What zombie rules to use

[The Voivod]

So, I'm currently looking for a a system for playing games with zombies.

What I want from this system is a good campaign, where my survivor group can grow, gain experience and new gear and members (and suffer injuries and casualties, but let's try to be positive.)

I bought project Z for the models and while the rules seem fine for some one of games it's clearly not what I'm looking for.
I think Zed or Alive for the savage world: showdown might be a contender, but I'm wondering what ellse is out there.
Or if anyone has experience with Zed or alive (or any other savage wolrd showdown setting) and can give me an oppinion on it.

cheers

[gary42]

I'm using this...

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=95912.msg1186206#msg1186206

[Zombie Ste]

I've been using zed or alive for about a year now and can safely say that it ticks all of your boxes. Another cool thing you can do with it is advance the virus strain, creating boss type zombies and improving the abilities of the regular zeds as well as that of your heroes.

My favourite thing about the system is the zombie gauge,  that tracks noise, & affects the zombies spotting distance as well as how many extra zombies spawn each turn... All it takes is one over zealous fool with a chainsaw and everyone's day can be ruined by an undead tsunami... yes I'm speaking from experience

Savage worlds showdown is a great & intuitive system that's pretty easy to learn. Also it's free to download so have a go with it in a straight up player vs player game, without the zombies to see if the system is to your liking, before you drop any money on a pdf or hard copy of the zed or alive rule book.

The 2 main problems with this game are;

1) size of war bands,  you are limited to 4 characters each, this does make sense though,  given the random turn activations of characters (initiative is worked out by drawing playing cards for each character & boss zombie,  with regular zombies activating once everyone else has been) & the number of npc zeds normally in play.

& 2) & this is a doozey, I'm not sure how supported it is any more.  It's been a long time since their Facebook,  website or kickstarter received any updates & one can't help but wonder if the makers have just abandoned it. This is what's stopped me from ordering a physical copy of the rules,  but I would assume you could still pay for the downloadable pdf. Still might be worth shooting them an email or Facebook message finding out the status of things before dropping the cash though.

Me and my gaming buddy have since modified a few of the rules,  such as using GW scatter dice for zombie movement,  hits either causing them to move towards the closest noise (regardless of distance) or leaving them stationary on silent turns. As well as a few other little things & now mostly play it co-op as apposed to head to head.
The system works great whichever way you want to play it.

Any other queries about this system then just ask, I've had buckets of fun with it and am happy to help

[TwoGunBob]

I've always used Two Hour Wargames-All Things Zombie. Final Fade Out is great but I always go back to the original edition to teach new players the Chain Reaction System. It's kind of a love/hate thing, though as people seem to either love the 2HW style or it leaves them cold.

[Bowler]

Maybe Skirmish Ragers could be nice for you.

What i like is, that you can create any characters with stuff what you want by a points cost list.
The number of members, gives dice for action points.

Next nice thing is, that one player can control the zombies or the game self can control the zombies.
So the game is playable solo.

You can order it at radio dishdash as PDF or printed softcover version
http://www.skirmishsangin.com/shop/skirmish-rager/

[The Voivod]

1) size of war bands,  you are limited to 4 characters each, this does make sense though,  given the random turn activations of characters (initiative is worked out by drawing playing cards for each character & boss zombie,  with regular zombies activating once everyone else has been) & the number of npc zeds normally in play.

Ow, I would like my merry band of survivors a bit bigger than that. Does it support having more people back at camp at least.

2) & this is a doozey, I'm not sure how supported it is any more.  It's been a long time since their Facebook,  website or kickstarter received any updates & one can't help but wonder if the makers have just abandoned it. This is what's stopped me from ordering a physical copy of the rules,  but I would assume you could still pay for the downloadable pdf. Still might be worth shooting them an email or Facebook message finding out the status of things before dropping the cash though.

If I choose this system, I'll go for PDF anyway due to postage and such. It's still available on their website. So this is not an issie for me.

I've always used Two Hour Wargames-All Things Zombie. Final Fade Out is great but I always go back to the original edition to teach new players the Chain Reaction System. It's kind of a love/hate thing, though as people seem to either love the 2HW style or it leaves them cold.

I can see the appeal to the chainreaction system, but I'd like some more controll on the action.

Maybe Skirmish Ragers could be nice for you

Haven't heard of that one yet. Does it have and xp/warband growth system. Then It would be interesting.

[Bowler]

In the campaign your warband can get xp and grow up.

[sundayhero]

Personaly I own ATZ and Project Z, and I really like the 2 games, wich I use for diferent things :

solo campaigns : ATZ

quick skirmish games with a simple but eficient and fun mechanics : project Z. There is more depth than you may think first, especially with the units special rules and cards.


Concerning project Z, a simple way to make the game even more fun (in my opinion) is to house rule the zombies generation (for instance, more zombies on game starting, or zombies generated when you're using firearms near the zombies generation "nest",etc...).

You can also find campaign rules (house rules) on board game geek for this game.

[Silent Invader]

Thanks for the tip on the Project z campaign rules 

[sundayhero]

You're welcome, the rules are pretty good, and edited with pro/almost pro design. We'll see what Warlord will do with the game, since they seems to support it, but waiting for new official stuff, the fanmade material on BGG is pretty neat already

[The Voivod]

I'll be sure to check those as well then.

In the mean time: thanks for the replies all.
I'll look into the systems you recommended.

[Zombie Ste]

Ow, I would like my merry band of survivors a bit bigger than that. Does it support having more people back at camp at least.

If I choose this system, I'll go for PDF anyway due to postage and such. It's still available on their website. So this is not an issie for me.

Oh yes,  you're war band can grow as big as you like,  but the rules tell you, you can only use 4 members at once & 2 each in a co-op game (most scenarios can be played as either), though it's easy enough to ignore this as a house rule, of which you'll probably come up with many.  Savage worlds showdown is quite open to it and practically advises you do in the pdf.
The only issue here is the more characters you have in play the more the game gets bogged down... Each extra survivors another activation and another potential noise or two and once that zombie gauge fills and the hoard starts filling the board, it's very difficult to bring it back down again.

[Argonor]

I like simple rules and am a big fan of Dead Walk Again.

I do like the THW reaction system, too, though.

[nozza_uk]

I've always used Two Hour Wargames-All Things Zombie. Final Fade Out is great but I always go back to the original edition to teach new players the Chain Reaction System. It's kind of a love/hate thing, though as people seem to either love the 2HW style or it leaves them cold.

I'd recommend ATZ for zombie gaming. Requires you to think and your actions have consequences.

[Maenoferren]

What about Savage Worlds... role play system but works well in skirmish games.