Spookier zombies ('n such)

[larsdangly]

I like games where the corporeal undead are a bit scarier than just a clumsy guy who looks like he could use a bath. Here's a simple variant on the TFT zombie (extendable to skeletons, etc.):

- Not subject to incapacitation or death by accumulated ST losses.
- IS subject to all other effects of damage.

Under these rules, a zombie will get temporarily set back on its heels by 5 point wound (or 2 point head wound), knocked down, and forced to retreat, and will fight at -3 DX once hacked down below 3 ST, but it will keep on coming at you regardless. An aimed shot to the arm or leg will degrade its ability to fight ... but it will keep coming. The only attack that will effectively take it out of the fight for good is a 5+ damage aimed shot to the head, which can be interpreted as the loss of orientation, vision, etc. rather than unconsciousness, per se.

I like house rules that can be articulated very briefly but have substantial impact at the table. I think this accomplishes that - give it a try and see what your players make of ever-ready zombies!

[Skarg]

Here's one from my TFT campaign along those lines. Undead, simple, impactful (has much more impact when imported to GURPS...):


Berserker Ghouls

A type of ghoul (q.v. ITL), they can and do all go berserk when they engage in combat. They hoot and scream a lot, and tend to go around in packs of a dozen or more, relying on their numbers and frenzy to overwhelm their victims. Their tactic is generally to all try to get their victims in HTH combat.

[JLV]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

I like games where the corporeal undead are a bit scarier than just a clumsy guy who looks like he could use a bath. Here's a simple variant on the TFT zombie (extendable to skeletons, etc.):

- Not subject to incapacitation or death by accumulated ST losses.
- IS subject to all other effects of damage.

Under these rules, a zombie will get temporarily set back on its heels by 5 point wound (or 2 point head wound), knocked down, and forced to retreat, and will fight at -3 DX once hacked down below 3 ST, but it will keep on coming at you regardless. An aimed shot to the arm or leg will degrade its ability to fight ... but it will keep coming. The only attack that will effectively take it out of the fight for good is a 5+ damage aimed shot to the head, which can be interpreted as the loss of orientation, vision, etc. rather than unconsciousness, per se.

I like house rules that can be articulated very briefly but have substantial impact at the table. I think this accomplishes that - give it a try and see what your players make of ever-ready zombies!

I'm a bit confused here. Are you saying there is no way to actually destroy a Zombie? I mean, at some point the cumulative damage would result in lopped off legs, arms, heads, backbones, rib cages and other significant structural damage that would literally prevent the Zombie for engaging in locomotion; do you somehow account for those, and I'm just missing it?

[RobW]

Originally Posted by JLV

Are you saying there is no way to actually destroy a Zombie? I mean, at some point the cumulative damage...

The Walking Dead approach would be, at some point you say the zombie is down for good (eg -10 ST or whatever). But until the headshot, the head and anything somehow still connected to it can bite/grab/jump scare the unwary or someone forced into the zombie's hex.

[larsdangly]

Originally Posted by JLV

I'm a bit confused here. Are you saying there is no way to actually destroy a Zombie? I mean, at some point the cumulative damage would result in lopped off legs, arms, heads, backbones, rib cages and other significant structural damage that would literally prevent the Zombie for engaging in locomotion; do you somehow account for those, and I'm just missing it?

I suppose the answer depends on your definition of 'destroyed'. There are clearly ways to render one incapable of hurting you in combat, so functionally it is 'destroyed' as a combat figure at that point. But there is no way to use standard combat RAW to make it no longer exist. If you want to render it down to its atomic constituents, that's probably better handled by GM ruling on what occurs when a zombie is immersed in acid or held in a blast furnace for 10 minutes or something.

Perhaps it sounds less crazy/confusing if you ask yourself how you would completely destroy a combatant's body in normal play. There isn't an obvious answer to that question. There are ways to make a foe accumulate enough damage that it can no longer do certain things. And if total damage is great enough and goes unhealed long enough those certain things include breathing. But what if you don't need to breath? Or pump blood or anything else like that.

[larsdangly]

Originally Posted by RobW

The Walking Dead approach would be, at some point you say the zombie is down for good (eg -10 ST or whatever). But until the headshot, the head and anything somehow still connected to it can bite/grab/jump scare the unwary or someone forced into the zombie's hex.

Exactly. Functionally, a zombie becomes a nuisance creature once a couple of its limbs are incapacitated. And a zombie with ST reduced below 3 will have a pretty low DX, perhaps also putting it into the nuisance creature category. But you need to do something pretty specific to get it so incapacitated that it can be completely ignored. The motivation behind my suggestion here is that I think of this outcome as a feature, not a problem. We already have lots of monsters that are defeated following a standard recipe. What do you do about a monster that can't be defeated by that recipe?

[Brandy]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

What do you do about a monster that can't be defeated by that recipe?

I hear that "Kill it with Fire" is a popular solution. :)

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

I like house rules that can be articulated very briefly but have substantial impact at the table. I think this accomplishes that - give it a try and see what your players make of ever-ready zombies!

This is especially true for TFT. Nice job!

[JLV]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

I suppose the answer depends on your definition of 'destroyed'. There are clearly ways to render one incapable of hurting you in combat, so functionally it is 'destroyed' as a combat figure at that point. But there is no way to use standard combat RAW to make it no longer exist. If you want to render it down to its atomic constituents, that's probably better handled by GM ruling on what occurs when a zombie is immersed in acid or held in a blast furnace for 10 minutes or something.

Perhaps it sounds less crazy/confusing if you ask yourself how you would completely destroy a combatant's body in normal play. There isn't an obvious answer to that question. There are ways to make a foe accumulate enough damage that it can no longer do certain things. And if total damage is great enough and goes unhealed long enough those certain things include breathing. But what if you don't need to breath? Or pump blood or anything else like that.

Zombies as "Terminators"!!! Awesome! ;-)

[Shadekeep]

I put Feral Zombies in my unlife book, and they function pretty much like Romero zombies. Basically they are regular TFT zombies which have no one controlling them, and in order to stave off the daily ST loss they seek out flesh to consume. If they can feed on the living, then no decay for that day. This has the side effect of making a zombie army cheaper for an evil necromancer to maintain - you just have to keep them fed.

Feral Zombies also have a contagion aspect. Any bite from one has a 50% chance of passing along the contagion, and when someone infected dies, they rise as a Feral Zombie as well. Also a useful aspect for the aforementioned evil necromancer.