TEXT: 1
  food for thought
  war of the dead
  War of the Dead is © 2010 Daring Entertainment, LLC. All rights reserved. War of the Dead, Daring Entertain-
  ment, and associated logos are trademarks of Daring Entertainment, LLC  This game references the Savage Worlds 
  game system, available from Pinnacle Entertainment Group at www.peginc.com. Savage Worlds and all associ-
  ated logos and trademarks are copyrights of Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Used with permission. Pinnacle 
  makes no representation or warranty as to the quality, viability, or suitability for purpose of this product. 
  food for thought
  A war of the dead one sheet for use with the savage worlds role-
  playing game from pinnacle entertainment, by Lee F. Szczepanik, Jr.
  The survivors are welcomed inTo a small Town, buT quickly 
  discover ThaT The food They are being served is noT animal 
  meaT, or even human meaT . . . buT someThing far worse.
  new arrivals
  It’s been over a month since the 
  initial outbreak and the rise of 
  the Living Dead. The pandemic 
  that has threatened to make the 
  human race extinct hit the world-
  wide population at an unnatural, 
  simultaneous rate. Within the first 
  week, entire cities had fallen, the 
  Federal Government had relocated 
  to a secure facility in Colorado, and 
  the military was in shambles as en-
  tire units became infected or went 
  AWOL. 
  The world we once knew is dy-
  ing, and rising again as flesh-eating 
  ghouls.
  With fuel difficult to find, and the 
  major highways congested with 
  abandoned and wrecked vehicles 
  that make perfect waiting places 
  for the Living Dead, the characters 
  are on foot. In the past few days, 
  food has been extremely difficult to 
  find. As the adventure opens, have 
  each character make a Vigor roll at 
  –2 for Hunger. If the roll fails, the 
  character suffers a Fatigue level.
  It seems like every place 
  you go, everywhere you 
  turn, the Living Dead are 
  there— shambling along 
  the city streets and high-
  ways, trapped in abandoned 
  vehicles, roaming the coun-
  tryside. The horrific moan, 
  voiced whenever they see the 
  living, a sanity-fragmenting 
  thing. Their torn and muti-
  lated bodies, organs some-
  times dragging upon the 
  ground, gut-wrenching to 
  behold. It’s a nightmare that 
  never ends.
  The past few days, the 
  nightmare has become even 
  more dangerous. Your food 
  ran out a little over a day 
  ago, and your ammunition 
  is dangerously low. Neither 
  has been in any type of ad-
  equate supply in any of the 
  towns you’ve stumbled upon. 
  If you don’t find both— and 
  soon— you could very well 
  end up shambling across 
  the country side looking for 
  warm flesh, yourself.
  To make matters worse, 
  the sky is heavily overcast, 
  and the occasional flicker of 
  lightning and roll of thun-
  der threatens rain. 
  Allow the characters a little bit 
  of action. As they continue on their 
  way, in between towns and cities 
  with the highway to their right and 
  wooded areas off to their left, they 
  come upon a small group of Living 
  Dead Shamblers (2 per character). 
  The survivors can either attempt 
  to dispatch the creatures through 
  normal combat, lead them off on 
  a wild goose chase using a Trick 
  (Smarts vs. Smarts), or attempt to 
  sneak their way past them by mak-
  ing a Stealth check at a –2. Keep in 
  mind that for any character who 
  failed the Vigor roll for Hunger, 
  there is an additional –1 penalty to 
  all rolls from the Fatigue level.
  Once the characters have made it 
  past the Living Dead, they continue 
  for another mile before they see a 
  town in the distance. The place is 
  a small, colonial-style affair com-
  plete with abandoned rail tracks 
  that lead through the center of it. 
  At one point before the rising, it 
  might have served as one of those 
  tourist attractions that offered a 
  quiet weekend off the beaten path. 
  Now, strategically placed cars and 
  barbed wire topped fencing form 
  a makeshift perimeter around 
  the town. Men armed with bladed 
  weapons, shovels, and heavy met-
  al poles serve as the perimeter 
  guards. Husks of burned-out build-
  ings remain as a testament to what 
  had transpired here. Moreover, for 
  the most part, the streets are de-
  void of people.
  The characters can attempt Per-
  suasion or Streetwise rolls to gain 
  access to the town. On a success, 
  they are introduced to Brian Car-
  diff, the Mayor. The town is called 
  New Havenport.
  a nice liTTle 
  Town like ours
  New Havenport was, indeed, once 
  an idyllic tourist attraction before 
  the Living Dead. Known for its ar-
  chitecture, Colonial-era replicas, 
  and one of the few fully functional 
  railroads, the town earned its keep 
  serving those from out of town. 
  That same, quaint lifestyle made 
  it a prime target for the initial out-
  break.
  Within hours, a majority of the 
  town’s residents and tourists had 
  become infected, turned into flesh-
  eating ghouls that then spread the 
  so-called virus. The dozens that sur-
  vived managed to cleanse the town of 
  the Living Dead and fortify their po-
  sition, but the initial battles against 
  the creatures had taken a toll— fires 
  consumed the buildings housing 
  most of the food supply. Restaurants, 
  Inns, and grocery stores went up in 
  flames during the initial panic.
  
  2
  war of the dead
  food for thought
  Left with the prospect of starv-
  ing to death, and unable to bring 
  themselves to devour their own, 
  the remaining citizens of New Ha-
  venport embraced the ultimate 
  definition of irony in their need for 
  food— eating the Living Dead.
  Although the townspeople hunt-
  ed for the freshest prey— those 
  that looked to be recently dead— as 
  can be expected, consuming infect-
  ed flesh had certain consequences. 
  For some people, the infectious 
  flesh shattered their minds— plac-
  ing them in a blank mental state 
  very similar to the Living Dead, 
  with an insatiable hunger for liv-
  ing flesh, but with full biological 
  functions. In other words, it turned 
  people into a pseudo-Living Dead.
  It’s a secret they keep locked 
  away in the small U-Store-It facil-
  ity at the edge of town, hoping to 
  eventually find a cure.
  Please, sTay for dinner
  Mayor Cardiff is friendly, but cau-
  tious— precisely what the charac-
  ters should expect of a town leader 
  in regards to new arrivals. He gives 
  them a quick tour of the town, 
  pointing out:
  • 
  There are only about 30 of 
  them left in the town.
  • 
  The Police Station, where he 
  introduces them to Sheriff 
  Westerman.
  • 
  The General Store, where 
  they can barter for some 
  camping supplies from Bruce 
  Keller.
  • 
  The Church, where Father 
  Dorring hold service and 
  feeds the town.
  • 
  The Medical Clinic
  • 
  The Hotel
  Sheriff Westerman is also friend-
  ly, but much more cautious. He 
  eyes the characters up and down, 
  and welcomes them to the town.
  The Mayor takes them to the 
  church, where Father Dorring is 
  making an afternoon meal. The 
  meal is a beef stew, and any char-
  acter that eats it must make a Vig-
  or roll or gain a Fatigue level. If the 
  first roll fails, then they must make 
  another roll every hour until they 
  fall unconscious. Once the charac-
  ter is rendered unconscious, a final 
  Vigor roll must be made at –2. On 
  a failure, the character has become 
  one of the pseudo-Living Dead. 
  Like with normal Living Dead, 
  there is no cure, and should the 
  character be killed by any means 
  except trauma to the brain, will 
  rise as one of the Living Dead.
  Once a character succeeds at a 
  Vigor roll, his body has rejected 
  the infection from eating the meat. 
  Doing so, however, does not make 
  him immune to the infection.
  Any character that is naturally 
  immune to the infection (See: War 
  of the Dead, Chapter One) is not re-
  quired to make a roll when eating 
  the stew.
  Strangely, no other townspeople 
  are present at the meal. Mayor 
  Cardiff says that most people are 
  afraid of strangers, and won’t 
  come out of their homes until he 
  and Sheriff Westerman give the all 
  clear.
  After the characters are fed, Mayor 
  Cardiff will offer them rooms at the 
  hotel to rest. If any of the characters 
  accept, and decide to later sneak 
  through the town to gather informa-
  tion, a Notice check will reveal that 
  they are being watched through 
  barely opened curtains, from dark-
  ened windows, and from rooftops, by 
  the townspeople. Anyone that goes 
  near the U-Store-It hears the muffled 
  moans of the Living Dead, and the 
  pounding of fists against metal, from 
  inside. Breaking into the facility will 
  alert the Sheriff and he will arrive 
  on the scene after two minutes. Dur-
  ing that time, the characters discover 
  over 40 of the Pseudo-Living Dead in-
  side the building, locked in the roll-up 
  door storage bins.
  Whether the characters accept the 
  rooms or not, the Mayor and the re-
  maining citizens of the town do not 
  intend to allow them to leave. The 
  plan is to kill the characters and use 
  them as food.
  To escape the town, the characters 
  will have to battle their way through 
  the residents (5 per character), and 
  any of the pseudo-Living Dead they 
  might have allowed to get loose.
  living dead (shambler)
  The most common of Living 
  Dead, Shamblers are slow moving 
  creatures operating more on instinct 
  than any sort of human intelligence. 
  Driven by an unnatural hunger for 
  living flesh, they’ll attack anything 
  alive: human or animal.
  Attributes:  Agility d4, Smarts d4 
  (A), Spirit d4, Strength d6, Vigor d6
  Skills: Intimidation d6, Notice d8
  Pace: 4 Parry: 2 Toughness:  5 
  Special Abilities—
  Bite: The bite of the Living Dead 
  causes Str+d4 damage
  Equal Senses: The Living Dead 
  use all their senses equally, causing 
  Stealth checks against them to suf-
  fer a –2 penalty regardless of lighting 
  conditions.
  Fear (-1): Shamblers are terrible 
  to behold and cause a Guts check at 
  –1.
  Fearless: The Living Dead are im-
  mune to Fear and cannot be intimi-
  dated.
  Hardy: If Shaken, a Living Dead 
  never suffers a wound from further 
  Shaken results.
  Infected Bite: Anyone that suf-
  fers at least 1 wound (after soaking) 
  from the bite of a Shambler is infect-
  ed and will die, only to rise again as 
  one of them (see The Infection, un-
  der Setting Rules in War of the Dead, 
  Chapter One).
  Living Dead: The Living Dead suf-
  fer no additional damage from called 
  shots (except for their weakness), 
  suffer no wound modifiers (except 
  for their weakness), and do not suf-
  fer from disease or poison.
  Slow: Shamblers are never dealt 
  an initiative card that is greater than 
  5, and can never run.
  Tireless: The Living Dead do not 
  suffer from Fatigue.
  Weakness: The Living Dead suffer 
  normal damage and wound modi-
  fiers from a called shot to the head.
  (Pseudo-Living Dead only have 
  the Bite special ability)
  
  3
  food for thought
  war of the dead
  shamblers in combaT
  Although the average Shambler is unskilled in combat— instead relying completely on instinct to bring down 
  its prey— the Shamblers naturally employ a few of tactics that can make them extremely dangerous.
  The first tactic of the Shamblers is the Moan when they first see their prey (see Setting Rules).
  The second tactic is the Wild Attack. The Shamblers lack finesse and know no fear, and they always use the Wild Attack 
  maneuver against their prey. This gives them a +2 to their Fighting check (normally d4-2), but reduces their Parry to zero.
  The third tactic is the Ganging Up maneuver. Whenever multiple Shamblers converge on prey, they all attack in 
  search of living flesh to consume. While this gives them a +1 to Fighting for each zombie beyond the first, it’s also 
  combined with the Wild Attack— which means each zombie receives the +2 for a Wild Attack, and an additional 
  +1 for each zombie beyond the first. The trade-off is that if the prey survives, the Parry to hit a zombie is zero.
  mayor cardiff
  The elected official of New Haven-
  port prior to the outbreak, Mayor 
  Cardiff watched helplessly as over 
  95% of the town fell to the out-
  break— including his own wife and 
  two daughters.
  Attributes:  Agility d6, Smarts 
  d6, Spirit d8, Strength d6, Vigor d6
  Skills:  Guts d6, Knowledge (poli-
  tics) d4
  Charisma: +0 Pace: 6 Parry: 2 
  Toughness: 5
  Hindrances: Responsibility to 
  Others (Major, See: War of the 
  Dead, Chapter One) 
  Edges: None
  sheriff wesTerman
  Once the town deputy, Sheriff Wes-
  terman gained his current position 
  when his former superior became 
  infected and, literally, tried to take 
  a bite out of crime. Overly cautious 
  of outsiders, he is beginning to con-
  sider forming hunting parties to go 
  out into the surrounding area, find 
  survivors to bring back to town, 
  and use them as a ready food sup-
  ply.
  Attributes:  Agility d6, Smarts 
  d6, Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d8
  Skills:  Driving d6, Fighting d6, 
  Notice d6, Shooting d6, Streetwise 
  d6
  Charisma: +0 Pace: 6 Parry: 5 
  Toughness: 6
  Hindrances: Bad Eyes (Minor), 
  Quirk (spitting on the ground in the 
  middle of a sentence)
  Edges: Combat Reflexes
  Equipment: Glock 9mm (51 
  shots)
  TyPical survivor
  Whether on a cruise ship, in a town, 
  or trapped in a warehouse with the 
  characters, the typical survivor 
  represents the everyday people 
  struggling to exist for another day 
  in a world where the Living Dead 
  are rapidly becoming the dominant 
  species.
  Attributes:  Agility d6, Smarts 
  d6, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
  Skills:  Boating d6, Driving d6, 
  Guts d6, Notice d6, Repair d6, 
  Shooting d6
  Charisma: +0 Pace: 6 Parry: 2 
  Toughness: 5
  Hindrances: Yellow
  Edges: None
  Equipment: Various tools, make-
  shift weapons, or lengths of pipe 
  (Str+d4 damage)
  where were you The day The earTh died? 
  war of The dead: chaPTer one— available in 
  elecTronic formaT Through The Pdf sTore aT 
  www.daringenTerTain.com, and in PrinT from 
  our ParTners aT cubicle-7 enTerTainmenT.
  
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