Zombie Apocalypse, How would you survive? Options

[Patrick the Gnom...]

Alright, so I'm thinking of running my first Shadowrun campaign as a ghoul (mostly) zombie apocalypse that takes place in Houston, Texas. I want the cause to be an engineered HMHVV III virus strain built to be faster (speed 1 hour) but at a lower power (say between 4 and 6) with little to no penetration that would be spread through an infected mist (based out of the sewers of course). Campaign would start a few days after initial infection and the mission objecticve(s) would be to find and rescue someone, find and extract something from an arcology, find and stop the person who engineered the virus, and to help the military restore peace to Houston. I plan on making this campaign extremely open ended, basically I just want to throw my players into the city with a few loose objectives and tell them to have fun. I'd like to know though, what can people tell me about what they'd find cool to be in a campaign like this, what do people know about the geography of Houston that might be relevant, and what should I be cautious of when running my first campaign? Any thoughts you might have will be most appreciated (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Alright, so I'm thinking of running my first Shadowrun campaign as a ghoul (mostly) zombie apocalypse that takes place in Houston, Texas. I want the cause to be an engineered HMHVV III virus strain built to be faster (speed 1 hour) but at a lower power (say between 4 and 6) with little to no penetration that would be spread through an infected mist (based out of the sewers of course). Campaign would start a few days after initial infection and the mission objecticve(s) would be to find and rescue someone, find and extract something from an arcology, find and stop the person who engineered the virus, and to help the military restore peace to Houston. I plan on making this campaign extremely open ended, basically I just want to throw my players into the city with a few loose objectives and tell them to have fun. I'd like to know though, what can people tell me about what they'd find cool to be in a campaign like this, what do people know about the geography of Houston that might be relevant, and what should I be cautious of when running my first campaign? Any thoughts you might have will be most appreciated (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

Sounds interesting enough, I would be interested in hearing the outcome, if nothing else...
Sorry, no ideas right off the top of my head, but I will try to think of some...

Keep the Faith

[3278]

...what do people know about the geography of Houston that might be relevant...

Be conscious of the characteristics of your zombies. If they're intelligent and as physically-capable as ghouls in Shadowrun can be, that's going to play very differently than if they're mindless zombies a la most zombie movies.

If they're mindless, and if they're incapable of coordinated physical movement, keep in mind that Houston is a city of waterways, including various man-made canals, modified washes, and rivers, which could - depending on your zombie mythos - work as barriers against the hordes. Various of these waterways have sandbars and islands, which can act as safe staging areas. Also keep in mind that Galveston Bay cuts deeply into the metropolitan area, and is connected via waterway directly to the heart of Houston. Galveston Bay connects to the Gulf of Mexico, which itself has many much larger islands; this connection ebbs and flows, altering seasonally the salinity of the bay, which may or may not have any effect on zombies in your game, but which I thought was worth mentioning.

The biggest recommendation I can offer is to spend some quality time with Google Earth before beginning the campaign, acquainting yourself with the natural, man-made, and projected future characteristics of the area, all of which will strongly influence the flavor of the game, the tactics of the characters, and the behaviors of the epidemic. Any time you have the opportunity to study, in-depth and at leisure, the setting of the campaign, I highly, highly recommend it. [I do this for Chicago and Seattle, particularly, whose unique geographies offer many exciting opportunities.]

[Patrick the Gnom...]

Be conscious of the characteristics of your zombies. If they're intelligent and as physically-capable as ghouls in Shadowrun can be, that's going to play very differently than if they're mindless zombies a la most zombie movies.

If they're mindless, and if they're incapable of coordinated physical movement, keep in mind that Houston is a city of waterways, including various man-made canals, modified washes, and rivers, which could - depending on your zombie mythos - work as barriers against the hordes. Various of these waterways have sandbars and islands, which can act as safe staging areas. Also keep in mind that Galveston Bay cuts deeply into the metropolitan area, and is connected via waterway directly to the heart of Houston. Galveston Bay connects to the Gulf of Mexico, which itself has many much larger islands; this connection ebbs and flows, altering seasonally the salinity of the bay, which may or may not have any effect on zombies in your game, but which I thought was worth mentioning.

The biggest recommendation I can offer is to spend some quality time with Google Earth before beginning the campaign, acquainting yourself with the natural, man-made, and projected future characteristics of the area, all of which will strongly influence the flavor of the game, the tactics of the characters, and the behaviors of the epidemic. Any time you have the opportunity to study, in-depth and at leisure, the setting of the campaign, I highly, highly recommend it. [I do this for Chicago and Seattle, particularly, whose unique geographies offer many exciting opportunities.]

I was going to have most ghouls be mindless, but fast. The main body of the game is going to take place within the border of the Sam Houston Tollway, where military forces are barely keeping infected ghouls contained, so I'm not sure if the Galveston Bay would be a major campaign element. Something I was thinking of would be to put a high rating jamming signal in the city, so that PCs would be isolated from both the outside world and each other if they get separated, as well as a low rating background count due to the large amount of death and emotion going on in the city, although I'm not 100% on either idea. I've been using Google Earth to make a few maps, but I'd really like to get some input from people who have actually been to or lived in Houston.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

I was going to have most ghouls be mindless, but fast. The main body of the game is going to take place within the border of the Sam Houston Tollway, where military forces are barely keeping infected ghouls contained, so I'm not sure if the Galveston Bay would be a major campaign element. Something I was thinking of would be to put a high rating jamming signal in the city, so that PCs would be isolated from both the outside world and each other if they get separated, as well as a low rating background count due to the large amount of death and emotion going on in the city, although I'm not 100% on either idea. I've been using Google Earth to make a few maps, but I'd really like to get some input from people who have actually been to or lived in Houston.

Very Humid, Most Unpleasant... Would not go back if I had the Choice...

Sorry... that is all I got for the Momnet...

Keep the Faith

[Platinum]

lots of vehicular lasers on sentry pods fed by a giant capacitor, which can be recharged with low force lightning bolt.

[AngelisStorm]

The background of the characters is likely to play a huge part in this. Your going to need to make sure they are all on the same page regarding their characters.

Are they ex-military, professional shadowrunners, or are they up-and-comers?

Are they outside contractors brought in from the outside (say, Seattle), are they from Texas but not from Houston, or are they from the city?

These type of questions will make a huge difference in how the game plays out. If they are locals, they will have knowledge skills for the city, but won't have the opprotunity to get outfitted fully (since they will be trapped in the city.) If they are outside contractors, they will likely be able to be fully outfitted, but they won't know their way around the city (naturally). And the Texan option is in between, on knowledge and equipment (potentially), but they will have the greatest number of ways into the city (since they can just drive in).

Of course all of that is generalizations, but it's something to work from. All of the options have potential. Think seriously about resource caps and starting availability. For a 1st Shadowrun game (specially of this nature) it will be important.

Good luck; keep us updated.

[Weaver95]

lots of vehicular lasers on sentry pods fed by a giant capacitor, which can be recharged with low force lightning bolt.

If society (and infrastructure) broke down in the face of the zombie apocalypse, you might not have the time to cobble together any sort of defensive network.

Assuming a fast thinking Arcology director saw the writing on the wall and hit the 'isolate from outside' button fast enough, those bunkers might be the last, best hope for the survival of mankind.

[Patrick the Gnom...]

The background of the characters is likely to play a huge part in this. Your going to need to make sure they are all on the same page regarding their characters.

Are they ex-military, professional shadowrunners, or are they up-and-comers?

Are they outside contractors brought in from the outside (say, Seattle), are they from Texas but not from Houston, or are they from the city?

These type of questions will make a huge difference in how the game plays out. If they are locals, they will have knowledge skills for the city, but won't have the opprotunity to get outfitted fully (since they will be trapped in the city.) If they are outside contractors, they will likely be able to be fully outfitted, but they won't know their way around the city (naturally). And the Texan option is in between, on knowledge and equipment (potentially), but they will have the greatest number of ways into the city (since they can just drive in).

Of course all of that is generalizations, but it's something to work from. All of the options have potential. Think seriously about resource caps and starting availability. For a 1st Shadowrun game (specially of this nature) it will be important.

Good luck; keep us updated.

Interesting. They're definetly shadowrunners, although most likeley up-and-comers as opposed to real professionals. I was thinking I'd have an initiation session or two before throwing them into the city, where'd they'd have to deal with the infected and have a little leeway to prepare before heading into ghoultown. I have different maps of the city that differ in level of detail, so I think it'd be cool to have the players be able to pick something like whether they'd be complete out-of-towners (most basic map but they'd have access to the restricted gear quality), texans (map with street names and basic terrain but not able to have restricted gear quality), or people trapped in Houston (not able to have gear above availabilty 8 but have a high resistance to HMHVV III and get a map with major landmarks). Something along those lines.

[Ravor]

Make sure that your players know that anyone playing a Mage or Adept is fucked as the background count raises to the point where magic is impossible for all but the most powerful mages with access to Filtering Metamagic.

[Draco18s]

How would you survive?

I would be a zombie.
[img]http://www.smileydesign.net/smileys/zombie11.gif[/img]
(You know, I still wonder about images in posts on this board--I have images turned on, yet I just see the BBCode for it...)

[Patrick the Gnom...]

Make sure that your players know that anyone playing a Mage or Adept is fucked as the background count raises to the point where magic is impossible for all but the most powerful mages with access to Filtering Metamagic.

The background count won't be as high as all that, probably only one in most areas. If it gets to be a problem though I'll just get rid of it.

[Cthulhudreams]

A hard part is going to be evading military and paramilitary kill teams. Ares used a nuke on chicago last time something like this happened, so you're going to want to move fast and keep low.

Think more 'Half life' than 'Left 4 Dead'

[3278]

The background count won't be as high as all that, probably only one in most areas. If it gets to be a problem though I'll just get rid of it.

You could totally do that, but you might want to consider not doing so, as a plot device. As more and more people die horribly, and more and more background count rises, the magical members of the team are going to get challenged harder and harder, allowing for a possible MacGuffin which would allow Filtering for those who don't yet have the metamagic, or encourage the characters to seek out initiation as a solution to the problem. No reason you'd have to do that, of course, but it might provide an interesting series of possibilities.

[Patrick the Gnom...]

You could totally do that, but you might want to consider not doing so, as a plot device. As more and more people die horribly, and more and more background count rises, the magical members of the team are going to get challenged harder and harder, allowing for a possible MacGuffin which would allow Filtering for those who don't yet have the metamagic, or encourage the characters to seek out initiation as a solution to the problem. No reason you'd have to do that, of course, but it might provide an interesting series of possibilities.

I'm hesitant to use initiation as an answer to background count. The length of this campaign is going to be very short in game time, probably no more than a week or two, so I'm not really sure how to work karma spending into it. If anyone's ever played the bug city campaign I'd appreciate knowing how it worked in there, considering the situation is similar.

[3278]

The length of this campaign is going to be very short in game time, probably no more than a week or two...

Then I wouldn't worry about it.

[3278]

If anyone's ever played the bug city campaign I'd appreciate knowing how it worked in there, considering the situation is similar.

It sucked, is the short answer to that question, for persons of the magical persuasion. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) Kind of made it fun, for me, as the guy voted "most likely to play a mage," but in a span of only a couple of weeks of game time, I don't think it'd be worth the complications, personally, but others may have other ideas of how to work it in.

[Ravor]

Meh, almsot everywhere should have a Background Count of 1, read the tables in Street Magic again and remember that you are talking about a "zombie apocalypse" not a walk in a park where lovers meet.

[Patrick the Gnom...]

Meh, almsot everywhere should have a Background Count of 1, read the tables in Street Magic again and remember that you are talking about a "zombie apocalypse" not a walk in a park where lovers meet.

Yeah, but I've never played a game that took that table seriously. I want to limit the power of magic somewhat in order to make cybers and normals more useable in a campaign that will have a heavy magic component, but I don't want my mages to kill themselves when casting simple spells.

[Ravor]

To each their own, personally I've found that Background Count makes metamagic choice more interesting than "First I'll get Masking, then Centering."

[3278]

To each their own, personally I've found that Background Count makes metamagic choice more interesting than "First I'll get Masking, then Centering."

Yeah, but note they're only going to be there a couple of weeks, not really enough time to get into metamagic and initiation. If this were a long-term assignment, I'm right there with you: I think the background count provides countless interesting plot possibilities, but for 7-14 days, I think I'd "get the handwavium out," as Paul would say.

[Ravor]

Good point, I guess I'm just too set in my ways.

[CanadianWolverin...]

How would I survive your SR zombie apocalypse? Well, for starters, it isn't a apocalypse if it is contained to a part of Houston, is it? Being the silly person I am, I recently read Max Brook's Zombie Survival Guide but it is a fairly useless piece of fiction for fast (mutant?) zombies like in Left 4 Dead, so I would wonder (since I don't know much about SR ghouls):
- Is the only way to kill your SR fast zombie by shooting them in the head or will sufficient amount of physical damage do?
- And are they able to climb like the Left 4 Dead zombies? Swim? Jump?
- And are the runners immune or is bite/open wound a death sentence?
- Do the zombies possess a hive mind group think coordination, a group identity without team work but common cause, or just exist as singular entities who happen to be in the same area with no thought of the other zeds but just happen to also have the same goal of eating fresh meta-human flesh?
Answers to those questions would make a big difference on just how my SR character would prepare them self in at least gear, if not skill set and then what kind of actions they would take based on motivations determined by assessed threat posed by the zeds.

[Patrick the Gnom...]

How would I survive your SR zombie apocalypse? Well, for starters, it isn't a apocalypse if it is contained to a part of Houston, is it? Being the silly person I am, I recently read Max Brook's Zombie Survival Guide but it is a fairly useless piece of fiction for fast (mutant?) zombies like in Left 4 Dead, so I would wonder (since I don't know much about SR ghouls):
- Is the only way to kill your SR fast zombie by shooting them in the head or will sufficient amount of physical damage do?
- And are they able to climb like the Left 4 Dead zombies? Swim? Jump?
- And are the runners immune or is bite/open wound a death sentence?
- Do the zombies possess a hive mind group think coordination, a group identity without team work but common cause, or just exist as singular entities who happen to be in the same area with no thought of the other zeds but just happen to also have the same goal of eating fresh meta-human flesh?
Answers to those questions would make a big difference on just how my SR character would prepare them self in at least gear, if not skill set and then what kind of actions they would take based on motivations determined by assessed threat posed by the zeds.

Meh, I'd think the people in Houston would consider it pretty apocalyptic. Physical damage kills ghouls. Most of the ghouls in this campaign will be mutated civilians with a +4 body increase, +3 strength increase, and +2 increase to reaction and will, so they might be able to swim, but they wouldn't be able to climb or jump much better than your average human. The HMHVV III virus I'm using is significantly weaker and faster than Runner's Companion's so it's not a death sentence to be bitten but, without medical treatment you'll probably turn, and it won't be a pleasant experience either way. The ghouls would all be basically mindless, or at least primarily instinctive, so the only actual "strategy" they'd use would be to swarm together in large groups and then feeding frenzy anybody who comes within range of their senses.

[MJBurrage]

Thought this might be applicable:

University of Ottawa math professor Robert Smith? and his team recently completed research on the potential battle between zombies and humans. They have found that humans could win out against the slower-moving creatures of the zombie classics.

• Robert Smith?'s homepage
• Wired article (14 August 2009)
• Nature article (17 August 2009)
• BBC article (18 August 2009)
• How Stuff Works article (18 August 2009)
• NPR interview (20 August 2009)