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Star Guildswoman

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I'm a D&D player and have been for a while but I was rather enthralled by an anime I watched called Highschool of the Dead. It got me thinking. How could I make this into an RPG tabletop so players could try this out as survival horror themselves.


so while I've been tweaking mechanics and waiting for a few articles to come out to wrap them up I've worked on a basic overlying story for the game that I wanted a bit of critique on.

Atropus, The World Born Dead is an "Elder Evil" in D&D notable for being the size/shape of a moon but who's presence in the sky begins to call back from the grave those that have died. He is said to be stronger than the gods are.

So while the heroes and gods of the world are off trying to stop this thing or protect major settlements while demon lords like Orcus roam free in this chaotic undead wasteland smaller villages and settlements basically get forgotten.

Without class or weapons or heroes the civilians, played by players, will have to take up whatever arms they can and run, hide, and defend themselves. Atropus's power is greatest at night so travel during the day is wisest. But once the sun set's it becomes Zombie Night and that's when the fun really starts.

Any thoughts/

Spooky Girl

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yum_tea A couple of points for you.

1) Putting up raw Commoners against a horde of zombies is pretty much begging for a high character turnover rate. Zombies will tear through a party of Commoners pretty damn quickly; you don't have to give your party class levels, but if you want them to start at the bottom of the pile then you should at least limit what you throw up against them.

At least zombies can't have class levels, I guess.

2) If you want to do an anime-based tabletop game, then you should look into Big Eyes Small Mouth (BESM). It is an anime-based game that has done a very good job of mechanically representing a lot of common tropes found in anime and manga. You can stat a zombie horde fairly easily in this system, as well as make Joe Everyman PCs that won't necessarily be as weak and useless as the D&D Commoner, meaning your playergroup actually has a small chance to survive long enough for you to tell your story and have them interact with the plot.

3) There are survival horror games out there already. Palladium's Nightbane and Beyond the Supernatural are good for survival horror, as is Call of Cthulhu and practically anything out of White Wolf's World of Darkness line.

4) If you really want to use D&D for your setting, then I would suggest using the 3.0 and 3.5 splats Book of Vile Darkness, Heroes of Horror, and Ghostwalk. There are mechanics and ideas you can use in those books to really jumpstart your gaming sessions.

Star Guildswoman

15,900 Points
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  • Survivor 150
  • Champion 300
Sweet Peppermint Tea
yum_tea A couple of points for you.

1) Putting up raw Commoners against a horde of zombies is pretty much begging for a high character turnover rate. Zombies will tear through a party of Commoners pretty damn quickly; you don't have to give your party class levels, but if you want them to start at the bottom of the pile then you should at least limit what you throw up against them.

At least zombies can't have class levels, I guess.

2) If you want to do an anime-based tabletop game, then you should look into Big Eyes Small Mouth (BESM). It is an anime-based game that has done a very good job of mechanically representing a lot of common tropes found in anime and manga. You can stat a zombie horde fairly easily in this system, as well as make Joe Everyman PCs that won't necessarily be as weak and useless as the D&D Commoner, meaning your playergroup actually has a small chance to survive long enough for you to tell your story and have them interact with the plot.

3) There are survival horror games out there already. Palladium's Nightbane and Beyond the Supernatural are good for survival horror, as is Call of Cthulhu and practically anything out of White Wolf's World of Darkness line.

4) If you really want to use D&D for your setting, then I would suggest using the 3.0 and 3.5 splats Book of Vile Darkness, Heroes of Horror, and Ghostwalk. There are mechanics and ideas you can use in those books to really jumpstart your gaming sessions.


1) I understood this at the beginning. As this is based off of 4e most of the zombies will be minions of different levels some with additional hit points but nothing drastic. I'm going for a campaign wide "tomb of horrors" here where players need to think about their position rather than run in with a hoe or a shovel. Turnover rate is based on individual player intelligence and skill. Its a game of common sense and planning not slaying and slashing. at first enemies will be few. I won't take a handful of random civilians and dump them in a horde right away. And running is always an option.

2) Not really in to BESM as a friend of mine has tried to get me into it. It wasn't an anime style I was looking for but more of a post apocalyptic setting where common players are the survivors not heroes. There really isn't to much a story in this or a plot. The players will know the end of the world is drawing near and will strike out to survive the apocalypse. Where they go from there is there own story.

3) I am aware of this. But I want to try my own idea to see if it will be interesting to potential players. Just like any person who wants to start a successful webcomic is a drop in a bucket at best. I won't give up just because there are many more.

4) I don't quite understand 3.0-3.5, I started with 4e thats what I understand. I have been using some Zombie themes and the book "Open Grave" aswell as calling in Zombie minions from all over the books. I want zombies that go down but not nescessarily easily. Some yes as a way of showing players, especially commoners, that they can survive. I won't be throwing in more powerful ones but I will be infecting some with a plague.

Sorry for the counter argument.

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