[IDEA] Zombie Survival
 

It's a Mafia-ism-like game...

Here's the draft of the ideia i got...

There will be a X number of players and 1 game-master
1 of the players will be assigned by the gamemaster as "zombie lord" its a role that only those 2 will know. Everyone else is a survivor. The Zombie Lord plays in disguise as a Survivor, trying to lead the Team into failure. Everybody else tries to survive and get out of the Zombie Infested town.

Here we go:

The game works "kinda" like mafia. Actions and overall game pace happens based on group-made decisions. Every player has some sort of "role" a "power" that will count as something for the group.

Game is divided in 2 sections: Night and Day

During the day, the Game Master will give the players a few options of places where they could run (2-3 are good enough) like "School" or "Laboratory" or "Police station"

The game master can (But dosent HAVE to) give a small description of the place or maybe hints of the situation in such local in order to give the Player team options to "where to find shelter" Players need to vote before the deadline in order to move out to such location.

Once the team has moved, Day is over and this will happen:

The Game master will define what may happen in each places, some placesmighthave itens that will happen the team, or nothing, or just a bunch of zombies.

The Zombie Lord can dispatch Zombies for any locals that the Game Master defines together with the Zombie Lord(via PM)

The Zombie Lord has 50-100 Zombies per game. He can send Up to 10 zombies to any place each Day, the Game Master may change this limit without further notice.

So, when the Team gets to a location, it's like a "Lynch" scene from Mafia. The Game Master will describe what happened.

Now, for the tricky Strategic stuff...

Players can Find Weapons (or will start with some). Weapons can kill zombies.

So, to simplify, let's say that the team voted that they are going to the police Station, because they are mor likely to find secure shelter and ammo there... but when they get there, they find 4 Zombies.

The team has 10 Players, of those, 5 Players have some Weapon.
So, all the Zombies got killed, and the Players loose 4 Weapons, being left with only one

What would happen if the Player team only had 3 Weapons?
Then, they would kill all the zombies, but one of the zombies would have killed one member of the Survivors. The Zombie Lord Can Select his "priority targets" to try and siege the team's best roles.

But maybe, when they got to the police Station, there were no Zombies there... the Zombie lord only set Zombies to the Hospital and Graveyard, and the Players now are safe and Got enough Ammo to let them have up to 7 Weapons now. Great!

Or maybe they didnt find anythign at all...
or the Building Collapsed on top of someone...

And them, it comes Night...

During the Night, the players are taking shelter somewhere... and the Zombie Lord may strike... since he is hiding amongst them.

The Zombie Lord may Infect one of the players (Like a night kill) by sending him and the Game master a PM declaring so. Now, that player will secretly play as an Underling fo the Zombie Lord, and will try to send the Team towards danger (by comunication with the gamemaster and the zombie lord to know "where" to sent his team)

And that is where the team power number 2 comes in... teammates can Vote to Eliminate someone who they think that could be a Underling, by sacrificing 1 Weapon.

This causes tension in the team, and there is also another hazard... the next time the team Faces a Zombie Horde, the Zombie lord may command that his Underling attacks his team using any powers and weapons that he may have access to! The zombei lord may even Take 3-4 underlings before commanding then all to attack the survivors, wich could lead to some major Changes in game play during a tense moment!

So, how the Survivors win? The Survivors win when they reach an "End game" situation, such as reaching for a army base or the ocean... the Game MAster will tell the players that if they reach place "X" they will win, But the Zombie lord also knows that, and he could just send all his zombies there making impossible to win.. so the players need to weaken the zombie Horde first.. without getting wiped first! The Survivors also win when there are no more Zombie Lords or Underlings.

Of Course, the zombie wins when there are no survivors.

Now, here are some survival roles:

"Gunner": Starts with 2 Weapons

"Strategist": When using his powers (Declared after the voting to "where to go" and before the Game master post of result) Will give the team X2 Weapons (Once per game)

"Medic": Can ressurect any player that died, withotu letting then become a zombie (Dangerous role, because it requires declaring openly that YOU'RE the medic, which means that the Zombie Lord knows that you're the medic!)

"Navigator": During Night can ask via PM so that the Gamemaster will Reveal what's going to happen in one of the places that the team will be able to go on the next day

"Maniac Civilian": Can kill 2 Zombies with 1 weapon

"Commando": If killed, will kill all zombies in the scene without letting any ally die

"Scientist": During night, it may sak the game master if an expecific player is or not an Underling (But not the Zombie Lord)

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Ok, that's pretty much it... i know its a mess... but im just going out of the top of my Head... so, any opinions or ideas?

This looks cool. I'll play if you ever finalize it.

i really think that this could be the sruvival horror of forum games.... but i would require more people to hep me sort this out =B

This sounds really cool actually, I'd love to help but I'm already pretty busy as it is. However if you get this game up and running you can count me in for sure.

i'll post a MUCH detailed rule set in here in about 30 minutes (slow day at Work! LAWLZ!1!!1)

Im glad that it's a pleaser so far... i hope more people will enjoy it!

v Game Overview
v The Teams
v Winning Conditions
v How to Play
v Weapons
v Combat
v Roles and Powers

* Game Overview

Zombie Survival is a “Survival Horror” Forum Game, where Tension and paranoia Play high. The more the game advances the more you need to know who can you trust. Team play is a MAJOR factor. And the tables can turn any day or any night for any team. The survivors must escape the Zombie infested city, but will the Zombie Lord hidden amongst them allow?

* The Teams

There are only 2 Teams in Zombie Survival: “The Survivors” and “The Horde”

Survivors are the Players and their roles, civilians, military and other such persons that could be part of a Zombie Breakout.

The horde is made of the Zombie Lord (a player choosed at random) the Zombies (Mindless NPC’s) and Underling (Players that are infected with the zombie virus and get controlled by the Zombie Lord).

* Winning Conditions:

For the Survivors: Survivors win the game when they Kill the Zombie Lord and all his underlings, when the Zombie Lord looses all his Zombies or when they reach a special place in the game Map (see below) where they can get rescued.

For the Horde: The horde Wins when all the Survivors are killed.

* How to play

There will be an “X” Number of players (10 ~ 30 is what I suggest). Each player will receive a secret role via PM, gave by the Game Master (the creator of the topic)
One of these players will be selected with the role of “Zombie Lord”. He plays just like a survivor, in disguise amongst players, trying to lead them into danger.

The Zombie Lord has a “X” Number of Zombies at his disposal (50 ~ 100 I would say) that he can dispatch to several places (the Game master will set a limit of how many he can dispatch at any given time, the suggest limit is 10) if the Zombie lord dispatch zombies to an area where the palyers didn’t go, those Zombies are –lost-

The game starts at the Mall (or other such location) where the game master can display an overview of the situation, and the will proceed to offer the players a few places that they can flee to and the number of day that they have left to vote and decide.

Example: Abandoned Hospital, College, The Police Station.

These options can (or not) be followed by a description of the place and maybe hints of the possible hazards that the survivors can find there.

As soon as the places are defined, the Zombie Lord player will PM the Game master declaring how many zombies he will dispatch to each place.

Each place also has a “role” of sorts, the zombie lord will not know of such roles (unless the game master decides to do so) and those roles play out affecting the final outcome. (See roles) The zombie master Cannot change the place he sent his zombies after sending the Pm to the GM, and he must send his action before the survivors decide where to go. If not, then the GM will assume that no Zombies where dispatched.

Then, the Survivors may vote as to where they want to go. The Zombie Lord and his underlings may also vote, complete in disguise, pretending to be one of the survivors, trying to lead them into traps and danger.

Once the Destination is decided, the team moves there, and the GM will decribe the Outcome of the battle, if anyone died, if they found something, if there is an environmental hazard etc…

Then, it’s night.

At night, the Zombie Lord may take one of the players and can transform him into a Underling (sending a PM to that player and the GM) or command a Underling to Dispose of one of the Teams Weapon’s (At the risk of revealing its own identity). During night, the players may also vote (or not) to kill off any Survivor that they believe is infected or slowing the team down (as some roles can do) but that requires 50% of the team votes in favor of the killing. Also other roles with power may use then during night as their descriptions.

Then it’s day again.

* Weapons

Weapons are the only means of survival for the Player Team.
Anything can be a Weapon. Sharp Rocks, Pipes, Hand Guns, Grenades, Rocket Launchers etc… These can be found in many places, and it’s up to the Tem to track these down and find them in order to Survive.

Weapons are automatically disposed when used, and are automatically used when up against Zombies (Yes, we’re assuming that if you have a Shotgun in a realistic setting, of adrenalin and fear, you would unload it all on the Zombies).

Weapons don’t belong to a specific player, but rather to the group.

The GM will define and control the number of Weapons the Players have
Zombies don’t have Weapons. Underlings and the Zombie Lord cant use the team’s Weapons Against the team.

* Combat

Combat is solved automatically when the Day is over.
The number of Zombies in a local will be compared to the number of Weapons the Survivors have, define what will happen.

Ex: If there are 5 Zombies and the Team has 7 Weapons, all zombies get killed, no survivors die and the team is left with 2 Weapons.

If there are 7 Zombies and the Team has 5 Weapons, All weapons are lost, All zombies die, but the Survivors will loose 2 Teammates.

New Weapons are only acquired after all zombies are killed.
Environmental Hazards play out BEFORE any battle against Zombies.

* Roles and Powers

Horde Roles:

Zombie Lord:
- Commands zombies
- Can create 1 Underling per night
- It’s undetectable by any powers
- It’s never killed by Zombies

Underling:
- Can communicate with the Zombie Lord Freely by PM
- Loses all other powers it had before turning into a underling
- If ordered by the Zombie Lord will sacrifice itself attacking the Team during day when the team faces zombies (Raises Zombie number in local in +1)
- If ordered by the zombie lord will dispose of one of the team Weapons, but at the risk of possible getting it self killed.

Survivor Roles:

Civilians:
- No special powers

Medic:
- May revive any Fallen teammates during night, but it requires to expose yourself as the Medic. Which could alert the Zombie Lord and get YOU killed.

Marine:
- Kills 1 extra zombie when with a Weapon

Commando:
- When outnumbered by more than 3 zombies, the commando power kick’s in. Killing all zombies in the area using only 1 weapon, but the commando dies right after.

Scientist:
- Scientists may once per night as the GM is a expecific player is or not an underling. If targeting the Zombie lord, the reply will always be that he is just a normal person


Raging Paranoid:
- The Raging paranoid can kill any teammate (1 per night) that he thinks it’s an underling or the zombie lord without the need of the other teammates votes. It’s a dangerous role, because the raging paranoid WILL NOT lose his powers if he becomes a Underling of the Zombie Lord.

Annoying Victim:
- The annoying victim is a civilian. But he is scared, VERY scared. He whines and cries all the time about the zombies and how everybody is going to die.
- As long as the Annoying Victim is alive, all places will have +1 Zombie attracted by the noise he makes.
- If the annoying victim gets killed by the teammates, all places will have +2 zombies
- Nothing happen if the Annoying victim gets Killed by zombies.

Scumbag:
- A scumbag will always have +1 Weapon (a knife)
- When attacked by Zombies (going to die) the Scumbag will sacrifice another teammate to die in his place.

Gadget man:
- Once per night, he can scan one of the locals that the GM will display on the next day, so, knowing exactly what will be there awaiting for the team.

The cure:
- The cure is a person who bears a special DNA sequence that can cure zombies.
- Any Underling killed with a vote from The Cure will make that Underling revert back to a Teammate (with full powers).
- The Cure cannot become an Underling

Location Roles:

Infested Place:
- Regardless of how many zombies the zombie lord sends here, there will be from 2 to +6 Zombies

Safehouse:
- This place has no Zombies or items

War room:
- This place has from 1 to +5 Weapons

Environmental Danger:
- The place Kills 1 teammate automatically before any zombies appear

Resistance Site:
- A group of military Personal shows up Giving the Team +5 Weapons as Support fire

Others may come

I looks like it'll be a good game.

I suppose the only way to know for sure is to play it.

I have a few questions. It was mentioned that the weapons are regarded as group weapons, yet there are certain roles that get more effectiveness for attacking with the weapon.

Would the GM always assume the Marine got first dibs on a weapon to maximize the role in combat situations, or would it be random?

Although obviously not always an advisable choice, can team mates split up when choosing locations? This is a classic scenario in most horror when people are indecisive, split up, and possibly get killed(Or manage to be correct and manage to live.). If they can split up, how is weapon management handled? Is it assumed they still get access to the weapon total?

Is Scumbag's results random or do they need to wait on day and then post to you for the results? The only reason I ask this one is because if there's a pause before results before everything, a long pause, people will know there's a scumbag amongst them. Can they que a substitute?

And the last question is the role order at night. There are games where Cult Leaders or Mafia Dons are killed night one, and in a zombie lord's case, this would be an exceptionally short game. Would the zombification/underling convert happen prior to the Survivor's execution decision, or would it just be a clean survivor win? Also it really seems like there needs to be a substitute system for underlings. If a Lord dies early with all that power, the game kind of stalls out and you just execute people one by one until you find the underling. Maybe a secondary role where if the Lord Dies, they can still command the remainder zombies for day (Whichever one was converted to underling status first.), but they can't convert/make more underlings. Though if that happens got to make it a rule where you can't flat out point your Lord as scum, because you're his underling, not his liability.

Overall really insanely interested in this game, I <3 zombie scenarios.

Thanks for the questions i also noticed that are a few Hole in what i said... lets go!

1- Yes, the GM should assume that anyone with Proficience on Weapons should get it first. So as long as there is 1 or more Marines (example) in the Team, the bonus will Kick in. It's also accumulative.
The difference is that jsut like a Lynch post, the GM would say that there is a Marine in the Team killing more, but wouldnt say who he/they is/are...

2- Split up is 100% possible yes, but it would make the Team Much more vulnerable. So, just like there are several Types of Mafia games, such"Optional Rule" could be validated if the GM says so. It changes tehMechanic of the game, but it adds much more to it too.

3- Ah, Yes the Scumbag.. that actually allows me to adress a double point...
a Scumbag should sent a PM to the GM declaring who his "most probable shield" will be. Prior to the fact ofcourse... in case the Scumbag fails to do so, it should be random.

Also, the way people die shoudl be defined by a "Priority List" made by the Zombie Lord, and Updated whenever he feels like it. Sent it to the GM so that the GM wont Choose who dies, but the Zombie Lord instead. Since he will be guessing the roles of each one.

Yes i see! Well, in case the Zombie Lord dies and there are Underlings around, the Oldest underling should probably be Promoted to Zombie Lord.
And if a Zombie Lord dies and there are no Underlings, we could let the Zombie Lord rule only Day Actions until the end, or it would really be a Clean Victory (but i think that the first choice sounds better though...)

But since players have the choice to either move to a local or kill someone on day 1, it would be Higly unlikly to someone actually succeding in killing the Zombie Lord on Day 1... and on day 2 there would already be a Underling around.. so there is that...

Really, if you guys like it, all we need is a GM approval right?
I could try to wing it the First Zombie SUrvival Game, but i never did stuff like that before... wither way, i would if people asked for it

Overall pretty good. I'd just hope that the new/secondary lord couldn't make anymore underlings. The only reason I say that is because it makes the original Lord a big menance/the priority to die, not his underlings, and two: It becomes increasingly impossible to win if the new Lord can keep making converts, because you could kill three lords in a row and it wouldn't matter just because the new Lord/underling would be a lord and make another underling.

The Secondary Lord would still have a chance to win because they could do the night attacks and command the day zombies. It'd just be not as great as a chance as the original Lord. But then its better than sitting around waiting to be executed. LOL

I pretty much agree with what Pink Bunny said about the Zombie Lord, 2nd in command. If the next oldest zombie just keeps getting promoted then it never ends really. I would love to play this game it sounds more and more awesome.