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As a D&D fan who has fallen in love with AMC's The Walking Dead, the other night an idea popped into my head while talking to my brother about the latest episode: "Why not play a Zombie RPG like D&D, except in modern times?" We both loved the idea as something of a break from our normal D&D routine and I started searching the net for a good Zombie tabletop RPG. Unfortunately for me, I have yet to be able to find a book that really stands out from the rest.

So, my question to you Dakka is thus: Have you had any experience with any Zombie Apoc tabletop games? If so, do you have any recommendations for a good one (or ones to avoid)?

Thanks in advance!

I'm trying to make my own tabletop Zombie game at the moment - although the project has fallen behind my list of priorites at the present time (I'll have to clear some room for it as I'm still attracted to the idea). I'd recommend you have a go, as I found it quite entertaining to do so.

I looked at numerous types of Zombie games before I started my own attempt - I think ALL THINGS ZOMBIE is a pretty established ruleset for tabletop/rpg Zombie Apoc action and there are numerous ones on RPG.net you can take a look at. What ones have you looked at

All Flesh Must be Eaten is the only one I've really looked at - I also play Last Night on Earth which is more board game than RPG, but still a damned good time.

The one I have looked at is All Flesh Must Be Eaten, but I havn't found many alternatives. I was hoping for a bit larger selection and to at least get some people's opinions on which sets are the best... unfortunately... there doesn't seem to be all that much to choose from.

On that note though, what did you thinks about AFMBE?

I've never actually gotten a game of it going; it always just seemed to me that zombies work great as a storytelling device or minions, but as far as antagonists they seem kind of uninteresting - I like villains with more personality.

Deadlands and Savage Worlds can kind of do this... Deadlands was initially 'Wild West with Horror" including Zombies.

Deadlands later had Hell on Earth (Post-apocalyptic horror) and Weird West (Sci-fi horror). All basically steps along the same time-line.

Savage Worlds is a sort of 'cousin' system in that it took bits of the Deadlands RPG system and combined this with bits of the Great Rail Wars minis game, a spin-off of Deadlands to make it a tabletop minis game. So it's got a lot of Minin-gaming 'roots' with RPG bits as well.

There's a 'Horror' book for Savage Worlds that could probably add a lot of 'zombie' stuff in.

As Bromsy says, you may find it boring if there's no greater powers behind things, just zombie hordes.

My gaming group and I don't mind not having an arch-enemy or big story pusher of that sort (we get that plenty enough in our AD&D games). We are more interested in a survival oriented game with the Zombies as the primary obstacle, i.e. the group wants to make its way to Fort X and the DM throws all sorts of various "road blocks" in the way to make it interesting. All the while allowing the players to try innovative ways of achieving their goal. In a way we kind kind of want a table top Left 4 Dead or The Walking Dead that would allow the players to really do whatever they want (even if it is risky!). We also don't really need a pre-made world, as we are more than happy to just use Google maps of cities across the U.S., especially since a DM can just use the internet to quickly search for any sites of interest the players might be looking for (gun stores, shopping marts, gas stations, &c).

The problem is more or less just finding a rule set that would adequately cover a modern range of weaponry and a combat system. A system that allows for interesting special abilities and such is cool as well, but not altogether necessary.

@ Balance - Would Deadlands or Savage Worlds be able to do this? I can adapt some things if needed, so I don't need a PERFECT fit, but a core rules system is a must. Also, we aren't all that interested in using minis, as this game would be a "breather game" from our normal AD&D games.

Well, it seems to me like you just need to find a gaming system you like and adapt it - zombies and regular humans will hardly be a stretch for most of them. If you are looking for something easy and relatively freeform, i recommend the Fudge System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fudge_%28role-playing_game_system%29
which is a nice universal system. If you are looking for something a little more hard core, just grab Gurps or D20, which can easily handle what you need. The New World of Darkness core book would also be a nice middle ground - they also have expansions that cover weapons and even ones specifically about the military and police in their world.
All Flesh Must Be Eaten, if you don't necessarily like the rules can still be a great source of inspiration.

This is one thing i've wanted to do.

Manstein wrote:
@ Balance - Would Deadlands or Savage Worlds be able to do this? I can adapt some things if needed, so I don't need a PERFECT fit, but a core rules system is a must. Also, we aren't all that interested in using minis, as this game would be a "breather game" from our normal AD&D games.

Definitely. It is mini-based, however... But, really, you could get a couple bags of Zombies! fromt he game of the same name and use whatever other minis you have around for PCs.

Characters are very quick to build. Stats default to a d4, and players get enough points to bring all of them to the average of d6, or some at d4 and some at d8. This means a player character or big, solo, monster would roll a the skill's die and another d6 (the 'Wild die') and take the highest. Most 'average' rolls are shooting for a 4, so on a d6 you'll accomplish most 'average' tasks a bit more than half the time. However, you get bonuses for exceeding the target by various amounts, and dice 'explode' (Roll the maximum on a die, and you can roll the same die again and add it instead of taking the highest).

In practice while stats are important, there's Edges and Flaws that are more important. Edges are kind of like Feats in d20 and grant various abilities ranging from making two-weapon attacks easier to opening up magic abilities and such. Flaws are engatives that can be taken for skill boosts, and tange from Addictions to missing Limbs, to Cursed. Stuff for the GM to use.

The system is intended to be 'Fast, Furious, and Fun' as the developers say: It doesn't worry about a lot of stuff that rarely actually matters in a game. For example, there's skills for Shooting (which includes all guns, bows, etc.) and Fighting (swords, knives, fists, kicks,etc.). Want a martial artist? Take a good Fighting, but add a bunch of edges to enhance melee by giving it bonuses, etc. A Sniper would have a lot of feats to specialize in their sniper rifle and hide, etc.

The GM is encouraged to allow minor rules tweaks and such, especially if it makes the game more fun. A good example is the magic system: There's no Fire Ball or Ice Storm, jsut a generic blast. The GM and player are encouraged to determine what form each character's spells take. So a classic Discworld Unseen Univeristy Wizard might talk about "Ridcully's Amazing Overloaded Fireball" while the Queen of The Icey North might have an Ice Blast. The damage is the same, but the GM is encouraged to make things interesting by the chosen theme: the Ice Blast might leave an area difficult terrain for a turn, especially if it's already wet, while the fireball would be a bad idea in the library if you want to keep the books. Or for another example, two characters with the Heal power could be a standard D&D Cleric type with holy healing (glowing light, skin mends as if nothing ever happened) and an insect shaman (Skin is knit back together by countless tiny maggots). Same effect, but different descriptions to change the tone.

A possible bad side for your idea is the weapon list can be a bit same-ish. From what I remember, the main book uses very broad weapon descriptions so there's no difference between an M-16 and an AK-47 (except theme). This could be a problem if you want to make ammo scrounging a big deal ("Oops, that ammo is the wrong caliber... Do you want to haul it around in the hope you'll find a gun that fits it?") but fir stats it's not bad. It removes the incentive to overly min-max, and I think there's some guidelines for differentiating weapons by adding scopes, etc.

Combat has some nice 'stuff' as there's some rules for doing stunts and such. Characters can use skills to bluff or intimidate opponents (Zombies would be immune to this, probably) and there's some nice bonuses for ganging up (so one basic zombie wouldn't be a threat... but 4 or 5...). There's also some vehicle rules inclduing an abstract 'chase' ruleset and even some guidelines to do mass WHFB-scale combats.

I don't have the Horror toolkit book, so I can't say what it covers. The best entry point for Savage Worlds is the Explorer's Edition, which is usually a steal at around $10. I know you can get the Toolkit cheap as a PDF as well.

Savage Worlds "test drive" - http://peginc.com/Downloads/SWEX/TD06.pdf

budget zombies!! - http://peginc.com/Downloads/SWEX/PEGFigureFlats.pdf

a website with a bunch of fan-made rules - http://www.savageheroes.com/conversions.htm

one of many fan-made settings which could suit you - http://wrathofzombie.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/wrath-of-zombie-survival-horror-rpg-v3.pdf


I would suggest using Savage Worlds. As Balance said, the weapon list (and other elements of the game) can be same-ish, but you can just add the desired level of complexity to the rules with ease... which is what I do more than often.

Another vote for Two Hour Wargames "All Things Zombie: Better Dead than Zed" and its expansions. They allow good character progression, the game can run the zombies so you can focus on the survivors. Lots of fun.

Check out their free "Chain Reaction" to see the mechanisms, though ATZ contains a lot more. The company has a great Yahoo group where all your questions get quickly answered too.

http://www.twohourwargames.com/free.html for the free rules.
http://www.twohourwargames.com/horror1.html for ATZ and expansions. If you go this route the Risk and Rewards cards are pretty cool: http://www.twohourwargames.com/playeraids.html

Also good are the free set called Dead Walk Again. You have to join the Yahoo group to download the rules: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/deadwalkagain/

And finally, good fun but not too RPG like is AR:SE (Akula's Rules: Skirmish Edition). Short, easy, fun. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roweller/ARSE/akulasrules.pdf from: http://akulasrules.blogspot.com/

Plenty of other rules too. Zombie gaming is a blast! I have over 120 painted zombies, maybe closer to 150.

Check out some of my terrain and figs:

Man, gak just got serious. Thanks very much for posting!

I took pictures of my full horde last night. Some of the bases need work, and I still have a more than a dozen un-primed/built/painted not in the pictures, and seem to always buy more...

I painted about half of them, the rest I had painted by various folks.












and a few more here: http://s247.photobucket.com/albums/gg134/CptJake_Minis/ZombieWars/

What kind of zombies are you doing? Are we talking about Romero zombies or something a little more cyberpunk/sci-fi like reseident evil?

Although Romero zombies are great for storytelling and present an extremel strong theme, resident evil zombies allow for variation in enemy types.

Left 4 Dead is a good example of what I mean where the zombie horde is accompanied by irregular zombies that present different challanges.

If you take this route, I think you can just do D&D 4E or 3.5 D20 Modern with monster manual zombies, and just reskin other monsteres like wights and wraiths.

The Dead Walk Again rules I linked to also have a Left 4 Dead type addition.

Oh my goodness awesome scenery CptJake. That trailer park is so detailed and cool and I could see it having many uses for many different games.

I'd tend to agree that adapting a ruleset you know well would probably be easiest. Maybe there is even a fan made D20 version if you're more familiar with that system (like this one for D20 Modern). But heck you could even do 40k Kill Teams with rules for different Zombie types.

EDIT: Yeah, my final vote goes to the aforementioned All Things Zombie which has everything single thing you'd want in a zombie campaign game. Building up a community of survivors, stockpiling resources, vehicles, enemy survivors, etc. You could literally map The Walking Dead characters and episodes 1:1 with ATZ.

Another game I have, but have not yet played, is No More Room in Hell by Iron Ivan Games. It seems to have Resident Evil and Left for Dead type options for the zombies, though the default is the typical shambler.

http://store.ironivangames.com/nomoroinhe.html

Jake

White Wolf's World of Darkness is easily filled in as a zombie Apocalypse book. All you need is WoD core and Antagonists or Night Horrors: Wicked Dead (I'm a bit rusty).