Zombies as a Source of Loot

So here I am happily generating zombies for an up coming YotZ product (87 generated tonight), and I’m looking at the stat blocks when I realise something I hadn’t thought of before. We often make reference to how quickly stores and warehouses are looted in the rising and how scarce supplies and ammo become. But we overlook one of the richest, if a little unreliable, sources of loot. The risen themselves.

For example, taking Marshall Tucker from Fleshmongers 2, at zero hour his stats are as follows:

Marshal Tucker (Tough Hero 3): CR 3; Medium-size humanoid; HD 3d10+9 plus 3; HP 29; Mas 17; Init +2;Spd 30 ft; Defense 17, touch 14, flatfooted 15 (+0 size,+2 Dex, +2 class, +3 equipment); BAB +2; Grap +4;
Atk +4 melee (1d4+2, Brass Knuckles), or +4 ranged (2d6+0, 10mm Glock); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ; AL Tuckers Band; SV Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +2; AP 1; Rep +1; Str 14, Dex 14, Con 17, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 12.
Occupation: Slaver (Drive, Knowledge [Tactics])
Skills: Drive +7, Intimidate +5, Knowledge (Streetwise) +3, Knowledge (Tactics) +5, Listen +3, Read/Write Language +1 (English, Spanish), Speak Language +1 (English, Spanish), Spot +7, Survival +5
Feats: Alertness, Armor Proficiency (light), Brawl, Personal Firearms Proficiency, Point Blank Shot, Simple Weapons Proficiency
Talents (Tough Hero): Robust, Remain Conscious
Possessions: Undercover Vest, Brass Knuckles, 10mm Glock with 6 magazines, handcuffs, meth, cocaine, bottle of alcohol, 2002 Ford F-150 extended cab with cab over camper.

Looking at these stats, ignoring the usual elements, we see that Marshall at this point is reasonably well provisioned for the zero hour slot. But what if Marshall had been unlucky at zero hour. He would have risen, as per normal. But a lot of his equipment would have stayed about his person. Clearly, the vehicle is unlikely to be with him as a zombie (unless he was unfortunate enough to die locked inside), but the rest would still be on his shambling corpse.

There is a chance that he will have been shooting the Glock at the time of death, and this will have a high chance of being lost. The bottle of alcohol has a good chance of being dropped too. But the undercover vest will certainly still be on his body, the brass knuckles, extra magazines, handcuffs and drugs will be in his pockets. Clearly even at this stage Marshall is a walking post rising gold mine.

There is a thought that says we will have to be careful in what we put on our zombies in the future, as to not unbalance the game. But as Tim has proven, even parties with armoured vehicles can be beaten. They have to get out of the tank to pee sometime

Laters

John

Year of the Zombie: Marauders 2 Released

Reave-archaic, verb

(1): rob, despoil
(2): to deprive one of
(3): seize, plunder
(4) Archaic: to carry or tear away

Reaver-archaic, noun

(1): One who robs and despoils
(2): A lawless brigand
(3): One who plunders or seizes, usually murdering to do so
-Post Rising, noun
(4): An asshole who murders innocent people and burns down everything they don’t want to deprive other people from having it. Usually found in groups of like-minded assholes who think the world owes them a living.

Asshole-noun

(1) Usually vulgar: anus
(2) Usually vulgar: a stupid, incompetent, or detestable person
(3) Usually vulgar: the worst place
-Post Rising, adjective or noun
(4): A person who lives outside of civilization or society, flaunting and flagrantly violating social agreements, usually by looting, murdering, raping, and kidnapping.
(5): A person who prefers to destroy rather than build, often, taking pride and glee into destroying

Reaver groups are a constant part of the world after the Rising. While some scavenge the ruins for anything they can pull from Mr. Hungry’s grasp, the focus in this book is on the scumbags who roll in, kill everyone, and take what they want. These people act more like locusts than like humans, swooping down on a settlement, killing everyone, often destroying the Haven, grabbing what they want, and then leaving.

Unlike Marauders 1 and Fleshmongers 1 and 2, this book doesn’t really track any one particular group, but rather provides some generic trash for you to label and throw at the PCs. Future Marauders supplements will showcase specific groups, usually broken down by size and professionalism.

Available from RPGNow priced at $8.00

Weekend Working

It’s been a nice weekend for experimenting with some idea’s and getting the mapping hand back in practise.

Firstly, as noted in a previous post, I have been experimenting with the idea of ‘zombie cards’. An index card style system of zombie NPCs which will allow a YotZ GM to quickly assemble a small horde of risers, each with their own unique stats. I have now come up with the first draft of the design of these cards, so I share with you the zombie card design, using Mr Welby from Hold at all Costs 1 as the stat block.

Linked to this style of zombie presentation, is the NPC work I also mentioned earlier. I have continued writing on this project. Having immense fun trying to put myself into the shoes of these NPCs at the various stages of the rising (in this case from zero to 72 hours), and presenting a, hopefully, sensible and viable survival plan for each of them. Included in this is a rough description for what the NPCs is doing at the various stages, how the party could encounter the NPC and a stat block for each stage. Most of the stat blocks reflect changes in the NPCs equipment more than changes in level as the time scales are quite short.

Finally, I have opened up my mapping folders again, starting work on a Master Plan Modern range of roads and junctions. These I will be developing to allow use for both normal modern games and also post apocalyptic and YotZ. Below is the first map, which I am giving away as a freebie on this blog.

Download the full size version

Anyway, that’s a brief summary of the activities of the weekend, more to come.

Thanks

John

Art by Shinkei: Fantasy 3 Released at RPGNow

We are pleased to announce that Art by Shinkei Fantasy 3 is now available from RPGNow priced at $4 for 9 full images. Visit RPGNow for more information.

New Wallpapers, and a bit of a catch up.

Well, the students have finally started back and we get back into the daily routine at work, rather than the project driven summer holidays. For those who don’t know I work in I.T. at a UK University, and the last few weeks have been frantic as per usual. But as I said they’re back and things are settling down a little again.

As a result I haven’t been a productive as I would have liked, having got a new set of cover stock art out, and a few other publisher resources ready for release, but I haven’t been entirely idle on other projects. I have started laying out Marauders 2 for YotZ, and continue working on Shadow of the Zombie. Additionally, I am working on a number of Masterplan Modern: series floorplans, some of which will be suitable for a Post Apocalypse version as well, and hopefully one or two will also make potential YotZ Encounters products.

Finally I have started work on what I hope will be a great resource for YotZ and Post Apocalypse players in the D20 Modern setting. One of the things I often find when working with the YotZ setting, is the need for a few survivor NPCs. And by this I mean, not the Fleshmongers, Marauders type of survivors, but general everyday folks who have by wit, skill or luck managed to hang onto their lives despite Mr Hungry trying to take it at every turn. These are the doctors, lawyers, students, builders, electricians, normal people who we all know.

So I thought that a series of products detailing more rational, and normal survivor types at various points in the rising would be a useful resource for me, and therefore possibly for other YotZ GMs as well. Additionally, I will be not only providing a bio, stats and other information on these NPCs but their zombie stats should they die. These zombie stats will be in form of “Zombie Cards”. Index cards of the zombie so if you need half a dozen zombies you can randomly pluck them from a deck and voilà zombies ready to go.

If you have any thoughts on how this product idea could be improved, do feel free to drop us a line.

Finally, I am including 2 more wallpapers from John Picot. Enjoy.

Night All

John

StockArt Covers: Leather Bound Book X Released

We are pleased to announce the release of a new StockArt Covers product, Leather Bound Book X.

Leather Bound Book X includes 11 full size png files (10 covers and 1 interior page) and 1 psd file. The design is of a Leather Bound Volume with a Chaos Symbol decal and trims, with 2 different leather textures.

Click here for full samples

New Stock Art Pack Available

Finally, managed to get my head down and pull together some work.

First out of the gate is Art by Shinkei: Modern Zombies 1. This stock art pack brings 11 images from John Picots excellent Year of the Zombie work, priced at $4.00 with license to us in fan work or other publications. Available now from RPGNow

I have also got a new Stockart Covers product ready, expect this in a few days as well as more art from John.

For those who need a reminder of some of Johns work I have also created 3 new Desktop Wallpapers for Year of the Zombie, which can be downloaded for free from the links below.

Anyway, night all.

John

Real Work, in the Works!

Well, not a lot of new progress on products. As the title suggests, real work is getting in the way of publishing work. With 35k students all poised to return to Uni in 3 weeks, it’s all hands on deck getting everything ready, so I have been more than a little tired this week after work.

In addition our best mates got married on Tuesday, so Monday and Tuesday were right offs as far as writing was concerned.

On a more positive note, I have started a new floorplan set. Master Plan: Modern – Homes and Apartments will give a number of small houses and apartments, all nicely decorated and furnished. I am aiming this product at two distinct uses. Firstly the clean version can be used for burglary and such for our more nefarious characters, and a dirty version (blood splats optional) will be ideal for scavenging locations for a Post Apocalypse or YotZ game.

I am also trying out a new idea with this set of floorplans. Over the years I have built quite a few mapping objects, and for this set I am going to include the png files the objects used in the plans as well as the plans themselves. Hopefully, gm’s will find these useful for drawing their own maps. Who knows, but opinions are always welcome.

Finally, I have started on layout of Marauders 2 for YotZ so this should be with us in the next week or so.

Night all

John

Weekly Roundup

Well apart from the new StockArt Cover, there’s not alot to add. This week has mainly been dedicated to icing a cake for our friends combined Stag and Hen Party, hence forth known as a Sten Party (we suggested Hag Night, but the girls weren’t overly keen on that idea).

That said I have still managed to get a little work in on Pluto Rising (The first Dead Future adventure), mainly working on building the floorplans for the I.P.S.E. Pluto and getting some ideas down for nasty trick to spring on the party as they occur (usually as I am mapping a particular section and think “That would be fun to do here”). I’ve also managed a little more on Shadow of the Zombie, starting to work on the Jiang Shi (or Hopping Dead) from oriental myth.

I am finding that OneNote from Microsoft it a great tool for recording your idea’s and building up the various project I have on the go, and double useful when linked to SkyDrive so I can access the file anywhere I have Internet access. If you haven’t tried OneNote yet and have the Office Suite I seriously suggest you have a look, you won’t regret it.

Finally, I have picked up “Rise Britannia” again, and I am making some progress on the outline for this book.

Anyway, enough for tonight.

John

New Stock Art Covers Available

We are pleased to announce the release of a new StockArt Covers title, Leather Bound Book IX. The StockArt Covers range is designed to bring quality cover stock to publishers for a minimal price tag. All these products carry several variations on a central theme, usually a set of interior pages and more recent versions include a fully layered Adobe Photoshop version to allow our customers to further modify the designs. Priced at $5 Leather Bound Book IX is available now from RPGNow.