Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 PoetheSchizo Sep 15, 2010 14:58:10	Hey Im going to post this in the d20 Modern thread to see if I can get any more help... I know this horse has probably been beaten so far beyond death that it has reanimated and had to be beaten again... but I really want to come up with a homebrew style zombie campaign for me and my fellow zombie lovers. I have looked over "All Flesh Must Be Eaten", Amethyst "Biohazard", DnD "Opengrave", d20 Modern Core Rules.. and I like and dislike things from all of them. So maybe, with a little help from the all-knowing brains on this forum, I can run a very fun and interesting story. So here is a few things that needs workin: 1.) Character class and how to level up. Everyone will be human, so no racial bonuses.       I was thinking maybe have a point buy system similar to "All flesh must be eaten" where all ability       scores start at 0 and max out at 6. Example: 1-5pts in Strength is 50 x Str = Lifting Capacity (lbs). 2.) Character ability scores and how they affect each aspect of the game.       Such as Str obviously affecting how hard you hit, how much you can lift, etc. Maybe Int is bonuses        to computer skills? 3.) Weapons!       I need a good solid way of using guns and melee to make it balanced. I want variants of one kind of       gun (pistol - 9mm, desert eagle) but not a hundred different ones, 2 or 3 would work. I want the       weapons to be tiered like in L4D, this will replace the magic weapons like in DnD. 4.) The virus...       I need a disease tract to follow, I want it pretty hard to contract for the PCs, but not something       where they are fearless facing a mob of Zack. 5.) Finally, the undead.      I plan on making 95% of the zombie crowd minions like in DnD, it takes one shot to kill em. The       other 5% will be "special infected" that probably wont have as much infection percentage but will be       harder to kill (i.e. Tank, boomer, smoker like in L4D) Im sure I left some things out.. but any help would be appreciated. And I hope this is the right spot, I was going to post in d20 modern thread but I want the 4E feel that DnD gives.. thanks!
#2 TheRealOrion Sep 15, 2010 15:52:16	Points 1 and 2 would seem to rewrite the game. The ability scores and what they modify is a basic mechanic. I wouldn't suggest fiddling with it because doing so would alter other numbers to such a degree that you'd have to rewrite the whole core rule book. That's just my opinion, though, and I would never stop someone from creating their own variant rules!  3: I'd suggest a generic firearm system, such as the one you'll find in Phoenix in my sig. With that kind of system, you're not buying a particular gun from a particular manufacturer. You're just buying a "Heavy Pistol" that the player can describe any way she/he likes.  4: Give the virus a Fort save that is very hard for ordinaries to pass but relatively easy for heroes to pass. 5: Treat zombie like a template and then build your monsters accordingly. I think that's the way the game is already set up. "Minion" zombies are normal people who are infected. Tougher zombies are tougher people who've been infected. Done and done.
#3 PoetheSchizo Sep 16, 2010 10:35:08	thanks for the reply Orion! So should I use standard point-buy system / roll 4d6 ability scores? And keep the "meaning" of the scores the same as in DnD? I got a few questions on the Phoenix RPG you gave me (which is really helpful btw, thank you), -on page 190 it has the Strength Stats, what does the light medium and heavy mean/represent? Is that the type of character? -on the weapons stat block what does PDC stand for? thanks again!
#4 TheRealOrion Sep 16, 2010 14:39:05	I think I see what's going on, here. You're not actually talking about running a game in d20 Modern. You just want to run a game in the modern period. Is that it? If so, you can supe up 4e to do the job, but it would take a lot, a lot of work. I'd recommend going to one of the various d20M SRD sites, like this one:  dmreference.com/MRD/ And read up on that material. d20M is really its own game. Case in point:  The "light/medium/heavy" notation in the Strength scores is a 3e thing. It's the "Loads" that that Strength score can carry, and those numbers are used to calculate how much you can lift, drag, etc. The "PDC" of a weapon is its "Purchase DC," a number you have to roll using a Wealth score, a system that d20M uses to represent money so that you don't have to keep track of two bank accounts, a batch of RRSPs, five credit cards, a car payment every month, and a student loan.  Instead, you just have a Wealth score that you use to buy things. It's an elegant system in a lot of ways, although the RAW needs a little tweaking to make it really work.  I hope that's helpful!
#5 taradusis Sep 19, 2010 19:05:45	The 3.5 DMG. has a section on modern weapons that's very limited as well.
#6 TheRealOrion Sep 19, 2010 21:11:33	Sure, but if you're using 3.5e, then Modern works even better, and if you're using 4e, neither are all that useful.  If the OP could be a bit clearer about which game system she/he is using, this would be easier...? (that was a hint)
#7 taradusis Sep 19, 2010 21:41:05	The living dead are a varied lot. In order to get a usable type of undead you may want to combine features of zombies and ghouls. I actually used weakened ghouls when designing a "Night of the Living Dead" scenario. I might use a toxic waste spill rather than a virus,less worry about PCs catching the disease? I also used an alien artifact that landed in town,10 % of the city dropped dead and their skeletons ripped free of the corpse and went on a rampage. Consider allowing the pcs to find a national guard unit with weapons and a vehicle? If undead are too dumb to turn a doorknob it makes them easier to fight. If undead are slow you can outrun them. If undead need victims to survive then outbreak will diminish as humanity does. Will government nuke a contaminated area? Just a few random thoughts to consider.
#8 PoetheSchizo Sep 27, 2010 10:51:39	WOW thanks a lot guys! Lots of info to consider. Sorry about the delay and not being specific before (I was on my honeymoon) lol. Anywho.. I was just going to do a homebrew system that kinda mashed up different aspects of different Campaign Settings. I was hoping to use 4e mostly and just tweak it some.. but I dont think that would be very plausible. So I think best bet would be to go with d20M, the only thing I dont like is classes, I would like to start the PCs off in a "real world" scenario (office place, construction site, etc) and the PC class would reflect what they would be doing in the "real world". For example: a construction site guy could be strong with points put into strength and constitution. Is this making any sense? lol.
#9 zerosum Sep 27, 2010 13:33:20	d20 Modern is actually well suited for that -- a construction worker would be either "Strong Hero" or "Tough Hero" with a starting occupation of a "Blue-Collar" worker.  I suggest you at least read the MSRD if not a d20 Modern sourcebook proper.
#10 mdock2003 Sep 27, 2010 21:15:47	Normally I mix d20 Modern/Past/Future with CoC d20 and Monte Cook's World of Darkness when running my yearly Zombiepocalypse game. There is enough info in them to run just about every type of horror game I could want with d20Modern.
#11 TheRealOrion Sep 27, 2010 22:00:31	I would like to start the PCs off in a "real world" scenario (office place, construction site, etc) and the PC class would reflect what they would be doing in the "real world". I agree with ZeroSum. What you describe sounds a lot like Modern. It's a lot more like 3e than 4e, but it will do exactly what you're talking about.
#12 PoetheSchizo Sep 28, 2010 10:48:48	Normally I mix d20 Modern/Past/Future with CoC d20 and Monte Cook's World of Darkness when running my yearly Zombiepocalypse game. There is enough info in them to run just about every type of horror game I could want with d20Modern.  Do you know where I can get Call of Cthulhu PDF format? if not thats cool. The World of Darkness has a really cool story, how are the classes set up if you didnt want to play vampire, werewolf, etc?
#13 AnimeSniper Sep 28, 2010 14:03:00	I would like to start the PCs off in a "real world" scenario (office place, construction site, etc) and the PC class would reflect what they would be doing in the "real world". I agree with ZeroSum. What you describe sounds a lot like Modern. It's a lot more like 3e than 4e, but it will do exactly what you're talking about.  What occupations will the PC's be as once you know you can place an appropriate opening where the all can meet... I.e. the college student often frequents the local bar/club and knows Albert, a PC, who works as a bouncer there while Jim, another PC, works Construction and attends college in the evening and Lilly, another PC, works the bar serving drinks while finishing her masters degrees The Opening could then be a Friday night with the evening events starting out... throw in a patron/homeless person who attacks another patron who gets sent to the hospital and just as the bar/club starts to close with a few remaining patrons then have a mass of police cars speed past to an unknown destination... You could then have the local news alert stating of a riot at the hospital/etcetera
#14 mdock2003 Sep 29, 2010 0:38:57	Do you know where I can get Call of Cthulhu PDF format? if not thats cool. The World of Darkness has a really cool story, how are the classes set up if you didnt want to play vampire, werewolf, etc? Since it is a WotC product I have no idea where to get a COC d20 pdf. I lucked out and got my hard copy, like new, on Amazon for $15. I think there are some on right now on Amazon for under $25 and some on ebay for under $20. BTW if you are a college studen and/or have an edu email address(college professors could probably get in on this too), you can sign up for Amazon's student membership, or upgrade to it, and get free 2 day shipping for anything that is Prime eligible. That can save you quite a bit if you buy a lot of rpg books on Amazon. I got all of my D&D Essentials books (HotFL & RC for less than $12 each, brand new) as well a couple of d20 Modern sourcebooks, 2 Forgotten Realms novels and the new Pathfinder novel. Since I didn't pay shipping I got them all in 2 days for under $50. If I would have had to pay shipping it would have been around $80. As for Monte Cooks World of Darkness, you can play as Vampires, Werewolves, Mages, Demons & Awakened.  Personally this is one of my favorite d20 books. I am not a fan of the White Wolf WoD and honestly think this book is way better(just my opinion). Everyone I've ever ran it for loved it. Plus since it isn't that hard to mix with d20 Modern/Future & CoC d20, I can mix an match classes if I want. It takes just a few second to make a tweak here and there and deciding which magic system to use, to make everything fit. I honestly just consider CoC d20, MCWoD and d20 Modern/future/past to be one part different campaign settings and one part PHB for the same game, but with a few different options between them. We tend to like the classes in CoC, the magic system in MCWoD and use d20 Modern for everything else. We pretty much use these exclusively for all of our horror themed games.
#15 PoetheSchizo Sep 29, 2010 9:29:43	@AnimeSniper - wow that sounds very fun! I may even have the college student or someone have a relative (mother, father) in that particular hospital and needs someone to drive her there! Awesome ideas! @mdock2003 - Im not currently a student, I was but graduated lol, man I wish I knew that before. I think Im going to track down a copy of CoC to use with d20 Modern, I was looking through some of the sample pages and I like how they create characters. The WoD might come in later, maybe work it in in the aftermath of the initial zombie attack. On another note, does CoC have stats for some undead? or should I just create some with a template? any suggestions? Thanks for all the help guys
#16 AnimeSniper Sep 29, 2010 15:39:14	Another starting option I have toyed with is the whole evacuation site where the PC's and everyone  else is to head for to leave the quarantined zone which can have several starting outcomes... 1: Evac site can be any strong defendable site with either local Police/ATF/DEA/NAtional Guard Troops/Local Military flown in which can be fully equipped or undermanned; 2:  Evac site can be any strong defendable site; High School, Middle School, Elementary School, Hospital, Airport, National Guard Armory that gets hit or overruned by the infected horde. 3: The evac method could be one of the following; chopper, boat, military truck convoy that gets hit by the infected horde or one of the evacuees is infected who turns while in transit causing the vehicle to crash. 4: The PC's are either given or scavenge from the dead armed NPC's after the above following happens... this could take place after being knocked unconscious in the crash or the shockwave of an evac chopper or plane or crashing.
#17 zerosum Sep 29, 2010 16:04:19	Also, if you're going to run a Zombie Survival game, regardless of the system, read World War Z by Max Brooks.
#18 AnimeSniper Sep 29, 2010 16:24:40	Also, if you're going to run a Zombie Survival game, regardless of the system, read World War Z by Max Brooks. Lets not forget the Zombie Survival Guide...  I mean I can just see some PC/NPC thinking they can just wade thru the knee high murky stream only to be grabbed by the upper half of a zombie
#19 AnimeSniper Sep 29, 2010 17:47:49	@AnimeSniper - wow that sounds very fun! I may even have the college student or someone have a relative (mother, father) in that particular hospital and needs someone to drive her there! Awesome ideas! @mdock2003 - Im not currently a student, I was but graduated lol, man I wish I knew that before. I think Im going to track down a copy of CoC to use with d20 Modern, I was looking through some of the sample pages and I like how they create characters. The WoD might come in later, maybe work it in in the aftermath of the initial zombie attack. On another note, does CoC have stats for some undead? or should I just create some with a template? any suggestions? Thanks for all the help guys The whole relative angle can be done is something I forgot to mention... it could also be an older or younger sibling, a cousin, niece or nephew, etcetera as patients... as for their jobs the NPC family could be a doctor, nurse, janitorial staff, or just a patient or visiting relations there
#20 AnimeSniper Sep 29, 2010 18:15:36	3.) Weapons!       I need a good solid way of using guns and melee to make it balanced. I want variants of one kind of       gun (pistol - 9mm, desert eagle) but not a hundred different ones, 2 or 3 would work. I want the       weapons to be tiered like in L4D, this will replace the magic weapons like in DnD. 4.) The virus...       I need a disease tract to follow, I want it pretty hard to contract for the PCs, but not something       where they are fearless facing a mob of Zack. 5.) Finally, the undead.      I plan on making 95% of the zombie crowd minions like in DnD, it takes one shot to kill em. The       other 5% will be "special infected" that probably wont have as much infection percentage but will be       harder to kill (i.e. Tank, boomer, smoker like in L4D) thanks! 3.) If you could snag a hard copy/PDF version of the Weapons Locker you can find enough for  a general gear out of military and law enforcement with those NPC's who carry unique weapons like a 50 AE Desert Eagle or survivalists/gun collectors... 4.) I have a few listed somewhere for my own campaign 5.) Special infected... so far I have some notes in regard to the L4D ones including the Witch along with a list of others in my campaign doc like the SWAT Officer who reanimates with full gear but no weapons just an ammo pouch
#21 mdock2003 Sep 30, 2010 1:43:45	On another note, does CoC have stats for some undead? or should I just create some with a template? any suggestions? Thanks for all the help guys I don't have my book infront of me, but I'm pretty sure I use the zombies "as is" from that book along with maybe some zombie variants from another d20 book.  Also you can get a lot of pdf that will support d20 Modern, CoC d20 and MCWoD at RPGNow. Many are either pretty cheap or even free. You can find various monsters, weapons, and adventures. It doesn't hurt to check it out, as well as googling some of the fan made material on the net. Some of that stuff is pretty good too.
#22 mdock2003 Sep 30, 2010 1:47:19	Also, if you're going to run a Zombie Survival game, regardless of the system, read World War Z by Max Brooks. Absolutely! Excellet book. I'd even recommend Max Brooks' Zombie Survival guide and Recorded Zombie Attacks. The Zombie series (Zombie Island, Zombie Nation, Zombie Planet) by David Wellington are also good choices.
#23 PoetheSchizo Sep 30, 2010 10:48:21	3.) If you could snag a hard copy/PDF version of the Weapons Locker you can find enough for  a general gear out of military and law enforcement with those NPC's who carry unique weapons like a 50 AE Desert Eagle or survivalists/gun collectors... 4.) I have a few listed somewhere for my own campaign 5.) Special infected... so far I have some notes in regard to the L4D ones including the Witch along with a list of others in my campaign doc like the SWAT Officer who reanimates with full gear but no weapons just an ammo pouch Do you have your campaign posted somewhere, so I can "borrow" some ideas? lol as for your campaign Ideas, I like the way you think.. I believe I will use some of those ideas to keep the PCs moving forward and to keep them rattled and shaken. @ mdock, Zerosum - I have read both Zombie Survival guide and WWZ, I havent read Recorded Zombie Attacks (didnt know it was out..) I plan on using those sources to how the game mechanics work. PC: "Im going to take this super loud sports car and drive it through the middle of Atlanta, stopping at the mall to get supplies." FAIL I also have read the Walking Dead series, which is really awesome if you guys havent checked it out.. They are making a TV series on the AMC channel of it, that looks spot on to the comics. Here is the link www.amctv.com/originals/The-Walking-Dead... Also what suggestions does anyone have on the disease tract that the infected will carry? maybe keep the PCs guessing to who is infected, even if they arent bitten? (think suspens in John Carpenter's The Thing) I think that would be amazing.
#24 AnimeSniper Sep 30, 2010 12:47:39	Off the top of my head... Instant Infection {28 Days Later Barricade scene}: The NPC/PC's are exposed to the blood of an infected are begin to show signs of the virus; fever, dry mouth, body cold to touch, unquenchable hunger or thirst, etcetera before changing.  The PC must make Fort saves to combat the infection upon which failing causes damage to one stat point in any two stats unless an immune booster is used. Or once exposed change immediately. Slow Infection: The NPC/PC's are exposed to the blood of an infected are begin to show signs of the virus; fever, dry mouth, body cold to touch, unquenchable hunger or thirst, etcetera before changing.  The PC must make Fort saves to combat the infection upon which failing causes damage to one stat point in any stat unless an immune booster is used. Immune Carrier: An Immune Carrier is a PC/NPC who has contracted the virus but show no visible signs or changes. However, they can infect someone through the exchange of bodily fluids...
#25 AnimeSniper Oct 01, 2010 19:56:17	Found these at rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php under the free section and thought you could find them useful also... Character Sheet  {1 Page} rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?... Survivors rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?... Values of Survival rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?... The Dead of Night rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?...