ZOMBIE TIME!
Someone may help me for a bunch of moves for Apocalypse World?
Zombies in my campaign are slow, not really intelligent, one-shottable but there is a lot of them, and they have some sort of hive mind.
How can i manage the following situations?
–When you try to clear an area from few zombies…
–When you try to clear an area from a lot of zombies…
–When a huge horde of zombie is assaulting your group, and you are leading the way out…
.
On first instinct, I feel that you’re in one of two situations: Either you’re in a basic move situation, or you’re in a gang conflict situation. Either way you can use the standard rules.
-When you search a abandoned building….
Take your pick 🙂
http://zombieworldhack.blogspot.co.at/
https://docs.google.com/document/preview?id=1IsjBSLHU871MsXncEVV0jCqR4rcKEZSPGmefT4f1gGo
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0a_iGRNRo6BVk5ZT0hoamtjcVE#
I’m of a different mind: If the Zombie mob has an instrict (to feed perhaps?), then you can use the GM-facing moves for threats. And you don’t need additional moves.
Also true
When you realize the zombie coming for you was your girlfriend…
Zombies are typically going to be Brutes & Grotesques, though all the threats can be used to express the effect, in various ways — don’t overlook Affliction and Landscape as more than reasonable possibilities for a sea of savages and a mill of monstrosities.
I’d consider stating them as Gangs,
and use them as floating Cast to other Threats.
Zombies —
size: pack of biters, horde of rovers, surge of feral
n-harm, n-armor ;- slow, swarm, shambolic, savage — *down, but not out…
impulse: to spread decay, to cause and create afflictions, to consume meat(don’t ask… or watch…)
Special Moves:
When doing anything with zombies in the area, Act Under Fire to stay calm, coordinated, and avoid agitating them… agitating zombies always calls for a Hard Move.
Key Moves to Consider:
Burst out in uncoordinated, undirected violence. — (zombies hate barriers!)
Claim territory: move into it, blockade it, assault it — (they just keep coming!)
Make a coordinated attack with a coherent objective. — (eat the weak!)
Outflank someone, corner someone, encircle someone. — (eat the strong!)
Attack someone face-on, but without threat or warning. — (eat them all!)
Ruin something. Befoul, rot, desecrate, corrupt, adulter it. — (spread the plague!)
that’s my two minute answer… (would you like to know more?)
A second thought:
the area has a;–
Zombie Threat Countdown:
0:00 to 3:00 = all clear; or — a few shambolic corpses, mostly contained: easy targets
3:00 to 6:00 = scattered packs of slow biters: avoidable if not agitated.
6:00 to 9:00 = a savage drove of swarming rovers: we can clear it, but should we risk it?
9:00 to 10:00 = a crushing mob of milling rotters: might be best to press through, than try to hold the area.
10:00 to 11:00 = a surging sea of walkers: does anybody remember Plan B?
11:00 to 12:00 = a stampeding force of nature: cut-losses, bug out, or die!
Agitating Zombie-zones makes a countdown tick-up.
Dealing harm to Z-zones makes a countdown tick-back… but…
When Z-zone must suffer harm it should roll+harm inflicted, or get agitated — or something like that…
Such Z-zones are probably all over the place, and constantly changing location… might be best to just treat it like a Front of Afflictions — Disease(z-plauge), Condition(z-zone), Sacrifice(escalation of reactions), and a regenerating Brute:Mob(zombies) as placeholder for free-floating Zed-mobs.
Expressed as a Front that corrupts other Fronts, and can be called into a scene anywhere, anytime… but, especially as a Hard Move, or after presenting a foreshadowing of that emergence by announcing future badness.
I’ve never seen harm moved for clocks before, is that a thing, or new here?
Don’t recall seeing it either…
…but, seems reasonable some Afflictions might call for it;– and imagining this Z-zone Countdown is kind of like a free-floating Affliction attached to a scene arbitrarily, or could possibly be associated with a specific Landscape (or other Threat) explicitly — depending on how Fronts are set up.
Either way, a Z-zone, and it’s Countdown status, are possibly something to put on a location map… when encountered.
Z-zone: harm it, and it sometimes grows…
Think of it as if the zombies are infecting (Inflicting Harm) on a location, not just it’s inhabitants, by infiltrating a location… starts as a trickle, then a stream, eventually a flood, and even a z-tsunami.
To clear an area, you might inflict harm on the Z-zone Threat and reduce it’s countdown status and capacity to threaten harm on travelers through the Z-zone… yet, the very act of clearing an area, can make noise which lures more rovers into the fray, and create casualties that turn, escalating the size of the herd, and advancing the countdown status…
Individually they are easy to terminate with precise timed shots, but in packs they have a down, but not out tag… and a Mob of Zeds kinda-sorta regenerates, even if individual Zeds do not.
The bigger the Z-zone gets, the harder it is to clear… and the faster it grows.
so… Providing repressive/suppressive/covering fire and to go aggro in someone’s dead-eyed face, means nothing to a brainless ghoul…they are pretty much unphased by risk assessments in a combat sitch, and opt for walking right up to suffer concentrated fire now, and choose to force your hand and suck it up every time…
If you step up and Seize by Force a location crawling with a pack of zed-head… you simply can’t impress, dismay, or frighten them –; but, then, you might be able to confuse, distract, and redirect them…
…which only shows that the Hard and Cool heads of Sharp minded, unpanicked, prepared, living survivors, can drop a few in one-on-one without much effort.
Because of the deathly sickening visage of the beast, especially in CQC and swarms — as well as the tactical necessity of moving carefully and striking precisely — most of the time Acting Under Fire to avoid infection and keep calm, all while Starring a Living Death in The Face and aiming to Brain’em, Without Bites seems like the go-to move in most circumstances.
But again, in large numbers they are more deadly… group size advantage, increases harm dealt when taking them on in multiples… and escalating their numbers is what they do.
Small, medium, large groups (0:00-9:00 on the countdown for reference) are gangs… and can be handled within the scope of those rules.
Mobs, swarms, hordes; are a threat to entire safeholds… being in the area with significant numbers of hostiles (10:00-12:00 on the countdown for reference) is like trying to run through a swarm of wasps without getting stung — might even say take 1harm/2harm/3harm (environmental) just for being in a Highly Agitated Z-zone, and it only gets worse if you try to engage hostilities in kind rather than retreat under fire or seize a course of retreat for you and your team by force.
There is also: maintain an untenable position or course the hell out of there, stay the fuck down and don’t be food, or follow through on someone else’s move to a safer location.
/sub
-When you clear an area from zombies, roll STAT.
On a 10+, choose 2.
On a 7-9, choose 1.
• You stay well away from harm.
• You’re don’t have to Act Under Fire to keep your cool.
• You don’t waste ammo.
• You have plenty of time before the noise attracts more.
Take -/+n to the roll dependant on threat level:
+1 = A few out in the open, standing still.
0 = A few walking around.
-1 = A hungry pack on the move.
-2 = A mob acting up.
-3 = A sea of walking dead.
When you make a safe zone, clear an area, then roll STAT.
On a 10+, you take definite hold of the area.
On a 7-9, you’re safe for now, with a grim caveat or two:
• You’ll need to keep watch constantly.
• You’ll have to build a barricade.
• You’ll have to leave something, or someone, behind.
When you lead the way out, roll STAT.
On a 10+, hold 4.
On a 7-9, hold 2.
Spend your hold as you make your escape to:
• Keep everyone together.
• Keep them quiet.
• Stay on the planned route.
• See danger coming in advance.
How’s it going mac? I really want to see a good zombie hack.