Zombie Template

[Alonsua]

Originally Posted by GreatWyrmGold

Ah, so they're like super-voracious predators? Not an inherently bad idea...except for all the reasons humans make terrible prey animals, from how bony we are to how well-armed many of us are. I'd suggest adding something else that makes them more likely to attack humans.
If it didn't sound like this was the middle of a campaign, I'd suggest something about the setting making other prey animals inaccessible (say, setting the game on a heavily-urbanized island or a city surrounded by fields of crops with few livestock or large game); as is, you're going to need to tweak the zombies or hope your players don't know as much about predation as I do. Are any of them bio majors?
Regardless, you're probably going to want them to go after easier meat when available (preserving verisimilitude and all that). Ransacking supermarkets, mobbing cows, maybe chasing rodents when they have nothing else to do...

I dont know, because there are many players who play online and I dont know all of them. In addition and though this occurs in the middle of a campaign I dont need to disclose all of the details today, but having done a bit of research and according to national geographic humans make excellent prey if they are released from their technology and their friends, so to say:

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/...uman_prey.html

About the "friends" part I understand that any human can get easily infected, since a single bite, or simple contact with bodily fluids calls for a roll of HT-8 to avoid contagion. Now if you bring in a couple of rats and some mosquitoes, I get the 98,15% of the population infected as per the rules, those infected will be unable to feed themselves regularly and will be more dexterous, strong, healthy, resilient and smart than any average person, and all this while exactly the same thing is going on in animal populations. It is actually better for the contagion that the bitten person survives, since if that same person falls to the "zombies" and dies, she will not raise again as a "zombie". Surviving actually leads to extinction eventually unless contention occurs and, though I hardly see any average person being able to shoot down 53 "people" and escaping contagion from water, rats, flies, etc., let alone having the supplies to do so, I am really interested in knowing how would you do this or what advantages you would use, because I may be lacking some knowledge or something :S

[Flyndaran]

If it's mosquito born, then humanity is gone except maybe in extreme permafrost regions.
I literally cannot feel local Oregonian mosquitoes biting me. I was an adult before I ever noticed one doing so.
Though the image of survivors using cans of bug spray like currency is unique.

[Alonsua]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

If it's mosquito born, then humanity is gone except maybe in extreme permafrost regions.
I literally cannot feel local Oregonian mosquitoes biting me. I was an adult before I ever noticed one doing so.
Though the image of survivors using cans of bug spray like currency is unique.

This, since mosquitoes and other carriers will make very difficult to resist contagion. Remember that a critical failure was rolled while trying to develop experimental technology from TL9 at TL8 xD

[Alonsua]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I think it also matters whether it's "don't attack zombie odor", "do attack fleshy lacking zombie odor", or "do attack human odor".

Reminds me of Tremors 2 where it initially seemed like the monsters were trapping them by intentionally destroying machinery. It was just them dumbly attacking anything warm. A case of extreme idiocy having a similar effect to intelligence.

Should I have a spoiler warning for a movie over 20 years old?

The second sentence gets it right "do attack fleshy lacking zombie odor" since most of them will be in extreme hunger. I did not see the movie but I will try and watch it as soon as posible, sounds like fun :)

[Alonsua]

Originally Posted by Otaku

p. B80-81, as part of the "Resistant" trait. It is the example for crafting Resistance to a "Very Common" effect.



Discriminatory Smell is probably the best bet. You mentioned taking Bad Smell and Frightens Animals in another post; if your zombies are more scent-based, this would justify such things. Zombies have a particular odor that humans only know as a repugnant smell, but animals know equals "Run for your life." Zombies can recognize each other by this scent, and savvy humans may find a way to replicate it so as to fool other zombies. Frightens Animals might need a Modifier to work in this manner; animals without a good enough sense of smell shouldn't be affected.

Discriminatory Smell already includes a +4 bonus to Smell-based Perception rolls; not only would this allow zombies to track by Smell, but possibly even to effectively attack by scent if they have been blinded (such as by lightning or injury). It also makes shifting from an increase Per back to a few levels of Acute Taste/Smell (possibly) make sense. Acute Taste/Smell +2 on top of Discriminatory Smell means where a normal human rolls against a 10, the zombie is rolling against a 16. It also means Taste would still be slightly enhanced (Discriminatory Smell is separate from Discriminatory Taste, but the Acute Sense is shared between the two).



I don't have Biotech, and I lack the time to look up the Inventing rules for [Basic]; with what I know off the top of my head, however, it should at least be within "fudging" range. Remember, GURPS allows you a lot of freedom; as long as it won't "break" game balance, immersion, and fun, you can get away with quite a bit. ;)

Is "Very Rapid Healing" allowed by the rules? If not, then perhaps it is a bigger leap than I realized. Rapid Healing is part of both Very Rapid Healing and all forms of Regeneration; this is relevant to understanding what Regeneration (Slow) offers that Very Rapid Healing does not. Regeneration (Slow) means a character regains 1 HP per 12 hours in addition to any regular healing they might experience during that time. Very Rapid Healing just means you need HT 12+ (prerequisite for the trait) and that your normal healing roll recovers 2 HP instead of one (again, this is after the benefits of Rapid Healing, as both traits share those).

My thought was you could require the zombie consume human (or at least animal) flesh and bone to gain Regeneration. I don't know about the science behind it, but at least thematically, it seems okay. An injured zombie (so the ones that look more like an iconic zombie) have an incentive to tear into any nearby humans this way. Uncontrollable Appetite might make sense as a Temporary Disadvantage Limitation for Regeneration in this manner.

Regrowth and Unkillable Lv1 strike me as similar, especially Regrowth if it has the "Minor" Limitation (p. B80). We are talking about things we see in real-world animals. Unkillable might be going to far; perhaps Hard to Kill and Hard to Subdue are a better fit? Though Unkillable Lv.1 only seems to be pushing the edge of plausibility (being TL 9 already makes this seem like science fiction to me). At this level, Unkillable just allows you to skip HT rolls to stay alive until you hit -10xHP. If that is too much, perhaps someone knows of a Limitation so that Unkillable Lv1 only allows you to skill the rolls until -5xHT? This just changes a plausible (even improbable) outcome to a certain outcome.



Please note that I was specifically suggesting the Cast Iron Stomach Limited version of the trait; it doesn't allow you to eat less, but allows you to subsist off of poorer quality food. The amount needed doesn't change, and it should be compatible with Uncontrollable Appetite. Indeed, it should make it more dangerous, as a zombie can more safely feed upon a wider variety of whatever is triggering the Uncontrollable Appetite.

Universal Digestion is the same deal, only even more extreme. This would allow a zombie to eat any non-toxic animal or plant protein safely. If a victim isn't wearing synthetics, that means you can eat them whole!

Thank you, I just added Cast-Iron Stomach. Universal Digestion seems too extreme to me.

About the rest it seems that Regrowth in my book is a TL10 species modification (remember that the research was a TL9 experimental procedure at TL8), while Unkillable is TL12 and Hard to Subdue/Hard to Kill are both TL10. For their part Regeneration is a TL10/TL11 species modification and Very Rapid Healing is a TL10 while doing gengineering (I allowed other player to develop it but as a genetic surgery, specifically bone marrow upgrades affecting thrombocytes so, while it is allowed, it does not fit into the same kind of research). I would gladly introduce part or all of these, but at the moment all of the players respond to the same rules as written on the books and I am afraid that I would set a precedent for disputes by doing so. As for Discriminatory Smell it seems like a great option and I really like it, so I will proceed to drop IQ to ten and include it in the template unless stated otherwise, thank you very much :)

[AlexanderHowl]

The traits listed in Bio-Tech are only a suggestion. Any non-supernatural trait and non-social trait should have genetic components. Just give your zombies the traits that you want them to have and do not worry about Bio-Tech.

[Otaku]

Originally Posted by Alonsua

Thank you, I just added Cast-Iron Stomach. Universal Digestion seems too extreme to me.

About the rest it seems that Regrowth in my book is a TL10 species modification (remember that the research was a TL9 experimental procedure at TL8), while Unkillable is TL12 and Hard to Subdue/Hard to Kill are both TL10. For their part Regeneration is a TL10/TL11 species modification and Very Rapid Healing is a TL10 while doing gengineering (I allowed other player to develop it but as a genetic surgery, specifically bone marrow upgrades affecting thrombocytes so, while it is allowed, it does not fit into the same kind of research). I would gladly introduce part or all of these, but at the moment all of the players respond to the same rules as written on the books and I am afraid that I would set a precedent for disputes by doing so. As for Discriminatory Smell it seems like a great option and I really like it, so I will proceed to drop IQ to ten and include it in the template unless stated otherwise, thank you very much :)

Understood. A bit surprised at how things are supposed to proceed... but, then again, I also still think in 3e terms too much, back when the real world was late TL7 and the maximum TL in the rules was TL16. I need to get used to thinking of TL9 how I thought of TL 10 or 11 back in the day.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Originally Posted by Alonsua

...having done a bit of research and according to national geographic humans make excellent prey if they are released from their technology and their friends, so to say:
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/...uman_prey.html

That's...not what the article is saying. The article says humanity was a prey item for predators back in the olden days (it suggests that predation rates shot down somewhere around the transition from Australopithecus to Homo). That is true, but does not imply that we were ideal prey back then, and certainly doesn't imply that we would still be ideal prey.
Yeah, a lion could hunt a lone human down more easily than a lone antelope, but the antelope would have more meat per bone. Lower risk, lower reward. Sure, there's marrow in them thar bones, but meat is meat. And zombies wouldn't be choosing between lone humans and lone antelope—after the initial, unexpected surge (zombies attacking unaware humans about on their daily business), they'd typically be choosing between groups of human survivors and cattle.

[AlexanderHowl]

I have to agree, though I think that lone humans were easy enough to pick off by Ice Age predators because they suffered from terminal stupidity. The Ice Age predators of humanity (the American Lion, the Cave Bear, the Giant Cheetah, etc) either tended to be very large and/or very fast (the Giant Cheetah was the height of a modern lion and nearly as fast modern cheetah, probably making them very effective ambush predators against humans, especially small children and lone hunters). Our ancestors probably survived by fortifying everywhere that the lived, by banding in groups when they foraged or hunted, and by carrying lots of pointy objects. It is probably no coincidence that human civilization blossomed after climate change killed off the majority of our predators. Zombies generally do not have the advantages of the Ice Age predators, so they really are not that scary except in mobs.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by GreatWyrmGold

That's...not what the article is saying. The article says humanity was a prey item for predators back in the olden days (it suggests that predation rates shot down somewhere around the transition from Australopithecus to Homo). That is true, but does not imply that we were ideal prey back then, and certainly doesn't imply that we would still be ideal prey.
Yeah, a lion could hunt a lone human down more easily than a lone antelope, but the antelope would have more meat per bone. Lower risk, lower reward. Sure, there's marrow in them thar bones, but meat is meat. And zombies wouldn't be choosing between lone humans and lone antelope—after the initial, unexpected surge (zombies attacking unaware humans about on their daily business), they'd typically be choosing between groups of human survivors and cattle.

I think it is important to note that most of our predators are extinct.