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