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Author Topic: 28 Hours Later  (Read 3384 times)

Offline jizbrand

  • Student
  • Posts: 13
28 Hours Later
« on: October 21, 2007, 03:35:43 PM »
Here’s a capsule summary of the game we did last night.  I designed the scenario to be a Pulp scenario, but the player who was going to do our Halloween scenario wasn't able to do it because of time constraints, so I modified this to be our Horror/Halloween game.  We used 45 Adventure as the baseline set of rules for this episode.

SETUP:  We played on a 6’x8’ table set up as a small town.  There were six players, each with a total of six grade levels apiece.  The factions were:  FBI and Police, National Guard, the Zamboni Gang, scientists from the University, German agents, and a pack of journalists.  There was also a non-player group of airport security guards.  The table was set up so that the train station was in one corner of the board and the local airport, with a single plane being prepped for flight in the opposite diagonal corner (so 10’ away from the train station).  Activation was by card deck.  Each building had an encounter marker at each door; the encounter marker was only to indicate that the building had been explored (so, if there were three markers, the building could be explored three times).  We played for three and a half hours.

SCENARIO:  The players had all received the basic scenario about a week in advance and could plan their forces accordingly.  The scenario was:

Something is going on in the city of Birkenhead.  What, exactly, it is is uncertain, but bits of information have been coming out from the city and from various state agencies.  Apparently, one entire quarter of the city is being cordoned off, the state police are involved and the governor has activated the National Guard.  Reports abound of many deaths.  There are rumors of a tremendous explosion in the industrial quarter that has opened a deep crater into the earth.  Another rumor reports strange lights in the sky and something falling to earth in that quarter of the city.  Yet another is that a mild earthquake has broken down the enclosures in the city zoo and the wild animals are running amok in the city.  Whatever is actually going on, the players and their associates have been drawn to the city.  They’ve caught the train from Pittsburgh to Birkenhead along with various other groups who are interested in finding out what is happening.  The train makes a stop a small hamlet southwest of Birkenhead.

In addition to characters and weapons, each player also had ten bonus points to spend on extra weapons, ammunition, or any inventions or special equipment (as contained in the basic rulebook under Inventor, or in the Super Science supplement).  Because of security concerns, all players’ weapons were stored in a locked container in the train’s baggage card and their extra equipment in footlockers in the same car.

On game night, the players received a scenario update that provided a detailed timeline of the events in Birkenhead.  As the players debarked the train in the hamlet of Oswestry, the train was called back to Pittsburgh and only their footlockers had been unloaded; their weapons went back on the train.  So the players were basically unarmed at the start of the scenario.  At that point, they players knew that The Birkenhead Incident was the inadvertent creation of zombies.

THE ENEMY:  At the beginning of the scenario, the enemy (controlled by the GM) consisted of two zombies – one in each corner of the board not containing the train station or the airport.  All players started at the train station and knew that the plane at the airfield would be ready to take off three and a half hours later.

RULES MODS:

1.  When attacking zombies, players could spend one action aiming and their second action attacking.  If they did this, all hits were considered to be head hits.  Normal rules applied when the zombies attacked the players or when the players fought each other.

2.  The effects of weapons and improvised weapons were unknown until they were used.  Then, the player rolled a D6 on a table to determine the effect which ranged from instant death, through normal effects, to no effect at all, or even the zombie being split into D3 autonomous parts that continued to operate normally.

3.  Each time a zombie entered a building, the GM rolled a number of D6s to determine how many zombies actually came out of the building.  Most buildings were just 1D6 (to represent a family in a house, or customers in a shop).  The Hospital and the School each produced 3D6 zombies (lots of candidates there for zombification).

4.  Activation was by card deck with one card for each faction that allowed all figures in the faction to be activated simultaneously.  There was also one card that activated all Grade 1 figures, two cards that activated all Grade 2 figures, and three cards that activated all Grade 3 figures.  For each activation, each figure got two actions.  So, theoretically, each Grade 3 figure was activated four times per turn, Grade 2s activated three times per turn, Grade 1s twice per turn, and half grades only once per turn.  A Grade 3 who did nothing both move would, therefore, be able to move 20” per turn.

So, the intent was that the players start essentially unarmed with a lot a ground to cover to get to safety but only two zombies to contend with.  But each time the zombies moved, more were created.

GAME FLOW: By the end of the game, most of the players’ figures had some kind of weapons ranging from crowbars, rakes, hypodermic needles, a rifle, some pistols, cans of gasoline, an arc welder, and kitchen knives.  The gasoline cans had a 5” burst diameter but, as was found out the first time they were used, the fire caused the zombies to literally explode (into 1D3 fragments each) and each fragment continued to trudge forward independently.  Rifles and pistols turned out to work normally against zombies but several other items (including fire extinguishers) caused instant death!  Along the way, the players found several survivors who had to be taken along as well as a couple of stray dogs to provided good service.

In the last half hour of the game, the higher grade characters had reached the airport and were jockeying for the six passenger seats on the small plane.  The number of zombies on the board was at least sixty, converging in four large groups (and several smaller groups) on the airfield.  But I waived moving them much at that point (except to keep a sense of urgency) because the action had now switched to conflict between the players for escape.

The FBI gunned down the German agents to keep them from escaping while the National Guard fought it out with the Zambonis who were trying to kick other groups off the plane.  In the end, the escapees numbered two National Guardsmen, two FBI agents, a couple of journalists.  One of the scientists who was wearing a pair of rocket boots clung desperately to the wing of the plane as it took off.  The remaining National Guardsmen, a journalist, and the airport security guards gallantly held off the zombie horde while the plane taxied down the runway.  But the absolute highlight was one of the scientists who had a gas gun which had no effects on the zombies.  So he used it on himself as he was surrounded by five ravenous undead.

Oh, and of the six passengers, two had been bitten by zombies earlier.  That may be the basis of a quick scenario next time on the plane itself.  I plan on calling it Flight of the Living Dead.

Offline fastolfrus

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5247
28 Hours Later
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2007, 04:22:39 PM »
Sounds like tremendous fun.
I might have a shot at something similar.

In the absence of pictures, or a map, how many buildings were there ?
Did you use any vehicles ?
Gary, Glynis, and Alasdair (there are three of us, but we are too mean to have more than one login)

Offline jizbrand

  • Student
  • Posts: 13
28 Hours Later
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2007, 05:02:48 PM »
The player who usually takes pictures didn't bring his camera last night, so no pictures.

There were 25 Plasticville buildings, O Gauge.  They covered most of the table with 6" roads between city blocks (blocks were 2-3 buildings), and a 12" landing strip that ran the length of one of the short sides of the table.

There were three vehicles -- two touring cars and a truck (which no one could start).  One car crashed early on; the second got the journalists to the airfield after running over about a dozen zombies.

I certainly had fun running it.  All the players seemed fully engaged, so I hope they had a good time too.

Offline fastolfrus

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5247
28 Hours Later
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2007, 05:19:39 PM »
I envy you for the Plasticville buildings - from what I have seen of them they look ideal for gaming, but rare as hen's teeth in the UK.

Offline Mo

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 593
    • Oddman Productions
28 Hours Later
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2007, 05:22:05 PM »
Sounds like a lot of fun. In your estimation was .45A a good vehicle for a zombie game? It sounds like it worked very well.

I look forward to the sequel

Marc
Fantastic Worlds: Pulp Action in the Far Reaches of Space
http://oddmanproductions.com

Offline jizbrand

  • Student
  • Posts: 13
28 Hours Later
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2007, 06:36:17 PM »
45 Adventure worked very well.  Admittedly, with the number of zombies that I expected, I ignored damage to the zombies, as only head shots would kill.  And the players generally spent one action aiming for the head shot and their second action attacking.

I was very happy with the speed of play using those rules.  Because of the way events unfolded, I know we played at least twelve turns (with each turn being about 2-3 times the length of a normal turn because of the multiple activations in each turn).

Offline cwchmc

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 209
28 Hours Later
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2007, 10:08:49 PM »
This was a great game. Prolly the most out right FUN game of .45 Adventure we have played yet. Games like this show the versatility of .45 Adventure. With a few minor modifications, we took a game designed for a few figs per side on a 2' x 2' board, and played about 20 survivors against scores of zombies on something like a 6' x 8' table. And it was great fun and took less than 4 hours.

Chuck

Offline jizbrand

  • Student
  • Posts: 13
28 Hours Later
« Reply #7 on: October 22, 2007, 02:26:10 AM »
And the best part:  after the guys left and I put all the toys away, one of the TV stations was running Dawn of the Dead, so I stayed up late to watch it.  Then today, I put on Shaun of the Dead.  And this evening, another station ran 28 Days Later.

I'm all zombied out :)

Offline KeyanSark

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 924
  • Lead for the Lead Mountain!
    • http://www.loresdelsith.net
28 Hours Later
« Reply #8 on: October 22, 2007, 09:32:44 AM »
Hi Jizbrand

Amazing work! Being a .45A and Zombie fan, I think this is an excellent scenario and can't wait to try it

Would you mind if I prepare a Spanish translation of it to publish in the december/january issue of the "Cargad" e-zine? (I'd need more info for a playable scenario, like the mentioned tables, for instance). Pics of the game would be very welcome!
--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--
Keyan Sark - Coordinador de SithNET
SithNET - http://www.loresdelsith.net
TT - http://talisman.foro.st
http://displacedminiatures.com/keyansark
--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--

Offline jizbrand

  • Student
  • Posts: 13
28 Hours Later
« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2007, 04:58:07 PM »
Be my guest.  I just dropped you a note at your website with my email address.  Contact me with yours and I'll send you the Excel workbook with the tables and the Word document with the scenario and rules mods.

 

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