GURPS Zombies

[ClayDowling]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

The axe might really be better than the gun at close range.

I was reading through an older wilderness survival guide a couple of months back, and they recommended the axe/hatchet for protection over a gun as well. Relevant points: simple to use, requires no ammo, multiple uses. All important when you are carrying your worldly possessions on your back.

[Keiko]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Gragh raaagh argh rahr grahr
Guugh rahr gragh AAARGH grrr raghgrah
Ungh graghrah mmmm braaains

— Some hack

What is there to say about zombies? Quite a lot, actually! Talk to any 10 "experts" and you'll hear 10 different opinions about the origins, appearance, abilities, and flaws of zombies. Then there are the endless debates about whether a good zombie story requires contagion, an apocalypse, and the heroes dying at the end, or if it can look more like Gothic horror, classic adventure fiction, or even a soap opera. Asking "Do zombies imply horror?" can often lead to more entertainment (and conflict!) than the average zombie flick.

GURPS Zombies doesn't claim to be the final word on any of that, but it does propose a wide range of answers for anyone interested in including these monsters in their games. Above all else, it's inclusive. To the question "Are zombies undead, living-but-infected, or something else again?", it answers "Yes." And to the likes of "Slow or fast? Infectious? Flesh-eating? Supernatural?", its response is "That's up to you, and here's how to do it . . .".

To this end, Zombies surveys everything from traditional restless corpses, through enslaved plantation workers, to the brain-eaters of the silver screen, with stops along the way for necromantic servitors, futuristic science experiments, and countless other things that might be zombies . . . if you want them to be. After putting these myriad monsters on a timeline and providing them with context and purpose, it launches into a systematic exploration of how to create bespoke zombies and use them in play. This includes rules and character templates for the people who deal with them: victims, survivors, zombie-hunters, and zombie-makers. And it wouldn't be a GURPS book if it didn't wrap up with advice on how to fit all this stuff into your campaign, whatever its genre – oh, and a four-page "zombiography" of inspirational source material.

Zombies isn't just a tool kit, though. There are plenty of worked examples: bloated carcasses, buzzing corpses, corpse golems, crazies, face-eaters, galvanoids, ghouls (B-movie and fantasy), infected, infesters, Judgment's Legionaries, lurchers, necromantic reanimates, neuroids, possessed thralls, ReViv™-ified, selfish dead, Soldier X, Vodou slaves, whisperers, and zombots, plus rules for variants and bosses. Want to know what all those are? Get the book! It's available right now on e23 (and watch this space for news on the upcoming hardback release).

"SQUEEE!"

*yoink!*

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Keiko

"SQUEEE!"

*yoink!*

Zombies made you leave your doubts about GURPS behind, eh? ^_^

[The Wrathchild]

Slightly late to the party, but here's my dole - from 30.000 feet high. GURPS Zombies is now a member of the ... well 10 clicks high club ;-). Plane-based WiFi rocks.

[jjm]

I Only Eat . . . Flesh:

On page 22 the above quote is italicized yet completely different from all the other headings nearby. Is this a deliberate style choice or just something gone wrong.

As it is, that quote looks so out of place from everything around it.

Otherwise awesome job and looking forward to a possible physical copy.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by ClayDowling

I was reading through an older wilderness survival guide a couple of months back, and they recommended the axe/hatchet for protection over a gun as well. Relevant points: simple to use, requires no ammo, multiple uses. All important when you are carrying your worldly possessions on your back.

The Mythbusters result makes perfect sense in Gurps.

The axe user (Adam) was doing a vigorous combination of Move actions and Attack actions with occasional Step and Attacks for an average of 14 kills in 25 seconds.

Jamie was stuck with Aim and then Attack on the next Turn (and sometimes requiring 2 Turns of Aiming) to get the required head shots with fewer Moves for an average of 7 in 25 seconds. It also appears to have been a problem that he often appeared to be in AOA/Braced stance which was interfering with his evasive abilities. Mobility is very good against zombies.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Also the same day as a Mythbusters Zombie special.

Highlights:

The axe might really be better than the gun at close range.

More accurately...if you are surrounded. If you are in a position where you can keep retreating, the gun is better for as long as your ammunition holds out.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by jjm

I Only Eat . . . Flesh:

On page 22 the above quote is italicized yet completely different from all the other headings nearby. Is this a deliberate style choice or just something gone wrong.

As it is, that quote looks so out of place from everything around it.

This is easily explained. We have five main-text heading levels in GURPS books: A-HEAD (chapter heading), B-HEAD, C-HEAD, D-HEAD, and E-HEAD. Getting to Know Your Zombies is an A-HEAD, Zombie Archetypes is a B-HEAD under that, The Motivation is a C-HEAD under that, Mandmade Meddling is a D-HEAD under that, Black Magic is an E-HEAD under that, and I Only Eat . . . Flesh is a subheading under that. However, there's no such thing as an F-HEAD in our style, so I Only Eat . . . Flesh becomes what we call an "italic run-in heading."

[Bruno]

I love October. :)

[Gwythaint]

Been waiting for this! Buying it real soon!