I have run a number of zombie apocalypse one shots or scenarios over the years but never a full ZA campaign. Usually it is a threat that can be overcome and reversed or we dont carry the game past the players surviving the initial outbreak. Now that its nearly october i may run a zombie campaign if I can squeeze in the time (depending on the style my players want will either use savage worlds, all flesh must be eaten or horror show---though i am open to using some of the newer zombie games if people rave about them).

For those who have run a lengthy zombie apocalypse campaign, how do you sustain it over time without things imploing or getting repetitive? Having a little trouble visualizing something like the walking dead working quite as well in play (though the show definitely gives some cool ideas).

Do not limit it to zombies. Have it be a full blown undead assault on the living in the world. The zombies are just the shock troops.

Quote from: jeff37923;586263Do not limit it to zombies. Have it be a full blown undead assault on the living in the world. The zombies are just the shock troops.

That is a possibility i considered. I remember reading a book, i think it was monster island, that sor of went that direction (and many of my D&D zombie apocalypses featured liches and other undead). That seems like it would work well and i might well do it.

If a I only wanted a pure zombie campaign though, what would you suggest.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;586269That is a possibility i considered. I remember reading a book, i think it was monster island, that sor of went that direction (and many of my D&D zombie apocalypses featured liches and other undead). That seems like it would work well and i might well do it.

If a I only wanted a pure zombie campaign though, what would you suggest.

The obvious/cliche route is to do something like the first season of Walking Dead or the movie of 28 Days Later - have the characters learn of an apparently safe zone/possible cure/whatever which is a long way off, and so the campaign is about trying to travel there.

The Walking Dead is successful as a sustained story because the main focus is on the people. The main characters as well as other humans encountered in the environment.

The zombies are more of a background than anything else. Its why you can have cool episodes that hardly feature any zombies at all. All zombie attacks all the time would get repetitive really fast.

One thing to take away from zombie apocalypse media, and a central message behind most of them, is that no monster is as horrifying as your fellow man in the right circumstances.

A long term zombie Apocalypse is the same as any other long term post Apocalypse campaign. The difference that instead of radiation, etc as the omnipresent background danger it is zombies.

Hope that helps

Quote from: Grymbok;586275The obvious/cliche route is to do something like the first season of Walking Dead or the movie of 28 Days Later - have the characters learn of an apparently safe zone/possible cure/whatever which is a long way off, and so the campaign is about trying to travel there.

Agreed I have only played 1 shots but this would be my approach.

Phase 1 get your zombipocalypse shit together (1 session)
Phase 2 head for the safe place (8 -10 sessions)
Phase 3 secure the safe place from the encroaching hordes using the extra knowlege gained in phase 1&2 (4-6 sessions)
Phase 4 secure place falls appart due internal politicing (also known as the there is only one hot female dilema) (2 sessions)

rinse and repeat.....

Have zombies be relatively rare on a day-to-day basis, but with an occasional horde wandering through, that forces the characters to hide and maybe fight. Also, other survivors are at least as dangerous as the players, if not more so.

Don't forget the "Apocalypse" part of it. What about:

1) Finding the physical cure/cause of the apocalypse, stopping it, controlling it, exposing it, preventing further damage of it

2) Building a home base that will eventually help to respawn society

3) Researching or unmasking the source, and their reasons behind it, accident, conspiratorial, alien invasion, accelerating the end of the world for various nutso reasons, etc

4) Dealing with the evolving undead, ones that become smarter in time, stronger, morphing into something else

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;586258I have run a number of zombie apocalypse one shots or scenarios over the years but never a full ZA campaign. Usually it is a threat that can be overcome and reversed or we dont carry the game past the players surviving the initial outbreak. Now that its nearly october i may run a zombie campaign if I can squeeze in the time (depending on the style my players want will either use savage worlds, all flesh must be eaten or horror show---though i am open to using some of the newer zombie games if people rave about them).

For those who have run a lengthy zombie apocalypse campaign, how do you sustain it over time without things imploing or getting repetitive? Having a little trouble visualizing something like the walking dead working quite as well in play (though the show definitely gives some cool ideas).

I think there are a number of ways to make a Zombie Apocalypse campaign run for a lengthy time.

Several of the stages of such a campaign have been mentioned. Initial outbreak, searching for supplies and a safe-haven, securing a safe haven and then exploring and taming the area around the safe-haven. After that the players can go on expeditions to secure more supplies, special equipment, rescue missions, etc... they can go in search of military style weapons, defend against other survivors, search for a real doctor and medical equipment, etc... Check or start a thread about what has made Apocalypse campaigns last. Walking Dead style zombies would be an element, but it seems to me and as others have said, that the real challenges would be other survivors once the campaign was going for awhile.

An Apocolypse is an end, it's rather natural not to have an ending take years and years.

Walking Dead really is exceptional, but note that the events in the "main" story take place over a period of weeks (how many seasons has the show been on now, and yet they've not had a single winter). Flashbacks give the story  there depth, but don't work nearly as well in a tabletop game.

Eh zombies are just a tool, its how you use them, although they can be formidable enemies too. I remember I once ran a zombie city into which strutted a full blown wolverine character, armed with a sniper rifle for good measure; we were genuinely curious what the result would be. Two days later he crawled out sobbing and ragged, hoping all his bits would regenerate. Those mob wrestling moves can be quite the thing.

Anyway if I had to do it properly I'd use the zombies from Rec and Rec2, which are sort of like a cross between zeds and that demon from Paranormal activity. What trolls are to forums, the demon was to reality, so spice it up with a little wicked humour too. Blending in many types of zombies could yield interesting results, especially if its not obvious which is which.

I wouldn't be able to resist dropping a few vampires of the ghastly 30 Days of Night variety in too, werewolves from Dog Soldiers, actually this is starting to sound like a party. :cheerleader:

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;586258For those who have run a lengthy zombie apocalypse campaign, how do you sustain it over time without things imploing or getting repetitive? Having a little trouble visualizing something like the walking dead working quite as well in play (though the show definitely gives some cool ideas).

I was about to recommend season 2.  

It would definitely be a more low-key game.  It is far, far better 'survival horror' than any of a dozen video games in the last decade or so.  One of the story elements that kind of drives home how mundane things become as everyone adjusts to the "new reality" is when the group has to fish a zombie out of a well.  Of course, the overwhelming threat is re-asserted in a frightening and confusing sequence later.

As you said, very cool ideas, and I think if you chain the ideas together differently, you could have an excellent long term campaign on your hands.  Maybe even just take one story arc or plot element at a time, and stretch out the periods in between with survival elements.  Or switch up the resolution from the show for a particular plot point.  I think the show would make for a really good campaign, but I don't think I would want to play it through exactly like the books/show.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;586258For those who have run a lengthy zombie apocalypse campaign, how do you sustain it over time without things imploing or getting repetitive? Having a little trouble visualizing something like the walking dead working quite as well in play (though the show definitely gives some cool ideas).

In my Nanotech Zombie Apocalyse setting, play is lengthened because of what is behind it, and how that threat manifests. It violates your "only zombies" limitation, but it works.

Just decide what is behind it. "All Flesh Must Be Eaten" suggested "Zombie Masters". Suppose there are people who can control zombies, because they were bit but didn't turn or because they were behind the thing to begin with. Their personalities, goals, and motivations make them a force to deal with. Politicking, turning one against the other, opposing their efforts to take territory, all give your players something to do.

Zombies are passive threats. They wander at random. They can get boring.

Add some active threats to work with the zombies, or against the zoms but not with the PC's. ("The Governor.")

Or maybe there are different types of zombies, and you can discover this and turn one set against the other. Or some zombies become smart and become leaders. They can fight each other.

The more monolithic the threat, the less your PC's have to think about and do. The more factions, the more differences, the more politics and personalities come into it, the more variety there is.

Quote from: Lynn;586303Don't forget the "Apocalypse" part of it. What about:

1) Finding the physical cure/cause of the apocalypse, stopping it, controlling it, exposing it, preventing further damage of it

I would have to put something like that beyond the capabilities of the party, mostly because the scope is just too big.  Protecting themselves and possibly some few others from getting infected in addition to surviving would be about all I would expect.

Quote2) Building a home base that will eventually help to respawn society

I think this is where WD is headed in the show.  I am still catching up with the books, but I would assume that is the goal there also.  I am sure this would be surprisingly more difficult than many people would assume, making for a very good scenario, or sub-plot of a scenario.

Quote3) Researching or unmasking the source, and their reasons behind it, accident, conspiratorial, alien invasion, accelerating the end of the world for various nutso reasons, etc

This could be interesting, but if they already pulled off the Apocalypse, it seems kind of pointless to find them.  Certainly, they could have the cure or a vaccination or something which would be worth it.  But like the Army group at the end of 28 Days, they are likely struggling to survive also, assuming they made it through the initial onslaught themselves.

Quote4) Dealing with the evolving undead, ones that become smarter in time, stronger, morphing into something else

This one I really like.  Hole up for a couple of months until they rot so much they can't move or attack.  Wait, what?  They aren't rotting away?  What is going on?  And I swear that last group split into two groups to attack from both sides on purpose...

This would probably make #3 work better, actually.  If General Evil-ectric released the chemical/virus/curse on purpose, are they continuing to work on these things or are they evolving on their own?  Very interesting, very dangerous, very fun.