Skill Default Issues

[Owlglass Moot]

Originally Posted by Witigis

A bit off-topic:

As I do currently work on a Zombie-apocalypse setting myself, I have to admit that I am a bit skeptic about your campaign setting:
It would interest me how you handle combat in that setting. As at least one thread has shown, there is quite a big problem with default gun skills or even average skill against zombies (to-hit difficulties for classical head shots). With the gun skill you mentioned for the character of your friend he would almost need to stick his gun into the mouth of the beast for a successful hit (and he would probably fail this attempt, too).
You mentioned the intense use of NPCs in the first sessions, but I see the great danger, that this may just frustrate the players, frex if the seasoned SWAT-officer NPC just saved their skin (or brains) for the 57th time, while they just shot some holes in the air around the zombies head...
I am really interested in how other GMs handle this setting, so this is not thought as criticism to your planning, just interest in problem solution (and maybe I should open a new thread on this topic...).

I'm using a variant of the living, infected, not-really-a-zombie zombie from 28 Days Later, The Last of Us, or The Crazies, for example. Any sort of damage can kill them, not just head shots, although they're still harder to take down than an average human. I doubt the issue of gun skills will come up much, anyway; gunfire is like ringing a dinner bell, so melee weapons will probably get a lot of focus.

As for your second worry, the NPCs are mostly a side-effect of having only two players—Not a whole lot of skill variety there. So a few of the NPCs are included to help out with skills that are probably needed, but which the PCs have zero experience with. Most of the rest are there for emotional/roleplaying sake or to serve as a buffer and rack up the body count. None of the NPCs are at all combat-savvy, so there's no real chance of them upstaging the PCs in that regard. Most of them are liabilities, now that I think about it. :\

Both of my players enjoy the idea of being Rick Grimes and leading a relatively inept group of survivors, I think, so this should be right up their alley! To help get a better idea of the "group":

• PC #1: The aforementioned over-employed math teacher.
• PC #2: A charismatic but sociopathic banker (think Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, without all the murder).

And the prospective NPCs, at least a few of whom will probably be dead by the end of the first session:

• The math teacher's son and emotionally distant wife.
• A drunk, haggard, salt-of-the-earth Walmart cashier.
• An acutely depressed boat captain.
• A neurotic, not-especially-skilled clinic doctor.
• A cowardly bartender.
• An awkward German engineer.
• A rude, selfish attorney (a.k.a. the d-bag in every zombie movie who gets most of the group killed).
• A helicopter mom and her horror movie-loving teenage son.

I'd enjoy hearing more about your campaign! Always looking for advice/tips/ideas/what-have-you.

Edit: I'm also incredibly excited about GURPS: Zombies, Kromm! I keep checking your LiveJournal every few days to see if a release date has been set.