New to GURPS: Zombie Apocalypse

[Xplo]

Originally Posted by Kromey

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!

Well, you're not asking them to convert, you're asking them to play a one-shot. It's a small commitment.

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.

How happy will your players be to play a mystery system that you're hiding from them? I mean, some players are perfectly content to never read or even learn the rules and just let the GM handle everything, whereas others (like myself) like to know all the rules.

Also, if you're completely new to GURPS, do you think that running it as a black box is the best idea? Not to disparage your GM skills, but if I were playing a black box game, I'd rather have a GM who's familiar with the assumptions and mechanics of the system than one who's still learning them.

I dunno, I feel like honesty is the best policy here. It's not like you need to ask permission to run a different system; if that's what you want to run then they have to either play in it or find another GM. If your players hate GURPS so much that they have to be tricked into trying it, I can't help thinking that they're still going to hate it after they find out what they're playing. People are irrational like that.

Then again, I don't know your players or your local gaming scene, either, so it's not like I can advise you here; these are just some of the thoughts I had in response to your post.

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).

A cop or soldier wouldn't be so bad, really. Remember that even well-trained ordinary people are pretty ordinary. A soldier might not be a better shot than a civilian gun enthusiast (Guns 12-13 or so); his main advantages will be good endurance and small unit tactics (which would help the entire group). And many cops only get minimal gun training and are actually lousy shots; they're more likely to be good at aggressive driving or leading in a crisis.

Avoiding anyone with asthma or other obvious physical weaknesses is probably a good idea, though. Figure the zombies got those people first.

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.)

I guess there's nothing wrong with this, but... you can get shotguns in gun stores, you know. You don't have to inherit them from gun champions. :)

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.)

Unless you plan to give her secret kung-fu powers that will let her punch the heads off of zombies, she's going to need a weapon. I might suggest a sword, but if she's winning local competitions with swords, then she's using some fake show weapon, not a real sword that you would actually want to cut people up with.

Actually, pretty much everyone should have or find a gun of some kind, even if they're using them at default, because fighting zombies at melee range is a desperate last act; that's how you get overwhelmed and bitten. If the zombies killed everyone before there was a response then the gun stores, armories, etc. will still be stocked; otherwise people died fighting the zombies and you'll be able to find guns wherever there was fighting (although you'll probably find zombies in the same places). Also some people have guns in their home - albeit locked in a gun safe or something.

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!

I don't think balance is an issue with these characters. My concern would be more for finding useful roles for each character. The taxi driver can drive, obviously (well, probably they all can, but the driver might be slightly better at it). The outdoorswoman might know something about wilderness survival and maybe have Area Knowledge of some wild areas. The firefighter is a trained first responder and can perform basic First Aid. But what do the rest do, other than fight badly?

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.

Again, think of roles. How about a mechanic? Someone who knows something about physical and electronic security could be handy, for sneaking into buildings - or maybe someone who knows explosives, for blasting into them and setting traps. A better medic (doctor, military medic, or well-trained nurse) might be a good idea - although that leaves the firefighter with less to contribute.

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.

It doesn't look too unreasonable, but then, it really depends on what kind of zombies you want. For your standard shambling, mindless, brain-hungry zombie, ST12 DX10 and Brawling 10-12 are probably good; remember that these guys aren't supposed to be dangerous individually, they're supposed to be dangerous in groups of 20. Perception is more important than IQ for this guy; set it where you want but probably not higher than 12. You're going to want Injury Tolerance (Unliving) too. Fragile (Unnatural) handles them dying at 0 HP.

That gives you a fairly easy-to-kill zombie. If you want the terrifying kind that keeps on coming until you blast or chop it to bits, give them Unkillable 1 instead of Fragile...

I'd drop the bit about "moaning that causes emotional distress on a failed will save", since it's vague as hell, and just make everyone roll Fright Checks when zombies attack (which is sort of the same idea, anyway).

Also, if zombies move slowly and in straight lines, PCs should probably get a bonus to hit them with ranged weapons. +2 sounds about right for a shambler, or +4 if the zombie is standing still. Doesn't apply when the zombies are moving at attack speed.