wielding a vorpal weapon to benefit from this, nor even a magical one. Only a True Resurrection spell can return to life someone who has become a Living Dead but only after that individual’s Living Dead corpse is burned to ashes or otherwise obliterated. How a Living Dead is created is a mystery. Some say it’s from an alchemical substance carried along by a meteorite from a far off realm. The fallout of the impact spreads the substance and seeps into the ground infecting corpses of those buried within 1 year. (Insane) wizards might be able to create one dose of such a substance with a DC 35 Alchemy check, enough to create one Living Dead. Spell Focus (Necromancy), Greater Spell Focus (Necromancy), and 10 ranks in Knowledge (Herbalism) each can give a +2 bonus to the check, What materials are used to make this substance and how much it costs is to be discovered. It’s possible a Create Greater Undead spell might be able to create one Living Dead using one (somewhat) intact corpse as well.
Half_Dragon_Infernal 05-01-08, 07:46 PM	Has anyone seen my Twilight Zombie stats? Not all zombies can spit acid though. It was intended as a clever way to deal with creatures using Fly, and a way to take down stone walls. I did the calculations, and it was 20,160 damage per day to a wall. I think that I'll change it to bludgeoning damage, with a 25% of 1 point of acid damage.
Demon_Quiller 06-10-08, 02:49 AM	I always thought stone, brick, masonry, and ceramics were resilient to acid... unless it's like the acid from the Alien movies (my favorite :) ). Anyway, Navar, I feel your zombies are a little too strong - I can't remember exactly, but look at the quick NPC's in the DMG, and look at their AC's. Find out what the party's AC's will be at several levels. With a grapple bonus of +7, anyone with an AC of 10 has a 90% chance of being grappled, then 95% chance of a bite from the +8 bite attack. These go down by 5% per point of AC, so even an AC of 20 has 40% and 45% chance respectively, which is pretty good odds of a TPK in my opinion. I would consider knocking down their STR a little to offset this. Also, the orb releasing the slime idea – has anyone seen Heavy Metal? (another favorite :) ).
navar100 06-10-08, 06:11 AM	I always thought stone, brick, masonry, and ceramics were resilient to acid... unless it's like the acid from the Alien movies (my favorite :) ). Anyway, Navar, I feel your zombies are a little too strong - I can't remember exactly, but look at the quick NPC's in the DMG, and look at their AC's. Find out what the party's AC's will be at several levels. With a grapple bonus of +7, anyone with an AC of 10 has a 90% chance of being grappled, then 95% chance of a bite from the +8 bite attack. These go down by 5% per point of AC, so even an AC of 20 has 40% and 45% chance respectively, which is pretty good odds of a TPK in my opinion. I would consider knocking down their STR a little to offset this. Also, the orb releasing the slime idea – has anyone seen Heavy Metal? (another favorite :) ). Since when do people actually survive Zombiegeddon? :)
Demon_Quiller 06-10-08, 12:15 PM	Since when do people actually survive Zombiegeddon? :) My mistake... I thought most Zombiegeddon scenarios have a few survivors, and that is what the player's goals are. I provided the statistics assuming you would want to run several sessions, similar to the campaign explained in the thread Lessons DMing with my GF. If you want a low or no survival rate, your zombies are excellent.
HassanNinkin 06-10-08, 04:15 PM	I thought the preferred nomenclature was Zompocalypse. Also, nobody survives. Also, facepalm.
navar100 06-11-08, 12:04 AM	My mistake... I thought most Zombiegeddon scenarios have a few survivors, and that is what the player's goals are. I provided the statistics assuming you would want to run several sessions, similar to the campaign explained in the thread Lessons DMing with my GF. If you want a low or no survival rate, your zombies are excellent. The people who survive the longest in zombie movies aren't necessarily 1st level characters. However, if there is no way to end the zombiefestation once and for all, then everyone will die and it just becomes a race of who survives the longest. It's fine for a one-shot adventure but not an ongoing campaign.
wraithstrike 06-11-08, 01:42 AM	I plan on doing something similar. I have noticed in the movies that people who are killed by the zombies rise in a few days or sometimes a 1 day. Those that are bitten change over a few days or they keep getting sick until they die, and come back to life within minutes. For anyone who is killed they would rise in 1d4 or 1d3 days. If anyone is bitten they would lose 1Dx(yet to be decided) constitution per day with a fort save for half. I have not decided if there will be a cure or exactly how it will start. I have also not decided how to stop, not will it be a worldwide thing, or if it will start locally, and if it is not stopped it will go global, with the PC's knowing they are the last stand. I have been thinking of them having some martial skill but with no idea of adventuring. The idea of me just saying bring X level character next weekend seems like a decent idea.
Azog 06-11-08, 09:33 AM	The people who survive the longest in zombie movies aren't necessarily 1st level characters. However, if there is no way to end the zombiefestation once and for all, then everyone will die and it just becomes a race of who survives the longest. It's fine for a one-shot adventure but not an ongoing campaign. Describe for me your definition of "campaign". Are you talking 1-30, or are you talking "a number of adventures strung together based on a common theme"? If you're thinking the former, then I might agree with you... the mortality rate would be high, but with proper planning and execution on the part of the PCs, and the proper restraint by the DM, possible. If your players would find it fun to go through that hell for 30 levels, and you can DM it for that long, then by all means, go for it. I believe I am going to use the zombiegeddon as the starting-point for my upcoming 4e game, but it should only last around 3 levels or so - until the players get out of the city, and I have 3 different exit scenarios already written. If the players decide to stick around and investigate as opposed to fleeing the scene, I can work with that, too, but I don't expect it to happen. I think they'll head for the wilderness and hole up in the mountains. In this game, it will be localized to the city (at the start, anyway).
Half_Dragon_Infernal 06-11-08, 11:41 AM	This is time to bring out the 4e zombies. I only have the DMG, so could someone update my zombies to 4e?