New to GURPS: Zombie Apocalypse

[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.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Archangel Beth

(Did anyone mention that taxi drivers are likely to be the best suited for vehicular zombicide?)

Some of us even have a ram bar, if the company leaves them on when they buy the Crown Vics from the cops! An EMT in a 6000# ambulance is probably even better-suited to vehicular zombicide, though...

Originally Posted by Stripe

Injury Tolerance (No Blood, Low Empathy; No Eyes, No Vitals, Unliving)

They were immune to the worst form of injury of them all... a broken heart...

[martin_rook]

On the zombie-stat front, I would recommend going with Injury Tolerence (Unliving) and (no blood, no vitals) and add a Vulnerability to headshots, or just negate the Injury Tolerence when hit in the head or skull. The primary effect is that it reduces the damage from bullets but not most melee weapons (and even though shotguns have the damage of individual pellets reduced by 1/5, hitting with lots of pellets still does a fair amount of damage compared to a handgun). This means you can put a zombie down with gunfire, but it takes more shots than a living person... unless you shoot them in the head. On the other hand, if it gets to melee attack range, your PCs having to use a fire axe or baseball bat won't be at such a disadvantage.

Personally, I'd go with a zombie type that is easy to destroy or evade when by itself (if you're careful) and make the horror come from the large scale of the problem. That also contrasts them with living adversaries who would be more dangerous one-on-one but easier to kill with firearms.

[Kromey]

Originally Posted by martin_rook

On the zombie-stat front, I would recommend going with Injury Tolerence (Unliving) and (no blood, no vitals) and add a Vulnerability to headshots, or just negate the Injury Tolerence when hit in the head or skull. The primary effect is that it reduces the damage from bullets but not most melee weapons (and even though shotguns have the damage of individual pellets reduced by 1/5, hitting with lots of pellets still does a fair amount of damage compared to a handgun). This means you can put a zombie down with gunfire, but it takes more shots than a living person... unless you shoot them in the head. On the other hand, if it gets to melee attack range, your PCs having to use a fire axe or baseball bat won't be at such a disadvantage.

I really like that, and it's going in exactly the direction I want to take them: Yes, you can kill them with straight-up damage, but far easier/faster to use headshots. And I like the extra perk here that melee weapons end up being more effective than bullets. Which makes sense, when you think about it: most melee weapons do their damage over a much larger area than a bullet does, meaning they can more quickly destroy/disable the body and, while maybe not technically "killing" the zombie, putting an end to that immediate threat.

Might even go so far as to add an effect equivalent to Fragile(Unliving) to head shots, putting them down the moment a headshot results in HPs less than 0. Sure, the fire axe got the zombie down to -30 HP, but the headshot is what destroyed the brain and thus killed it.

Originally Posted by martin_rook

Personally, I'd go with a zombie type that is easy to destroy or evade when by itself (if you're careful) and make the horror come from the large scale of the problem. That also contrasts them with living adversaries who would be more dangerous one-on-one but easier to kill with firearms.

I do intend to have the zombies be slow, not very strong, and noisy enough to avoid, but scale is the real enemy: There will be times when the PCs simply can't avoid a fight, and in those cases the biggest threat is sheer numbers.

Well, aside from the "special" zombies and the living adversaries, of course...

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by martin_rook

On the zombie-stat front, I would recommend going with Injury Tolerence (Unliving) and (no blood, no vitals) and add a Vulnerability to headshots, or just negate the Injury Tolerence when hit in the head or skull. The primary effect is that it reduces the damage from bullets but not most melee weapons (and even though shotguns have the damage of individual pellets reduced by 1/5, hitting with lots of pellets still does a fair amount of damage compared to a handgun). This means you can put a zombie down with gunfire, but it takes more shots than a living person... unless you shoot them in the head. [snip]

It's very much worth noting that a build with Injury Tolerance (No Blood, No Vitals, Unliving) already lacks anything special to protect the Brain (it is Homogenous that includes No Brain, and if they had that they wouldn't need No Vitals because it comes with that, too). Zombies with the above advantages will go down to headshots as easily as a normal person - We had a large boxer type consistently one-shotting similar creatures with his bare hands in my Halloween game a few years ago.

[Dobb]

I like to pitch in as a zombie and GURPS fan.

The thing about jobs is that, they're positions you filled based on your technical training, it's a title. A surgeon may very well be a great shot because he has great hand-eye coordination. But with high skills comes great compromise, so you have them have quirks and disadvantages. Anyone can be anyone in my opinion, you will find skills useful in dire situations if you so manage to coerce it to occur, as a GM. What good a garbage man can do in Z-Day? Well, you may allow him to have good sense of scavenging skills.

The beauty of GURPS from what I've read and tried out is the zany way of making a character, what the OP wants is a believable set of character in a zombie apocalypse scenario. I like to suggest your players to write a backstory and then stat for them or if they're actually interested in the skills, let them do it as well as the backstory.

[Danukian]

Originally Posted by Dobb

I like to pitch in as a zombie and GURPS fan.

To clear things up, are you a fan of both zombies and GURPS, or a zombie that is a GURPS fan? ;p