Recently I leaked a hint to my players that I was putting in side work on a Modern Zombie Apocalypse (MZA) campaign set in the real world, as our current campaign is nearing it's end.
Already I've been flooded with Character based questions, many of which I seem to be at a loss for answering.
I'm using the (wince) v3 core books as a base and so far the campaign is coming along smoothly in most aspects, however I haven't been able to decide how to handle Character Races and Classes. Should I take a few of the base classes (fighter, ranger, rogue) and flesh them out into modern equivalents? Melee, Marksman, and scout respectively, and if so how would I go about doing that? Races I suppose that I could limit to human but I feel that my players may feel a bit snubbed at losing their near and dear racial bonuses.
I'm sorry if this seems a bit wordy but any advice in general for this campaign would be great.
This is my first post in this forum however I constantly find myself leafing through veteran's threads for DM and general game advice.
Probably not what you would prefer to hear, but I wouldn't use D&D for this type of game. Consider checking out All Flesh Must Be Eaten. Here are some introductory rules and an adventure for free.
Do you only want to play D&D 3E or would you consider D20 Modern?: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/msrd
I haven't run Against the Dead for D20 Modern but the reviews are good:
If you are willing to look at non-D&D there is the classic All Flesh Must Be Eaten:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/627/All-Flesh-Must-be-Eaten-Revised?it=1
Other free zombie RPG PDFs:
Infected:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/132191/Infected-A-Living-Archive
Outbreak Primer:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/107587/Outbreak-Undead--Primer
Hotel Babylon--AEther:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/88645/Hotel-Babylon--AEther
Kravell wrote:
For example I've been modifying different skills to suit the campaign, and this is what the riding skill turned into. written into my notebook. then typed into notepad because my microsoft office suite is corrupted. 
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Driving: (dex) you can drive a particular type of vehicle. When you select this skill choose the type of vehicle you are familiar with.
When using the driving skill with a different vehicle your rank is reduced by two (but not below 0). if you use this skill
with a very different vehicle, (such as driving a tractor trailer when you're used to a skateboard) your rank is reduced by 5.
Check: Typical driving actions don't require checks however some tasks will require a check.
Task DC Task DC
Drive with knees 10 Ramp 15
cover 15 control vehicle in battle 20
tuck and roll* 15 hotwire** 20
*Armor check penalty applies
**DC 25 if not preferred vehicle
Drive with knees: you can make this check to try to free up hands for use of weapons, if you fail you are restricted to your
non-dominant hand, as you need the other hand to control the vehicle.
Cover: you can react instantly to duck down in the seat to use the vehicle as 3/4 cover. if you fail you must sit upright
to control the vehicle, losing the cover bonus.
tuck and roll: you can react instantly to try to take no damage from jumping from a moving vehicle, if you fail you take
1d6 falling damage.
Ramp: you can keep the vehicle steady in the air, the DC(15) is what you must roll to keep in control of the vehicle upon landing.
Control vehicle in battle: as a move equivalent action you can attempt to maintain control of the vehicle when you take damage,
if you fail you use the full round to maintain control.
Special: Passengers may take driving skill checks without the non proficiency penalties, and may use the cover action as a free action.
The driving skill is a prerequisite of the vehicular combat and related feats.
I suggest looking at Against the Dead. For 15 with the free D20 Modern rules you'd have a good zombie game based on d20 rules. Some of the rules in D20 Modern work like the skill you modified above. I ran D20 Modern through 20th level and chase scenes worked well.
Certainly a good Idea. Very fun to play and interesting campaigns work with zombie themed runs.
Try using Maxx Brooks books as inspiration, some of the World War Z material is very inspiring to thinks what people would do within a narrative context and comvert your interpretations into D&D ability checks, and Improvisition Options.
IMHO; a good mix between SWSE and D&D 5th would be a hit to run a memorable "Modern Zombie Apocalypse" campaign using the 5th edition.
To get you some feedback, your Driving Check benchmarks seem fine as suggested. Driving should be a Dex check indeed; that may include proficiency bonuses accordingly...it is just that the DCs you pointed seem a little bit too high for current edition's DC thresholds...
Etonais wrote:
If you're familiar with World of Darkness: God Machine then I highly recommend you choose that as your system. WoD: Hunter the Vigil, Armory and Midnight Roads add great details to a Zombie Apocalypse - professions, specialties, vehicle chases, vehicle combat, military weapons, explosives, et al. Zombies would be easy to build using God Machine rules. What you'd have to ask yourself is "What kind of Zombies do I want to make?"
Zombies should have armor vs bashing and downgrade firearms to bashing making them seem almost indestructible. If you want to give them a weakness (brains) then upgrade damage from a Called Shot. From there you create variants by changing their stats: increased speed & initiative for "runners", size and health for "hulks", and gives skills to "brains."
Use optional rules for healing that require a Stamina roll making medicine necessary and wounds lasting.
Add Merits that are appropriate and would replace things like Resources: Garden, Water Supply, Stash.
Limit access to things like bullets and the game becomes upclose and personal.
Strongly agreed with All Fresh Must Be Eaten and WoD - Hunter the Vigil.