Staempunk LARP? Zombie LARP?

Deadlands said:
Robb Graves said:
I could see boffer weapons still existing.. but i kinda have an issue with no hand to hand in this type of environment... especially if you limite the weapons to like 5 among 15 PCs (which i would).
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I had four thoughts.

1) The plane had two sports teams aboard, a little league base ball team and a minor league hockey team, and most of them didn't survive. You get the idea...

2) Green boffers, one dagger length and one short weapon length, reps for arms and legs. You can only block green boffers with green boffers. Otherwise, you take damage.

3) Encourage pcs to make reps (+1 or 2 dam) that look like things you'd find on a plane: Fire extinguisher, electric guitars, prosthetic limbs, pieces of the actual plane, etc.

4) We could provide some farm tool reps for the pcs to find very early in the game: Axes, shovels, etc. And we could provide 'special' weapons from mods: Sawed-off shotguns (cuz of lack of range), chainsaws, bricks of black powder and ultimately, a nuclear warhead...
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true, then just say, "like alliance... no hand to hand.. deal with it"

one of the things that would need to be thought about would be what happens when someone says "ok, i want to leave the farm by myself"... obviously they are leaving the game, but do we give them a chance to survive, or do they just go missing and then submit a plot writeup and see what happens..

and then along those same lines.. a game like this seems somewhat linear... with a group of people getting to know each other pretty well... so what happens when game 1 go great... then game 2 arrives and sally and henry don't show up to PC, and 3 new PCs do... does plot say during "opening ceremonies"... welcome back, it's been 24 hours since last time IG and now sally and henry are missing... then allow for the 3 new PCs to walk into town with thier own stories (obviously they aren't from the plane) and see how the PCs handle it?

btw, love this idea. :thumbsup:
 
Well, I would start it off as a one-shot. Based on how it goes we could determine if we could/should continue, and based on player feedback and our own ideas we could figure the preferred way to continue the story.
 
Huh, pretty neat concept.

Perhaps there is an defensive location nearby with no food stores, which could explain the abscence of characters of PCs who aren't there and why it is vital to hold the farm? Just a random thought.
 
A zombie larp here in the Seattle area uses a really simple rules system (2 pages) and has had huge success with a 24 hour surivival game(100+ attendance for their last public game and 300+ pre-reg for their next event). They signify brawl by using 12 inch black boffers, anything over that is a melee weapon. Because of the simplicity of the rules set they don't allow for anything larger than 36 inches, and of course they also allow Nerf guns. ;)
They plot varies from weekend to weekend and the players often have to create new characters every time (90% or higher mortality rate among PCs), but they always find ways to force you out of your hidey hole and make you think it was your idea.
In the vein of weaponry and availability of nifty zombie survival tools like axes and machetes, the setting was one in which Z-day had occurred years earlier, certainly allowing people plenty of time to have accrued various implements of destruction with which to ward off the dead.
 
Robb Graves said:
question... i know there are zombie airsoft larps out there.. but.. i love gary's idea of limited people, limited supplies.. but i keep thinking about 1 thing for modern zombie larps.. how do you deal with phisical combat (hand to hand)?
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I think the rules could be simplified greatly if everybody's character was exactly the same with no level system. Fighting style would be personal choice. Have a basic HP system say 40-50 HP per player character and 75 or so per zombie (depending on ratio of PCs to NPCs). The idea behind PCs having lower health than a zombie of course is the fact that a zombie can take a few hits and keep on moving where if a person takes a hit from a zombie, more often than not, they will become a zombie. I think the idea of basic Nerf guns is great and almost required for a zombie game. (none of that full-auto-battery-powered-nonsense except maybe one that is hidden and can be awarded from some sort of module). Give zombies short claw weapons and allow players to be creative with their own within reason. Zombies swing 5-10s. Players short weapons (machetes, Baseball bats, etc.) swing 5-10s. Guns do from 10-15 (small handguns doing 10, larger rifles/shotguns doing 15). As far as head-shots, I'm not sure how that would work considering safety but if they were somehow implemented they would be an instant kill. Obviously ammunition would be limited. Being that this is a modern/current setting, we would have no magical healers, but people with medical experience would be allowed as the doctors/medics. However, healing supplies would also need to be limited.

If a player dies, they become a zombie for the remainder of the event, increasing the ratio of zombies to players making it much more difficult towards the end. Whether or not to start each event fresh or make it a continuing story each event, allowing the survivors to return, is completely up to the staff.

Just my ideas to make this a very simple but fun game/event
 
the one problem, Zombies 1 through 10 are killed off early in the game...what do they do the rest of the day, respawn?
 
SkollWolfrun said:
the one problem, Zombies 1 through 10 are killed off early in the game...what do they do the rest of the day, respawn?
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Yes. The game would be run similarly to how an Alliance game is now. The players would be given objectives such as finding a radio to contact help, looking for supplies whether they be food or medical supplies all ending with everybody having to "GET TO THA CHOPPA!!" or something to that effect at the very end. All to escape because while they are camped up inside their shelter, the PCs are running out of food/water, The zombie hoard is gathering and overtaking the building. Things like that.
 
Just keep it simple...more so if its a one-shot game to start with...
Physical character(+1 Damage Melee)
Nimble character(+1 "dodge" or +1 Damage Firearms)
Smart character(+1 Knowledge:Skill)
Tough character(+1 hp)

Characters start with X skill points
skills like: melee skill, Firearms (small), Firearms (large), Firearms (special), Toughness, Dodge, First Aid, Knowledge: Skill....

or you can try doing the "fighter/rogue" tree type skills....

just a couple of thoughts...
 
Unless this takes off as a regular game (I.E. not once a year) I would keep skills minimal if using them at all. Nobody should really have any skills as they should be pretty much normal people trapped in a desperate situation. I like Gary's storyline of a crashed 747 putting ordinary people in an extraordinary situation.
 
I dunno...

If they are going to allow guns then there should be a system where gun use is skill based. I have never even HELD a gun. I should not be able to use one as well as someone who has been hunting since they were 10.

I don't think it needs to be complex though.

Something like what Matt suggested would work.

Then just create a simple list of skills and let people go to town.
 
RiddickDale said:
I dunno...

If they are going to allow guns then there should be a system where gun use is skill based. I have never even HELD a gun. I should not be able to use one as well as someone who has been hunting since they were 10.

I don't think it needs to be complex though.

Something like what Matt suggested would work.

Then just create a simple list of skills and let people go to town.
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Yeah, I agree - something similar to what you do with a starting character in a lot of console RPGs. Point pools with point costs - could even throw in things like flaws to get more points to make things interesting (like - Prosthetic Leg - 3 points or Paranoia -1 point...) would have to be RP'd and have specific requirements for repping (like a blue band tied around the leg you have to limp on all weekend or something).

I'm most curious about how the damage would work - If you get clawed by a zombie, would you become a zombie - how long would it take for you to change? That variable aspect could be pretty cool - like as soon as it's been resolved that you've been damaged, you get a stop watch handed to you that you can't show anyone - they'd all have different times and could be augmented by skills like "Health" or something like that. When the time is out bam - time to eat your friends! :)

OK -- now I'm just brainstorming... mmmm gummy brains...
 
I was thinking about infection as well. In alliance we have earth circles, and if this becomes an alliance alternative campaign (as gary wants to make it), I thought the "Earth circle" would be the onsite medical facility (as run down as that might be). Resurrection wouldn't exist obviously, but healing potions and even some forms of alchemy could (poisons, explosives, bandages, medicine, etc.)

Perhaps if you get hit with a carrier you are affected for ten minutes, and have to get to the "Earth circle" and maybe there is an NPC doctor there who gives to an antigen and roles a percentage dice to see if you got infected from the carrier. If so, you have X time until you turn and the NPC would log your name, so they could track you.
 
Alternatively.... we could rock it like "The Stand" and make it so that the PCs are immune to the zombie infection... just not being consumed, etc.
 
true, but that does remove a big fear factor in the game. fear that someone else will do something stupid, get infected, kill us all.. etc.
 
However, by making PC's immune you could potentially seed the player base with NPC's early on (the NPC's not being immune) and have them turn over the course of the first couple hours. Thus giving the PC's reason to fear what is going on and at the same time allow the to discover that some individuals may be immune to the effect.

Or it could be a greater and lesser infections. PC's are immune to the more prevelant lesser infection but not immune to the less prevelent greater infection. It could be something as simple as you need to be cut down and actively infected for a minute to get turned.
 
Hammerfist said:
Or it could be a greater and lesser infections. PC's are immune to the more prevelant lesser infection but not immune to the less prevelent greater infection. It could be something as simple as you need to be cut down and actively infected for a minute to get turned.
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that's true.. "resurrection" could mean infection now.

I'd be a little careful with the NPCs amongst you are not immune, because it'd start to get easy to figure out who they are (look at the PC pre-reg list, "ok, you're not on that list, so I deem you to be an NPC and therefore I do not trust you.")
 
Robb Graves said:
true, but that does remove a big fear factor in the game. fear that someone else will do something stupid, get infected, kill us all.. etc.
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Not necassarily.

These are just ordinary people under sever psychological stress... there would always be the possibility of someone going off the deep end.

I'll be honest. When I consider the quality of RP that I have seen from our players... I would be MUCH more afraid of someone being told by a Marshal that they are "lost it" and that they need to start manifesting a given psych disorder than if they were to just fall over and reanimate as a zombie.

Stephen
 
Robb Graves said:
I'd be a little careful with the NPCs amongst you are not immune, because it'd start to get easy to figure out who they are (look at the PC pre-reg list, "ok, you're not on that list, so I deem you to be an NPC and therefore I do not trust you.")
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I'd put my "plants" on the pre-reg list. That way you can't metagame so easily.
 
aara said:
Robb Graves said:
I'd be a little careful with the NPCs amongst you are not immune, because it'd start to get easy to figure out who they are (look at the PC pre-reg list, "ok, you're not on that list, so I deem you to be an NPC and therefore I do not trust you.")
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I'd put my "plants" on the pre-reg list. That way you can't metagame so easily.
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Or you just don't have a pre reg list posted at all.
 
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