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TheOneRonin · 12-24-2014, 06:32 AM

So the recent Zombie Apocalypse thread and my time spent catching up on The Walking Dead inspired me to start working on my own Zombie game.

I'm planning on using slow zombies, but I'm having some difficulty on figuring out how the players will actually be able to kill these things.

Of course, The Walking Dead makes it look a LOT easier than it would be in a fairly realistic game, but is it too difficult?

Let's assume a slow Zombie that doesn't Dodge or Parry and only attempts to get into CC and perform a grapple/bite action as the opposition. Also, let's go with damaging the brain as the only way to actually "kill" them.

A character with a long knife intent on stabbing said Zombie in the head would be faced with the following skill modifiers:

AoA (D): +4 (risky, but one hit is probably enough to kill, and it's going to take the Zombie at least two turns to deal damage).
Telegraphic Attack: +4 (Zombies don't defend, so why not?)
Targeting the Skull: -7

So a net +1 to skill sounds pretty good, but what about characters using weapons they are not proficient in?

So you want to use a crowbar to smash a Zombie skull? Okay, that's an improvised weapon and is probably Axe/Mace -1. You don't have the Axe/Mace skill? Well, it defaults to DX -5. Add all of that up with the modifiers I listed above and your DX 10 Cab Driver is at an effective skill of 5.

Your high school math teacher wants to use that kitchen knife on the Zombie shambling towards him? That comes out to an effective skill of DX -3.

Your deer hunter character is out of ammo and wants to use his Machete to kill a Zombie? At least it's not an improvised weapon, but he's never trained to FIGHT with it, so no SHORTSWORD skill. That leaves him at DX -4.

For what it's worth, I get that these numbers may be very realistic. But are they workable in a Zombie Apocalypse game?

I wouldn't want killing zombies to be quite as easy as it is in The Walking Dead but damn...with the numbers above, it's so hard, only the people with real melee combat skills have a reasonable chance of doing it.

Has anyone had any experience with this in games you played or GMed? Were zombies that hard to kill or did you/the GM give the players some leeway? How did it work out for the enjoyment of the characters?

My initial thought was that single zombie shouldn't be TOO MUCH of a threat vs. an aware, armed, and uninjured character, even if that character is DX 10 and has no actual combat training. But if I go with the rules above, only high DX and/or characters skilled in Melee combat have a decent chance of being able to kill a zombie before becoming a light snack.

I want the players to be capable, but not all super-combat experts.

12-24-2014, 06:32 AM	#1
TheOneRonin Join Date: Oct 2010	Zombie Killing So the recent Zombie Apocalypse thread and my time spent catching up on The Walking Dead inspired me to start working on my own Zombie game. I'm planning on using slow zombies, but I'm having some difficulty on figuring out how the players will actually be able to kill these things. Of course, *The Walking Dead* makes it look a LOT easier than it would be in a fairly realistic game, but is it too difficult? Let's assume a slow Zombie that doesn't Dodge or Parry and only attempts to get into CC and perform a grapple/bite action as the opposition. Also, let's go with damaging the brain as the only way to actually "kill" them. A character with a long knife intent on stabbing said Zombie in the head would be faced with the following skill modifiers: AoA (D): +4 (risky, but one hit is probably enough to kill, and it's going to take the Zombie at least two turns to deal damage). Telegraphic Attack: +4 (Zombies don't defend, so why not?) Targeting the Skull: -7 So a net +1 to skill sounds pretty good, but what about characters using weapons they are not proficient in? So you want to use a crowbar to smash a Zombie skull? Okay, that's an improvised weapon and is probably Axe/Mace -1. You don't have the Axe/Mace skill? Well, it defaults to DX -5. Add all of that up with the modifiers I listed above and your DX 10 Cab Driver is at an effective skill of 5. Your high school math teacher wants to use that kitchen knife on the Zombie shambling towards him? That comes out to an effective skill of DX -3. Your deer hunter character is out of ammo and wants to use his Machete to kill a Zombie? At least it's not an improvised weapon, but he's never trained to FIGHT with it, so no SHORTSWORD skill. That leaves him at DX -4. For what it's worth, I get that these numbers may be very realistic. But are they workable in a Zombie Apocalypse game? I wouldn't want killing zombies to be quite as easy as it is in *The Walking Dead* but damn...with the numbers above, it's so hard, only the people with real melee combat skills have a reasonable chance of doing it. Has anyone had any experience with this in games you played or GMed? Were zombies that hard to kill or did you/the GM give the players some leeway? How did it work out for the enjoyment of the characters? My initial thought was that single zombie shouldn't be TOO MUCH of a threat vs. an aware, armed, and uninjured character, even if that character is DX 10 and has no actual combat training. But if I go with the rules above, only high DX and/or characters skilled in Melee combat have a decent chance of being able to kill a zombie before becoming a light snack. I want the players to be capable, but not all super-combat experts.