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Author Topic: A light rpg ruleset for zombies apocalypse ?  (Read 1380 times)

Offline sundayhero

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A light rpg ruleset for zombies apocalypse ?
« on: April 06, 2020, 07:11:12 PM »
Hi,

Since the covid19 lockdown, we (a group of french gamers) started to think about online rpg gaming (we already played warhammer 4th edition, using let'sroll and google hangout).

Now I would like to start a zombie (and maybe a bit of mutants) rpg session/campaign, but I'm struggling to find an easy to play/learn ruleset.

Maybe you LAFers can help us ?

thank you a lot

Offline Mr. White

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Re: A light rpg ruleset for zombies apocalypse ?
« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2020, 07:36:01 PM »
The best of the light RPGs, is Savage Worlds, IMO. There are a ton of adventures, campaigns, and settings for the system across a multitude of publishers. A great, zombie scenario to get your feet wet with the system is Zombie Run.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/18043/Savage-Tales-6-Zombie-Run

Offline Hobgoblin

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Re: A light rpg ruleset for zombies apocalypse ?
« Reply #2 on: April 06, 2020, 08:04:00 PM »
Have you looked at the Powered by the Apocalypse sort of game? Dungeon World is the most prominent example (and there's a free, simplified 'hack' called World of Dungeons), but there are loads of others. There's quite a bit of jargon associated with them, but they boil down to a very simple system of bonuses (+1, +2, etc.) and success rolls on 2d6: 1-6 is a failure, 7-9 is a partial success (with some negative consequence) and 10-12 is a complete success. Dungeon World and World of Dungeons have traditional hit points too.

You can get the first edition of the original, Apocalypse World, free here. And because it's a post-apocalypse game, it might work very well for zombies.

You might have to cut through the jargon a bit to get to the gist of the rules. There's a lot of talk of "moves", which are basically just labels for certain kinds of actions. So, if you try to beat someone up or kill a zombie in Apocalypse World, it would be the Go Aggro move, which has simple rules governing its consequences. But at heart, it's a really simple game that's designed to foster creativity in story-telling. In that sense, it's very much in the tradition of Tunnels and Trolls, where what looked like a grindingly boring dice-pool combat system was actually designed to make players come up with unconventional and exciting ruses.

So in that sense, the jargon slightly obscures a very robust and actually very old-school approach to roleplaying.

In my recent experience, the PbtA rules (or Tunnels and Trolls!) work really well for long-distance games because players end up focusing on describing their actions and coming up with interesting stunts rather than digging into the game mechanics. So you get a lot more vivid description and a lot less turgid dice-rolling. And the GM prep can be as limited or detailed as you like.

Offline YPU

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Re: A light rpg ruleset for zombies apocalypse ?
« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2020, 08:38:29 PM »
both of the above suggestions are good.

Savage worlds is close to a miniature wargame and good if you plan on a lot of shooting, tracking location and range etc, zombies/mutants with fast roleplaying in between, PbtA is great for story heavier games played in the minds eye, much much looser location and ranges etc.
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Offline spect_spidey

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Re: A light rpg ruleset for zombies apocalypse ?
« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2020, 10:21:25 PM »
End of the World Zombie Apocalypse is a rules light rpg. It uses a simple d6 based mechanic. It's thing is that the group kind of creates/plays themselves with whatever scenario you are playing starting at the time you sit down to play a role playing game. It includes several different zombie type of scenarios. They range from traditional dead rising up to parasites. I have read it, but I honestly have not played it yet. There are a total of four different books. Each covering a specific end of the world trope. There is zombies, aliens, gods, and  robots. Choose your poison wisely.

Offline syrinx0

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Re: A light rpg ruleset for zombies apocalypse ?
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2020, 01:16:38 AM »
Most of my gaming group just played a Zombie shooter using Savage Worlds via a discord server last weekend.  I had a bit more to keep track of in my head regarding players and Z's positions than you would using miniatures but overall it was fairly quick.   
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Offline sundayhero

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Re: A light rpg ruleset for zombies apocalypse ?
« Reply #6 on: April 08, 2020, 09:23:53 AM »
thank you all the answers, I'll take a look ;)

Offline NurgleHH

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Offline YPU

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Re: A light rpg ruleset for zombies apocalypse ?
« Reply #8 on: April 08, 2020, 12:41:44 PM »
oh, and if you want something a bit more novel, there is red markets, which focusus on the comunities that survive the apocalypse and the people that travel between them in order to keep a viable market going.

Offline Manchu

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Re: A light rpg ruleset for zombies apocalypse ?
« Reply #9 on: May 04, 2020, 04:38:10 AM »
For something very, very light:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/the-end-of-the-world/products/zombie-apocalypse/

There are some good suggestions above but they all seem pretty heavy to me.

EDIT: ah, spect-spidey already mentioned this one
« Last Edit: May 04, 2020, 04:39:46 AM by Manchu »

Offline Craig Oxbrow

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Re: A light rpg ruleset for zombies apocalypse ?
« Reply #10 on: May 05, 2020, 10:04:19 PM »
The most notable zombie apocalypse is All Flesh Must Be Eaten which has medium-light rules, customisable zombies with a variety of examples, and sourcebooks for crossing over with various genres and for running campaigns as well as the more traditional one-shots that usually end with everybody dead. It has a free introductory quickstart as well.

Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: A light rpg ruleset for zombies apocalypse ?
« Reply #11 on: May 08, 2020, 01:56:19 PM »
Good call Craig, not sure where my "All Flesh Must Be Eaten" has got to, probably having a fight in a box somewhere with its Buffy siblings.

There is also No more Room In Hell by Iron Ivan Games.