New to GURPS: Zombie Apocalypse

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by Kromey

Hello all. I've been spending a lot of time in recent weeks eagerly reading everything I can about GURPS, including the Lite rules. I have ordered my own copy of the Basic Set books, which are currently on their way to me. I am for all other purposes a complete GURPS virgin.

I am currently GMing a D&D 4e campaign (using a home brew setting based loosely on the old 3.5e setting and the events of a previous epic-level campaign I played in, with several updates drawn from the 4e setting), however I'm finding myself growing more and more... well, bored with 4e. I just feel limited, pigeon-holed into WotC's ideas of what characters somehow are supposed to be. It's very restricting. And I want to break free.

I've considered Savage Worlds (conveniently I already have that rules book), but it just feels too simple. Now I'm wanting to move to GURPS.

However, as I'm sure most of you have seen, there are a lot of RPGers -- seemingly especially those who've "grown up" on D&D -- who are extremely prejudiced against the perceived over-complexity of GURPS. If I were to simply approach my group and say "Hey guys, let's convert to GURPS, whaddya say?" they'd simply lynch me!

That's a long way to go to say that I'm planning a simple one-shot adventure set in the early days of a zombie apocalypse. I'm also planning on hiding all the mechanics (although my players insist on rolling the dice themselves -- fine) from them, so all they'll see is dice rolls and results. I'm not going to tell them what system we're using -- just "something I found on the internet and wanted to try out". They'll tell me what they want to do, I'll map that to appropriate actions, they'll roll the dice, and I'll tell them what happens as a result of that.

So, this will require pre-gen characters, obviously, since having them create their own will, of course, violate the "hide the mechanics from them" goal. But I'm having trouble coming up with good characters. I'm shooting for 50 points (upper "average"/lower "exceptional", yes?), and trying to avoid things like the police office or trained soldier (everyone else would be left bored while he mops up the zombies), or the asthmatic accountant (who'd be left bored while everyone else mops up the zombies).

Here are the characters I've got so far:
* The high-power business exec who's father was a world-class shotgunner. Low on combat skills, he has his father's 12ga pump-action shotgun and is not without some skill in its use, even though he never took to it like his father really wanted. (Balance note: Just enough skill with this extremely lethal weapon to not accidentally blow his own kneecap off.)
* The taxi driver. Not the safest of professions, she carries a Springfield Armory XD-40 and spends enough time on the range to be competent, but not exceptional.
* The outdoor enthusiast. She spends more time in the wilderness than the city, and was only caught here by the worst of luck. She carries her trusty machete and knows how to use it.
* The fireman. Strong and tough, at some point in this crisis he grabbed a fire axe, and is certainly no slouch with it.
* The martial arts enthusiast. Winner of numerous local competitions, her fists are the only weapons she needs. (Not really sure how this one will stack up against the others at this points level, so I may fudge it some and give her a few more points than the others.)

The two gun-wielding characters will be low-ish on ammo -- each has a full magazine loaded to begin with, but only enough spare ammo for a single reload and a tad more (the taxi driver does have a fully-loaded spare magazine, plus a small handful of loose ammo; the shotgun is equipped with a shell holder on the stock, plus he's got a few more in his pocket) -- to balance their relatively high lethality and ranged-ness against the rest of the characters. Plus I intend to avoid encounters in areas where the two ranged characters can bring down the zombies before they get close enough to threaten everyone.

So, the questions I have for you, oh might GURPS veterans, is:
1) Is this party balanced? By "balance" I'm looking for a group where one character doesn't rule the day while the others sit back and watch, nothing to do. If they're mowing through zombies too easily, I can always through in things to complicate their lives!
2) What other characters could I consider? My goal is around 10 characters, so that when (not if) one gets killed, I can have the party find another survivor around the next corner (a la Left 4 Dead, although the new survivor isn't just the same dude somehow ahead of them and stuck in a closet) and thus keep all the players in the game.

I'd also like to run these stats for a basic zombie by you guys, see if this seems reasonable for this kind of low-power game. I found it on some forum somewhere, maybe even here, but no longer remember where.


Beyond this little guy (in large numbers), I do intend to also have a few "special" zombies, like an oversized, over-muscled dude that plows through other zombies and survivors alike, and unusually stealthy, quick ones with an unnerving knack for scaling walls and leaping out of dark corners you thought empty.

Stick to the lite rules as much as possible and avoid the complexity issues.

Zombies with Supernatural Durability [150 cp] are likely too powerful for newbie players. Ones with Unkillable 1 [50 CP] are annoying - needing to take them to neg ten x HP can be mean. I'd add DR 3 and ten HP for your initial big bads and give them some sentience that lets them argue for their 'right' to continue their existence.

Nasty surprize some zombies can teleport in dark hexes to dark hexes. Lanterns are thus highly useful and what intelligent undead will try and supress.

[Grey_Fox]

I think the martial artist can work, but like others have said a couple of changes would need to take place, first they should have at least some small ability to use a weapon (most martial arts systems practice at least some kind of weapon at the higher levels) and second the martial arts bit should be a secondary characteristic of the character for example the character is a school physical education teacher who is also a martial arts instructor on the weekend, i think makes for a much more "normal" sounding person.

Something else that might help is throw some spotlight on things that GURPS does that are absent in D&D, the biggest one that comes to mind is Fatigue Points, once you get the books check out the rules for sleep deprivation and starvation, extra effect and the like, this will really help show why the fireman with his high HT stat has some strong advantages against the cop who can shoot guns a little.

I also second the idea of getting the players to create their own general concepts, I would go about it by asking my players to come up with ideas for characters that represent normal members of society, if you like you can even throw on restriction "come up with an idea for an average member of society would not be trained in firearms as part of their job", you can then pregen on their suggestions.

Some other ideas of survivors might be, a star athlete, a homeless person, a biker, a street thug, a construction worker, a VIP who’s body guard just got munched, any typical "helpless" archetype that has been protected by others but actually has useful traits (children work very well for this type of character i.e. can fit into small spaces and can at least cinematically be considered stealthy), an office worker with anger management issues (all those hours of extreme road rage are about to pay off lol), a bouncer, a security guard, a sewer maintenance worker, a gun store owner, a k-mart employee. that’s all i can think of at the moment but you get the idea.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

Another GURPS author once described the character point (fairly accurately, I think) as a measurement not of ability, but of player choice. It would follow fairly naturally that if they're not making the individual choices, the points don't matter quite so much.

This is one of the things that's hard to get players who have mostly played games like D&D. The question I keep getting asked is "What should I take for this campaign?" My philosophy is that every point you spend is a vote for what you want in the campaign.

For example, if you drop a bunch of points in Charisma and Diplomacy, what you're telling me is that you want plenty of chances to show off your negotiating chops. I'll be sure to throw in some scenes where you can get the team through with your silver tongue, just like the barbarian gets to shine during fights and the thief has a plentiful supply of locks in need of picking.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

There are characters in the Basic Set. I also cannot recommend GURPS Horror enough for this kind of game.

Hear hear. GURPS Horror has several different zombie stats, and it's loaded with "ordinary folk" type templates.

If you're looking for some zombies, I was putting together my own document recently. You have to forgive how rough my material is, however.

First, I'm not going to offer a zombie template, because mine is essentially Horror's with a few fidgeting. However, the lenses will work with just about any zombie template.

New Skill: Memories.
This skill represents a zombie's memory of his living life. Roll against this skill to accomplish anything a living person might, such as knowing how to open a door, or how to turn the lights off (and that you should) or to use complex tactics like firing a gun or coordinating other zombies. This skill is not necessary for sapient zombies (such as the sleeper).

All Zombie stats assume AoA attacks, either Determined or Strong. Zombies never defend (Unless they are sapient).

Zombie Variations:

Not ever Zombie was created equal. This list of lenses represents a variety of zombies that you might find after an apocalypse. While I haven't included a core template, these lenses were built with an assumption of: ST 11, DX 9, IQ 8, HT 10. If you adjust these values, you might adjust the lenses accordingly.


Civilian

The standard zombie is a civilian zombie, generally office workers and soccer-moms.

Child
Attributes: ST-2, DX-1
Other: SM-1
Traits: Pitiable
Skills: Area Knowledge (City)-9, Memories-11, Throwing-8, Stealth-10
Bite (8): 1d-1 cr
Pummel (12): 1d-3 cr
Grapple (12)
Thrown Rock (9): 1d-2 cr

Construction/Factory Worker:
Attributes: ST+2, IQ-1
Skills: Area Knowledge (City)-7, Brawl-10, Axe/Mace DX-11, Two-Handed Axe/Mace-11, Memories-7.
Bite (10): 1d+1 cr
Pummel (14): 1d-1 cr
Wrench/Tire-Iron (14): 2d-2 cr (Unbalanced)
Shovel/Sledgehammer (14): 2d+3 cr (Unready after swing)
Hard Hat: DR 4/2 (Crushing/other), Skull only

Scientist/Doctor
Attributes: ST-1, IQ+1
Skills: Brawl-8, Memories-12
Pummel (12): 1d-3 cr
Biosuit: DR 1 (all, +4 to resist contagions.. not that it saved them, apparently)

Criminals/Prisoners
Attributes: ST+1, IQ-1
Skills: Area Knowledge (City or Prison)-9, Brawl-11, Knife-8, Guns (Pistol)-8, Stealth-9, Memories-7
Bite (11): 1d+1 cr
Pummel (15): 1d-1 cr
Knife/Shiv (8): 1d+1 imp
Snub Revolver (9): 1d+2 pi

Police
Attributes: ST+1
Skills: Area Knowledge (City)-9, Brawl-9, Shortsword-8, Guns (Pistol)-9, Memories-8,
Baton (12): 1d+2 cr
Auto 9mm Pistol (10): 2d+2 pi
Bulletproof vest (DR 6, torso only)

Soldier
Attributes: ST+1 HT+1
Skills: Brawl-11, Guns (Pistol, Rifle)-11, Soldier-7, Throw-10, Memories-9
Bite (11): 1d+1 cr
Pummel (14): 1d-1 cr
Grapple (13)
Assault Rifle (8): 5d pi, Range 50, RoF 12, Recoil 2, Rounds 36 (Always suppressive fire, don't modify attack roll)
Auto 9mm Pistol (12): 2d+2 pi
Grenade (10): 8d cr ex [3d]
Frag Vest: DR 6 (Torso only)
Frag Helmet: DR 5 (Skull only)

[Stripe]

Here is my fantasy zombie converted into a Night of the Living Dead-type zombie in monster format. I removed its ability to sense sentient beings, its Dependency to magic, its Immunity to mind control spells, its susceptibility to magic, and the disadvantages Reprogrammable and Slave Mentality. Those last two traits were for creating necromantic servitors.

Remember, with an All-Out-Attack (Determined), they are rolling to attack at +4, or 12. That's not a hard roll to make. They can take a fair amount of damage, too, and not much fazes them or slows them down until they're dead -- really dead.

I did this quickly so there may be errors/omissions.

Zombie

These shambling, rotting corpses limp and hobble forward in the masses -- moaning, growling, hissing and gurgling -- with one goal: kill all sentient life.

For some reason, zombies are driven to slay sentient beings. Fortunately for the living, zombies are slow and plodding and aren't intelligent enough to use tools, weapons, or even turn a knob to open doors. Dogs are smarter than zombies.

At night and in utter darkness, zombies can see perfectly. Luckily for those they hunt, their constant moaning and growling can be easily heard.

Without fear of anything, least of all pain or destruction, zombies give little, if any, thought for their own continued existence. They mindlessly attack without defense.

In combat, zombies instantly go berserk (see Battle Rage, p. B124) and always make All-Out-Attacks. They do not suffer from stun or shock and make all rolls to remain conscious at +4 to HT. Injuries cause no penalty to Move and damage from impaling weapons grant no wounding bonus (see Unliving, p. B380). However, zombies do suffer normally when struck in the skull (DR 2; Wounding Modifier is x4) and die instantly when reduced to -HP or below (p. B137).

ST: 11 	     HP: 11 	Speed: 2.5
DX: 8	     Will: 3 	Move: 2
IQ: 3        Per: 10
HT: 10 	     FP: 10 	SM: 0
Dodge: 5     Parry: 7	DR: 0

Claw (8): 1d-2 cr
Bite (8): 1d-2 cr

Traits: Appearance (Horrific; Universal, +25%); Bad Smell; Berserk (Battle Rage) (6); Bestial; Cannot Learn; Cannot Speak; Dark Vision; Detect (Sentient Beings; Common; Vague); Disturbing Voice; Doesn't Breathe; Doesn't Eat or Drink; Doesn't Sleep; Fragile (Unnatural); Frightens Animals; Hidebound; High Pain Threshold; Immunity to Metabolic Hazards; Impulsiveness (6); Incurious (6); Indomitable; Injury Tolerance (No Blood, Low Empathy; No Eyes, No Vitals, Unliving); No Sense of Humor; No Sense of Smell/Taste; Noisy 3; Numb; Obsession (6) (Kill All Sentient Beings); On the Edge (6); Sexless; Slave Mentality; Temperature Tolerance 10; Terminally Ill; Unaging; Unfazeable; Unhealing (Total).

Skills: None.

Features: Fixed IQ; No mental skills.

Originally Posted by Kromey

But a simple blackboxed one-shot requires that I bring in fully-made characters, doesn't it?

No.

It requires that you either have templates -- that is, partial character sheets -- or such a deep mastery of the rules set that you can create characters on the fly in minutes from player description. You'll want to take the former option. ;)

Below are some "templates." Note that while these are in basically canonical style for (partial) character sheets, they aren't the canonical definition of template used in the Basic Set. I'm just describing these partial character sheets as templates. They may be hard to read for someone not familiar with GURPS, but they take up little space.

Strangely, GURPS character sheets list Thrust/Swing damage but weapons list Swing/Thrust damage...

First are attribute templates, then trait packages, then skill packages:

John Doe
0 Points

Completely average stats. Average build and intelligence. I'd consider giving Jane Doe ST 9 [-10] or even ST 8 [-20] if she's petite.

Nerdy characters such as librarians or computer hackers almost certainly don't need any stats lowered except maybe ST -- just raise IQ and put points into mental skills while take social disadvantages (of which there are many).

Lowering DX or HT below 10 is a dramatic step often better represented with traits such as Klutz (p. B141), Lame (p. B141) or Unfit (p. B160).

For character concepts that rely on stealth, speed and agility, raise DX, possibly as high as 13. Raising DX will raise Basic Speed and Move.

Attributes (0): ST 10 [0]; DX 10 [0]; IQ 10 [0]; HT 10 [0].
Secondary Characteristics (0): Dmg 1d-2/1d; BL 20; HP 10 [0]; Will 10 [0]; Per 10 [0]; FP 12 [0]; Basic Speed 5 [0]; Basic Move 5 [0].
Advantages and Perks (0): None.
Disadvantages and Quirks (0): None.


Athletic Build
45 Points

Good for anyone who's both strong and fit -- soldiers, cops, firefighters, etc. Average intelligence.

Attributes (40): ST 11 [10]; DX 11 [20]; IQ 10 [0]; HT 11 [10].
Secondary Characteristics (0): Dmg 1d-1/1d+1; BL 24; HP 11 [0]; Will 10 [0]; Per 10 [0]; FP 11 [0]; Basic Speed 5.5 [0]; Basic Move 5 [0].
Advantages and Perks (5): Fit [5].
Disadvantages and Quirks (0): None.


Very Athletic Build
85 Points

Good for anyone who's quick, agile, well-built, strong and fit -- soldiers, cops, firefighters, etc. Average intelligence.

Raise ST to 13 for 10 more points for a truly heroic physique. Raising ST to 13 will raise Dmg to 1d/2d-1; HP to 13 and BL to 34.

Attributes (80): ST 12 [20]; DX 12 [40]; IQ 10 [0]; HT 12 [20].
Secondary Characteristics (0): Dmg 1d-1/1d+2; BL 29; HP 12 [0]; Will 10 [0]; Per 10 [0]; FP 12 [0]; Basic Speed 6 [0]; Basic Move 6 [0].
Advantages and Perks (5): Fit [5].
Disadvantages and Quirks (0): None.


Big Guy/Strongman
40 Points

Good for anyone who's not in good shape but is big and strong -- semi truck drivers, road crew workers, bar bouncers, etc.

Raise ST to 15 for a truly hulking behemoth, likely both very large and quite muscular. Raising ST to 15 will cost 10 points and raise Dmg to 1d+1/2d+1; HP to 15 and BL to 45.

GMs should take great care in allowing players to make a stupid brute by taking less than IQ 10. Changing IQ effects every facet of intelligence. Often, creating a simple-minded imbecile is better done by taking mental Disadvantages such as Clueless [-10] (p. B126), Confused [-10] (p. B129), Gullibility [-10] (p. B137), Hidebound [-5] (p. B138), Impulsiveness [-10] (p.B139), Incurious [-5] (p. B140), Indecisive [-10] (p. B140), and Oblivious [-5] (p. B146).

Attributes (0): ST 14 [40]; DX 10 [0]; IQ 10 [0]; HT 10 [0].
Secondary Characteristics (0): Dmg 1d/2d; BL 39; HP 14 [0]; Will 10 [0]; Per 10 [0]; FP 10 [0]; Basic Speed 5 [0]; Basic Move 5 [0].
Advantages and Perks (0): None.
Disadvantages and Quirks (0): None.


I ran out of time. I might come back and edit this to add more, but my basic suggestion for skills is to create a few packages for common character types.

If you're running this black-box style, you don't even need to record character points. Just set most primary skills at 14-15 and secondary, background skills at 12.

Or, don't even record the skills or traits. Just tell the players what to roll against. You think cop PC has a 14 in Brawling? Fine. Tell the player to roll against 14 when throwing a punch. Jot it down in your notes for continuity.

Also, for quick and simple gun stats, see this thread: http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=80515

[dcarson]

To show that it does do stuff other than all combat you should give each character at least one skill that is useful but not combat. The fireman and the taxi driver have already had good ideas. The businessman could have either something from his business like if in construction he still knows how to run machinery from summers in college when his dad had him learn the business from the ground up or a hobby like sailing so he can get them safely out from the harbor. The martial art type might be athletic in general and can climb into upper floor windows for a building that the ground is ocked and has bars on the windows. Etc.

[Frost]

Originally Posted by RyanW

This is one of the things that's hard to get players who have mostly played games like D&D. The question I keep getting asked is "What should I take for this campaign?"

This has happened a lot over the years and I have evolved a standard answer, which is to give the players an overview of what I am using (usualy most non-cinematic, non-exotic advantages and skills) and a few suggested character occupations or roles. Then tell them to take something usefull in combat, something that makes the character useful outside it and whatever else that is permitted that they feel they can justify for their character.

I also tend to take a very broad view of useful, especialy for the combat requirement. From where I am standing being able try talking your way out of a fight, or just plain running away from it are legitimate stratergies.

[Anders]

Templates are covered in the Basic Set (p. 445-454) and they are a way to give your players a lot of option while at the same minimizing the confusion that might strike when you first play GURPS.

[Onkl]

Hi

I must admit, I've not read every single post in this thread but still feel that I could contribute to your effort.

I am currently GMing a Zombie Apocalypse Campaign with my Co-Workers (all totally new to PnP RPGs, but all playing computer games - so I did not have to worry about D&D, but WoW).
The complexity of the GURPS rules can be a problem for new players, in addition, we also had to deal with the language barrier (We all speak swiss-german). What I did was ask them a few questions, along the line of what's suggested in B11 and thus get a character concept.
I then proceeded to make the characters for them from the answer they gave me. The party now consist of an old cop, a steakhouse cook, a bum and a yuppie. I built the characters on 50 points as the group wanted to play as ordinary folks - I supported the idea because, in my experience, players get overwhelmed when they get 250 points and all those skills, ads, perks to choose from.
Since I was able to build the characters for them, I was free to give them each a little bit of fighting abilities as well as social skills.
This worked out quite well and we are all enjoying ourselves a lot. The players don't have to worry about all the gazillion options there are and just got what they asked for.
The problem for you will probably lie elsewhere, at least that's the experience I made myself: I as a GM was overwhelmed with all the options GURPS offers... and one is shinier than the other and so I ended up gm'ing my first GURPS game with too many rules and too much detail, killing the fun for all! I was so overwhelmed it showed and the game suffered.
So try to always remember that GURPS is a toolkit and you only use the stuff you really need.
Of course it is nice to have combat so complex you can simulate any situation. But in a - I guess - cinematic game of zombie-horror-survival it's probably more fun to scale back on the simulation part and allow the players to do things that are probably not 100% according to RAW... eg. I revert to simple attribute checks for a lot of things with new players and don't worry about skill defaults and the like... it's seldom somebody new want's to build a nuclear reactor or something similarly complex.

For me it was hard getting into GURPS and I still have lots of questions. Fortunately the good people on this forum will help you and once you get better at GM'ing GURPS games you will be well rewarded.

At least I was...

Cheers

Onkl

ps. Check out www.themook.net for examples of combat, check out his maneuvers cheat sheet or mine (to which you can find the link in my signature)

[Anders]

Yeah, my first attempt was a disaster. Hot tip - do not try to game a battle between three groups of supers, all 20 of them with different powers and abilities, as your first experience with GURPS. :)