I was hoping to have a free preview ready and available, but alas, I have not had the ambition to get that finished yet. It'll be good when I do.
Anyhow, until then, I thought I'd offer a really quick Halloween one-shot for everyone. Realize these are not the game rules. I'm putting this together as best I can so it can be used as a quick Halloween one-shot.
(You might notice a big similarity in game play between this and HQ)
THE IDEA IS THIS:
Your characters are walking through town Halloween evening, perhaps after dinner. You hear a scream down the street, and see, through the dim torchlight, several figures lumbering down the dirt road. One might even trip on a pot hole. As they get closer, you see they are undead - ZOMBIES!
The corpses from the town cemetery, all of those from the past 30-40 years, since a time when the town was only a stagecoach outpost, are coming back to the world of the living.
As you watch, one man runs up to a zombie and tries to throw a few punches, undeterred by the flesh sloughing off or the stench of the grave wafting about the creature. The zombie takes three punches to the face, then batters the man with its arm. He falls into a heap at the zombie's feet, and three others fall atop him, gnawing at his unmoving body.
More and more of the monsters appear just inside the circles of light from the torches and lanterns lining the street. Townspeople run for cover.
THE GAME:
In my western campaign and my fantasy campaign, I don't make a distinction between a normal attack and a called attack to the head. In this one-shot, we're going to say that, as we see in many movies, the zombies can only be stopped by either blowing their heads off, or knocking/chopping their heads off. As such, I have increased their Defense by one defense die. I tell you this in case you go find my game and notice the difference.
The characters must fend off and/or kill all the zombies. They will only be walking through town for Halloween night. Once the
time reaches midnight, it will no longer be Halloween. The zombies will begin to wander off, either out into the desert, or back to the cemetery to find their resting place once again. The time when the zombies appear is just after sunset, roughly 5:30pm. The characters must live for 6-1/2 hours.
THE ZOMBIES:
MONSTER: Humanoid Zombie (Undead)
BODY: 2 MIND: 0 SPIRIT: 0 SEARCH: n/a
MOVE: 15ft
ATTACK: 2 (hand/arm x1)
DEFENSE: 4
SPECIAL:
If any attack causes at least 1 point of damage, target rolls 1d6. On a roll of 1, there is also 1 point of disease damage.
DESCRIPTION:
Humanoid zombies appear just as they did in real life, except that they are bloated and usually grayish in color. Many times, the zombie will have portions of skin and flesh sloughing off, leaving behind a trail of gore and grave-stench wherever they go.
THE CHARACTERS:
CREATURE: Normal Human (Human-kin)
BODY: 5 MIND: 5 SPIRIT: 4
SEARCH: 2d6
MOVE: 30ft
ATTACK: 2 (fists x1) or by weapon
DEFENSE: 2
SPECIAL:
If attacking with fists, this creature must roll a 5 or 6 for a successful attack.
DESCRIPTION:
Humans are just that: Humans. Ranging to the extremes in height, weight, skin color, position in life, profession, humans can be found nearly anywhere adventurers might go. Humans can be unpredictable in nature, and it should be no surprise that one human could be friendly and kind, only to find another just down the road that is hateful and murderous.
THE WEAPONS:
Normally, characters would have to use their starting money to purchase training, weapons, and bullets and such. We're just going to assume that the characters already have the training to use whatever weapons they have chosen, and would have the money to buy the weapons they choose. We will also assume that each character has ammunition for their weapon. If they choose a revolver or rifle, they will have a number of bullets equal to: 20 + 3d6. If they choose a shotgun, they will have a number of shells equal to 10 + 2d6.
Each character can choose one firearm from the following list:
1 - Medium Revolver - 5d6, Piercing damage, medium caliber, 6-shot Range 5ft-25ft
2 - Lever-action Rifle 6d6, Piercing damage, medium caliber, 10-shot, Range 10ft-50ft, Two Hands, requires quick pump between shots
.............(Response Speed -2 - ignore this for now)
3 - Double Barrel Shot Gun 5d6, Piercing damage, small-shot shells, 2-shot, Range 10ft-30ft, Two Hands,
Any of these firearms will take out a zombie with a head-shot. It takes an action of one turn to reload. This means you can reload and then move, or move and then reload. You cannot perform any other actual action while trying to reload, however.
The spray for the shot gun: starting at 10ft (2 spaces) away from the character, it is a single space. At 15ft, it spreads to 15ft wide. It moves out at 15ft wide up to the 30ft maximum range.
Characters can also carry a knife, which is:
Dagger/Knife 1d6, Cutting/Slicing/Piercing damage,
Throw 10ft-15ft
Characters can also pick up and use any other item the GM decides might be sitting around: sticks, clubs, shovels, rakes, etc.
Staff/Stick 1d6, Reach
Club 2d6, Bludgeoning damage
Hammer 2d6, Bludgeoning damage, Throw 10ft-15ft
Hatchet 1d6, Cutting/Chopping damage, may reroll twice, Throw 10ft-15ft
**Reach means it can attack diagonally, or at 10ft instead of 5ft (adjacent)
Lastly, if it comes down to it, character may fist fight:
Fist 1d6, Bludgeoning damage, must roll 5 or 6
Foot 1d6, Bludgeoning damage, must roll 5 or 6
Knee/Elbow 1d6, Bludgeoning damage, must roll 5 or 6
GAMEPLAY/COMBAT:
Each character and monster possesses ATTACK and DEFENSE. For attacking, roll the number of d6's indicated by the weapon. Each die must show a 4 or 5 or 6, unless stated otherwise. For defending, roll the number of dice indicated under DEFENSE. These dice must show a 5 or 6, unless stated otherwise. If the DEFENSE roll shows an equal or greater number of successful dice than the Attack roll, all damage has been blocked (or dodged, or the attacker simply missed). For every Attack die that is not blocked, the target takes this amount of damage.
The Zombies will come from everywhere on the street...from both ends of the street, and from any alley that is open. They will be behind buildings. There will be a starting total of zombies equal to the number of players x5....the characters are outnumbered 5 to 1. Introduce them from as many different places as possible.
Zombies cannot crawl in through windows, though they can batter someone standing directly at the window. Zombies cannot open doors, but they can beat on them to knock them down. A door does not have a DEFENSE, but does have 6 Body Points, and because it is made of thick wood, will ignore 1 point of damage done to it each turn. So, in theory, a zombie can do one point of damage each attack. This is assuming its attack roll shows two successful dice each turn (rolling a 4 or 5 or 6). Furniture placed in front of doors will be similarly attacked. It is up to the GM to decide how many Body Points a certain wooden item might have. Base this on the Door's number of 6 Body Points.
Here is the map of a section of the street in the town:
diamond river gulch zombie attack town.JPG
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