Hello,

We just ended an AD&D campaign. It was a blast and it's now my turn to GM. I have 3-4 ideas, which I will run with you guys. This is the first one.


A small "zombie" campaign. We would start with between 4 and 6 sessions., the action will take place on the sea With a possible second arc in a big city if successful and the players enjoy themselves. The obvious game to use is probably AFMBE but I'm really not sure about it. I'm not too comfortable with Unisystem.

Setup: 1 GM confirmed (me). Three experienced players confirmed. Possibility of one or two additional players. Weekly sessions will probably last four hours. Players open to different systems.

The players like to be surprised and thus, will NOT know this is a zombie campaign until it hits them. I plan to present this as a modern-day mystery/crime drama. (For those who hate that kind of surprise by a GM, I respect that. Just know that this group of player loves surprise and they will dig being tricked)

The sketchy plan so far is to present this as a sort of heist taking place on a gigantic cruise ship. The players plan to rob one of the passengers, or possibly abduct someone, possibly to extract information.

Somehow, an infection/virus/curse erupts on the ship and the PCs must survive against good old flesh-eating living dead.


What I need from a system:

-I'd like very quick combat resolution. We're coming off an intense high-level tactical slugfest campaign that was very slow
-The campaign will have a lot of blockbuster action stunts on the ship. That's all the non combat stuff like swinging from chandeliers, running around, jumping, climbing ropes, swimming. I need a system that can handle that quickly
-Horror mechanics. I don't know what kind of chargen or resolution can help that but AFMBE seems kinda bland compared to CoC and UA.
-Quick chargen: I expect a reasonably high rate of mortality. It's possible players will need to quickly make new characters.
-No need to tweak indefinitely: I need a game that can handle this in 1 to 4 books without excessive houseruling. No "Over The Edge + Rolemaster charts + Deadlands should do the trick" kind of solution.

So, what game could I use? I'm ok with .pdf, indie, commercial, whatever. Just make suggestions including supplements needed if any.

I just want this to be scary and action-packed.

Any suggestions?

PS: You can shoot more questions if needed. I'll be back later.

Thanks!

From what your asking for I would think Feng Shui would fit the bill. Possible source books that could be handy are Golden Comeback (players manual), Iron & Silk (the players guide to improvised weapons), and Blowing Up Hong Kong (Good source book for HK. If you want to use HK as the big city for your second part. It would be a good book to have.) But none of these are nessisary. You would be just fine with the main book alone.

Couple of suggestions:

nWoD might be good. Maybe with Armory and Antagonists? It's not super-fast character generation, but when you're familiar with the system, it takes about half an hour to draw up a character sheet (use a pizza break). You can use willpower checks to represent horror and terror, and you can pull off blockbuster action stunts easily enough. Combat is midway leans more towards the abstract and dramatic than the tactical, but it's not superfast. You just need the nWoD core, but if you're willing to get another book, Armory is good for the gear and improvised weapons rules.

Unknown Armies would be good, but doesn't really support blockbuster action stunts. If you really want them, just add bonuses for doing them instead of penalties, and you should be able to get away with it.

I've been thinking about running a zombie campaign lately myself.

My plan:  Use CoC for the 'core' rules.  I'm stripping out the mythos and just using the mechanics.  Replacing the "SAN" mechanic with a "Stress" mechanic I'm working on.

And that's pretty much it.  Don't know if it fits the bill for you, but this is what would work for me.  CoC is a quick chargen system, and plays fast if you're familar with it (and getting familiar with it doesn't take long).

If you're looking for some campaign-design advice, I'll point you towards the "One of the Living" book for AFMBE.  Granted, I wrote most of it, but people seem to really like it, so I don't feel bad recommending it.

Check out Blood Games II. It meets all your requirements.

-clash

Quote from: PseudoephedrineCouple of suggestions:

nWoD might be good. Maybe with Armory and Antagonists? It's not super-fast character generation, but when you're familiar with the system, it takes about half an hour to draw up a character sheet (use a pizza break). You can use willpower checks to represent horror and terror, and you can pull off blockbuster action stunts easily enough. Combat is midway leans more towards the abstract and dramatic than the tactical, but it's not superfast.

Yeah, I think combat would be a tad too slow. Otherwise, that could have been my choice.

Quote from: PseudoephedrineUnknown Armies would be good, but doesn't really support blockbuster action stunts. If you really want them, just add bonuses for doing them instead of penalties, and you should be able to get away with it.

Hmmm... this one interests me. I have limited experience with UA first edition. I do own UA2nd but haven't GMed it. Will I have trouble making all the occult elements fade in the background?

I'm going to check it out further. I just don't want this to turn into a full-blown Unknown Armies campaign and the system seems very tied to the setting IIRC.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Quote from: zombenI've been thinking about running a zombie campaign lately myself.

My plan:  Use CoC for the 'core' rules.  I'm stripping out the mythos and just using the mechanics.  Replacing the "SAN" mechanic with a "Stress" mechanic I'm working on.

And that's pretty much it.  Don't know if it fits the bill for you, but this is what would work for me.  CoC is a quick chargen system, and plays fast if you're familar with it (and getting familiar with it doesn't take long).

If you're looking for some campaign-design advice, I'll point you towards the "One of the Living" book for AFMBE.  Granted, I wrote most of it, but people seem to really like it, so I don't feel bad recommending it.

I have AFMBE and a friend has One of the Living. It's an amazing work indeed! I plan to purchase it soon. I'm kinda surprised you aren't using Unisystem for your campaign. What advantages do you see using CoC?

Quote from: RoninFrom what your asking for I would think Feng Shui would fit the bill. Possible source books that could be handy are Golden Comeback (players manual), Iron & Silk (the players guide to improvised weapons), and Blowing Up Hong Kong (Good source book for HK. If you want to use HK as the big city for your second part. It would be a good book to have.) But none of these are nessisary. You would be just fine with the main book alone.

I should say I'm not looking for such over the top action. I probably misled some people speaking of blockbuster stunts but that's really just too much. Plus, I'm not a big fan of Feng Shui (sold my book).

But thanks anyways!

Quote from: flyingmiceCheck out Blood Games II. It meets all your requirements.

-clash

Hey Clash!

I'm reading reviews and this seems like a nice little game. But I plan to have only "normal" player characters. The game seems to put some emphasis on playing "mystical-boosted" characters with options to play normal character. Is that an accurate observation?

How varied could a party of 3 to 5 PCs be? Would they all look the same or could they be very different?

Quote from: Consonant DudeHey Clash!

I'm reading reviews and this seems like a nice little game. But I plan to have only "normal" player characters. The game seems to put some emphasis on playing "mystical-boosted" characters with options to play normal character. Is that an accurate observation?

How varied could a party of 3 to 5 PCs be? Would they all look the same or could they be very different?

Hi CD!

Path (Boosted) and normal player characters are equal options, actually, and the power difference is not large. I played it yesterday with my group - fighting among other things zombies - and the most badass PC is a normal character with no "boost" or magic. There's a lot of differentiation between non-Path characters, with many more options than Path characters have. It's just that Path characters require more explanation, and thus space. The game is a general Occult/Horror game, not a specialized zombie game, so there isn't a lot of differentiation between zombies.

Oh, the reviews are all for the old Blood Games, from three years ago. Blood Games II is a different beast, using a dice pools system rather than the percentile system I used before.

-clash

Quote from: Consonant DudeI have AFMBE and a friend has One of the Living. It's an amazing work indeed! I plan to purchase it soon. I'm kinda surprised you aren't using Unisystem for your campaign. What advantages do you see using CoC?

These days, I'm just a bit burned out on Unisystem.  BRP is just more intuitive for me, and therefore easier to run.

You can run an Unknown Armies game very easily without any occult stuff at all. The game is designed to support ordinary characters, with the magic etc. tacked onto that basic structure, rather than being built into how you make your characters. The one thing you might have to change are "trigger events", but they have no mechanical effect in play anyhow.

Right now, the best options for me if I don't use AFMBE seem to be UA or Story Engine.

I'm still not sure about UA. And as far as Story Engine is concerned, it is quick enough but I fear I'll lack that feeling of uncertainty for a game of survival horror.

How about generic systems? I have GURPS 4th here, which I haven't tried (I'm keeping it in case I am invited to a GURPS game). Is it quicker than 3rd edition?

One other option would be Savage Worlds. If I bought 2nd edition, could I run a survival horror game with it? It is supposedly quick.

Or anything else?

More suggestions welcome

Quote from: Consonant DudeOne other option would be Savage Worlds. If I bought 2nd edition, could I run a survival horror game with it? It is supposedly quick.

There's a PDF mini campaign for SW titled "Zombie Run" which looked pretty fab. I have to admit, my experience with SW was that it read much better than it played.  But, that's just my experience.  Plenty of people play it, and love it.

Quote from: Consonant DudeI have GURPS 4th here, which I haven't tried (I'm keeping it in case I am invited to a GURPS game). Is it quicker than 3rd edition?

GURPS 4e made me love GURPS again. That said, I think that GURPS Hellboy would be better suited to your needs, as it covers both 'normal' and 'supernatual' characters with equal aplomb. Likewise, being based on GURPS Lite it runs very quickly without the potential 'bloat' of full-blown GURPS. And, to boot, I think that you can get the unlimited edition from SJG for $9.95 (this was true when I checked a month or two back).

[Edit: It costs $24.95 now, from Warehouse 23.]