Zombies! What is good and what is bad?

[DCCfan]

My group wants to play a modern zombie survival game. What games are worth checking out and which ones should I avoid?

[mythfish]

I assume you're talking RPG and not board game?

I'm told "All Flesh Must Be Eaten" is the way to go, but I haven't had the chance to try it myself yet.

[DCCfan]

You are right. I'm asking about RPG's. I have also heard that All Flesh Must Be Eaten is the game of choice now. Has anyone played it? Is it just the popular choice right now or is it really a good game?

[abk108]

I played it twice, a one-shot (enjoyed it a lot) and a 5-weeks game.

I can tell you it's similar to World of Darkness if you look at how skills are managed.
You have core STATS with a max of 5 dots in 'em, and skills with again i think a max of 5 dots in them (i'm not sure about this)

Unfortunately, I think the system is just as good for a good DM that needs to wing a quick adventure on the fly, as it is bad for a player that cares about mechanics.

For example, the base mechanic is : roll a d10, adding the points you have in a STAT plus the points you have in a skill (eg: kung fu kick to the zombie's face: roll 1d10+STRENGTH+(Martial Arts).
I think I remember that success is 9 or so.
See, it's fairly easy to have character go up to 4 STR, and 4 Martial Arts (or even more)... then just roll for success! :/

It was fun to blast Satan's through its own face with my glowing holy bandages that came straight from heavens, but it really didn't feel challenging or scary...

What I mean is, the GM might be very good, and if you're intent at playing with a sense of dread and stuff ok, then you can have fun. But you really have to convince yourself it's scary and try not to realize how easily broken the system can be if you just give in to the allure of power (which should be the way to go, in a survivalistic horror game!!)

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I'd suggest you to play World of Darkness (mortal), it's balanced and reliable. You can just make stuff up or find "zombie"stats around in books or websites. It won't let you down.

[finarvyn]

If I recall correctly, All Flesh Must Be Eaten uses the same basic game system as other Eden Games products, including Army of Darkness, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and others.

While I haven't played AFMBE, I did run some BtVS a few times and we really enjoyed it. (We started with a d20 CoC game and I switched to BtVS because I didn't like the d20 system much...) It's pretty cinematic and seems to run smoothly.

Just my two coppers....

[DCCfan]

Thanks for the feedback. I think I'm going to use one of the rule systems that I already have and just add the zombie apocalypse.

[abk108]

Thanks for the feedback. I think I'm going to use one of the rule systems that I already have and just add the zombie apocalypse.

I think that's the best idea.. what systems where you thinking of adapting?

[finarvyn]

Hey ... how 'bout DCC RPG with Zombies!

If you want a modern-era game, simply get rid of the spellcaster classes and focus on fighters and thieves, then remove the ancient weapons and substitute a list from d20 Modern. Probably a quick fix.

[DCCfan]

I think I will use D20 modern as finarvyn suggested.

[Bilgewriggler]

Probably way too late to be of use, but our group had a huge blast playing AFMBE. I think the key was that we tried our best to create and play ourselves as characters insteadof creating idealized PCs. I personally have a pretty bad skill set and fitness level for zombie apocalypse survivability, so it made for a real nail-biting campaign.