Zombie Apocalypse Game System

[geronimo]

AKULA's ARSE rules, (with some personal in house additions) quick, bloody, intuative and brutal.

This. Very good rules, short, quick, easy to learn & to play. free as well !

[Oliver]

To be honest I found ATZ very hard to learn in fact my friends and I gave up in the end they were rather counter intuitive to us. To be fair to them it was an older edition to the one that's now out so they may have made it easier to pick up.
When we do next play a zombie game I'm suggesting ARSE or for something a bit more "bulked out" DWA will get my vote they are well laid out and look fun, also they are free.

[Ulu Elsomalien]

Zombie Rules that don't deserve to be tested by you : Please Stand By. (not a suggestion, but a warning [I compulsively bought it for 23€ and it don't worth much more than paper and colors on the cover])

[Harrymason]

When me and my group play zombie games we use my own mod of the GW Lord of the Rings strategy battle game. The rules are very simple and easily adaptable, and make for dynamic, tactcal gameplay. I am sorting through all of my notes right now and plan to post the mod here somtime soon.

[Onebigriver]

Have a look at the free Dead Walk Again rules, available here:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/deadwalkagain/

[Bayushiseni]

Try Flying Lead or Fear and Faith from Ganesha Games. Very easy to learn and very costumizable.
Andrea told me that a campaign set will come out soon.

[AKULA]

Thanks to all the people suggesting AR:SE....

 

They are free to download, from my blog - just click on the icon below:



or stick http://akulasrules.blogspot.com/  in your toolbar.

[supervike]

But, they SHOULD cost something!

How often can you get an entire set of cohesive and comprehensive rules that fit on a couple of sheets of paper?

Another vote for ARSE!

[number9]

ATZ didn't work out for our group either. Two of use just decided to write our own which is a mash up of some of the ideas we liked from ATZ framed around the FMA skirmish rules currently in beta (going on five or six years now  ).

It serves our group very well in either campaign-style play or just as a single evening of zombie bashing.

[Eldorf.Dragonsbane]

I will make an additional comment on ATZ (and the Chain Reaction system as a whole), most the time I have noticed that when someone doesn't like it, its because they haven't given the rules a real chance. Most the time they try to take everything in at once. The best way to learn the rules is to break them up into individual parts and learn one part, then another and combining them as you go.

For example, play a small test game or two with just Ranged Combat against two figures (play them as the same rep for this test with identical weapons, then again as different Reps and different weapons). Once you have a grasp how ranged combat and the reaction system works, test out melee combat with two figures (again same rep same weapons, then different reps different weapons). Now add a third figure so its two on one for range, then do the same for melee. Once you have a grasp on melee and and ranged combat, start the figures out at opposite ends of the table with an object or two between them, that way you can get a further hang of the reaction system and how it pertains to movement into the Line of Sight, along with the being charged and taking charge tests. Now play a test game where you enter a building and have an NPC in the building to learn the NPC interaction rules. Finally once you have the grasp of these rules add in a zombie to see how they operate under ranged combat then melee combat. Do the zombie combat again this time using the zombie generation rules. Now play a small game where you enter a building and have to roll to see whats inside to learn how the rules for what you find in a building works. After doing this you should have a good basic grasp of the Chain Reaction system and how it works. As you start to play the game you can them gradually start to add the additional rules such as vehicle movement

One thing that seems to confuse people initially seems to be the fact that in most cases you don't want to roll a high score, since you want to roll equal to your Rep or lower to pass your tests. Though there are times where such as ranged combat and scoring a hit you want to get the highest roll(s) that you can.

I have played ATZ since the original version, and at I will admit the rules were confusing in some cases due to how they were lain out, and I didn't really care for the rules at first until it was suggested to me that I take the time and learn them as I outlined above. ATZ Better Dead then Zed has cleaned up the layout of the rules and also has better editing then the 1st version.


Now while Akula's rules are a decent set of rules they don't really (at least to me) seem to offer you the a whole lot in the way of character development and campaigns. The Dead Walk Again is also a nicer rule set, I still have my copy of the first ed, which to me also like ATZ 1st ed had a real bad layout and iirc actually had some of the sections totally blank, I think the latest version I have of DWA 2, I believe its now on version 3 or 4, so I cant currently comment on DWA, nor can I comment on No More Room in Hell and Ambush Z since I haven't gotten around to getting a copy of those rules yet due to my spare funds going to other things such as a truck repair (transmission), and additional miniatures.

[fanfavorite]

Just picked up the pdfs of ATZ last night, and while it is INCREDIBLY daunting to flip through some 200+ pages of what I consider to be some complicated rules, an intermediate gamer myself, I still see hope. This hope lies not entirely but almost so just in the meta game. The campaign system. ATZ * thoroughly* explores this aspect to the nth (and almost to annoyingly arbitrary extent) degree. But I have high hopes for it, where I see other games may be more sleek in design, they are lacking in the world building (and building upon) aspect. As ATZ puts it, its a RPG Lite- a mix of tabletop and roleplaying, and I couldn't agree more; the rule books game system does read like a roleplaying book or system, a little counter inutitive, hard to learn- yet easy to master.

One question I did have for Dragonsbane, and it also currently my only concern for the ATZ system- is simply put: "so... what's the point?" Starting with your weapons and being one Rep level lower than max- attaining your quirks and attributes at character gen I see little point in the development of it all. Why gather more resources?- why attain more wealth?- why sustain and continue the campaign? In Mordheim for example, the only other campaign based miniatures game I've experience to date (and one I love) there was such a STARK contrast between early game warbands and late. You started off with piss poor equipment, and really maximized a successful warband's loot the more you played. No skills early on, but a novice mercenary could quickly become a killing machine- one you had best keep alive. etc. I just see little meta game development that does more than just merely sustain itself for its own sake.

I am not saying I know it all though, in fact, I just did a couple hours of flipping through the three books today. Dragonsbane if you could offer any insight to the meta game campaign system of ATZ I think you could clear up a lot of responses in this thread. For one, the game being sought specifically in this thread is yes, a zombie game, but precisely, a campaign-based zombie game, with strong meta-game qualities and a narrative.

Any thoughts or revelations into this would be much appreciated, and sorry if I sounded convoluted or repetitive towards the end. Am going entirely stream of conscious here--- except the spell check that follows now.

[apeekaboo]

+1 for ATZ.

For anyone finding the ATZ rules difficult to grasp, I can truly recommend Vampifan's batreps.
They have been of tremendous help to me. 

Find his early batreps (Day 1 and forward) as there are more details on the rule mechanisms in the beginning.
If you like the rules, I recommend the deck of cards (Risks & Rewards, by Two Hour Wargames), which make it very easy to search buildings.

[AKULA]

Now while Akula's rules are a decent set of rules they don't really (at least to me) seem to offer you the a whole lot in the way of character development and campaigns.

You really want a lot, from a free set of rules, that consist of a double-sided sheet of A4, don't you?

 

Character development is vastly overrated IMHO.

D&D gives you 36 levels of extra skills, experience points, merit badges etc to judge your characters progress by.

AR:SE gives you a game system you can pick up in 5 minutes flat - judge your progress by how long you can avoid becoming zombie fodder.  If your character finds a weapon, and survives a couple of games by using it, to good effect, then give them a +1 using it next time.  If they survive longer than that, then your zombies aren't trying hard enough.

 

[Lowtardog]

I play mainly DWA the very first edition which owes a lot to Combat zone, the later developments bring it more in line with ATZ with character progression etc. I also have had a bash at Arse and it is also a fun game. Both are ideal for pick up games, there is nothing that a bit of imagination cant do to beef them up and I often use scenarios from ATZ etc together with some campaign ideas and such.

I often think of Zombie games like Wild west, unless the rest of the gaming group or you run a campaign and manage the records, it would appear to my eyes that ATZ is a bit heavy on the RPG aspect rather than a fun nights gaming.

I have Ambush zed and wil give it a bash some time and quite like the look of it to be honest

[fanfavorite]

Character development is vastly overrated IMHO.

D&D gives you 36 levels of extra skills, experience points, merit badges etc to judge your characters progress by.

AR:SE gives you a game system you can pick up in 5 minutes flat - judge your progress by how long you can avoid becoming zombie fodder.  If your character finds a weapon, and survives a couple of games by using it, to good effect, then give them a +1 using it next time.  If they survive longer than that, then your zombies aren't trying hard enough.

 

Yes but I can't argue of the rewards involved with each. I consider roleplaying games to be is the zenith of a gaming experience, complete creative control. There is a big difference between a session of DnD and a quick pick up game of Munchkin- both are fun, but but also pay you back proportionality for the time spent delving into each. It seems I'm delving into extremes with the zombie gaming- too hot: streamlined pick up games.  too cold: crunchy meta-gaming. where is the just right? I think that might be found with more practice and play testing.

Once I get the minis up and going I will be sure to try out AR:SE, as I'm eager to play some games as quickly as possible, but I've got to do something with my ATZ rulebooks- and I do intend to.