Moved this over from Open. The goal here is twofold. First, design a quick action d6 system for cinematic RP. Second, flesh out a setting. Here are my ideas from the other thread.

Quote from: jgants;266369So this would not be squirrels of the living dead, then?

No, actually that has been discussed before in other threads. I think All Nuts Must Be Eaten would be a good title but I also like the Squirrels of the Living Dead. Unfortunately, the boss thinks the idea sucks.

Quote from: Ronin;266402I guess it would come down to, how does yours do it better or different? What would make me purchase this instead of use an exsisting product?

Simply, the setting. I am not big on selling the system but I think it would be somewhat lite but not what folks would call lite. I will get into that more below. The setting would be, most likely, a mixture of genres. Currently, I was talking post apoc and zombie but I might throw sci-fi in there as well. Again, more below.

Quote from: dsivis;266408I think the post-apoc choice is a good one, provided these two questions are answered in a smart, original manner:
1. What caused said apocalypse?
2. How long has it been since then?

1. The first idea I have is a alien space ship crashing onto Earth. I mean crashing, like tons of dust and a year without a summer. Possibly an extended darkness. Then, a bioform nanite that was meant to terraform a primitive planet (i.e. was never designed to interact with anything more complex than single celled animals) is released. This is the "finishing blow" but we were on the ropes before that.

2. I am really torn. I like the idea of just after the Darkness. Say, maybe 6 months to a year?

Quote from: dsivis;266626I've been playing the Left4Dead demo a bit lately and really like the mutant zombies. They add spice to the genre.
Bill, what do you think about adding multiple zombiforms?

I like it. I would go one further and stat out a couple of versions not seen a lot. Stuff like zombie birds, constructs (protein matter that the bioform has reorganized), herd animals and what I call group zombies (a malfunction of the bioform and its ability to communicate basically links several zombies into one).

Here is my first thoughts:
Alien unmanned probe (big mother) malfunctions and fails to do a close approach analysis of Earth. It tries to land but instead crashes in North America doing some serious damage. The world reels from the environmental damage but the effects are survivable (probably not so much for the US). Then a team investigates the crash site and is surprised to find a relatively intact ship. They are quickly infected and the bioform spreads fast from there.

...Zombiepocalypse...

Now, I have a couple of competing ideas.
1. The bioform mostly creates zombies but in those it does not kill, it "enhances" them. So, you end up with exaggerations of existing abilities. Enhanced characteristics, sight, hearing, smell and in rare cases things like ESP, telekinesis, telepathy and pyrokinesis.

2. The alien ship has an AI on board that has gone mad in the millennia between the stars. It now is dedicated to terraforming this planet at all costs. It has limited control over the zombies.

3. The characters come from a bunker/think tank that is now trying to find the source of the infection and to retake the surface. There are still those that live above ground but they are some tough mofos.

For the system:
1. three stats Mind Body and Spirit. Linda has suggested taking 3d10 and taking the highest to generate them. I kind of like a d6 system.

2. Infection meter. Say, eight levels of infection with points of no return. So, you might be able to get bitten 3 times but then be able to recover on your own. 4-6 times and you need an anti-viral or a special herbal medicine. 7-8 times and you need that anti-viral. Beyond three times you slowly gain infection levels.

3. I think I will need a good auto-fire rules and maybe a targeting system.

4. Some sort of feat/stunt/super skill system to juice up skills to cinematic levels. So, the ability to take a Running skill and spend a point/make a roll and suddenly you can run through the complex maze of pipes in the old abandoned power station.

Anything else you like your zombie game to do? Comments? Suggestions?

Thanks,
Bill

Read (reread?) Day of the Triffids... replace Triffids with zombies and if you could capture that feel... you'd have at least one sale.

One ting that is never touched on much iin most modern Zombie RPGs is inter-party conflict. I think that's a key element (if not the key element) of the Zombie movie as a genre.

In most good Zombie movies, the bad guys aren't the zombies. The bad guy is human nature.

Quote from: HinterWelt;267072Here is my first thoughts:
Alien unmanned probe (big mother) malfunctions and fails to do a close approach analysis of Earth. It tries to land but instead crashes in North America doing some serious damage. The world reels from the environmental damage but the effects are survivable (probably not so much for the US). Then a team investigates the crash site and is surprised to find a relatively intact ship. They are quickly infected and the bioform spreads fast from there.

Bill

Just in case you didn't know (and it might not be all that relevant either) the scenario of an alien craft crashlanding and nanobots bringing the dead to life and rearranging molecules so that folk were of an 'optimum' design for the environment was the basis for a 2-part Doctor Who story in the first of the new series. I think it was 'The Doctor Dances' and another episode. The creepy ones where folk grew gas-masks out of their faces (it was based in WWII) and the little kid kept wandering around asking "Are you my mummy?"

Quote from: Nobilis;267139Read (reread?) Day of the Triffids... replace Triffids with zombies and if you could capture that feel... you'd have at least one sale.

I have not read it. I will put it on my list. Thanks!

Quote from: KrakaJak;267147One ting that is never touched on much iin most modern Zombie RPGs is inter-party conflict. I think that's a key element (if not the key element) of the Zombie movie as a genre.

In most good Zombie movies, the bad guys aren't the zombies. The bad guy is human nature.

This is what I am trying to get at with the infection meter. There has to be more to it than just that but I am not a fan of personality mechanics. The interpersonal actions, I feel, should be left to the players. Am I understanding you right?

Quote from: One Horse Town;267189Just in case you didn't know (and it might not be all that relevant either) the scenario of an alien craft crashlanding and nanobots bringing the dead to life and rearranging molecules so that folk were of an 'optimum' design for the environment was the basis for a 2-part Doctor Who story in the first of the new series. I think it was 'The Doctor Dances' and another episode. The creepy ones where folk grew gas-masks out of their faces (it was based in WWII) and the little kid kept wandering around asking "Are you my mummy?"

Yeah, I remember that one. I still think this would be a good premise for the setting. Slight diffferences and we would see  if they make any real difference.
1. These are biological bio-form viruses. So, they are meant to interact with existing biomatter. The advantage her would be you could have "immunes" who are not able to be infected or partial immunes who could be partly turned.
2. The ship is big. Big enough to have an adventure in. I have toyed with it being a bio-form itself and having it growing.
3. The setting will not be "Stop it from spreading" so much as "how do we recover".

However, good analogy. What can we learn from the episode and bring to the table? Morphing zombies? Bioform reorganization? Additional monsters?

Thanks,
Bill

Quote from: HinterWelt;2672582. The ship is big. Big enough to have an adventure in. I have toyed with it being a bio-form itself and having it growing.

I like this!

QuoteMorphing zombies?

Indubitably!

QuoteBioform reorganization?

Ooh yes.

QuoteAdditional monsters?

One possibility is that if the ship is growing, it is also chucking out life-forms it has more control over as it does so. These could be practically anything.

Edit: This makes the ship kinda sentient. Also, this has the benifit of making the time after the distaster more important. The longer after the event and the more the ship has grown, the more intricate, hardy, controlled and wierd critters get created. Maybe these monsters have a 'date' IE Floating Eye - Year 2, Acidic Protoplasm - 6 months, Devestation Hound - Year 5.

The game changes over time naturally as things progress. It gets harder as resources dwindle but opponents get harder. Might be too grim and suggest hitting early and hard leading to limited campaigns though.

Alls I know is that it ain't a proper zombie game if ya dasn't have a cricket bat as a good old fashioned zombie killin' weapon.  In fact, it should be a good deal better than most o' your typical zombe killin' weapons on account of its rarity and effaciousness.

Now, iffin yer squirrels play a bit o' cricket in their spare time that's all well and good, but I find that the bat works best when its rare on account of no one even knowing what the hell it is when they get their mitts  on it.

Sorta like a gazebo that way.  Never underestimate the power of a well placed Gazebo in solving the immedeate zombie crisis.

Quote from: One Horse Town;267286I like this!



Indubitably!



Ooh yes.



One possibility is that if the ship is growing, it is also chucking out life-forms it has more control over as it does so. These could be practically anything.

Edit: This makes the ship kinda sentient. Also, this has the benifit of making the time after the distaster more important. The longer after the event and the more the ship has grown, the more intricate, hardy, controlled and wierd critters get created. Maybe these monsters have a 'date' IE Floating Eye - Year 2, Acidic Protoplasm - 6 months, Devestation Hound - Year 5.

The game changes over time naturally as things progress. It gets harder as resources dwindle but opponents get harder. Might be too grim and suggest hitting early and hard leading to limited campaigns though.

Perhaps we could have a ground zero and then rings coming out from the ship for the weirdness of the creature. So, zombies are everywhere but the winged zombie is only within 100 miles of the ship or some such. Just an idea.

System Ideas
Stats:
Body
Mind
Spirit

Range: 1-10

Skills: Short list
Range: 1-6

Tests: 3d6

Thoughts?

Bill

It's difficult to comment on a system (simple as you have presented it) without having an idea as to how the extras will affect it. IE mutations, enhancements etc. Do these give you new skills, modifiers to existing ones, a mixture of both?

Edit: Given your ideas about infection, might it be worth having a derived stat called Immunity or some such?

Quote from: One Horse Town;267352It's difficult to comment on a system (simple as you have presented it) without having an idea as to how the extras will affect it. IE mutations, enhancements etc. Do these give you new skills, modifiers to existing ones, a mixture of both?

Edit: Given your ideas about infection, might it be worth having a derived stat called Immunity or some such?

Oh, I am just trying to give us a framework to think about as we go. It may change but this way it gets us thinking in parallel.

And yes, immunity is a good idea. Say the average of Body and Spirit?

Bill

Quote from: HinterWelt;267385Oh, I am just trying to give us a framework to think about as we go. It may change but this way it gets us thinking in parallel.

And yes, immunity is a good idea. Say the average of Body and Spirit?

Bill

Gotcha.

Yeah, average of Body & Spirit would seem to be the way to. Maybe they even have a different effect on infection. Say, the chance of being infected (saving throw) is the derived stat Immunity, but your Body effects how much you can take before you pass the infection 'thresholds' and your Spirit is what determines your 'period of grace' before you start succumbing.

Although a different genre, one of my favourite (and amusing) quotes from a horror film is from Dog Soldiers. One of the squadies has been infected with lycanthropy and he is discussing the ramifications with his mate and when and how you change into a werewolf.

Seargent, "Maybe it's like wanting to take a piss. You know, when you have to go, you have to go."

Squaddie, "Maybe. But maybe it's like wanting to have a shit. Just 'cos you want one, doesn't mean you have to. I mean, when you need a shit, you don't just drop your cacs (trousers) and squeeze one off do you?"

Quote from: HinterweltThis is what I am trying to get at with the infection meter. There has to be more to it than just that but I am not a fan of personality mechanics. The interpersonal actions, I feel, should be left to the players. Am I understanding you right?

The infection meter is cool, especially if the more infected the player is, the more he risks infecting others. Too many Zombie games out there focus on just the Zombies as bad guys.

Do you consider sanity systems personality systems?

Quote from: KrakaJak;267565The infection meter is cool, especially if the more infected the player is, the more he risks infecting others. Too many Zombie games out there focus on just the Zombies as bad guys.

Do you consider sanity systems personality systems?

No. Things I mean are ones that would force you interactions with other players. So, a mechanic that said "I am a prick" then proceeded to punish/reward that personality behavior. Think alignments. Doesn't mean I wont use them, just not a fan.

As for the Infection meter, I am envisioning some fairly detailed rules around it. How infectious you are definitely relates. I am not sure if we should make it a more complex effect or a simple barrier. I mean, with a complex effect it would be along the lines of if you have X infection meter it adds Y to all around you. For a barrier, it would just be passing a point X on your infection meter now means anyone in contact with your blood is at risk. Something to think about though.

Thanks,
Bill

So, some fiction.

Sometimes I think it would have been better to be under The Ship the day it crashed. I say crashed because to say it landed would be utterly inaccurate. I was part of the national guard in Illinois. The Ship came down in the heart of Michigan, near Detroit. We were mobilized and the world began turning upside down. At first it was just cloud cover and wild fires. The guys in my unit could not believe pieces of it had been thrown all the way to Colorado and were starting the fires. As the month passed though, we began to see the infected. It started near where the biggest pieces landed. Strange plants grew, stuff that would move, with thorns that would tear you up if you got close. Dogs and cats and any animal too small would get pulled in to feed it. Then it started going after the kids.

Jimmy Callow was the first we rescued. He ran a fever, had convulsions and bleeding. He changed. Within an hour he was different. He bit Doc Roberts and his nurse and they changed in minutes. My unit was there and we shot them down where they stood. It took so many bullets. There was so much blood. Jimmy was still strapped down but now, instead of just moaning, he was screaming and growling like a feral dog. It was about then that we lost contact with division command. Shortly after that the T.V. stopped braodcasting. The last reports were full of panic, full of mad men in the streets.

Over the year we have had few days of sunshine. We have fought off wave after wave of attacks by the infected. Jimmy changed one night. Changed so much that the restraints did not hold him, a 12 year old boy. He slipped away with the two guardsmen that were watching him. We are down to our last supplies of MREs and canned food. There are only 14 of us left. We will hold up in the hospital as long as we can.

We are planing on leaving in the company Humvee. It has armor on it so it should hold up. All the food plants died out but these Thorn Plants as we have come to call them are everywhere. Cpl. Thomkins couldn't take it anymore. We found him hanging in the cafeteria. We are planning on moving away from the cities and heading west.

May God have mercy on us. We leave today. I leave this letter for anyone who might find it so they will know what happened here. We will leave IR markers along our path if you want to try and follow us.

Staff Sgt. Joseph Peshel, U.S. National Guard

So, let's see what I have rattling around in my head for a system.

1. Random Chargen

2. Stats
Body: 1-10
Mind: 1-10
Spirit: 1-10
Immunity: Body + Spirit
Infection: =Body

3. Skills
Ranks: 1-5
Skill tests: 3d6 < Rank + Stat = success
Mods: Difficulty/combat/distraction/infection

4. Schticks (Taken from my Bizarre Tales System) - Essentially a "special thing" that a character can do. This would work like a skill but have meta-game aspects. So, something like "Squeeze into Small Places" would require a check Schtick + Stat (in this case probably SISP + Body) and the character would find a place where the infected could not get to them (log, crevice, air duct).

5. Wound Levels : instead of hit points, characters will have wound levels. So, their Body will determine how many. I am thinking 1/2 in minor, 1/4 in wounds and 1/4 in critical. So, for 10 it would be 5 minor, 3 wounds, 2 critical but for a 5 Body it would be 3/1/1. Always weighted to the lower wound levels so you would get 3 minor levels but only 1 wound and critical. Wound levels will affect skills but not schticks. I am thinking wound levels should be able to be removed with "proper" medical attention;i.e. someone rips a shirt and makes a first aid check to bind the wound.

6. Combat: Roll under skill check. I really want to go contested check here. So, you roll your attack + mods for weapons. The opponent rolls check + mods for armor and the result is wounds or miss. I am open to suggestions.

That is what I have so far.

Bill