Looking for advice on zombie rulesets

[Modhail]

I've been looking for my "ideal" zombie ruleset for quite some time now, but I can't seem to find the one that suits me. I've been looking over these forums and at the various rulesets, but somehow still feel I'm missing "something". So I turn to your collected wisdom, and hopefully get my muddy old brain to fill in the gaps: rulesets or houserules I've overlooked or simply didn't know about.
And hopefully, they'll give some other people some ideas too...

Now, what do I want from my zombiegame?
-Play cooperative vs the zombies (who are either GM or rule controlled).
-Be capable of handling 1 player = one survivor, but also to scale towards small units for end-of-story crescendo's.
        I like my survival horror, so I prefer to give each player only one survivor, make them really care about them. Force them to cooperate, abandoning someone should be a hard choice to make.
-Provide for, even encourage scavenging. No deus ex machina support behind the scenes, people have to scrounge and scavenge to survive!
-Allow human vs human combat. Zombies and resources are not the only enemies in the fight for survival, after all!
-Each survivor is an individual, with strength, weaknesses, skills, not just a single catchall stat and some gear. So a fair degree of rpg/storytelling in the game.
-Complexity of rules is a secondary concern, as I'll most likely be the GM I'm the only one that really needs to fully grasp the rules. I'll just tell the players what to roll, etc. I'd prefer the rules to be improvisation-friendly though, my players tend to pull weird stunts...

Essentially, my inspiration lies in the vein of Shaun of the Dead, the Romero classics, Walking Dead and to a certain degree Left 4 Dead.
Dead Walk Again came closest to what I seek, but lacked the, to me, essential option of survivor on survivor violence... I liked the action point-based system about it, though, the fact that players have the liberty to do what they want, in any order they want.

So, knowing this all, what rules would you advise me to try?

[Messyart]

*snip* >.>

Good luck.

[CptJake]

The Two Hour Wargames 'All Things Zombie' seems to cover what you want.  Some folks don't like the mechanics but you can try them for free by downloading 'Chain Reaction'.   

[Elk101]

Have you checked out Silent Invader's Scavenge Skirmish Survive rules? They are based on the premise of a nuclear winter aftermath and he is also adding zombie rules. You can get them here:

http://www.miniaturemojo.co.uk/sections/15/downloads_free/

[Lowtardog]

There is ATZ as already said, also worth looking at is Dead Walk aAgain , a free set

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=22962.0

[Arlequín]

Another shout here for ATZ. It has pretty much all you want, handles solo and co-operative play, involves sustaining your merry band through scavenging and other humans are more of a threat (and somewhat more unpredictable) than zombies. Its campaign expansion (Haven) increases the pressure, pace and size of the games too and you can play coherently from Day 1 onwards with that. It's good stuff.

[freewargamesrules]

We use AR:SE

[Modhail]

Thanks for your responses!

Messyart, I'm rather curious about your rules mod, always had a soft spot for Necromunda. I see you snipped your post, are you still willing to share them?

I'll have a look at Chain reaction/ATZ. In the past the fact that it only Rep as a stat had put me off, but seeing how popular it is, I really should get over this and give it a try...
Scavenge, Skirmish, Survive had completely slipped under my radar. Thanks, Elk101!

Looks like I have some reading to do the next couple of days. 


P.S. freewargamesrules, thanks to you I now have "zombie arse rules" in my google search history.... Thank you, I think.

[Arlequín]

True, 'REP' does cover most things, but you could split it into physical and skill based factors without altering the rules, just by giving your characters two REP factors instead of one. The latest edition, 'Final Fade Out' adds 'PER' (personal/people skills) and 'SAV' (Savvy/Intelligence) factors onto the mix too and of course there are the character traits, so things aren't as one dimensional as they might seem.

I can't compare them to other sets, I got ATZ, liked them and didn't feel they lacked anything, so I didn't look at anything else.

[Conquistador]

As Said THW has great possibilities - I don't do zombie games but their other rules - http://www.twohourwargames.com/horror1.html under "Horror" and http://www.twohourwargames.com/postapocalypse.html under "Apocalypse" and this might help keep them straight http://site.twohourwargames.com/ATZFFO/ATZChronicles.pdf so take a look.

Questions encouraged at http://site.twohourwargames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=258

Home - http://site.twohourwargames.com/forum/index.php


Gracias,

Glenn

[Brummie Thug]

Scavenge Skirmish Survive has a number of the elements you describe scavenging for food, ammo human vs human combat. Also zombie rules are on the cards so it possible could be the one.

I haven't found the rules I like yet. I've only tried 7ombietv and No More Room in Hell personally. I have ATZ as well but haven't got round to trying it yet.

[magokiron]

I personally DON'T like the "Chain reaction" engine from THW, but even so, I'll reccomend the book for all the ideas and campaing possibilities from "day 1" onwards.

If you hava any doubts, maybe checking VAMPIFAN blog will give you a clearer view of the rules, as those are what he uses. And he added lots of deep tho the "one stat" rep, adding A LOT of other variables. Well worth a look:

http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.mx/

"Dead Walk Again" as has been noted are free to download, so you may give them a read.

There are lots of zombie rules out there. These seem very promising (and you will want to check all the site):

http://www.skankgame.com/Downloads.html

Anyhow, my rules of chioce are AKULA's Total AR:SE:

http://akulasrules.blogspot.mx/2011/01/akulas-rules-skirmish-edition-arse.html

They are SIMPLE, FAST, FUN, and Infinitely scalable with just a little effort.

Hope that helps.

[Messyart]

Messyart, I'm rather curious about your rules mod, always had a soft spot for Necromunda. I see you snipped your post, are you still willing to share them?

I am, I was just getting worried that a year or more without playing it would have left me rusty on the memory bits!
& right now there's a few things going on that's stopping me from even sculpting so I'd not be sure how long I might take!

I also can't put the stuff into PDF format apparently - Tried sending my Fallout rules to someone and it all went wrong!

[Daysman]

"7ombieTV" by Crooked Dice answers for many of your wants.

Take a look here : http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/rules/7ombietv/

[Pijlie]

Another vote for ATZ. The PDFs are very affordable and it facilitates anything from solo play to 8 players (my maximum on a demo) . Has everything you as for.