Steve Jackson Games Forums - May Run a Zombie Apocalypse Game 9/19/11 -- Seeking One-Shot Ideas

Greetings! After a long hiatus from GURPS, I return in preparation for a possible upcoming zombie apocalypse survival horror game sometime the week of 9/19/11. We might accept Skype or other live-stream Internet players who can bare to game during the hours of 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. or so Central Standard Time. We will be playing in an ambulance station, so a couple of short(ish) interruptions are likely. If interested, let me know in this thread (please don't PM).

Anyways, on to my request. I'm seeking adventure seeds, scenario ideas, plot hooks and devices, setting details and suggestions, NPC stories and backgrounds as well as motivations -- ideas for running the actual game and game setting from beginning to end. I'd strongly consider running a good, free pre-made adventure if anyone knows of any to suggest.

Also, if anyone would like to volunteer to help me make NPC or example player characters, I'd appreciate it. You can post them in this thread if you'd like.

This will likely be a one-shot, but it could be just as likely be a short campaign of three to five sessions.

I've ran very few sessions that weren't fantasy. I've never ran a survival horror. At least one of the players is a long-time gamer, but has very little experience with GURPS.

What I am NOT seeking is advice on the actual zombie's specific abilities and templates. There are several threads for that and at least one is currently active. Thanks anyways. :)

Mainly, the zombies will be of the Night of the Living Dead variety and use my template:

Code:

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. They retain no semblance of their former lives. 



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.

The following is all off the top of my head and may be completely disregarded when making suggestions for the game.

I'm strongly considering a grim-and-gritty "Zombies in Space" game perhaps set in a TL9 dystopian bubble city on a Mars-like planet.

The bubble cities would actually be mining colonies, similar to off-shore drilling rigs.

Synopsis: The planet gets nuked from orbit. Players don't know it, but the strike was to stop the spread of an as-of-yet locally-undiscovered zombie outbreak. As survivors rebuild and attempt to leave the planet, enter zombies.

As far as I know, without doing lots of astrobiology research, many of the zombies exposed to the elements of a Mars-like planet would be mummified.

I guess the goal would be to leave the planet. Why the zombies rise doesn't need to be explained.

While that's not a bad scenario, it's not even close to a detailed storyline and even father from a scene-by-scene plan for a role playing session! As a matter of fact, it ends where the PCs probably start off.

The game will make use of the Basic Set, some Martial Arts, Space, High-Tech and Ultra-Tech. Psionic characters may be allowed as well in which case Powers and Psionic Powers will be included.

So, I open for some suggestions.

Thanks!