Quote from: Tommy Brownell;326782I really like the idea of building up the tension in a secluded location, and getting free makes it go very, very bad.

So a camp (e.g. Crystal Lake type) or a business retreat (cabins in the hills/mountains)? Perhaps the pcs are caretakers/contractors for a large vacation spot in the off season (The Shining)

Or the PCs end up in a remote town in the middle of nowhere (hills, mountains and heavy woods usualy work best for this) and a bad storm washes out the roads.

Or even a hurricane/tornado causes the damage (Good luck finding a structure intact enough to hole up in, and food!) You would even have some people wandering around in a daze, picking up pieces of their broken lives... making it hard to spot the first zombie....

For a desert type environment... what if they all decided to go to Burning Man?

As for movies, I usualy find myself leery of using too much from them. As PCs (usualy) aren't going to pull the truly boneheaded maneuvers that you see in most films. (and anyone spazing out about their kids/dog will get bound and gaged or at least have their own 24/7 escort)

So, which type of secluded location where you thinking about? On the coast, island, hills, mountain, farmland, desert, countryside?

Oh, and are you setting this in the USA or another country?

For what it is worth, there was a thread in the Actual Play section of The Big Purple where a guy was using nWoD rules to do a zombie game which read great; PCs were wonderfully mundane and trapped in a world of shit.

Could be good for ideas, if you know what I mean.

I tried looking for the specific thread, but I didn't have the time to slog through too much before giving up.  Sorry.

Quote from: Nazgul;326912So a camp (e.g. Crystal Lake type) or a business retreat (cabins in the hills/mountains)? Perhaps the pcs are caretakers/contractors for a large vacation spot in the off season (The Shining)

Or the PCs end up in a remote town in the middle of nowhere (hills, mountains and heavy woods usualy work best for this) and a bad storm washes out the roads.

Or even a hurricane/tornado causes the damage (Good luck finding a structure intact enough to hole up in, and food!) You would even have some people wandering around in a daze, picking up pieces of their broken lives... making it hard to spot the first zombie....

For a desert type environment... what if they all decided to go to Burning Man?

As for movies, I usualy find myself leery of using too much from them. As PCs (usualy) aren't going to pull the truly boneheaded maneuvers that you see in most films. (and anyone spazing out about their kids/dog will get bound and gaged or at least have their own 24/7 escort)

So, which type of secluded location where you thinking about? On the coast, island, hills, mountain, farmland, desert, countryside?

Oh, and are you setting this in the USA or another country?

Very nice stuff, Nazgul...I like.  It'll be set in the US, just haven't decided for sure where.  I like the idea of a storm or natural disaster at the onset of it all.  I think I'd like to toss a few different obstacles in at the beginning:  Maybe a major storm, plus escaped con plus zombies or something.

Ok, the storm. Is it a sudden storm, taking people by surprise, or did people have enough notice to get supplies and cover windows?

What effect does the storm have? Just knocked out power or something worse, such as a damn broken and the town/area flooded? (Ever seen Hard Rain?) Perhaps the PCs are incharge of rescuing people, as cops, paramedics or firefighters.

Alternatively, the PCs were 'rescued' by the afore mentioned authorities. Placed in a 'safe' spot and left there as they went looking for more. Throw in some dead weight.. I mean, helpless NPCs (i.e. Granny, young kids, pregnant woman, wounded father/mother) and you can keep (hopefuly) your pcs from just making a mad dash away.

As for escaped con(s). Well a prison bus that got swept away by the rising water and the guards had to start unlocking them lest they drowned..(only one made it out alive or more if need be) Or just one prisoner  being transported by car or held in the local jail. Is he a regular con? (i.e. Burgalr, armed robbery, drug dealer, gang member?) Some one higher up? (Gang Leader, Made man, hit man) Twisted? (rapist, sociopath, child molester, psychopath, cannibal)

Do you have a general idea of what your players would roll up? As in, would they go for all single characters with no relatives in the area, or would a few of them make characters with families?

I don't know how you handle character creation, but you could always have a list of drawbacks that the players have to take. As in, you put on the list as many different drawbacks as there are players, and everyone has to take a different one. They get points for these as standard, but they should allow you to make customized obstacles. (dependents, addictions, character flaws, ect.)

For the con, I was thinking something closer to "hardened killer" than "burglar".

I don't really know what the players have in mind for the game yet...we're kicking around concepts this weekend when we get together for our Necessary Evil game, then probably actually making characters next week.

They do tend to be pretty light on personal connections unless I hold the proverbial gun to their heads...that said, they do also tend to play pretty heroic people.

I'm thinking maybe letting them hear/find out about the con secondhand...either radio report or finding the car or prison bus, then pulling the old switcheroo where I put a cop NPC with them and he IS the con, having killed his transport.  Not sure though.

Storm...I'm thinking "we knew it was going to storm, but this is nuts"...it gets harder faster than anyone planned on.

Have you decided the reason and vectors for the zombies? Is it a naturally occurring virus, mutated over so many forms? A research experiment gone wrong? A 'terrorist' attack (either a real one, or a setup to look like one)?

What does the media report (if anything?) How do people react to the situation?

As for the living getting turned into one of them, I'd stay away from 'one bite and you're hooked' and go with some infection rules. Encourage players to take a few levels of disease resistant (or just give them the first level for free).

Of course anyone killed by a zombie, gets brought back as one....

Honestly, I don't think "why" matters.  I'm not sure I care to get into it.  At least not with THIS game.

Planning didn't happen as one player didn't show...hoping this is nothing serious.  He texted me sometime overnight to say he couldn't make it, but I haven't spoken with him.

I MIGHT go with the "one bite and your hooked" bit, but make the PCs immune...I can still threaten them without the threat of being a zombie, and the first time one of them GETS a bit, I'm thinking EXTRA tension.