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superman300038
Acolyte
USA
5 Posts |
 Posted - 02 Feb 2007 : 19:32:18
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I just finished reading the book "The Zombie Survival Guide" by Max Brooks. It was such a fun read, I started reading his next book "World War Z". So these books have put me in the mood to ask, anyone got any good zombie stories?? Maybe your partying was resting after an adventure when an outbreak occured. Or maybe while exploring some ruins the party discovered the only things 'living' there were the undead. So how bout it, lets here some!
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36906 Posts |
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Marquant Volker
Learned Scribe
Greece
273 Posts |
Posted - 02 Feb 2007 : 21:15:05
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The zombie-plague idea has been used like countless times on movies games books comics...its nothing original in my opinion, when it comes for undead i use more colourfull and exotic creatures and try to explain how did they get here.If you are fascinated by undead in D&D check out Libris Mortis.
In the Realms a zombie plague appeared in the game Neverwinter Nights 1 |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 02 Feb 2007 : 22:47:39
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Actually, if played right it might be kind of fun to run a zombie plague scenario. After I read the "disease stats" for a modern horror kind of zombie plague from the d20 Apocolypse rules, I thought it would actually be kind of fun to have some PCs wander into a deserted town and then run into "disease" style zombies.
This would add some edge to the whole thing, because you have the added tension of being able to contract the disease, much like in an encounter with a lycanthrope.
As soon as I thought of this being a "disease" I thought about it being spread by a cleric of Talona, some insane old priest who doesn't actually control the zombies, but just wants to spread the disease, perhaps because he lost a loved one (and his mind) due to an illness. The old insane priest found some references to the "Chaos Curse" from the Cleric series of books and managed to piece together a lesser version of it, and thus your zombie plague.
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Ergdusch
Master of Realmslore
Germany
1720 Posts |
Posted - 03 Feb 2007 : 16:13:28
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quote:
Originally posted by KnightErrantJR
Actually, if played right it might be kind of fun to run a zombie plague scenario. After I read the "disease stats" for a modern horror kind of zombie plague from the d20 Apocolypse rules, I thought it would actually be kind of fun to have some PCs wander into a deserted town and then run into "disease" style zombies.
This would add some edge to the whole thing, because you have the added tension of being able to contract the disease, much like in an encounter with a lycanthrope.
As soon as I thought of this being a "disease" I thought about it being spread by a cleric of Talona, some insane old priest who doesn't actually control the zombies, but just wants to spread the disease, perhaps because he lost a loved one (and his mind) due to an illness. The old insane priest found some references to the "Chaos Curse" from the Cleric series of books and managed to piece together a lesser version of it, and thus your zombie plague.
Twistied but great thinking on your part, as mostly! I am very fond of such a scenario. Where did you stuble over the contracting zombie disease exaclty?  |
"Das Gras weht im Wind, wenn der Wind weht." |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 03 Feb 2007 : 16:35:26
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| d20 Apocalypse has some rules for it under the Zombie Apocalypse setting campaign ideas. |
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Faramicos
Senior Scribe
Denmark
468 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2007 : 00:18:21
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| I have a Zombie encounter in the making... The rough sketch of it is a party caught in the middle of a major city that is hit by a plague and put under quarantine. The dead of course rise as undeads and the party have to fight their way out of the city. To spice up the adventure, i am adding some of their other enemies to the equation. So they will have to fight/dodge braindead corpses and at the same time keep their eyes out for other hazards of various kinds. Hard learned experience have taught me that it is important to create some extra action in the classic zombie-story to keep the players on their toes and prevent the adventure from becoming JUST another Hack n Slash zombie adventure. |
"When dragons make war, worlds can only tremble in the shadow of angry wings" |
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superman300038
Acolyte
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2007 : 06:02:04
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Thanks for all the replies!! When I read the guide book, it described the zombie zirus (solanmus..sp?)but never said where it came from. Im trying to brainstorm up a good zombie outbreak but Im not sure how I want it started. I don't want it magically started so looks like itll be one of those "Where did this thing come from" kind of things. I think the coolest zombie outbreak in RPing I heard of was the party was at an inn ddrinking and the inn owner realized his stocks of (food, ale, w/e) was low, and asked the players to run to (storage area, another tavern, w/e) and grab some supplies then bring them back. When the PCs left they noticed that a thick green fog hung in the air, and as they came to their destination thats when they started hearing the moans and shuffled walking.
Thats how it started, so guess Im tossing out some food for thought there, anywho thanks again for the replies, I enjoyed them. |
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boddynock
Learned Scribe
Belgium
258 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2007 : 17:11:17
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I remember me a ravenloft session that I mastered about 3 years ago. It was an official adventure called "Night of the walking dead". I remember that it was a free download on the Kargatane website which doesn't exist anymore.
Notwd was situated in a swamp and near a village. People who died in the town came back to life as ghouls or zombies. You had to see the faces on my players when they witness a burial and heard loud knocking sounds from inside the coffin. At the end of the story the town was attacked during a storm by the living dead. My players really enjoyed the story and I was happy that it doesn't became another hack & slash zombie adventure. |
Edited by - boddynock on 06 Feb 2007 11:23:19 |
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Faramicos
Senior Scribe
Denmark
468 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2007 : 16:01:49
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| Sounds cool... I have read the adventure "Night of the Walking Dead" some years ago, but it have slipped from my memory. Sounds like i am going home to reread it. This thread is getting me in the mood for a good zombie-story. I might even have to adjust the timeline of my adventure to get to the zombie part earlier. Love it. |
"When dragons make war, worlds can only tremble in the shadow of angry wings" |
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Tyr
Learned Scribe
225 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2007 : 18:28:39
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| There is always the Mere of Dead Men and similar areas for tonnes of zombie madness. |
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Marquant Volker
Learned Scribe
Greece
273 Posts |
Posted - 06 Feb 2007 : 00:03:38
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Night of the Walking Dead you say? how could i forgot to mention that?!? it was a masterpiece! i played that some years ago (and that was my only Ravenloft experience) the feeling was just right! We played this adventure along with athmosperic music and candlelight and even after all those years it still gives the chills to those who played it players and DM. And yeah the scene with the chained coffin and the knocking sounds...or the mysterious swamp dwelling tribe of gypsies... one of the best sessions ever
It was based 2nd edition so perhaps there a chance that it can be downloaded from somewhere for free. I dont believe anyone will have a hard time to modify it to 3e / 3.5e as most of the encounters can be found in MM1 |
Edited by - Marquant Volker on 06 Feb 2007 00:04:24 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36906 Posts |
Posted - 06 Feb 2007 : 01:30:33
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quote:
Originally posted by Marquant Volker
It was based 2nd edition so perhaps there a chance that it can be downloaded from somewhere for free. I dont believe anyone will have a hard time to modify it to 3e / 3.5e as most of the encounters can be found in MM1
Indeed. Scroll down a bit on the the Wizards downloads page.  |
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ShadezofDis
Senior Scribe
402 Posts |
Posted - 06 Feb 2007 : 17:43:10
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Another twisted little idea that always pops into my head when thinking about zombies is rot grubs. I'm not sure if there is a 3rd ed version of these little horrors (or even if there was a 2nd) but they're some of the greatest little parasites known to d&d and they'd love some fresh zombies to fester inside.
(granted, I power down the rot grubs a bit, making them do ability damage over a couple of days before death, rather than the. . . 1d4 rounds I think it was? *g*)
Further, there are Zombie Lords (again, don't know if there's been a 3rd ed version but I assume so) who can control a pretty vast amount of zombies (and if you decide a Zombie Lord is clever enough you can also add a few class levels to them *g*) |
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superman300038
Acolyte
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - 06 Feb 2007 : 20:20:51
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Ok, everyone knows about zombies, and how they are slow moving and such. Well for those of you that have seen the new Dawn of the Dead, heres an idea.
I think those zombies - who still never get tired (being undead and all) that can run are way scarier then the ones that can't. Maybe if you wanted a zombie outbreak, and were afraid of the players just walking up to each one and crushing its skull... you could use these faster zombies. I know if I saw them running my first thoughts would be shelter, and strongly baricading it. I spelled that wrong didn't I...snap.
And maybe as a final thought, only the more freshly dead zombies could be the speed demons. Like a, the less decomposed their muscles are kind of thing. Therefore, theyd' evolve into the slow shambly ones we are all use to. |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 06 Feb 2007 : 20:44:24
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I always pictured more intelligent, faster "zombies" as being ghouls or ghasts. Then again, the traditional D&D zombie is just an animated corpse, and doesn't particularly have much of an appettite, which brings me to my next comment.
I don't know how interested the various parties are in this thread, but the Dragon Compendium has some interesting monster templates that relate to this whole subject.
First off, the Ravenous Creature template, which was originally printed in Dragon 319, can be applied to any corporean undead creature, and it basically either gives it a bite attack or improves its bite attack, and when they kill something they have to make a will save not to stop and eat it.
The Dragon Compedium also has the Ghastly and Ghoulish templates (originally in Dragon 307), which let you turn giants and monstrous humanoids into ghouls and ghasts (and can have the ravenous creature template applied to them as well). |
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Aureus
Learned Scribe
Luxembourg
125 Posts |
Posted - 06 Feb 2007 : 21:04:05
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I love the idea of the zombie outbreak, it requires a lot of teamwork to fend of enemies that are tireless, fearless, immune to poison, disease and critical strike, but luckily most are slow
it really transforms a loose group of good-for-nothings into a tight band of battle-hardened bastards (I'm sorry for any strong language I used, it just really helps to get a point over) |
That is not the weirdest thing that happened to me |
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ShadezofDis
Senior Scribe
402 Posts |
Posted - 07 Feb 2007 : 15:28:03
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quote:
Originally posted by superman300038
Ok, everyone knows about zombies, and how they are slow moving and such. Well for those of you that have seen the new Dawn of the Dead . ..
Well, for the speedy zombies you can just use juju-zombies. Bah, one sec, I need to acclimate my mind to 3rd ed more (still think in second :p)
Well, sorta obviously, I can't find a 3rd ed juju-zombie, they're cool though! |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 07 Feb 2007 : 16:18:37
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| Ju Ju Zombies appear in Unapproachable East, and we may see a 3.5 version of the rot grub in Dungeonscape, considering one of the listed monsters is a rot grub swarm. |
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ShadezofDis
Senior Scribe
402 Posts |
Posted - 07 Feb 2007 : 16:55:34
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rot grub swarm? surely they must be nerfed (rot grubs that is *g*)
That's cool though, didn't even think to look at Unapproachable East, good to know though :)
Anyhow, as an aside, worst thing I've ever had a DM do is have rot grub infested trolls. It's just awful to fight off a few trolls, kill them dead, burn them and have the DM go "ok everyone, now that you have a moment to really think you see these sores on your arms...." I think every character I had with that DM ended up with 3rd degree, self inflicted burns :/
I should have just designed a hazmat suit ;D |
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Ardashir
Senior Scribe
USA
544 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2009 : 17:12:39
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quote:
Originally posted by KnightErrantJR
Ju Ju Zombies appear in Unapproachable East, and we may see a 3.5 version of the rot grub in Dungeonscape, considering one of the listed monsters is a rot grub swarm.
Ooh, an abandoned temple of evil with animate dead linked to desecrate, and it's full of rot grub swarms... (Why do you think it was abandoned?). |
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Grumpyoldmage
Acolyte
USA
25 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jun 2009 : 04:43:50
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| I think there are some cool zombie variants in the "Libris Mortis" book. I believe they have an entry for a fast Zombie as well. |
Quote of Karsus - "The Elves started this when they tried to steal the Nether Scrolls. They are a culture of the past, who's idea's are as antiquated as their magic." |
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Knight of the Gate
Senior Scribe
USA
624 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jun 2009 : 16:36:48
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| It's not d20, but there's a great zombie RPG called 'All Flesh Must be Eaten' that borrows a lot from Max Brooks' books (in tone and in the level of detail provided, mainly) and have an amazing amount of zombie variants. |
How can life be so bountiful, providing such sublime rewards for mediocrity? -Umberto Ecco |
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Fisk
Acolyte
13 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jun 2009 : 06:50:53
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The only times that my players have faced zombies was during a campaign in the Silver Marches for two people. At the party's 7th level, I designed an adventure where a summoning spell had gone wrong,and demons were running rampant, causing random undead everywhere. At 11th level, the party was rooting out a cult that had planned on stealing the village children, to sacrifice to a devourer. The previous victims had been zombies, while the adventures tried to raise the children before they could be animated.
I like to keep a lot of my adventures like a Grimm's Fairytale. |
Fisk |
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Teneck
Learned Scribe
USA
133 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2009 : 23:26:04
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| I had a Dm put the party in an Inn while the whole town dropped into Zombie mode, it was a lot of fun working our way out and still keeping our brains. It really was a fun little side adventure, a nice break from our campaign. My revenge will be primarily fueled by the Book of Vile Darkness...too many bad things to do to good people to count. |
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Zombies
