Saturday, June 27, 2015

Zombies on Steroids!

This week I decided to run a horror/zombie oneshot. It was the first time I played, or even ran, a game of that genre. According to the players, it was very well run they had fun. But I think we should start from the beginning. Let me clarify first that I did not use my own setting nor my own system. The setting that I used was from a game created by +Oliver Shead and his +Immersion Studios called Infected!. This setting has his own game engine called Immersion RPG, but I decided against using it for the simple reason that I'm not comfortable enough to run it yet. This is does not mean I won't use it in the future, not by a long shot.



The system I decided to use was one called Zombieworld, a PBtA (Powered By the Apocalypse) hack, that is tailored towards zombie games. This system was created by AJ Ferguson and it seemed to run really well with the setting I picked. Of course, it was only a oneshot, but it didn't keep us from having fun nor creating suspense (perhaps a little bit of fear) into the players.

Now, I'm going to write a summary of the session and hope it does both the game and setting justice, as I used the short adventure at the end to play it. When I read this setting I fell totally in love with it and as soon as I finished I thought only one thing: Zombies on Steroids!

Summary of play:

We had four PC: The M.D., The Lawwoman, The Suit, The Hunter (all Zombieworld playbooks). I decided that for this oneshot they were together, heading towards a big settlement in a ruined Los Angeles called Baker's Town. The PCs got together because they had heard that there was a possible cure to the disease there, or at least food and a warm bed.

Before they could arrive to Baker's Town, they had to pass through a small settlement called Applesby (a high school turned refuge). On their way to Applesby the PCs encountered some people in need of help (they were being a attacked by a bad human faction called the Red Hand) and after a few minutes of battle they managed to rescue the NPCs. These NPCs took them to Applesby, where they rested, but not for very long.

The Red Hand turned up at Applesby and after firing a warning shot, they demanded that the PCs were given to them. Much discussion happened afterwards and the residents decided to give them up, but thankfully one of the NPCs that the PCs saved helped them escape through an underground sewer system under the school.

While in this underground sewer system, they only had a compass and one flashlight to navigate their way out. A couple of hours heading north (rough directions given to them by the NPC) they started to hear footsteps approaching. As they headed deeper into the system the footsteps got quicker and quicker, and not before long the PCs started to run. They came out of the sewer into an abandoned subway tunnel, which led to a subway station. The PCs got onto the platform, but not before looking at the other end of the subway tunnel. The PCs noticed that there was an Infected looking man wearing a broken up suit and tie, (which they found out later it's called the 'Alpha' Infected, leader of a pack of Infected). He grinned at them before receding back into the darkness.



A couple of seconds later, the footsteps got louder and actually made the ground shake, at which point the PCs darted into a run to get out of the subway station. When they got to the stairs they looked back at a mass of 10+ Infected called 'Runners' (exactly what the name implies) and a couple of 'Shamblers' (which exploded when the Runners pushed them out of the way).


They started to climb up the stairs, but heard a cry for help coming from a nearby restroom inside the subway station. The PCs divided into two groups, one headed for the exit and the other went to answer the cry for help. The group reached that answered the cry for help (sounded like a little girl crying for her mom) inside the restroom was taken by surprise by another Infected called 'Mimic' (name says it all), but managed to get out unharmed (though freaked out a little bit).



The other team had reached the top of the stairs but found that there was a gate, which they opened a little and squeezed under it. They held the gate up for the others, and saw that behind the other team that was coming a mass of Runners were right at their heels. The other team squeezed through under the gate and closed it time before the Runners got to them. Because these are not your typical zombies, the closest ones dove and tried to slid under the gate, but they got smashed as it closed.

The PCs managed to escape and realized that the subway station left them only a few blocks from the entrance to Baker's Town. They looked back one last time towards the Infected, as they tried to get through the gate, and again found the 'Alpha' grinning at them. A few moments later it receded back into the mass of other Infected, disappearing from sight.

That was the end of the session. The players and I liked it very much so I think I'll try to use the Immersion RPG rules the next time I run it. I just hope that I gave the setting the justice it deserved; and those that haven't looked at it, they should. Hopefully, they will be blown away as I was and also come to realize that these are zombies on steroids.

No comments:

Post a Comment